Christmas Rundown (12.25.09)

• What God is teaching me and reminding me of this Christmas:
  
  
  
  • He is completely SOVEREIGN -- God took 1000s of years to bring His Son into humanity and into history; He used a pagan ruler, a full inn, an manger, and a virgin. Nothing falls outside of God's sovereignty and nothing trumps His ultimate plan.
    
    
    
    • I am resting in His sovereignty in our adoption process and for RBCC in 2010.
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Waiting on God is hard but definitely worth it -- The Jews went 400 years without any prophetic word from God (the time from Malachi to Matthew in our Bibles). Then John the Baptist and Jesus burst onto the scene. The Scriptures report that Jesus came when the "time had fully come."
    
    
    
    • I struggle with patience ... patience with myself, with others, and with executing plans. Adoption has revealed this struggle in a big way and yet, I sense God smoothing those rough edges of my character to be a bit more conformed to His Son. AND at the end of the day, I know from the Bible and from personal experience that waiting on God is worth it!!
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • Passion for Christ can sometimes wane and must be rekindled -- life, sin, temptation, struggle, criticism all zap our passions.
    
    
    
    • Recently, I've felt mine wane. Then we had our last staff meeting of the year this week and we all confessed our weakened passion. Then a team member said, "The stuff we do is life or death." Think about that ... Jesus did NOT come to create Santa Claus or so we could have an excuse to overeat. Jesus came to die for us so that we do not have to experience spiritual death, so that we could be made right with God. The message of Jesus is of ultimate importance. This conviction sustains and strengthens my passion!
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  
  
  
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    • I wrote down 3 things that I want to fuel my passion for exalting Christ in 2010:
      
      
      
      • The Gospel is the power of salvation for ALL who believe ... we must share it boldly!!
      
      
      • God's love is unfailing ... we must live it out sacrificially!
      
      
      • The hope of God does not disappoint ... we must offer it consistently!!
      
      
      • God's wisdom is the only true way to navigate life ... we must teach it unapologetically!!
      
      
      
      
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  


• Onto a few other things --
  
  
  
  • My 2 favorite meals of the year are literally 12 hours apart: Christmas Eve dinner with Beth's family and Christmas breakfast with mine :)
  
  
  • Beth & I will be taking some time off this season and I don't think I've ever needed it more. God is stirring my heart with so many things that I need some time just to be still and focus.
  
  
  • We are still waiting word on our adoption. We were told we would wait 1-10 months before receiving a referral. We have been waiting 7 1/2.
  
  
  • May everyone have a Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!!
  
  
  
  

Weekly Rundown (12.13.09)

• Preaching about the Cross can never get old because understanding & applying the Cross is as essential as breathing!!


• Great to celebrate baptism today.


• Spent some time planning our missions giving for 2010.  I am pumped about all the ways we as a church will be able to support God's causes --
  
  
  
  • Lots of various efforts in NW Georgia:
    
    
    
    • Crisis pregnancy; food & clothing assistance; benevolences; homelessness
    
    
    
    
  
  
  • A medical missionary to Kenya.
  
  
  • Missionary in the Middle East.
  
  
  • Efforts to relieve world hunger.
  
  
  • Church plants in 3 different states (Georgia, Tennesse, and Florida).
  
  
  
  


• God blew me away on Friday with an amazing conversation about His radical, unfailing love and then a big, breakthrough about getting our 3rd site up and rolling in Chatsworth ... stuff I've been praying over for months, starting to materialize as God's faithfulness and perfect timing bears fruit for His glory!!


• Great meeting with new Calhoun Elders ... great to be able to expand the local leadership efforts at that Campus.


• Beginning some cool discussions about how to better mobilize our church to serve.


• Prayer requests:
  
  
  
  • Direction and guidance about foreign missions.  The opportunities are endless and all very good ... seeking THE opportunity God prepared long ago for us to walk in -- Ephesians 2:10.
  
  
  • 2010 opportunities in NW Georgia: 3rd site in Chatsworth, 3rd service (Thursday night), and "building favor" in Calhoun.
  
  
  • Sermon and worship planning for 2010.
  
  
  
  


• HAVE A GREAT WEEK :)

Weekly Rundown (12.7.09)

• Crazy, amazing weekend @ Rock Bridge ... Snacks with Santa in Calhoun and rockin' Christmas musical in Dalton. We love to serve and bless our community ... for free ... that's the pattern of Jesus, our Pastor!
  
  
  
  • Thanks to all the incredible people who served and gave of their time and efforts ... you rock!
  
  
  
  


• Praying that is attitude is prevalent in our church:  I Chronicles 29:14.
  
  
  
  • For our Dalton campus ... Step Together Offering is Sunday!  We have a great opportunity to continue generously funding God's work in His church ... let's do it together for greater impact, more momentum, and stronger unity!!
  
  
  
  


• We're collecting toys for children this Christmas season: bring NEW, UNWRAPPED gifts to church on Sunday or during the week to the offices.


• Really excited that our students are learning about global missions.  Together they are sponsoring a child in Swaziland through World Vision .  Praying we all catch God's vision for the world!


• The 'Dawgs are heading to the Independence Bowl --13th straight year in a bowl game --
  
  
  
  • Coach Richt made a VERY tough leadership decision in releasing 3 staff members.  Paul had to release John Mark for a season.  Leaders have to put the overall mission ahead of personal relationships ... always tough, but necessary.
  
  
  
  


• Army-Navy showdown is this weekend ... GO NAVY, BEAT ARMY!!

Stepping Together

Something I constantly thank God for and ask Him to protect is the incredible unity that has marked our church.  When movements are marked by unity there is tremendous focus, teamwork, and momentum.

One example of unity we see in Scripture is unified giving.  Whether it was the giving to build the Tent of Meeting and Solomon's Temple or to assist the suffering church in Jerusalem, God's people gave together, recognizing that more can be accomplished when everyone combines their stewardship of God's resources in the same God-honoring direction.

RBCC followed this pattern when we launched our Next Step Campaign in 2007.  We unified our giving above and beyond regular tithes & offerings to sacrificially and generously fund the much needed Dalton campus expansion.

As part of this campaign, we want to hold a special offering to further unify our giving and increase momentum as we head into the final stretch of this campaign.  On December 13th (or anytime in December) we will have a Step Together Offering.  This offering will be help reduce and eventually pay off the construction loan since construction is finished.

• We are asking everyone who made a Next Step pledge to give part of your pledge on December 13th (or this month).  We are not asking for a new pledge.


• We would also invite anyone at our Dalton campus who was not able to make a pledge or was not part of Rock Bridge back in 2007, to prayerfully consider participating in this special unified offering.


• Simple indicate "Next Step" or "Step Together" on your check or use the specially marked envelopes.

I echo the words of King David (I Chronicles 29:14):

"...who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from You, and we have given You only what comes from Your Hand."

Rock Bridge PM

After much prayer, lots of discussion, and a church survey we've decided to start a 3rd service at our Dalton campus ... on Thursday evening! Our goals are the same as they have been for 7+ years ... to expose more people to Christ, to reach more people for Christ, and see more people changed by Christ.

Thursday evening appears to be a perfect opportunity to do that as we reach out to those who work on Sundays and cannot come to church (lots of shift-workers, restaurant employees, etc in our area) as well as those who travel on the weekend.  A secondary benefit will be that this service will free up some seats on Sundays @ 11 am when we are most crowded.

This will be an experiment and we confess we don't know exactly how it will work ... BUT we are committed to trying BECAUSE of the potential to be accused of this "... you have filled all Jerusalem (Dalton, Chatsworth, Calhoun, NW Georgia) with your teaching about Him [Jesus] ..." {Acts 5:28}.  We believe that when Jesus is worshiped with passion and taught with clarity that God-sized things occur!!

Now we have to seize this opportunity TOGETHER ... unified, committed, and excited! I want to share ways YOU can help ... {We've created a web link here for more information}

1. PRAY! Please lift this service up, asking God's Name to be glorified & honored.


2. INVITE! Start telling your friends ... the service kicks off on January 14th @ 6:30 pm in the Wink!


3. SERVE! We need people to step up and commit to serving on Thursday nights.  The need is greatest in children's ministry where our desire is make Rock Bridge Kids the "best hour of a child's week"!!
   
   
   
   1. You can SIGN-UP to SERVE right now by clicking HERE.