If you are looking for a internship in a church plant then we are accepting ONE this year. Last year was the first time we had an intern and we liked having the whipping boy around the office.

Seriously if you are looking to hang out at a growing church plant and have a desire to learn and be used of God then shoot me an email and let me know you are interested. I would have killed for an opportunity like this when I was doing the college thing. The pay is zilch but we’ll give you a place to stay and put food in your gut. I promise by the end of the summer you will have a new view of church ministry and what it takes to reach unchurched people.

It is a great way to learn all that goes into planting a church.

1. Hell No starts this week!!! If you want to hear what is next for us at The Stone then be there!
2. We are back to one service for the summer due to summer movies starting earlier!!!! The service will start at 10:00 a.m.
3. We need your help tearing down this week before Spiderman 3 starts!!!
4. We are doing Baby Dedications on May 27th. We do this every Memorial and Labor Day but we normally do in an outside service. This year we are doing it inside so if you want to particpate, let Preston know (preston@ridgestonechurch.com).
5. We are doing baptisms on May 27th as well!!! If you want to be baptized, contact Malcolm at malcolm@ridgestonechurch.com
6. The LAST membership class until the fall is on May 18th. Contact Malcolm to sign up.
7. We are podcasting our sermons now. If you missed a service, want to hear a sermon again, or want to send a sermon to a friend then click here to check it out.
8. The Project United is rocking and they are holding an entire worship service THIS Sunday night! If you are a middle school or high school student then you don’t want to miss it!
9. The RSC Band is playing at a city festival in downtown Canton on May 20th at 3:00 p.m. Come out and rock with them!
10. Invite a friend Sunday!
11. Ridge Stone Rocks! (Get use to that phrase this summer)

Man, I am pumped about the new series starting this week!!!!  We are going to be talking about the next steps we will be taking at RSC and I am as excited about this as I was the day we launched.  We are about to impact the 575/515 corridor with the message of Jesus Christ and I am excited as I can be!

I sent some of the staff this weekend to check out a church that is doing what we are looking at doing and I love that they came back with the attitude of “if these guys can do it, without a doubt we can do it!” 

We are going to be filming some video tomorrow and I am excited about the things we are going to be revealing in the video!

This is an awesome time to be part of RSC!!!!!! 

I can’t wait to get back to the office tomorrow.  After staff retreat, missing a Sunday, and being out of town last week, I haven’t been in the office in two weeks and I am itching to get back.

God is doing some awesome things and with that comes Spritual Warfare like crazy.  I can just feel some things aren’t exactly right and I want to get to the bottom of those things this week.  We have a TON on stuff coming including baptisms, launching our new series, and sharing where we are going as a church.  You better believe the devil is going to stir things up when those type of things are happening.

I can’t wait to hang out with our team this week and start planning for all that is coming up.  I can’t wait to start connecting all the new people God is sending, I can’t wait to address some of our staffing needs, I can’t wait to cast vision to our staff in all staff meeting on Tuesday, I can’t wait to shoot some video on Sunday that is going to show where we are headed, I can’t wait to get updated on all that is going on in the church, I can’t wait to get back to the job that I love!!!!!

RSC, if you think about, pray for me and our staff this week!  These are some awesome times and I can’t wait to see what God is going to do through all of us!

Man, it was GREAT to be back home this week at The Stone!  I freaking hate being gone from church there and it felt good to be back and talk to our people about how to have a quiet time with God.  It was weird preaching such a simple message but it was SO needed for our people.

Next we go to one service and I got a clue where we are going to put people, but that is a GOOD problem.

I am home and I am wore out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I need a vacation from my family trip.

After fighting it forever, we are finally up and podcasting our Sunday sermons!

Here is the deal, don’t expect to be blown away.  :)  Everything you hear over there I probably stole from someone else.

Enjoy!

RSC Podcast

I feel like I have been away from The Stone for a month.  Last week we were on staff retreat, I was gone this last Sunday, and this week I was at the National New Church Conference and spending time with my family.

So to say I am counting down the seconds until tomorrow would be an understatement.  DeAnna and I were eating lunch today and I told her how pumped I am about tomorrow and then without thinking I said, “It is so awesome to work at a place I actually want to be at.”  The truth is that it is an awesome feeling to love what you do for a living!

Tomorrow I am teaching the MOST PRACTICAL message I have ever taught and probably the MOST IMPORTANT message I have ever taught for your personal walk wiht God.

Instead of feeding your tomorrow, I am going to teach you to feed yourself.

Instead of giving you some fish, I am going to teach you how to fish.

Instead of giving you a slice of bread, I am going to teach you how to bake it yourself.

Trust me, you don’t want to miss church tomorrow.

We are home!

We had a GREAT time!

Thanks for the prayers!

Be there Sunday!

You don’t want to miss it!

I’m going to bed!

We spent the day the Animal Kingdom and MGM here at Disney and now the kids are going to sleep and I am just chilling thanking of how blessed I am.

As I have reflected over the last week at the conference the biggest take home to me is the value of friends. This is an area I just feel blessed in. I love that I pastor a church where the people I pastor I consider friends. I work with a staff that I am best friends with. I have a Board of Directors here that I consider two (yeah it is a small team) great friends, and I live in a community where I have a ton of people who don’t attend church anywhere you consider me their friend and I consider them friends. It is awesome!

However, as much as I love and appreciate those people in my life, this week I am thankful that I have friends around me who pastors. Pastoring is a unique thing and at times it is lonely and you feel everyone is against you and it is awesome to have people around you that KNOW exactly what you are going through and know what it is like to be a pastor.

This week I had several instances where it was awesome to be reminded of the power of friends.

• I got to hang out with Tadd for most of the week. I have known Tadd for about 4 years now. I served with him at West Ridge and he helped start RSC. Tadd is now planting in North Carolina and it has been awesome to see our friendship develop. I probably talk to him every day.
• I spent a lot of time with Scott Whitaker this week. Again, Scott is one of those guys I talk to every week. He is doing a great job and I love that we are friends in this church planting gig.
• There are very few people I LOVE more then Tony McCollum. I honestly consider him my best friend in ministry. He would give me the shirt off his back (though I wouldn’t want to see him shirtless) and he is the real deal. He is one of the people I would literally fight for if I had too. Plus he is a funny freaking dude.
• He wouldn’t want you to know this but Chris Elrod sent my kids money this week for Disney World. He has never met my kids. He is doing a work so different then us but we are united in our love for rock music!
• Perry Noble called me today just to see how I was doing. Here is a guy who has a ton of things on his plate pastoring a church of 8,000+, but he took time just to call and chat. How cool is that? In the last two years, our relationship has went from one of a mentor to me to one I consider a great friend.
• Shawn Lovejoy let me hang with his crew all week and even fed me.
• I talked to Greg Rohlinger this week. I say he is one of the most underrated church planters in America. He called just to chat and see how my family was.

I could go on and on naming names and I am sure I forgot some people, but you get the point. I didn’t list those name to name drop, I listed those just as a reminder of how awesome it is to have friends in this thing called church planting and it is awesome to know that as we are fighting the forces of hell that we aren’t doing it alone.

Show me a church planter without friends and I will show you a church planter who won’t make it.