-3 Things for 2015-

The month of January is going to be huge for the future of REVO Church.  Here are 3 reasons why you DON'T want to miss the next 4 weeks:

1.  We're going to share with you what we're launching in 2015 that I believe will allow us to see a bigger and more significant impact than anything we've ever done before.  EVER.

2.   We're going to ask you to do one simple thing that will not only change someone's life, but can alter the course of human history. (It's already happened once, so I know it can happen again!)

3.  We're going to tell you the one thing that we MUST do before any of the other things are even a possibility.

Is it hard?  Sure.
Is it risky?  Absolutely.
Is it impossible?  I'm pretty sure it is.

Are we going to do it anyway?  Yep.

Hopefully you'll be a part of it with us as we Spark a Revolution of Life Change through Jesus.


Check out the website HERE for times and locations.

Revelation Beats Imitation Every Time!

Success stories are a dime a dozen today.  It's not hard to find books and blogs written by people that are doing it right.  Conferences abound with speakers that have seen success in their church or business.  Somebody somewhere tried something, and it worked!  The next step in the process is obviously to share that success story in hopes that it inspires others.

Unfortunately that can lead to cookie cutter ideas.  Leaders will look at these success stories and try to hit the "copy" and "paste" button.  Surely if it works for that guy, then it'll work for me.

There are usually 2 things forgotten in this copy-cat model:

A.  Context.  Their success story came at their church, in their city, with their demographic, in their time frame, with their level of spiritual maturity.  Your context may have absolutely nothing in common with their context, but we often still expect the same results as long as we follow the "3 simple steps."

B. Revelation.  The plan that you see blossoming on the other side of the country (or the other side of the world!) may very well be the result of a leader getting on his face, pleading with God for the plan that He has for that particular church.

They may be famous for the 4-step process, but what you don't know is the hours spent praying, fasting, seeking, and listening to God.

You read their books and blogs, but will probably never see the journals documenting the struggle, the faith, and the desire for obedience and an individual anointing from God.  Everyone wants the success without the story.

Our time calling out to the missions, discipleship, and church growth experts takes place of our time calling out to the Creator of those areas, the one who defines what ministry success really means.


When Moses died at the end of Deuteronomy, Joshua took over.  And what was the first thing he did?

Re-live all of Moses' successes?
Try to pull the old "plagues" trick?
Look for a burning bush?
Split the sea down the middle?
Pick up the stone writing tablets?

No, not any of those.  In Joshua 1, he received from God his specific calling.

God told Joshua what He wanted HIM to do.  Here is the plan I have for YOU, for the people YOU have with you right now, at the location that YOU are in, and for the future that I have for YOU and these people.


God, what would you have for me to do, in the city where I am, for the church that you've entrusted me to lead, with the people that are attending here?  That kind of revelation from God beats imitation every time!

-Family Meeting-

As many of you know, at our 2-year birthday service we announced that REVO Church is going to start another REVO campus in the North W/S area in 2013.  We've put in a timeline for this campus to launch at the end of the fall of this year.  We want to have these family meetings to keep you in the loop of new details as they come about.  There are just a few things that I want to let you know:

1. This new REVO campus may be hard to wrap your mind around, so I want to give you some terminology that we use and you will continue to hear used around REVO.  This new campus means that we will be "1 Church in 2 Locations."  We will be 1 church (REVO Church) that meets in 2 different locations.  The campus names will have words tagged on to the end (REVO downtown and REVO North are possible names), but that's just to distinguish what campus we're talking about.  It's not to distinguish 2 different churches.  Let me give you an example:

Before Easter, REVO had an 11am service and a 6pm service.  The audience in these services were very different.  Many of the 11am attenders never went to the 6pm service, and vice versa.  However, we were still 1 church.  It wasn't 2 churches meeting separately.  It was 1 church meeting at 2 different times.  This new campus will be similar.  Right now, REVO North is meeting at 6pm on Sunday nights.  It's still REVO!  It's not us vs. them.  It's not the mother ship downtown and the church plant on the North side.  It's 1 church that meets at 2 different times, and also 2 different locations.

When you attend a REVO North service, you will see all of the same aspects that you find at the current REVO services: rWorld, guest services and hospitality, great worship music, and biblical teaching.

So remember that phrase: ONE church in two locations.

2. This new REVO campus will have a Campus Pastor.  The is what a campus pastor does.  They will pastor the people there, preach there, and be a missionary in that area of the city.  They will be the point person for that campus and the people that attend there.

Which brings us to the exciting news of who the campus pastor will be at REVO North.

3.  After months of praying and seeking God on the direction and plan that He has for REVO, the SLT has decided that Wesley Johnson is going to be the campus pastor of REVO North.  Wes and Heather have spent a lot of time praying together and investing their lives in the North side of the city and feel that God is calling them to take this new position with REVO Church.  We are extremely excited about what God is doing there, and we are 100% confident that Wes is the one that God has called out to take this leadership position on.

4.  Let me make this clear!  We are not losing anybody!  We are not sending anyone away never to be seen or heard from again.  Since we are 1 church in 2 locations, Wes is still a pastor on staff at REVO.  The only thing that has changed is his job description.

Also, since the campus isn't going to launch until late in the fall, Wes will still be here on Sunday morning leading worship or playing in the band at the downtown location just like he always is.  After the North campus launches, he will also be at the downtown campus about once a month after the launch to lead worship or preach just like he is doing now.  So honestly, if I hadn't have told you, you wouldn't even notice the difference for another 6 months!

One last thing.  We want to make sure that we have all of your questions answered and any concerns that you would have addressed.  I don't want anyone thinking that we're losing someone or that this is a bad thing or you're not excited about it.  So please, if you have any questions at all, send us an email at info@discoverREVO.com and we'll set up an appointment and we'll meet with you sometime and help you any way that we can.

We want to spark a revolution of life change through Jesus, and we know it's going to take more than 1 church to do that in this city.  If we make sure the mission is elevated above everything else, then God will use us to reach this city as we do whatever it takes to get people to Jesus.

I love you guys. I appreciate your sacrifice and everything you do.  I love being on this mission with you, and most of all I'm so humbled to be one of your pastors and have a front row seat to see how God is using you and this church to make Jesus famous.

Growing a Church vs. Reaching a City

Lots of pastors are trying to grow a church.  It sounds ambitious and exciting, but it's actually kind of insignificant, not to mention outside of your calling.

Do you want to grow something?  Grow a business.  Grow a garden.  Grow a beard. Grow your financial portfolio.  But growing a church can't be the reason why you do what you do!

Despite the entrepreneurial sound, church growth is a pretty lame goal.  It's a small vision.  It should be secondary to why you do what you do.  Church growth as an end is too narrow and small minded.

Reaching a city, on the other hand, is big!  That's exciting!  That's a vision that people will laugh at (and if someone isn't laughing at the size of your vision, it's probably because it's too small!)

One of the main differences in church growers and people that want to Reach a City is their mindset towards each other.  

It's Competition vs. Same Team.

Church growers don't like other churches.  They view them as competition.  They think as long as other churches are succeeding, growing, and receiving the blessings of God, then there are fewer people that could be attending THEIR church.  When another pastor succeeds or another church grows, they get jealous.  They are more interested in drawing a crowd than reaching people that don't know Jesus.

Churches that want to Reach their City are different.  They understand that it's going to take more than one church to accomplish a vision of that magnitude.  When other churches succeed, they rejoice knowing that the vision of reaching the city is being accomplished.  All of the growth and success doesn't have to happen at their particular church to be legitimate.  These churches are focused on people far from God meeting Jesus.

To Reach a City, you have to pull the scope back.  You have to stretch your mission and vision.  Success has to be bigger than just your people, your church, your building, your small groups, and your service opportunities.

When your mindset changes, your impact will expand.  The early Church in the New Testament was associated with reaching the entire city!  There was no Main Street Community Church or North Side Church.  Instead, it was the Church in Rome; the Church in Ephesus, Colosse, and Galatia; the Church in Philippi, Corinth, and Thessalonica.  The mindset was reaching the city, not growing a congregation.

So which would you rather do?

-3 Questions that a Mobile Church Answers-

Every week, our staff and volunteer leaders send out an email to our volunteers telling them 2 things: the "what" and the "why."  What are we doing this week at REVO, and why are we doing it?  Here is the email that Chase Lambert, REVO's executive pastor sent out this week.


Hi Team,

When I go to other churches or hang out with people from other churches they ask a lot of questions about REVO. There are a few questions I hear more often than others.

I want to share these questions and how I answer them with you:

Question: "Aren't you tired of moving those heavy boxes around?"

Answer: No. #1. I've got a great team of volunteers to help carry the load. #2. We're rollin'! Everything is on wheels, so it's easy.

Question: "How do you get all of that stuff done every week?"

Answer: Volunteers. We have 15 people on Strike Force setup team and we work for 4 hours... how many hours did we just work? (The answer is 60 hours!) That's a full work week with double overtime! 

Question: "Why do ya'll do it that way?"

Answer: Life Change! When we pour our time and efforts and resources into people rather than property lives are bound to change.

In September this team put 304 hours into sparking a revolution of life change through Jesus. WOW! You people rock! By setting up a distraction free environment we are making Jesus the center of attention. When we tear the roof off and get our friends to Jesus, their lives will be changed! 

Question: How do you spark a revolution of life change through Jesus? 

Answer: ASK A VOLUNTEER AT REVO!!!

REVO Family Meeting, August 2012

1.  ELDERS AT REVO
The government structure at REVO Church is based on an "Elder Lead, First Among Equals" leadership model.  That means that the Lead Pastor (Pastor Nathan) is the leader of the elder team and leads and directs the church.  The Elder team, which consists of our three other pastors and other elder leaders, guide (from the macro-management level) and oversee the implementation of the vision and mission that God has given Pastor Nathan.  As a staff we have been praying that God would call out and equip men in our city to serve as elders.  After a long vetting process and much prayer, we are excited to announce that Stephen Lockwood will be serving as our first non-pastor elder at REVO.

The biblical qualifications for being an elder are lofty, and the other areas that are specific to the expectations of our church are also intense.  Please pray for Stephen and his family as he steps into this role and helps lead and guide our church as we strive to spark a revolution of life change through Jesus.
For more information on the qualifications and expectations for being an elder at REVO Church, email info@discoverREVO.com.

2.  BIG GROWTH!
God is doing some great things at REVO.  We have seen some great growth over the past 12 months, and even had a spike in attendance over the summer months.  We are constantly reaching 70-80% capacity in our 11:00 worship experience.  To ensure that we are prepared for what God wants to do next, we are striving to take proactive steps to ensure that as many people as possible can hear the Gospel at REVO Church.  

Here are a few of the areas that we are working on:
A.  We are reconfiguring our set-up on Sunday morning to put as many seats as possible in the auditorium.
B.  We are praying over starting a second A.M. service to add to our 2 current services to expand our seating capacity.
C.  We are constantly searching for new facilities to buy/lease that would set us up for future growth and help us to see the mission and vision realized.

If you are All-In at REVO, here is how you can help!
A. When you get to REVO on Sunday morning, sit as close to the front as you can and try not to leave empty seats open.  Our guests tend to come in right before the worship experience starts, so having seats open at the back will make their first time in the auditorium smooth and stress-free.
B. If you aren't serving on Sunday morning, GET SIGNED UP!! The need is huge.  When we start our second A.M. service, we will be offering rWorld (our children's ministry) at both services.  We need people to get plugged in so that kids and families can continue to be loved, equipped, and pointed to Jesus!
Thank you in advance for sacrificing so that we can get the bride to the groom!

3.  ANNUAL REPORT 
We published our 2011-2012 annual report on Sunday.  Our fiscal year goes from July-June, so our annual report will be published every August.  

We publish this report for a few reasons:
A. To be 100% transparent with our finances.  We want everyone to know where the money is spent, what percentages are being used for various areas, and how God is using our generosity to change this city
B. To celebrate the past year, but to also use this as a spring board of excitement and anticipation that for REVO, the best is yet to come!

If you were unable to attend the family meeting this Sunday, you can pick up a copy of the annual report from one of our great Guest Services volunteers at the connections desk before or after our 11am or 6pm worship experiences.  Next week, an PDF of the report will be available at www.discoverREVO.com.  If you have any questions about the report, please feel free to contact our Office Manager to set up an appointment with one of our pastors.  You can reach Kat at info@discoverREVO.com