So it has been a long time since I have posted here.  A part of me wishes that I had written something soon after the Exponential West Coast Conference, because some really wonderful things happened there.

Maybe I should just hit the highlights.  Maybe that will jog my memory a bit.

Exponential is a church planting conference.  Church planting is kind of like the space program of the church; it pushes the envelope and develops new strategies for evangelism and discipleship.  So even if you are not interested in planting a church, you can still learn a lot.

There were really great speakers, too many to mention.  Max Lucado was definitely a highlight, but so were Joby Martin, Derwin Gray, and Oscar Muriu.   I think, though, two speakers really stood out.  JD Greear has been beating the drum of multiplication and releasing leaders and resources to start new churches.  Ying Kai is a church planter in China whose organization has baptized 1.7 million (yes, you read that correctly) people in 20 years.  And he freely gives away what he has learned.  As I write this, I realize that I will spend some time blogging about this in the future.

What I want to say now… God does some amazing things.  I just keep finding that he puts so many people in our path.  I don’t know where to start so maybe with the first crazy thing.  In the first breakout session, the guy presenting talks a bit to me and says, “Hey, you’re from Kentucky, go meet Jamey!” So I meet Jamey, who planted a church in Louisville, but is now planting a church in Phoenix.  Where are his parents from, and where did he spend most of his summers as a kid? Menifee County!  We hope to have a conversation with him to reach out to some of his family who still live there!

Some of you know how much I agonize for places that don’t have the Gospel preached, and how much I am distressed that California, my home state, the state with the most population in the U.S. has so few Methodists.  My great-great grandmother was a Methodist from Bitterwater.  I can’t imagine what a middle-of-nowhere that place was 140 years ago… and still a Methodist circuit rider went out there, because even though homesteads were few and far between, there were souls there to save!

Anyway, one day at Exponential, I was in the bookstore of the church that was hosting the Conference.  They have their own Lifeway bookstore…which is another story.  I see a guy whose name tag says he is from my dad’s hometown.  He and his wife are planting there. She left and was never going back, but she said they were visiting and saw so much pain and brokenness and they wanted to plant a “life-giving church for God’s people.” God was working on me, because I woke up the next morning weeping with the joy of the Lord! The Holy Spirit had started working me over before I woke up!  I was so blown away that this couple was there!  God spoke plainly. “Don’t worry about California.  I’ve got that.  What I don’t have is Eastern Kentucky.”

I had to laugh, because as I look back on my intense prayer time last year where God told me I could ask Him for anything I wanted, and after weeks of Him pushing me to ask for something real, for something only He could do and only He could get any credit for, I finally blurted out, “Give me a disciple-making movement that wins Eastern Kentucky to Christ!” He worked me around to where my heart broke for what breaks His; He led me to follow where He was going.  I am so thankful! Otherwise I would be roping the wind.

This Conference was in many ways a dream.  I took Jessie, Mike (our planter in Frenchburg) and Jacob, who I hope will be able to come on board at our church to lead worship in a third service.  I keep wanting to take more and more people, to let them have a taste of the deep desire so many have for evangelism and discipleship.

New Hope Discipleship Movement.

Next Sunday, I will be heading to the Exponential West Conference in Orange County, CA.  There is a pre-conference event called The National Discipleship Forum, which is hands down the best event I have been to anywhere, anytime.  Exponential is the largest gathering of church planters in the world.  The one in Orlando in the spring has about 5,000 in attendance.  I think West has about 2,000.  I love going because of the energy and optimism.  It's thousands of people who believe everyone is going to be baptized... tomorrow!  The worship is some of the best I know of and the teaching is from the best practitioners.  Even though it is church planting-specific, church planting is kind of like the space program of the church-- it develops great evangelism and discipleship tools.

Jessie, Mike Adams (our former youth pastor who is planting our church in Frenchburg, KY) and Jacob Wilson are going with me.  I hope to keep taking more people each year. The Discipleship Forum by itself is worth the time and effort to get to.  If you have a holy discontent about the church, about your own discipleship, let's talk.  New Hope Discipleship Movement (a non-profit Mike, Wes, and I set up to start new churches in Appalachia) will be taking a crew to Orlando in April. Hit me up if you want to go.

Pray for us-- for safe travel, for great fellowship, for deep learning.  Last year I went with Mike and Jacob.  Jesus wrecked our lives.  I daresay we are still figuring out what happened, still dealing with the fallout, still putting things into place to be better at making disciples. Pray that we get wrecked again, hearts broken for the neglected mission of making disciples.  Pray that we come back with a spirit of humility, because we are going to be on the cutting edge of the Church.

About this time last year, I went to take one of my 15 minute afternoon naps.  But I could not.  God had me raise my arms in prayer and I knew I just had to keep them there in praise.  After a while, He spoke.  "Ask me for anything you want."  I made a few feeble stabs, ashamed that I was not ready!  Everything I asked for, He said "I already do  that. Ask me for something that only I can do."  I would pray at other times for the next few months, but still was not asking for enough.  I shared this with a small group  of friends, some prayer warriors.  Finally, one day I just cried out in desperation for the mission, "Lord, give me a disciple-making movement that takes back Eastern Kentucky for Christ!" And then there was absolute peace and assurance.  Thus New Hope Discipleship Movement was born.

Small World

I was in Post Falls, Idaho last week at a cool church, Real Life Ministries.  They are a large church, 6,000 + on Sundays, built on discipleship groups.  I am in my second go-round of an Exponential Learning Community-- small groups who get together at high-functioning, discipleship-oriented churches to learn.  I am pretty pumped to be able to take Mike Adams with me.  We will go to two more churches over the next 6 months, in Kansas City and Tacoma.

Anyway, what was really cool: when I introduced myself to some other pastors who just arrived, one guys asks me if I know where Frenchburg, KY is.  His church has been sending mission teams there but has had a hard time getting churches in the area to partner with. Ha ha.  I said, let me introduce you to Mike Adams, the pastor of our church plant in Frenchburg!

Seriously... how do you leave Morehead for Idaho and have a guy ask about Frenchburg?

Maybe the Holy Spirit!  What a divine appointment!

National Discipleship Forum

I am back in Morehead. When we left Orange County, it was sunny and 82. We got into Cincinnati at 10 p.m. and it was cold and raining! Jacob Wilson and I were mock-crying, “Why did we leave? Why did we have to come back? It's so warm out there! And there's In-N-Out. And Laguna Beach.”

This morning I woke up and looked out at the mountains surrounding Morehead, and in 5 days the leaves have changed. What a beautiful thing to come home to.

Mike Adams, Jacob Wilson, and I were at the 2014 Exponential West Coast Conference. But we added to that a pre-conference, the National Discipleship Forum. It was too much. Seriously. I am not sure I can unpack what happened. It will take a while to figure out what happens from here, but it was life-changing.

The National Discipleship Forum was a kind of living room conversation between some of the top “disciplers” if we can say that: Bill Hull, Jim Putman, Jeff Vanderstelt, Francis Chan, K.P. Yohannan and Robert Coleman.

It was amazing to hear these men talking about their passion for making disciples, to hear that there are people who are pressing hard after the same stuff that obsesses my ministry. It was good to hear that I have intuited a lot of it and been doing a lot of it (because it just flows naturally when you decide to follow Jesus) and also to see that there is so much to learn, so much of an adventure yet to go on. I don't have words to explain the Holy Spirit presence. We were all just stunned. Like we were sponges that had been plunged into water and then wrung out.

Maybe one day I can express what happened. For now... I talked to a few of the directors and they were blown away, too, didn't see it coming, the intense presence of the Lord, the real tension on the stage between hard-nosed disciplers resolved by a love for Jesus and His Mission. But they also say they are planning to do this in some other places across the country, maybe Louisville. Get ready. Clear your calendars so we can go together.

Maybe all I can say for now is that this thing that has been building inside me-- that if it is not evangelism leading to discipleship, I don't want to do it-- has finally come out. Now I just want to talk to people about Jesus more than I ever did. I want to submit every aspect of my life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and invite others along, more than ever.

What a disappointing post! I wish I was able to say all that is churning around in my spirit. But maybe that's what Sunday sermons are for...

It was great to be there with Mike and Jacob, wish I could have had more there. I see a network of evangelists and disciplemakers flowing out into the highways and byways of Eastern KY, one of the least-churched places in America. I think that if we had 20 people sold out, fearing nothing but sin and Hell and loving no one but God, Satan's kingdom would come down.

There's this guy I met at the church in Lexington, Jake Bell. He is a phenomenal drummer. He left for LA in 2010. He is paying the rent with his rock, playing with a band that has gigs at Toby Keith's in Las Vegas. He is an in-demand studio musician. We have kept in touch and I knew I had to get out there to see him. So we met up and it was so good to see him happy and doing well. He told me one of the teachers from the boys' school in Lexington is out there, and she remembers the little dudes!

Jake is working with Tim Hutton, a producer in LA, works with well-known bands. Jake is the drummer at his recording studio. So Jake says, let's go up to see Tim at his dad's house. His dad is Danny Hutton, from Three Dog Night. My dad had to remind me of how often I used to sing “Shambala” as a kid! No way! I thought I told Mike and Jacob but they weren't ready to see gold records on the wall. Danny Hutton wasn't there... but next time, because we were invited back.

Can you imagine driving out of North Hollywood up Laurel Canyon Drive? It's like heading straight into the country from the city. So beautiful. Reminded me of my aunt and uncle's house in Topanga Canyon. Steep hill, steep driveway. Incredible hillside homes and views. All the way there, I was praying, “Please Lord, give me a chance to share the Gospel with whoever we meet tonight.”

Well, there was an R&B singer there who was coming to the studio to do some recording. While we were standing around, after getting over the initial wet-blanket of having three pastors in the house, the singer said, “I am just going to put myself out there. I don't know anyone here, first meeting. But I am having a problem with forgiveness. There's a past relationship that I just can't get any forgiveness on.”

I gulped, thanked Jesus and gave my 2 minute presentation on forgiveness. I even got to finish by telling them that the most important thing is that we get forgiveness from Jesus, and that I would pray and they should pray for Jesus to reveal Himself to them, and that they would be His followers. Awkward silence. Did I say too much too soon too uninvited? He looked at me, squinted a moment and said, “I know that. I know that. I just needed to hear it again.”

I am going back next year. Maybe sooner if we get the chance. We were invited back to the house. In fact, after eating burgers in the Roosevelt Hotel (because that's just how we roll) Jake got a text saying if we were still around, they'd be down in 30 minutes to hang with us... but it was late and we had an hour drive and early sessions...

Always ask God to open the door to share what Jesus has done.