Creative Design Team

When we began the Embassy we decided to maintain a strong commitment to presenting timeless truths to modern minds in such a way that they would embrace and live out the principles of God's Word in every area of their life. The work of putting together all our creatives has usually fallen to the staff and this has worked well for a year, but if we are going to excel and broaden our creative elements then it is going to happen by broadening our team. So we put together a creative design team made up of artists, musicians, builders, thinkers and even a couple of pastors (Jared & Me) who are all passionate about reaching people for Christ and changing their lives forever. Our Easter experience & the series that follows is a result of this process.

We meet on the first Monday night of the month for dinner & design and the ideas just flow....I love it! We also have a google group that serves as an online studio for the exchange of ideas and progress between our monthly meeting. During our CDT meeting we have some structure as I lay out our up coming series title and take away. We also look at individual weeks for creative elements that God will use to ingrain the teaching into people's hearts. This is the form we work off of. I usually have the series title and weekly sermon subject ideas before we meet and I put them on the form below:

Series Development Needs

Series Title:

Target Audience/Goal (Take Away):

1. Weekly Sermon Topics:

Wk 1
Wk 2
Wk 3
Wk 4

2. Sermon Branding:

-Series Theme

-imagery

-series logo/icon

-title slide ideas


3. Set-design:


4. Illustrations:


5. Marketing:

-invite cards

-evite cards

-mag/sign adv.


Does it take all this today to do ministry? Sometimes I wonder, but what I don't wonder about is the fact that people's lives are being changed every week at the embassy and we're never going to back down from allowing God to resource his truths with the creativity He has laid within those who attend EMC. To keep us on track we are playing around with creating some core values for the CDT.

Creative Team Core Values

1. We are more creative together than anyone of us alone.

2. Our creativity stems from seeking the creator in prayer, devotion, and spiritual awareness to
the world around.

3. We hold to a deep commitment to create a relevant presentation of Jesus teachings and
Biblical principles.

4. Since God is the Creator the church should be the most creative place on the planet.

5. The greatest message deserves the greatest means to convey it.

6. We will use anything except sin to draw people to Jesus and the truths of His word.

Experience Easter at the Embassy

I can't wait for Easter this year. Start inviting your friends now because it is going to be off the hook! We are launching a new series on Easter Sunday called "Heroes". That morning we will celebrate the greatest, but most unlikely Hero who ever lived, Jesus! The creative team is building an amazing set for the main auditorium and the foyer. Does it take all this...I don't know, but it sure is fun. I heard someone say that the greatest message deserves the greatest means to convey it and what Jesus did for all of us truly is the greatest thing that ever happened.

Easter Sunday we will have Woodstock's first ever Easter Egg drop for the kids. Our local heroes from the Woodstock fire department will drop plastic eggs from the ladder of their fire truck. We will do two different age specific drops. After they gather their eggs they will be able to redeem them for candy and prizes. This is going to be wild! And the kids are going to go nuts. We will also have Team EMC Super Heroes and the Easter Bunny encouraging the kids.

One other thing we are offering is complimentary Easter photos in the lobby. See the above card for the times of these Easter events.

Woodstock be looking out for the Team EMC Superheroes and the Easter bunny in the cape as they're out on the streets the two Saturdays before Easter inviting people to come experience Easter this year at the Embassy.

Following Easter the "Heroes" series will continue throughout the month of April. Embassy will also be doing two community projects during this series as we strive together to be heroes to our community allowing people to see the heroic love of Jesus through His people. I'll have more info on that later this week.

This Sunday was our second week in our three week series entitled "Supernatural". Over the last year we have looked a a great deal at living the principles of God's word, but I have dealt little just on the power and presence of God. Last week we looked at our "Conversation with God". I built on the theme of Jesus giving us access into the presence of God. We looked at the Tabernacle with the Holy of Holies and the veil that separated man from God in the Old Testament and how Jesus' work on the Cross gives us access through the veil to the living presence of God (Hebrews 9 &10)

Jesus didn't do all that He did for us to just...."Now I lay me down to sleep I pray the Lord my soul...." He did what we did so we would have access into the presence of God. This experience with God is more than a time for an information dump, but it's a time of intimacy. Basically the most Supernatual thing we can experience is to come into His presence. (breaking into the presence of God)

This week we looked at "miracles". Which are basically the by product of God breaking into our lives with his power and presence affecting change to the areas of our lives that are in need. To illustrate this I had a giant box on stage that I stayed in until the time for the teaching. I began to cut my way out of the box as I told various stories of Jesus doing miracles. Finally I step from the box making the statement that it is foolish for your pastor to preach his sermon from inside a box, but equally misguided is putting God in a box. We looked at three boxes that we put God in #1 God doesn't do things like that anymore. #2 God has to move when I say jump. #3 If He does still do miracles I don't think He will for me.

These are all boxes that we use to limit the supernatural in our lives. Jesus is still the same yesterday today and forever and Sunday we just set our hearts to believe that God can do what He says he can do and we invited Him to do what He desires to do in us.

Our final week of the series we will look at the "struggle behind the struggle". If God has given us access and if God can move into the areas of our lives in powerful ways don't you think there will be opposition to our souls trying to keep us from this? Next week we will examine this opposition.

Great weekend at the embassy!

This past weekend was absolutely amazing. We partnered with our city and the YMCA and helped with the 24 hour adventure race on Saturday and no I didn't participate in the race. It's 80 miles of running, biking, and canoing and the participants were crazy in shape. Maybe next year we'll enter Team EMC Extreme. When I say we... I mean you...any volunteers? Everyone that served during this event has been at the embassy for less than a few months. So it was neat seeing new people jumping in and doing their part to show people that they matter to God. One family we met Saturday visited Sunday and they loved it. Thanks team for taking part in this event that in someway will make a difference in this family's life forever.

On Sunday we dedicated 8 children to the Lord. One family e-mailed this about what emc meant to them that day..."You really given my husband and I the drive to start again with the Lord and continue our journey." Team emc thanks for all you do creating the environment God uses to reach people every week! That's what it is about let's never forget that. By the way we also had record breaking attendance on Sunday. We say it's not about the numbers and it's not, but it sure is about people and having 8 kids dedicated and a room well on it's way to becoming full touches me powerfully. Why because people's lives are coming into contact with God, His Word, and His people and their future and heritages are being impacted for ever!!!

Final thing Monday night was our creative design team night. These folks were off the hizzy fo shizzy my peeps. No really we were looking at our Easter experience and the series for the month of April. And it is going to be the biggest thing we have ever done. Frankly we could use some extra finances to make it happen so if you feel led to help us help people "embrace the hero within" so that they can see their lives, homes, and communities change by the power of the Ultimate Hero. Just let me know.

Back From the Frigid North

We got back from Ohio on Saturday and as soon as the van door opened and the warm Georgia air hit my face I new I was home. We had a great time seeing family. It was a short visit so we spent two days with my folks and two with Amie's. One afternoon we took our kids sled riding. It was the first time for Grant and he was as wild as I thought he would be. I was glad the city park commission had placed hay bales in front of the trees at the bottom of the hill. If not Grant would have broke his neck a few times. Some guy had the great idea to use a hay bale to build a ramp on the steepest hill. My nephew Austin and I decided we needed to conquer the jump. So with over 350lbs in our sled we flew down the hill together and launched 4ft. of the ground. We were airborne for 3 seconds and when we hit all heck broke loose...after we collected ourselves and the sled Austin says. "Chunkle Ross let's do it again" Yeah that's what my nieces and nephews call me....stop laughing....it's not that funny, well I gave thought to trying it again, but reminded myself that I had to be back home on Sunday setting up with the team and preaching so I didn't risk another go at the super jump.

One day we went into the offices of our old church and were able to see our pastor, some staff guys, support staff, and even some of the finance committee. It was great seeing some of our old friends in the office. We hated that this trip we were not able to make the rounds to see friends like we usually do, but it was a quick trip and we really needed our time with the family this time.

Being back this time made me realize how much my heart longs for the people of Woodstock and the surrounding area to find Christ and to see His principles lived out in their lives. This is truly the mission field God has called me to and being back this time made me realize althugh my heart misses friends and family back home, it beats for the community I am in here in Georgia. Did I mention it's warm here too!

Have I lost my Mind?

It is February and in two days I will be on my way to see family in Ohio. Yes, Ohio....I must be crazy! This morning it was 2 degrees with winds blowing at 18 miles an hour. That puts the wind chill at something like..."my Lord it's cold and I can't feel my feet" and I am choosing to go there with out being hog tied and thrown in a trunk, which should be the only reason why anybody heads that far north in the middle of winter. Does that make me certifiable?

Well anyhoo, we'll make the best of it. It will be nice seeing my family and gettin' some of momma's homemade collard greens, pinto beans (Yeah I might be from the north but my mother's Kentucky roots run deep) and some cone pone. That's corn bread if ya'll didn't know! I may be freezin' next week on the outside, but momma's cooking will have me warm on the inside clean down to my toes!!!

Speaking of going back to Ohio I just want to put it out there for the record....I love Georgia...and more specifically I love Woodstock. My hometown in Ohio, church, and friends will always be special to me, but It feels great to be right where God has called us to be. I feel like we are just starting to find our groove and the next five years is going to blow our minds. I love what God is doing in the lives of my fellow emc-ers, I love that we are seeing people come to Christ almost weekly, and I love that you can sense God is up to something. I love that I am already worried about our Easter Sunday's attendance...not because of trying to fill the place, but figuring out what to do if we overfill it!!! It's going to be nice to get away, from Sunday night to next Friday, but I'm glad I'm not missing the following Sunday. And I'll be itching to get back to the harvest field God has called me and the team at emc to. Invite some friends out as we look over the next 3 weeks at the rest of our series "dealing with difficult people" This Sunday, dealing with the overly needy people in our lives. Then on the 25th we'll look at dealing with manipulative people and finally on March 4th we'll cover the subject of hypocritical people in our lives.
I can't wait until Sundays each week! I look forward to seeing you and watching God make a difference in your life and the lives of your friends that you are investing in and inviting to the embassy. Love ya guys!!! Thanks for letting me pastor such a great church full of people passionate about changing their world. Viva la Revolution!!!

New series will start next Sunday

We were going to start our difficult people series yesterday, but I was sicker than a dog. It takes a lot to make me give up my pulpit (music stand...we're portable). Over the weekend I think I coughed my spine loose, is that possible? Any ways my voice sounded like a cross between a mobster and a drag queen who sucked down too many Marlboros. So I opted out. I had a missionary friend in town whose sister goes to my church and he came to perform her wedding. He was planning on a 5 minute missions window during our service yesterday so I called him up and asked him to "help a brother out" and go ahead and teach. Damien was our first missionary to speak since we launched and he did a great job explaining his ministry, but also challenged us to be angry about what angers God; poverty,Africa's aids/hiv epedimic,slavery, & injustice. So next week we will begin our Difficult People series.

New Series

In February we will take 4 weeks to look at dealing with difficult people. This series will help you with the critical, overly needy, manipulative, and hypocritical people in your life.
The Difficult People series will look at principles in the Bible that will help any relationship you have. We will examine the core of why we do some of the things we do to people and why they do those things to us. Plan to come and bring some friends as we all learn together how to handle and respond to many of the stressers we face in relationships at home, school, and on the job.

What a Start!

This past month has been incredible. The revolution series pulled no punches, but people really embraced the challenge to live loud for God in 2007. Over the past 6 weeks we have grown 25% and have seen a lot of new people serving God through the various ministries at emc. It's been great to see people realize how amazing it is to have a relationship with Jesus that is real and a place to celebrate that relationship that connects with people right where they are.

The bands been cranking and the place has just been full of energy. Embassy has become the church I would go to even if I wasn't the pastor. Thanks to everyone who week after week prepare such a great environment for people to connect with God, their purpose, and to others on the journey.

Our average attendance for the month of January was 125. What a start to a great year. I feel like God is putting everything together to absolutely blow our minds this year.
On Sunday I was saying how many had came to Christ this year, but how it was one less than I wish. How many marriages were made strong, but still one less than I wished. How many lives bound to life controlling issue, but again still one less than I wished. That's why we have to keep doing what we're doing because they're many more that God wants to reach through your efforts at emc. We've had a great start so let it motivate you to continue doing every week to make a difference in the community you live in.

Thanks for letting me lead the kind of church I would go to even if I wasn't the pastor. You guys are risk taking adventurous fools for God and I love ya for it!

new series

This past Sunday we launched our first series of the new year. I really thought we would ease into the year, but God is up to something. We came full force challenging ourselves to live our lives in a revolutionary way. I challenged emc with the question, "What sound does your life make when it spins" We launched the service with a DJ mixing Run D.M.C.'s "Walk This Way" up on the turntables ((props to Brantly) Later on he laid down a set scratching over a few songs bringing home the whole revolution theme. We wanted the imagery of a record spinning or revolving to get into our heads. Why?

Like a record spinning on a turntable our lives give off a sound. We need to be conscious of that sound to be sure it sounds like Christ. His way, His heart, His passions reverberating from our lives. We need to find ourselves revolving close to God so that we can live loud and through that people will hear the voice of God resonate in their own ears.

This year commit yourself to the Revolution and Live Loud

EMC Birthday Wish from..."Oh my Gosh they can't be serious"

Perry Noble from New Spring Church writes:

"The church is called to grow!!! We are not called to form “holy huddles” that criticize the churches that are growing. (And for what it is worth…we get that…AND we ignore it. Why? Simple–I would not ask a fat person for advice on how to take care of my body. I would not ask a person who has declared bankruptcy three times for advice on personal finances. And I would NOT ask someone who has had the same 50 people in their church for the past 20 years HOW to do church…it really is that simple. And that is NOT being cocky…it’s being smart.)

One of the chief critics of churches like NewSpring is the whole “emergent” church movement. I just love that–here you have 15-20 people…usually guys, who sit in rooms smoking cigars and drinking beer, debating theology while the world around them goes to hell…and somehow they think they’ve “got it!” In my opinion the only thing that needs to “emerge” from the emerging church is their head out of their rear ends so that they can better listen to God and fulfill the Great Commission."

Check this out for the whole post

My thoughts:
When it comes down to it You can miss being what God wants you to be on two fronts. One, you can be a church that has embraced the culture of the church so tightly that you can't embrace people where they are, in essence declaring "go to hell" to all who don't fit into your ecclesiastical club.

Or two, you have embraced something that is barely different from what drives those who do not profess faith in the Christ. Basically saying to those searching for something real that we are on our way to heaven, but really there's not much difference between the life of the believer and the unbeliever. I say if their isn't much different than maybe you don't have the vibrant relationship with Christ that John 10:10 speaks of. One that leads to a life that is full. Not a life full of rules and regulations, but a life full of contentment and direction. It seems to me often those who are pushing the "emergent thing" are bitter, angry, and counter productive to people's faith. I know many of the well know emergent leaders are amazing and have brought a much needed balance to the church. For some reason though many who express allegiance to this vein seem to be more focused on pressing their "cause".... I guess I thought our "cause" is Christ and our heartbeat is introducing people to Him, not our kooky thoughts on church sociology and function. Man I don't have time for that. I would rather surround myself with practitioners than theorists any day.

Well I guess my rants over.

The South has risen again

Being and OSU fan I have only a few words to say today: "I don't want to talk about it"

Mad props to the gators and the SEC from a die hard Big 10 buckeye fan.... you definitely got it done.

Ain't no Party like an emc party cause an emc party don't stop!

Our one year anniversary party was everything I hoped for. We had a great time looking back at what God has done and casting vision for where we are headed.

We looked at how God brings a vision and how vision comes to pass. We saw that while living out the dreams of God it's not always easy, but He is with you through it all. I then challenged the people to seek God for the dreams God wants for their lives because they are embassy metro church.

It's not about what God wants to do with emc that thrills me it's what God is doing and will do in their lives that get's me amped. As God leads them to be strong the church becomes strong....as God fulfills His hopes for their relationships....the church becomes healthier....as God causes them to personally grow, the church grows.....they are the church, they are emc.

EMC is just what we all get the priviledge of doing together to reach others and to stir each other to grow as Christ followers. I love being a part of what we are all doing for Jesus!!!


A few things that were great about Sunday:

-I loved having drums and bass on Sunday....the worship band rocked (Thanks Jared for leading the team so effectively). We have been praying for musicians for months and now they are coming out of the woodwork! Having the extra musicians will work great when we go to double services or run a concurrent service in another room with a live band and video simulcast for teaching. It's amazing that we are already having to begin to think about the next step.

-We also had several new people helping with set up...thanks for owning the vision and taking part!

-Thanks for allowing me to get away with stupid stunts like the "Marilyn Monroe bit" Ya'll are a blast to lead.

-The number of 20 somethings that are making emc home...I'm loving that.

-having my wife in service with me and knowing the kid's ministry was in great hands. (Amie has ran our kid's ministry since we launched....thanks Leondra for serving so faithfully so that my wife can be with me more regularly)


2007 is going to be off the hook!

So high, so low, so what!

You know a couple of posts ago I was saying that my truck is like Count Dracula to the blood supply of my wallet, but why focus on the negative. Last year was amazing so who cares!!! I think I have developed a case of negativitis. The desire to scratch at the quarter sized spot of what's wrong in my life has kept me distracted at times from seeing all that's right.

My kids blow me away with their personalities and growing abilities, my wife can't keep her hands off of me (I'm serious, Ha! HA!), my understanding of walking through life dependent on God and seeing Him come through over and over again. Life really is good.

So this year I am committing myself to look more at the positive than the negative, at what's right than what's wrong, at what is than what isn't. This year I will discipline my speech and thoughts to filter everything through eyes of faith, hope, and love.

I guess I just made a resolution....darn I wasn't going to make one of those this year...so what! Now I need to live it.

First Year Party

This Sunday we will be celebrating the first year of embassy metro church. It's going to be a great day with several surprises (No, Jared will not be leading worship in his birthday suit, although that is usually how he spends his personal born day).

The doors will be closed until 10:00 a.m. and then you will want to quickly find a seat. If you get there early get a cup of liquid heaven (coffee) and just hang out in the cafe'. This will be a great day for you to bring guests, or if you are looking at checking us out for the first time, Sunday will provide you a brief look at who we are, where we started, and where we are heading. This is a morning you won't want to miss.

This past year it's been amazing to see how God has used so many dedicated people to make what emc is today. Thanks for continuing to embrace the fact that it's not about us, but it's about God reaching out to those that need Him.

So high and so low so soon :(

What a great weekend at the church, but on the personal side some of you know my truck has been down for two weeks. Well my mechanic just gave me word that it will be nearly $2000.00 to fix. Basically the motor that the last mechanic I used put in had issues and the issues finally caught up. This will bring my total in repairs on this vehicle to $4900.00 in the past 14 months. SOOOOOO LOOOOOOWWWW........ I only gave 4,000.00 for it to start with. Well anyhoo the work has to be done or it gets hauled to a junkyard.

Needless to say I am going to have to get the guys in the church that have trucks to go on a rotation for pulling the church trailer because when this bad boy get's to running I am getting rid of it ASAP. The thing I hate about that is by that time I have pretty much replaced everything under the hood and then some. Radiator, water pump, engine, altenator, starter, battery, distributor, distributor cap, the pump inside the gas tank, plugs and wires (man making that list makes me think I should keep it) Well if anyone is good at vehicles has a suggestion whether I should keep it or not let me know)

It's been a vehicular money pit and I'm tired of it. To be honest financially this year God has blown us away by His provisions.....it's just for some reason I have no "anointing" for vehicles... Ha! Ha! What did I do wrong to a car in the past that has given me this bad....CARMA? Well that's the low end of a very high end week and five years from now all I'll remember is how awesome our first Christmas season went at the Embassy!

Record Sunday at the Embassy

This past weekend was incredible! we had a woman come to Christ! we baptized a 21 year old guy in the lake behind my house after the morning service...Oh, and we had nearly 150 in attendance!!!! I think if it would have just been the number it wouldn't have meant so much, but another person putting their faith in Christ and the baptism was the icing!

I loved how pumped the team was because everyone could tell that their efforts since we launched in January are really making a difference. I can't wait to see all that will take place in 2007!

Special Christmas Presentation at the Embassy

This Sunday at the embassy we will have a special showing of the newly released full length feature film "Nativity" at 10:02am. Come early and enjoy bagels and hot chocolate in the cafe'.

Random Thoughts.....

The past two Sundays were rough on set up. Two weeks ago the theater didn't get unlocked for us and we started set up 40 minutes late. The crew that was on for that week rocked and we only started 8 minutes late. Great effort team emc! This week the crew that was on was only about half the guys (holidays and all...things happen) and then we had tech difficulties. We started at least 15 minutes late. we haven't done that in a long time. Even with the difficulties both weeks of our series Christmas at the Movies went great!

Last week we used clips from Christmas Vacation and The Christmas Story and we reminded ourselves that often we experience unmet expectations because we look more at what isn't than what is. We also looked at a few ways we handle unmet expectations. This week we used clips from the Grinch as we examined what in life causes us to have "Missing Peace". we saw that Jesus came looking for us telling us that His peace he offers to us. Christmas is the celebration that Jesus came looking for us. He is Immanuel...."God with us" He is the missing peace and we need to remind ourselves that He is Immanuel which directly tranlated is Immanent within you....God" No matter what is lacking in your life remember immanent within you is God. He is the "Missing Peace".

The past two weeks we have had church planters checking out what we are doing. When you are on the inside of something you are always critiquing, evaluating, and trying to improve what you are doing. This is necessary, but at times it makes you miss what you have already. Having these guys in really made me realize what an amazing place the embassy has become in just a year. Every one at emc you should be proud of yourselves. Your hard work, dedication, and finances have provided and environment where many are finally connecting with their creator! We had people come to Christ in both the last two Sundays!

Ear report: Still can't hear speech, but percussive sounds are registering. I believe the Tsunami in my inner ear is subsiding. Thanks for your prayers and patience (I know you all are hating me saying "say that again")

More random thoughts: It was great having my mom and dad in for a brief visit and some of you may have noticed I was wearing a tie sunday (that was for momma) ha! she isn't to sure about this whole blue jean wearing theater church thing so I thought I would throw a tie on to make her happy.