DeAnna took the kids to see my parents tonight and in the morning they are going to see The Incredibles on Ice. My parents have always thought their way of supporting our planting of RSC was to take care of kids clothes, fun, spoiling, etc. Money is tight when you plant and this has been a huge blessing. They are the bomb!

Anyway that leaves me at the house bored. I shared with you about my lunch with Jason yesterday and we had (I mainly talked) about the lack of character I see in many church planters. I want to post on this very soon but I can’t decide if I should as I am very passionate about it and it might not come across right.

I’ll decide later….

One bad thing about the Stryper concert: They didn’t play Honestly.

What is a hairband concert with the power ballad?

Yes you read the title right. I should know early next week if we will be moving into out 5 th office space in 16 months.
This one is the final one though…..I think. I love being moble on Sunday mornings but it is a real pain the rest of the week when we are doing every thing else. If this space becomes opens for us it will allow us to never move until we build…if we ever build. We will have plenty of office space, plus a room that we wil turn into worship space for about 125. We will use the worship space for our youth (if we ever have any), classes, band practice, etc. It is not a done deal but it appears ready to be.

Ridge Stone On The Move…..again.

Last night I got to Atlanta early for the Stryper concert and as I do every time, God just put a huge burden on the city in me. The north side is insane!!!!! I was literally speechless at the growth. If you don’t live here in Metro Atlanta you might not know that the joke is that no one actually lives in the city. Crime was so bad that every one had moved outside of 285. However that is changing. MARTA just put in a the new Atlantic station and that area is amazing. As far as the eye can see it is loft apartments, housing communities, etc. IKEA just opened there as well. They have built some type of high dollar shopping center like I have never seen. There is a Regal Cinemas there so you could start there. I went around the Varsity and that area was not the best area but they have remodeled and put some incredible things there. Georgia Tech is right there. The cost of living would break you but if you could raise support you could do a very unique work there. I watched the people and as someone who doesn’t really buy into the whole postmodern thing, I have to say I saw it for the first time last night.

My flesh would love to go there and start a church but the reality is I wouldn’t connect with that area. I hate that. Every time I go there I get the church planting bug. I drove around last night, got out and walked and prayed and come to this conlusion: Ridge Stone is going to start a church there. I will personally help someone raise money and I will invest in that area. If someone could go down there and do something like Journey Church or National Community Church I have no doubt it will blow the doors off. There is NOTHING and I mean NOTHING in this area. I would start at the Regal but my ultimate goal would be to move into Earthlink Live.

This place is off the hook. It holds about 1200 and can be divided down to about 500. It feels and has the vibe that a church in that area needs to have.

If you know someone tell them to call me or email me and I will do all we can to help them. Don’t send me some bum though.
Every one talks about planting in New York, L.A., San Fran, etc. because everyone says that all Atlanta has is church plants. There are church plants every where but they are all outside of the 285. No one is in the city. If you want to do something outside the box then you need to look at this area.

I have added a few new links to some church planters on the side:

Jason Burns is starting The Springs Community Church in Newnan, Ga. Jason has been involved in planting for a while and is going to a great town to plant in. I got to have lunch with Jason yesterday and we had a blast. I think he asked one question then I talked to rest of the time. I was excited to hear what God has placed in his heart and I look forward to seeing what God does through The Springs.

Scott Whitaker is starting Stone Point Church also in Newnan. I have known Scott for a while now. He was actually in a coaching network I got thrown out of and then I went to another one and he showed up there. Scott is one of those guys I hardly ever talk too but when we do talk it is for hours. He has a sharp mind for planting.

Planting in the same town at the same time is tough. We did it with Watermarke a year ago. It is a hard balance between being Kingdom minded but also remembering God called you to start your church and you will give an account for it. I have learned communication is the key in this area.

Anyway, check out their blogs and enjoy.

Man! I left the house tonight about 5 to go hang out with my old man and some people from Church and then go see Stryper and I get back and it has hit the fan at the old Mad Babble house. I can not believe I got that many posts on a thing about Fall Festivals. That is too funny.

Anway the concert was off the hook!!!!!!!!!!

I love hair band music.
Every thing is big.
Big Hair.
Big Guitar solo.
Big Drum solos.
Big Vocals.
Big Drums.
Big Encore.

I know this sounds cheesy but Stryper was one of the main things that got me into this Christian gig. They planted the seed. I was a metal head junky and they crossed over and I heard them and was hooked.

It was very cool to see them rock the house down tonight. My ears are still ringing.

Great Show.

I was just e-mailed this by my boy Evan. I am furious!!!!

PB going on break until May!

I haven’t wanted to post this…

I have avoided it all day…

I’m not proud of it but we all make it mistakes…

I have tried hard to not do this…

I gave into peer pressure that is all I can say…

I am very ashamed…

I could start by giving you excuses:

1. There are no streetlights in my neighborhood
2. I was lazy and didn’t feel like walking
3. I thought what I was doing was better

But they would be just excuses and would not justify what I did.

I have always prided myself on the fact that I don’t do a lot of churchy stuff and yet I did this. I actually feel dirty from this.

So what is it that I did? I am so ashamed I can barely type it…..

I WENT TO A CHURCH FALL FESTIVAL!

There I said it. I know you probably think less of me but what can I say? I fell off the wagon. I gave in. I’m a loser.

I will say this: It was awful.

I knew it was wrong. I was so ashamed I actually went to the next town over from me where no one would see me. That is sad.

Like most things I go to that involve church, I will say this: The church again proved why they aren’t reaching people. This thing was awful. I was embararssed to be a christian and to think they thought they were reaching people without a church home.

If you would have asked this church they would have told you this was their big thing for the community. No, it was their big thing for Christians.

Why can’t the church get “it.”

Here were some things I noticed that were just flat out sad.

1.) Candy - To kids this is the most important part of Halloween. It is for me as well. When you showed up you registered and they gave you a little sandwich bag with candy in it. That was it. We rushed home where Ashlyn could go door to door and she got more candy on our street then she did there. That is very important for a 4 year old. After it was done she told me how fun it was and next year let’s skip the festival. I want my kids growing up digging church not thinking it is lame.

2.) Christianize - Man the christianize language was in full affect. Why do people get saved and then they decide to talk weird? If I met another Bro. so and so I was going scream. If someone called it Harvest day instead of Halloween one more time I was going to punch them. Unchurched people think we are weird because we are.

3.) Excellence - It was sad. This is a large church but I could have honestly done a better job. The inflatables were sad, the games were lame, and the candy…well I already shared that. This church truly had the opportunity to show the community a great time and that church could rock but instead they showed them that the church is always lags behind the world in terms of excellence.

4.) Costumes - No scary ones. I understand they are a church BUT if you are reaching unchurched (that was their goal) then let them come and accept them and maybe let them see you aren’t LAME! There was a dude carrying a snake around and security was escorting them away. Now, I don’t want a snake around either but the snake seemed under control.

5.) Pastor - He was very sissyish. More and more pastors are very sissy men. They are so prim and proper and can’t relate to people. I think people now expect their pastor to be that way and that is one of the reasons men don’t attend church. I have A LOT of thoughts on this but I will post that on another day. I truly felt if I punched him he would break. I listened to him talk and again who talks like that? His wife had big hair too. Not cool.

I could go on and on but you would think I was being a jerk. I am not trying to be but I can’t believe I relapsed like this.

My point is simply I am ashamed that I went to this thing instead of hanging out in my neighborhood and doing what I do best which is chilling with those who don’t go to church.

I am worried about the church. Overall she just doesn’t get it.