A Big Priority

We've always made it very clear that the primary mission we have as a church is to connect disconnected people to Christ and His community.  We started Rock Bridge because 50k++ people in Whitfield County did not regularly attend church.  While that priority has not changed, we are also working hard to make sure that our church is not just producing church attenders, but Christ-followers ... and there is a BIG difference!!  In the past we've gotten real excited whenever we have cleared a certain attendance mark (150, 200, 1000, etc.).  We'll still celebrate those, we also want to be more intentional about celebrating steps a person makes to become a more devoted Christ-follower like personal Bible study and prayer, serving/volunteering, tithing, being in a small group, etc.

Numerous times in Acts we see Paul "encouraging the believers" long after they had received Christ and started "attending" one of Paul's church plants.  In other words, Paul was intentional about helping people continue to walk closer to Christ long-after their salvation.  We want our church to be very encouraging to people to pursue a lifestyle of following Jesus. 

Our approach is described by the phrase "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink."  Like salvation the decision to follow Christ is a personal one and must be made daily.  However, our church should be an oasis not a desert.  The opportunities to drink should be plentiful, simple, and easy to find for the person who is thirsty.  This is why ...

• We created CONNECT which is open after every service for ANYONE to speak to me, receive prayer, sign-up for events, interact with staff, or get a resource.


• We started a new group environment called STARTING POINT for people seeking, starting, or restarting a relationship with Jesus.  This group is always open and anyone can jump in at anytime.


• We will be re-launching an environment called GROUPLINK to help people join a small group environment ... which is one of the best environments to receive "encouragment" in their Christ-walk.


• We are adding more "Bible study" type groups like Experiencing God that are finite in duration but infinite in their impact.


• We have restructured the staffing of our Connections Department to make sure we track and help people find meaningful connections to the Body of Christ.


• We are creating a broad and intentional process for providing "pastoral care" to Rock Bridgers and our community which includes marriage enrichment, recovery assistance, divorce care, hospital care, grief/bereavement, financial crisis, addicition, benevolence, and even parenting.  (We had a GREAT meeting this past week and I believe this will really bless and encourage people as they go through tough times in life).


• Our Student Ministry is committed to launching more "ABS" (Area Bible Studies) for students throughout Whitfield, Murray, and Gordan counties.  These are fun & relational environments for Bible study discussions with teenagers.


• We are going to be more intentional and frequent about teaching people how to study the Bible using the S-O-A-P method.  (For more information, listen to Part 5 of the Boot Camp series here.)  We'll teach this at Inquirer's Lunches, Baptism Orientation, etc.

Our mission is to CONNECT people to Christ and His community with a bond so strong that nothing can pull it apart.  As Larry Osborne said, "We want to velcro people" to the Word of God and the community of God's people.  I believe when we are connected like that we will be filled with COURAGE to live the abundant life God has for us!!