I can’t think of a better way to start out the new year than by seeing people walk into forgiveness and grace through Jesus, and that’s exactly what we saw happen at the first Skull Church event of 2012! The Mayan calendar may be signaling the end of days, but for those touched whose hearts were touched by the gospel last night, this year is the beginning of a brand new life. It was also nice to expose Montana to some hip hop; living sixty miles from Canada we don’t get a whole lot of that.

I am so excited to announce that on October 5th pastor and evangelist Greg Laurie will be speaking in Montana. Ever since God got a hold of his heart as a teenager Greg has sought to share the gospel with as many people as possible. As he has been faithful to proclaim the message God has opened doors for him to preach all over the place–from Madison Square Garden to Dodger Stadium–through the Harvest Crusades. It is an honor and a huge opportunity to have him come and speak at Skull Church.

I am not going to give any spoilers but we have also booked an incredible guest band for this event. It’s going to be quite a night! Pray about who you can invite and bring with you. If you live outside of Montana invite someone over and have a Skull Church viewing party. We stream in HD and have heard stories of people hooking laptops up to tv’s, beaming it from an iPad to an apple tv over airplay or watching thru their playstation. Whatever it takes! And please pray that God will move in power and that many will come to know Christ.

Take a moment and visit skullchurch.com where you can invite a friend to attend or watch the webcast by email, tweet about the event and get more info.

We just finished the first ever, out-of-town skull church event. It was two hours away in Missoula, Montana. Zoo-Town, as it is called, is a college city and has a bigger population than the greater Kalispell area. We have had a heart to come here and preach the gospel for years and I am so thankful that God has given us the opportunity.

This whole thing was a step out in faith for us. We have never done ministry here, my radio show isn’t on the air, and even though we have seen God do amazing things through skull church at home and online, we have never tried to take it on the road. I don’t have a problem telling you that it was a little scary. Would anyone come?

The venue was way rad. A super vibey old-school theatre. (we tend to be drawn to the phantom of the opera type of rock and roll clubs to do church in.) When our setup teams arrived the cleaning crew hadn’t yet arrived to mop up from the previous show and it was gnarly. Their was still the smell of freshly smoked pot in the air and a mixture of vomit and spilled alcohol on the floor. What better place could there be to preach the gospel?

Missoula is a city that needs the gospel. It has the feel and worldview of what you would find in any university town. Pastors that partnered with us in this outreach told me that it is a very unchurched city with very low numbers of the people attending any place of worship at all. We definitely encountered some very vocal and hostile opposition as we sought to shine the light of Christ but we also found many to be very open and interested as well.

Each night we had great crowds. We didn’t know what to expect and were blown away as hundreds poured in. In addition to those there in person we had several thousand joining in on the live webcast from all over the country and other parts of the world. Best of all, by the time the weekend ended we saw eighty-nine people make professions of faith in Christ!

I am overcome by God’s goodness for letting us be ambassadors of the gospel. I am thankful to freshlife for being a church that cares about the lost in other places. And I am blown away by the mighty men and women of my team that not only fought a giant this weekend–they ran to the battle.

Here is a lookbook to give you a feel of what we saw God do.

Last night 32,000 people gathered at Angels stadium and 3,045 people made public professions of faith in Christ! I am always in awe at these events as I stand there watching God move so powerfully in the hearts of so many and it is a massive honor to get to be apart of these events.

There was music from Kutless, Crystal Lewis, and David Crowder Band; Greg Laurie brought the heat in the pulpit with a message on the conversion of Levi the tax collector.

Legendary pro-surfer Bethany Hamilton also came and shared her story last night. She had her arm bit off by a shark and then went on to surf professionally. Amazing. If you haven’t seen Soul Surfer, the movie based on her life, you have got to check it out. Her faith in Christ and desire to be used by Him is all over it. It was a real joy to get to meet her.

Last night we kicked off the month of August with a bang! Exquisite weather, Gourmet burgers from the Flathead burger company, excellent music from the Skull Church band & Emery. Best of all we saw many people respond to the gospel, giving Jesus total control of their souls. A lot of things went wrong and we had to roll with crazy stuff like power surges and equipment failure on the fly, but hey, no one ever said it would be easy. The Uprising continues…

I am super excited that we are taking Skull Church on the road for the first time this fall! On September 16-17 there are going to be two explicitly evangelistic nights of outreach at the historic Wilma theater in downtown Missoula. In addition to music from the Skull Church band and gospel messages, there will be musical performances by Blindside and Family Force 5. Join me in praying that God will move and that many will come to know Christ!

The Missoula event will be webcast live (as every Skull Church event is, including the one this week in Kalispell) so you can invite people to watch online, or post a link on FB, Google+ or Twitter. You never know how God might use it.

This weekend we had our second O2 Experience of the summer. I have been putting these O2 events on for the past 7 years in different places ever since God told me to call out a generation and warn them about what they are giving up when they abandon His plan for their sex lives. They are trading their destiny for a bowl of soup. In exchange for temporary pleasure they are not only forfeiting the highest and fullest enjoyment of the powerful and beautiful gift of sex, but they are sacrificing their spiritual birthright that is theirs in Christ.

It may seem like a good idea in the moment when the bass is pumping and the lights are dimmed, but when you think of the big picture, it’s not a good deal. In the end it’s your eyes being poked out, your spiritual power being amputated and your life cut short, in exchange for a night with Delilah. What I want them to see is that choosing to embrace sexual purity isn’t missing out, as the enemy of their souls would have them think. It’s just the opposite! Choosing anything but God’s plans for purity is how you miss out, on much more than you know.

This was the first time we have done an O2 in Montana, and it was awesome to see the event completely sell out. Our team did such a killer job, and all the bands and guests that were on the stage put their hearts into it. It was a lot of work, especially with a Skull Church event the same week. But it was all worth it. Seeing God move in hearts and watching people respond; making first time decisions to follow Him, or rise up and embrace His plan for sexual purity moving forward, (regardless of what was behind them) you just feel humbled and in awe that you get be there in the room. I can’t believe God let’s me be a part of this. Above and beyond.

Here is a photo lookbook to give you a sense of what went down.

There are sounds that I love: the soft steady hum of bicycles spinning down the road, the roar of a jet doing a fly-by, the crackle of fireworks exploding on the fourth of July. Those are a few of my favorites, but there is no sound that can compare to the voices of people praying to God, turning from their sins and putting their faith in Christ in unison. Whenever I listen to a person call on the name of the Lord, I am filled with joy and am grateful to be listening to eternity unfold.

As we did our best to lift Jesus high and amplify the gospel at Skull Church last night we saw a great number of people stream forward to make a public profession of faith in Christ and vocalize their commitment to God in prayer. One touching sight was watching a father and a son come together. A spiritual legacy in the making. I always try to visualize those who are joining in digitally as I preach as they outnumber those there in person. Last night, for instance, we had people joining in from all 50 states and from over 30 countries. And even though we couldn’t hear their voices, there were also people who prayed to receive Christ joining us online as well.

It was a joy to have music from The Almost. They are in town to perform at The O2 Experience on Friday night and partnering with Aaron Gillespie and his band is always a pleasure. His heart and perspective in ministry are in lock step with our DNA. He’s all about making Jesus famous and thinks outside the box. And I will tell you, Kev and our house band were in rare form. I have had their new song stuck in my head all day. I can’t wait for their album to drop…

Here are some snapshots to give you a glimpse of what God was up to last night.

That is what Skull Church is all about. We are pointing to Jesus’ death and telling people to prepare for the day when they are going to stand before God. He is our maker and one day there is going to be a manufacturers recall. (Hebrews 9:27) I will be giving a message that I have called, “The best way to die.” And as always there will be great music, including a brand new song from the Skull Church band which blew me away when I first heard it.

If you can’t make it in person, you can join us online or on the radio and I hope that you will view the webcast as an opportunity for you to partner with us in the proclamation of the gospel. Beginning at 7pm MDT at skullchurch.com the HD stream is available for you to link to on fb, tweet about and email to your friends–no matter where you live. You could even hook your laptop up to your tv and invite someone over to watch it with you. If you are on the go, check out our mobile stream, which works on iPod Touches, iPads and iPhones, by pointing your browser to the website.

And please keep the event in prayer!

This weekend in Tucson, we saw the culmination of months and months of prayer and preparation as the first O2 event of the summer finally arrived. Of course in my life nothing went according to plan during the final week before the event. I had scheduled a quiet week full of preparation and rest so I’d be ready to speak five times at the host church’s weekend services and then twice at the event itself on Sunday night.

Then life happened. My dad’s heart attack changed everything. I rushed to be with him and spent the week at his side with the rest of my brothers and sisters, praying for him and trying to help him however I could. To be honest, it was difficult to think of going and speaking at all but my dad wouldn’t hear any of it. He had been a major part of the event, flying to Tucson several times and helping mobilize other churches and media.

One of the first things he said to me, from the ICU, when I told him I was headed down to be with him was, “you are going to do the O2 experience.” Thankfully, the open heart surgery was a success and even though it was hard leaving him while he was in so much pain, I was able to be there for him when he came out of the operation. We set up a special webcast for him so he was able to watch the event from the surgical intensive care unit and he told me that it brought tears to his eyes.

The thing I kept trying to remember is that none of it caught God off guard. He had known all along that this was coming and He was going to give me the strength to speak 7x (my all time record) in one weekend, even though I didn’t feel I had anything to give at all. His grace was sufficient for me. The moment things began I felt instantly upheld, as though I had just tapped into an invisible fuel source, and I continued to feel that way through the whole weekend. Ironically, I woke up the morning after feeling better than I usually do on a Thursday morning after skull church.

The O2 went off without a hitch. Our team performed UNBELIEVABLY. It is such a thrill and an honor serving the Lord with them. Everyone on the platform put their heart into it and did a killer job. I am so thankful for the way the vision of the O2 has gripped the hearts of those involved over the years.

When the dust settled, 135 people had made public professions of faith in Christ and we saw an UPRISING of young people in Arizona committing themselves to God’s plan for their sex lives! I get contacted from time to time by people who attended an O2 at some point and are still honoring that commitment, and nothing gives me greater joy than to think of the heartache that is being missed out on as God’s directions are followed. Yes He can forgive sexual sin, but how much better to not go through it in the first place?

We have one more O2 Experience this summer, and it will be in Montana! Tickets are going to be gone soon so if you haven’t yet, get ‘em quick! (tickets available at o2experience.com) I am willing to go to blows for the youth of this nation to know that the devil wants to rip them off. And that the fullest enjoyment of their sexuality comes through Christ.

Here are some more epic photos to give you a feel for what we saw God do on Sunday night.