I heard about a guy recently who said he doesn't like surprises. He chooses to live life safe. He also said he doesn't like miracles. See in order to have a miracle you have to first have a problem, crisis, or lack. Well frankly I hate living safe. I say get out on the edge where you need God to show up and if he doesn't you die.
Church planting, when it comes to ministry is on the edge. OKmaybe not as much as mission work in one of the _______stan countries, but it still isn't a walk in the park. There are highs and lows. Victories and struggles. Your faith is tested often. This summer has been no different.
In the summer most church finances drop. June and July were tough on the embassy, but in the past 7 days...oh my goodness God has shown up. Oh yeah...provision, supply, whatever you want to call it, I call it a miracle. I like the line in Narnia referrring to Aslan. "Is He safe....no He's not safe, but He is good". You see sometimes God trips me out, but He never trips me up.
Living for God is not safe, but it is good. I thank God for the waves of crisis because through them we see that He still walks on the water. He is still able to provide a sure hand right when you need it.
Monday, August 04, 2008
Sunday Remix 8-3-08
-This Sunday was off the chain for sure.
-We broke out a second trailer. The thought of that freaked me out a little because we usually are pushing to start on time as it is. It went awesome! Everything from the Welcome/Cafe' area and Kid's Live (K-5) was in the 12 ft trailer. The main theater, nursery, and preschool stuff was in the 20 footer.
-Our K-5th Team unloaded the cafe and their room. Our load control team went right to unloading the main room. Usually the cafe stuff is unloaded first. This accomplished two things. It doubled the work force for overall load control. Second, It started the load out of the main room 15 minutes earlier. What I love about this procedural change. It came from the ground up as people saw the need, provided the trailer, and set in motion the changes to make it happen. Great Job!!!
-Robby started "Reverb" this Sunday. Reverb is a group designed for 6&7 graders. It takes place during my Sunday teaching. They begin in the main room and exit after worship to go to Reverb. From my 6th grader it sounds like it went great. Thanks to Echo Student Ministries for making this happen for our younger students.
-I had a blast preaching about something I have a great passion for. We finished up our Summer of Rock series. We looked at the first disciples "Come and See" model of evangelism. I said that every Christian should live to influence others to experience Christ. We can't make people "follow" Christ, but we can influence them to "experience" Christ. When we do that Jesus himself will make it very difficult to deny.
-We brought our kids and school teachers in to pray over them in preparation for the coming school year. I called out 5 names: Adalee, Jessica, Brianna, Katie, and Ryan. I bragged on these kids because they make up 25% of one class room at Carmel Elementary. One influenced another who influenced another...and now the kids and their families all come to EMC.
Dude that rocks. These kids didn't back down, but they invited..."come and see" and Jesus did the rest!!
-The Band rocked Tom Petty's "No I Won't Back Down" when it comes to influencing others to Christ we are not going to back down.
-Next week we begin our God at the Movies series. Don't forget to invite 3 friends. This is your chance to influence others to experience Christ. I promise you...you do your part.....and I will do mine. August will be as insane as you want it!!!
-Lately I've been saying to myself, "I'm not going to say freakin as much". I have been saying it for years and at times it creeps into my Sunday sermon. I was so freakin'....er I mean incredibly proud of myself on Sunday because I did not use the weak adjective. Instead I self-filtered and skipped it. Ok before you praise me for self control and decorum in the pulpit....I did say the word "dammit". I think my self-filterer still needs a little adjusting. To know the context you'll have to listen to the podcast.
-Last night we had a great final Discipleship for Leadership night. I love seeing our leaders getting a hold of what God is doing in and through us together as a church.
-I have been finding it hard to sleep lately. I am more excited about emc and it's future than the day we launched 2 1/2 years ago.
-Emc-ers pray for me as I lead out of the heart and vision of God. I am more excited than ever, but I feel more spiritual attack then ever as well.
-I Love you guys. I am so pleased to be your pastor.
-We broke out a second trailer. The thought of that freaked me out a little because we usually are pushing to start on time as it is. It went awesome! Everything from the Welcome/Cafe' area and Kid's Live (K-5) was in the 12 ft trailer. The main theater, nursery, and preschool stuff was in the 20 footer.
-Our K-5th Team unloaded the cafe and their room. Our load control team went right to unloading the main room. Usually the cafe stuff is unloaded first. This accomplished two things. It doubled the work force for overall load control. Second, It started the load out of the main room 15 minutes earlier. What I love about this procedural change. It came from the ground up as people saw the need, provided the trailer, and set in motion the changes to make it happen. Great Job!!!
-Robby started "Reverb" this Sunday. Reverb is a group designed for 6&7 graders. It takes place during my Sunday teaching. They begin in the main room and exit after worship to go to Reverb. From my 6th grader it sounds like it went great. Thanks to Echo Student Ministries for making this happen for our younger students.
-I had a blast preaching about something I have a great passion for. We finished up our Summer of Rock series. We looked at the first disciples "Come and See" model of evangelism. I said that every Christian should live to influence others to experience Christ. We can't make people "follow" Christ, but we can influence them to "experience" Christ. When we do that Jesus himself will make it very difficult to deny.
-We brought our kids and school teachers in to pray over them in preparation for the coming school year. I called out 5 names: Adalee, Jessica, Brianna, Katie, and Ryan. I bragged on these kids because they make up 25% of one class room at Carmel Elementary. One influenced another who influenced another...and now the kids and their families all come to EMC.
Dude that rocks. These kids didn't back down, but they invited..."come and see" and Jesus did the rest!!
-The Band rocked Tom Petty's "No I Won't Back Down" when it comes to influencing others to Christ we are not going to back down.
-Next week we begin our God at the Movies series. Don't forget to invite 3 friends. This is your chance to influence others to experience Christ. I promise you...you do your part.....and I will do mine. August will be as insane as you want it!!!
-Lately I've been saying to myself, "I'm not going to say freakin as much". I have been saying it for years and at times it creeps into my Sunday sermon. I was so freakin'....er I mean incredibly proud of myself on Sunday because I did not use the weak adjective. Instead I self-filtered and skipped it. Ok before you praise me for self control and decorum in the pulpit....I did say the word "dammit". I think my self-filterer still needs a little adjusting. To know the context you'll have to listen to the podcast.
-Last night we had a great final Discipleship for Leadership night. I love seeing our leaders getting a hold of what God is doing in and through us together as a church.
-I have been finding it hard to sleep lately. I am more excited about emc and it's future than the day we launched 2 1/2 years ago.
-Emc-ers pray for me as I lead out of the heart and vision of God. I am more excited than ever, but I feel more spiritual attack then ever as well.
-I Love you guys. I am so pleased to be your pastor.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
My Weight Loss Testimonial
Below is a testimonial I wrote for our gym. It explains where I was at with my health last year and how far I have come with the help of our trainer. I still have 20-30 pounds to lose, but I am sure not where I was last year. Praise God!
Before:
My name is Ross Wiseman and I was severely over weight. I am 35 years old and for the majority of my life very athletic. Five years ago I destroyed my shoulder in a dirt bike accident. I ballooned from 175 pounds to 230 pounds in a short period of time. When I finally started to get back into shape I tore my ACL in a soccer match. I began to gain weight again and quickly reached 230 pounds again.
If you don’t take control of life, life will take control of you. That is exactly what happened. Three years ago my family moved to Woodstock, GA to begin Embassy Metro Church. As lead pastor of a new and growing church I put the family and church before my own needs and quickly got into a routine of work and “low impact” family time. I didn’t do anything physical for two years. Oh, I bought a gym membership to another place, but I did not have the motivation or guidance to even reach the smallest goals.
This brings us to the part of the story where my life was given back to me. Last fall I met Debbie Roness. She is a personal trainer at Body Plex in Woodstock, GA. Our boys were on the same soccer team. As we made friends with Debbie and her husband Phil they began to attend our church. Debbie says she remembers seeing me perspire and get winded so easily as I preached and moved around on stage. As much as I hate to hear that…she’s probably right.
I had blown up to 270 pounds and at 5’8” felt miserable. My family means everything to me, but I was in a cycle where I had no energy. I would fall asleep within minutes of sitting in my recliner. I would avoid putting my girls to sleep at night because frankly my chest hurt when I walked up the stairs to their room. I always prayed for an all American boy and God gave me just that. Now I was wasting that gift by being so out of shape I didn’t even want to kick a ball around with him or wrestle on the living room floor. Ridiculous! An athlete who was on his way to diabetes, hypertension, destroyed joints, and the stress that comes to a marriage when a man wont be a man. Not only was there a strain on my personal life, it was affecting me as a leader as well. I had lost my confidence, and leadership edge. You can’t lead people if you don’t lead yourself.
It still hurts to even think about that because that wasn’t me. Deep inside I was the confident and disciplined leader with an athletic edge who owned the respect and admiration of his family. I needed someone to help reach in and pull that back out of me.
Debbie Roness was that someone. She put me on a healthy eating plan, trained me for three days a week, and got me doing cardio 5 days a week. Debbie has been a source of encouragement, education, and discipline. With out her help I would not have lost 60lbs in five months (from 270 to 210). I would not have developed the strength and stamina I now have. I am mountain biking with 20 year olds and holding my own. I would not see the pride my wife and children have when they look at me and we do “high impact” family activities. I would not be the leader that my staff and church need me to be. And I would not be the man that I knew I was, but needed someone to help me find again.
Debbie you helped me find me and for that I will forever be grateful!
Thank you!
-The Wiseman’s (Ross, Amie, Adalee, Aubrynn, & Grant)
Before:
After:
My name is Ross Wiseman and I was severely over weight. I am 35 years old and for the majority of my life very athletic. Five years ago I destroyed my shoulder in a dirt bike accident. I ballooned from 175 pounds to 230 pounds in a short period of time. When I finally started to get back into shape I tore my ACL in a soccer match. I began to gain weight again and quickly reached 230 pounds again.
If you don’t take control of life, life will take control of you. That is exactly what happened. Three years ago my family moved to Woodstock, GA to begin Embassy Metro Church. As lead pastor of a new and growing church I put the family and church before my own needs and quickly got into a routine of work and “low impact” family time. I didn’t do anything physical for two years. Oh, I bought a gym membership to another place, but I did not have the motivation or guidance to even reach the smallest goals.
This brings us to the part of the story where my life was given back to me. Last fall I met Debbie Roness. She is a personal trainer at Body Plex in Woodstock, GA. Our boys were on the same soccer team. As we made friends with Debbie and her husband Phil they began to attend our church. Debbie says she remembers seeing me perspire and get winded so easily as I preached and moved around on stage. As much as I hate to hear that…she’s probably right.
I had blown up to 270 pounds and at 5’8” felt miserable. My family means everything to me, but I was in a cycle where I had no energy. I would fall asleep within minutes of sitting in my recliner. I would avoid putting my girls to sleep at night because frankly my chest hurt when I walked up the stairs to their room. I always prayed for an all American boy and God gave me just that. Now I was wasting that gift by being so out of shape I didn’t even want to kick a ball around with him or wrestle on the living room floor. Ridiculous! An athlete who was on his way to diabetes, hypertension, destroyed joints, and the stress that comes to a marriage when a man wont be a man. Not only was there a strain on my personal life, it was affecting me as a leader as well. I had lost my confidence, and leadership edge. You can’t lead people if you don’t lead yourself.
It still hurts to even think about that because that wasn’t me. Deep inside I was the confident and disciplined leader with an athletic edge who owned the respect and admiration of his family. I needed someone to help reach in and pull that back out of me.
Debbie Roness was that someone. She put me on a healthy eating plan, trained me for three days a week, and got me doing cardio 5 days a week. Debbie has been a source of encouragement, education, and discipline. With out her help I would not have lost 60lbs in five months (from 270 to 210). I would not have developed the strength and stamina I now have. I am mountain biking with 20 year olds and holding my own. I would not see the pride my wife and children have when they look at me and we do “high impact” family activities. I would not be the leader that my staff and church need me to be. And I would not be the man that I knew I was, but needed someone to help me find again.
Debbie you helped me find me and for that I will forever be grateful!
Thank you!
-The Wiseman’s (Ross, Amie, Adalee, Aubrynn, & Grant)
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Tragedy hits our Cherokee County Outdoor YMCA
One of our emc-ers works at the outdoor YMCA. On Sunday afternoon I received the call that one of his fellow employees had been tragically killed in a parachuting accident. Olen Reid Ashe, just 23, died instantly attempting his 299th jump. Reid had made a huge impact at the Y teaching climbing skills for the past two years.Today I was called in to speak to and pray with some of the staffers. Next Tuesday night I get the honor to be a part of a memorial service for Reid at the YMCA climbing wall.
Please keep this family in prayer. Without the strength of God bearing this burden would be impossible.
Monday, July 28, 2008
250
What is in a number? I think every church planter if he is honest with himself has numeric goals in mind as he set's out to start the church. I know when I set to out to begin the embassy I didn't have too many numeric targets, but I did have a few.
I knew we needed at least 40 people to launch at the theater. So that was the first goal to go from 8 (Wiseman/Hager's) to a launch team of 40. After we had our public launch, I looked forward to the huge benchmark of averaging 100 people in weekly attendance. That was big because the average church plant in America after 5 years averages 90 people.
It is hard to look at numbers in the summer because attendance drops off considerably. We experienced the same the past two summers and attendance bounced back to pre-summer numbers by September. If that is the case we should be approaching a solid 175 people weekly by September/October.
Numbers are not the goal, but numbers represent people. I am excited to see what God is doing in people's lives. I do believe that we could be reaching 250 people weekly in the next 6-9 months. Is that the goal? No not really. Reaching people for Christ is the goal. The number 250 is just a benchmark as we begin to make inroads into the lives of the unchurched of Cherokee/North Cobb Counties.
Let's dream together, pray together, work together, and look forward together to the great days ahead as God gives us the momentum necessary to do what He is calling us to do!
I knew we needed at least 40 people to launch at the theater. So that was the first goal to go from 8 (Wiseman/Hager's) to a launch team of 40. After we had our public launch, I looked forward to the huge benchmark of averaging 100 people in weekly attendance. That was big because the average church plant in America after 5 years averages 90 people.
It is hard to look at numbers in the summer because attendance drops off considerably. We experienced the same the past two summers and attendance bounced back to pre-summer numbers by September. If that is the case we should be approaching a solid 175 people weekly by September/October.
Numbers are not the goal, but numbers represent people. I am excited to see what God is doing in people's lives. I do believe that we could be reaching 250 people weekly in the next 6-9 months. Is that the goal? No not really. Reaching people for Christ is the goal. The number 250 is just a benchmark as we begin to make inroads into the lives of the unchurched of Cherokee/North Cobb Counties.
Let's dream together, pray together, work together, and look forward together to the great days ahead as God gives us the momentum necessary to do what He is calling us to do!
Sunday Remix 7-27-08
-After last Sunday's technical debacle I was pleased to see the team pulled off a great day! Thanks goes out to the load control team, sound & lighting team, the band, hospitality team, and all our incredible kids workers. Even in the middle of the summer you guys left it all on the court yesterday. Great job.
-When I think about what it takes to be a portable church it blows my mind. It is definitely the extreme sport of ministry. Truth be told if it is about us it's not worth stacking it up week after week. Knowing that we serve because of Christ and to give Him an opportunity to change lives, makes every bit of it worth it all. I thank God for all of you at the Embassy that get that. I appreciate all you do for God and this city.
-I have reeled the length of my teaching time back in following vacation. I really enjoyed speaking about the Judas' in our lives that God uses to release His best in us. If you missed yesterday check out the podcast.
-This week it seemed like everybody was on vacation. I am looking forward to summer being over. Can't wait to have everybody back in the house again. Also looking forward to our finances bumping back up. Summer is always difficult financially. Our July was nearly 40% below budget. That's crazy. So pray, tithe, and if you feel led to give sacrificially it would come at a good time :)
-Had a great time last night with a group of our leaders. The past 9 months have been great as we have seen the leadership base broaden at emc. I'm looking forward to seeing these leaders using their abilities and gifts for God's purposes.
-When I think about what it takes to be a portable church it blows my mind. It is definitely the extreme sport of ministry. Truth be told if it is about us it's not worth stacking it up week after week. Knowing that we serve because of Christ and to give Him an opportunity to change lives, makes every bit of it worth it all. I thank God for all of you at the Embassy that get that. I appreciate all you do for God and this city.
-I have reeled the length of my teaching time back in following vacation. I really enjoyed speaking about the Judas' in our lives that God uses to release His best in us. If you missed yesterday check out the podcast.
-This week it seemed like everybody was on vacation. I am looking forward to summer being over. Can't wait to have everybody back in the house again. Also looking forward to our finances bumping back up. Summer is always difficult financially. Our July was nearly 40% below budget. That's crazy. So pray, tithe, and if you feel led to give sacrificially it would come at a good time :)
-Had a great time last night with a group of our leaders. The past 9 months have been great as we have seen the leadership base broaden at emc. I'm looking forward to seeing these leaders using their abilities and gifts for God's purposes.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Free Tickets
We had given to the Embassy 28 tickets for tomorrow night's Tony Hawk's Boom Boom Huck Jam. 19 have been claimed by echo teens and leaders. There are nine tickets left. 1st come first serve. If interested email: ross@embassymetro.org. We will leave from the Target parking lot on 92 at 5:00pm. If you need to come later that's fine we'll give you the tickets at the event.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Great Staff Meeting
Last night we had a landmark staff meeting. You know a meeting when you look back upon and realize, it was right in that moment everything took a leap forward. Things were set in motion last night that will change embassy metro church forever. Things were set in motion that will move our staff forward into new levels of effectiveness.
Amie, my wife said it so clearly after the meeting. She said that "in spite of a Sunday where everything technically went wrong. And in spite of summer finances (funds get so low in the summer) we are looking ahead and dreaming about what's next and how are we going to get there".
That's what leadership is about. Yes, we will fix what went wrong Sunday. Yes, the finances will improve as family vacations end and people return to their usual schedules (or if some one feels led to give mad money to the cause...ha ha just kidding...sort of) When things get tough you can't stop looking ahead.
God answered the heart of this leader when last night as we looked ahead He brought a lot into focus. Some of the things we discussed won't even come into completion until 2020. That's crazy, but that's what leadership is about. Deal with your current situations, but never stop looking and leading forward. If you do that, it will play into you finding the momentum necessary to get you to the vision God has given you for your life, family, and ministry/business.
Amie, my wife said it so clearly after the meeting. She said that "in spite of a Sunday where everything technically went wrong. And in spite of summer finances (funds get so low in the summer) we are looking ahead and dreaming about what's next and how are we going to get there".
That's what leadership is about. Yes, we will fix what went wrong Sunday. Yes, the finances will improve as family vacations end and people return to their usual schedules (or if some one feels led to give mad money to the cause...ha ha just kidding...sort of) When things get tough you can't stop looking ahead.
God answered the heart of this leader when last night as we looked ahead He brought a lot into focus. Some of the things we discussed won't even come into completion until 2020. That's crazy, but that's what leadership is about. Deal with your current situations, but never stop looking and leading forward. If you do that, it will play into you finding the momentum necessary to get you to the vision God has given you for your life, family, and ministry/business.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Crazy Sunday at the Embassy
Yesterday was quite a wreck, but we didn't allow technical difficulties to derail the essence of the day.
It literally was the weirdest day since we launched. Nothing was working and somehow I missed the memo that the kids were going to be in the service. It wasn't all our kid's team leader's fault. He told me two months ago, but somehow It slipped my mind.
So the day was a little crazy which is frustrating anytime, but when you have a bunch of guests and 2nd timers at the church you hate to have anything go wrong.
Apart from all that went wrong we had a lot that went right. Jared stepped up and led worship acoustic style because the band was not coming through the speakers. Jared rolled with it. I preached the first few minutes with no amplification, but we rolled with it. Our amazing "rock band" intro didn't even get off the ground, but that isn't what the day was all about anyway.
When the day was over God's Word was spoken clearly, and Christ touched us significantly as we sought after Him during worship. Simple....church at it's best. Let's never forget the essence of what we do week to week is more important than the extras.
It literally was the weirdest day since we launched. Nothing was working and somehow I missed the memo that the kids were going to be in the service. It wasn't all our kid's team leader's fault. He told me two months ago, but somehow It slipped my mind.
So the day was a little crazy which is frustrating anytime, but when you have a bunch of guests and 2nd timers at the church you hate to have anything go wrong.
Apart from all that went wrong we had a lot that went right. Jared stepped up and led worship acoustic style because the band was not coming through the speakers. Jared rolled with it. I preached the first few minutes with no amplification, but we rolled with it. Our amazing "rock band" intro didn't even get off the ground, but that isn't what the day was all about anyway.
When the day was over God's Word was spoken clearly, and Christ touched us significantly as we sought after Him during worship. Simple....church at it's best. Let's never forget the essence of what we do week to week is more important than the extras.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Still Learning
This past Sunday I frustrated myself. I hadn't preached at the embassy in 4 weeks so I wanted to bring it and bring it I did. I think I preached two of the finest sermons ever preached in the HISTORY OF MAN.
Ha! No really. Check out the podcast. There is a spot around 24 minutes where I should have said something like..."Next week we'll look at the Disciple Peter"...Let's pray, but Nooo! I rolled into another 23 minute sermon on Peter. Both great sermons but stuck together it lessened the impact of both sermons.
What lesson did I learn. I learned that you need to allow your content to shape the series, not the length of the series shape the content. I knew that I wanted to teach on Peter, Thomas, Judas Iscariot, and Andrew. This means a four week series. I really wanted it to be 4 weeks, but while preparing for last Sunday God really gave me some great stuff to teach on in the intro of the series. I should have preached the first half. Slowed down a little bit and enjoyed covering the material at a slower rate. Then next week cover Peter and what it looks like to embrace the call of a true disciple. Well I didn't want to make the series stretch five weeks so I pushed the intro and Peter together which left a 47 minute sermon that to me felt rushed. I guess I'm still learning :)
Ha! No really. Check out the podcast. There is a spot around 24 minutes where I should have said something like..."Next week we'll look at the Disciple Peter"...Let's pray, but Nooo! I rolled into another 23 minute sermon on Peter. Both great sermons but stuck together it lessened the impact of both sermons.
What lesson did I learn. I learned that you need to allow your content to shape the series, not the length of the series shape the content. I knew that I wanted to teach on Peter, Thomas, Judas Iscariot, and Andrew. This means a four week series. I really wanted it to be 4 weeks, but while preparing for last Sunday God really gave me some great stuff to teach on in the intro of the series. I should have preached the first half. Slowed down a little bit and enjoyed covering the material at a slower rate. Then next week cover Peter and what it looks like to embrace the call of a true disciple. Well I didn't want to make the series stretch five weeks so I pushed the intro and Peter together which left a 47 minute sermon that to me felt rushed. I guess I'm still learning :)
Summer of Rock Intro: Name that Artist
On Sunday I led into our Summer of Rock series with a creative intro. It included a fictional story of a life changed as a person became a disciple of Christ.
Take a look at the next paragraph and see if you can name the artist connected to the songs put your list in a comment. Let's see who is the first to get them all.
I know there is some of you in here…you have been through a Hard Day’s Night…. Felt like you were Free fallin’ you couldn’t get any Respect and you felt like you were about to bite the dust You found yourself saying “I can’t get no Satisfaction. I feel like a Voodoo Child.
"On the outside you were a sharp dressed man, or maybe a beautifulBrown eyed girl but the truth is you were Bad to the Bone.
You knew you needed help you were Dazed and Confused thinking you could find Nirvana trying everything to find peace, but you were on a Highway to Hell then you heard it through the grape vine that there is Stairway to Heaven
His name is Jesus Tell me What I Say…
Some people said you were just Superstitious you were having a breakdown, but others were telling you if you could just get to the Father that… Papa’s Got a Brand new bag.
Some of you might think that Jesus is Just alright with me, but that’s not you. When Jesus got a hold of your life you were like,
"Good Golly Miss Molly" You said, "Jesus showed up and I did a roundabout. And I knew right then that I was going to turn turn turn my life over to Him."
At that moment Jesus sent the Holy Spirit. The Bible symbolizes the Spirit as a dove. And right then this Free Bird came to live on the inside of you and He made you fly like an Eagle.
You got so excited you went and told your friend Laya then you got on a phone and called a neighbor you said, "Hey Jude I use to be Like a Rolling Stone. But now I’m rock solid. I found out that Jesus came for everyday people."
With or without You I’m going to follow Him I’m going to be His disciple. Because every breath you take he gave you. And every breath He gave me so now...I don’t fear the reaper.
I once felt like Alice in Chains all bound up, but now I am Rockin in the Free World. He is doing so much in my life that I want to make a difference in My Generation.
Guys that makes me want to shout.
Take a look at the next paragraph and see if you can name the artist connected to the songs put your list in a comment. Let's see who is the first to get them all.
I know there is some of you in here…you have been through a Hard Day’s Night…. Felt like you were Free fallin’ you couldn’t get any Respect and you felt like you were about to bite the dust You found yourself saying “I can’t get no Satisfaction. I feel like a Voodoo Child.
"On the outside you were a sharp dressed man, or maybe a beautifulBrown eyed girl but the truth is you were Bad to the Bone.
You knew you needed help you were Dazed and Confused thinking you could find Nirvana trying everything to find peace, but you were on a Highway to Hell then you heard it through the grape vine that there is Stairway to Heaven
His name is Jesus Tell me What I Say…
Some people said you were just Superstitious you were having a breakdown, but others were telling you if you could just get to the Father that… Papa’s Got a Brand new bag.
Some of you might think that Jesus is Just alright with me, but that’s not you. When Jesus got a hold of your life you were like,
"Good Golly Miss Molly" You said, "Jesus showed up and I did a roundabout. And I knew right then that I was going to turn turn turn my life over to Him."
At that moment Jesus sent the Holy Spirit. The Bible symbolizes the Spirit as a dove. And right then this Free Bird came to live on the inside of you and He made you fly like an Eagle.
You got so excited you went and told your friend Laya then you got on a phone and called a neighbor you said, "Hey Jude I use to be Like a Rolling Stone. But now I’m rock solid. I found out that Jesus came for everyday people."
With or without You I’m going to follow Him I’m going to be His disciple. Because every breath you take he gave you. And every breath He gave me so now...I don’t fear the reaper.
I once felt like Alice in Chains all bound up, but now I am Rockin in the Free World. He is doing so much in my life that I want to make a difference in My Generation.
Guys that makes me want to shout.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
New series begins this Sunday
Jesus, along with a band of a dozen men rocked the world with their message of love and hope. For the next four weeks let's go back to 30 A.D. to look into the lives of a few of the men Jesus called closest to himself. You will be surprised by their humanity and encouraged by their flaws. Come see for yourself just how similar you are to those Jesus chose to use to change the world.
I can't wait to see the backdrop Jared has been working on and to hear the band bust out a Don Henley song. More importantly I can't wait to preach God's life changing Word to our EMC family and their guests. I am so itchin' to preach. I loved the "One Prayer" series and our vacation, but I am ready to be back in the groove.
Thursday, July 03, 2008
A Thought Regarding Anonymous Comments, Letters, and etc
This week I received another anonymous comment. Below is my follow up comment and a good word to those who choose to live life sending their thoughts under the cloak of anonymity:
Thanks for the comment. I do wish you would have included your name. Anonymity robs any chance of dialogue and at best weakens the arguments of well meaning people. At worse without dialogue all one is left with is diatribe.
Your failure to name yourself may have been an oversight. If not...don't go through life anonymous. Be bold and enter into the world of discussion.
Thanks for the comment. I do wish you would have included your name. Anonymity robs any chance of dialogue and at best weakens the arguments of well meaning people. At worse without dialogue all one is left with is diatribe.
Your failure to name yourself may have been an oversight. If not...don't go through life anonymous. Be bold and enter into the world of discussion.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Homecoming Service in Mansfield
Today was an amazing day as we went back home to preach at Mansfield First Assembly of God. I served as the associate pastor of this church for nearly 11 years. Our pastor, Tom Blair, his staff, and our Mansfield First Church family blew us away as over 1000 people gathered for today's celebration.
It was so much fun preaching to people that many I began preaching to when I was 21 years old. Mansfield First you made us feel so appreciated and so a part of your spiritual history.
You all made the launch of Embassy Metro Church possible and I thank you for that. It has been so great seeing old friends who feel like family this past week. We will always love you. I know Mansfield will always feel like home and our ministry with you will always be remembered fondly, but Woodstock is where God has called me and we have only just begun to see the fruit that will come from our ministry in Georgia.
Amie and I are so blessed to have been a part of Mansfield First Assembly. Mansfield 1st your best days are yet to come!!! We are also blessed to be a part of a great movement that is beginning in Woodstock, GA called Embassy Metro Church. All you EMC-ers, know this...we are just getting started. I can't wait until we together can look back on 10 plus years and be blown away by all God has done in and through us.
I love you all thanks for allowing Amie & I to be a part of two of the greatest churches in the U.S.A.
It was so much fun preaching to people that many I began preaching to when I was 21 years old. Mansfield First you made us feel so appreciated and so a part of your spiritual history.
You all made the launch of Embassy Metro Church possible and I thank you for that. It has been so great seeing old friends who feel like family this past week. We will always love you. I know Mansfield will always feel like home and our ministry with you will always be remembered fondly, but Woodstock is where God has called me and we have only just begun to see the fruit that will come from our ministry in Georgia.
Amie and I are so blessed to have been a part of Mansfield First Assembly. Mansfield 1st your best days are yet to come!!! We are also blessed to be a part of a great movement that is beginning in Woodstock, GA called Embassy Metro Church. All you EMC-ers, know this...we are just getting started. I can't wait until we together can look back on 10 plus years and be blown away by all God has done in and through us.
I love you all thanks for allowing Amie & I to be a part of two of the greatest churches in the U.S.A.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
On Vacation
I am enjoying my time away as we see old friends and hang out with family in Ohio.
I hadn't check out the internet much since being at my folks. So this morning I was doing a little surfing and came across a great story. I think I have lived in the south just long enough to really appreciate this. Check it out as Tim McGraw handles a rowdy fan that had just got stupid with a lady in the front row of Tim's concert. I really think if the guy would have kept it up Tim would have got sideways with him. It's probably wrong to think Tim did a great thing at the concert....but if that's wrong I don't want to be right. Great job Tim standing up for the honor and saftey of one of your female fans!
I hadn't check out the internet much since being at my folks. So this morning I was doing a little surfing and came across a great story. I think I have lived in the south just long enough to really appreciate this. Check it out as Tim McGraw handles a rowdy fan that had just got stupid with a lady in the front row of Tim's concert. I really think if the guy would have kept it up Tim would have got sideways with him. It's probably wrong to think Tim did a great thing at the concert....but if that's wrong I don't want to be right. Great job Tim standing up for the honor and saftey of one of your female fans!
Monday, June 23, 2008
Sunday Remix 6-22-08
-We are well into Summer and attendance was great. Emc-ers continue to invite friends. I loved seeing so many new faces at the Embassy yesterday.
-A waitress that Amie and I invited to church came Sunday and she brought a friend. I love it when people that you have personally invited show up at the embassy!
-Pastor Steven Furtick spoke via video for this Sunday's "One Prayer". He spoke on how God will honor audacious faith. It was amazing the buzz I was hearing from our people. There is an audacity rising in the hearts of emc-ers that I believe will propel us to reach our city.
-On Saturday we did our first "Adopt a Block" as we brought groceries to the Noonday Valley Mobile Home Park. The team did a great job connecting with the amazing people that live in this park. The neighborhood children all loved the face painting and balloons. I know God encouraged the hearts of those we had a chance to pray with. Some of you will feel called to this community I want you to plan on going again next month.
-We decided we would leave a day early for Ohio. So right now I am writing this entry from my sisters living room while the kids are going crazy on the Wii. My 6 year old boy is going wild on the bowling game. He just bowled a 215...best score of the night. He's loving it.
-A waitress that Amie and I invited to church came Sunday and she brought a friend. I love it when people that you have personally invited show up at the embassy!
-Pastor Steven Furtick spoke via video for this Sunday's "One Prayer". He spoke on how God will honor audacious faith. It was amazing the buzz I was hearing from our people. There is an audacity rising in the hearts of emc-ers that I believe will propel us to reach our city.
-On Saturday we did our first "Adopt a Block" as we brought groceries to the Noonday Valley Mobile Home Park. The team did a great job connecting with the amazing people that live in this park. The neighborhood children all loved the face painting and balloons. I know God encouraged the hearts of those we had a chance to pray with. Some of you will feel called to this community I want you to plan on going again next month.
-We decided we would leave a day early for Ohio. So right now I am writing this entry from my sisters living room while the kids are going crazy on the Wii. My 6 year old boy is going wild on the bowling game. He just bowled a 215...best score of the night. He's loving it.
Monday, June 16, 2008
What a day at the Embassy!
-The "Most Dangerous Dad" Tournament went great as Jay Raymond and Daniel Shoemaker went at it in the final. Daniel in front of the big screen with cheers from a bunch of rowdy emc-ers brought the victory and a gift certificate home to momma. Congrats Daniel...valiant try Jay.
-Lately the band has been blowing me away. Yesterday was off the chain for sure. It's been great feeling a sense of excitement and anticipation during our worship experiences.
-Our people loved "Perry Noble" from NewSpring. The boy straight up brought it. It was great seeing God move on the hearts of people during the prayer time following the teaching. I don't think we'll have any problem getting a bunch of emc-ers to Perry's Unleashed Conference next year.
-I was glad our people responded well to the video format of Perry's teaching following live worship. This let's me know as we grow we can begin simulcasting a live video feed of me preaching from the main theater following a live worship experience. Right now we are using three theaters....that leaves us 13 to go!!!
-I'm loving the anticipation I am sensing in our folks. There's this sense that we can become all that God wants us to become as a revolutionary church. I have never been much for predicting numeric growth, but with what God is doing at emc I feel that we are poised to blow up. I know it's summer, but don't wait. Get in, get involved, invite your friends, and get ready to see crazy increase in your life personally and at the embassy.
-Don't forget during "One Prayer" we will meet at the church office for prayer from 6:30-7:30am. Also in June on Tuesdays we are fasting 1-3 meals. So carve out some time to seek God in prayer.
-It's exciting to think about how many book bags we are going to collect along with Revolution Church for "Give a Kid a Chance" during "One Prayer". Start bringing them in next Sunday.
-Lately the band has been blowing me away. Yesterday was off the chain for sure. It's been great feeling a sense of excitement and anticipation during our worship experiences.
-Our people loved "Perry Noble" from NewSpring. The boy straight up brought it. It was great seeing God move on the hearts of people during the prayer time following the teaching. I don't think we'll have any problem getting a bunch of emc-ers to Perry's Unleashed Conference next year.
-I was glad our people responded well to the video format of Perry's teaching following live worship. This let's me know as we grow we can begin simulcasting a live video feed of me preaching from the main theater following a live worship experience. Right now we are using three theaters....that leaves us 13 to go!!!
-I'm loving the anticipation I am sensing in our folks. There's this sense that we can become all that God wants us to become as a revolutionary church. I have never been much for predicting numeric growth, but with what God is doing at emc I feel that we are poised to blow up. I know it's summer, but don't wait. Get in, get involved, invite your friends, and get ready to see crazy increase in your life personally and at the embassy.
-Don't forget during "One Prayer" we will meet at the church office for prayer from 6:30-7:30am. Also in June on Tuesdays we are fasting 1-3 meals. So carve out some time to seek God in prayer.
-It's exciting to think about how many book bags we are going to collect along with Revolution Church for "Give a Kid a Chance" during "One Prayer". Start bringing them in next Sunday.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
"Father Make us Dangerous"
Tomorrow will be the second week of "One Prayer". The title of the teaching is "Father Make us Dangerous". Keeping with that theme we will host the "The Most Dangerous Dad" Wii boxing tournament. It begins @ 9:30 on the plasmas in the cafe'. The finale will at 10:02am in the main theater on the big screen.
You don't want to miss tomorrow. It will be a great day for fathers, but also a great day for The Father...God. The last few weeks God has been showing up and really touching the hearts of those at the embassy. I believe He's going to do some seriously significant stuff in the lives of people tomorrow. Can't wait!
You don't want to miss tomorrow. It will be a great day for fathers, but also a great day for The Father...God. The last few weeks God has been showing up and really touching the hearts of those at the embassy. I believe He's going to do some seriously significant stuff in the lives of people tomorrow. Can't wait!
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Thoughts on the rest of the week
-Tomorrow at 9am a bunch of emc-ers are going camping. We're headed to Lake Conasauga and not coming back until Saturday night. This is going to be a blast!
-Today is my last day in the office this week so I'm going a little crazy tying up all the loose ends for the rest of the week.
-Sunday is going to be a great day at the Embassy. I can't wait for what God is going to do. As our staff met Monday there was a great sense of expectation in what God has planned for this weekend and for the months ahead.
-"One Prayer" launched with a bang last week. This Sunday we continue with a teaching entitled "Father Make us Dangerous". Dad's come early Sunday. Starting at 9:30am a Wii boxing tournament will begin in the foyer. The final match up with the grand prize going to the "Most Dangerous Dad" will take place on the big screen at 10:02 am.
-Sold a couple of items on ebay. Hopefully I'll get a good chunk for my guitar I'm selling this week. With gas prices the way they are everybody's budgets are stressed. So is ours. We decided it was cool if I got a mountain bike so long as it was from money that I got from selling stuff that just sits. So gone is a pair of hockey blades
and a G.I. Joe from 1970 depending on what the guitar goes for I should have enough. Oh back to the gas prices...I have every intention on biking to the church office three days a week. See Amie it's fun and economic...so stop threatening to go all Dave Ramsey on me.
-Today is my last day in the office this week so I'm going a little crazy tying up all the loose ends for the rest of the week.
-Sunday is going to be a great day at the Embassy. I can't wait for what God is going to do. As our staff met Monday there was a great sense of expectation in what God has planned for this weekend and for the months ahead.
-"One Prayer" launched with a bang last week. This Sunday we continue with a teaching entitled "Father Make us Dangerous". Dad's come early Sunday. Starting at 9:30am a Wii boxing tournament will begin in the foyer. The final match up with the grand prize going to the "Most Dangerous Dad" will take place on the big screen at 10:02 am.
-Sold a couple of items on ebay. Hopefully I'll get a good chunk for my guitar I'm selling this week. With gas prices the way they are everybody's budgets are stressed. So is ours. We decided it was cool if I got a mountain bike so long as it was from money that I got from selling stuff that just sits. So gone is a pair of hockey blades
and a G.I. Joe from 1970 depending on what the guitar goes for I should have enough. Oh back to the gas prices...I have every intention on biking to the church office three days a week. See Amie it's fun and economic...so stop threatening to go all Dave Ramsey on me.
Monday, June 09, 2008
Sunday Remix 6-8-08
-The launch of the "One Prayer" Series was powerful. God put the smack down on us. From what I am hearing and the emails I'm getting God did some amazing things in the hearts of our people. It's awesome to see people ready to experience God and God's interests like never before.
-During our one prayer series you can keep track of what others are experiencing around the nation here.
-On Tuesdays during "One Prayer" Embassy Metro Church will be fasting on Tuesdays. Give up 1-3 meals on Tuesday and carve out some time to seek God. Also from 6:30am-7:30am we will be gathering at the church office for prayer. Who said summer's when you put spiritual matters on the back burner. I know God is going to do some amazing things in us and through us this summer!!!
-Gary Lamb did a great job with his video shout out to our people. We are excited to be partnering with Revolution Church to bring a truck load of back packs to Cherokee County's "Give a Kid a Chance" event in July.
-Had a great night with a bunch of our leaders last night. I loved celebrating victories with you and hearing what God is doing through you. Ya'll rock!
-During our one prayer series you can keep track of what others are experiencing around the nation here.
-On Tuesdays during "One Prayer" Embassy Metro Church will be fasting on Tuesdays. Give up 1-3 meals on Tuesday and carve out some time to seek God. Also from 6:30am-7:30am we will be gathering at the church office for prayer. Who said summer's when you put spiritual matters on the back burner. I know God is going to do some amazing things in us and through us this summer!!!
-Gary Lamb did a great job with his video shout out to our people. We are excited to be partnering with Revolution Church to bring a truck load of back packs to Cherokee County's "Give a Kid a Chance" event in July.
-Had a great night with a bunch of our leaders last night. I loved celebrating victories with you and hearing what God is doing through you. Ya'll rock!
Friday, June 06, 2008
Friday Five
-I can't wait for Sunday at approximately 10:30 to show up. I am about to burst with the message God has given me to preach. The "One Prayer" series is going to have a huge impact on us. If you are gone on vacation that's one thing. If you're home during the month of June you don't want to miss a week.
-Gary Lamb and I traded video greetings for our churches this weekend. It's great the two theater churches in Cherokee County are linking arms in making it hard to get to hell from Cherokee County!
-Sunday night I get to spend some time with a bunch of our emc leaders. Lookin' forward to it!
-Tomorrow night we are serving at the concert in the park in downtown Woodstock. The band playing is a chic band from Ireland. There called the Screaming Orphans. Can't wait to hear them do there stuff.
-My wife got 10 inches cut off and she looks smokin'... "come here baby and let me kiss your neck"!!!
-Gary Lamb and I traded video greetings for our churches this weekend. It's great the two theater churches in Cherokee County are linking arms in making it hard to get to hell from Cherokee County!
-Sunday night I get to spend some time with a bunch of our emc leaders. Lookin' forward to it!
-Tomorrow night we are serving at the concert in the park in downtown Woodstock. The band playing is a chic band from Ireland. There called the Screaming Orphans. Can't wait to hear them do there stuff.
-My wife got 10 inches cut off and she looks smokin'... "come here baby and let me kiss your neck"!!!
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Summer is Here
This has been a great week having the kids out of school. We took Aubie and Grant to the mountain bike trails. They had a blast in the skills area. It was awesome watching my kids going over logs, see saws, and jumps. Yeah they fell…they fell a bunch, but they wouldn’t stop until they conquered the obstacles.
Addie didn’t go to the trails. She was with a friend, but at the close of school she had me bursting with pride too.
On the last day of school I went to her awards ceremony. When I walked into the class room I was blown away with how many kids came up to me and said, “Hey Pastor Ross….What’s up Pastor” etc… I had forgotten how many of her classmates and their families are now coming to the embassy. Nearly 25% of her classmates come to emc. It was great seeing these five kid’s and how well they did this year. Great job Nathan, Katie, Jessie, Brittany, & Addie! BTW There teacher, Charlie Delanuez , has to be one of the finest teachers I have ever met. His ability to connect with the kids blows me away. Thanks Charlie for such a great year!
Addie didn’t go to the trails. She was with a friend, but at the close of school she had me bursting with pride too.
On the last day of school I went to her awards ceremony. When I walked into the class room I was blown away with how many kids came up to me and said, “Hey Pastor Ross….What’s up Pastor” etc… I had forgotten how many of her classmates and their families are now coming to the embassy. Nearly 25% of her classmates come to emc. It was great seeing these five kid’s and how well they did this year. Great job Nathan, Katie, Jessie, Brittany, & Addie! BTW There teacher, Charlie Delanuez , has to be one of the finest teachers I have ever met. His ability to connect with the kids blows me away. Thanks Charlie for such a great year!
Monday, June 02, 2008
Sunday Remix June 1, 2008
-Shot a quick video for "One Prayer". The video will be a short shout out to Revolution Church. I'm looking forward to partnering with Gary Lamb and RC during this month's series.
-Worship was awesome today. The band rocked, but that wasn't it. God showed up in a powerful way. I love it when you can sense God is present dealing with the hearts that are lifted towards him.
-Finished out our two week series "Checkmate." This was a series dedicated to our singles. To be honest it was two of the most difficult teachings I have done. I just felt like I was missing it. I think it's just been so long since I was single. After listening to the podcast I felt better. It's wierd how crappy you can feel when teaching, but that not be known by those hearing the teaching. 9 times out of 10 when I feel like that, that's when the teaching was awesome. To be honest, I think it has something to do with spiritual warfare.
-Attendance was decent for the first Sunday of June.
-A bunch of 20 somethings had a BBQ at Jared and Charla's. I love all the young people at EMC and I love being your pastor.
-Worship was awesome today. The band rocked, but that wasn't it. God showed up in a powerful way. I love it when you can sense God is present dealing with the hearts that are lifted towards him.
-Finished out our two week series "Checkmate." This was a series dedicated to our singles. To be honest it was two of the most difficult teachings I have done. I just felt like I was missing it. I think it's just been so long since I was single. After listening to the podcast I felt better. It's wierd how crappy you can feel when teaching, but that not be known by those hearing the teaching. 9 times out of 10 when I feel like that, that's when the teaching was awesome. To be honest, I think it has something to do with spiritual warfare.
-Attendance was decent for the first Sunday of June.
-A bunch of 20 somethings had a BBQ at Jared and Charla's. I love all the young people at EMC and I love being your pastor.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Family Night Friday
Getting ready to leave to go see Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. My kids have been bugging me since opening night.
An Amazing Act of Kingdom Mindedness
A friend of mine at a local church relaized how much stuff they had just sitting in storage. He sent out the invite to come see if we could use anything. It was amazing how many things we recently said we needed were in that storage unit.
Brantley has a lot of ideas that will take our "Kid's Live" environment to the next level. Many of the things needed were in that storage unit.
Some things we needed for the office...were in that storage unit. Other things for our main auditorium and cafe...were in that storage unit.
What an amazing act of kingdom mindedness as one local church blessed another local church with so much. That's what it's all about. We are on the same team with the same coach. It's awesome when the church acts like that. During our "One Prayer" series we will be embracing this truth even more. I can't wait!
Brantley has a lot of ideas that will take our "Kid's Live" environment to the next level. Many of the things needed were in that storage unit.
Some things we needed for the office...were in that storage unit. Other things for our main auditorium and cafe...were in that storage unit.
What an amazing act of kingdom mindedness as one local church blessed another local church with so much. That's what it's all about. We are on the same team with the same coach. It's awesome when the church acts like that. During our "One Prayer" series we will be embracing this truth even more. I can't wait!
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Great Memorial Day Weekend
-Trailer hitch lost the cotter pin and the hitch fell out of the receiver. This all happened 40 yards from the front of the theater.
-The Load Control Team was amazing. We lost 20 minutes because of the trailer fiasco, but we still started church on time. Great job team!
-Worship rocked Sunday. God definitely visited the hearts of those gathered.
-I preached to our singles today. I felt a little out of my element realizing that I've been married 14 years and "off the market" for 17. I think I was still able to relate God's word to the teaching target audience, but I never got feeling comfortable in the course of the teaching.
-Early Sunday evening I got to get coffee with a man who "gets it". He has risen the corporate ladder, and is in demand within his industry. What was so refreshing about him was what caused his eyes to gleam over with excitement. It wasn't his business that takes him all over the world, but rather the joy that he has to see his family grow in God. Also it was his passion to see new communities of faith reaching those far from God.
-On Monday we had mass amounts of meat and cold pasta salads...Nuff said.
-It was great having a bunch of friends over yesterday. The kids had a blast and no one went to the hospital...Nuff said.
-The Load Control Team was amazing. We lost 20 minutes because of the trailer fiasco, but we still started church on time. Great job team!
-Worship rocked Sunday. God definitely visited the hearts of those gathered.
-I preached to our singles today. I felt a little out of my element realizing that I've been married 14 years and "off the market" for 17. I think I was still able to relate God's word to the teaching target audience, but I never got feeling comfortable in the course of the teaching.
-Early Sunday evening I got to get coffee with a man who "gets it". He has risen the corporate ladder, and is in demand within his industry. What was so refreshing about him was what caused his eyes to gleam over with excitement. It wasn't his business that takes him all over the world, but rather the joy that he has to see his family grow in God. Also it was his passion to see new communities of faith reaching those far from God.
-On Monday we had mass amounts of meat and cold pasta salads...Nuff said.
-It was great having a bunch of friends over yesterday. The kids had a blast and no one went to the hospital...Nuff said.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Tornado in Cherokee County
Yesterday I was at the Serene Bean having a meeting with someone when the Tornado Alarm went off. We looked outside and it was a bright and beautiful early Georgia evening. It didn't take long for all that to change. Soon inch round hail began to fall and the winds began to blow. We made our way to the back room to talk and avoid the possible imploding glass front of the cafe'.
There was a college student who was freaking out. She said she was from Seattle and wondered how we would know if a tornado was close. I told her the "it will sound like a train" line and she said, "OK". It wasn't 3 minutes later and the sound of a train filled the Coffee shop. The young lady dove under the table and prepared for the worst. The funny thing....who would have thought right at that moment a train would come down the tracks that run directly beside the Serene Bean. The train whistled and assured us that it was not the tornado. I tried not to laugh to hard at what fate had dealt the student. On the way home, after the tornado had hit just a couple miles from us, I had a good laugh at the timing of it all. Poor girl she'll be happy to get back to Seattle where she has to face the rain, but the roar of the "train" rarely comes.
If anyone needs post storm help just email me and we'll see what we can do.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Get Ready for our June Series
In the month of June Embassy Metro Church will join over 800 churches and 500,000 people in the nation for a series called "One Prayer".
Each pastor will begin the four week series with the statement: "Father make us..." at the end of those three words the pastor will put in his hearts cry for the church. Some of the pastors that have joined this campaign are:
LifeChurch.tv (Craig Groeschel)will teach "Make Us One."
Healing Place Church Dinno Rizzo will teach "Make Us Generous."
Fellowship Church (Ed Young) will teach "Make Us Creative."
NewSpring Church (Perry Noble) will teach "Make Us Dangerous."
Free Chapel (Jentezen Franklin) will teach "Make Us Passionate."
We will have the opportunity to hear from some of the greatest communicators in our nation.
I can't wait to unleash my prayer on June 8th for our church and the church at large. Don't miss June 8th for anything! I am so excited about this series. God is going to use it to stir our hearts like never before for what stirs His heart.
Great Conference Opportunity in Woodstock, GA
We have the opportunity to be a part of a great one day conference called The White Board Sessions, right here in Woodstock, Ga this Thursday May 22nd. Ok, actually the conference is in Reston, VA. Through a new format the conference will be offered through the ConferenceChannel online.
If you would like to experience this great one day event with us we will be hosting the online event at our Embassy Metro Church office in Woodstock. I'll post more about this later. If you are interested in coming, learning from eight great speakers and having a great day in Woodstock, GA leave a comment or email me at: ross@embassymetro.org
What a great way for some of us to get to know each other and experience what promises to be an incredible line up of speakers.
What a Difference a Week Makes
Last Sunday was so frustrating. It was Mother's Day and we started church 26 minutes late. The latest we have ever started church.
This is not acceptable so this week Jared worked diligently to remedy the situation. Great job Jared! On Tuesday he made a mind map of what is causing us to consistently start late since Easter Sunday. His mind mapping ran everywhere and was a great tool to discover our main problems. Jared set out to work on those problems and this week we saw the fruit of his hard work.
Load out was done in 35 minutes.By the one hour mark there was sound and video in the foyer. Also by the one hour mark I was hearing sound in the main theater. I sound checked my mike at the 65th minute and the band was doing sound checks by the 75th minute mark. The Cafe and kid's areas were ready by the 85th minute. We had a team prayer and were then ready to receive people an hour and a half after we pulled the trailer in front of the theater.
Great job isolating our problems Jared, and great job team for your star performance in getting the place ready for God to touch lives!!! You all are a bunch of freaks and I love you!!!
BTW: this is my 300th blog since I started blogging in April of 2005
This is not acceptable so this week Jared worked diligently to remedy the situation. Great job Jared! On Tuesday he made a mind map of what is causing us to consistently start late since Easter Sunday. His mind mapping ran everywhere and was a great tool to discover our main problems. Jared set out to work on those problems and this week we saw the fruit of his hard work.
Load out was done in 35 minutes.By the one hour mark there was sound and video in the foyer. Also by the one hour mark I was hearing sound in the main theater. I sound checked my mike at the 65th minute and the band was doing sound checks by the 75th minute mark. The Cafe and kid's areas were ready by the 85th minute. We had a team prayer and were then ready to receive people an hour and a half after we pulled the trailer in front of the theater.
Great job isolating our problems Jared, and great job team for your star performance in getting the place ready for God to touch lives!!! You all are a bunch of freaks and I love you!!!
BTW: this is my 300th blog since I started blogging in April of 2005
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Great Lunch Today
I went to Canyon's today for lunch. I met with andy Jones, the student pastor of Watermarke Church (a Northpoint strategic partner). Andy was one of the competitors that Jared and I ran against in the D-fat pastor's weight loss challenge.
We met so that he could pay up his team's $100.00. Actually we met because we have been trying to hook up for some time. Andy is the real deal. His love for God and for people was evident with every sentence that came out of his mouth. I look forward to having Andy as a friend and to seeing all that God desires to do through this humble, but powerful servant of God.
Next time Andy let's hit the trails for a little mountain biking. Maybe I'll give you a chance to win back your money :)
We met so that he could pay up his team's $100.00. Actually we met because we have been trying to hook up for some time. Andy is the real deal. His love for God and for people was evident with every sentence that came out of his mouth. I look forward to having Andy as a friend and to seeing all that God desires to do through this humble, but powerful servant of God.
Next time Andy let's hit the trails for a little mountain biking. Maybe I'll give you a chance to win back your money :)
First Time on a Mountain Bike
Yesterday I got the call from Mitch asking if I wanted to go try out mountain biking. After work we headed over to Blanket's Creek Trail System. On a borrowed bike I hit the trail and loved every minute of it.I felt good out there and realized that my cardio regime has me in pretty good shape. We did about 7 miles. After wards I went to my Journey Group. I told Mitch when we finished that I feel like such a schlepp. To have a place like that, as close as that, and I got as fat as that...that's ridiculous. I'm so glad I have gotten back into shape. I can't wait to get my own bike and start hitting the trail frequently.
Mountain biking felt a lot like dirt biking...just slower. There was some things I liked better. Without a full helmet you get a better view of nature. You have less clothes on so you're not as hot. You can hear the person your with talking. NO GAS TO BUY!
I think if I get a bike I'll just ride it the three miles to the office and save on gas money plus get my cardio all in at the same time. Can't wait for my next trip out.
Monday, May 12, 2008
God Answer's Prayer Fast
This morning I was on my way to Macon to speak with three GA church planters. On the way there I was praying and God began to place in my heart a desire. This is not a new desire. It's a desire that was birthed in my heart and acted upon in Ohio in various ways. When we first came to Woodstock, from an outsiders point of view, there didn't seem to be a lot of need for food distribution or ministry to the impoverished. In the past two years as I have driven every street around our community praying I have seen areas of great need. With the economy the way it is many of our city's residents have found themselves to be "stuff" poor. This is when you have great vehicles and nice homes, but not enough to keep up with rising gas and food prices. Many budgets are being stretched to the limit.
OK let me get back to this morning. As I prayed a renewed desire surfaced to do something for those in need. I was talking to the Lord about getting our hands on some food or clothing...anything we could mass distribute. Just something we could give as a way of showing the love of Jesus to our community. I even called Jared to tell him about what I was thinking. I told him a potential name and domain name we could use to put more focus on Jesus than anyone church's benevolence (I'll let you in on the name and webpage soon)
Tonight I got a call from someone who said they have 20 tons of food and would like to give us a trailer full to distribute however we please. I don't even know what that much food looks like. I'm going to check it out in the morning. All I can say is that God answers prayer fast! Too Cool!
If you are interested in helping to get things ready for distribution just let us know.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Sunday Remix 5-11-08
-I can't just post when things are going great. The thought that we will never have rough Sundays is appealing, but not realistic.
-Today we had a tough dose of realism.
-I don't think we have ever started a service later. Do to some technical difficulties we started 26 minutes late. To be honest, that just threw the whole thing off for me.
-We had a gas leak outside the theater that threatened to evacuate the building. I kind of wish I would have pulled the plug after service still hadn't started in 25 minutes .
-OK I'm glad I didn't pull the plug because even though the morning craziness had me worked up to the point I didn't enjoy preaching, Amie said the teaching was great and that this current series is really speaking to her. When your wife tells you that she loves that you are her pastor as well as her husband, that's cool.
-Amie has been an amazing friend, wife, mother, and co-laborer in the vision God gave us. I love you baby girl...Happy Mother's Day!
-I know it's Mother's Day and our attendance always drops, but seriously we had close to 100 people gone. Dude that messes with your head a little.
-To end on a positive note...I love the way the volunteers at emc have all stepped up. You blow me away with your faithfulness. Great job!
-Today we had a tough dose of realism.
-I don't think we have ever started a service later. Do to some technical difficulties we started 26 minutes late. To be honest, that just threw the whole thing off for me.
-We had a gas leak outside the theater that threatened to evacuate the building. I kind of wish I would have pulled the plug after service still hadn't started in 25 minutes .
-OK I'm glad I didn't pull the plug because even though the morning craziness had me worked up to the point I didn't enjoy preaching, Amie said the teaching was great and that this current series is really speaking to her. When your wife tells you that she loves that you are her pastor as well as her husband, that's cool.
-Amie has been an amazing friend, wife, mother, and co-laborer in the vision God gave us. I love you baby girl...Happy Mother's Day!
-I know it's Mother's Day and our attendance always drops, but seriously we had close to 100 people gone. Dude that messes with your head a little.
-To end on a positive note...I love the way the volunteers at emc have all stepped up. You blow me away with your faithfulness. Great job!
Saturday, May 10, 2008
EMC Men's Night tonight 5-9pm
In a few hours guys will be making their way to my house. We will be grilling whatever stuff you bring. We have some hot oil to fry whatever you think needs fryin'. There's food, fishing, guitars, and yes poker. So the night should hold a lot in the way of good healthy competition.If somehow you missed out on getting an invite. It's not too late. Show up with some meat for the grill and a 2 liter of coke. Bring your fishing gear. If you play guitar, bring it too.
See ya'll at 5pm! BTW no offense ladies, but tomorrow is your day. Tonight the only ladies invited are in the picture above. Guys you better remember to go crazy for your wives and mothers tomorrow.
Friday, May 09, 2008
"One Prayer" Video
Jared and I went over to hang out at Gary's place. The video shoot they did for "One Prayer" came off great. Man it was hot up in there! Gary did great. He didn't even start sweating until the last few minutes.
The only thing he needed to make the video taping a true Christian Broadcasting experience was a bad suit and some miracle oil. OK that was just wrong. God forgive me and bless all the children in Africa. Amen.
The only thing he needed to make the video taping a true Christian Broadcasting experience was a bad suit and some miracle oil. OK that was just wrong. God forgive me and bless all the children in Africa. Amen.
Monday, May 05, 2008
The River of Grace
One thing I have found to be true is that experiencing God's grace is awesome. It's like a river that refreshes you and carries you away from the place of your sin. We all love to by the recipients of grace and for many of us we come to expect it from God. This doesn't mean we should take it for granted, but we should appreciate the gift of grace extended to us because of Jesus.
Now think about this...we come to expect His grace to flow freely to us, but when someone is in need of grace how are we at allowing grace to flow through us. Oh yeah...We're all about God's forgiveness for the junk we do,but what happens when someone says a cross word to you. Maybe a co-worker got a promotion above you, or one specific person drives you flippen' mad with their idiosyncrasies. How are you about allowing God's grace to flow through you.
A few years ago I was speaking to someone who over a period of three years had grown physically sick, emotionally crippled, and spiritually dead. As we talked we discovered that she held titanic amounts of bitterness towards a few family members. In my mind I pictured a river that was flowing to her, but when it got to her the waters piled up on themselves until they became a dammed up pool. This pool grew stagnant and nasty. It was devoid of life.
I told her that I believe God was giving us a picture of her life. Although the river of God's grace was flowing to her she refused to extend that to those in her life that she held resentment toward. Can you earn God's grace no, but the effects of God's grace on our lives can be diminished if we hold back from extending His grace to others. The Bible even says that "He forgives our trespasses (wrong doings) as we forgive those who trespass against us".
So check yourself before you wreck yourself. If you feel as if things in life are unhealthy, growing stagnant, and on the verge of dying you may be damming up the river of God's grace in your life.
His grace can't flow to you if you won't let it flow through you! Ride the river baby!
Now think about this...we come to expect His grace to flow freely to us, but when someone is in need of grace how are we at allowing grace to flow through us. Oh yeah...We're all about God's forgiveness for the junk we do,but what happens when someone says a cross word to you. Maybe a co-worker got a promotion above you, or one specific person drives you flippen' mad with their idiosyncrasies. How are you about allowing God's grace to flow through you.
A few years ago I was speaking to someone who over a period of three years had grown physically sick, emotionally crippled, and spiritually dead. As we talked we discovered that she held titanic amounts of bitterness towards a few family members. In my mind I pictured a river that was flowing to her, but when it got to her the waters piled up on themselves until they became a dammed up pool. This pool grew stagnant and nasty. It was devoid of life.
I told her that I believe God was giving us a picture of her life. Although the river of God's grace was flowing to her she refused to extend that to those in her life that she held resentment toward. Can you earn God's grace no, but the effects of God's grace on our lives can be diminished if we hold back from extending His grace to others. The Bible even says that "He forgives our trespasses (wrong doings) as we forgive those who trespass against us".
So check yourself before you wreck yourself. If you feel as if things in life are unhealthy, growing stagnant, and on the verge of dying you may be damming up the river of God's grace in your life.
His grace can't flow to you if you won't let it flow through you! Ride the river baby!
Sunday, May 04, 2008
I Need A New Activity
Most of you know that I use to dirt bike. I sold my bike last year, and I miss the woods terribly. Now that I have gotten back in decent physical shape the woods are calling me.
I don't plan to get back into dirt biking right now because it's not cheap, and my insurance package isn't that great. I still need a fix so I would love to try out Mountain Biking. I have never done this, but I think it would satisfy my craving for the woods and running dirt.
Here's the thing...I don't want to throw down cash for a bike that just might sit in the garage. I would like to try the whole mountain bike thing first before I buy a bike. If anybody has sometime and an extra bike I would love to go check out Blankets Creek trails in Woodstock. We can take it easy so I don't break your bike in half. I just want to see if it's something I would like or should I wait a few more years until Grant and I can get a couple of dirt bikes.
OK shoot me an email if you would want to show your pastor/friend the joy of riding.
Friday, May 02, 2008
D-fat Competition is Officially Over
Team EMC has been officially declared the winners! Thanks Jared for going all out. Thanks Debbie for kickin' our butts. Thanks Amie and Charla (the wives) for buying and cooking so healthy. Thanks d-fat competitors for sending your money to: P.O. Box 2086 Woodstock, GA 30188. I promise we won't gloat...ok maybe a little.
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Family Life Series
I am really looking forward to this Sunday's teaching. we will be looking at the subject of "discipline" in the home. Everyone of us at times wants to pull our hair out. The kids can bring your greatest joys and deepest frustrations. This Sunday is going to be full of great principles that will help us all be better parents.
If you have a friend who has kids you need to invite them to come with you this Sunday to the Embassy. I promise you they will thank you for asking them to come.
The D-fat Pastor's Weigh down is Over!
10 weeks ago 7 pastor's and their associates stanced off to compete against each other in an epic battle of the bulge. Although it is not official yet, rumor has it from our mediator, this guy, that Team Embassy will be crowned the champions. I'll let you know when it's official.
Most of you know there was a friendly little wager attached to this. Jared and I will be getting $600 to split once everything is official. I need the cash bad. Frankly I don't have any clothes that fit.
Here's the stats on our past ten weeks. Way to roll Jared! Thanks guys (Gary, J.R., Andy, Mark, Michael, and Zach) for the extra motivation we all needed to become much healthier leaders.
I think the next challenge should be an ulimate fight...royal rumble style. "OOO yeah...whatcha going to do when Rossamania runs wild on you?!"
Starting weight: Ross 240
2-22-08 Jared 234
Total 474
Week 1 weight: Ross 234 (-6)
2-29-08 Jared 224.5 (-9.5)
Total 458.5 (-15.5)
Week 2 weight: Ross 226 (-8)
3-7-08 Jared 224 (-.5)
Total 450 (-8.5)
Week 3 weight: No Weigh-ins the Tornadoes took of with the scales
Week 4 weight: Ross 221 (-5)
3-21-08 Jared 216 (-8)
Total 437 (-13)
Week 5 weight: Ross 218 (-3)
Jared 216 (-0)
Total 434 (-3)
Week 6 weight: Ross 218 (-0)
Jared 212 (-4)
Total 430 (-4)
Week 7 weight: Ross 218 (-0)
Jared 208 (-4)
Total 426 (-4)
Week 8 weight: Ross 217 (-1)
Jared 205 (-3)
Total 422 (-4)
Week 9 weight: Ross 213 (-4)
Jared 203 (-2)
Total 416 (-6)
Week 10 weight: Ross 211 (-2) Total -29
5-1-08 Jared 201 (-2) Total -33
Total 412 (-4)
Ross total weight loss: -29
Jared total weight loss: -33
Team Embassy Total loss: 62 pounds
Starting weight: 474
Final weight: 412
Most of you know there was a friendly little wager attached to this. Jared and I will be getting $600 to split once everything is official. I need the cash bad. Frankly I don't have any clothes that fit.
Here's the stats on our past ten weeks. Way to roll Jared! Thanks guys (Gary, J.R., Andy, Mark, Michael, and Zach) for the extra motivation we all needed to become much healthier leaders.
I think the next challenge should be an ulimate fight...royal rumble style. "OOO yeah...whatcha going to do when Rossamania runs wild on you?!"
Starting weight: Ross 240
2-22-08 Jared 234
Total 474
Week 1 weight: Ross 234 (-6)
2-29-08 Jared 224.5 (-9.5)
Total 458.5 (-15.5)
Week 2 weight: Ross 226 (-8)
3-7-08 Jared 224 (-.5)
Total 450 (-8.5)
Week 3 weight: No Weigh-ins the Tornadoes took of with the scales
Week 4 weight: Ross 221 (-5)
3-21-08 Jared 216 (-8)
Total 437 (-13)
Week 5 weight: Ross 218 (-3)
Jared 216 (-0)
Total 434 (-3)
Week 6 weight: Ross 218 (-0)
Jared 212 (-4)
Total 430 (-4)
Week 7 weight: Ross 218 (-0)
Jared 208 (-4)
Total 426 (-4)
Week 8 weight: Ross 217 (-1)
Jared 205 (-3)
Total 422 (-4)
Week 9 weight: Ross 213 (-4)
Jared 203 (-2)
Total 416 (-6)
Week 10 weight: Ross 211 (-2) Total -29
5-1-08 Jared 201 (-2) Total -33
Total 412 (-4)
Ross total weight loss: -29
Jared total weight loss: -33
Team Embassy Total loss: 62 pounds
Starting weight: 474
Final weight: 412
Monday, April 28, 2008
I Love the Embassy!
-Hey emc-ers today Jared is in the office working on the weekend's podcast. I keep hearing you all laugh and whoop, and respond to things said and done. I love it that you guys are a vocal bunch.
-Bill from the Bean was up and heard it. He said and I quote "man our church has a great laugh"
-He is right. Y'all have a great laugh and I love it. I know it thrills God's heart to hear His people having a great time on Sunday morning.
-Bill from the Bean was up and heard it. He said and I quote "man our church has a great laugh"
-He is right. Y'all have a great laugh and I love it. I know it thrills God's heart to hear His people having a great time on Sunday morning.
De-tox finally over
No your pastor wasn't in rehab. For the past 10 days I have been doing a de-tox recommended by my trainer/R.N. Yesterday was the 10th and final day. It was tough to preach because my cotton mouth was as thick as lamb's wool. A couple times I about choked on my own tongue. It's been a long time since I had to drink that much water while speaking.
Well, after ten days of a serious liquid regimen I am looking forward to solid foods. That won't happen until tomorrow though, as I ease myself out of the regimen.
Tomorrow will be O.J. and Vegi soup. The next day more of the same plus salads. Finally Thursday I'll be ready to Wok and Roll baby. Digestive track cleaned out and feeling good.
It's funny how everybody wanted to know my "diet" this weekend. I can understand. I did drop a lot during the ten days of the de-tox, but that wasn't the purpose of it. I had already lost 50 pounds from October to before I did the de-tox. The de-tox cleans you out, but being that it's all liquid you end up losing also.
If you want to know how I lost the weight then look back from this past Fall to before the de-tox. I was at the gym 5 days a week. I ate 6 times a day combinations of good lean protein, healthy carbohydrates, and fibrous vegetables.That's how I lost the weight. Not some 10 day fad diet.
I hope y'all get the point of this. I want you to be healthy. Health doesn't come in a can, nor does it come over night. You can do this! Get moving. Get eating healthy, and Watch over time your body will respond.
OK I'm your pastor not a health guru so that's all I have to say about that. I will say that in life rarely anything that is sustainable happens overnight. If you want to see changes in any area of your life you have to get intentional. Be intentional about applying your resources to the vision you have and watch it begin to take shape!
Well, after ten days of a serious liquid regimen I am looking forward to solid foods. That won't happen until tomorrow though, as I ease myself out of the regimen.
Tomorrow will be O.J. and Vegi soup. The next day more of the same plus salads. Finally Thursday I'll be ready to Wok and Roll baby. Digestive track cleaned out and feeling good.
It's funny how everybody wanted to know my "diet" this weekend. I can understand. I did drop a lot during the ten days of the de-tox, but that wasn't the purpose of it. I had already lost 50 pounds from October to before I did the de-tox. The de-tox cleans you out, but being that it's all liquid you end up losing also.
If you want to know how I lost the weight then look back from this past Fall to before the de-tox. I was at the gym 5 days a week. I ate 6 times a day combinations of good lean protein, healthy carbohydrates, and fibrous vegetables.That's how I lost the weight. Not some 10 day fad diet.
I hope y'all get the point of this. I want you to be healthy. Health doesn't come in a can, nor does it come over night. You can do this! Get moving. Get eating healthy, and Watch over time your body will respond.
OK I'm your pastor not a health guru so that's all I have to say about that. I will say that in life rarely anything that is sustainable happens overnight. If you want to see changes in any area of your life you have to get intentional. Be intentional about applying your resources to the vision you have and watch it begin to take shape!
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Baptism Videos are on You Tube
-Pastor Jared has all the baptism videos up so you can tell your friends and family to check out what God has done in your life.
-Click here for the videos.
-This Sunday those who were baptized will be given a DVD of the event.
-Great job Jared!
-Click here for the videos.
-This Sunday those who were baptized will be given a DVD of the event.
-Great job Jared!
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Loving the Office
-You can't know how awesome it is to have an office outside of the house. I can already tell that I am being able to shut things off a little and I'm finding more balance in my schedule.
-The vibe of the office is making it a very good place to chill and be creative. Definitely diggin' it.
-Today is cool because Brantley's up making a couple of crazy videos for "Kid's Live". He even got Jared to dance for a video. That's hilarious. I'm loving what Brantley and Hannah are doing in Kid's Church. Parents be sure to give them props at every chance.
-I want to try and make Wednesdays for me sacred at the office. No appointments or projects, just a day for prayer, study, hearing from God and prep for teaching. If emc-ers would help me out on this one I'd greatly appreciate it. You want me hearing from God. You want me having something fresh from His heart. So try and help me protect that day. Thanks!
-The vibe of the office is making it a very good place to chill and be creative. Definitely diggin' it.
-Today is cool because Brantley's up making a couple of crazy videos for "Kid's Live". He even got Jared to dance for a video. That's hilarious. I'm loving what Brantley and Hannah are doing in Kid's Church. Parents be sure to give them props at every chance.
-I want to try and make Wednesdays for me sacred at the office. No appointments or projects, just a day for prayer, study, hearing from God and prep for teaching. If emc-ers would help me out on this one I'd greatly appreciate it. You want me hearing from God. You want me having something fresh from His heart. So try and help me protect that day. Thanks!
Monday, April 21, 2008
Sunday Remix; 4-20-08
-Awesome day at the embassy.
-Record setting attendance again. We had a lot of guests and we look forward to them being back next week.
-We baptized 9 people Sunday. Their stories were amazing. I'm so proud of those who took that step to publicly profess Christ.
-I am also proud of all of you who give of your time, abilities, and finances. Sunday should have made you proud. God is truly using you to impact lives in significant and eternal ways.
-Special thanks to some freaks of the week. This week we did set up at midnight. This allowed the sound/tech guys and the band to work all through the night. They were able to dial in our new digital mixing system. Those who stayed up to help. Thanks! I am so glad that emc-ers are freaks about the vision God has all of us accomplishing. Great Job! Now go take a nap.
-Enjoyed being at the dinner with all of you after the baptism. Man the fried chicken and buttered corn looked insane. I'm glad you enjoyed it because I'm doing a 10 day detox/cleanse and couldn';t touch the stuff. I guess I'm becoming a health freak. HA!
-Looking forward to the start of next week's family life series.
-Record setting attendance again. We had a lot of guests and we look forward to them being back next week.
-We baptized 9 people Sunday. Their stories were amazing. I'm so proud of those who took that step to publicly profess Christ.
-I am also proud of all of you who give of your time, abilities, and finances. Sunday should have made you proud. God is truly using you to impact lives in significant and eternal ways.
-Special thanks to some freaks of the week. This week we did set up at midnight. This allowed the sound/tech guys and the band to work all through the night. They were able to dial in our new digital mixing system. Those who stayed up to help. Thanks! I am so glad that emc-ers are freaks about the vision God has all of us accomplishing. Great Job! Now go take a nap.
-Enjoyed being at the dinner with all of you after the baptism. Man the fried chicken and buttered corn looked insane. I'm glad you enjoyed it because I'm doing a 10 day detox/cleanse and couldn';t touch the stuff. I guess I'm becoming a health freak. HA!
-Looking forward to the start of next week's family life series.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Random Monday Thoughts
-Loving our church offices.
-Digital sound was better this week, but still needs tweaked. Saturday night the team will be setting up after the last showing. The band and tech team will then tweak the system out until it's tight and right.
-My allergies have been crazy the past two afternoons.
-Looking forward to the baptisms at the theater this weekend. This will be the first time we have done them as part of the service. The tank rocks and yes it has a heater.
-Glad the Life Bytes series is over. Loved the first three weeks...kind of struggled yesterday.
-My personal times with God lately have been so rewarding. Oh, He's always on, but sometimes I go through periods where I'm just not listening so good.
-Looking forward to the next couple of months at the embassy. We're kicking off a Family Life series. Then a two week mini series for singles. In June we will be hooking up with pastors from around the country as we go into our "One Prayer" Series.
-During "One Prayer" we will be doing a community project/event with the other theater church in Cherokee County. My friend Gary Lamb and Revolution Church have been getting it done in north Cherokee County. It will be an awesome thing to connect with these guys as we both have a passion and no-excuse approach to reaching the unchurched of Cherokee County.
-Paying Taxes Suck!
-I have an idea that would stir up some serious spiritual discussion in and around Woodstock. I would love to have someone financially sponsor a billboard for August/September and the production of a website geared to provide a discussion/resource board for the stuff we stir up. The series promoted would begin in September. If you have a few thousand and want to risk it to impact lives in Woodstock GA shoot me an e-mail.
-Digital sound was better this week, but still needs tweaked. Saturday night the team will be setting up after the last showing. The band and tech team will then tweak the system out until it's tight and right.
-My allergies have been crazy the past two afternoons.
-Looking forward to the baptisms at the theater this weekend. This will be the first time we have done them as part of the service. The tank rocks and yes it has a heater.
-Glad the Life Bytes series is over. Loved the first three weeks...kind of struggled yesterday.
-My personal times with God lately have been so rewarding. Oh, He's always on, but sometimes I go through periods where I'm just not listening so good.
-Looking forward to the next couple of months at the embassy. We're kicking off a Family Life series. Then a two week mini series for singles. In June we will be hooking up with pastors from around the country as we go into our "One Prayer" Series.
-During "One Prayer" we will be doing a community project/event with the other theater church in Cherokee County. My friend Gary Lamb and Revolution Church have been getting it done in north Cherokee County. It will be an awesome thing to connect with these guys as we both have a passion and no-excuse approach to reaching the unchurched of Cherokee County.
-Paying Taxes Suck!
-I have an idea that would stir up some serious spiritual discussion in and around Woodstock. I would love to have someone financially sponsor a billboard for August/September and the production of a website geared to provide a discussion/resource board for the stuff we stir up. The series promoted would begin in September. If you have a few thousand and want to risk it to impact lives in Woodstock GA shoot me an e-mail.
Monday, April 07, 2008
Sunday Remix 4-06-08
-EMC went digital today. If you didn't notice all the sound was being mixed and processed through a computer today. It will take a few weeks to work out the kinks (like what the heck was going on with the bass and subwoofers) but it will give us a consistency with our sound that we have never had. We will be offering training by a profesional to all our sound guys and any one wanting to be a part of of the sound team. Jared will have dates for the training soon.
-The third week in the Life Bytes series was powerful as we asked God to "defrag" our operating systems. As I preached I could just see people dealing with God and the broken things in their lives. People were given paint sticks to write on the things in their lives that they felt were broken files messing up their lives. Some of these things are because of poor choices. Others are the result of other peoples actions towards you. Either way we need to defrag and allow God to deal with the broken files that keep breaking our lives.
-At the end of the service we had everyone on the count of three break the paint stick. This was to symbolize that we are choosing to allow God to deal with the broken files in our lives. Dude the sound was incredible, powerful, and to be honest made me want to shout. To know that we were giving our stuff to God to deal with, and to know that He will, make me amped because over the next few months we will begin to hear the stories of life change that will result because of that one service. I loved the pile that the sticks made as people came and threw them on the stage. They did that because there's no use in carrying that stuff around. In Christ we are forgiven. In Christ we are secure. In Christ we are FREE!
-For it being spring break our attendance was great.
-We have had a bunch of guests the past few weeks. I look forward to getting to know you, to seeing God work in your life and family, and to seeing you find your part as we serve together to impact Woodstock!
-I was looking at our growth and in just 13 weeks we are averaging 20% more in attedance than our year average for 2007. Wow! Everyone that works so hard to make emc what it is. Thanks!
-I'm out of the digital world until Thursday. Talk at ya'll then.
-The third week in the Life Bytes series was powerful as we asked God to "defrag" our operating systems. As I preached I could just see people dealing with God and the broken things in their lives. People were given paint sticks to write on the things in their lives that they felt were broken files messing up their lives. Some of these things are because of poor choices. Others are the result of other peoples actions towards you. Either way we need to defrag and allow God to deal with the broken files that keep breaking our lives.
-At the end of the service we had everyone on the count of three break the paint stick. This was to symbolize that we are choosing to allow God to deal with the broken files in our lives. Dude the sound was incredible, powerful, and to be honest made me want to shout. To know that we were giving our stuff to God to deal with, and to know that He will, make me amped because over the next few months we will begin to hear the stories of life change that will result because of that one service. I loved the pile that the sticks made as people came and threw them on the stage. They did that because there's no use in carrying that stuff around. In Christ we are forgiven. In Christ we are secure. In Christ we are FREE!
-For it being spring break our attendance was great.
-We have had a bunch of guests the past few weeks. I look forward to getting to know you, to seeing God work in your life and family, and to seeing you find your part as we serve together to impact Woodstock!
-I was looking at our growth and in just 13 weeks we are averaging 20% more in attedance than our year average for 2007. Wow! Everyone that works so hard to make emc what it is. Thanks!
-I'm out of the digital world until Thursday. Talk at ya'll then.
Sunday, April 06, 2008
We Need God's Power
This morning I will be teaching the 3rd part in our Life Bytes series. We are looking at the subject of "Defrag" allowing God to deal with the broken files in our lives. This is one of those mornings where teaching won't be enough. We need the power of God to show up and do works of healing to the hearts, minds, and lives of those who have experienced fragmentation. Fragmented values, memories, self worth. Some because of our doing. Others, the result of lies and abuse. Today will be a powerful day as God brings hope and healing to those gathered at the embassy. Please pray for His power to touch hearts today. Thanks!
Saturday, April 05, 2008
Spring Break
The past two school vacations my wife and kids left me to go see the in laws. Well not this time. I'm looking forward to a little fishing, pickin', and reading in south Georgia for a few days. We leave tomorrow after church and we'll be back sometime on Wednesday. Oh yeah you may be on your way to Daytona (Robby) or Disney (Deena). Some of you are PC bound. Well, we're on our way to Waycross and I couldn't be happier. Ya'll can have the beach and college students in rodent costumes. I hope to pull a big one out of the Okefenokee along side my boy and the best father in law you could ask for.
Friday, April 04, 2008
Office Update!
The office was bright yellow so I think just a coat of paint made it 100% better.I'll have to get some before pics from Jared, but here's some after pics of our new office space.
We still have to move in the copier, printers, and file cabinets. It will be so nice to have our own place 7 days a week.
We still have to move in the copier, printers, and file cabinets. It will be so nice to have our own place 7 days a week.
Thursday, April 03, 2008
We're In
In the month of June Embassy Metro Church will be joining hundreds of churches in the nation for a series called "One Prayer". I'll fill you in on more as it begins to get some traction.
Each pastor will begin the four week series with the statement: "Father make us..." at the end of those three words the pastor will put in his hearts cry for the church. Some of the pastors that have joined this campaign are:
LifeChurch.tv (Craig Groeschel)will teach "Make Us One."
Fellowship Church (Ed Young) will teach "Make Us Creative."
NewSpring Church (Perry Noble) will teach "Make Us Dangerous."
Free Chapel (Jentezen Franklin) will teach "Make Us Passionate."
We will have the opportunity to hear from some of the greatest communicators in our nation.
We also may attempt to submit our "One Prayer" sermon via video for use by other churches during the series. The deadline for the video is May 12th. Keep your ears open as we announce a special night of preparation for this amazing month. I'm picturing us having an evening where I deliver the teaching and we get the recording. We then take some time praying for our city and the other churches that we will be partnering with in the month of June. I'll get you more info as we figure things out.
The churches unite! We will partner with all the churches to bring one offering as we impact a combined missions project. We also will be partnering with three other local and like minded churches to impact our communities. Be praying for this as all of it comes together.
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Getting the Office Ready!
-Last night a bunch of us finished painting the office. Today we will get the desks, printers, bookshelves etc.... in.
-Just being there gives me a sense of excitement. It will be nice to find the balance I need between my family and the ministry. For 2 1/2 years it's like you never stop working. The office has been in the house and it was just too easy to jump into doing work anytime, all the time.
-The office will allow us to have a structured schedule. This will make us more productive both for church and our families.
-Starting next week we will go to a Sunday-Thursday work week. We will take Friday and Saturday off. On Sundays my day usually starts at 4:00am. When church is over we will go home with the families or out to eat with people, relax a little in the afternoon and then come back into the office to get things started for the coming week. We will go with this schedule for a month or so, evaluate it, and then decide if it's working or not. Anyways that's the plan.
-Just being there gives me a sense of excitement. It will be nice to find the balance I need between my family and the ministry. For 2 1/2 years it's like you never stop working. The office has been in the house and it was just too easy to jump into doing work anytime, all the time.
-The office will allow us to have a structured schedule. This will make us more productive both for church and our families.
-Starting next week we will go to a Sunday-Thursday work week. We will take Friday and Saturday off. On Sundays my day usually starts at 4:00am. When church is over we will go home with the families or out to eat with people, relax a little in the afternoon and then come back into the office to get things started for the coming week. We will go with this schedule for a month or so, evaluate it, and then decide if it's working or not. Anyways that's the plan.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
What a Sunday!
-We had the largest regular service attendance in emc's 2 year history. As we approach 200 in attendance on Sunday mornings we are beginning to look to the future for how we can create space to handle 300-500 people on Sunday mornings. Emc-ers please pray for your leaders as we begin to look at solutions that will help make healthy growth possible over the next few months and into the end of 08.
-My mind goes back to our first series of the year..."Epic 08". Truly the first quarter of 08 has measured up to be an epic three months. Emc-ers enjoy being part of what God is doing in this "story of unfolding greatness". God is authoring an epic tale and we have front row seats...no we all together are key characters in His story for our lives, church, and city!
-EMC I'm loving being your pastor!
-Our three big announcements:
#1 Echo Students will begin to meet at the Jaycees club house on Rope Mill Road on April 16th. The youth have had a great time while meeting at Lindsay's house but they have outgrown the environment. Echo, enjoy your new location as you continue to reach your generation.
#2 We have a place that is ours 7 days a week! The new creative offices of embassy metro church are now located above the Woodstock Pharmacy in downtown Woodstock.
#3 The biggest announcement of the day is that we brought our worship/media pastor on full time. I am so stoked about Jared being full time. It was too cool that we made the announcement today because today is Jared's B-day. Happy birthday bro...now get back to work!
Embassy, we are in exciting times. Remember as we grow, acquire facilities, hire staff, and do all the other things that a thriving movement does, don't forget that it isn't about any of those things. What it's all about is Jesus, helping people find him, helping them become fully devoted followers of Christ, and watching Jesus change their lives forever!
-My mind goes back to our first series of the year..."Epic 08". Truly the first quarter of 08 has measured up to be an epic three months. Emc-ers enjoy being part of what God is doing in this "story of unfolding greatness". God is authoring an epic tale and we have front row seats...no we all together are key characters in His story for our lives, church, and city!
-EMC I'm loving being your pastor!
-Our three big announcements:
#1 Echo Students will begin to meet at the Jaycees club house on Rope Mill Road on April 16th. The youth have had a great time while meeting at Lindsay's house but they have outgrown the environment. Echo, enjoy your new location as you continue to reach your generation.
#2 We have a place that is ours 7 days a week! The new creative offices of embassy metro church are now located above the Woodstock Pharmacy in downtown Woodstock.
#3 The biggest announcement of the day is that we brought our worship/media pastor on full time. I am so stoked about Jared being full time. It was too cool that we made the announcement today because today is Jared's B-day. Happy birthday bro...now get back to work!
Embassy, we are in exciting times. Remember as we grow, acquire facilities, hire staff, and do all the other things that a thriving movement does, don't forget that it isn't about any of those things. What it's all about is Jesus, helping people find him, helping them become fully devoted followers of Christ, and watching Jesus change their lives forever!
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Special Announcement Sunday
-I can't wait to tell you our two special announcements on Sunday.
-I want to give you a hint, but you are just going to have to be there. See ya Sunday.
-Bring a friend with you this week as we get into our second week of the "Life Bytes" series.
-I want to give you a hint, but you are just going to have to be there. See ya Sunday.
-Bring a friend with you this week as we get into our second week of the "Life Bytes" series.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Monday, March 24, 2008
Easter weekend; Heaven and Hell!!!
*Front page of the Sunday paper. (not sure what's up with the color of the image)
-Our weekend was completely off the hook...Incredible!
-We let more people know about the "over the top" love of Christ in one weekend then I ever could have imagined. Heaven.
-Before I say anything about the egg drop let me say that Sunday was one of the best bigs days we have ever had at the embassy. We didn't do much different then what we do every week. It seems like for us we are at our best week to week. When big days come we end up wearing ourselves out before we start. Not this time. We strategically decided no crazy props this year, no special artists, features, elements etc. Oh we had pictures for families, and balloons and candy for the kids, but if you visited this week you experienced us as we are. This doesn't mean that we won't have a big day ever again with a huge city scape stage set-up, football goal posts, or any of the other crazy ideas we have done. This week we just wanted to be sure we had time and focus spent with our guests and fellow emc-ers. Heaven
-Sunday went so smooth and thank God because as you'll read on you'll see how nuts Saturday was. We had a bunch of guests from all walks of life. I love the diversity that is embassy. Polo wearing IT guys standing talking to tattooed twenty somethings. Business ladies serving along side of domestic goddesses. I loved that I got to spend this weekend with Biker Bob, Rocker Russ, and Ex-stoner Ed...combined hair length 7 ft...opportunity to be their pastor=priceless!!! I can't wait to see many of our guests come back next Sunday. We loved having you and look forward to you being a part of our community of faith, love, and acceptance. Heaven.
-We had over a dozen people commit their lives to Christ yesterday. Praise God! Heaven.
OK Now let's talk about the egg drop:
-Over *5000 people came to Woodstock's Largest Easter Event. I could not have been more proud of all of our volunteers. Yeah you got pushed, cussed, and treated pretty badly by a lot of unruly parents, but you maintained your desire to show people Christ's love and I thank you. Heaven and Hell. (*Being told by a couple sources who are experienced with big crowds that the event had between 5000 and 8000 people in attendance. I hate to elevate numbers. We can with confidence say over 5,000 people. I am so blown away)
-The parents were crazy one lady was helping her 17 year old gather 200 eggs in a garbage bag. Ok the 17 year old part is a lie, but literally a parent was flat out fillin her kids garbage bag up while acting like she didn't hear the closest field attendant's attempt to stop her. Hell.
-To be honest it was, insane, messy, frustrating, and awesome all at once.
Woodstock get ready for next year. We will find a location that will work for this event. We will have at a minimum 100,000 eggs. The event will be a few hours long with
jump houses and tons of activities. We will figure out a away to keep parents from acting like two year olds. And our field attendants will have Tazers!!!
-To be honest a few bags of eggs didn't make it out of the helicopter. We had those rushed to the field. Every kid that hung around got eggs. We also had prizes left over after the prize eggs were redeemed. So we were able to give most of the "eggless" kids something to go home with.
-Woodstock: Give us another chance on this one. We planned, prepared, prayed, and worked our butts off. In the end we just never knew. Well, we know now and get ready because The Woodstock Egg Drop 09 will be one of the largest gatherings of any kind in Woodstock History. Heaven and Hell.
-Woodstock: We love you, God Loves you, and We hope to see you at Embassy Metro Church this Sunday at the Cherokee 16 Cinemas 10:02am. Heaven.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Woodstock Egg Drop: Brief Update
-I can't thank all of our volunteers enough. You rock! Today was an absolutely amazing day and as we expected the biggest thing embassy has ever been a part of.
-1200 family registration cards filled out. Many with multiple children. We ran out of cards quickly and hundreds of children didn't get registered, but they still were able to be a part of everything.
-Our best estimate until we take everything into consideration was about 5,000 people. That's more than twice the amount of people we anticipated!
-That's insane! The problem was...that's insane! We never thought we would have that many at a first year event. We had some logistical errors, but on a whole the kids had a blast.
-Next year we will have tens' of thousands of more eggs. Our nearly 11,000 eggs was no way nearly enough. For that I apologize. Next year we will fix our errors. Woodstock we can't wait until The Woodstock Egg Drop 09 when we bring it to you on a whole new level.
-The Jaycees have been awesome to partner with on this event. Thanks Woodstock Jaycees.
-Finally pray for the many that will come to the embassy tomorrow from this event. We are going to have a great Easter Sunday! See ya in the morning at 10:02am!
-1200 family registration cards filled out. Many with multiple children. We ran out of cards quickly and hundreds of children didn't get registered, but they still were able to be a part of everything.
-Our best estimate until we take everything into consideration was about 5,000 people. That's more than twice the amount of people we anticipated!
-That's insane! The problem was...that's insane! We never thought we would have that many at a first year event. We had some logistical errors, but on a whole the kids had a blast.
-Next year we will have tens' of thousands of more eggs. Our nearly 11,000 eggs was no way nearly enough. For that I apologize. Next year we will fix our errors. Woodstock we can't wait until The Woodstock Egg Drop 09 when we bring it to you on a whole new level.
-The Jaycees have been awesome to partner with on this event. Thanks Woodstock Jaycees.
-Finally pray for the many that will come to the embassy tomorrow from this event. We are going to have a great Easter Sunday! See ya in the morning at 10:02am!
Friday, March 21, 2008
The Buzz about The Woodstock Easter Egg Drop
-The phones have been ringing off the hook. The families around Woodstock are pumped. Tomorrow's Easter Egg Drop is going to be a blast.
-The event starts at 10am at Hobgood park, but if you want a close parking space get there early. Parking attendants will point you to overflow parking if necessary.
Overflow parking will be at Bascomb Elementary. From there you can walk over to the softball fields or wait for a shuttle.
-This will be the biggest day emc has been a part of and we can't wait.
-See you there!!!
-The event starts at 10am at Hobgood park, but if you want a close parking space get there early. Parking attendants will point you to overflow parking if necessary.
Overflow parking will be at Bascomb Elementary. From there you can walk over to the softball fields or wait for a shuttle.
-This will be the biggest day emc has been a part of and we can't wait.
-See you there!!!
D-fat: Pastor's Weight Loss Challenge Update
Some of you know that Jared our worship/media pastor and myself entered a weight loss challenge with several church planters that we know. Well below is an update on how we've been doing. May 1st is the finish of the challenge so wish us luck!
By the way in October I had hit 270 pounds. That's crazy. So Since then I have lost 49 pounds. Too cool. Thanks for all your encouragement and for calling me a "fat pastor" every time I picked up a donut at church. OK you didn't call me names, but you could have. Thanks!
Starting weight: 2-22-08, Ross 240, Jared 234; Total 474
Week 1 weight: 2-29-08, Ross 234(-6), Jared 224.5(-9.5); Total 458.5(-15.5)
Week 2 weight: 3-7-08, Ross 226(-8), Jared 224(-.5); Total 450(-8.5)
Week 3 weight: No Weigh-ins. The Tornados took off with the scales
Week 4 weight: 3-21-08, Ross 221(-5), Jared 216(-8), Total 437(-13)
Team Embassy Total lost in four weeks: 37 pounds
By the way in October I had hit 270 pounds. That's crazy. So Since then I have lost 49 pounds. Too cool. Thanks for all your encouragement and for calling me a "fat pastor" every time I picked up a donut at church. OK you didn't call me names, but you could have. Thanks!
Starting weight: 2-22-08, Ross 240, Jared 234; Total 474
Week 1 weight: 2-29-08, Ross 234(-6), Jared 224.5(-9.5); Total 458.5(-15.5)
Week 2 weight: 3-7-08, Ross 226(-8), Jared 224(-.5); Total 450(-8.5)
Week 3 weight: No Weigh-ins. The Tornados took off with the scales
Week 4 weight: 3-21-08, Ross 221(-5), Jared 216(-8), Total 437(-13)
Team Embassy Total lost in four weeks: 37 pounds
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Easter Egg Drop Buzz
-Everywhere I go today people are talking about the Egg Drop at Hobgood Park.
-Over 10,000 candy filled eggs, 2 ipod nanos, 2 $100 wal mart gift certificates, $100 in small bills:1's,5's,10's. And tons of stuffed animals and other prizes. It's going to be insane!
-6,000 elementary students will receive the invite for Saturday's event. We were given permission to invite every elementary student in Woodstock.
-All of the Daycares and Preschools in Woodstock will be invited today and tomorrow.
-The Jaycees gave out 400 Easter baskets. They included an invite card in each one.
-Our people have invited friends, family, and neighbors like crazy the past week.
-Nearly 10,000 invite cards and the 6,000 school invites have went out.
-Saturday is going to be insane. This will be the biggest community event emc has done to date.
-Tell everyone you know, plan to serve, and have a blast as we go over the top in showing the love of Jesus to our community this weekend!!!
-Over 10,000 candy filled eggs, 2 ipod nanos, 2 $100 wal mart gift certificates, $100 in small bills:1's,5's,10's. And tons of stuffed animals and other prizes. It's going to be insane!
-6,000 elementary students will receive the invite for Saturday's event. We were given permission to invite every elementary student in Woodstock.
-All of the Daycares and Preschools in Woodstock will be invited today and tomorrow.
-The Jaycees gave out 400 Easter baskets. They included an invite card in each one.
-Our people have invited friends, family, and neighbors like crazy the past week.
-Nearly 10,000 invite cards and the 6,000 school invites have went out.
-Saturday is going to be insane. This will be the biggest community event emc has done to date.
-Tell everyone you know, plan to serve, and have a blast as we go over the top in showing the love of Jesus to our community this weekend!!!
Monday, March 17, 2008
First Day Back at the Gym
Today was interesting. I wasn't able to meet with my trainer so I just decided to do my own thing for the day. I haven't lifted in 2 1/2 weeks because of my surgery and doctors orders. Today is the day I've been planning on going to the gym. I couldn't wait to get at it again.
I got there and my trainer came over and wisely told me to take it easy. She's an RN and was concerned that I ease back into my regimen. Well if you know me you know I don't ease into anything. I hit it for 35 minutes doing every lower body exercise I could remember. I then did core exercises using the elevated bench and bouncing the medicine ball from side to side. Followed by the roman chair with leg lifts, and then the crunch machine. I then did a plank for as long as I could hold it. Man I felt great. I felt strong and light. I was loving it. Well now off to get a book and my ipod so that I can get in 40 minutes of cardio.....or NOT!
On the way to get my stuff I began to talk with a pastor friend of mine. As Pastor Norman Hunt was telling me about some things happening at his church I began to see stars. Within a few seconds the stars grew into big white clouds until all I could see was Norman's mouth. Well I knew something was wrong, but I thought I could fake it 'til I made it. Nothing doing. His voice grew too quite to where I couldn't even hear him. At this point I knew something wasn't right. See I have never passed out before, but that was just about what was going to happen. I said to Pastor Norman.."Man I need to sit down I think I'm about to pass out."
How embarrassing. I get seated he tells me to do the whole head between the legs thing. One trainer is putting a wet compress on my neck. My trainer has run over with juice and a banana. Within a few minutes I'm ok. Debbie the trainer is like "I told you to take it easy". Well I have learned my lesson. Sometimes in life there are things you need to ease into. One of those apparently is exercise after surgery, while still medicated. Go figure.
I got there and my trainer came over and wisely told me to take it easy. She's an RN and was concerned that I ease back into my regimen. Well if you know me you know I don't ease into anything. I hit it for 35 minutes doing every lower body exercise I could remember. I then did core exercises using the elevated bench and bouncing the medicine ball from side to side. Followed by the roman chair with leg lifts, and then the crunch machine. I then did a plank for as long as I could hold it. Man I felt great. I felt strong and light. I was loving it. Well now off to get a book and my ipod so that I can get in 40 minutes of cardio.....or NOT!
On the way to get my stuff I began to talk with a pastor friend of mine. As Pastor Norman Hunt was telling me about some things happening at his church I began to see stars. Within a few seconds the stars grew into big white clouds until all I could see was Norman's mouth. Well I knew something was wrong, but I thought I could fake it 'til I made it. Nothing doing. His voice grew too quite to where I couldn't even hear him. At this point I knew something wasn't right. See I have never passed out before, but that was just about what was going to happen. I said to Pastor Norman.."Man I need to sit down I think I'm about to pass out."
How embarrassing. I get seated he tells me to do the whole head between the legs thing. One trainer is putting a wet compress on my neck. My trainer has run over with juice and a banana. Within a few minutes I'm ok. Debbie the trainer is like "I told you to take it easy". Well I have learned my lesson. Sometimes in life there are things you need to ease into. One of those apparently is exercise after surgery, while still medicated. Go figure.
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