We had our annual staff Christmas party.  It was awesome.  Great friends, food, and Brandon was hilarious.

Ladies and gentlemen…my fantasy football team won today and I am playing for the championship next week.

This is amazing as I was the last position in the playoffs…

My team has a few guys that need to have big weeks next week.

• Adrian Peterson
• Peyton Manning
• Jamel Lewis
• Brandon Marshal
• Vincent Jackson

I heard recently that someone said that “Elevation Church has too many staff members for a church its size.”

I have two problems with that statement.

1-What is our size?

• We don’t have members.
• Do we only count those on average that show up physically to our Sunday morning gatherings?
• What about those that work on Sundays and listen to our podcast? We have roughly 2200 podcast listeners a week.
• Is it how many unique visitors interact with our website?
• Or the total number of all those that go to our house churches?

2-I believe staff serve two purposes.

• To motivate and influence the body.
• To equip the body for ministry.

So we staff for the size of body that we want to influence and equip…not for the size we want to maintain.

Anyways…I bring up all of this cause we have been putting together staff evaluations, job descriptions, staff handbooks, and staff notebooks.  It has been awesome.  If you want any of these for your church or to just look at, let me know.

I believe in job descriptions cause they are a form of communication and expectations.  Clearly defined expectations make for better understanding within team relationships.

This morning we had to take Madison to the doctor’s office again.  Her little body just couldn’t get rid of the fever.  She has been fighting a temp since last Wednesday when we first took her to the doctor.

Good news and Bad news.

Good news:  The doctor said that Madison’s strep throat is gone and gave her new medicine for her new problems that should clear everything up in 48 hours, but we are already seeing signs of major improvement today.

Bad News:  She has some other type of bug that is causing the fevers, runny nose, pink swollen eyes, and stomach problems.

Ami and I haven’t had much sleep lately.  I think I got about 3 total hours last night, fell asleep today sitting on the couch just waiting for Ami to come back in the room to talk to me.  We are both exhausted.

Madison is exhausted as well.  Has no energy.  Winy, like all little kids can get when they don’t feel good, and very on edge.

Your prayers are appreciated.

I saw this earlier this week and was going to post it, but my daughter being sick as kept me behind.

The Senate Finance Committee has asked six megachurch preachers and televangelists to  provide them with detailed reports on how they’re spending the donations they are receive.  They want to make sure that these ministries are not violating their tax-exempt status.

Creflo Dollar, a televangelist, is refusing to turn over his financial reports.  He is basically telling them to subpoena him and his church.

The committee has also asked for financial reports from:

• Kenneth Copeland
• Benny Hinn
• Eddie Long
• Joyce Meyer
• Paula White

I’m a little worried about Dollar not wanting to turn over his reports.  If they are not doing anything wrong they shouldn’t try to fight this battle with the Senate.  The tax-exempt status that is given to churches is a great benefit and churches across the country should be very open with their spending practices.

There are a few ministries out there that want to make it their job to check out these large ministries’ financial trust.  One being www.ministrywatch.com, not sure how I feel about these groups either.  Can’t see how that is a call of what we are to do as ministers of the gospel.  But, I’m not God…

I know not everyone is going to agree with where every penny is being spent, but there is something about being transparent with your spending as a church.

We just finished our budget meeting Thursday night for the next six months.  We decided to set out our budget for the next six months and then revamp the budget in June.  Our long meeting Thursday night was a great meeting.  We looked at past spending, talked about the vision of Elevation, and how we can spend the resources God has given us to fulfill that vision.  We don’t have an annual income of $69 million like Dollar does at his church, but what we do have we want to spend with the same heart as if we had $100 million.

We have made it a long standing policy that if someone is giving to Elevation Church we will show them the financials.  No one has ever questions our spending or demanded to see anything, I think that is because once a year we give everyone a look at the over-all spending…no matter who they are.  We even tell them how much money we raise for church planting in Utah.

There is something about being very open with our money as a church.  I’m sad to see this story in the news about Dollar.

Read the story here. 

I’m at home all day today.

Madison woke up yesterday with a 105 temp. As you can guess we took her to the doctor to find out she has strep throat. Daddy’s little girl is down for the count right now.

My wife couldn’t take the day off of work and we didn’t want to get anyone, including Berlyn, sick so we decided to take Berlyn to Grandma’s house today and I would stay home with Madison.

She is sleeping next to me right now on the couch, as I’m typing up my sermon notes for Sunday. I actually write everything in my journal and then the Thursday before I speak I type it all out. It helps me really understand my material, re-think the flow, and then it allows me a text copy I can email to staff or anyone else that ask for a copy.

Pray for Madison. She is not her normal bouncing around the house self…

Ok, so have you heard the bickering over this new movie THE GOLDEN COMPASS?  Christian groups are saying it is anti-church and anti-God.

I know nothing about any of this.  I was at lunch yesterday and was asked my opinion.  All I had heard was that my brother-in-law went to the movie and it was a great flick.

So, I decided to do some research today on the internet to understand this whole thing.  I had seen the previews on TV and wanted to take my daughter Madison on a daddy daughter date, so I thought I should explore this controversy.

I kept all of my internet research to news stations.  Reading interviews and reading what the author of the original books that the movie was adopted.  My brother-in-law gave me his brief description of the three books that make up the book trilogy.

You see, the author is an outspoken atheist who in the interviews that I have read really makes it seem as though he wrote these books to help kids question God and the Catholic Church.

Here is part of an article I found on FoxNews.com, you can read the whole article here.   Another great article by the associated press is found here.

“I loathe the ‘Narnia’ books,” Pullman has said in previous press interviews. “I hate them with a deep and bitter passion, with their view of childhood as a golden age from which sexuality and adulthood are a falling away.” He has called the series “one of the most ugly and poisonous things” he’s ever read.

“What this book is about is casting off Church authority,” Gaylor said. “I think it’s very, very positive. There should be something for freethinking children. It’s a very good yarn.”

All interviews that I have seen really talk extensively that NewLine the company that did this $180-million dollar movie did everything they could to take the religious thoughts and anti-religious elements out of the film.  Yet, like most films…if the movie is really good does that lead to people reading the books that do have these things in them?

So, do you watch the movie and just stay away from the books? Or, does the attention the movie get lead others to the books?  I’m not sure on taking my daughter anymore.  What are your thoughts?

Last night from 7-9pm, TV20, the studio that aired our TV Show, The Breakdown, had an open house.

The general public was invited to walk through the studio, meet all the the on-air personalities, and have some hot coco & cookies.

I really didn’t know what to expect…

What we found out was that we have a lot of people that really did watch our show and really enjoyed it.   It was fun to talk about past shows, shake hands with those that watched, and see people I have never met recognize us as they walked through the studio.

We were asked over and over…“is there going to be a season 2?”  Good question.