Evotional.com - Mark Batterson

I made an incredibly difficult decision today. One of the toughest decisions I've made in a long time. Over the past month I've met with half a dozen publishers. I'm trying to figure out where to partner with my next book. Here's the challenge: I genuinely loved every publishing team I met with. And every one brings a unique strength to the table.

Some decisions are 80/20 decisions and those decisions are easy to make. It's the 51/49 decisions that are agonizing. That's where you need supernatural discernment. That's when you need to hear the still small voice of the Holy Spirit. And then you hope you heard Him right.

The hardest decisions are rarely between good and bad. The hardest decisions are usually trying to decipher between good, better, and best. In one sense, you can't go wrong because they're all good. But I never want to settle for good. I want God's good, pleasing, and PERFECT will. Then, at some point, you need to just pull the trigger and not look back. That's what I did yesterday.

The hardest part was making a personal phone call to each publisher I said "no" too. I'm not good at saying "no." And I was so humbled by and grateful for each offer. I think those calls took a year off of my life, but each one was very gracious. Over the years I've learned that how you exit is so important and I always want to exit the right way!

More details to follow. Just needed the catharsis!

We have a new member of our media team, Dylan Byrd, doing some branding for us. He's also a very gifted artist. Love these sketches of our six locations! Can't wait for a sketch of our new building, but we'll have to wait a couple years for that one!

My sabbatical is officially over with. So grateful to our team for holding down the fort. The truth is, we don't skip a beat when I'm gone! That is a big time blessing because it means I can get away and not lose an ounce of energy worrying about things.

I spent the last day of my sabbatical at the National Cathedral. One of my favorite places in DC. Love praying there. And there is something about the observation gallery that expands my vision for this city. I honestly feel like I need another month to really recalibrate, but I'm grateful for the month I got. I'm not sure I received any new revelation. I was simply reminded that I need to "do the things I did at first." You never outgrow the basics. And you always have to reestablish boundaries and priorities and disciplines.

Just got word that In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day is headed to its tenth print run. Thought I'd celebrate with a little end of summer special. If you want a case of 24 books, we'll hook you up with a sweet discount. We'll also give you a discount on Wild Goose Chase and Primal. Why not?

Email resources@theaterchurch.com for more info.

Such a privilege to have Gary Haugen @ NCC this weekend. Great way to cap off our Fearless series. Gary is the founder and CEO of International Justice Mission.

Gary said we need to do less and reflect more. One way they put that into practice at IJM is by starting every day with thirty minutes of silence! And they pay people for that half hour! It creates an atmosphere where you don't just do things, you think about what you're doing! Love that. I think any business or ministry would benefit from a creative implementation of that idea.

He shared about one of his colleagues who he called a mad scientist. He read Jesus' statement that those who lose their life will find it and decided to experiment on himself. Love that idea when it comes to God's promises. We need to test them on ourselves like mad scientists!

Gary said we all want adventure, faith, miracles, and a deep knowledge of Christ, but you can't have those things without letting go of safety, security, comfort, and control." You have to choose between safety and bravery. The bottom line is this: God's will in a fallen world is dangerous.

So true. So challenging.

We went to settlement today and we're the official owners of 733 Virginia Avenue, SE or as we think of it: "the last piece of property on Capitol Hill." We really feel like we got it just in time. There are so few properties on the Hill that are still developable. And this one is so accesible and visible right off of the 295/395 expressway that runs through the heart of the city. We're right where Capitol Hill, Riverfront, and the Navy Yard intersect.

I'll blog some additional thoughts, but we are rejoicing on so many levels. For starters, we're so out of space at Ebenezers for services & staff. This gives us a light at the end of the tunnel. But it's also a strategic part of our 2020 vision. Our vision is 20 locations and I'm guessing we'll need 100+ staff by that point. It enables us to expand Ebenezers into a chain. And it gives us a great base camp for our multi-site vision. We'll probably have 10+ locations by the time it's built. It's not a big piece of property, but it's HUGE for our urban context. We'll go vertical and build 50,000+ square feet.

Now here's the great thing. It was a miracle. We lost the contract to another party three times. In a sense, we experienced three deaths and three resurrections! It took three miracles! And a $3 million miracle.

Praising the Lord.

When I was Josiah's age our family did a trip our west to see Yellowstone. One of my early memories is staying at the Old Faithful Inn. I wanted to give our kids the same memory so a few weeks before our trip I called them to see if they had an opening despite the fact that they sell out months in advance. Not our best planned vacation! Lo and Behold, a cancellation comes in while I'm on the phone! We snagged it and stayed at the Inn.

It was a rush of memories as I walked in. Not quite as big as I remember it because I was pretty small when we stayed there, but still just as iconic! A big part of parenting is creating memories. My parents did it for me. I hope I do it for my kids!

I came to a conviction a few years ago: you owe it to God, yourself, your family to use all of your vacation days! We had an awesome trip out west. The highlights? There were lots of them! The kids thoroughly enjoyed horseback riding, a really cool hike to Inspiration Point in the Grand Tetons, and seeing all the wildlife in Yellowstone. We topped it off by hanging out with some of our favorite friends, the Foths and the Aughtmons, in Fort Collins, CO.

Here are a few pictures of some of the places.

I'm going to check out of the blogosphere for ten days, but you can follow our travels on twitter. I'll post some pictures when I get back.

Our family is headed west. We'll fly to Denver tomorrow. Then we'll hit Mount Rushmore, Grant Tetons, and Yellowstone.

Super excited about spending a night at Old Faithful Inn. I stayed there when I was a kid so I really wanted to get a reservation, but they are usually booked months in advance. I called on a whim and someone canceled their reservation while I was on the phone! I snagged the room.

Hoping to ride some horses. We'll hit a rodeo in Jackson Hole. And we'll do some hiking.

It was nearly four years ago that my first book, In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day, was released by Multnomah. So grateful that they took a chance on a first-time author! Signing that four-book contract was a dream come true! And I owe them a debt of gratitude.

As that contract comes to a close, I'm trying to figure out what's next. Over the past month, I've meet with a handful of publishers. And I've thoroughly enjoyed every single one of them! Grateful for each publisher that has expressed interest in my next book. I'm facing one of the toughest decisions I've made in a long time. It's tough because each publisher brings something unique to the table. At the end of the day, I need the discernment to know where God wants me. Hoping to make a decision right before or right after our vacation.

A few months ago, Multnomah partnered with Man in the Mirror to release a special edition of In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day. The 50,000 copies were sold before Father's Day. They have another 50,000 copies that are now available! Check out www.mobilizeyourchurch.org.

You can get 12 copies for $23 or 48 copies for $78. Killer deal. They'll go quickly because of the deep discount and it's first come first serve. Great opportunity to do a church wide initiative!

You can also get a free copy of In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day to review and see if it's the right book for your small group. You'll also get a free copy of The Holiness of God by RC Sproul and He Chose The Nails by Max Lucado.

3 for free!

Sin will complicate your life in unholy ways. The blessings of God will complicate your life in holy ways. But it's still a complication. When I got married it complicated my life. Praise God for complications! We have three complications named Parker, Summer, and Josiah. Praise God for our three complications! More income equals more complicated taxes. May God complicate our lives, Amen? And increased influence complicates life in complicated ways.

My point? Part of counting the cost, when it comes to following Christ, is allowing God to complicate our lives in holy ways. Are you willing to allow God to complicate your life?

After months of prayer and weeks of feasibility studies, we've decided to move forward with the contract on what we think is the last piece of property on Capitol Hill. At least it's the last piece that is sizable and developable in a strategic location. We couldn't be more excited. We'll continue launching new locations in the meantime. I'm guessing we'll have ten locations before this campus would be built. But we need the space and it helps to know that a project is in the works! We'll begin the architectural process in September.

Many years ago my father-in-law did a cross-country tour of churches as they prepared to build on 120 acres of property in Naperville, Illinois. I'm thinking about a field trip as we prepare to build a campus on Capitol Hill. We're in a very urban context so the building will be vertical as opposed to horizontal. But we have capacity to build anywhere between 40,000 to 75,000 square feet. We're thinking coffeehouse component that will expand Ebenezers into a chain. We're thinking a theater that could have both movie and performance capabilities, as well as, serving as our sanctuary space. We'd like to build a children's facility that can also be a Monday-Friday ministry to our community via daycare and pre-school. And we need to design office space for our current and future staff needs.

Anybody want to recommend some "must-see" churches that have an urban flavor? I'm also open to some suburban churches if we can adapt their horizontal designs into vertical ones. What church designs do I need to see in person or online?

I think today is the last day to get Wild Goose Chase at some amazing prices on amazon.com. You can pick up the soft cover for 60% off and the Kindle Version for $1.59. It's a one-time summer promotion!

Just wrapped up three days of shooting with the film crew from Switchvert. Love those guys! So creative and so easy to work with! We worked together on a project called Surrendered and Untamed which will be released by Baker in February '11. Here's a trailer for S & U.

Thought I'd share some behind-the-scenes reflections from our shoot.

We had a pretty tight budget for the Primal DVD so we shot everything in DC, but DC is a filmmaker's paradise! So many unique places to create very artistic shots. You also have lots of extras on call all the time! Just hit a metro stop!

We hit the National Arboretum to shoot by the 22 Corinthians Columns that used to grace the East front of the Capitol. My favorite shoot was at the National Cathedral. So majestic! We were shooting one scene in one of the little chapels in the lower level and a guy walked through who was reading Primal. Pretty funny coincidence to bump him while we're shooting the DVD for the book, or maybe I should say providence. We did one shoot at the Central Union Mission. Amazing ministry that has been reaching out to the homeless since 1884. It was actually established to minister to Civil War Veterans. We also did some shooting on the metro which was a little ackward. Lots of stares!

For one chapter we rented a taxi and drove around DC for about 90 minutes. We had a jeep that we jerry-rigged with two cameras. The taxi driver we hired has been driving a cab in DC for more than 50 years! We did it during AM rush-hour and I think we got honked at about two dozen times.

The shoot was absolutely exhausting! We started each day around 5:30 AM. Yesterday we shot till 6 PM. I actually lost my voice on the very last segment. So why work so hard on something like this? Because I think that Primal is a movement waiting to happen. Books don't become movements, generally speaking, if they don't become viral. And one way a book becomes viral is when it's read in groups--small groups, book clubs, sermon series. That creates conversations and those conversations lead to a new vocabulary and that new vocabulary is the language of change!

The Primal DVD will release in November '10.

I'm trying to gear up or maybe I should say wind down for my sabbatical in August. Part of me can't wait and part of me has a hard time checking out for that long. But I feel like this comes at a critical stage of life and ministry. Doing ministry at a sustainable pace is no easy task! And part of it is the insatiable desire to be all things to all people. But if you try to be everything to everyone you'll eventually be nothing to nobody! I also think that many pastors struggle with an unhealthy need to be needed. I'm no exception to any of those challenges!

Ultimately, I want to do more than unplug for a month. I need to reprioritize and reinvent how I'm doing life and ministry. I need to make a few tweaks that will help me maintain my sanity and sanctification! Praying for revelation!

We're gearing up for the Primal DVD shoot this week and we need some HELP. We need to commandeer a taxi for four hours. Also need two Segways and a motorcycle for part of a day. And if anybody has a convertible that'd be sweet!

We'd also love to incorporate some music. Any artists willing to let us use your music? Shoot me an email if you can help us out. Mark (at) theaterchurch (dot) com.

You gotta check this out: Comin' to Potomac Yard.

We showed this rap video (complete with pop ups) this weekend to promo our sixth location. It was written by our PY Campus Pastor, Kurtis Parks. It'll make your day! You'll want to watch it twice. I've already watched it a dozen times!

If you want a shot of spiritual adrenaline, check out our baptism video from our Baptism by the Bay. One of the great joys of ministry is getting to share in these holy moments. The sound track is from Kurtis Park's new Album: Light/Will/Shine.

Here are a few pictures, and they may be worth a thousand words, but they cannot capture the eternal significance of what this moment means to those who were baptized.

We continue our series titled Legends this weekend. Actually talking about three legends: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Here's the big idea: if you compromise your integrity you compromise your opportunity. Why? Because you don't leave room for divine intervention! It seemed like integrity would lead to death. Instead, their unwillingness to bow to an idol results in a miracle. No integrity = No miracle. But when you act with integrity, you never know how or when or where God will step in as your advocate and act on your behalf.

We are gearing up to launch our sixth location in the movie theaters @ Potomac Yard. D-day is September 12. So excited about this one because that's "our theater." Most of the movies we go see, we see there. We have our initial launch team informational meeting this Sunday, July 25, at Ebenezers Coffeehouse @ 1:30 PM. Love to have you come out if you're interested in being part of the next outpost.

I celebrate two birthdays every year. One of them is November 5. The other one is July 23. Ten Years ago today I should have died. I had experienced a week of abdominal pain, but the doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong. Then on Sunday, July 23, I went to church and actually tried to preach but I walked out doubled over in excruciating pain. It wasn't until midnight that an MRI revealed ruptured intestines.

I have an intense love for and appreciation of life. I am determined to live life to the fullest, and that determination is the byproduct of the promise that Jesus made in John 10:10. But the desire to live life to the fullest was intensified on July 23, 2000. Near-death experiences will do that. I feel like I'm ten years-old today!

Had a blast on vacation. Loved tossing the football in the waves. Nothing is more relaxing than just floating on the ocean. And we have a spot where we go dune jumping every year. Parker was getting some serious air time! Me? Not as much as I used to!

We had a little fun last week with a spoof on the A & E show, Intervention. We were talking about the prophet Nathan's intervention with David. And we set it up in a light-hearted way since it was a pretty heavy subject. The intervention involved a corn hole addict. I'm guessing you can guess who that was!

Here's the link.

After our Baptism by the Bay, we'll head over the Bay Bridge and drive to Rehoboth Beach, DE. It's our annual ocean trip. So many memories. So many traditions. And many of those memories and traditions have to do with food. Can't wait to hit Grotto's Pizza, Fractured Prune Donuts, and Fischer's Caramel Corn.

Ready or not, here we come! Gonna be nice to unwind for a few days!

Our annual Baptism by the Bay is one of the highlights of the year! Can't wait. We'll head out to Sandy Point State Park for a picnic followed by baptism. For what it's worth, this started because we didn't have a baptismal. Then we fell in love with doing baptisms in public. So the tradition continues!

The Desperation Conference was off the hook! So great to meet David Perkins, Brady Boyd, and some of the team at New Life. The highlight? Loved praying for kids as they flooded the altar. I haven't seen that level of spiritual hunger in a long time! I think my message challenged the kids, but their intensity challenged me. Kept having flashbacks to that season of life. I never want to lose my teen-like intensity!

Nothing like a few thousand teenagers worshiping God and coming to the altar! Loved the Momentum Conference last night. What an amazing group of leaders, youth pastors, and kids! So great to connect with Aaron Keyes and band too! Love his music. Love his spirit. And I love the way Aaron loves Scripture and incorporates it into worship!

I talked about the rich young ruler and shared some of my spiritual journey. I put my faith in Christ when I was five, but up until I was nineteen, I think it was less about me following Jesus and more about Jesus following me. I had an inverted relationship with Christ. It was more about Him serving my purposes than me serving His. That changed when I was nineteen. And that changed everything. Amazing to see a couple hundred kids make a b-line for the altar and make the decision to follow Christ. I also love the fact that the conference had kids fill out cards to write down the commitment. I think that helps seal the deal and allows their youth pastors to follow-up.

I rarely speak in the summertime, but I couldn't pass up a couple opportunities. I'm speaking at the Momentum Conference in Ohio on Thursday night and then the Desperation Conference in Colorado on Friday night.

I'll also swing by Multnomah on Friday to connect with the team and strategize Soulprint.

Zechariah 2:1-2 says: "And I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand! Then I said, 'Where are you going?' And he said to me, 'To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its width and what is its length."

The very last thing I did at our old house right before settlement was transferring all the measurements of our kid's heights from our bedroom door to an old paint stick that I converted into a "measuring stick". I then transferred those measurements to my new closet door. I feel like "measuring" is one of my jobs as a dad. It's also one of my jobs as a pastor. But here's the challenge: the most important dimensions are the most difficult to measure.

It's easy to measure attendance and giving. But that gives you a two-dimensional perspective. Think of them as length and width. And they aren't insignificant. But the most important dimension is depth. If you're a mile wide and an inch deep you might look impressive, when in fact, you're very shallow. Spiritual depth is the most important dimension and it's by far the hardest to measure. But it's the only way to get a three-dimensional perspective.

I really feel like NCC is going deeper right now. We're definitely getting longer and wider in terms of attendance and giving, but it's the depth dimension that determines our true potential and true impact. I honestly think that our corporate strategy of reading through the Bible together is mining new depths. I also sense a greater hunger for and dependence upon the Holy Spirit. And nothing will take you deeper than a renewed hunger for Holy Scripture and the one who inspired it, the Holy Spirit.

I have no idea how long it'll last, but amazon has a bargain deal on Wild Goose Chase right now. 60% off the soft cover. And the kindle edition is 89% off.

I'm coming up on a month-long sabbatical. I'm going to try to completely disconnect for the month of August. But I want it to be more intentional than just time off. Really want a sabbatical plan. Anybody have any sabbatical ideas? My top priority is just being with my family and we'll fit in a vacation. I also hope to catch up on some reading and maybe fit in a a house project.

Any ideas? This is new territory for me.

Multnomah is running a killer deal on Wild Goose Chase. In the month of July, you can get an ebook version of Wild Goose for $1.99. Download it and take it to the beach! Or maybe this is the perfect excuse to get a Kindle or iPad.

I need deadlines. Without them, I'd never tie off the umbilical cord on anything. Deadlines help me overcome my perfectionism. They also help me overcome my procrastination. All of that to say, I'm fighting a deadline. Trying to wrap up my next book, Soulprint, by July 31.

Ever heard of Parkinson's law? It basically states that the amount of time it takes to do something is determined by how much time you have! If you have two days, it'll take two days. If you have two weeks, it'll take two weeks. In my experience, there is a lot of truth to that. To extrapolate, if you don't have a deadline it'll take forever!