Hand Down a Toilet

Right now we're in the middle of hosting a community wide youth revival (called Oasis) that is sponsored by area churches and put on by their youth ministers.

Having over 1100++ students in one building to hear about Jesus and worship like crazy is pretty awesome (band is Julian Drive ... WOW!) ... HOWEVER, there are some drawbacks.

Sunday night one of our AWESOME youth workers went into the male restroom and discovered someone had stuffed TP into the commode enough to clog it and then covered their tracks with good ole urine (or as my mom used to say 'Tee Tee').

Our volunteer was of course upset and a little angry but in the end he took one for the team and instantly became the church plumber using his hand to unclog the toilet.

No, we don't like to have our building or any building treated with disrespect or damaged in anyway. And sometimes it is tempting to NOT use our building because there is always spilled coffee, overflowing trash cans, messy bathrooms, etc ...
However, we do not worship our building or serve it.
Our building serves our purpose which just happens to be God's purpose ... which is to redeem people through Jesus Christ.

...the first night there were around 70 decisions made for Christ. Last night there were somewhere around 30-40 decisions made!

So yes, reaching out to lost people and teenagers can get a little dirty, a little messy, (maybe even a little gross) ... but Jesus got pretty dirtied up and messed up for us (remember Mel's Passion of the Christ?).

The question to ask is this:
What bothers us more:
--Sticking one's hand in a toilet filled up with pee?? -OR-
--Seeing people go to hell and doing nothing about it??

So we'll keep saying "No" to hell and "yes" to 'tee tee' ... if that is what it takes!

This Weekend!!!

To all the Rock Bridge family ... stand by for this weekend!!

1) We need anyone who can to come to the 9:00 am service this Sunday!!
Disciple Now has >200 participants and they will ALL be coming to the 10:45 service which could stress our seating. So if there is anyway you can, please show up ready for God at 9:00.

2) Daylight Savings Time
Spring forward tonight!!

3) This weekend is going to be incredible!!

John 3:30

PRAY!!

I just want to ask as many of you as possible to PRAY like never before!! Some incredible God things are happening that are WAY beyond our control but are completely in His control. I believe even more incredible things are on the way that are beyond what I can imagine (Ephesians 3:20-21).

--This weekend is "iGod" or Youth Disciple Now. We believe we may have close to 200 students coming!! Spur 58 will be leading worship. I love the fact that from Day One Rock Bridge has been all about kids and students. We resource it big time and deservedly so!!

--We are under contract to buy the 9300 sq. foot furniture building across the street from the church!!!!

--We are entering a master plan phase to help us better use our facilities for our current ministries and future growth.
Right now our children's space is inadequate whether we grow or not (we plan to keep growing).
Right now our youth use everything from my office to sitting in chairs made for 1st graders.

--Next Sunday is VISION SUNDAY!!! I cannot wait to see all the new people that will come and discover Christ and re-discover His church. INVITE! INVITE! INVITE!

--We are sending out a direct mail piece to EVERY residential address in Whitfield County. Something like 33,000 people will get our "Up to Speed" mailer, inviting them to check out Rock Bridge. (We have only done one small mailer and very limited, small-scale advertising. I am excited to see the potential response.)

--Our search for a new Children's Minister is going well. Aaron is talking to some great people right now!! Please pray hard for this!!

--Next week we are taking around 30 people to NewSpring Church for their conference. I think this will take many of our ministry leaders and key volunteers up a notch in their excitement, vision, and passion for the local church.

Great Day

Today was a day that reminds me why I do what I do, why I love Rock Bridge, and why the local church is awesome!!

We had over 1000 people in worship today in a service with a great feel as we talked about God's plan for relationships and making them last (i.e. marriage).
Tonight we did our Youth Hayride with over 150 6th-12th graders coming to have fun and hear about Jesus. It was awesome ... especially, since I got to drive a John Deere tractor!!
Even more awesome were all the volunteers who worked hard to make this event happen. I was blown away by all the work that made this event rock!!

Thanks to everyone who prays & serves ... what we do echoes in eternity!!