Joshua Burnett

Reflections on life, leadership, and church
Cheese sauce for Mac and cheese night at Local Revolution!

Cheese sauce for Mac and cheese night at Local Revolution!

Wrap up to the god(s) series…

So we just finished up the god(s) series and throughout this series we talked about how the best way to remove the idols in our lives is to worship the one true God.  If I were to put a weak point to this series (at least in the sermons that I preached) it is the lack of illustrations of what it looks like to worship God with all of your heart.  I wanted to pass along the best “illustration” that I can for you. 

I want you to go to this link and watch this video.  This is Ben.  His daughter Chaia is in the hospital and her heart is failing.  I have never, ever, seen anyone with this kind of love and worship for God.  Watch and be challenged.  Read his blog.  Pray for Chaia.  Worship the One and Only God!

Women’s retreat

This weekend 30 ladies from Revolution are on a women’s retreat in Rehoboth beach. I am truly excited to hear all of the amazing things that God is going to do on this retreat. I would like to ask you to pray for these ladies. Ask god to make himself especially known to them in the next 48 hrs. Ask Him to soften their hearts to hear from Him!

Looking forward to hearing a bunch of stories of women who heard from God and made some awesome new friendships!

Peace beyond understanding

In Philippians 4 the apostle Paul talks about a peace that goes beyond understanding.  verses 6 and 7 say this: Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

I have never seen this truth (the truth that God’s peace can guard your heart) more evident in anyone than Ben and Shaina.  Their daughter Chaia is in the hospital right now and will have tests run on her tomorrow that have drastic implications on her life.  I implore you to go to this link and read / watch the blog entries and to PRAY FOR CHAIA!

Want a good marriage?  Follow these 12 rules for “fighting” fair.  When Sarah and I were just 16 we attended The Song of Solomon Conference which was taught by Tommy Nelson.  This was the foundation of our relationship and I am convinced it is not only the reason we ended up getting married but also is why we have a strong relationship today (11 years later)!  I have recommeded these rules to numerous people lately so I figured I would pass them on en mass.   In case you can’t read them from the picture they are as follows:  1.  don’t speak rashly (don’t let your temper get the best of you) 2.  don’t confront your mate publicly 3.  don’t confront your mate before the kids (don’t damage them by arguing in front of them) 4.  don’t use the kids (don’t try to get your kids to take sides!) 5.  don’t say, “you never…” or “you always…”  (“you” statements in general are designed only to hurt and not to bring about resolution… in conflict resolution is the goal… not hurting your mate) 6.  don’t get historical (leave the past in the past… deal with the issue at hand) 7.  don’t raise your voice (winning an argument by domination never results in resolution… ultimately your marriage looses when an argument escalates to this point) 8.  don’t call names (name calling is only designed to hurt… not to resolve) 9.  don’t mention family (saying things like, “you are just like your father/mother” again… just designed to hurt and guilt… not to bring resolution) 10.  don’t win (the goal of conflict in a marriage is resolution… not winning.  When the marriage wins everyone wins.  When one spouse “wins” no one wins!) 11.  don’t condescend (this is one that I personally struggle with!  AVOID AT ALL COSTS!) 12.  don’t demean (go for resolution not winning!) 13.  never force a quiet mate to talk (Sarah added this one.  Give some time if your spouse needs to think about the issue) These rules have helped Sarah and I avoid hurting one another for the last 11 years.  I hope they are great for you too!  It is good to keep this list handy so that you can refer to it and give each other some grace to say, “rule 11 Josh… don’t condescend!” Happy conflicting!

Want a good marriage?  Follow these 12 rules for “fighting” fair.  When Sarah and I were just 16 we attended The Song of Solomon Conference which was taught by Tommy Nelson.  This was the foundation of our relationship and I am convinced it is not only the reason we ended up getting married but also is why we have a strong relationship today (11 years later)! 

I have recommeded these rules to numerous people lately so I figured I would pass them on en mass.  

In case you can’t read them from the picture they are as follows: 

1.  don’t speak rashly (don’t let your temper get the best of you)

2.  don’t confront your mate publicly

3.  don’t confront your mate before the kids (don’t damage them by arguing in front of them)

4.  don’t use the kids (don’t try to get your kids to take sides!)

5.  don’t say, “you never…” or “you always…”  (“you” statements in general are designed only to hurt and not to bring about resolution… in conflict resolution is the goal… not hurting your mate)

6.  don’t get historical (leave the past in the past… deal with the issue at hand)

7.  don’t raise your voice (winning an argument by domination never results in resolution… ultimately your marriage looses when an argument escalates to this point)

8.  don’t call names (name calling is only designed to hurt… not to resolve)

9.  don’t mention family (saying things like, “you are just like your father/mother” again… just designed to hurt and guilt… not to bring resolution)

10.  don’t win (the goal of conflict in a marriage is resolution… not winning.  When the marriage wins everyone wins.  When one spouse “wins” no one wins!)

11.  don’t condescend (this is one that I personally struggle with!  AVOID AT ALL COSTS!)

12.  don’t demean (go for resolution not winning!)

13.  never force a quiet mate to talk (Sarah added this one.  Give some time if your spouse needs to think about the issue)

These rules have helped Sarah and I avoid hurting one another for the last 11 years.  I hope they are great for you too!  It is good to keep this list handy so that you can refer to it and give each other some grace to say, “rule 11 Josh… don’t condescend!”

Happy conflicting!

Revolution was incredible today! Actually God was!

Today was an awesome day in the history of Revolution Annapolis! We had 3 baptisms and we launched a second service! Our highest attended day so far excluding launch and easter! Pretty incredible to watch God work! Huge thanks to everyone who made it happen. From Matt Murphy putting together an awesome set, to the band rocking the set in a way that can only be described as worshipful, to Ted making it sound great, to Linda making sure that everything in the room looked great, to Pam and Dan firing the slides at the right times, to Mikey B lighting the room, to our guest ministries team making sure people felt welcome, to Amber and RA Kids team making the translation to two services look easy, to our production team members like Rob, Amy, David, and Mike making sure everything came in got setup and made it back down to the truck! Also
a BIG thanks to Scott and Tim for working tirelessly to make sure that we were ready to hit the ground running today!

I love OUR church!

Guess who slept through the night last night???

Guess who slept through the night last night???

Just had a great run with Joey Tomasoni! He is the pastor of Downtown Hope which is a church plant in Annapolis. He and DH have been a huge encouragement to me and to Revolution!

Just had a great run with Joey Tomasoni! He is the pastor of Downtown Hope which is a church plant in Annapolis. He and DH have been a huge encouragement to me and to Revolution!

Today revolution hosted a back to school bash for bates middle school! We had the Ravens bird and the Orioles bird there to greet the kids as well as the RA team. We also had @Timcaptain rocking the mic, he did a great job of making the kids feel welcomed! Also all of the teachers received goodie bags. It felt good to say thank you to a bunch of teachers and faculty who rarely hear it! Great morning!

Today revolution hosted a back to school bash for bates middle school! We had the Ravens bird and the Orioles bird there to greet the kids as well as the RA team. We also had @Timcaptain rocking the mic, he did a great job of making the kids feel welcomed! Also all of the teachers received goodie bags. It felt good to say thank you to a bunch of teachers and faculty who rarely hear it! Great morning!

So I decided to change the layout of my blog…

I decided to change the layout of the blog… I am now using a tumblr blog because it seems to be easier to post to and it links up with social media a little easier.  I am planning on posting some of my old posts from the previous blog here in the next few days.