Hitchhiking to Substance

Sneak-peek of Cafe at the OC!

We have so many wonderful things going on this Fall.  We’re launching a new Substance worship experience at Northwestern’s fine arts theater (in addition to Fridley).  We’re also upgrading Fridley with a dual projection HD video system by this August (It will look like a huge vertical wall of video).  But, despite the flurry of facility updates, we can’t forget to celebrate our new Operation Center in Roseville!  

This Sunday, (July 19th) we are officially opening our new facility for business!  The coffee machine works beautifully!  (I hear that it’s basically the same set up that Starbucks uses).  So join us Sunday afternoon for our official Open House / Dedication event!  At 2:30 pm, doors open for tours (led by the staff and me).  At 3:30 we’re going to dedicate it.  And we’ll continue giving tours and hanging out until 4:30.  So join us!  God is doing amazing things.

And remember:  It’s not so much about “the building.” Rather, God has been at work in our church community.  We’ve had an amazing number of unchurched people give their lives to Christ in the past few months.  We’ve also had an unusual number of people get involved in new ministries that we are currently launching.  So, this building is nothing more than a symbol representing the true cause of our celebration:  the expansion of the Kingdom of Heaven!!!!!  So pray that God enables us to continue glorifying him with the increase!  All right!?  I LOVE you guys!!!

I’m blogging from Hillsong Church in Australia right now. And I am totally inspired. For those of you who don’t know, Hillsong is perhaps the most influential contemporary worship church of the last century. (In fact, Hillsong United has been topping the secular itunes downloads for the last few weeks). Their songs are being played in more churches globally than any other songwriters in the last century.  (In fact, 1/2 of Substance’s worship music is simply Hillsong United  (but with a Substance spin : )
But their artistry is just insane. They have so much talent.
Of course, I’ve been meeting amazing pastors from all over the world. I got to know the pastor of Hillsong Paris… (he’s my age)! And hanging out in small rooms with Chris Tomlin strumming on his guitar is somewhat surreal.
In fact, just to give you an idea of how wild it is to be here: I was eating lunch, and suddenly a guy came up and started to massage my shoulders to say “hi”. I turn around and it’s Joel Osteen!?  How random.  Where else could you meet Louie Giglio, Craig Groeschel, and Joel Osteen in the same room?
Even more random, I’ve been running into Substance people! We are a global church!  I ran into NCU student …Becky Salter ?(Did I get your name right?).  Also, one of Substance’s original worship band members, Brooke Reynolds, was getting married right by my hotel. Her mom recognized one of the people in our group. I mean, we’re 15 time zones away… yet always at home! How small the world is!

But I’ll tell you what: As talented as Hillsong is, I can see this same raw potential at Substance. I know that it will be a few years before we have a national platform; but, the entire time I’ve been here, I sense the Spirit of God telling me: “Get Ready.”  So I’m just passing on the impression to you.  Let’s dream Big!

Opera House Sydney Harbor