I’m not much of a reader. I use to read a couple of books a week but to be honest I find most of them to be by theory people and not practical people. So I got bored and quit reading books. That is why I love blogs because they are by people actually doing something.

Anyway, I want to make it a point to read more this next year. How much, I don’t know but I am going to read more. I started today on Built to Last by Jim Collins. Of course, I have read Good to Great and think it is must reading for all in ministry BUT Built to Last MIGHT actually be better for church planters. I never hear anyone mention this book along side of Good to Great but it is a great book on building something from the start that is WORTHY of lasting.

Great book so far.

Okay as the year comes to close, let me jump on the bandwagon with a top ten list. At this time last year I didn’t even know what a blog was. Someone pointed out Terry Storch’s blog to me and next thing I know I am doing it. It has been fun to say the least.
I’ve learned a lot during the last year through blogs and I have made several good friends. So I thought I would put together MY top ten blog list. I am sure you have heard of many of these blogs but there might be one or two you aren’t checking out.

They are in no real order.

1.) Terry Storch - Okay, his blog stinks right now but he was THE blog to read for a while. I have to have him on the list out of respect for the old schoolness factor.
2.) Ben Arment - My staff calls Ben the bizarro Gary. We could NOT be any different. I find myself disagreeing with a lot of his thoughts and they seem so opposite of what we are doing. YET, I LOVE this blog. I love his vision, heart, and passion. A must read for church planters. I have been challenged time and time again.

3.) Tony Morgan - I actually met Tony on an online forum WAY before I ever heard of blogging. Tony to me is one of the most real mega-church guys I have ever met. Cool dude, cool blog.

4.) Perry Noble - One of the cool things that has happened in the last year is the friendship that has developed with Perry. The dude has been a mentor to me and has been good to Ridge Stone. Our church owes him a lot and they don’t even know it.

5.) Dave Ferguson - QUICKLY moved into the top ten blogs. This guy is putting out meat on his blog that EVERY church leader should be reading.

6.) Scott Hodge - Want a glimpse into the heart of a pastor? Here is your blog. This dude is so real and so open about his life that it is awesome.

7.) Evan Erwin - My resident non-Christian. He stumbled on my blog one day and linked to it and a online friendship has happened. I dig this dude. 99% of you have probably never seen his blog, check it out. If he was living in Canton, he wouldn’t be a non-Christian long.
8.) Charlie Pharis - One of my best friends in the ministry and the owner of a GREAT blog. To quote Will Ferrell in the movie Old School, “You’re my boy blue!”

9.) Mark Batterson - A blogging machine. This guy puts out new stuff more then anyone I have seen. He truly has a passion for blogging and has one of the coolest looking blogs around.

10.) Tally Wilgis - The dude has a passion for church planting and a holy discontent for the status quo. It has been fun to watch God birth vision in him.

I am curious how Sunday will work out. We are catering in breakfast for our people to help with the surprising headaches many of them will have.
We are going to do a regular service but add a little more worship then normal and just make it a fun Sunday. I am going to preach a real quick message on how to kick off the New Year right and we will call it a day.

I’m excited, now I just have to wonder if anyone is going to come.

I gave everyone in the office the entire week off. It has been a long 17 months since we started. There have been many 7 day work weeks and many 20 hour days. They deserved the week off and to be honest, I needed it.

It is amazing what some time off can do for you. I am so ready to get back to the office and get going.

I really feel that 06 is going to be a big year for RSC (doesn’t every pastor say that?).

We are a year and a half old and running between 330-350 on any given Sunday. We have stayed very focused on what we do and making sure we do what we do well. I think we do a good job.

However I know we are now to the point where several things will start to be added, new staff will be added, and we will have to start putting on big boy pants in a lot of areas. That is cool but it is also a little scary. You want to make sure you add the right things at the right time.

This year I want to start laying the foudation for some new ministries:
1.) Youth. We do nothing for youth. We knew going in that we weren’t going to and we stuck to that. Reaching youth doesn’t build your church. Youth have no problem going to different churches then their parents and most parents don’t care if their kids go to a different church as long as they are in church. We focused on preschool and children. Now, it is time to at least start laying a foundation for youth. We actually have a large group of teenagers and would probably have one of the bigger youth groups around if we actually met so it is time to start.

2.) Community - Before we launched we were very active in the community, then we got away from it. Servent Evangelism stuff isn’t our bag but it is time to stop just having church and start impacting this community. I love the city God called us to and I want RSC to make a difference.

That might not seem like a lot of new things to add but if we can’t do them with excellence we don’t do them. Those two new elements should keep us plenty busy.

On top of that I want to take some of the things we already to to another level:

1.) Home Teams - We do them and that is it. We need to figure out what is going to work for us and really emphasis these groups. I believe in the importance of them but I will admit I don’t have a passion for them. I need someone who is as passionate about small groups as I am about the unchurched and sunday mornings.

2.) Preschool - I would put our preschool up against ANY portable church in the nation but that isn’t good enough. We need to take it to another level and we will this year, matter of fact we will by Feb. or I will not be happy.

3.) Backdoor - We got to close that sucker.

What things are you guys wanting to see happen at your plants in the next year?

Romans 10:15
15And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

Hello, I am Gary and I am a flip-flop wearer. I wear flip-flops with everything. I wear them year around. I wear them with shorts, pants, and I even been known to wear them with a suit. I wear them in a house, I wear them with a mouse…okay, you get the point.

Anyway, he who wears flip-flops year around tends to have dried, yucky feet. To be honest, I have never noticed. However someone did. They quoted me the above verse and then told me they had paid for me a pedicure. I was not down with that to be honest. But my wife told me I had to go since it was a gift.

I went.
I liked.
I’m hooked.

We moved into our new offices today!!!! For those keeping count this is out 5 office space in 18 months. I often joke that we stay in one place until the bill collectors find us, then we move.
We are going to spoiled in the new office.

Our first office was a RAT hole. However it looked good from the outside so we took it. It actually had a stripper pole in the middle of it. It was cool. The windows were falling literally falling out.

2.) We then moved a house. The house was nice but old and always had something broke.

3.) Then it was to a ONE room office. 4 of us in one office was not good times.

4.) Then we splurged and moved to a 2 room office. The problem was we were in a building with other offices and we made to much noise.

5.) NOW we are in a “real” office. It has 6 offices and we can add on and go to 10. IT has a break room and is actually nice. FINALLY a place we can stay at for a while.

Today is DeAnna’s birthday. The day started with 6 hours of tear down at City Hall but ended with us having a great night. I truly think I have the greatest wife in the world. Being married to me is not easy and she has done for 9 years now. All she has ever wanted to be was a mom and she does a great job with the kids. She keeps me grounded and she is a person of prayer. I’m very lucky.

Another great thing about her is she is a hair band fan so she god Bon Jovi tickets for her birthday. I can’t wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tim hooked me up today also but letting me know he and courtney are taking DeAnna and I to see INXS when they come to the ATL! I have been jealous of Terry for a while because he was going and now I get to go!

Well, it is over. I am wore out. But it was awesome. We had right under 600 (570ish) in attendance and it should have been more. It started down pouring during the first service and I know that affected our attendance in the last service.

The creative elements were GREAT. They were so much work but paid off in the end. I serve with the greatest staff and the greatest people in the world. They are awesome.

I’m too tired right now but it appears confrontation is a given at the Stone. This time it was 2 minutes before the service and involved the mayor. Lucky for us the mayor of Ball Ground attends the Stone so I will get him to smooth it over.
I’ll tell the story later. Needless to say that no one at the city informed the mayor we were holding our services there.

Man, a good night sleep is just what the doctor ordered. We already have people working at City Hall and I am getting ready to head out. Tim, Preston, and I are going to worship at Watermarke Church this morning at 11. Watermarke is one of the North Point partners and they started about 3 months ago in our area. I’m looking forward to worshipping and getting focused on tonight. I’m looking forward to seeing their set-up too.

Then it is off to work. We have so much stuff to do today and then tonight it is showtime.

I can’t wait.

In 2006 I will be starting a new series of posts on why reaching unchurched people is the way to go and why most churched people will drive you crazy.

It will be a random feature and I am going to share with you real life stories of different experiences I have had with dealing with church people.

These stories will make you laugh, smile, and cry with heartbroke over how lame a lot of Christians can be.
Should be fun…