I began this process in 6th grade. The picture shown is of the first goal list I ever wrote out in 6th grade. Its grown a lot and developed a lot, but essentially, its the same thing. Each new year brings a sense of a fresh start.

Here are my 2012 goals. These are the ones I feel comfortable sharing about. I seem to have a lot of more “private” goals this year than ever before:

1. Beat my best half marathon time ever
2. Bike 150 miles in a race
3. Spend less money on junk food (starbucks, lunches, etc) and bring healthy lunches to the office. This will also help me accomplish more in each work day because lunch won’t take so long.
4. Complete a 30 day Daniel Fast. Yikes.
5. Read 15 books. I have a partial list. Any suggestions?
6. Lead Revolution Church to love God and love people like never before. Make Revolution the place that LOVES GOD, LOVES PEOPLE and PROVES IT!
7. Keep God’s bigness in my heart and expand our reach. Check out this message.
8. Add a kiddo to our family and not die from the loss of sleep (baby white is due in July!)
9. Pay cash for said baby.
10. Date my wife and love her like Ephesians 5 commands husbands to do.
11. Speak LIFE into every relationship and every interaction.
12. Serve people like never before.
13. Work HARD and rest HARD.
14. Push. The. Envelope.
15. Look further than 2012. Set goals for 10 years, 20 years and beyond.

If you have not heard about The Gift yet, you can click here to read full details and even download a PDF with additional information. Many people have already given to this initiative. I LOVE how God is BLOWING IT UP at REVOLUTION CHURCH!

Here on the blog, I wanted to share my heart with you.

The Gift isn’t about warm fuzzy feelings. Its not about our church having nicer things or extra cash. Its not about more worship space or even planting new churches.

The Gift is all about JESUS. Its about our mission to Love God, Love People and Start a Spiritual Revolution in one life at a time all over the world!

At Revolution Church we are passionate about the Gospel, and while there are lots of great causes (especially at Christmas time), we make no bones about our belief that the local church is of the utmost importance. The local church is where spiritual revolutions start and eternities are changed. Its the only place you can make an investment that will last forever.

So why would we have a special offering and call it The Gift? Why would we set a goal of $30,000 and end 2011 with a bang of generosity?

Because it revolutionizes our lives and the lives of people around us when we jump out in faith and go for it!

Our hearts and money are connected. Jesus said that whatever we choose to treasure will also be where our heart is. Read Matthew 6:21. Give big to The Gift this Sunday, Revolution Church.

In preparation, I challenge you to read through 2 Corinthians 9 this week.
Pray and Ask God, “What would you have me give this Sunday?”

And then GO FOR IT. And remember: When God speaks, He always challenges you because He knows who you really are and that you are better than you think you are.

When you do this, God will grow your faith. Your vision gets stretched and you grow spiritually!

If you won’t be around this Sunday don’t worry. You can give online now by clicking here or you can give to The Gift anytime before December 31st at midnight.

Don’t forget to bring your envelope for The Gift this Sunday, December 18th (we will have plenty extra if you do) and I’ll see ya then!

I am too. Does anyone else feel like Thanksgiving barely even exists anymore? I saw that several stores are opening this year for black Friday in the evening on Thanksgiving. One family in San Antonio has been camping at Best Buy since November 15h. I caught the family on the news tonight and the mother said “we just want to get a flatscreen and a computer.”

Really? 10 days on the sidewalk to save $100 on a TV? Wow.

Here is an idea or two to save Thanksgiving:

• wake up early and spend 30 minutes in prayer thanking God for all He has blessed you with.
• play with your kids.
• at dinner, go around the table and share what you are thankful for.
• at dinner, also go around the table and share why you are thankful for each person there.
• men, do the dishes for your wife…she cooked all stinking day.
• turn off the football and watch a movie as a family.
• go serve together as a family at a soup kitchen or a homeless shelter.
• invite someone that will be all alone on Thanksgiving to be a part of your family for the day

What ways can you think of  to bring back Thanksgiving?

• Pastor David gave THE BEST Communion talk I have ever heard. Period. I am STILL PUMPED UP from it.
• The band did a new song “Beautiful Things” and had it accompanied with a video that blew my mind!
• Our theme for the night was GO. During one of the songs two great artists at Revolution painted the word GO. Then, later in the service, people came to the front and wrote the names of those they feel God calling them to GO to. I believe the result of this Night of Worship will be people “GOING” to this world like never before with the GOSPEL.
• You can listen to the short message here if you missed it. Also, it will be available on the REV APP soon.
• Check out some shots below or click here to see ALL the pics.

How do you know if you have a scarecrow in your melon patch?

We kicked off a new series called Scarecrow this past Sunday. It’s all about the idols in our lives. The whole purpose of this series is to help us actually identify idols in our lives.

In ancient Israel this was an easy process. Usually, their idols were carved out of wood or stone, so the people could actually see their idols. But today, most of our idols are things that we prop up inside of our hearts. So, for us, its much harder to identify our idols.

Usually they are so prominent in our lives that we never would even think they are idols.

To help you all week long as you process through this and ask God to reveal your idols, here is a list of questions from Tim Keller and Mark Driscoll.

If you start to see a pattern in your answer to many of these questions, you are on the right track. Ask yourself:

1. What am I most afraid of?
2. What are the primary things I spend my money on outside of necessities?
3. Where do I run for comfort?
4. What do I complain about most?
5. How do I explain myself to other people?
6. What has caused me to be angry with God?
7. What do I brag about?
8. What do I long for most in life?
9. What do I want more than anything else?
10. What do I sacrifice the most for in my life?
11. If I could change one thing about my life, what would it be?
12. Whose approval am I seeking?
13. What do I want to control/master?
14. What comfort do I treasure most?

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• The conclusion to our “FLIP MY LIFE” series was today. We talked about flipping our families.
• I met a LOT of VIP’s (that’s what we call first time guests) today. Crazy!
• We kicked off three services today. All three had great energy and were very well attended.
• Next service time….1:00pm….let’s invite people and bring them to the House so that we have to add a 1:00pm service by January Revolution! Be a BRINGER.
• We had Michael Robison, his wife Allison and his kiddos in the house worshipping with us today. It was an HONOR.
• Michael will be pastoring our next church plant in the cedar park / round rock area. Its called Uncommon Church. LOVE IT!
• Uncommon Church is a perfect name…Pastor Michael has one of the most audacious, uncommon visions that I have ever heard. This guy challenges the heck outta me.
• We closed out the worship experience by announcing our new series, “Scarecrow” that will start next Sunday.