I know I was going to take a week off from posting (and I am) BUT did you see Prison Break tonight?
Man, if you are missing this show, you are missing out. I was literally on the edge of my seat the whole show, my heart was pounding and I was totally digging it.

Best show on TV right now.

Taking a break from blogging for the next week or so. I have a lot on my plate this week and then Thursday, DeAnna and I are Vegas bound. We are heading to the Creative Church Regional. I am so excited not only for the conference but because I get some time with my beautiful bride and I get to hang with some friends. I need the break. Preston is teaching next week and I am so excited for him. I also hate that I am missing him teach for the first time in “big boy” church. He has some really creative ideas and it is going to be good.

Anyway with all that is going on, I am going to take that time and chill from blogging. Right now it seems more like a job then some thing I do for fun and to unwind. I have been feeling this for about two weeks but was really convicted by Scott Hodge about this when he was interviewed by Blogging Church.

I love blogging but since I am out of town anyway, it seemed like a good time to take a break.

See ya in about 10 days.

Peace…I’m out.

P.S. You have to download Blues Traveler’s version of No Woman No Cry. It is off the hook.

Needed something different tonight. So Bob is the answer. Nothing like sitting around with the kids a sleep and the wife and I chilling listening to Bob Marley.

Today we started our new series called “LIFE.” I was so glad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If I had to teach on sex one more week I was going to scream. I am not sure how it is for others but I start reading and studying about a month before our series starts. So add that time along with the series time and I am normally bored by the middle of the series.

I love the first day of a new series because it is fresh ideas, fresh graphics, fresh videos, and a fresh subject. Today was just one of those days when everything clicked. Tim was on vacation and we had a guest worship leader. That ALWAYS worrys me but hit it out of the park. The dude can sing. I preached on living life to its fullest and the band ended the service with Tim McGraw’s song “Live like you were dying.”

Wow! What a perfect song to end this service. I really could give a flip where you stand on the “secular music in church” debate. This song just nailed the message home. It was awesome.

It was the last Sunday of fall break here in Cherokee County so we were missing several families but our influx of new people has been amazing. I always knew location was important but I never knew how important. We are only about 2.5 miles from our old location but since we moved into the commercial part of town right next to the interstate we are drawing a lot people from up north in Jasper (about 15 miles north) and the amazing thing is how many people we are getting from the south. Acworth and Kennesaw are about 20 miles south and we are getting people from this part of town like crazy.

Schools are great but I am learning schools are only really known (unless it is a High School) by the small community they service. If you don’t live in that school zone then chances are you don’t know where such and such school is.

I think building wise a school and movie theatre are about even. They both have thier good and bad. The worship center in the movie theatre cannot be matched in a school. It is that simple. However the other areas are normally better in a school. So it is a trade off. I think where a theatre takes the lead is in location and the fact that there is only one theatre in most towns. There are several schools and you are always having to tell people exactly which school it is you are in.

Anyway I started posting about how much fun a new series is.

The wife and kids are home (thank God!) and I am heading off to bed. AT this time of 9:09 Georgia is leading 14-3. Hopefully it is a done deal and I won’t miss anything. I want to see the dawgs demolish somebody but Richt (as much as I love him) doesn’t have that killer streak in for some reason. Hoepfully I will wake up and they will have won in a large manner.

If they lose, I will be eating crowe in the morning.

In closing let me comment on this:

Georgia Tech fans - You thought this was going to be your year. HA! It isn’t. Va Tech looked GREAT and you looked awful. If you are a Tech fan, look out in the morning, it will be brutal for you at church.

Clemson Fans (Not mentioning any names but you can find their blogs here, here, and here. - Boston College is a Yankee school. This is the south. We rule at football. I hang my head in shame of you guys. Look on the bright side, at least you don’t play the Dawgs this year. I know you are use to hearing this but always remember: There is always next year.
Good night!

I’m not a big fan of most music with Christian lyrics. I do like some but overall it isn’t very good. But on Saturday nights, DeAnna settles the house down about 7:30 and I come downstairs to get mentally prepared for Sunday. I look over my sermon and make any last minute changes and I always listen to “Christian” music on Saturday nights while I am doing this. Tonight I downloaed Jeremy Camp’s Restored CD. GREAT CD! This cat has got some good stuff.

If you haven’t checked him yet, do so.

Blogs are an amazing thing. For me I sort of put what is in my head down on the blog. People then read those thoughts and think you are about to make a decision because of what you said. I have been asking a lot about multi-site church lately. I just find it interesting. We have one launching tomorrow in town, we had another one try it here in town, we have another church south in Woodstock about to try it, some of my great friends are thinking of doing it, and I have just been exploring the ins and outs of it.

Will we one day do one? Anything is possible.

I think the area to the west and the north of me is wide open. However we have done nothing at RSC yet. I can’t get one campus functioning where it should be, much less two.

I do however see us in the next year launching multi-venues. I have loved this concept since I first heard of it and it was actually our vision before we started. We actually mapped out the school we were meeting to have different venues. The move to the theatre was also largely based on this vision. I don’t know what it is about our church but we have musical talent coming out of our ears. Every week we have new musicians come and introduce themselves. So it is a natural thing for us.

I live in a area where I believe (just my opinion) where there are very few, if any churches of any style truly growing and reaching lost people like they should. Our music is what it is. It is very very modern, almost alternative and I know that for many people that is a turn off. So if we can do a service that is more “celebration” in style, one that is unplugged, and (gasp) even one that is traditional, I think it would be huge. We have the musical talent to pull all those off now. However the one that I think is untapped in potential is a country service. We don’t the people to pull this off at this time. The number one music station in Atlanta is the country station. If someone could ever do the modern worship with a modern country sound it would be huge. We have done two services like this and our people still ask when we are going to do it again.

A theatre is perfect for multi-venues but even those can’t be started until we can get one operating right.
Oh yeah…GO DAWGS!!!!!!! (Tonight that is)

I’m Georgia Born, Georgia Bred, and when I die, well I’ll be Georgia dead. I saw that on a bumper sticker today and it made me laugh. The truth is I love Georgia. God exiled me to Iowa for 3 1/2 years and when I got back I swore I would never leave again if God would allow me to stay.

I love the fact that I can look out my backdoor and see the mountains.
I love the fact that I am only a few hours from the beach.
I love that I have a major river that runs through my town.
I love that I can order a tea and they know right off the bat that I mean sweet tea.
I love the fact that we have the most beautiful spring and fall of anywhere.
I love the fact that God allows me to serve Him in Canton.

I am sitting around tonight in a empty house with the windows open listening now to Kenny Chesney. He has a great song called, “Back where I come from.” It reminds me of Georgia and I dig it.

Tonight I have been thinking of how awesome it is that we as pastors get to do this for a living. I’ll be real honest: I would do it for free. Matter of fact I basically did it in Iowa and for the last year. To think that I get paid to do this is awesome. I feel as if I am getting away with something illegal.

I am so wired to start churches that for a long time I struggled with if I would be able to stay here very long. During the summer I had the church planting bug again bad. I now know that I honestly believe God will allow me to stay here for the rest of my life. I would have it no other way.

Governor Sonny Perue asked all the Georgia schools to close Monday and Tuesday to help us save gas. Don’t you know if those kids could vote, he would win next year in a landslide?
Where was a Governor like that when I was a kid?
To read article click here.

I had the opportunity to talk to a pastor of a multi-site church today and he mentioned that they were looking/considering launching a few sites great distances away. I know Life Church just launched two campuses in Arizona. I also hear rumors that a pretty large church out of state is about to launch multi-site in the ATL.

Most multi-site churches I am aware of do it pretty close to the “main” campus. I assume the logic is that by being closer to the main campus people who attend the main campus can but are closer to the other site can attend. I also assume they are counting on the name of the church and the name of the teacher being a draw. I also assume they want to be close to share resources. That all makes perfect sense.

My question is do you see this being effective by going out of state? Would people in Alabama know who Ed Young and Fellowship is? Would people in Washington know who Andy Stanley and North Point is? Would people in Atlanta know who Craig and Life Church are?

Seacoast has a campus in Greenville but it at least is in the same state. They also have one in Savannah but it is just across the state line.

Do you think multi-site is just as effective that far away from the “main” campus?

I shared with the pastor today how I am enjoying watching the latest trends in the church. I have fallen in love with the concept of multi-site. I use to be very anti it. I am a church planter so I struggled with the concept but the more I think about it, the more I see the advantages of it. I am just curious if you think it can work being so far away from the main campus?

Anyway, any thoughts?