sunday update...

• I got to preach yesterday. I was great! I love getting the opportunity to teach but I would not want to do it every Sunday! I am glad Gary allows me to teach from time to time. Thanks Gary!
• The band played "Losing my religion" by REM and I taught our people the difference between relationship and religion.
  
• I love being a part of what God is doing in Canton, Ga at Ridge Stone Church
  
• Gary was preaching at all four services in Anderson, SC at New Spring Church and he did a great job. He spoke about being crazy for Jesus.
  
• The crew went to see Gary teach the 4:15 service at it was a blast. It is funny taking someone to see New Spring Church for the first time and catch their reaction. Most every time their reaction is the same...This is incredible!
• The green room at New Spring is awesome.
• The staff at New Spring are a bunch of down to Earth guys that would do anything for you.
  
• We ate at Fatz after the service (they have awesome bread)
• Even did a super job leading worship Sunday. I was very impressed with his attitude and his leadership.

sunday update...

Wow - If you are in a portable church then you will know what I mean when you read a couple of these items; if you are not in a portable church you probably will not.

• I am amazed that people who go to a church that has a "building" freak out about churches that don't have "buildings" and they see God moving and people serving (at 5 am) and they are startled.
  
• Here is the reality: churches don't grow because they have "buildings". They grow because of the vision of the lead pastor, the communication skills of the lead pastor, the leadership of the lead pastor, the leadership of the staff, the leadership of the volunteers, the volunteers who get the vision, the people who don't volunteer but still come and get/support the vision, and people who come because the people who get the vision told them about the stone and so in turn they get the vision and tell other people about the vision.
  
• Gary's green room was better than ever (new drapes that actually give him and room)
  
• Communion was great today - volunteers worked hard to make it happen
• The band did good today (they did a lot of songs)
  
• The crowd did not look big coming in the door; but the crowd looked big in the theater
  
• I love it when a couple that is new to the stone approached me about serving (that happened today). The guy was like "5 am is not a big deal". So I got his information and gave it to Tim. Hopefully he will be a good addition to the set up team.
• I put the HUGE road signs our today for the first time by myself and here is what I learned. They are big. Two of them take up the back of a truck with the tailgate down. I don't want to put them out again (that is why I am going to find someone with a big truck and let them do it). They look very good and it is worth putting them out.
• The connections and cafe teams tore down in a hurry (we have to be out by 11 am because of harry potter!).
• I love it when you see someone standing around and they are cool with helping you out.
• We have new couple of rows right near the hallway for parents with babies. Hopefully that will be a good thing for everyone.
• Jay unclogged one of the theater sinks. Thanks Jay. That allowed to finish clearing out the cafe. He ran to home depot and bought a plunger - thanks Jay.
• Gary's mic worked...that's good :)
  

yesterday....and today

Amy and I left for Elevation yesterday around 11. We stopped for lunch and then got on the road. We were making good time and having some fun talking and hanging out w/out McKenna. I love our three year old girl but it is nice to have some alone time with the wife from time to time. :)

As we were going up I-85 we noticed people slowing down and stopping. We thought there must have been a wreck. It turns out they were doing some construction project. They took everyone OFF the interstate and on some crazy detour. This entire process took TWO HOURS!!!

I would like to say thanks to the Georgia DOT for screwing up the good time we were making!!! :)

When we got here we drove to the school so we would know where to go this morning.

Last night we ate a GREAT dinner at the Bonefish Grill. I have never been to this restaurant before but it was great. I don't think Gary would dig it much since there was not an array of dead cows! :) The best part is Amy and I had a date away from Canton, GA! It was fun hanging out and then we went to get some ice cream (coffee flavored with cookie dough - very good).

This morning we are headed to Elevation and I am looking forward to it. I love seeing how other churches pull off the portable thing. We are going to meet with their Executive Pastor, Chunks, and he is going to show us around. After we visit their central campus we are going to check out their video campus. This should be a good learning tool since we are starting a video campus in January.

Say a prayer that God teaches us a lot of cool stuff that we can apply to the Stone!

stoked about Elevation!

Amy and I are leaving tomorrow and heading to Charlotte, NC. We are going to Elevation Church. These guys have taken us under their wing and we are stoked about checking them out and LEARNING from them (they only run a couple of thousand in less than two years).

I am meeting with their Executive Pastor, Chunks and Amy is meeting with their Production Pastor Damion. We are excited to see how they do church and meet their staff. I am looking forward to hearing Pastor. This is going to be a great trip for us and it is going to help Ridge Stone take it to the next level. I love learning from other people so I will be soaking up everything Chunks says. Say a prayer for us!

having church in a theater

We meet in a movie theater. With that (as with any portable location) come challenges. Yesterday evening, after work, at 5:30 we got a call. It was the theater manager. She said that corp was sending their managers down to inspect the theater. Now we have two trailers and a pod that stay in the back of theater for the stone. The pod is full of kids stuff and connections stuff. The black trailer is full of kids stuff and connections stuff also. We have a white trailer that is full of our worship center stuff (the stage, lights, etc...). The white trailer is the size of a small house and is heavy as a LARGE house.

So we went into action. Tim moved the black trailer, I cleaned up some of our stuff that was next to the pod, and one of our volunteers with a MASSIVE truck moved the white trailer to our office. It is a great feeling when you contact a volunteer that has what you need (the massive truck) and they are more than happy to get it moved for you. Thanks Tyson for moving that thing for us with a great attitude. When we say volunteers at the stone make it happen we are not kidding. Without them I would have had to pull it with my Honda! :)

productive day

Yesterday we went to Blue Ridge, GA and had our first staff retreat since all of the staff changes at the stone. I thought it was a productive day. Here's what we did:

• We had a time of open discussion regarding the changes. Everyone got to talk about how they felt about the new changes to the staff and how that has affected them. Some people talked about the transition and how it has been difficult for them. When you do something for 2.5 yrs and then change it as much as we have you are going to see that it can be hard on most everyone around the office. That is normal. Most everyone talked about the changes and how they may be difficult in the short term they are going to be extremely beneficial in the long term
• Next Gary took some time to talk with the staff and cast vision. This is always great for all of the staff members. I love to hear Gary pour into us and more than that - HE loves it. His number one strength is Communication (followed closely behind that is significance!)
• Following this we looked at everyones org chart for 1,500 people. This is something we have never done at the stone. Finally having an org chart is great. Having an org chart for growth is great also. Seeing all the same names in those boxes lets us know that we need to invest in our volunteers and help them start leading more areas at the stone. This was a time where we looked at everyones area and tore some of them apart and kept some of them the same. It is good to see an organizational structure on paper.
  
• LUNCH - we went to a place called "The Cabin". Slow service. Great salad bar.
• (we were a little behind schedule when we got back - 22 minutes because of the slow service)
  
• After Lunch we started looking at every one's big picture. Our staff who lead ministries got to talk about where they want to go and how they plan on getting there.
  
• Next we looked at a master calendar from now until the end of the year. Once again this is something we have never done at the stone. It is amazing to see all the ministries on one calendar. We are a simple church but we do a lot. Those churches who are not simple churches are crazy!
• Next was the survey that we had our people fill out three weeks in a row. Very interesting results and fun conversation. That really helped us see what our people are like and what we should be looking at changing. We are here to reach the people of our community and this survey is going to help us do that better.
• Finally we discussed hot button issues. This was a Q and A time for everyone.

Overall is was a good day. The staff worked really hard getting ready for the day and I want to say thanks to all of them.

BTW - thanks for your prayers!

focus

The staff is going away tomorrow for a one day staff retreat. We are going to be talking about organization, structure, the calendar, the big picture of our minitries, and other things. I think this is going to be a great time for the staff and a day we will look back and remember as a turning point for the church. This is the most organized we have EVER been for a staff retreat and it is going to be productive. We are going up to Blue Ridge for the day so if you think about it, say a prayer for us.