Honestly, this conference went to "a whole nutha level" this year.  It was such a motivating, unifying force for our team.  We came back brimming over with passion and vision for our church.  ACC, I promise that you'll see it more and more in the coming weeks and months.

I'll post some Unleash "quick hits" tomorrow.  For now, here are the big things that God drilled into my mind, heart, and spirit last week.

• Our team is the best. I wouldn't trade them for anyone or anything. They've got my back. They would take a bullet for me. And I would return the favor.
• I have no choice but to pursue the vision that God has laid out for us. Other avenues might appear easier, but it would be sinful to pursue anything but God's vision for our church. And that vision is HUGE!
• As a pastor, I can't allow anything to distract me from Jesus. And believe me…there are PLENTY of distractions in ministry.  I've got to say "no" to good things so I can say "yes" to God things.
• Leadership requires huge sacrifice. We love the idea of progress, but not the idea of sacrifice.  You can't have one without the other.  And when it comes to sacrifice, leaders go first.
• Ministry hurts, but great players play hurt. I can't let the wounds keep me from pursuing the ministry that God has laid before me.
• God loves me intensely, deeply, and completely. I know it sounds weird for a pastor to admit this, but I needed this reminder.  God doesn't love me for my ministry.  He doesn't love me for my preaching.  He doesn't love me for my leadership.  God loves me for me. And that blows my mind!

ACC, you may have no idea how true that is of our staff. I'm seeing it up close and personal this week.

As I detailed in my last post, our Children's Minister, Melanie Presta, is having a rough week (to put it mildly).  Here's how we roll at ACC…when one staff member goes down, the rest step up.

There is some big stuff on tap in our children's ministry this week.  I don't have time to go into all the details because it would take a while, but here's the bottom line…almost every staff member and their spouse are making sacrifices to ensure that we don't miss a beat this week.

In fact, our staff is not only going above and beyond for our church this weekend…we're also making sacrifices to help out another church.

Again, I'll spare you the details just because I don't want this post to be a mile long.  Here's what you need to know…our staff is the best on the planet. The best.  I would stack them up against anybody, anytime, anywhere.

Most of you will never even know the sacrifices that our staff and their families are making this weekend (or the sacrifices that happen routinely in our staff).  That's because our staff isn't in the business of seeking recognition or approval from people.

As the lead staff member, I will go to bat for our staff every time.   Church staff members are magnets for criticism. That's true in every church on this planet. But our staff isn't like every other staff.

Before someone criticizes our staff, they need to take a minute and remember that they can't even begin to grasp the amount of sacrifices that this staff makes for our church every single week.

And I've also learned that the loudest critics are usually the laziest people.  It's easy to criticize the people doing the work.  But getting off the bench and into the game is another matter entirely. (I better stop before I start preaching!)

The staff sacrifices more than anybody else in the church.

Dang straight.

Melanie Presta's (ACC's Children's Minister) daughter is in Children's Hospital after being diagnosed with juvenile diabetes.  This came from out of nowhere, so the Prestas had their world completely rocked with this diagnosis today.

Pray for Lexie, her parents Paul and Melanie, and the rest of the family.

Here's a snapshot of what happened on March 5, 1994.

1. I cleaned my truck inside and out. (Yep, I drove a truck back then. And I will again someday.)

2. I picked Nicki up at her house and we made the 45 minute drive from Georgetown to Eastgate.

3. We went to see the movie 8 Seconds at the old Showcase Cinemas. (What else would a couple of country kids go see but a rodeo movie?) Nicki didn't want to cry on our first date, so she fought back tears during the movie. I wanted her to think I was a sensitive guy, so I actually tried to fake a tear or two.  Neither one of us succeeded in our efforts.

4. Dinner at the Eastgate Applebees. I'm not sure I even knew what I was eating.  I was too focused on not saying or doing anything stupid.

5. 45 minute drive home. Once we arrived at her house, she thanked me for the evening and I drove home knowing I was asking this girl out again.

The rest is history. Neither one of us ever dated anyone else from that moment on. And 16 years later, I still don't want anyone else.

This will be the third year I've attended this conference.  I get very emotional at this conference every year.  God uses it to break me…and then remake me. It's an amazing experience…and one that I desperately need every year.

Pray for our team as we travel and as we attend the conference tomorrow.  Pray that God will blow us up with passion and vision for our church!

Obvi0usly the biggest news from Sunday is that we are hiring Thayer Wallace as our new student minister.  We are also saddened that Melanie Presta, our children's minister, is leaving for a new ministry in May.

You can hear Melanie's heartfelt words…Thayer's words of excitement…and the vision from a lot of other staff members…all in one podcast.  Check it out.

Vision Update 2010

Germany – 30

Canada – 26

Norway – 23

Austria – 16

BOOYAH!

I've blogged at least five days a week for the last few years. That's a lot of posts.  And it takes a lot of time.  As ACC has grown and the demands on my time have increased, some changes have become necessary. One of them is scaling back my blogging.

I don't know exactly what this means.  My guess is that it means three new posts per week instead of five. I'm not making any hard, fast rules.  If I've got a lot to share, there will be more posts in a given week.  If I'm tapped out, there will be less.

This is just something I need to do right now.  But I promise that my blog isn't going anywhere. This tool is just too valuable to give up.

We are going to pause our Love Story series for one week.  We're doing that so we can spend this weekend giving a very important vision update.

Last year, we launched a new vision at ACC.  God gave us a very simple, very strategic vision. Our vision is connecting, growing, and serving.

(If you weren't part 0f ACC last fall, you can check out the Simple Church series where we launched our vision.)

As we said last year, the vision has been launched…but it hasn't been implemented yet.  This weekend, we're going to explore what God is doing in our church as we get closer to fully implementing the vision He gave us.  Every staff member will be sharing from the stage this weekend.

This is absolutely a cannot miss Sunday. Big news.  Big announcements.  Big vision.  You've gotta be there.

You need to read the post detailing his experience. It's longer than most of his posts, but take the time to read every word of it.

My Weekend at the Monastery – Josh Young

After reading that, you might be thinking, "That's a bit radical and excessive."

My answer would be, "You're right. We have a staff that is radically and excessively in love with Jesus. And I wouldn't change that for anything."