www.jrlive.net

The new site is up and running! Check it out and let me know what you think...

www.jrlive.net

New Blog

A blog overhaul will happen very soon! I have wanted to change it forever since I have hated the name jrleereveal the entire time I have had this thing; however, I wasn't left many options since I share the same name with the majority of the Far East.

As a result, we changed it up and the new site will be up and running within the next day or so. Jon Kenney is the man! More to come about he and his family at some point tomorrow.

Hamster Ball?

We went to a Grizzlies game tonight at the Forum. When we walked through the doors some guys ask us if Todd and I want to take part in the night's entertainment on the court. We can't pass up an experience like that so of course we said yes.

They took us courtside and explained that we would be racing across the court in a giant hamster ball. When halftime finally rolled around we took our places to get ready for the first TV timeout of the 2nd half.

Then it happened. The race began. Me vs. Todd in front of thousands of mildly amused fans. Our main goal was to not fall on our faces in front of the fans, the players, the cheerleaders, and well - pretty much anyone.

I ended up winning the race by a few feet primarily because Todd's hair was sticking straight up because of all the static and it must have slowed him down. Very interesting night to say the least.

Pretty embarassing - but a lot of fun. I don't know hardly anyone who can say they ran across the floor at the Fedex Forum inside a giant hamster ball. Todd and I have and we will be signing autographs for a small fee. See ya then.

Bed Time

Devin and the girls are in Atlanta hanging out with family, looking for houses, and getting ready for her cousin Lisa's wedding.

Since Devin is gone and I hate making up beds - I have decided to sleep on top of the comforter. Greatest decision ever. I just get another blanket to cover up with and go to sleep. When I wake up in the morning - I throw the other blanket under the bed and I am good to go.

Sheets are overrated...at least for the next week.

Easter thoughts...

Tons of thoughts running through my mind about Easter this morning...

Nothing is more significant than what happened on this day. Nothing.

Easter services for me will never be the same again...Moving from Student Pastor to Lead Pastor of a church plant will change perspective drastically.

I am pumped about hearing what God does today across the country.

I have been praying for several people by name - for their services today.

Jesus is freaking alive! Celebrate!

I love all the food on Easter.

I love hanging out with friends on Easter.

I love seeing life-change on Easter.

Easter - Have a great one!

Team Bushwack...

Todd and I are running in a race this Saturday called the Bunny Run.

It makes me laugh just thinking about the shirt that we will recieve and the fact that we will be running for Team Bushwack. Can't beat that.

Practice run today to start getting ready for the Peachtree Road Race on July 4th.

The past couple of weeks have been pretty intense. It is really strange to have to deal with the many emotions that flood your mind in a time like this.

Excitement about the future as we launch Freedom Church...
Anticipation about what God has in store...
Sadness about leaving people you love...
Stress about the 324,000 details that need to come together...
Living on standby knowing that at any moment a realtor could call your house wanting to do a showing and you immediately need to leave for about an hour...
The list really goes on and on...

I love it. I hate it. I am excited. I am scared. I trust. I doubt. All in all, God has great plans and He has chosen us. Let the adventure begin!

Gators, Buckeyes, and blah, blah, blah...

The National Championship is almost a worst case scenario as far as I am concerned. The only thing that could make it worse would be for Carolina to be playing Florida. For tonight and tonight only - I am the biggest Ohio State fan on the planet.

Let's go Buckeyes!

The real game that matters tonight is the soccer game that will take place after the game. You can't beat late night indoor soccer!

Leading by consensus?

Heard a guy (professor) say the other day that great leaders lead by consensus. He was talking in the context of church leadership and how to effectively maneuver through seasons of change. Most of the people in the room shook their heads in affirmation. That statement and the response to it made me sick.

Let's think about this for just a second. If leading by consensus was the way to go,

Then the nation of Israel would have never left Egypt.
They would have never crossed the Red Sea.
David wouldn't have been able to fight Goliath.
David would have never been crowned King.
I could probably go on forever... By the way, there are a lot of people who are following the majority and the Bible say's that (broad way) leads to destruction.

Lead when you have received a Word from God. Follow it. Follow Him. When people think you are crazy - follow God. When you know the what but not the how - follow God. When people try to hijack the vision - follow God - not the majority.

We have had an incredibly busy and eventful week. Here is the rundown...

1. The house is officially on the market.
2. Devin's having a huge garage sale to get rid of almost everything - which means I will have
to buy it again once we get to GA.
3. A guy (Can't name him yet) that I have been talking to for a long time called yesterday to let
let me know that he is willing (but still praying) to raise his own support in order to be part of
our staff and handle assimilation and small groups. This would be a HUGE freakin blessing!
M - remember that this needs to happen. God has spoken!
4. Church Planters are in the greatest fraternity known to man. Everyone is very willing to
help in any way they can. Thank you Gary, Perry, Steven, Tadd, Woody, and the list goes on
and on.
5. We are already thinking, dreaming, etc. about what Easter will look like next year at
Freedom Church.
6. I am having an extremely difficult time with the idea of not being the High School Pastor at
Crosspointe.
7. I am pumped about having a blast for the next 5 weeks while I am here.

Quotable...

Todd and I went to the hospitals today to visit some people and it took about 231 years to find somewhere to park. We would still be there looking except for the fact that I chose to just invent a space rather than circle the parking lot for the rest of my life.

Steven Furtick wrote the other day that they have a "Quote Box" that they use to write down anything that is said that seems pretty random, ridiculous, funny, or just plain dumb. Since we are some of the most random people on the planet, I loved the idea.

With that in mind, while we were searching for a spot at Methodist North - Todd blurts out "why are there so many people in the hospital - it is sunny outside?"

Congratulations Todd. You were first to make the list.

Lovin it

Great weekend of college basketball! An incredible miracle did occur this week when all 4 of my original final four picks made it through. Can't get much better than that. If Georgetown can pull it out - my bracket will be complete.

For this week and this week only- I am a huge UCLA fan. I hate the Gators with a passion almost as much as I hate it when people pull for an entire conference (SEC fans!).

Just for the record, as a Duke fan - I was NOT pulling for Carolina on Sunday. I wouldn't pull for Carolina if they were playing in the Olympics against North Korea.

To all the Tar Heels of the world...after all your talk - your boys will be watching the Final Four from a couch just like mine. Let's Go Duke!

What are we thinking?

This has been an emotional roller coaster already and we are not even that far into the process.

It is amazing how easy it is to question God's trustworthiness in spite of the fact that He has proven Himself faithful time and time again. Total reliance on God is something I am learning every day.

At this particular time in my life - I can honestly say that I feel more reliant on Him than ever. He has to come through in a big way in order for Freedom Church to even have a chance. We can't do this thing on our own. We can't even come close! The comfort in that is this - if we could accomplish it, then our vision would not be big enough. If it wasn't scary - same thing.

Apparantly, we have a huge vision because this is by far the scariest thing we have ever done. We are trusting God for huge things - impossible things - supernatural things. Things that can only be explained by the touch of the Savior. Get ready everyone. The journey will be amazing!

Thank you, thank you, thank you

Telling the students that we were going to be starting a new chuch was TOUGH! Their response has been incredible. It was a crazy night but already today I have been encouraged through tons of phone calls, text messages, etc., etc. I flat out love the students at Crosspointe. God has given us some of the best on the planet.

We have seen the supernatural touch of God as over 450 have been saved and baptized in the past 4 years. We have also been through great times and we have been through some extremely tough times.

Through it all - God has been faithful. I look forward to the next 5 weeks at H2O. I can't wait to see what God has in store. To the students who do happen to read this thing - remember what was said last night. Remember that I love you and that God is not done in Millington, TN.

What's Next?

Here is a post from Todd that perfectly communicates what I need to say regarding this next phase of our lives. I am going to cut and paste; however, if you would like to read the post in it's entirety you can do right here.

About two years ago, God began to place an idea and a dream in the hearts and minds of JR Lee and myself. At first, it was nothing more than that. Just a thought and a dream. As time moved on, we began to think about and pray about it more and more. Both of us had opportunities to go different places that would be appealing to any Student Pastor but every time, God said no. This was instrumental in the process by helping us to seek what God’s plan was for us long term. God began to confirm in our hearts that his plan for us was to plant a new church. This was hard for us to believe because neither of us had ever started a church or served in any other capacity than student ministry. We both love student ministry and really cannot imagine doing anything else. However we know that God has called JR to be the Lead Pastor and me to serve as the Associate Pastor. We began to meet and discuss this calling on our lives with Pastor Steve and Perry. They were 100% supportive.

The next question was when. As we have prayed through this process, this has been the toughest part. We had originally planned to leave in January. We were hoping that Crosspointe would have a pastor by then. We were hoping for a new Pastor because we knew that would be a better time for us to leave. Needless to say, that didn’t happen. God has confirmed to us that the time is now. This dream and vision has consumed us. It is all we think about. It is all we dream about. It keeps us awake at night.Therefore, we announced to the students last night that we are resigning our positions here at Crosspointe to follow this dream that the Lord has given us. We will announce to the church on Sunday. We will be at the church through April 29. We desire to help with the transition to ensure that ministry continues in both the High School and Middle School Ministries.

There are tons of emotions running through my head today. I am excited about the future. God is going to do something so big that it is going to blow our minds. I constantly dream about what it is going to be like in a year, 3 years, 5 years, etc.-I am scared to death. Where is the funding for this plant going to come from? Is my house going to sell quick enough? Is my family going to have food to eat? Are the students at Crosspointe going to be ok? Am I going to be able to function in a role that I have never served in before?-I am deeply saddened. Some of my best friends in the entire world are here. The greatest Middle and High School students in the world live here. I am going to miss them all. It is going to be really hard to leave here. That's all I will say about that right now because the tears will start to flow.

Obviously, we are learning more and more about trusting God. I am learning more and more that He is sovereign and trustworthy. I still have a long way to go!What can you do? Pray, Pray, Pray. Look for more information and thoughts about this whole process on a daily basis. I am so excited that I can now write about this because I want you to know my heart and the journey that God is taking us on.

Longest Day Ever

Today will go down in my brief 27 year history as being one of the longest days of my life. It's a long story that I will explain in more detail tomorrow at some point. By the way - tomorrow also marks the day that many changes will be coming to this blog. (Karen - you will be very excited)

With that in mind, I am going on back to high school tomorrow. Me and a bunch of broadcasting students from Brighton High are going on a field trip tomorrow and I get to be the chaperone. This should be very interesting.

Risking it all

Sometimes following God seems extremely risky. It would be easy to just go through the motions and never challenge the status quo. God has so much out there for the people who are willing to trust Him enough to take huge risks.

If your vision is safe - than it is probably not from God. If you vision won't cost you something - than it is probably not from God. If people don't think you are crazy when you explain it - than it is probably not from God.

Typically, God shows you the "what" before He shows you the "how". Trust Him anyway! Chase the God given dreams in your life. Make a difference! Leave a legacy!

Bracket Challenge

As most guys on the planet this time of year - I filled out quite a few NCAA tournament brackets. I think I filled out 6 to be exact.

I am not doing too bad - especially in the two brackets that I actually picked my beloved Duke to lose in the first round to VCU. It was a very emotional thing to not pick Duke to win a game and I felt like I had forsaken my first love and the book of Revelation had been written just for me.

It's all good. With everyone staying in school and the addition of 3 (possibly a 4th) McDonalds All Americans coming to campus next year - it could be ugly for the rest of the ACC. Enjoy it while it lasts America -- Duke will be back!

Major Changes coming soon

In the next several days this blog will take on a new identity. The look will stay about the same until I can figure out how to change it (or find someone who can do that for me), but the content will be changed up a little bit.

Look for the changes to take place around Thursday or Friday.

You have got to be kidding me...

This kid has got to go. I don't think I can stand it anymore! I am pretty sure America is playing a huge joke on Sanjaya Malakar by allowing him to stay on American Idol. One more week my friend. One more week.

Part of the journey

I am learning a ton right now about things I have always heard but have never actually experienced. It's a weird transition to move from hearing about various challenges to actually experiencing them firsthand.

The journey is tough - but it is one that must continue...

Downtown

I love downtown Memphis. I try to get down there as much as I can to hang out, eat at Big Foot, and just watch the people. Such a wide variety of people up and down Beale St. It makes me think about their lives, their emotions, their preconceived ideas about God and the church...

It is pretty amazing to me that the message of Christ can bring hope to ALL people. The problem I guess is that we try so hard to force people to fit into the "Christian" subculture rather than realizing that God is big enough to relate to everyone just as they are.

We have to realize that we can't change anyone - nor should that be our primary concern... Our concern should simply be to build relationships and love people towards Jesus. When we do that it allows God to change the heart - the only One who can do it in the first place.

Commercials

As a Duke fan, my favorite commercial on the planet comes courtesy of DirecTV. Gotta love being reminded of a Weber State upset of Carolina 15 times a day this time of year.

This wasn't our year - but it's not far away. Let's Go Duke!

Random thoughts...

Lots of friends and family in town this weekend. It has been great to see some people I haven't seen in a while and to hang out with my parents as well.

Just found out that my mom and dad LOVED the O.C. I think that is very funny. For the record my mom thinks that the Bullet is way cooler than Ryan's dad.

I heard a noise outside the house today. I walked out there and Devin was using an electric hedgetrimmer. That is strange to me.

Learning to trust God with more than ever. I am not there yet- but the process has definitely begun.

American Idol is a Joke

American Idol is unbelievable! It is hard to fathom that an entire country can be quite as stupid as they were from Tuesday - Thursday night.

The fact that that Sanjaya is in the top 12 makes me want to puke. Just looking at him makes me cringe much less having to listen to his wretched voice. He is like a modern day William Hung only not quite as entertaining.

A girl will win this year - and it won't even be close.

Back to Back

It is official. Our guys team has repeated as back to back champions!

We played flat in the first half and only went into the break with a few point lead. The second half was a little better and we were able to pull out a 20 point win.

Congratulations to Jesse, Mark, TJ, Javan, Blake, Drew, Jay, Deandre, Terry, Seth, Daniel, and Josh! You deserve it!

It all comes down to this

One more guys game this year to determine if we will be able to repeat as champions. The game takes place tonight and our guys are pumped.

We have lost only two games in the past two years and we are not looking to make it number three.

This has been a crazy year so far. We had one bad game, one go into overtime, but other than that we haven't won by less than 10 to anyone. Add to the mix a 77-2 win -and it had made for some exciting basketball.

It all goes down at 7. You don't want to miss it.

Fire!

Iwalked into my office the other day and smelled something burning. I had no idea what it was and couldn't figure it out so I just left it alone.

A few minutes later my computer starts acting really strange. I get down on the floor and look behind the "brains" of the system and I see smoke coming out the back. I turned the thing around and realized that the inside of my computer was on fire.

Not like a stop, drop, and roll kind of fire - but mostly just a "dang...my computer is on fire" kind of fire. Anyway, in spite of everything - nothing was lost except for the time it took to get the dumb thing fixed.

Duke / UNC

Quick Thoughts...

The game turned on one play...Duke down two with the ball. Paulus drives and dishes to McClure. Ball slips through his hands. Carolina grabs posession and hits a three. Game over at that point.

Roy Williams get a clue. Get your starters off the court with the big lead with less than a minute to play. Duke's starters weren't in the game at that point - yours shouldn't have been either.

As a result, your best player's nose is buried somewhere inside of his face. (Flagrant foul - yes. Ejection worthy? - No!) When Billy Packer argues for Duke - you know the refs made a bad call.

End result - Carolina Wins (Give them credit). One guy walks off the court crying and the entire other team walks off the court counting down the days till next year.

Let's go Duke!

Revenge

We have been looking forward to last night's game all season long. Our guys team lost the first game of the year to a very good team. We were out of sync that night - primarily because we were missing two starters, one who happens to be a very large individual.

Entering the game last night we were 5-1 and they were still undefeated. Big game to say the least.

We played a mixture of three different defensive schemes which presented huge matchup problems for them. Our defense played another great game.

Offensively, we played well enough to win. Missed some free throws, but made them down the stretch.

When it was all said and done we had avenged a 20 point loss with a 13 point win. We have one more game and then the real season begins...Tournament time starts in 8 days.

We have a championship to defend!