Underway

I'm excited to report that we are officially "underway" on construction for Stage 123 at our Dalton campus as part of the Next Step project (click on the Next Step icon).

Here's what is happening right now:

• New roof is on


• Inside ceiling insulation is complete


• New front windows to be installed starting next week


• Floor demolition for plumbing to commence next week.

In Calhoun there are some cool upgrades being done on the Civic Auditorium.  Most of it should be completed by Easter and it is going to rock!!!

Partnering Downtown

One of the neatest things is happening between us and the City of Dalton ... we are partnering together!

The city began a streetscape project several years ago to redo the sidewalks and landscape in downtown Dalton.  Recently, the local SPLOST that funded that project ran out before some of the streets were completed.  Recently, our church and the city decided to work together in a small but significant way:  we are paying the city the cost of materials to finish the streetscape on Gordon Street and the city is providing the labor!!

Isn't that awesome?!? A total win-win situation for our church, the city, and our community.

Survey Results

The online survey we sent out came back with some great comments and information that will really help us.  Thanks for participating.  Here's a summary of the results:

• 70.8% are between 18-49 years old


• 74% learned about Rock Bridge through a personal invitation, friend or relative.


• 47.9% live in Dalton; 20.1% in Rocky Face & Tunnel Hill; 12.3% in Varnell & Cohutta; 11.6% from Murray County


• 52.7% rarely or only occasionally attended church before coming to Rock Bridge


• 19.6% visited the web site before visiting the church


• 45.7% regularly visit the web site


• 95.4% have invited 1 or more people to church in the past 6 months; 54.4% have invited 4+ ... that's AWESOME!


• 76.6% are applying God's truth more to their lives since coming to RBCC;  54.6% are praying and reading the Bible more on their own


• 87.3% would absolutely or occasionally attend a service with live worship and video teaching

This survey has given us on staff a great snapshot of where we are as a church and will help us cast vision for the future.  Don't miss this Sunday because our immediate future is full of some awesome opportunities and potential that I'll be sharing with you.

The Rundown

Great to be back teaching after a week off and we had awesome services at our 2 campuses!!  Here's this week's rundown:

• I really feel like we are entering into a prime season in our church (that's why our next series is called PRIME TIME -- is a great time to bring a guest with you to church!).  PLEASE pray for what God wants to do and believe Him for what He can do!


• We have a consultant in this weekend and Monday helping coach and train us in multi-site.  Let's just say I am PUMPED about the potential to reach more people for Christ.


• We've got two new staff members starting this Sunday: worship leader in Calhoun (he'll be in Dalton this Sunday) and a Connection/Operations Pastor for both campuses.


• I love snow skiing!!


• I love the students at our church ... they are awesome!
  
  
  
  • Up at Snowshoe I stayed with the senior boys -- it's amazing the difference between boys' rooms and girls' rooms ... one smells like a locker room and one smells like Bath & Body Works.
  
  
  
  


• I've been studying Elisha ... WOW ... his life and ministry are rocking my world right now (more later on him).


• Vision Sunday is coming up on March 16th ... make plans to bring a guest with you!!


• This Sunday we're going to be talking about something very important ... don't miss it!


• The Rock Bridge Survey is VERY interesting and encouraging so far.  You can still participate if you haven't already.  I'll blog more about the results later this week.

We're Back!

Had a great time on the slopes this past week with our students and some awesome adults. Weather was great and I made much progress in my skiing. I went down 3 Black Diamonds ... sometimes on my skis and sometimes on my rear ... but I made it!!

We just set-up an online survey to help check our church's pulse and prepare for some decisions we will be facing soon in our future. PLEASE take about 5 minutes to complete the survey by clicking the link below:

2008 Rock Bridge Survey

Can't wait to continue with BOOT CAMP tomorrow!!

Stretching the Staff

I've been blogging about our staff right now and how we're being challenged and stretched.  While this is uncomfortable, it is healthy.  It's like changing your work out routine -- you have to change it to stimulate new growth and bust through plateaus.  Otherwise, you'll be doing the same weight, the same number of times for an indefinite period of time.  When you vary your work out, the next day your muscles are screaming at you but you know that the temporary pain will bring long-term gain. 

This is where our staff is.  We got pretty good at leading a church in one location with about 1000+ people.  Now the dynamic has changed: two locations with more people.  Our workout has to change.  We've got to grow as a staff.  Here's some things that are "stretching" us right now:

• Giving up control and learning to delegate.  In the military, we called it "delegating authority, but never responsibility".  That is a tension that has to be mastered as a leader.


• Recruiting and developing volunteers who share the vision, values, and DNA of the way we do things at RBCC.


• Being a "team first" staff that can conflict in a healthy way for the good of the team.


• Doing "less" for "more" impact.  I do less as a pastor/leader now than when the church first started.  This doesn't mean I have more time on my hands, but it does mean that my time is more focused.  When we first started RBCC, I was like a 75-watt light bulb; now, I try to be more like a laser. 


• Putting people (including ourselves) in the right position.  Part of our staff reorganization is putting people in the right position.  It's like a football coach deciding that someone should play defensive back instead of wide receiver.


• Prayer - we must spend more time in prayer, allowing God to mold, stretch, and grow us. 

White Week

Getting ready to head up to Snowshoe, WV for our student ministry ski trip.  Should be a blast!  Beth is letting me speak during the 3 Worship sessions.  We've mapped out the sessions and I think we're going to cover some really practical things that are either life-changing or saving ... depending on where you are and where you've been.

PLUS, I venture back out onto the slopes for the second time in my life!!  I'm hoping that my rear end is used only as an emergency brake this time.

Some of our staff is headed down to the www.churchplanters.com conference this week.  Great conference with a great line-up of speakers.  They'll come backed super-charged.  I know I did last year.

Weekly Rundown

I felt like a Methodist circuit riding preacher today (except I didn't preach and I drove a truck).  I went to down to Canton then back up to Calhoun then on up to Dalton.  I heard my good friend Gary Lamb and then our Calhoun Campus Pastor, Carll Converse, preach AND while in my car I listened to two podcast messages!  I got my fill of good preaching today.

• I love visiting other churches!  It gives me a fresh perspective and new ideas.  I visited Revolution Church in Canton.  Great service.  The group of people that sat next to me smelled like alcohol, cheap mouth wash, and cigarette smoke ... I LOVE IT THAT THERE ARE CHURCHES WHERE ANYONE & EVERYONE IS WELCOME and can HEAR ABOUT JESUS!


• Carll and Aaron both did great jobs teaching today in Calhoun & Dalton.  I love doing ministry with those two guys!!


• Drove past Lake Allatoona today ... still very low.  Glad we had some good rain today.


• I feel like we're in a 'gut check/boot camp' phase in our church staff right now.  We're doing some reorganization and asking some tough questions as we grow as a staff.  We had a very tough staff meeting two weeks ago, tightened the screws, made some needed improvements, but I still feel like we've got some work to do.  The big challenge facing us as a staff is that as the church grows, we must grow in our ability to lead it ... we're really being stretched right now.


• Alfred Turley starts as our Connections Pastor in about 2 weeks!


• I'm a political junkie right now.  Beth can't stand it ... I told her it's only once every four years!


• I'm ready to hit the slopes ... I'm sure they'll hit me back but I can't wait to ski :)

Rundown

Here's this week's rundown:

• Been a tough week to be a member of our staff.  I came down hard ("went Naval") on some things where we have simply not been getting the job done.  Good news is that much of what we talked about was corrected and improved this week :)


• Good service today as we kicked off "BOOT CAMP" at both campuses with a little Tom Petty's/Johnny Cash's "Won't Back Down".


• I think this series has the potential to really change people's lives over the long haul.


• I told a story (in one of the services) about getting someone kicked out of the Naval Academy because they couldn't cut it.  I felt like one version I told (Dalton 11:00) came out sounding arrogant and I apologize for that.  The first time I told that story (either Calhoun or the 9:30 am service) it sounded like I planned it ... don't know what happened.


• Ski Trip to Snowshoe is coming up in a week!  I've got to get some ski pants.


• Fun season is approaching for our church: Unleash Conference (March 13th), Vision Sunday (March 16th), Easter, and Staff Retreat!!
  
  
  
  • You can still sign-up for UNLEASH -- gail@rockbridge.cc!!
  
  
  
  


• We're going to do three Easter services: 8:00 -- 9:30 -- 11:00 am!!


• Prison Break & Sarah Connor Chronicles are back + the writers' strike is over which means 24 is coming real soon!!

Grateful Parent ... Awesome God!

We've always emphasized and stressed student ministry here at Rock Bridge from Day 1.  It is something that BOTH Beth & I are passionate about because it is the largest mission field in America right now.   However, I will say that student ministry can be one of the most difficult ministries in a church ... hormones, cars, demanding parents, homework, tight schedules, pop culture, etc. 

Yesterday I got an email from a parent sharing about three Rock Bridge students who are now at college.  Check out their comments below ... (ALL 3 of these students were baptized at RBCC):

We visited {them} last weekend at college. We had an opportunity to visit the church that they are attending. They have joined the praise team band and are both playing on Sunday Morn. They sounded great. It was so exciting. They are also involved in the college student ministry and helping with the youth sometimes. You would be very proud of them. So many of the adults at the church came up to us to let us know how much they loved and appreciated our kids. I say all of that to say this, because of how God is working through your youth ministry at RockBridge, lives are changed forever. There is no way we as parents can ever express how much we appreciate the time and energy you put into our children, but just know that we sincerely do. God is just so awesome!

Things That Make You Go 'Hmm'

Heard something the other day that I just have to blog about.  I hear this statement every now and then, but I see it in action in a lot of churches.  Here it is:  churches ought to take care of their members first.   Now on the front end that sounds good and makes sense.  This explains why I cannot go to the country club, local gyms, or use just any bank ... because I am not a member.  If I were one, then they would provide me with a service and take care of my needs.  However, when you look at the creator of the church, Jesus, this philosophy breaks down completely and in doing so shatters the notion of church for many people.

• Jesus gave up His "God" privileges to serve ... us! (Philippians 2:7)


• Jesus told people all that time that He came to seek and save those who were lost (Luke 19:10).


• Jesus said that it is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick (Mark 2:17)


• I love this counter statement (can't remember who said it):  The church is the only organization that does not exist solely for its members!

So while I expect the local gym to only serve its members and my bank to serve me, I cannot (in light of Jesus' approach to ministry) say that the my church should serve me first.  Jesus' approach was others first.  Jesus built an army not a country club.  Jesus founded a movement not a monument.  Jesus was radical about redeeming lost people, helping hurting people, and loving unlovable people.  That is and must always be what we are committed to at Rock Bridge.  Sure, we seek to provide spiritual environments and opportunities for our members BUT we exist for those outside of the faith, outside of the four walls of the church, outside of God's will, and those who would & could die outside of heaven's gates IF WE DO NOT SEEK THEM TO SHOW THEM GOD'S LOVE & GRACE & HOPE & PURPOSE!!!!  This is why ...

• We want people to serve ... because Jesus did!


• We encourage people to invite people to church ... because we talk about Jesus and offer His grace each week.


• We ask people to sit down front and support the 1st service.  Because it is not about what is convenient for us personally ... we've got all of eternity & heaven for things to be convenient ... it is about us making temporary sacrifices like Christ did ... to serve others and make room for others so that THEY can find Jesus!!


• We are committing to being a multi-site church ... because Jesus came to us and we must go as well.

So this means if you are a member of Rock Bridge, we will keep challenging the traditional notion of membership; we will keep asking you to sacrifice your time, your treasure, and your talents for the sake of those that Jesus died for; and we will keep pursuing efforts to love the unlovable, reach the unreached, and offer God's hope to people without it.

Here's some more thoughts (that WILL challenge you) by two warriors for the kingdom who are seeking to reach people who are far from God:

• Check out this post by Gary Lamb of Revolution Church in Canton, Georgia.  Gary is a great friend who is radical about reaching the lost.  His church is in the middle of a tremendous wave of new growth and about 70% of the people Revolution reaches were previously not in church.


• This post by Michael L. (can't spell his last name) will challenge you like it did me (make sure to read some of the comments).  You may not agree with all of it, but you cannot disagree with Michael's heart to be "salt & light".  Michael pastors Oak Leaf Church in Cartersville, GA.  They are about 18 months old, running 800+.  He's a great leader that God is using big time.

Back to the Basics

Today was a GREAT day for our church.  We had awesome crowds, great prayer time to close the FORGED series, a good Inquirer's Lunch with a lot of people who were previously unchurched or de-churched, and a great SuperBowl Party for our students. 

As easy as it should be to simply celebrate and pat ourselves on the back, we will not be doing that this week at RBCC.  Instead, we will be taking a "round turn" (Navy slang) on how we operate and do ministry.  I've let some of our most basic and most important standards slip.  I've been seeing signs of this "slippage" for about 2 weeks now.   This week we'll make some course corrections, get back to the basics, and filter everything through our core value of excellence.

God has blessed our church with so much and wants to do so much more that complacency is just not an option (while excellence honors God and inspires people). The stakes are too high!!