Weekly Rundown
- Great to be back from vacation! It was great to get away for the first time with our family … but it always AWESOME to be with my church family!!
- Last week we lost A/C in the Wink. This week we lost the video feed in Stage 123. We are very sorry for those in Stage during the 11 am service!! We have had this happen only twice in the 3+ years of Stage 123 … but it really stinks.
- You listen and watch the message online here.
- We will work out a better redundancy system in case of this equipment failure happens again.
- We will be unveiling a brand new web site VERY soon (end of the month … we hope). This site is going to be great and will be much more “multi-site” and “user” friendly.
- Real excited about our next series called LIES OF THE DEVIL that starts in 2 weeks!!
- During our services on August 26th & 29th we will have a very clear, very strong, and prayerfully very powerful presentation of the Gospel. Please begin praying NOW for these services and seeking opportunities to invite people who need Jesus to come to church with you that day!!
- I finally made the switch from PC to Mac … and so far … I LOVE IT!! How could I have been so late to “see the light”??!!?? Better late than never!
- Eyasu is really talking a lot. We can’t always understand him but it is amazing that in 3 months, he can communicate and understand so well. It is taking our relationship with him to a whole new level.
- I love being a dad!!!!!!
- I love our church!!!!!!!
- Have a great week!!!!!
- Love God & country type services but praying for the Gospel to transform our nation once again!
- Our students got back (which means so did my wife!!) from a great mission trip. I remain convinced that the sooner we give young people an opportunity to “live their faith”, the deeper their faith grows, making it ever so harder for Satan to deceive them as they enter young adulthood. More importantly, God is always glorified when His people “go”!!
- Really proud of our children’s ministry staff and volunteers! We are one staff member short but their hearts and passion and work ethic is awesome!
- June surprise: attendance is down (no surprise … it is summer), but giving is actually UP! Only God!
- Our worship leaders have revamped their entire creative planning process. I am pumped for what the Holy Spirit is going to produce through their efforts. Start looking for the fruits of their labors in August when we start a series called, Lies of the Devil!!!
- I played Mr. Mom this week … had to switch from man-to-man to zone defense with the boys. Whew!! Thank God “mommy” is home
- Starting teaching Abreham how to fall asleep on his own … which means we are putting him in his crib just before he falls asleep and letting him cry for a pre-determined period of time before we go check on him. First few nights, he cried for 25+ minutes; last night, only 7 minutes! He is figuring it out and sleeping for 10+ hours straight!!
- Eyasu’s English continues to improve. He said “It’s cool” (meaning its good and awesome) in context this week!!
- Have a great week!!
- Wrapped up our Fanatic series today. What a profound impact this series has had on my own life. A few highlights for me personally:
- We can enjoy God. It’s not a “duty” to be a Christ-follower, it is a delight.
- God wants worshipers. The goal of worship is to produce more worshipers of God.
- Everything, I mean everything, in history is about the glory of God. How can I/we/us be part of that?
- We finished up “One Great Nation” [part 2] next week … can’t wait!!
- My first Father’s Day weekend!! What a blessing to be these two boys’ father!!
- We have 2 staff members wearing casts and one who got bit by a copperhead … should we be concerned?
- I just finished reading Dr. David Platt’s book, Radical. WOW! This book along with The Hole in Our Gospel and our adoption journey has had a profound impact on my understanding of Christianity and forcing me to ask some tough questions for myself, my family, and our church.
- What kind of service does the Gospel of Jesus Christ demand and deserve?
- What kind of church does the Gospel produce?
- What is my role as a ”global” Christian? What is our church’s role in the call to “make disciples of all nations”?
- What is our responsibility as Christians for addressing evils in the world such as poverty, hunger, disease, disaster response, etc. etc. ?
- Beth is away next week on a mission trip … I’m flying solo at home … thank God for family!!
- Have a great week!
- Take the Rock Bridge “Snapshot” Survey. It’s only 10 questions and it will really help us better understand how we are doing as a church and what God is doing through our church.
- We announced that we are not having the 2010 Fall Festival this week. For a detailed explanation please see the related blog post.
- Great all-staff meeting this week. We gave out two recognitions that were pretty cool:
- The WD-40/Duct Tape Award: for the staff member who held things together (duct tape) and kept things moving (WD-40).
- The Giraffe Award: for the staff member who went above and beyond and really stuck their neck out.
- Our Chatsworth Campus will be moving to Bagley Middle School in a few weeks as the new North Murray High School is moving into their new facility over the summer; however since the theater is not yet completed we can’t move with them. However, we are VERY excited about being at Bagley … great partnership emerging!
- School is out and summer is officially here. When that happens two things tend to become inconsistent: church attendance and regular giving to God. We’ve got two options to help with that!!
- Rock Bridge PM: if you’re gone a lot on the weekends, you do not have to miss church and what God might do or say!! {Thursdays at 6:30 pm in the Wink Theatre on our Dalton Campus}
- E-Give: a simple and easy way to give online. This works like a bank draft.
- Our Children’s Minister search will shift into first gear in the next week or so. Please be in pray for this process … and this person.
- Hoping to get to the lake sometime soon with the boys!!
- Have a great week
- Playing catch-up on the “Rundown” this week!!
- Baptism was amazing last weekend. The stories and testimonies of life change and redemption were totally a “God thing” and very very powerful!
- After hearing the stories and seeing the faces of the baptized (in love with Jesus!), I am more passionate than ever about the need to lift up Christ, be a healthy church, and pray like crazy for His purposes to be fulfilled!!
- Loved preaching ONE GREAT NATION-Part 1 on the need for godly courage!!
- The full video of President Reagan’s 1984 D-Day anniversary speech can be viewed here.
- Next week we start a 3-week series called “Fanatic” — we’ll be talking about worship. Preparing for this series has really challenged me, inspired me, and given me a greater understanding of God. I pray it does the same for our church.
- All-staff meeting this week! Looking forward to vision-casting, celebrating, laughing, and praying with our full team.
- Great job to our worship teams for learning American Soldier for this weekend’s services … awesome!!
- We’re having some very healthy conversations right now about just being a healthy, unified, and well-led church!! I’ve noticed that these conversations have to take place regularly as the church grows and matures.
- Eyasu and Abreham went to the lake for the first time on Saturday!! Eyasu loves the water and he even got to “tube” and ride the Sea Doo.
- Have a great Memorial Day and don’t forget the price of our freedom is not free!!
- Several of our staff went to the Drive Conference in Atlanta this past week. They came back pumped up!! Love their inspiration.
- Great reports from our team that went to Haiti. We’re very excited about the partnership developing in that country. Check out the video here!
- Be in prayer for our Baptism Celebration that is on May 23rd!! Time to celebrate new life in Christ with public obedience to Christ who commanded and modeled baptism!!
- In the past 5 months we’ve added about 500 new people … WOW!! This has brought lots of opportunities, excitement, and challenges as we seek to connect folks to Christ and lead our church at this new level … and to the next level that God has for us.
- After today’s message on “Word Power”, I’ve been trying to work on a few things myself:
- I am better at assuming than communicating as a leader … when this happens and I get frustrated, I have no one to blame but myself!!
- My tone of voice is not always full of “love and truth”.
- Can’t wait for Part 4 of Rx for Relationships … bring a guest!!
- This was Beth’s FIRST Mother’s Day … she is amazing
- Teaching on the Golden Rule this week rocked me personally and forced me to ask, “How much I am asking God for so I can spend my life giving to others?” (see Matthew 7:7-12)
- Anytime we talk about relationship issues, problems, and areas of relational neglect come to the surface. This is happening to many people across our campuses right now. While this is often painful, it is ultimately healthy. When God shines a light into a dark place, go there with Him! Let Him correct, comfort, change, heal, and restore!!
- First Wednesday is THIS week!!
- Baptism is coming up on May 23rd!!
- Glad our team to Haiti returned safe … and changed! They are excited about their experience and the opportunities we have in front of us as a church.
- Eyasu & Abreham came to church on Thursday night!! Great to see them at Rock Bridge. Even better was seeing how excited Eyasu was about his projects. Heard he loved the worship time too! Praying they both grow in the knowledge of God and His love and that this leads them to find their life in Christ alone.
- Have a great week
- So glad, excited, & grateful to be back preaching for this week!! I missed Rock Bridge!
- Spent a lot of this week getting my head around all that is going on around here … I’m pumped and looking forward to an exciting spring:
- Advance team is currently on the ground in Haiti working to set-up opportunities for us to partner and minister there.
- New series on relationships kicked off this week.
- Spring Baptism is coming up (click here for details).
- More opportunities for people to get connected in groups and ministry teams.
- Joel Team is hard at work “strategizing” ways to improve our church and establish systems/practices for us to ministry more effectively.
- Beth & I are loving being parents!! Every day has something new, challenging, and exciting. Eyasu (3 years) has learned how to say, “I love you” (probably because we say it to him 1000 times a day) but he says it a little differently — “I love boo.” Still melts our hearts every time!
- A few other words he has learned: motorcycle, “poo-poo”, underwear, computer, television, more (as in he wants “more” food!), brush teeth, dog, book.
- To answer a few more questions:
- Yes-we are getting to sleep! Eyasu sleeps about 9 hours a night and Abreham sleeps anywhere from 4-6 hours straight depending on when and how much he last ate (he loves to eat).
- No-the kids will not be coming to church yet. They are doing great but we are trying to help them adjust to their new home, language, life, and culture. They have lost their biological parents and all they have ever known. They are doing well in their new home and seem to be loving being part of their new family; however, multiple sources of wisdom have consistently advised us to move slowly and keep things predictable, avoiding too much too soon.
- Really excited about all that is happening at our campuses in Chatsworth & Calhoun. The volunteers are amazing, the energy/vibe at those sites is strong, and we’re excited to be sharing God’s Word & love to more people in NW Georgia (2 Thess 3:1)
- Have a great week!
- Love preaching on our vision and sharing why God created Rock Bridge!! Great services this week all over NW Georgia!!!
- Our volunteers take things to a whole new level — passion, commitment, excitement, & service. THANK YOU!!
- Beth & I were in Atlanta from Thursday to Saturday participating in Leadership Georgia. Our second of five such trips … great opportunity to learn and connect with folks from all over our state.
- Rode MARTA a lot … very clean and on time. Great way to get around the city.
- Toured the World of Coke. Coke is >200 countries!!
- Toured the Federal Reserve of Atlanta.
- Heard the Mayor of Atlanta and Senator Johnny Isakson speak.
- Listened to 9 of the 11 candidates for governor speak on a variety of topics … impressive group of candidates.
- Learned that leadership challenges in business are not all that different from the leadership challenges in churches.
- My friend Rob Taylor celebrated his 20th anniversary of being “healed” from severe heart disease this weekend. He is a walking miracle, a testimony to God’s grace & power, and a great friend!!
- We leave for Ethiopia in ONE WEEK
- Overwhelmed by the amazing Disciple Now 2010 … had numerous students enter into a personal, saving relationship with Jesus!! Saturday night many teens stood up in front of their peers to profess faith in Christ and publicly say “I’m with Jesus!”
- Several people received Christ into their lives at Rock Bridge Chatsworth this weekend!!
- Had some people this week tell me they received Christ recently at RBCC!!!
- All of the above to say God is causing salvation to spring up in our midst, we pray for this to continue. We pray for His favor and we give all the glory to Him!!
- We introduced 3 marks of a disciple: love God, love others, and live sent!
- This week is VISION WEEK at RBCC!!! Who are you inviting and bringing to church with you this week?!?!?
- One more vaccination for the trip to Ethiopia … the big, bad yellow fever shot.
- Daylight Savings Time is from the devil!!
- Saw “The Green Zone” tonight. Pretty soon I’ll be saying “Bye” to action & (the occasional) chic flics and hello to Disney and animation flics
- Still wondering about what to do with an infant and toddler for 20-24 hours on a plane and during a long layover?
- If we fly into Frankfurt, Germany they have a playground in the airport!! How cool is that?!?
- Still curious about changing a diaper on an airplane? Already praying for the people seated near us.