For the time we were there, it was very difficult to do a true concert feel church service because of the environment. Then I found this company called Intellistage. Their stage product changed our church in so many ways and raised the level of quality of our worship services. It literally made us feel like a “real church” in a portable environment.

Now we have our own space and need to sell it. Let me give a few highlights and then if you have specific questions you can ask away…

• you can set this up in many different configurations and sizes.
• we have 12 of the 4 foot by 4 foot sections
• we have 4 of the triangle sections
• we have all of the “feet” for them in the 16 inch size. These things are awesome.
• we have the nice, rolling flight cases
• we have extra hardware pieces
• it took a team of 2 guys an average of 20 minutes to set this up each week
• it took a team of 2 guys an average of 10 minute to tear it down
• it is extremely durable and lightweight…very well made.
• you can easily order more platforms, risers, etc if you need a bigger stage or want to make a slightly different shape
• it can fit in a trunk of a card if you need it to
• works perfect for portable church or even a church with a building that needs a stage they can set up in different places
• also works great for fashion shows, bands, schools, hotels and outside environments.
• see some shots of our actual stage at the very bottom of this post

Check out info on the stage here  (remember, its the 4X4 product). They also have a little “how it works” page here.

Watch the video below…this video is not a gimmick. It really is that easy. I personally set this thing up myself almost every week for a year.

We paid $6,o00 for our entire kit and used it for just nine months (then moved to our own location) so its in pristine condition. We are willing to sell it for $4,500 plus shipping. If you want to do local pickup, we are in the San Antonio Texas area.

This is a great chance to snag the best and most easy to use portable staging equipment there is for cheap. If you are interested, or have questions call 210-880-5883. If we don’t answer, leave a message and someone will get back to you quickly.

Here are some shots of our stage and the configuration we most often used:

Have you ever wondered to yourself “why do some people seem to have all the luck?” Do you ever get fed up with people who just seem to live a specially charmed life?

I used to wonder if God was just playing favorites or if some people were just lucky. Then I realized that there was a lot more going on than I thought. It all started when I met our Creative Pastor, Micah Fisher, and he would say “its THE FOG baby!” every time a barista gave me my latte for free at Starbucks.

You may have heard the phrase “The Favor of God” before – but what does the favor of God look like? Is it having good luck? Is it being blessed with wealth and influence? How do you get favor? Can you lose it?

Starting this Sunday, we will answer these questions and more as we dive into what it means to walk in The FOG! I hope you will join us as we explore what’s happening when things go our way—and when they don’t.

Before you read this, please understand something. This blog isn’t about me personally. Yes, I am a pastor. But I am writing this to help anyone who wants to genuinely bless their pastor. I am not writing to complain about my own experience. That said…

We are having a baby girl in about two months. I am blown away at how generous the people are at Revolution Church. They have already brought us gifts and are making plans to bring us meals after the baby arrives. All of this is what got me (and Amber) thinking and ultimately led me to blog this.

How can you best bless your pastor?

Can I speak from my heart as a pastor? This is 100% honest…

If you really want to bless your pastor and his family, if you really want to encourage him and lift his spirits…just do the basics.

Meals, dinners, gifts, books, and nice gestures are great…but in all honesty, the best way you can bless me is to just live out the basics, consistently. I am not complaining about the gifts we receive (though I will say, as a pastor you get some WEIRD STUFF handed to you…)

What are the basics? Four things in my opinion:

Live HONOR.

Live GENEROSITY.

Live WASHING FEET.

Live as a BRANGER.

When you honor up, honor down, honor all around; When you give regularly; When you serve in a ministry; When you invite people…you BLESS your pastor.

Trust me…it means more to him that you live out the basics of a relationship with Jesus than ANYTHING. More than gifts. More than meals. ANYTHING. And in the long run, it will mean more in your life too.

If you want to read some more specifics, trust me, this post from Lysa Terkeurst is right on.

NASA rents out the room to train astronauts. Whirlpool has used it to test washing machines. The Harley Davidson Company used it to make their motorcycles more quiet.

Steven Orfield, the President of the Company that created the sound proof lab, said that when he goes inside, he can hear the artificial valve in his heart tick.

They say that the silence becomes unnerving for most people and that the record for the longest stay in the room is just 45 minutes.

Sunday at Revolution Church we are talking about silence. Well, not really talking.

I will be preaching the entire message without saying a single word. It probably won’t be as quiet as the sound proof lab in Minneapolis, but we are going to focus on God in a powerful way.

Psalm 46:10 says “Be still and know that I am God.”

I hope that you will join us as we get serious and isolate ourselves from the noise of life for one Sunday in order to give God the space to speak.

Our Worship Experiences are at 9:30am, 11:00am and 1:00pm. see you there!

Dear Ladies,

I hope that you will join us for our first ever DAZZLE this Friday from 6:15-8:00pm. You can register now by going here. All women from age 13 to age 130 are invited!!!

Every day you give of yourselves to others, and meet needs until your head hits the pillow at night. Dazzle is how we cheer each other on and encourage each other. We need other women to help refresh us, challenge us, and love on us. That is exactly why DAZZLE exists. I pray that DAZZLE will be the beginning of a spiritual revolution in your life.

See ya Friday!

Starting a Revolution,

Amber White

The Guardians of the Children call him the CandyMan. Tyler Sparks is a 17 year old young man that is serious about generosity. We had him on stage sharing about how he recently raised $15,000 for the Judson High School Special Olympics team so that they could go to state. I won’t tell the whole story…just watch the Fox News video below and my interview with Tyler. The story speaks for itself.

The best part is that he isn’t stopping with this…listen to his plans for the future. Greater things!

I think Tyler is a great role model to us all. Imagine a world where the church is as generous as this young man. Tyler, I am extremely proud of you and so is Revolution Church!

Just in case you are on an RSS reader or the videos don’t show below, click here for the Fox News story and here for the Revolution Church interview.

Tomorrow evening (May 2nd) we will be having our monthly Night of Worship along with Parent Child Dedication.

I am FIRED UP about this. Its going to be a great time of worship as well as a special time of Parent and Child Dedication. Sign up here if you’ve got a baby or young kiddo that you want to dedicate to raising in God’s House! Its not too late.

We will also have Communion together. Don’t miss it. It all gets started at 6:30pm. See you there Revolution!

Some people claim that the Bible talks directly about gambling when we see the casting of lots. For example, whenever Judas took his own life, the disciples cast lots to see who would be the next disciple. That sounds more like a form of decision making to me, not gambling.

Other people will say that in Matthew 25, where Jesus told the parable of the talents, that the guys in the story gambled what the master gave them. I believe that is a misrepresentation of the text. The story is talking about good stewardship – about investing wisely the gifts and talents and resources that God has given us. Its not really speaking about gambling.

The Bible does not specifically condemn gambling, betting, or the lottery. I would say that because the Bible does not specifically condemn gambling, there are times when a little bet may not really be a sin.

Maybe you are playing cards with friends or you get in on a March Madness pool at the office. Maybe you are playing golf with a friend and you say “Five bucks says I can make this putt.” I am talking about those times when at worst you may be wasting money and at best you are having some light-hearted, friendly entertainment…those times its probably not a sin.

At the same time, much like alcohol, this can very quickly and often does become sinful and dangerous. If gambling is an issue for you, I would challenge you to ask yourself three questions; when, where and why.

WHEN? When do you gamble? If it’s once or twice a year, or if you play a little bingo or hit up the casino a few times on your cruise vacation, it’s probably entertainment and not a sin. If it becomes a monthly or weekly thing, be very careful. Gambling could be an issue for you. If anyone has called you “Clark Griswold” lately, go get help.

WHERE? Where do you gamble? If you go to a buddies house and you play some cards, its probably no big deal. But if you go to a place where the women are half naked, everybody is drunk, and then some big guy named Guido shows up at the house ready to take you out, you could have crossed the line into a sinful environment.

WHY? Why do you gamble? Is it just a little fun and you can afford it? Or is your reason “if I don’t go win some money I can’t pay my mortgage!”

The sin of greed is very dangerous and your answers to these questions tell a lot about whether or not you have crossed the line.

1 Timothy 6:10 says, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

Gambling is often about more than gambling…many times it is attached to other sins. I can’t tell you the number of times when I’ve seen people take what seems like innocent fun and quickly pierce themselves with many griefs. I’ve seen gambling wreck marriages, homes, families, college degrees and peoples’ future. Not much good ever comes from it.

If more than one person has told you that you have a problem, you probably should get help. That is my take on gambling.

Several months ago I was reading Ephesians four and the first verse literally JUMPED off the page at me. The verse tells us to “live a life worthy of the calling I have received.”

As a pastor, there are many things that living a life worthy of the calling that I received could include. Things that immediately come to mind are seeking God daily, loving my wife, loving my kids, staying pure, leading, and loving people. Those are sort of obvious things that come with my calling.

Lately, I’ve been thinking of the less obvious things that the calling to pastor brings. Something HUGE that God has taught me since starting Revolution Church is that everything the pastor does matters. And I mean everything.

Here are a few things that I am giving extra energy and attention to in order to live a life worthy of the calling God has given me:

Health: I don’t ever want to become the pastor that is 80 pounds overweight and preaches on everything BUT gluttony. I think health matters and when pastors ignore their health, they lose credibility in many ways. I am not perfect, but I do my best to run and hit the gym at least 4 days a week. Plus, when I stay healthy, I feel better and have more energy to share the Gospel. I’m in this for the long haul, so health is paramount.

Thanksgiving: As our church grows, I find myself becoming more thankful. I stop and say thanks more, I hand write a ton of thank you cards and I but a LOT of thank you coffee and ice cream. That sounds bad at first glance, but think about it. With so many people its difficult to have a personal relationship with many (I don’t believe that is my job anyway, but that is another post for another time.)

These days, I am trying to make it a point to never walk past a volunteer or a staff member without saying thanks and honoring them. It only takes seconds out of my day and literally makes their day.

I think we would all do better in our calling(s) if we would realize how big of a difference a simple, real, honest, heartfelt thank you can mean.

Style: I think pastors should get with the times and get some swag. I’m not talking about buying a thousand dollar suit and wearing a rolex. I’m talking about being relevant to the people you are trying to reach. Here are some tips: you can use an IRON. Shave. Get a haircut regularly. We have a mirror at the stage entrance, not because I like seeing myself (that’s the band!) but because I think my appearance is important. After all, people have to look at me for 30-40 minutes every week as I preach. Every week, pastors bring the most meaningful message ever! Maybe we should look like empowered messengers!

Space: I’m talking about my car, my office and my home. It needs to be kept clean and orderly. I think its kind of hard to set a good example in life with a car full of starbucks cups and an office that smells like fast food.

Money: I’m talking personal finances and church finances.

Personal finances: If I am going to teach Biblical principles like tithing, investing, saving, spending, bringing an offering and more, I need to be doing those things well! My family got all of this in order through Financial Peace University many years ago. We are debt free and therefore free to give. We have a goal to increase our percentage giving by one percent every year. Right now, we are working hard on making our money work hard for us by investing in new ways.

Church finances: I refuse to waste a single dollar or a minute of time on a program, piece of equipment or ministry position that isn’t the best option to reach the most people. We do more with less at Revolution Church and I have to champion that. I think this is a huge and vital part of walking in my calling.

Speaking: Over the last year, I’ve been very convicted that I need to improve on my speaking. I think sometimes, pastors get into a rut and just do their thing week to week when truthfully, there is a ton of room for improvement. That’s why I was so pumped when some of my friends launched Preaching Rocket. Great, powerful preaching is more than words. You have to learn how to move on stage, how to use volume, tone and inflection and more to really present well. Comedic timing, when to pause, where to look…preaching is so much more than just talking. I want to be one of the best communicators on the planet, every single week.

What less obvious things do you need to work on when it comes to walking worthy of your calling?

Right now we are answering questions submitted by people (mostly anonymously) at Revolution Church. Our series is called F.A.Q. – Frequently Avoided Questions. In just three weeks we received over 200 questions; the response was huge!

But one thing happened that I did not expect: a handful of people decided to use the question form as a way to complain and criticize.

I’ll admit, it caught me off guard. As a result, once again, God is teaching me about “questionERS.”

People are going to question how you do things, no matter how you do them. Jesus was questioned a lot. In fact, I would say that if people aren’t asking questions and getting offended at least a little bit, then you are not being like Christ! Just one example in the life of Jesus was when He was accused of sinning for working (healing people) on the sabbath.

For some reason, instead of celebrating our differences, we have chosen to rip each other apart in Christian world. Instead of developing from our differences we let them divide us. Its sick and its sad.

Here is where I am at: I have figured out God’s unique calling on my life and I am going to push forward in that calling with no apologies.

To my pastor friends out there…when you shy away from God’s calling on your life because of the “questioners”, you slap God in the face. You choose peoples’ opinions over God’s heart. Pastor Craig Groeschel says, “Becoming obsessed with what people think about me is the quickest way to forget what God thinks about me.”

Just about everything you do will be questioned. That is why you had better have your own questions answered like music style, church staffing, preaching style, strategy, etc. If you don’t, one day you will look up and be pastoring a church that spends all its effort and energy trying to please everyone (which is absolutely impossible). Worst of all, if this happens, your church will reach NO ONE.

But here is the beautiful thing…when it really comes down to it, you only answer to one authority – JESUS. After all, it is His church.

That is reason enough for me to be who HE called me to be! That is reason enough for me to do church how HE called me to do it. I’ll offer the best answers I can to the “questionERS” and the haters out there, but I won’t waste valuable time. There’s just too many people that need to be reached.

1. Jesus is powerful! In Matthew 16 Jesus tells us that He will build His church. I believe that Jesus is building his church at Revolution! This whole thing is bigger than any of us and He wants to do immeasurably more at Revolution than we could ever dream up.

2. Found people find people! Brangers brought it! Seriously, the reason we had 862 people at Revolution this weekend was because the people that are living out their faith at Revolution went out and invited people like crazy! The week before Easter, I personally invited about twenty people…and it was funny because out of those twenty people, three of them said “oh yeah, I was invited already and I will be there!”

3. Saved people serve people! I have never seen so many people step up, work so hard and unify around a common goal to pull off something so great! We had more people serving on REV Teams than ever before. Every single team did incredible and went above and beyond to make people feel welcomed and loved.

The fruit of all of this was over 30 people accepting Christ, 12 Easter Egg hunts, 4 worship experiences, over 60 first time families and lots of life change!!!

I am extremely grateful for every person that served, every person that invited and for our powerful God!

Thank you for serving God and loving people Revolution Church! You are incredible!

But that doesn’t mean we can’t disagree on things. In fact, unity is most important when we disagree…not when we agree! And I would argue that you aren’t really unified if disagreement doesn’t exist.

Its HOW we disagree that is important.

There will always be disagreements. The first church dealt with this all the time. One example that comes to mind is found in Acts 15:36-41.

True there are some essentials, mainly theological issues, that we must agree on, but there are also TONS of things that there is room for disagreement on.

Recently, Michael Lukaszewski spent some time talking about unity with some of our team. It was AMAZING stuff. I adopted it and adapted it a little, but he gets credit.

Check out this list of how to disagree in a way that promotes unity and helps us push forward in loving God, loving people and starting a spiritual revolution in one life at a time:

1. Disagree EARLY. If you wait around and let something fester, it only gets worse. And I would say, if something is bothering you so much, why in the world would you wait around to talk about it? Don’t wait around…if you are bothered, speak now.

2. Disagree in Private. Shouting a disagreement across the room or in front of a group hardly promotes unity. This is a biblical principle found in Matthew 18:15-18. Disagree in private and praise in public! Facebook and Twitter are not the place to shout a disagreement!

3. Disagree Personally. Yup. Face to face. Going behind someone’s back NEVER helps. Going behind someone’s back is one of the most selfish and childish things you can do. We aren’t junior high anymore. Let’s act like adults.

4. Disagree Appropriately. The president of the united states is not the best person to go to if you need a pothole on your street fixed. A while back a woman came up to me after church. She was escorted by a staff member. Just by her appearance I could tell that she was very upset. I figured I said something from stage that hacked her off. Needless to say, I was very surprised when she said “Pastor, there wasn’t any toilet paper in one of the stalls today.” As much as I wanted to help her, I don’t have a key to the toilet paper dispensers and I honestly don’t even know where we keep the stuff. Gosh, I hope I don’t ever get “stuck” with no paper! There is an appropriate “chain of command” in most churches and organizations. Dragging your issue straight to the pastor just shows that you don’t understand leadership.

Ultimately, unity is about choosing honor over your need to be right. Do you care more about your own preferences or are you willing to do what Christ called us to do – take up your cross and follow Him? To be unified under one vision, we have to put the vision and mission above our own preferences.

At Revolution Church, we are united under one vision. We just believe that seeing lives changed is what God has called us to…so we aggressively defend that vision and move forward in faith, with unity!