Weekly Rundown (9.28.08)

• Beth had sinus surgery this week.  She's doing a lot better ... and I think I've done a decent job taking care of her. Thanks for all the prayers, concern ... and food :)


• Stage 123 continues to show strong numbers each week.  I'm pumped about the opportunity we now have as a church to continue reaching people for Christ!


• Rock Bridge was named one of the Top 100 Fastest Growing Churches in America in '08.  (We were #46.)  Pretty amazing what God is doing!!  Because numbers for numbers sake, mean little.  But if the numbers describe life change, salvations, people getting passionate about Christ -- only then the numbers mean something.


• Confession: my prayer life has been weak this week ... and I can tell.  (God always reminds me that apart from Him I can do nothing.)


• Some amazing "God" stories going on in Calhoun this week!! 


• The 'Dawgs simply got whipped Saturday night.  Season is still young and it's the reality of being in the SEC.


• Navy beat Wake Forest!!


• First Wednesday is this week!!


• Spending some time thinking through how we can work to meet some needs in our community: homelessness, recovery efforts, etc. 


• Tomorrow is our monthly all-staff meeting.  We have fun, eat, celebrate, look over the calendar, and I do a leadership & vision chat with everyone.

Values -- part 4

Volunteer-driven ... everyone needs the opportunity to invest in eternity.

Our staff got very passionate and excited about this value and understandably so.  The Bible teaches in Ephesians 4 that the job of a church staff is to "prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up."  (see Ephesians 4:11-13).   In other words, the staff's job is to help people in the church serve Christ with their gifts and according to their passions.  One of the great joys of our staff is to equip and empower volunteers to invest in eternity by serving.  This values explains why ...

• We offer environments like Inquirer's Lunch and GroupLink as simple ways to learn how to connect and serve at Rock Bridge.


• We are constantly investing in volunteers to encourage and support them in serving Christ.


• We evaluate our staff members in part on how well they build and lead volunteer teams.


• We have broken with the old southern tradition that church membership means "my name is on the roll."  We teach that membership means "I am involved in what God is doing through my church."


• We want teenagers to begin serving as students so we have student band, praise team, children's volunteers, and other serving opportunities.


• We have a relatively small staff for a church our size.  This keeps us focused on building up volunteer and ministry teams (Ephesians 4), instead of hiring staff.


• We involve volunteers in virtually every church decision.  Through our ministry teams, Elders, and other teams we ask our volunteers to help make wise decisions. 

Facilities Position

As our church facilities have grown, so has the time and effort it takes to maintain them and keep them ready for the various ministries they support.  Additionally, most of our buildings are older and require more frequent maintenance.  Therefore, we are considering hiring a facilities manager/maintenance person at Rock Bridge.  This person would be responsible for doing basic maintenance & repair work, working with vendors & contractors, ensuring facilities are properly set-up for various ministries, and maintaining overall campus safety & security.

Here is a general blog on what we typically look for in a potential staff member.

If you are interested or have questions, please email resumes to connect@rockbridge.cc or contact Alfred Turley at alfred@rockbridge.cc.

Values -- part 3

RELEVANT ... to where you are in life.

Our staff really came together on this discussion point saying that this value is a strength of our church.  I know for me personally, teaching God's Word with a focus on application and being practical is very important.  This core values explains why ...

• We use visuals to teach and sometimes even hand out "reminders" to help people think about message points during the week (we've passed out dominos, match boxes, refridgerator magnets).


• We create age-appropriate environments for students and children.


• We focus our teaching to adults, students, and children on a limited number of points and topics, believing that less is more ... more understanding, more retention, more application, and more relevance.


• We use small group questions and studies that focus on helping people apply God's Word to their lives.

Values - part 2

2nd part in a series of 4 values that our staff worked to develop together. 

ENGAGING ... a "come & see" experience

We wrestled long and hard on this value which describes the type of ministry environments and experiences we program at Rock Bridge.  We used words like creative, dynamic, powerful, irresistible ... but finally reached consensus with "engaging".  Church and boring, the Bible and boring -- should never be used in the same sentence.   This value is why ...

• We put a high emphasis on technology, creativity, energy, passion and excellence in programming our environments.


• We believe in age-appropriate ministry.  (It's hard for a 2nd grader to be "engaged" in adult worship)


• We're not afraid to use "secular" songs or other appropriate things from pop culture to help engage people in order to point them to Jesus Christ.


• We provide note taking space in our bulletins and put Scripture and song lyrics on our 'big" screens.

Core Values -- part 1

Our staff spent about 4 weeks working together to nail a few of the key things that we value.  These things form a grid for how we make decisions, do ministry, and create environments.  We came up with four things that really drive us.

VALUE:  ACCEPTANCE ... because everyone matters.

Over and over the theme of accepting people came up in our discussions.  We want anyone and everyone who walks through our doors and experiences Rock Bridge ministry to feel accepted, not condemned or judged.  This does not mean we ignore sin and its consequences and the need for life change; however, it does mean that everyone matters to God and should matter to us as well. This core value explains why ...

• We place a high value on Host Team (greeters, ushers, cafe workers) and why we want people greeted and welcomed numerous times before they reach their seat.


• We don't have "dress codes".


• We don't have a lot of "insider" talk.


• We balance talking about the reality and severity of sin with the hope of God's grace and love. (Get these two out of alignment and problems develop real quick.)

Weekly Rundown (9.21.08)

• Great work retreat with our staff this past Tuesday.  Lots accomplished.  Lots of plans made ... now we have to execute!!


• So today it happened ... we had trouble with our video feed into Stage 123 during the first service.  I thought it would happen eventually.  The disappointing part is that it was preventable and I hate preventable problems.  I take full responsibility for it and apologize for the trouble but we did learn some valuable lessons.


• Great worship sets today ... powerful stuff!!


• Rock Bridge Calhoun celebrated one year today with a great crowd and great fellowship time afterwards.  One year of being one church in two locations ... amazing stuff!


• Some talk amongst our folks about the online forum that is on the local newspaper's web site.  There is a "Rock Bridge" section full of criticisms and other weird, unfounded truths ... there are some pretty good responses though.  Nehemiah probably offers the best response to unfounded criticisms here. 


• Dawgs looked pretty good last night.  Big test next week against 'Bama. I'm worried about our line of scrimmage.


• Navy beat Rutgers!!


• I'm really enjoyed preaching this Hostage series.  Next week we tackle a subject that we've NEVER dealt with before.  It could get tense, it will be challenging, but it will be liberating!!


• Thinking about calling an audible with our preaching calendar and either extending Hostage to 6 weeks or doing a stand alone message on a topic I feel we need to cover.  We'll work on it with our creative/worship teams this week.


• I'm finally back to working out with regularity again ... and I just feel better all over -- emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.  Don't know why but God really speaks to me when I'm running.  Pretty cool. Beth letting me move my weight set upstairs into a room with heat & air & tv rocks :)


• I'm going to do a series of posts this week on the 4 core values that drive our church staff and the ministries we do at Rock Bridge.  We worked on these as a staff team for about 4 weeks -- good stuff!


• They laid the foundations for the new ministry center this week.  Should start going vertical soon!!


• Have a great week!

Weekly Rundown (9.14.08)

• The local church is the hope of the world! (That statement still rocks my world.)


• More spiritual warfare on me this week than anytime I can remember (I'll be teaching a little on this subject this weekend ... I guess I needed some personal experience).


• Week 2 of being multi-site and multi-venue went well again.  Stage 123 continues to be an incredible environment on Sunday mornings and throughout the week.


• Freeing up seats to allow for growth works.


• Video venue can and does work.


• Multi-site can and does work.


• I keep catching our staff hanging out in the Stage's Cafe ... I catch them because I am hanging over there a lot myself :)


• Baptism celebration tonight was awesome!!  The number of people who decided to get baptized DOUBLED in about a week.


• I will NEVER get tired of looking into someone's eyes as they are about to baptized and seeing the passion that only comes from the the life-changing, life-giving power of Christ!!  AWESOME!!


• Our staff does a great job empowering volunteers.  Here's a few examples: baptism food (we feed ~1000 people), set-up and clean-up is totally done by volunteers; Stage 123 and Wink cafes are totally run by volunteers; Stage 123 and Calhoun Host Teams are run by volunteers.  When the church works ... the church works (i.e. -- the church is the hope of the world!)


• Great meeting this past Tuesday to set up a network of care in our church.  We have a team of 50+ people who will provide meals, make phone calls, do hospital visits, send cards, and collect care packages to minister to people in need.  (If you are interested, email carla@rockbridge.cc)


• We are doing a staff 24-hour working retreat starting tomorrow night.  Can't wait to get some goals laid-out, systems refined, and BIG prayers prayed with our team!! Pray for us.


• Lots of disappointed Dawg fans today at church ... hey a win in the SEC is a win!! One week at at time.


• Sleeping late tomorrow!

The Church as a "Third Place"

• What if church buildings were used more than 1 hour a week?


• What if the church had the same draw as say a movie theatre, Starbucks, or local diner?


• What if church wasn't just a place you attended but also a place where you could do life and in fact share life with other people?

As we began designing a downtown campus a few years ago with the help of some amazing builders, architects, and missional church consultants at CoGun, these were a few of the questions we were asking.  Cogun helped us think through several issues and proposed some great ideas.

One idea was to contact Michael Trent of ThirdPlace Consulting to help us design a cafe and develop a strategy for using it as part of the church's mission & vision.  Michael's innovative ideas and passion have been unbelievable.  He spent the latter part of last week and all weekend training our volunteers (who loved him!) and equipping us for success ... and the results have been amazing!  I love Michael's thoughts that "when people feel comfortable they stay; when they stay, they connect; when they connect, they form a relationship; with relationships come influence; and with influence, there is impact."

While we only have about 4 days of history, the 4 days have shown that the church can be a third place for people to hang out, share life, & do ministry (the 1st and 2nd places of life being home and work), and that a 3rd Place can increase a church's impact.  On Sunday morning the buzz and vibe coming from the cafe was incredible as people connected with each other.  On Sunday night we had dozens of students arrive 30 minutes early just to hang out in the cafe, playing video games, getting speciality coffee drinks and smoothies, and having fun.  On Tuesday morning a group of men met there to pray.  Later that morning dozens of middle schoolers arrived for breakfast, coffee, and a devotional.  On Tuesday night ~50 people met for dinner to organize our church's pastoral care team (by the way, this ministry is awesome!).  On Thursday morning high schoolers gathered for biscuits, lattes and prayer.  Later this month we'll feed the Northwest Football Team their pre-game meal and host the local Downtown Dalton Development Authority's annual meeting.

Seeing a building come alive and be used more than a couple of hours a week is not only good stewardship but it is strategic and missional.   But most importantly, seeing people do life, share experiences, and engage relationally around the context of Jesus Christ and His church is biblical and it's exciting!!

Initial Findings: Multi-Site & Multi-Venue

Okay, so after one week of being both a multi-site, multi-venue church, here's what we've learned:

• Whenever you free up seats, you create growth potential ... and God is then able and more than willing to bring the growth.


• The people of Rock Bridge get the vision of Rock Bridge.


• Video is NOT an issue provided there is a good environment: hospitality, technology, and worship.


• Change (to borrow a buzz word in the '08 Election) is exciting, energizing, and engaging to people ... provided it is change in the right direction, done in the right way and at the right time.

Some interesting numbers:

• 4 out of 10 adults (42%) chose to attend either a multi-site campus or the Stage 123 video venue.


• 1 out of 3 Dalton adults (37%) attended worship at Stage 123.


• In Dalton, 1 out of 3 attenders chose the 9:30 am service (This % needs to increase!)


• The Wink Theatre (original Dalton worship space) was 34% full at 9:30 am and 57% full at 11:00 am (= we have room to grow!!).


• Overall, we had our highest total church attendance since Mother's Day.

Weekly Rundown (9.7.08)

• Busy week but a great day as Rock Bridge turned six years old!!


• The Stage 123 kick-off was great ... great coffee, great crowds, and great work by our tech folks and host team "baristas". {BTW, they serve a "peach" smoothie in the Cafe that is unbelievable!!}


• We really need people to make the switch to the 9:30 service ... the 11:00 is close to full -- even after we opened Stage 123 ... more on this later :)


• Great service in Calhoun today -- I was there last week "live" and the "vibe" is great at RBCC Calhoun!


• During the service we showed a baptism of an 86-year old man who recently received Christ at RBCC and 2 of his grandchildren.  It was amazing to watch and pretty emotional ... but it represents what we are all about: new life in Christ!!


• Student kick-off at Stage 123 went great today.  New cafe, video games, amazing worship, great message, and exciting small groups made it a great evening. 


• Lots of things appear to be hitting on all cylinders right now -- which kind of scares me but reminds me that this is all a God-thing and we MUST stay connected to Him, get power from Him, and seek His purposes always.


• The foundation work on the new Ministry Center (Dalton campus) has begun!!!


• I have not watched as much college football this year ... yet. (I haven't even seen College Game Day on ESPN ... yet.)


• We finished up annual evaluations on our staff this past week.  While these conversations are both challenging and encouraging, I think the accountability is very healthy.  Our staff is doing great things right now and I love serving God with this team!!


• Tomorrow Beth & I are supposed to tackle a house project: moving my weight set and exercise equipment to a new room -- with heat & air!!