After last night I am officially done with 24. That might have been the WORST season finale I have ever seen. 24 sucked this year like I have never seen. I can’t believe how the quality of it dropped so quick.
Now Heroes was good, not great. I didn’t totally love the finale but it was good enough. It left some interesting possibilities for next year though.
We had some great meetings today! We changed our creative process a little today and I think the results are going to show up on Sunday morning in the quality of the service. We had changed things a few months ago to “streamline” things and to keep me out of what we considered pointless meetings. However not being in a lot of the creative planning left me feeling very disconnected from the process.
I spend a lot of time playing the songs we will be playing that week, looking at video we will be showing, looking at the stage design, etc. as I craft my message. I had moved away from that and I felt we suffered on Sunday mornings. I need to be in that process.
I have talked to other pastors who don’t need to be. For me it didn’t work. It was good to meet with our guys and share with them why I felt out of the loop and have them not flinch.
It is vitally important for churches to mix things up until you find out what works in your culture. Because what works for others might not work for you.
Man we had a very good service today! I’ll be honest, our attendance is killing us right now but there is a great vibe in the services. For the last few weeks I have felt very in your face in my teaching. I’m not sure why but I have just felt a need to breakdown some false teachings, wrong doctrines, and misconceptions that a lot of our new Christ followers have. Teaching in that way literally drains me like nothing else but the decisions that are being made are huge. Today we talked about Baptism and I didn’t see the numbers but as of right now, I would say we are baptizing well over 50 people next week and it is a holiday weekend! I expect that number to grow this week. THAT is what it is about to me. I could care less about reaching other Chrisitans. I am glad when God sends them and they understand what we are about but what we are about is LIFE CHANGE and I am pumped about next week!
After church I went and heard the band play at the Cherokee Arts Festival and they freaking rocked it out!!!! They played all covers and it was awesome to see people just dancing and singing and being shocked that it was a church band shredding up there. I was reminded we were in Canton when they busted out Simple Man by Skynyrd and people literally started leaving the booth areas to come here it! The guys showed out. I know every pastor says this but I honestly would put those guys up against any band. They can freaking rock it out.
The festival was fun but hanging out with a bunch of people from The Stone was funnier. We don’t get to do that a lot and it was fun watching people connect.
I’m home now and it has been a long but good weekend.
Since last night I have been dealing with a situation involving one of our people who has gotten themselve in a huge mess. They have basically ruined their life, hurt thier friends, and probably lost their family in the process.
It is UGLY. Yesterday my heart broke. Today I am pissed. As the pastor of this church, nothing hurts me worse then when I see people we have invested our lives in make wrong decisions. I hate it and would give anything to stop it, but you can’t.
I was talking today with Malcolm about it and I made the comment that as much as I don’t like dealing with these type of situations that I would deal with 100 of these type situations before I would want to deal with 1 situation with selfish, immature (who think they ARE mature) believers who think everything is about them and get upset because some didn’t call them when they hit thier toe on the corner of the bed.
What we have dealt with in the last 24 hours is WHY I started RSC. I want us to be the place for broken, hurting, imperfect people. If it is all about you then you ARE at the wrong place. As much as I wish I never had to do deal with situations like the last 24 hours, I count it an HONOR that I get to deal with them.
This Sunday the band will be playing at the Cherokee Arts Festival at 3:00 p.m. in downtown Canton!!!!
Tim was telling me the set today and they will be freaking rocking! Come out and support them this Sunday!
Ed Young has started video blogging and he freaking nailed it with his first one. Every pastor should watch this because you can relate. Every church member should watch this to get a raw, unedited look at what your pastor goes through and the spiritual warfare that very few people can relate with.
Great job Ed!!
You can and should watch the video here.
I told you a couple of weeks ago that I have been invited to teach at the December Winter Ski Retreat for Sidekick Students. I have NO CLUE what Michael was drinking when he asked me to do this but I am actually REALLY pumped about it!!
Here is the deal, if we are going to do this thing then let’s have a freaking blast doing it!!! I figure the more traditional churches that are going to be there, the more heat Michael is going to take because of the way I will teach. So let’s save Michael some headaches and fill the entire camp (400-500 spots) up with NEW CHURCH PLANTS. If you are a church planter then bring your youth to this camp!
I am trying to talk Dave and Tony into taking their kids so that along with Michael and I make 4 church planters but let’s make the whole freaking camp full of new churches that are turning the world upside down for Christ! If we can fill the whole camp up with church plants we can even gear the teaching toward how YOUR students can be active and make a difference in your plant.
We’re trying to take 75 students so rest assured it will be wild!
Hey guys, we have a great group of guys coming already to hang out Wednesday, May 23rd with Greg for lunch!! If you emailed in the last day or two, Taylor will get with you tomorrow about the details. She is in “getting married next Friday” mode so she was out of the office today.
We have plenty of room at the restaurant if you still want to come. However we need to let them know by Tuesday morning how many people are coming. So if you want to come and hang out with Greg and a great group of other planters then let my assistant Taylor know asap. You can just click on contact at the top of this page and it will go right to her. She will give the time and place.
It’ll be a fun time. I can’t promise you’ll learn anything but when you get me and Greg together, I can promise you will have a freaking blast. Add my boy Tony Mac and you’ll be dying!
I am always amazed that anytime we do a get together at our office for planters how many turn out. It just goes to show that doing this gig is a lonely thing and the need for networking is hugely vital to our health and the health of our church.
I get asked a lot from planters what churches helped shaped Ridge Stone Church into what it is. I think that is an interesting question. I feel we have a pretty unique DNA and a lot of what we are passionate about and a lot of what we do comes from my desire to see a church that is reaching unchurched people. The church did a lousy job reaching me when I was growing up and I wanted to start something that would reach dope smoking, beer drinking, skirt chasing guys like me. That is WHY we started The Stone.
I think you will find most churches take on the personality of the pastor.
However I would be a liar if I said there weren’t churches out there who have had a huge impact and influence on RSC. We have been blessed beyond measure in having churches mentor and coach us along the way. Each of them brought different things to the table and we are what we are today because of their impact on our church.
New Spring Church - Hands down they have impacted who we are as a church more then anyone else. The first time we went to Anderson to visit them we left there thinking we had just looked into a mirror. They showed us you can build a church in a small town, they showed us you could rock peoples faces off, they showed us God could use a bunch of country boys, and they showed us you could preach hard and make no apologies for it. Until we went to New Spring, we were trying to be what everyone else thought we should be. We left there being who God created us to be.
Mountain Lake Church - Shawn Lovejoy and MLC taught us more then any other place to be MEAN about the vision of this church. At that time we were about to launch and little did we know we would have a bunch of Christians trying to mold us into what they wanted. I have never forgotten MLC and from day one we have been viciously mean about the vision of this church.
West Ridge Church - I served on staff at WRC and if I learned anything there, I learned that you can build a church while being portable. While I was there they where meeting in a high school gym running 3,000 people. They taught me to dream big and not make excuses like not having a building. They are now in a building but I think God I got to be there while they were portable and realize that you can do church and do it well in a portable setting. I think we are a great portable church and the reason is because we saw it happen at WRC.
Palm Valley Church - Greg was simply there for us. He started a church from nothing and God has blown it up. He is probably my number 1 sounding board. At of the people I know, Greg probably has the biggest pastors heart. He always reminds me and has influenced us in reminding us that is all about people.
Fellowship Church - We are a very creative driven church and that was from Ed Young and Fellowship. In the early days of The Stone we ate, drank, and slept what they were doing. They taught us that the way you communicate the message visually is just as important as what you communicate. Awesome church doing awesome things!