I have been in this gig long enough that nothing God does should surprise me yet over and over God does just that. There are times He blows my doors off!

We have been gypsy’s when it comes to office space. We are in our fourth office since August of 04. We currently in a very nice office space by it has a foyer and two offices. It is very cramped but very affordable.

The thing is we also rent a storage shed, places to do our membership class, etc. So at the end of the month we have dropped a decent amount of kawn. So we have been praying like crazy for new office space but it had to meet the following guidelines:

1.) Enough offices to grow and add more staff
2.) Look professional
3.) Have a place the band can practice
4.) Have a place where we can have membership class and other small group type events
5.) Have youth space that would hold at least 100 teenagers

So we begin the search. We were looking but not really, if you know what I mean.

Well about a week ago we found some space that has 7 offices that could be 9 very easily. A room that holds about 35, a HUGE creative room/conference room and a 2200 sq ft space for a youth worship center. It is VERY nice.

It was MAJOR out of our price range but I put on the Big Ask and I’ll be danged if he didn’t accept pending his accountant looking every thing over!
Yeah God!

Another cool thing is this dude is a catholic from New York City who hasn’t been to church in 15 years and he told me after meeting us that he told his wife they had to come check us out because we were about as non-pastoral a group of guys he had ever seen! Another plus in my book.

I don’t want to get to excited but I would by lying if I said I wasn’t excited.

I don’t know if I have mentioned this before but, I LOVE THIS CHURCH PLANTING THING!

btw, the new office space is about $400 a month cheaper then we have been paying!

I have never sat through a show with knots in my stomach like I do when I watch Prision Break. Tonight they really pushed the story along. I have no idea how they are going to shut the show down until May.

I also am very confused on how they are going to keep this show going any length of time. They are starting to build storylines that could happen AFTER the prison break but right now once the break out the show has to be over.

Good stuff.

Hey guys, give me some feedback on what you guys are doing for New Year’s Day. We are not having Church on Christmas Day. We are having a huge Christmas Eve service and allowing our families to enjoy Christmas with the family.

But I am curious what you guys are doing for New Year’s Day? We ARE having church but I am leaning toward setting up in the foyer of our theatre and doing an unplugged short service. We will probably cater in breakfast as well. My concern is what if a huge crowd shows up and we don’t have room in the foyer? I really don’t know what to expect.

What are you guys doing and what are your thoughts on how your crowd will be?

Thanks!

Held our first Newcomers BBQ tonight and it went great. I got this idea from Greg Rohlinger and it was a great idea.

We had close to 60 people there and kids coming out of our ears! The only rule was no church talk. It was so great to get to met some people who I only see on Sundays. It was also huge getting them connected with other people in the church.

Church planters, add this one to your list. Even if it is only two or three families, invite them over to your house and do it.

I have learned that it is very rare that when someone in our church connects with either me or one the staff that they end up not plugging in.
The cookout was HUGE for buy-in.

Jason Burns was in our service today and had some cool things to say about his visit. It has been a while since I have heard nice things here in cyber space about us so I thought I would post a link here to his comments.

Thank Jason, it was great having you guys with us!

UGH! Today was one of those mornings you want to forget about sometimes. I preached on giving for the first time and I think I messsed up by letting our people know ahead of time. Attendance was way down and I felt like I laid an egg. Computers kept messing up, sound board was shorting out and it was one of those Sundays you want to forget about.

But I do think a lot of people’s eyes were opened up to a truth they didn’t know about so that was cool.

We have our first Newcomers Dinner tonight and we have over 50 people signed up so I am excited and looking forward to it.

Oh yeah there was one of those church planting dudes in our service as well.

Seriously I hate North Point Community Church. They have to be one of the coolest churches around and every time I go to their webpage I see something I want to steal. For that I hate them. I don’t go there to often because they are too close in location for me to steal…ur borrow their sermons. Plus they now have a location in Canton so I really can’t steal their stuff but I went to their webpage a few weeks ago and saw something that was so cool. I was going to post then but I forgot. So I am here tonight and I log back on to see what teaching series they are in and see it again.

The Sermon thingy that North Point has going on their webpage is insane. It has video, audio, a place where you can write notes, it has small group discussion, and questions you can answer. Check it out here.

How cool is that?

This is just another reason to truly hate those guys. No other church will ever be able to do something cool because these guys are so talented that they always think of it first.

Yep, I hate them.

Wow, I just listened to Kyle Lake’s funeral service. I can’t imagine what that church is going through. I had a lump in my throat and this salty discharge coming from my eyes as I listened. While on staff at West Ridge one of the staff passed away and the next Sunday I witnessed one of the most powerful services I have ever seen. I saw a life that was lived serving God given honor. As I listened to Kyle’s service I thought the same thing.

My heart breaks for his family and his church. If you have time go and listen to the service. We should all be so blessed when our earthly life is over to be honored in such a powerful way.

If you have kept up with the Fall Festival post you know there has been a little bit of tension in the comment section. I have to admit out of all the things I have said here it surprised me to get that much heat for my thoughts on a fall festival. BTW in case you didn’t read that post, the Fall Festival was very lame.
Anyway the comments were tame compared to a few of the e-mails I got.
The e-mails made me laugh as a few questions were asked over and over so I thought instead of responding to each e-mail, I would answer the questions here:

1.) Are you really a Christian?
Yes. I put my faith and trust in Jesus Christ at age 19. But thanks for asking.

2.) Are you really a pastor?
No. I just play one on my blog. Yes, I am. I pastor Ridge Stone Church in Canton, Ga. God let me start in August of 04. BTW, to the two people who e-mailed the info e-mail address on our webpage to complain to our leadership about me, that e-mail address goes to me. We are also a year old so I am the leadership. I considered your complaints and decided to stay pastor of the church but thanks for the e-mail.
3.) Why are you a Perry Noble clone?
I really didn’t know I was. I just met Perry in person a few months ago. He has been very cool to me and New Spring has been cool to Ridge Stone and while I really respect him and consider him a mentor in many aspects, he is a Clemson fan so my respect for him only runs so deep.
4.) Why do people like you think you have all the answers?
I am not sure what you mean by people like me. Do you mean handsome Georgia fans? I don’t think I have all the answers. Why do people like you ask dumb questions?

5.) Why do you have such a problem with traditional church?
Believe it or not, I don’t. I just thought the fall festival of this church I went to was lame. I was saved in a traditional church. My mother is on staff at a HUGE traditional church. I think God for traditional church. However, I feel that the church in general is not very effective anymore and felt called to start a non-traditional church. Plus suits make me look fatter then normal.

6.) I would love to meet you and kick your butt.
Not really a question but it made me laugh. It has been a long time (about 8 years) since I was in a fight. Matter of fact I was in a place a few years ago where a fight broke out and all I could think about was if one of those guys somehow hit me that it would hurt. I knew I was getting old. I would probably be a little rusty but if you feel the need to fight, the redneck in me would probably be game.

There you go. This could become a new feature on Mad Babble. Before you ask, yes all of those questions were real questions I got this week but the answers are in jest…sort of.
Have a good night!

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