Fifteen years ago I was sitting in my dorm room at Western Kentucky University trying to figure out what I was going to do with my life when someone put a life changing book in my hand.
I literally don’t remember who gave it to me but I owe them a big hug. However, I do remember getting under the covers of my little twin bed, pulling up the green sheets, which I had somehow kept track of over four years of college (I washed them twice), and started to read.
I grabbed a highlighter on the very first page of “The Purpose Driven Church” by Rick Warren and I wouldn’t put it down until I closed the book some seven or eight hours later. I had never heard of Rick Warren. I had never heard of Saddleback Church. But I was so captivated by the vision of church Rick had laid out that I stayed up and read the book all night.
Page after page, chapter after chapter, I kept verbally saying outloud, “Yes. Yes, this is exactly the way I’ve imagined church could be.”
Several months later I would step out in faith with a handful of other Christ followers to start a church in the small town of Morgantown, Kentucky, using the highlighted, worn, pages of that book like an instructional manual.
With that story in mind you can imagine how excited I am to be joining Rick Warren in a few weeks to speak at his church leadership conference, Radicalis. I’ll also be staying over to speak at one of their weekend services which should be a lot of fun as well.
If you love Jesus, the church, and leadership then you won’t want to miss this one!
