I love checking out creative church environments.  And I’m a huge fan of high-influence churches.  That’s why I was SO EXCITED last week when I got to attend Celebration Church in Jacksonville, Florida.

Not only do they have 8 campuses in Florida, but they also have a campus in Georgia, Zimbabwe, Costa Rica, and are soon launching in Belfast and Athens!

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When I travel, there are only about 6 things I LOVE to do:  visit friends, chill in nature, read, try new restaurants, visit historical sites, and check out cool churches.

I first heard about Woodlands Church and pastor Kerry Shook from Catalyst, and it was WELL WORTH bussing 4839km to get there from Panama. (okay, it was only 45 minutes from where we were staying in Houston!)

Buuuut down to business.

Founded in 1993, today Woodlands hosts 17,000 people over 5 campuses and 18 services each weekend.

It’s a super creative church, and are using their influence to spread the gospel, including broadcasting the message on 5 different TV channels.  

Michelle said it was the best sounding music she’s ever heard in church, and the message was awesome. The place is super beautiful and inviting, and I’ve included a few pics.  I LOVE it when churches do stuff with excellence, even the bulletin!

This should get all ya’ll future church-planters drooling!

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Today I celebrate my second year of marriage to by best friend, Michelle.

It’s sort of like a “second New Year.”

We take the time to write each other a letter, reviewing the previous year, and dreaming about the year to come.  As many of you readers know, Michelle and I do not taking living lightly!  As Thoreau said, we intend to “suck the marrow out of life.”  As Scripture says, “to live life to the full.”

Today I want to share with you the highlights of this past year of marriage.  For all you singles who think marriage is for old losers- I hope you’ll come to realize that some of us still know how to party  We’ve been blessed to live an INSPIRED year.

There are moments in life that MARK us for eternity.  They change the course of our lives, and more often than not, we don’t even seen them coming.  A total of ZERO milestone events that occurred this year were planned by either of us.  I hope this will inspire you to chase the goose.

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GOD-WILLING!

Michelle and I are moving to Central America on Monday.

Then to British Columbia in September.

Then to Europe the following September.

We’re calling it our “Open Hand God Plan.”

For reals dawg.

DO NOT WORRY, The Sex Rev ain’t goin’ nowhere! I’m actively recruiting a few dozen new (and far more interesting) writers to take this thing to the next level. Michelle and I will still be posting as often as we find an internet connection, but we didn’t want to leave ya’ll hangin’ (like we have for the past few weeks, I apologize, it’s been NUTS around here!)

But right now you probably want to know the back story…

In November, Michelle and I heard God saying that “everything is about to change.” We did a 40 day fast, and at the end we felt God telling us that we were heading into a “season of learning.” That’s all we knew.

But then strange things started to happen:

Remember the story of the Hadal Snailfish?
We were feeling the pressure to conform to the pattern of this world?

Remember the post on The Worship Song That Doesn’t Exist?
We want our life to speak louder than words. We’re afraid that the world will see Jesus as a TALKING HEAD and not a MOVING BODY!

Remember The Chocolate Cake Myth and The White Picket Fence Dream?
We don’t want to live like that.

Shane Claiborne wrote something amazing in The Irresistible Revolution about the word “vocation.” It comes from the root word ‘vocas’ meaning “voice.” Your work should speak of who you are. Your job should reflect your voice. What you do should represent what you believe.

And we KNEW it was time for some major changes.

We gave notice to our landlord without even having a place lined up. We just knew we had to go.  My job ended before we had anything lined up.  We started giving away our stuff without fear of replacement.

There’s way more to our story and an even bigger reason why we’re moving, but you’re gonna have to read about that elsewhere…

It’s our newest project: DreamerOfYourDreams.com

We hope that you’ll follow our travels and the adventure towards our dreams… and hopefully you’ll be inspired to go after some of your own as well.

With all our love always,

Jay and Michelle Brock

Had a great weekend with the Alma Bible Chapel youth group.  I think I had everyone’s name memorized by the end of the weekend.  Had a great time- watched some Olympics (the Canadian mogul skier got robbed), watched the dunk competition (Nate Robinson did NOT deserve to win a third time), and played some basketball myself (I still feel like a 92-year-old arthritic.)  

Got to talk a lot about dreams and calling.  

A recent story that’s been fascinating me is that of the Hadal Snailfish.  It doesn’t move slowly like a snail though- it’s a legit fish.  But there’s something VERY special about the Hadal Snailfish.

They live 7.7 km under water.  In total darkness. In near-freezing temperatures. The water pressure is 11,380 pounds/square inch.  That’s the same as if 1600 elephants were piled on top of a Mini.

And yet the Hadal Snailfish survives against all odds.  Because their internal pressure and design ensures that they maintain their shape and don’t get crushed by the overwhelming pressure.

So too is it with our lives- we live in a world of almost absolute darkness. It’s a cold and lonely place.  And the pressure is immense- to conform, to be like everyone else, to meet the expectations of those around you.  And for most people, the pressure changes their shape.  

Don’t get crushed.  Don’t get flattened like a pancake.  Maintain the shape that God created you to be- by letting Him do the designing, and by having an ‘inside pressure’…a fiery passion to conform to the image of Jesus.

Because “greater is He that is in you, then he that is in the world.”

Happy Family Day!

Jay