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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.

There will be music from the skull church band and Blindside. I will be giving a message straight from skull hill, on the conversion of the thief on the cross. We are praying for God to fill all the seats of the Wilma theatre and the overflow facility. It all starts at 7pm MST and will be streaming live online in HD at skullchurch.com Invite someone to watch or post a link through whatever social media you use!

and please PRAY!!

Before I say anything about last night’s skull church event first I want to say happy birthday to my amazing four year old daughter Lenya! She is a sweet, funny and wonderful girl and I am so thankful for her. I took the day off today so we could spend celebrate as a family and she gave me permission to shoot off this little blog and share what great things we saw God do last night.

Every time we gather on the first Wednesday of the month for the explicit purpose of evangelism it is awesome to watch hearts respond to the gospel, but as September’s event approached there there seemed to be an extraordinary sense of excitement. This makes sense because in just over a week we will be taking skull church on the road for the first time! (details hereAnd we couldn’t possibly be any more fired up about bringing the good news to Missoula, Montana.

The skull church band sang all original songs that they have never performed before. I can’t wait for their forthcoming album to drop! And we had special guest music from Bellarive. They are a newer band from Florida that you need to give a listen if you haven’t yet. Their sound is very creative, and dynamic. Kind of a melodic-rock approach to worship. They were even better in person than I expected, and that’s saying a lot because I really dig their EP.
I gave a message called RSVP from Matthew 22 about how Jesus has given us all an invitation to go to heaven but we have to respond. We saw 32 people do just that, making professions of faith in Christ!

Amazing. Please keep the Missoula event in prayer as it is upon us in just 8 days. And pray for the LA Harvest Crusade at Dodger Stadium that is this Saturday. (it will be streaming live online here and broadcasting on fresh life radio as well) I will be hosting the event and then speaking for Pastor Greg Laurie on Sunday morning at Harvest. Pastor Don McClure will be coming to speak at fresh life while I am away. He is such a rock star and a man of God. I am so thankful for him and can’t wait to hear the podcast!

Here is a little photo look book to give you a glimpse of what we saw God do last night.

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.