I got the privilege to go to NewSpring’s Unleash Conference today. It was an incredible experience. It was amazing to see what God has done here! This will be a 2-part review! One with a summary of key takeaways and another of the practical ministry takeaways. Here were my big takeaways:

It’s All About Making Jesus Famous One Life at a Time - This is NewSpring’s Vision. It is beyond evident that the vision is burning in the hearts of every staff member and volunteer. Everything they do as a church, is done with the intention of changing people’s lives. When I say everything… I mean everything!

Quit Playing Games and Start Preaching the Word - I love how simple Newspring is. I.E. The youth – ALL they do is preach, worship, small groups, and a summer camp. It’s all centered around pointing teenagers to Jesus. Period. I love it!

People Act Like they Don’t Know Christ, Because they Don’t Know Christ - Let me clarify! They had a 5th grader that went to their childrens ministry for the first time. He saw a PS3 and Wii and said, “They have a PS3! A Wii! This s*** is awesome!” Those are the people we’re trying to reach, we need to have people like this coming to church! Instead of correcting them, let’s love them and point them to Jesus. They’ll only change as a result of knowing Him!

People Can Believe in You and Go to Hell - I love Perry. He was saying that we should never try to get people to believe in us or think we’re awesome. We need to constantly be getting their eyes off  of us and onto Jesus. He’s the only one that can save them.

Celebrating Wins is Critical – Every staff meeting they start with sharing victories in their church. Then they celebrate them – this fuels them with passion every week becasuse it helps them recognize they are doing what God called them to do!

They Don’t Know How They Grew! - Twice in their church their attendance has doubled in a one week span… from 400 to 900 and 4,000 to 8,000. What did they do? Nothing… They have no idea how it happened! Perry always relays it like this: Leadership is as easy as listening to God. Then do what He  says! Perry said, “If you can explain what God is doing in your church, He’s probably not that involved in it!

I loved being at Newspring! I know it definitely fired me  up to come home and do more for Jesus. I’m so glad they are doing what God called them to do and inspiring the body of Christ while they do it!

Tomorrow I’ll talk about the practical things I learned that we can implement in our ministries!

But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. – Matthew 5:28

Every second – $3,075.64 is being spent on pornography, Every second – 28,258 Internet users are viewing pornography, Every 39 minutes: a new pornographic video is being created in the United States?.

I’ve never met anyone who is addicted to porn who is actually proud of it. Everyone I meet is hurting, has caused pain to people around them, and longing for a way out. It’s the easiest thing to hide, but one of the hardest things to come clean to somebody about. The shame can be almost unbearable. So how can you get free?

1.) Repent and Pursue God - In James it says, if you draw near to God, He’ll draw near to you. Though you’ll feel so distant from God it’s not even funny, if you’ll pursue Him, His desires will start becoming your desires, and porn will become less and less of a temptation.

2.) Recognize You’re Not Alone - There are millions of people struggling with the exact same thing you are and feeling the exact same way you are. You’re not alone.

3.) Humble Yourself and Tell Somebody that Loves you Unconditionally – This is the hardest step. Find somebody you know will love you regardless, and will walk you through the journey to freedom.

4.) Get Accountability - The video above is promoting 2 programs: X3Watch and Safe Eyes - both are accountability software that will block sites you shouldn’t be going to, and send any questionable sites you do visit to two accountability partners of your choice.

5.) Control Your Thoughts - You can control your thoughts – that is a fact. Philippians says to think on Good things only! What you put in your heart through what you watch and listen to, will fill your thought life. If you’ve been watching porn for a while, you’re probably filled with bad thoughts. Focus on putting positive deposits into your heart (go to church, listen to sermons, read great articles). Garbage in, Garbage Out. Purity in, Purity out!

Another Great Resource is XXX Church which is headed up by Craig Gross – you’ll find tons of great videos and articles to help you.

I hope this helps you – if you’re in need of someone to talk to – Send me a message on Facebook – I’d love to talk to you.

²⁹For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. – Romans 11:29

Once you discover your gifting it’s critical that you do everything you can to develop that gift. Since it is the area of your gifting, you’ll naturally be better in that area than the majority of people. As a result you’ll think you can wing it and get by, you’ll be tempted to take short cuts, and be tempted not to develop your gift as much as you could because you think you’ve already arrived.If you take that approach – you’re on a straight path to mediocrity. In the end, success will depend on how disciplined you were to develop your gift.

Here are some ways I’ve developed my gifting… Hope they help!

• Do Something Everyday that Develops Your Gift – If it’s speaking – speak daily, writing – write daily, sports – practice daily, an instrument – play everyday… More important than all of the learning is the doing. Be someone who actually puts into practice what they are learning.

• Books, Books, and More Books – There is no better way of learning than through the experiences of others. with books you can learn what it took someone a lifetime to learn in a few hours. Leaders are readers!

• Listen to Podcasts, Lessons, Etc. - There are tons of audio lessons that will help you develop your gift. Find them and listen to as many as you can!

• Get Around People Who are Doing it Better Than You - Find the people who are well developed and doing big things and contact them and see if you can take them to lunch or breakfast. Pay them if you have to, get around them, and ask them as many questions as you can!

• Look for Coaching Networks - Coaching Networks are becoming huge. They involve a high quality leader who is willing to invest in a handful of people over a 6-9 month period. I’d highly recommend this – it’s changed my life!

• Conferences – Conferences are a great way to get around people who are “tearing it up” in the area you’re wanting to develop. Find conferences based around what you want to develop and be willing to pay the price to go. It’ll be worth it.

What are some things you do to develop your gift?