Tomorrow at West Ridge

Published
by
brian
on September 6, 2008
in Church Planting and West Ridge Church
. Closed

Tomorrow is Anniversary Sunday at West Ridge. We will be celebrating 11 years of being a church. Unbelievable! I cannot believe how quickly time has flown by.

Over the last 11 years we have typically used Anniversary Sunday to celebrate the past and to cast vision for the future. Tomorrow is going to be a little different. We are combining with 7 churches from Cobb County and 3 or 4 churches from Paulding County to do a 4 week series together called THE KINGDOM. I have really enjoyed learning more about the Kingdom of God and studying together with 7 other senior pastors has really been a lot of fun. I’ve been doing this long enough to tell you that this kind of thing doesn’t just happen every day. This is truly a God thing! I can’t tell you how excited I am to get this series off the ground.

Our worship choir is singing tomorrow morning. People LOVE when the worship choir sings at West Ridge. They bring some serious energy to the room. The songs that the guys have chosen for morning are going to powerful. I can’t wait!

Pray for a couple of our daughter churches. Revolution Church in Canton is opening up a second campus tomorrow in Holly Springs. One thing I love about Gary Lamb is that he is not afraid to take a risk. Way to go Gary!

Also pray for our newest daughter, The Gathering Church, which launches tomorrow morning in Decatur. Adam Walker was our church planting intern last year at West Ridge. I’m really proud of him and believe he’s going to do a great job.

We’ve hired a new children’s pastor! We’re going to tell everybody who it is tomorrow morning. I think people are going to be really pumped! You gotta to be there to see who it is…

See all you West Ridgers in the morning.

A Man You Would Write About

Published
by
brian
on September 5, 2008
in Inspiration
. Closed

Amy and I try as hard as we can to be creative with our “family time” in the evenings. Sometimes it can be a real challenge. However, tonight I decided to pull out an old school favorite song of mine from a group called 4HIM. These guys have great voices and their songs were huge in the Christian world back in the 90’s.

My favorite song they did was a song called “A Man You Would Write About.” Every time I hear it, I get joked up. The words of this song are powerful. They have been my hearts cry for years. I decided long ago that I wanted to be a man that God could use and that would find favor in His eyes. Now, more than anything else, this what Amy and I want for our boys.

I didn’t know if Taylor and Zach would like this song, but they really got into the words and we had a great time talking about it afterwards.

Here are the lyrics…

From the time time began
You always chose a man
To lead the people safely by Your
Way
To be a voice and echo what You
Say

Like David or Abraham
Your Word is full of such men
And if the Bible had no closing
Page
And still was being written to
This day

CHORUS
I want to be a man that you
Would write about
Oh a thousand years from now
That they could read about
Your servant of choice in whom
You found favor
A man who heard Your voice

Generations away it is my prayer
That they will look back and say
“Oh to have that kind of faith
and love
What a solid man of God he was”

Mr. Mom

Published
by
brian
on September 4, 2008
in Family
. Closed

The past few days my wife Amy has been hanging out in Florida with some other pastor’s wives (more about that in a moment). I just saw her a few moments ago and I told her, “I have a whole new appreciation for what you do.” For the last four days I have played Mr. Mom. Now I love being around my boys (we had a blast together), but getting them off to school, making sure their homework is done, and running them all over the place is a full-time job for anyone. I honestly don’t know how I would make it without my wife. I CAN’T TELL YOU HOW GLAD I AM TO HAVE HER HOME!

A few months ago she got an invitation to go to Florida to hang out with 11 other pastor’s wives whose husband’s also pastor large churches. The event was hosted by Lisa Young, Ed Young Jr.’s wife. I was so excited that Amy got to be a part of this group. She got to hang with some really sharp ladies who are in the same boat she’s in. She made some good friends on this trip.

Being a pastor’s wife is a very difficult and sometimes very lonely job. My wife loves it though and she is the best pastor’s wife I know. To have her be able to get away for a few days to make some new friends, get a little rest, and to talk shop with other ladies who understand her world, was worth every load of laundry I did and every dirty dish I cleaned while she was gone. I love this lady and I couldn’t make it without her. Good to have you home babe!

Amazing Experience at the BIG HOUSE!

Published
by
brian
on August 31, 2008
in Family
. Closed

Yesterday my brother Kevin and I got to go to our first Michigan game. I have been a Michigan fan for as long as I came remember, but I’ve never been to game in Ann Arbor at the Big House.

A few months ago my friend Shane Williamson (Atlanta FCA Director and West Ridge member) called me and told me he had a friend that was a Michigan grad and had season tickets for 25 years and could get us tickets to the first game of the season. Of course, I jumped all over this opportunity. The Big House seats over 105,000, but getting tickets to a game can be really tough. U of M has sold out 220+ plus home games in a row.

Kevin and I met up with Shane and his friend Trey (and his two boys Colin and Kyle) at 11:30 AM in Ann Arbor. Trey lives in Spartanburg, SC but drives up to Ann Arbor 3 to 5 times a year to watch games. You have to appreciate that kind of dedication. He graduated from U of M in 1987. His two boys are the same ages as my sons (Taylor and Zachary) and are huge Michigan fans as well.

Trey took us on a tour of the campus, we ate lunch, and then we went on to the stadium. This is Kevin, me, and Shane in front of one of the main entrances to the stadium.

As we were walking around the stadium, Shane told me that he had something really cool that he had been working on, but needed to go to Will Call to see if it worked out. After watching all of the players walk into the stadium (cool moment), we followed Shane over to Crisler Arena to get, what turned out to be, sideline passes to the game. Now these were not sideline passes where you watch the team warm up and then go to your seats, these were passes that allow you to watch the entire game standing on the sideline next to the team.

NOW I cannot put into words what it was like for this blue collar boy from the Metro Detroit area to spend his first Michigan game ever watching the game from the SIDELINES! KEVIN AND I WERE BLOWN AWAY! There were over 108,000 people in the stadium watching this game. We were surrounded by a sea of maize and blue humanity. We were also on national TV several times. It was unbelievable. Check out these pics from my phone.

Kevin and I watched the entire game from the 20-25 yard line on the Michigan side of the field. I felt like I was having an out of body experience.

If I could create a list of “Best Moments of My Life” I would have to include things like my salvation experience, the birth of my children, marrying Amy, seeing Jerusalem for the first time, and starting West Ridge. Saturday I added a new experience to my list - watching the Michigan Wolverines lose to Utah 25-23 in the Big House, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, standing next to the team, on the turf, from the 20 yard line. Go Blue!

Fun Day In Michigan

Published
by
brian
on August 30, 2008
in Family
. Closed

I’m from Michigan. In my early years I lived in Detroit. My first home was on 7 Mile Road. Eminem has nothing on me (he grew up off of 8 Mile). Yesterday, my brother Kevin and I flew up to the homeland to take in our first ever University of Michigan football game. We are both big Wolverine fans.

Normally whenever we come to Michigan (probably once every two years) we spend a lot time with family, we go shopping for Michigan/Detroit team sports stuff, and we take a tour of our old stomping grounds (schools, houses, Tiger Stadium, etc).

When I was 4 my family moved from Detroit to the Burbs (Redford Township). We lived in a little Cape Cod style home for about 11 years until my family moved to Texas. We had great memories in this house and we always try to drive by and see it when come back to Michigan.

Today we had something happen to us that just blew our minds. As we drove past the ole homestead Kevin started taking pictures. When I got to the end of the street I decided to turn the car around and go past the house again. As we passed the house (a second time) the owner was now sitting on the front porch taking pictures of us (I’ll tell you why in a moment). When I saw him come off the porch towards us, I yelled out the window to him that we used to live in the house and that we were just driving by for memory sake. To our surprise, the guy invited us to come in and walk around the house. I thought, “This man is insane! Who invites total strangers into their house to take a look around?” We took him up on his offer and spent an hour and a half hanging around with this guy and walking through the house. We found out that the guy had bought the house in 1991, but had just recently gone through a divorce. He thought that we were his ex-wife’s lawyer taking pictures of the house. He thought he’d scare us by taking pictures of us.

I have to tell you, it was beyond cool to go through this house. I had a flood of memories come back to me. This guy let us walk through every inch of the house. Some of tile and carpet was the same. There were still little holes in the walls that we created. Some of the old neighbors still lived in the neighborhood. This was one of those neighborhoods where everyone knew each other. As kids we lived outside playing with friends and everyone’s parents treated you like you were their own kids. I can’t tell you how much I loved growing up in this little house.

Tonight we hung out with my mom’s side of the family. Some of these people we had not seen in a few years. I loved getting reconnected with these folks.

Tomorrow we go to the “Big House” to watch Michigan play Utah. I can’t wait to join the over 100K crazy Michigan fans celebrate the opening weekend of college football and Rich Rodriquez’s first game as the head coach of U of M. I’m sure I’ll have a lot pictures and plenty of stories to tell about my first experience at a U of M game. This is a lifelong dream. Kevin and I have said many times already how much we wish our dad were here to share this amazing weekend with us. He would have had a blast! Even though he was a Michigan State alumnus, he pulled for Michigan. Tomorrow should be amazing! GO BLUE!

Really Late Weekend Wrapup

Published
by
brian
on August 27, 2008
in West Ridge Church
. Closed

Ok, here’s what I’ve discovered, consistent blogging is tough. I have much to say and not much time to say it. I think I need a ghost blogger.

When you’re in the church world and it’s already Wednesday, last weekend is way, way in your rear view mirror. However, we had some really awesome things happen last weekend that I need to talk about. So….

* Saturday night we hosted an FCA kick-off event for the second year. We had over 400 students jammed into our student theater. When it was all said and done there were 65 salvation decisions. God is doing some really cool things right now in the sports community in our area.

* I was really curious to see how moving our first service time back to 9 AM was going to fly. It came off without a glitch. Matter of fact, we had more people on time in the 9 AM service than we did in the 11 AM. I had a pastor friend ask me this past week about the differences between the two services. The 9 AM is made up of middle school parents, a lot of workers, and people with a little bit more church background. The 11 AM service is made up students, singles, unchurched, younger couples, and people that work in 9 AM. The two services have very different personalities.

* I said several things this past Sunday that really ticked a couple people off. I’ve not heard from any of them personal, but I heard a few people walked out mad. One lady walked out of the service and told one of my staff members that I was just way too judgmental. What’s funny about that comment was that while she was walking out I was talking about how church people are too judgmental towards the unchurched. I rarely promote my messages, but if you weren’t at West Ridge this past Sunday this would be a good message to listen to. The message is called “Their House.” On the other hand, I’ve never had a week where I received more positive feedback.

* Sunday we introduced our church to two Kenyan pastor’s, Bonaface and Peter. These guys have amazing stories of how God has answered prayers for them in the midst of some pretty heavy persecution. We were able to present them with a couple of UGA hats and a check to help pay for Bonaface’s neice to have heart surgery. I told our church that sometimes Peter will walk for an entire week to get to a church where he ministers. He told me that his biggest fear is getting attacked by lions. One of our families e-mailed me this week and wants to buy Peter a vehicle. Just one more reason I love the people of West Ridge!

* Our attendance was solid Sunday morning. We had almost equal attendance in the 9 AM and 11 AM services. That rarely happens!

* We have a very cool announcement to make in a few weeks concerning traffic at West Ridge. If you go to West Ridge you’ll be thrilled. Trust me.

* We are very, very close to pulling the trigger on a new children’s pastor. If it works out, it is going to be an excellent hire for our church. As a dad of a 5th grader, I’m pumped!

* We had a lady trust Christ Sunday morning that was one of our school appointed janitors when we met at East Paulding High School. We invested in this lady’s life for nearly 5 years. It’s always amazing when God allows a seed to take root.

* This Sunday we finish off our HOUSE series. It’s going to be a good morning!

That’s all I remember from this past weekend. Can’t wait for the next one!

Weekend Wrapup

Published
by
brian
on August 19, 2008
in West Ridge Church
. Closed

• Great day at West Ridge Sunday. We were packed yesterday with kids. Kids everywhere! I love when school gets back into session because our kids and students ministry explode.
• I’m enjoying this HOUSE series. For me, yesterday was all about being real and honest about small groups….the good, the bad, and the ugly. The bottom-line – We were created to grow together. It’s hard to get away from that. We’ve had a good response to yesterday talk. We’re seeing a lot of new people getting connected into groups.
• I heard this morning from our small group’s area that were getting ready to launch 20 or so small group Bible studies just for women. I’m really excited about that!
• I got into talking Sunday about our US Men’s Olympic Swim Team beating France a week ago and I started joking around about how nice it was to beat the French. Giving into the laughter and support of the crowd, I continued on with some personal thoughts about the French. What I failed to realize while I was going off on the French was that some former missionaries to France were sitting in the second row in the second service. Fortunately, they are friends and they thought it was pretty funny…(I called them to make sure)
• Great energy from Steve and the band. I loved the song selection.
• Jim Akins spoke Sunday at Crossview Church, our church plant in Rockmart. He said they had a great crowd and the energy was awesome. Danny Echols is one of my favorite church planters.
• Our Middle School Revolution starts this Wednesday night from 6:30 to 8:30 PM. Brad Chandler is doing a great job in there. Last year we started really seeing a huge amount of unchurched middle schoolers on our campus on Wednesday night. There has already been a lot of buzz about this year. I can’t wait to see what happens!
• Mike Lukaszewski and his management team (Oak Leaf Church) had a litte retreat in our building all day long yesterday. I got to sit in their meeting for a few minutes. They were dreaming big dreams. I love these folks! They are knocking it out of the park up in Cartersville! I heard they over 900 in attendance this past Sunday. Way too go Oak Leaf!

My brother Kevin

Published
by
brian
on August 16, 2008
in Family
. Closed

One of the things that God has blessed me with in this life is a great relationship with a brother. My brother Kevin turned 39 this past week. He is great husband, an amazing father, a terrific son, and my best friend. I took this picture last night and had to post it on my blog. It’s not too often that you see this kind of inferno on a birthday cake.

Not too many guys can say that their younger brother is their best friend, but I’m fortunate that way.
Happy Birthday little brother.

Innovate Church Conference

Published
by
brian
on August 15, 2008
in Church Planting and Leadership
. Closed

I have spent the last three days in Lynchburg being part of the Innovate Church Conference at Thomas Road Baptist Church. I was asked to be on two panels. Tuesday I was on panel on Leadership with Matt Fry, Lance Witt, and Todd Mullins. Wednesday morning I was on panel on church planting in the main session with Elmer Towns, Matt Fry, Billy Hornsby, and Jamie George. Ed Stetzer moderated this session.

I really didn’t know what to expect from this conference. I didn’t know if this was going to be another version of Super Conference or something totally different. This conference turned out to be very good. Here are a couple of personal highlights:

* Rick Warren was awesome Monday night. The talk that he gave was very similar to the talk he gave at Catalyst last year, but better. He shared about the 3 big traps for pastors and leaders: Lust of the Flesh (temptation to feel good), Lust of the Eyes (temptation of greed), Pride of Life (temptation to be worshiped). Rick Warren is still one of my heros! It’s amazing how much criticism he takes. We’ve actually had people leave our church because we won the Purpose Driven Healthy Church Award in 2004. I’m still baffled by that. I don’t agree with everything he says, but when you listen to this man’s heart for the church and the Kingdom of God it’s tough to critcize him.

* Wednesday morning I sat in on Ed Stetzer’s talk on church planting. It was really good. Setzer is incredibly smart and very funny. I had never heard Ed speak in this setting before, but he did a great job. I got a chance to hang with him a bit afterwards. He was trying to talk me into twittering. I know a lot of people are into it, but I still have no idea why I would want to tell people what I’m doing all day long. Ed’s a friend and I always enjoy picking his brain about church planting and cp networks.

* Tuesday evening Amy and I went to a dinner for next generation leaders. I’m not sure how I got invited to this, because most of the guys in the room were younger then me. However, it was probably the highlight of my trip. Listening to some of these guys talk about their heart to reconnect with Liberty was really inspiring. Jonathan Falwell opened up and shared his heart about what he has been through in the last year since his dad died. It was very moving. In this past year, the church has more then doubled in size and Liberty has grown to nearly 12K students. I had a chance to stand up at the end and affirm Jonathan. I asked Jonathan if the people in the room could pray over him.

Imagine one day you wake up and you are the pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church and the Vice President of Liberty Unviersity. That’s exactly what happened to Jonathan. He and I have been friends since college. We also went to seminary together. It’s really been amazing to watch what God has done in Jonathan’s life over the last year.

* Before I left “The Burg” I got a chance to hang out with a guy named Daniel Henderson. A few years ago Daniel started a prayer ministry called Strategic Renewal. Have you ever been around someone that you know just know walks closely with God? This is how I felt about Daniel. This guy knows his stuff when it comes to prayer. I’m really looking forward to engaging him more on helping West Ridge, Engage Atlanta, and our church planters to develop a soild prayer strategy.

I made some new friends on this trip and had a chance to reconnect with some old ones. After a crazy Delta Airlines experience it’s good to be home!

What An Amazing Saturday

Published
by
brian
on August 9, 2008
in Church Planting and West Ridge Church
. Closed

This morning I went to our building at around 9:30 AM to do a little studying. I really don’t like having to go into the office on Saturday, but I’ve been buried in meetings all week long and I needed to play a little catch up.

When I pulled up behind the building I was blown away by what I saw. The community had come to West Ridge Church. It was the most diverse crowd I had ever seen on our campus. There were several inflatables, there was face painting, there were games, and there were people everywhere. THE REASON? Bookbags! Ton’s of them. Throughout the day we gave out 917 bookbags to needy children in our community.

The cool thing about this whole effort, was that it was started by a 9 year girl in our church named Waverly Gilcrease. Waverly came up with this crazy, God sized idea to put a new bookbag (full of school supplies) into the hands of every kid in our community that couldn’t afford one on their own. She named her effort Fresh Hope. We decided to partner with this amazing little girl to help make her vision a reality. What a day! How about over 30 volunteers, several hundred familes from three different counties, and 917 bookbags! Waverly and some WR friends still have another 100 plus bags they plan to give out before everyone get’s back to school next week. Waverly is one of those people at West Ridge that just “get’s it.” She has grabbed hold of a Kingdom mentality at a young age and is letting God use her in an amazing way to bring change to the commmunity around her. Thanks to my man, Paul Richardson, over 30 WRC volunteers, and Waverly for making this whole event happen. I love it!

At 3:30 PM I drove back on campus to teach at the first Saturday of our church planting school (Year 3). My role was to tell the West Ridge story and to speak on Church Planting and Prayer. When I walked into the room I was blown away by seeing 27 people sitting in the class. It is by far our largest class ever. Two of the churches that were signed up to begin today were not able to show up. With everyone present, we will have over 30 people representing 16 potential new churches that will graduate and go into launch mode by 2009. Jim Akins and our two new CP interns, Llyod Owens and Todd Magourgk, did a great job today! I love church planting! What a day!