Of course, I mean freak in the most awesome way!

They just announced they are making EVERYTHING they do (graphics, videos, sermons, etc.) available online for churches for FREE!  It is amazing the heart of the some of the largest churches around.  I truly believe it is one of the reasons God is blessing these churches!

Life Church has been doing this, Sea Coast has been doing this, Elevation is as generous as any church I have ever seen, and New Spring is taking it to another level.

Check it out here and let them know how much you appreciate it!

One of my favorite songs from one of my favorite bands!  Check it out here.

A Sunday like yesterday just makes a good start to the week.  Yesterday I really felt like things were clicking!

The band was smoking, the creative elements worked, the creative team did a great job, I thought the message was pretty good and got the point across, and it was just a GREAT service for any service, much less the middle of summer.

I’ve been enjoying the Ridge Stone Rocks series in a huge way!

I would appreciate your prayers for my daughter Ashlyn.  She sat down on our front porch steps and somehow a piece of wood went into her leg.  At first we just thought she had been stuck by the wood but the swelling never went down and today DeAnna took her to the doctor and there is a 1 inch piece of wood stuck in her skin and the only way to get it out is put her under and cut it out.

She’s five and my little girl so needless to say I am not too happy about someone cutting on her.

She will have the procedure sometime this week.  I am freaking out a little so I appreciate you praying for her.

I did not mean to knock that guy upside the head with the entire head of lettuce I threw into the crowd.

If you are clueless as to what I am talking about, here is the low down:  We did a message today called LETTUCE which was about our finances.  I cut up some lettuce and talked about how we leave God out of our cut then I talked about how God wants to be first and recut another head of lettuce.  I then talked about how when we are out of lettuce that is when God shows up and I dumped about 30 heads of lettuce out on a table.  They started rolling every where and I decided to hit home my point I would toss some into the crowd.  Well, as I was throwing them, I guess I nailed someone upside the head.  Ooops.

• Today was a fun day!
• My Lord, the band nailed CRAZY by Gnarls Barkley.
• I am actually teaching at a couple of other churches in July and my message title is CRAZY though it has NOTHING to do with todays topic.
• I am going to a SEC Banquet Thursday night. There are going to be about 50 just graduated SEC players who are now in the NFL going to be there. Looking forward to it!
• This Sunday we are busting out some Three Days Grace. I can’t wait for the message that is going with the song.
• Had fun hanging out with Ken today. Love that dude. If you need HIGH quality video help, he is your man.
• Ken gave some great feedback as well.
• The video footage they took made us look amazing!
• We’ve always had a great relationship with the theater but I think they must of heard rumors we are looking for something else and as a result they are being GREAT to us. I like that.
• I can’t believe the buzz over our Jasper location especially since we have done NOTHING to get the word out. When I say nothing, I mean nothing.
• I look forward to our people allowing God to stretch them in the area of giving.
• You can’t outgive God. That isn’t preacher speak, it is a principle that DeAnna and I have lived by for 10 years.
• The youth have their Fill It Up weekend this week. Adam is doing a good job and I look forward to seeing what happens through this weekend.
• I’m ready for football season to start!
• One of those things that make you go “hmmm”: People who leave church because “they aren’t getting fed” YET months later they still haven’t found a church home. I guess they are too deep for any church in town.
• I watch a lot of other pastors and so many try to incorporate humor but I think most don’t know how. There is a fine line between being funny and being a joke to your people. As the pastor you should never be a joke. Not sure where that line is but I am very aware that it is there watching others make fools of themselves.
• DeAnna and the kids leave for Florida on Friday with my grandmother, mom, and sister. Not sure it is fair but they will have a blast!
• Tadd his first preview service today!!!! I am glad we have gotten to be a small part of what God is doing there.
• Got to go see Evan Almighty this week. It looks so freaking funny.
• Started having a couple of prayer warriors in our church start praying with me before service today. Without a doubt, we will continue with that.
• 2 weeks into really watching what I eat and working out twice a day. Got to admit, I feel pretty good.
• Pumped about the month of July. Got some great topics I am tackling and teaching here and here.
• Got a lot of new people stepping into leadership roles right now. Very cool watching God use people who are simply WILLING to be used.
• I have preached some TOUGH topics the last few weeks and in the weeks to come I am tackling sin and another week I am covering authority issues.  Not our usual thing but I really feel impressed of the Lord to tackle these topics.
• Craziest thing is how our people are receiving the teaching.  Wow, I am bringing IT and they are taking IT.  Whoever said you have to water it down for unchurched people has never reached unchurched people.
• I love what I do for a living!
• I love my life!
• I love our people!

I know I sound like a broken record but I can’t believe how productive this week has been!!! Malcolm and I have been meeting all week talking about things that have needed down for 2 years and they are actually getting done!!!!

Malcolm has the BIGGEST white board I have ever seen in my life. Seriously it takes up the entire wall and it is full from one end to the other.

North Georgia you don’t know what is about to hit you!!! We have made a pretty good impact running by the seats of our pants. However, pre-game is over. Make no mistake about it, we are here to play ball! This town and other churches for that matter haven’t seen anything yet. We are about to rock this town with the message of Jesus Christ like it has never seen. We are raising the bar and taking everything to another level.

I actually feel sorry (I used to feel mad) for those that have left RSC because they are about to miss what God is orchestrating here.

I actually feel sorry for other Christians in town who have nothing better then call us a cult because they ain’t seen nothing yet. People criticize what they don’t understand.

I actually feel sorry for other churches that have nothing better then to explain away what God has done here to try to justify the fact they are doing very little and in many cases, nothing. With what we are about to do they are going to have a lot of explaining away to do.

I actually feel sorry to those that literally hate us in this community because you are about to get so much of us that you aren’t going to know what hit you. Your hatered fuels me.

If you are part of The Stone, all I can say is get ready. We are getting the systems and plans in place to take it to another level and YOU are going be a part of making it happen. We will not be satisfied with what has already happened here because as long as there is someone who needs to hear the gospel, we won’t rest.

If you thought the first 2 1/2 years were a wild ride, you hang on because that was nothing. That was simply the opening act and the main event is about to start.

The last three weeks, God has been rocking my world! I am so back in the game it isn’t even funny. I know the devil has to be pissed at himself for not knocking me out when he had the small chance a few weeks ago. All he did was let me off the hook when I was feeling fried and now I’m back and more pumped up than ever.

No excuses. Not lack of a building, not lack of funds, not people hating us, not people not liking where we are headed, NOTHING is going to slow us down. I have been in so many meetings this week with people who are stepping up and making it happen that it blows my mind. New people are standing along people who have been here since the start and the time is now to press forward.

It is odd, our attendance has dropped slightly for the first time ever. It seems like every week I am hearing about someone burning out or deciding to move on, yet God just keeps sending more people and where I would have been freaking out a year ago, today I stand here calm and more confident than ever that we are the BEST place we have EVER been in the life of RSC!

Hang on because the party is just getting started….

For the first time ever I tried sushi today.  I got to admit I was not down with doing it.  I was actually freaking out on the way to the meeting.  We got there and I honestly didn’t know if I could get it in my mouth, but I did.

IT WAS GREAT!!!!

Seriously, it was awesome.  I ate 4 different kinds and it was so freaking good.  I actually stopped and got some and brought it home for DeAnna to try.

I think I have a new love….

I have had a ton of people tell me over the last few months how they have been told that RSC is a cult. :)  Then today I had a pastor in town call the office because his new youth guy asked him what our story was because he had heard we were a cult.

It is amazing the rumors that will get started about your church especially from Christians who have NEVER darkened the doors.  People can be nuts.

I promise we aren’t going to make anyone drink grape Kool-aid

WOW, I know of 4 church plants that are or have closed their doors in the last 3 weeks. I know of two others that are going through some major changes and might or might not make it. Church planting is hard! Most of these plants were well funded with guys who you would have thought had IT, but for whatever reason never got going or got going and lost it.

I got frustrated at times because I want us having a bigger impact, but while I hate these churches have went through this, it is a great reminder of what God is doing here and how awesome it has been.