Category Archives: Sunday Replay

Looks like the summer bug hit us this week, but that didn’t stop the excitement or momentum.  Check out how it all went down at the Ridge this Sunday!

• The summer bug hit with a ton of families on vacation this week, but we were still strong and the energy was still there
• Had a few new volunteers show up this week to be part of our set up team and they even brought everyone some drinks!  I think we’ll keep them around!
• YES….I love to celebrate when people step up and start serving for the first time, especially when it’s uncomfortable, such as getting to church at 7 am
• Speaking of new volunteers, also had an ENTIRE FAMILY step and volunteer for the first time! Wow!
• I say it often, but I’ll say it again, God has blessed us with some amazing musicians and people who truly love to use their talent for God’s glory. Our band freakin’ brought it this Sunday!
• Band played No Reason to Hide (Hillsong United) Rise and Sing (Fee…song will make you wanna dance!) Carried to the Table (Leeland) Tear Down the Walls (Hillsong United…one of my all time favs) and Your Love is Strong (Jon Foreman…at the end of the service)
• My good friend Jonathan Haskell came to bring the word for our One Prayer series and taught on Unstoppable Community.  His message was precise, to the point, and came at a great time for our church
• Challenge Jonathan’s family to game a soccer and get crushed….Just sayin
• Community is built through the word….Jesus taught about how to grow, cultivate and create community because having good relationships with others is a great way to share the Gospel
• DONT FORGET!!! This Wednesday we’ll be having some free ice cream and hang time at Melton Hill Marina in Oak Ridge!  Wednesday night at 6:30pm…bring a neighbor with you!

No small talk today….let’s get right to it….

• Had a different vibe on Sunday with lots of people out for summer vacations.  The next few weeks should be interesting  with continuing vacations, Father’s Day, and 4th of July being on a Sunday.
• Even with all that going on, attendance has stayed on average.  That’s a God thing! More people every week are calling the Ridge Church home!
• We had our friend Kevin Bradford and his band Soul Horizon come lead worship for us this Sunday.  They did a phenomenal job and I recommend you give these guys a shout to give your band a break one Sunday.
• I was really pumped to kick off the One Prayer series this week.  Something very exciting about thousands of churches all over the world coming together to pray that the church is unstoppable.
• The first message in the series by me was called Unstoppable Passion.  The passion for the local church is dying all over the world and we need to get that passion back.
• The church is God’s plan A and there is no plan B
• So sick of “Christians” complaining about the local church and not plugging in to serve in the local church.  Please stop telling me you believe in every word of the bible if all you wanna do is complain about churches and not attend one.
• It may be worse actually to attend a local church and complain about local churches.  I don’t know…how about you just stop complaining and love the church because the bible calls it the bride of Christ.  yeah…that makes it pretty important.
• For the record, I believe that the equipping of believers through the local church is the best weapon and tool we have to send people out to proclaim the Gospel.
• AND…if you haven’t noticed, the proclamation of the Gospel is what we’re ALL as believers supposed to be doing
• God is stirring up so much right now I’m not even sure where to focus first.  Lots of stuff to pray through!
• As this stuff gets prayed through, is revealed, and focused, I”ll be sure to let all the cats out of the bag!  But needless to say, I can’t wait to watch God work these things out.
• Speaking of exciting things…I’m so very pumped to have my good friend Jonathan Haskell preaching week #2 of the One Prayer series.
• As well, in July we start a new series called United on the book of Ephesians and I’m super excited to announce Caleb Tipton will make his return to the stage!  He’ll be handling several messages in this series and many more to come!

It’s a day late, but hey I was busy yesterday.  More about that later.  Summer is officially underway at Ridge Community and I’m really pleased so far with how our summer is starting off.  I can’t wait to get into some of the things planned for this summer!

• Spent the day yesterday with Josh Roberts of Connect Rome in Rome Georgia.  Thankful for those guys pouring into us here in Oak Ridge!
• With a new creative director and new lead producer, things have been a bit different on Sunday mornings, but I’m really pleased with the direction things are heading.  Jason and Stephanie are doing great jobs and are getting their feet nice and planted to grow and go WNL on this thing!
• We didn’t do anything out of the ordinary  this week, and I really thought we would be down attendance wise a bit.  But as God goes, we were right on avg.  I don’t mind that at all after last summer!
• This week we were between series so I got a chance to just share what was on my heart about the direction of our church for the summer and also for the future.  To say I’m pumped up about it is an understatement!
• I focused on Jeremiah 29 where God tells the people of Israel to pray for he welfare or the shalom of the city.
• If we’re not praying for the shalom of Oak Ridge, we’ve missed the point. But it’s not all about prayer.  It’s powerful, but it’s not all we should do.  There has to be some action with those prayers, and so it’s time to get to work.
• I shared this quote from Rick Warren about that….“The hands and feet of the church have been amputated and all that’s left is a big mouth.” True dat
• I also closed the message with this quote, one of my favorites from Charles Spurgeon….“In every minister’s life there should be traces of stern labor.  Brethren, do something; do something; DO SOMETHING.  While committees waste their time over resolutions, do something.  While societies and unions are making constitutions, let us win souls.  Too often we discuss, and discuss, and discuss, while Satan only laughs in his sleeve….Get to work and quit yourselves like men.”
• The title of that message from Spurgeon was “Forward”.  So that’s how I left our people Sunday….Forward.
• The message was a bit of a precursor to the One Prayer series that starts this week.  This week I’m preaching on Unstoppable Passion.  Can’t. Freaking. Wait.
• After One Prayer, we’re doing a series called United.  9 weeks in the book of Ephesians.  I feel like we could 20 weeks on it, so this will be more of a crash course.  The United series is going to be one intense and challenging series.
• Really excited that I’ll have in my opinion, one the most gifted and talented communicators around the area preaching three messages in this series.
• I feel like God is shaking things up in a HUGE way around the Ridge and He’s bringing us all the components and people to make things happen.  To say I’m excited about this summer would be a HUGE understatement!
• Ridge Church, check back on the blog tomorrow and I’ll outline with dates, what’s planned and coming up this summer at the Ridge!

As a church planter, I’ve learned to expect the unexpected.  So far, God has not let me down on the surprises.  Yesterday at the Ridge was no different.  Here’s the run down……

• Most Memorial Day Weekends start the slow down and sporadic attendance for churches.  I was expecting the same for us for our second summer of our church.
• We already knew we would be missing some groups of volunteers.
• To my surprise, we had a great number of first time guests and our overall attendance was right on our average.
• This surprised me because I had expected much lower attendance
• The crowd wasn’t as rowdy as it usually is, but they held their own
• We finished up our Deep series with Deep Prayer.
• Nothing will ruin your prayer life unrepented sin
• We have to remember that prayer is our highest appeal to highest, mightiest king
• I challenged everyone to take 21 days and focus especially on their prayer time in hopes to make it part of their lifestyle and not just something else we do from time to time.
• So, so, so, sooooo stoked about sharing my heart this coming weekend.  It’s going to be more of a conversation than me preaching.  I don’t get to do that too often, but when I do, I really enjoy it and I think it’ll be beneficial for those attending the Ridge on a regular basis as well
• Ready to meet with our Lead Team as well this week to share some HUGE things I feel like God is marinating in my heart
• Taking the summer off?  No says I.  Not us