I am genuinely thrilled to enter this new season of life. As I read the Bible this morning I saw a thread of major events that took place when people reached this pivotal age.

At 30 Joseph was appointed Prime Minister of Egypt.

And finally Jesus Christ, According to Luke, about age 30 was baptized and began His public ministry.

Seems like a pretty significant age to reach. I have been in pastoral ministry now for over eleven and a half years but I am invigorated to approach this next chapter of life and my calling as though it were day one. I have never been more committed, with my whole soul, to Jesus, to His Word, and to the preaching of the gospel as I am today. I love my family fiercely. And both the team of people I get to serve the Lord with, and the church I have the pleasure of leading are absolutely stellar. I believe the best is yet to come and I will approach each day He gives me as though it were my last.

In awe of Him,

LL

It felt a whole lot like we were experiencing Skull Church Seattle last night. So far May has steadily continued April’s shower thing, in Montana at least. Aren’t we supposed to get some flowers? Amazingly, the wet weather didn’t stop people from queueing up, umbrellas in hand, to get in. And it didn’t dampen the mood either. It was an awesome night.

All the music was next-level. We brought in a newer band called Samestate and they were great. Check them out here. I preached on a scripture from the book of Ezekiel, which in an evangelistic setting, was definitely a first for me. The city of Jerusalem was about to fall under God’s judgment and false prophets have told the people that everything will be fine because they are Jews. Ezekiel tells them otherwise. “Even if these three, Job, Daniel and Noah were in the midst of it they could deliver no one but themselves by their righteousness.” (Ezekiel 14:14) Salvation, he is saying, is a birth right for no one.

Perhaps we need this wakeup call in America like no where else. Living in a nation where the majority describes themselves as some kind of Christian you can easily become desensitized to the gospel. Having believing parents or a godly heritage is not a substitute for personal saving faith. It’s impossible to ride the slipstream of someone else’s faith into eternity. It was a powerful thing to watch people respond to God’s Word and make professions of faith in Christ.

here is the Skull Church May lookbook.

It has been an enormous joy watching God bless these events over the years and we are praying for thousands to be impacted in Denver and Colorado Springs and beyond. In the past we have seen youth groups drive in and attend from across the state and even across state lines. I am particularly excited about these Colorado events because it will be a homecoming for me. I was born in Pueblo and lived in Colorado Springs until the fifth grade. I am excited to partner with great churches and praying for God to move in a major way! Click here for all the info.

BTW–We are planning events for 2013 and beyond right now, if you or your church would be interested in rallying interest for an event near you let us know! You can do that here.

This weekend at fresh life we are beginning a brand new series called Kickstart. Though I’m sure it will be a blessing to all of us, it is going to be specifically geared towards someone who is new to the Christian faith and looking to gain traction in their walk with God. It will be super basic, just the low-down that you’ll need in order to throw-down.

We constantly have an influx of people in the church who have no idea what their doing or how to walk with God–as it should be–and we offer new-believers classes on an ongoing basis for this very reason. But I also know that there are people in the church who have been a Christian for years but are still pretty much at the starting gate and aren’t moving forward. Time spent doing something is no guarantee of progress. Whatever the case, I hope that this series helps us all to grow.

If you or someone you know is in need of a Kickstart I hope you’ll join us for this series! You can invite them at the Kickstart page by clicking here.

Eight years ago today my beautiful wife Jennie and I were married. She took my breath away when I saw her walking down the aisle. I can still picture her there in vivid detail if I close my eyes. She is thoughtful, gentle, sincere and easy going. The perfect port to my starboard.

In the past eight years we have put some miles on our tires. We have walked through good and bad days, seen thousands and thousands of people come to Christ and our four special little girls come into this world. And through it all we have remained best friends. There is nothing I enjoy more than making her laugh and I will do almost anything to make that happen.

Life in Christ is already too good to be true, and getting to experience it with her is the cherry on top. Happy anniversary honey!

Jesus died and then got back up. That’s extremely impressive. It wasn’t the first time it had been done. There had been resurrections scattered through out the Bible before He rose (I did a whole series on that once, check it out here.) But with Jesus it was different. When Lazarus, Jarius’ daughter, The Shunamite Woman’s son and everyone else in that elite club rose, they ultimately had to die again. Not Jesus. He ever lives. And He promised that if we believe in Him, even though we will still die, one day we will come bursting out of the ground like planted seeds that have become flowers. And we will never die again. That’s the gospel.

I never get tired of sharing that with people. I am as invigorated and amazed as the words come out of my mouth each time as at the first. I can’t help but think of the day when my worm eaten body will emerge from the dust and be transformed into a glorified body like Christ’s and it just fills my heart with hope and courage. It’s too good to be true. But it is true! And it changes the way you look at things. Once you know what will happen when you die, you are truly ready to live. And it never gets old watching people respond to the gospel invitation, making professions of faith in Christ. And that’s exactly what we saw many do in Billings, the Flathead Valley and online do as we marveled at God’s power over death this weekend.

Here is the Fresh Life Easter lookbook.

Our goal at Skull Church, from the very beginning, has been to amplify that message to as many people as possible, from the loudest speakers possible; until the end comes. Good Friday is the most natural and obvious day for that to happen, as it is the day set aside to remember the events of skull hill, but until last night we had never had a Good Friday/Skull Church event. It was awesome. And getting to do it at the Majestic made it even more special.

Both Red and our house band did a tremendous job. Our team was in rare form. The crowd was full of energy and anticipation. But the one memory I will not ever be able to forget is the invitation. I have never seen people respond to an invitation to receive Christ quite like that.

I had just finished explaining what it meant to respond to Christ and to follow Him publicly. I was in the process of saying why you shouldn’t put off doing this until later because life could end. Before I had even the chance to make that case or actually call them to respond, someone got out of their seat and walked forward. He was wearing black and actually startled me because I didn’t see him until a face appeared at my feet. But then I looked up and saw dozens began to stream forward from several different aisles. We hardly even had time to get the nets into the water but the fish were jumping into the boat! Hundreds of them. The band wasn’t quite ready to play and I was overcome by the way God was moving in people’s hearts, but it was beautiful.

The best part is that we get to do it again tomorrow because Easter is on it’s way! We have Shawn McDonald and for King & Country joining us in Billings and at the Majestic for Fresh Life Easter at 10am MST and it will all be webcast live at freshlifechurch.com

Here is the Skull Church Majestic lookbook.

You see, He knew something that His enemies and even His followers didn’t know. He knew that the grave could be defeated, that death itself could be overcome. Waiting beyond the cross was the crown of glory. With just a quick leapfrog over the tomb He could take hold of the enemies’ flag and lay it at His Father’s feet. In so doing He would not only take His life up again; He would be able to share the spoils of His victory with all who would entrust their souls to His care.

The events of Good Friday and Easter Sunday are the most thrilling subjects in all the world and must be shouted from the rooftops for all to hear! We are now just five days away. This is it…don’t get scared now!

If you don’t have an event to attend on Good Friday make plans to watch the Skull Church Majestic webcast with music by Red. It begins at 7pm (MST) at skullchurch.com. Make sure to invite a friend who doesn’t know Christ to watch it with you!