basic training update

Jake Lewis and I have been in Ft. Myers, Florida for our Church Planting Basic Training. We're spending seven full days with the staff at Next Level Church and I can't even tell you how much this week is challenging us. Going into this, I was skittish about the $500 price tag. Now that I've experienced it, I would pay $5000 for this week! Some of the areas that God has used this week to challenge me in personally . . .

• As a leader, I need to make it my business to have my wife, Sara, more involved in leadership in this church. She's just too gifted and too awesome to not be!
• I'm really challenged about how our church will handle money. Coming in, we had a good plan. I think after this we may have an even better one.
• I learned how to paint a sunset for my team (more on that in the future)
• I saw portable church happen in real life and it changed everything about how think about it (for the better)
• I feel more equipped than ever to build a healthy church, not just have a big grand opening day.
  

There are a hundred other things and I'll come home with 30 hours or more of recorded audio from this that I'm going to pour over with my leadership team back in Tulsa. Speaking of them, this week has been awesome back in Tulsa too. The team is growing and finding their identity while I'm a thousand miles away. Just goes to show who's really in charge . . . God, not me.

Well, today is our last day and it's 12 hours long. Should be good. After we finish up tonight around 9pm, we make the 2 hour drive up to Tampa and then fly out tomorrow around noon. We'll be back in Tulsa tomorrow afternoon. I can hardly wait to get back!

Jason Fitch - Lead Pastor