A UK site recently reported that the word “Facebook” alone appeared in 20% of its divorce cases last year. That ought to be an indicator that its necessary to set some social networking guidelines to protect our marriages.

Here are some guidelines that married couples ought to follow when using facebook:

1. Never hide anything from your spouse on Facebook…or online at all for that matter. Share your Facebook, email, and other online passwords with your spouse. This builds trust and communicates to your spouse that they are welcome to see what you are doing anytime.

2. Befriending an old boyfriend or girlfriend should NEVER be done. Don’t even go looking for people you dated in the past.

3. Never “connect” with anyone of the opposite sex. This means don’t chat, surf their photo galleries, or leave comments.

4. Remove anyone who crosses normal boundaries. Use your head…if a comment makes you uncomfortable or sets off that little voice in your head, drop them like its hot.

5. Facebook has a cool feature where you can put that you are married and even who you are married to. Announce it to the world with great PRIDE.

6. Don’t spend more time on Facebook than you do with your spouse. Communicate with your spouse and ask them, “Am I spending too much time online?” You want to make sure your spouse is your number 1 relationship, not your buddies on Facebook.

6. Use a picture of you and your spouse as your profile picture or post a few in your photos.

7. Never use Facebook or Twitter to complain about your spouse. Praise publicly all the time!!!

8. Don’t leave comments on people’s pages that may come across as suggestive. Use your head and think before you type.

Mowing your lawn with an old school reel mower. That’s right.

Why?

1. They’re light.
2. They’re quiet.
3. They’re environmentally friendly.
4. They’re better for your grass. (Rotary mowers tear the grass. Reel mowers cut the grass like scissors, leaving a fine spray of cuttings as mulch for your yard.) It provides a finer cut than a rotary mower — no ripping or tearing — and seals the grass blade, which keeps moisture in and lawn disease out.
5. They’re close to maintenance free.
6. They’re as easy to push as much heavier motorized mowers.
7. They don’t blow exhaust into your face while you’re mowing.

I started this last year and I love it.

Tip: you need a certain reel mower depending on what kind of grass you have. Here is a great guide and overview of reel mowing.

Try it out. Unless you have a HUGE yard…then save up and go get a riding mower.

You’re welcome.

The Elevation Church worship albums. ALL of them.

We have started doing a lot of their stuff at Revolution Church. The songs are amazing!

Get them all (click for iTunes link)

• Kingdom Come (check out the tracks “This City is Yours” and “The Church” AMAZING!)
• We are Alive (check out the track “All Things New”)
• God with Us (check out the track “We Unite”)

Awesome stuff. You should own it. Best of all, if you are a worship leader you can get all of the chord charts, etc here for free.

You’re welcome…

Today, I want to share some “best practices.”

These are hacks to make your Tweets and status updates easy and more effective! Do these things and you will help the church rock it even more on Facebook and Twitter!

1. LIKE, like CRAZY. If you are on Facebook, click that “like” button like there’s no tomorrow. You can find the “like” button on Facebook and all over our website.
2. PICS! Tweet pics during the service. Or if you are a Facebookee, post them to the Revolution Church fan page.
3. Comment and share. Comment and share your thoughts by responding to things that the church posts. Conversation attracts more people!
4. GO MOBILE. If you have an internet enabled phone be sure to download the official Facebook and Twitter apps. Know that you don’t have to have an iphone…even if you use text messaging, you can Facebook and Tweet mobile. Go into your Facebook setting and click the mobile tab to start using Facebook via SMS. To use Twitter via SMS, read more here.
5. Use YouVersion for your Bible reading. Just go to YouVersion.com for a free account or you can get it on any internet enabled phone for free right now by going to http://bible.revyourlife.com. Seriously, if you aren’t doing this you are missing out. YouVersion will sync you reading progress, notes, and more across platforms. I use it on my mac, my iphone and the ipad. They even have over 30 amazing reading plans to choose from. Then go and link your YouVersion account to Facebook and/or Twitter to easily share what you are reading.
6. Tweet with a Hashtag. If you are using Twitter, attach our official Hashtag to ALL of your tweets. The hashtag is #REV. If you don’t know what a Hashtag is, learn here.

Got any other good tips? Please share!

A real family, last name Jones, lives just around the corner from us. I thought my Christmas lights were amazing…now I am just trying to keep up with the Jones’…check this out!

Their Christmas light display comes complete with a radio station you can tune in to, synced with an AMAZING light show. They have over 4.5 miles of lights and 60,000 bulbs. INSANITY.

The show is five different songs and is absolutely INCREDIBLE. They even have their own website (check out the halloween band videos!)

Acts of Sharing is a new website that is built on the fact that we have more together! These guys are working to provide an easy way to share your stuff & borrow from friends. Awesome concept!

I love the idea of saving money and living simply by developing even better relationships with those we already know and love. This is a great idea. Check it out by watching the video below and then visit their website today!

Acts of Sharing 101 from Jordan Crowder on Vimeo.

Disappointing.

World.

Series.

Ever.

Wow. The best part of it was Ken Rosenthal’s bow ties.

I think I’ll try to wear a bow tie one day…that’s ridiculous…but its true…I will have a bow tie.

Gotta hand it to Tim Lincecum though. Pretty amazing pitching, even if he is still in the 6th grade.

Hey Revolutionaries!

Break out this week was incredible!

Pastor Zak really rocked out the message this week; If your weren’t here this sunday for the third installment of the Break out series you can check it out on iTunes this week or revyourlife.com.

Often, people ask where they can get the stuff we are singing at Revolution. If you enjoyed the tunes we played you can check them out and purchase them on iTunes!

1. In My Heart – Fellowship Church

2. Your Love Never Fails – Jesus Culture

3. Mercy Reigns – Elevation Worship

4. Mess of Me – Switch Foot

5. We Unite – Elevation Worship

We love you guys!

Micah Fisher
Worship Pastor

So, its a match made in Heaven right?

Here are a few of my heroes that I follow regularly…guys you probably never thought I’d care much about:

• Travis Pastrana – Motocross Champion. Most successful X-Games competitor ever. Rally Car racer. King of freestyle. Basically, master of anything with wheels.
• Kyle Loza. First and foremost, this guy LOVES Jesus. Member of Riders 4 Christ and SaddleBack Church.
• Tony Hawk. Nuff said.
• Bob Burnquist. Style on a chunk of wood with four wheels.
• Danny Way. This guy is NUTS.
• AND the latest: Aaron “Wheelz” Fotheringham. Seriously. Check this kid out. TRULY AMAZING AND INSANE.

Josh is also a very talented musician and songwriter. He has seven albums on iTunes. You need to get ALL of them.

In 2009, Rosenthal released phase one of what he calls the “Villages Suite” by putting out four albums in four months. His new book is phase two. With the book, Rosenthal speaks outside of his typical outlets using the art of narrative to show God’s ability to redeem even the most seemingly irredeemable memories. The book really is the icing on the cake, wrapping up the entire Villages Suite in a fresh, creative and sweet new kinda way.

If you’ve ever seen him in concert, you know that the stories he tells before his songs often impact the concert goers just as much – if not more – than the actual songs. If you’ve not seen him in concert, he’ll be playing at Revolution Church on August 29th during all worship services.

I love the format of the book. An Oak Tree Late in Winter takes 11 of Rosenthal’s songs and expands on those stories. Rosenthal says:

“I stepped back for a season of my life to focus on these narratives because I believe there’s a great redemptive power in them. As much as I believe in the songs I write, I, believe in these stories.”

And right there is my favorite part of this book. Its not just about the book…its about the concept, the passion, the songs, the concerts and the excellence with which all of these elements have been executed. The last couple of years of Rosenthal’s life have culminated in this one masterful piece of art.

GET THE BOOK HERE NOW. Heck, get two or three.

Here is a link to the table of contents which includes a spot to listen to the songs that the chapters of the book are named after.

Here’s the promo video:

If you are truly creating something worth loving then it will be worth slamming too.

I’m learning that criticism isn’t something you get thrown at you but that it’s actually something you earn.

See, if you really are creating something great you’ll get some black eyes along the way.

You have to be willing to shake things up in the present if you want to go down in history. It is an art form because you have to learn to be challenging without being defiant. You must be able to disturb but not annoy.

I am learning that the quickest way to do this is to bleed truth.

If its worth doing it will be worth the slam that comes with it. Its risky, its demanding and its not all that glamorous at times. But I think any real difference maker would say “that’s just what I do.”

Here are some guidelines that married couples ought to follow when using facebook:

1. Never hide anything from your spouse on Facebook…or online at all for that matter. Share your Facebook, email, and other online passwords with your spouse. This builds trust and communicates to your spouse that they are welcome to see what you are doing anytime.

2. Never connect with anyone of the opposite sex. Befriending an old boyfriend or girlfriend should NEVER be done. Don’t even go looking for people you dated in the past.

4. Remove anyone who crosses normal boundaries. Use your head…if a comment makes you uncomfortable or sets off that little voice in your head, drop them like its hot.

5. Facebook has a cool feature where you can put that you are married and even who you are married to. Announce it to the world with great PRIDE.

6. Don’t spend more time on Facebook than you do with your spouse. Communicate with your spouse and ask them, “Am I spending too much time online?” You want to make sure your spouse is your number 1 relationship, not your buddies on Facebook.

6. Use a picture of you and your spouse as your profile picture or post a few in your photos.

7. Never use Facebook or Twitter to complain about your spouse. Praise publicly all the time!!!

8. Don’t leave comments on people’s pages that may come across as suggestive. Use your head and think before you type.

I blogged it last week and I’m blogging it again because I believe in an amazing event that xxxchurch.com and lifechurch.tv have teamed up to pull off.

Its called The Porn Event. Check it out here. I hope that you will sign up and attend. It will only take 25 minutes of your time and there are over 40 times that you can choose from. This event will fit ANYONE’s schedule. So there’s no excuse.

Here is why I think its important that we participate in this event, whether we struggle with porn or not. I have seen so many lives crushed by addiction to porn. Here are a few things I know and have seen:

• Porn WILL hurt your marriage.
• If you are using porn, your usage WILL affect your kids.
• Porn KILLS marriages, relationships, and character.
• Porn is a “her” problem too. Women are also struggling with sexual addiction and pornography.
• We need accountability. We need to DRAG this addiction into the light so much that its no longer taboo.
• You need porn filtering software or accountability software on your computer and maybe even your phone these days. Even if its not a problem for you.
• Porn addiction can happen to ANYONE.
• We must be proactive in asking our kids the right questions and raising them to combat this addiction.

Stats on Pornography (from xxxchurch.com)

• 42.7% of Internet users view porn
• 20% of men say they view porn at work.
• 53% of Christian men consume pornography.
• Breakdown of male/female visitors to pornography sites: 72% male & 28% female
• 17% of all women struggle with pornography addiction.
• The average age of first Internet exposure to pornography is 11 years old.
• 90% of 8-16-year-olds have viewed porn online (most while doing homework).

But here is what is incredible. Aside from the homepage, guess what the most viewed page is on the site?

I figured it would be the “I’m new” page or the media stuff.

Nope.

The first page people click is “Our Team.”

Just goes to show how important it is that we get the right people on the bus!

Revolution team, whether you are on the website or not know this: people are watching to see if our lives match who we say we are. This is why integrity and accountability are so important!