there's no place I'd rather be ...

I just wrapped up the craziest and fullest few months of my life ...

I finished a challenging theology course in my Masters program, brought our 4th child Alicia Amy Edwardson onto the planet, tackled a thick series on 'Heaven' at the Stirring, and we just hosted our first 'When God Dreams' Conference ...

It's been such an amazing few months ... my daughters bring me so much joy ... my son can beat up your son ... I'm enjoying spending time with my brothers and their wives ... my parents are so encouraging and generous ...

I love our church ... our church is the bomb ... I'm not talking about Sundays, I'm talking about the people ... the people who serve and the people who love and the people who worship and the people who encourage me and hold up my arms every day ... the ones who carry ladders and speak words of life and put courage in me ... that's the church ... thank you for being WHO God has CREATED you to be ... I'm proud to raise my family in our church ...

I just spent the last hour hanging out with my wife on a couch ... there's no place I'd rather be ... I'm fried and ready for bed ...

the first Stirring conference ...

it all begins tomorrow night at 7 p.m. ...
20 churches ...
120 peeps ...
American Apparel t-shirts ...
clouds and ladders ...
worship and painting ...
new films ...
bohemian drum circle ...
lattes ...
creative church forum ...
dream sessions ...
and of course, Jesus Himself ...
seriously, how the heck did we get this crazy idea to do a conference?
don't miss it!

Unleashing the power of everyone ...

tonight we began our Acts series ... we're calling it unleashing the power of everyone ... in Acts, Jesus says, "you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you!" ... our prayer is that God would give us the courage and boldness to live filled with His Holy Spirit ...

our 'When God Dreams' Conference is this weekend ... I'm spending the next few days praying and preparing for the Conference ... at this point, we have more than 20 different churches from our city and beyond coming to be involved ... I'm so grateful for everyone helping create and dream and pull this thing off ... props to our amazing Stirring team ...

My wife and I saw Wolverine Friday night ... amazing! ... we're huge X-Men fans ... if you could be any mutant, what would you be? ...

Courage ...

I met with Banning today over lunch to share hearts and get ready for the 'Dreams Conference' this May ... it's going to be amazing ... as of now, we have over 15 different churches coming and so many creative leaders, pastors, church planters, business men, worship leaders, filmmakers, songwriters, and people just hungry to dream with God ... one of the themes this year is going to be courage ... more than anything, we need courage to dream with God ... there is a war for courage and an enemy who lives to discourage ... we need courage to rise up and chase after God's dreams with boldness and passion ...

Over the past few weeks, I've been reading the book of Acts to prepare for our Acts series this summer ... seriously, Acts is such a dangerous book ... it confronts us and threatens us ... it's impossible to read the story of Acts and not be filled with courage to follow Jesus ... it's a great time to be alive!

I've wanted to teach through this book for a long time ... in the first chapter, Jesus makes this amazing promise ... that the Holy Spirit would come up on us and that we would have power ... power to love and power to serve and power to forgive and power to cast out demons and power to prophecy and power to heal the sick and power to raise the dead ... is that your life?

Years ago, someone asked me this question? ... "If the Holy Spirit removed Himself from your life for a day, would anyone even notice?" ...

I want my life to be so filled with love and courage and so defined by the power of the Holy Spirit that people around me are drawn deeper into a life with God ... I can't wait to see what God does in our church this summer ...

it's a great time to be alive ...

I'm stoked about the next few months ...

Easter and baptisms ... I get to baptize great friends ...

Catalyst Conference in Southern California ... it's gonna be sweet!

When God Dreams Conference ... our first Stirring Conference ... crazy!

Family vacation to San Clemente ... our favorite family vacation spot ... skunks and the beach!

Summer ... we love summer!

It's a great time to be alive ... and to have four kids and a mini-van!

when God dreams and big fish ...

this Sunday, we're beginning a new series at the Stirring called "I am Jonah" ...

God calls and just like Jonah, we run ... God pursues and just like Jonah, we hide ... God sends storms and just like Jonah, we are exposed ... God sends fish and just like Jonah, we get swallowed up by huge fish ... we are Jonah ...

I'm stoked about our When God Dreams Conference ... so many amazing friends getting involved with this conference ...

Banning Leibscher, pastor at Bethel Church, who leads Jesus Culture and the Campus Awakening movement, will be speaking at our conference ...

Stu Streeter, who is currently planting Disciples Church in Sacramento, will be coming up with his team to be involved with the creative church planting bit ...

I just got off the phone with Sean McMasters, who recently planted Antioch Church on the streets of Santa Cruz ... Sean is coming up to bring his passion for church planting an evangelism ...

I can't wait to spend some time dreaming and praying and seeking God with these guys ...

when God dreams conference ...

in a few months, we're hosting our first Stirring conference ...

When God dreams is a conference that inspires people to become God dreamers ... God is a dreamer, but when God dreams, He dreams through His children ... and we believe that God is looking for men and women who will lock onto His dreams and run with them ...

for three days in May, we're inviting emerging leaders, church planters and creative minds to come together for provoking dialogue, worship and teaching ... more than just an event, our prayer is that this conference will be an experience that will leave people encouraged, inspired and ready to chase after the dreams God has placed in them ...

Banning Liebscher and I will be speaking in the main sessions ... my brother Jeremy Edwardson and our worship leader Jenna Barney will be leading worship with the Stirring team ... we'll have breakout sessions and creative church forums to dream together for the future ...

if you want to be involved or have any creative ideas, please let me know ... until then, rock on ...