Today I leave for my good old hometown of Dallas, TX. I’ll be hanging out at the ECHO Conference for the next few days. If you’re going to be there, please find me and say “hello”. I’m looking forward to being back in a city that I love and getting to see several friends from around the country that are coming to the conference.

Friday, I’ll be leaving Dallas and flying to Salt Lake City, Utah to hang out for six days with my friend, Charles Hill (founder of The Sticks Conference). Charles is planting a church near Salt Lake City, Utah (which happens to be the most un-churched city in the US) and I’ll get to attend his second preview service this Sunday. I can’t wait to share with you all what God shows me from my time with Charles.

As you know, I have a big heart for church planters and church plants in general. I love all church planters, regardless of where they plant, but I’m very passionate about hard to reach and unchurched areas like the Northeast, Pacific Northwest and where I’m going to be in Utah.

I’m also praying through some big decisions these days and would appreciate your prayers, as I believe God is leading me to start a church planting movement. I’ll be blogging more about the vision of this movement in the near future, but for now – please just pray for me. I feel God is up to something and stirring something inside of me and I feel my time with Charles in Utah is going to mess me up (for good)!

Can you believe it’s almost August?

The following is a blog post from my friend, Terrace Crawford. If you can give anything (this week) to help him get to Philly – that would be awesome. Read his words:

Our team has been preparing for this experience for months on end now and we’ve been raising funds to help our team get there; however, we are falling short. I am personally trying to raise $1,000 dollars this week to help us meet our goal. Would you consider helping me? Any donation would be appreciated.

Last night I returned from my weekend in Phoenix, AZ. I was there doing a secret shopper at Christ’s Church of the Valley on Saturday and Sunday. I had a great time with CCV and have a great respect for their church and their desire to do what they do better.

Sunday night, I went to Phoenix First and got to see a legend in action: Tommy Barnett. Pastor Tommy is in his 70s, been in ministry for over 50 years and had more energy than I have at age 34. I was so inspiring and encouraging to see his fire and passion. I have a great respect for his ministry and the many Dream Centers that have come out of his leadership and influence. God is using him greatly.

Who is a living legend that you look up to?

For the past year I worked behind-the-scenes on a great project – training for church planters from the comfort of your own home or office. For years, church planters have had to travel to Church Planter Roundtables around the country (paying for their flight or gas, hotel and conference registration, meals, etc.). Now you can log on to ChurchPlanter.tv and get the same training for just $79.

This is quality training that I’m proud to be associated with. I know it’s good because I got to watch the videos over and over as we were editing them. I’d encourage all pastors and especially church planters to check this out. I learned a ton from watching them.

For one special person, I’d like to give you a coupon code for a FREE registration. Just tell me how you could benefit from training on ChurchPlanter.tv in the comment section and I’ll select one of you.

BONUS: I also got to see the Dead Sea Scroll Exhibit which they were hosting! I’ll blog about that in the future.

Bayside’s senior pastor, Ray Johnston, taught on the book of Philemon and the amazing story of Onesimus – a slave. I’ll share more about what he said later. Read Philemon and share your thoughts on this book that is quickly becoming one of my favorite books in the Bible.

I’ve also been traveling. Last weekend I did a secret shopper in Kansas City and last week I spoke at the National Church Music Conference in Indianapolis. This weekend I’ll be doing another secret shopper in Sacramento, CA.

The church in KC was a medium size church of 300 people. The church in Sacramento is a church of over 10,000. Large or small – the secret shopper is a wise investment. You can always do what you do better and be more sensitive and effective to reaching lost people. If you’re interested, contact me – I’d love to help your church.

Tomorrow, I’ll be writing (today, too) and I’ll let you enjoy another guest post.

• North Point in Alpharetta, GA (pastor Andy Stanley)
• Mountain Lake in Cumming, GA (pastor Shawn Lovejoy)
• Buckhead Church in Buckhead, GA (pastor Andy Stanley)
• NorthStar in Kennesaw, GA (pastor Mike Linch)
• West Ridge in Dallas, GA (pastor Brian Bloye)

Each church was unique, excellent and had its own personality. I worshiped at all churches and was very pleased with the entire experience – from the parking lot to the facilities to the music, tech and preaching. If you’re ever in one of those cities, I encourage you to check them out.

I thought I’d post the song set from West Ridge Church yesterday. I thought their song selection was excellent.

• Jesus Paid it All – Kristian Stanfill version
• Oh How He Loves Us – Kim Walker
• Revelation Song – Kari Jobe
• Desert Song – Brooke Fraser
• It is Well – Todd Fields arrangement

What did you sing at your church yesterday?

Today and tomorrow, I’ll be attending the Velocity ChurchPlanters.com conference in Cumming, GA at Mountain Lake Church. Speakers include Rick Warren, Steven Furtick and Dave Gibbons! If you’re there, I’d love to meet you. Should be fun. You can follow the action on Twitter.

I hope the point is getting across. Let music build. Let it grow. Let it breathe. Leave space. Know when NOT to play. The musicians and bands that I’ve featured the last few days get it – it’s time the Church got it. I know some of you get this – but unfortunately, the majority of the Church (big “C”) doesn’t.

Do you have any other great examples? And yes, I know Mercy Me opened their Live DVD concert with their arrangement of “In the Air Tonight”. I loved it. You can watch that HERE.