Last week of our marriage series

I know it is Memorial Weekend and a lot of families will be gone, but if you are in the area you don't want to miss tomorrow's service. We could have laid back and said let's coast this weekend, but we have a great day plan. My wife Amie will be co-teaching with me which will ensure for an entertaining experience. Actually my wife is the one who gives me the best stuff I put in my talks every week any how.

Also we have a 1st edition video installment from three emc-ers that will have you rollin'. you guys tore me up. With the band kicking, a little Hendrix memorial music, and God showing up in a powerful way we are going to have an amazing Sunday. I can't wait!!!

See you tomorrow. If you can't be there be safe and have a great weekend with your family and remember to take some time to reflect on our service men's sacrifice for our freedom.

The Intern Cometh

Last month I received a call from the U.S. Missions department of the Assemblies of God. Evangel University had contacted them looking for a church plant to place one of their students with during the month of July. The student will be doing his practicum with embassy metro church. His name is Micah and will be with us from June 1st through July 8th. He has to have a work project that he is focusing on that church planters organize often so he will be working with us on everything it takes to pull off an event like the July fourth parade and park ministry and the promotion and design of our July series. Everyone make Micah feel welcomed on Sunday June 3rd and if you want to include him in any events you are doing throughout the month just let me know.

Amazing Staff Meeting Tonight

Tonight we put everything on the table nothing was sacred. We laid out every area of Embassy Metro Church and dreamed of how we can take it to the next level. The last couple of months we have all become busy working in the organization, but not necessarily on the organization. This the major reason organizations get stale, stagnant, and eventually atrophy. We refuse to allow stale & stagnant to become adjectives that will ever characterize the embassy.

Tonight we made a giant punch list that goes beyond maintenance and into the realm of fresh vision. Churches or business that only focus on maintenance, or merely working in the organization, will eventually lose the drive and fire they began with and will eventually become caretakers of the status quo. With that in mind as we go into the summer, a time often embraced by status quo churches to just lay back we have decided to charge ahead. The next three months will be an amazing time to be a part of Embassy Metro Church.

Hold on to your seat and get ready....I don't do this very often but I am going to ask you to serve like you have never served before, give like you have never given before, and invest in your friends and invite them to come experiencing what God is doing at the embassy like you have never done before!!!

You know I don't talk about numbers very often. I have never put numeric goals on our church, because I fear we'll focus on people as digits instead of souls desperately in need of a loving God. Well I just want to tell you that we are getting ourselves into a position as a church that we could have 300 people coming to the Embassy by January. That's huge I know, but God is able to do this as we give him our best in service, finances, and connecting with and inviting others.

We launch with such a small handful, but look what you have accomplished in a year and four months. With us moving together with passion and commitment we can double our church body by January. Well why should we do that? I can tell you it's not so we have bragging rights because I have been a major part of a church that grew to nearly 1000 people and if I wanted that I could have just stayed their telling our story for years to come. It's not so we can build our own kingdom frankly because building quasi-spiritual kingdoms for man's glory sucks and stinks in the nostrils of God.

Then Why!!!??? It's so that 100's & 1000's of people in the North Metro Area of North Cobb & Cherokee County can find Christ and find His better way to journey through life through the ministries of Embassy Metro Church.

If you are a Team EMC-er(member)at emc then join with us in the next season of our church and let's endeavor together to make an impact on our region.I think the Devil will fight us, the gates of hell will not relinquish victory easily, but we are going to kick his teeth in through our faithfulness and we are going to see lives changed like never before. Get your addict friends to the embassy, get your neighbor who feels like life is meaningless to the embassy, get your own rear end to the embassy, because God is getting ready to blow our socks off (never quite understood that expression) We will be the ones who can say "we were there being used by God when God blew our minds"

I'm sorry this was a novel, but I feel like God is ready to pour out increase on our church. Get a fresh vision of your role in this explosion and embrace your place at the embassy and watch as our efforts together serve to change the lives of those who are near and dear to you.

Can't Beat Free Stuff

This week a friend of ours from Ohio had a cosmetic denistry conference to be at in Atlanta. He brought the whole family in an RV and they have used our house as home base all week. It's been great being with old friends and it's been great getting hooked up on some awesome entertainment and grub. Monday we took the kids out of school and they took all of us to here, and tonight we are getting sitters and they are taking Amie and I to here. I guess you could say we've had a "surf & turf" week.

Man I could spit!

Last night we had a great Creative Design Team meeting. So today I took all the info we came up with and began to compile and add to it. With that accomplished a great deal of our June series is now slated.

After 2 hours of work I decided I would turn it into a pdf file and upload it to our CDT google group so we can add more thoughts to it etc. Well somehow I killed the file and all I can get it to say is mumbo jumbo computer talk.

If you are a preacher you know how frustrating this is, because the whole time you are feeling directed in your prep by God and He was adding some great stuff. Then it's all gone and you have to start over, but you know you won't remember everything you had written, so you feel like you're leaving something out. Well anyways that's life. I retrieved my crumpled notes from last nights meeting from the trash (thank God I hadn't thrown them out yet) and it's back to getting everything compiled and added to again.

I'm so frustrated I could spit.

Jerry Falwell August 11, 1933 – May 15, 2007

I admire deeply what Dr. Falwell has accomplished
for Christ through out the years. Welcome Home Dr. Falwell...good and faithful servant enter into your rest.

New Series begins this Sunday

Tomorrow is mother's day and we are launching a new series called "Just Married?" I can't wait as we begin to unpack some of the stuff we all deal with in our marriages. We're going to kick it off right as we look at resolving conflict in the home in a teaching called "Fight Right". If you are single you need this series too. See you all in the morning!

Project Hero makes the Atlanta Journal Constitution

Communities of Faith: Home makeover with heart
Embassy Metro members aid woman

By Candice Hannigan
For the Journal-Constitution
Published on: 05/10/07

There were no network camera crews filming the extreme home makeover near downtown Woodstock last weekend. Buses weren't needed to bring in throngs of volunteers for the job.

Yet members of the Embassy Metro Church hope the work they did on the home will change the life of the woman who lives there.

"This is going to make a big difference in her life. I know she appreciates what this church and these people did to help her get her house and her yard in order," said Sara Blalock, a friend of the woman, who asked not to be identified.

Blalock said the woman is 66 years old and single, with no family nearby to help her. She faces multiple health challenges, including diabetes, and lives on a small monthly income.

About 40 volunteers spent the weekend painting inside and outside her home, installing new flooring, landscaping, repairing appliances, lights and cleaning from floor to ceiling.

Some church members are taking her to lunch, and out for a new hairstyle and a manicure. Her two dogs are even being sent for grooming. And for the next month, church members will keep the woman's refrigerator and freezer stocked with healthy meals suited for a diabetic's needs.

This home improvement project wraps up a Hero series that pastor Ross Wiseman started on Easter Sunday.

Services have featured public safety workers and other "real-life heroes," as well as challenges from Wiseman to "position ourselves and stand for something that's worth standing for. Our families, our integrity, the lives of those who are lost in our communities, those things that are right and good. We need to be heroes in our communities, and you can't be a hero if you don't take a stand."

Members also raised $1,000 for a firefighter whose son has been undergoing treatment for a brain tumor.

"There's something powerful when people unite together to do something that's bigger than they can do on their own," said Wiseman. "We want to go into the community and let people know they're valuable to God, whether or not they've stepped into the four walls of our church. We want to be a body that's focused more outward than inward."

Embassy Metro Church: Sunday services begin at 10:02 a.m. at Cherokee 16 Cinemas off Towne Lake Parkway in Woodstock. Contact: 678-384-4919 or www.embassymetro.org.

Project Hero Before & Afters

Most of you know that we are doing an extreme makeover on a ladies home in Woodstock this weekend. She has been through a great deal of hardship and health issues. Those of you who were not at the embassy this weekend didn't hear the announcement that we are canceling church Sunday to go be the church. Actually the entire weekend will be full of opportunity to love like Christ and be a hero to Miss Ann. This is going to be an amazing weekend for our church, our community, Miss Ann, and our God!!!!! Is it going to be tough OH Yeah, but we can do it! Yesterday was the first day of cleaning and removing flooring. Everyone blew my mind on how hard they worked. I'll throw some pictures up and tell the story Sunday night when we are finished.

EMC-ers become a hero to a young boy in need

Last week in service we looked at the birth of a hero. Each of us have the potential to be heroic. Heroism always is the result of a moment of crisis. There's always a crisis before a breakthrough…An obstacle before an opportunity…A challenge before a discovery…and a fight before a victory.

A hero is born when a crisis is handled in a way that honors God. The massacre at Virgina Tech brought many heroic actions by individuals. One person in particular was Liviu Librescu. Sunday we looked at three lessons from Librescu. Lesson #1 Heroes run into crisis. Lesson #2 Heroes run in to give other's a chance. And Lesson #3 Heroes are never numb to the pain around them.

With all of this in our hearts on Sunday we encouraged the people to give to make a difference in a family going through a difficult situation. Andrew West is a six year old little boy that was diagnosed on January 1st with a brain tumor. It has since been removed and he is now going through a series of chemo that will extend over the next 9 months. His dad Shane and Mom Natalee have faced the worst of all crisis, but together the family is getting through it heroically. We as a church felt that the West family needed a boost in morale so we took up an offering on Sunday for them.

I challenged the people to run into this crisis and make a difference. To do something that would give the West's a chance to get relief. And to not be numb to the pain of a little guy and his family going though hell on earth.

EMC-ers ya'll came through and today Amie, Grant, & I were able to go to the hospital to give them $1,000.00 on behalf of you along with a couple superhero comic books (remember Dru loves Batman). They were very appreciative and so gracious to us. I'm hoping in a few weeks for them to come over to the house and let Dru have a chance at catching a few bass with his new rocket fishing pole Shane got him last week!

Thanks guys for being a hero in this family's life, but more important thank you for showing them the heart of the greatest Hero who ever lived and who lives in you today....Jesus!

Get ready to be a hero again on the weekend of May 4th-6th as we adopt a home in Woodstock to make a difference in. We will be cleaning, painting, doing yard work, preparing a 30 days worth of ready made meals, and other things to show Miss Ann the love of Christ.

Embassy Metro Church I love ya'll you truly are making a difference. Keep being the heroes your families, schools, businesses, and communities need!!!!

Tragedy Strikes Again

What a senseless act of violence and pain. Let's continue to keep the families of those connected with the Students at Virginia Tech in our prayers.

A Couple of Days of Downtime

My family arrived at 3:00 this morning in Mrytle Beach. We are visiting Amie's folks and taking a couple of days to decompress. I have brought couple of books and my cigar box guitar and am just looking at chilling out. One thing I have noticed since becoming a lead pastor is if I don't take a couple of days every few months to decompress I get fuzzy in my head. Just a couple of days is all it takes and I regain clarity and focus.

I even notice this in my regular schedule. If I don't pull away to take a walk by the lake, or sit and look out over Red Top or Kennesaw Mountains I loose a great deal of creativity and direction. The time spent in doing activities focused on nothing opens my mind, heart, and vision to get a "heads up from God".

If you feel like you are hitting a creative wall or lack of vision do like Christ and pull away from the crowd and make some space for your head and watch as God fills that space with His thoughts.This isn't a mind blowing revelation, but too many of us never do this and we find ourselves chasing life instead of leading life.

Emc-ers take a stand!

This past Sunday was our second week in the "Heroes" series. Our take away was "If you're going to be a hero you have to take a stand." We looked at some of the men that fought for King David and how they would do anything to stand for this man who had accepted them when they were at their worse. Specifically we looked at Shammah who positioned himself in a field and didn't back down from anything. This guy was a freak.

I encouraged the emc-ers who make it happen week in and week out by saying that they are freaks....mutants....not normal because they have a passion that drives them to make an impact in people's lives. People all over the theater raised their hands to say that the Jesus had radically changed their lives through the passion and work of these freaks who ever week take a stand!!!!!!

Woodstock doesn't need another church that sits.....it needs more churches that stand. Your families don't need another daddy who sits, but one who stands. Your school doens't need students who sit, but students who stand........

We need to position ourselves, and stand for something that's worth standing for. Our families, our integrity, the lives of those who are lost in our communities, those things that are right and good. We need to be heroes in our communities and you can't be a hero if you don't take a stand!!!!

The service ended with people placing on the stage an anonymous "take a stand" card that was their commitment to see a difference in a particular area of their lives. It really was an awesome day as we embraced what I called "aggressive salvation and vicious faith" in order to see become the heroes God wants us to be.

I am loving this series and I'm loving seeing emc-ers become the heroes I know they can be!!!

Shout out from the Mac store

Man the Apple store at the Lenox is crazy tonight. They are in the middle of a remodel that will make it the largest Mac Store in the South. They always do things right and even though they are operating at 1/5 of their previous space they are getting it done. It feels like church when things are just getting crowded and you know big things are coming. I've been there and what's so cool is I can tell the embassy is right on the verge of some crazy stuff!

You want to be at church tomorrow. This week has been muy tough and from hearing from a lot of my pastor friends they've experienced the same thing so tomorrow is going to be one of those days where we dot the Devil's eye!!

I found out this this week that the thing I've been dealing with in my ear according to the doc is not temporary, but apparently permanent hearing loss so for now I'm deaf in that ear and that stinks, but I know God heals, but more importantly I know I am in His hands...... so basically I can't wait until morning to get my preach on and let the advesary who would love to hold me back realize I'm on course, I'm taking my stand, nothings backing me up. I have felt the violence of promoting the kingdom this week....but I know the violent take it by force!!!!!!!

All emc-ers tomorrow you will realize who you are and the force you are becoming. I love ya.....I'm proud of you.....let's do it!!!!!!!

The emc superheroes and eb in the cherokee tribune

Shout out to Noelle & Bobby

Noelle checks me out at target.... I mean she does the cash register thing for me at target. She doesn't check me out because she's married to Bobby and anyways I ain't much to check out in the first place....well anyhoo. They were at the embassy yesterday. It was great seeing you both! Thanks for coming as my guest.

Post Easter Thoughts

Easter is a huge day in the life of a believer and a church. We had a great day celebrating Jesus and enjoyed seeing so many gathered together for this purpose. Below are a few thoughts regarding our Easter at the Embassy.

Team EMC you Rock!!!!!

-The set up crew got there way early and were excited about getting the place ready for the day.
-The props and set design were amazing and for the first time the staff didn't have anything to do with it. Thanks Jeff, James & Katie.
-The egg drop with the fire department was hilarious....the kids loved it and went away with some serious swag (free stuff). I was stoked at which family got the $100 Grand prize.
-The guys from the Woodstock Fire Department did a great job!! Thanks
-The Cafe' team did a great job keeping up with everything on a busy, busy day.
-Our embassy kids team were off the hook. You guys are amazing week after week.
-Pastor Jared led us in an amazing time of worship & celebration.
-The band kicked the day off with the Foo Fighters song ". Hero" Ya'll nailed it!!!!
-My wife was in service with me and not in e-kids (thanks Lela for being such a great assistant to my wife)
-The photographers did a great job with getting the family photos taken (Thanks Jodi & Kimberly)
-Everyone that helped with the Easter egg drop set up were amazing. You guys braved the cold and put together a great event.
-Our superheroes and bunny were a big hit with the kids. Thanks for braving the cold especially in those tights. Oh and thanks for taking a hit for the team on Friday when you were handing invite cards out at the exit. They had the cops called on them, were flown the one finger peace sign four times, and told to do nasty things to themselves once, but people were there Sunday because of your effort. Thanks.
-All the tech guys really did a great job with lights, sound, and video.
-We broke another attendance record!
-I trust a lot of our guests will come back next week.
-I had a blast communicating on the subject of what Easter means in a new way. Jesus is the greatest hero ever!!!
-If Easter & Christmas are the only two sermons you hear a year no wonder you think church isn't for you. There is nothing like coming to a church for a few weeks and realizing how much the Bible talks not just about your hope for heaven and the condition of your soul, but about your relationships, marriage, health, dreams, goals, parenting, sex, and handling all sorts of everyday issues and desires.

I'm sure I missed saying thanks to someone, but what ever your role was yesterday it added into the mix to make one of the best days we have had as a church yet.

When Church is a Turn Off

Mark Twain once said: “A cat who sits on a hot stove will never sit on a hot stove again. He’ll never sit on a cold stove either. From then on, that cat just won’t like stoves.”

You begin to talk to be people about God and quickly you’ll find out their feelings about the “Church”. Although they may be spiritual and interested in matters of faith their negative concept of what church is like is often deeply ingrained. That’s rough because church can be one of the most incredible things in a person’s life. A place for community, a place that challenges you, a center for joining your arts and gifts to better each other and the world we live in. So often church becomes so much of what it never was intended to be and there’s the rub.

People begin to see it as a place that is internally focused where people whose heads are buried in the sand gather to decree the sky is falling, and while we wait for the sky to fall let’s try to work on making each other look like each other because isn’t that what Christ died for in the first place. So that you can look just like pastor “bob” and his wife and all the smiley people in the halls and foyers. I guess to me I thought we were supposed to look like Christ.

This is the week that Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. A week that reveals Jesus not as the one out leading the masses with charisma and flair, but the one praying so hard by himself that blood like drops of sweat poured from Him. The one who was beaten beyond recognition, the one who was nailed to a cross naked before women, men, and children.

He did all of this for you and for me. He did all of this so that He could gather people together so that they could be better than they ever could be on their own. The Bible refers to Christ followers as sheep, as The Bride, but it also refers to them as “The Church”.

The word church in the Greek is “ecclesia” and it means a group that’s been summoned or called out for a specific purpose. How amazing that God calls us to come together for His purposes. Maybe that’s where we miss it? We gather for our purposes and not His purposes. Obviously this week reveals Christ main purpose to reach others with His love and to see lives changed forever.

We are emphatic at the Embassy that we want to be a place that celebrates and embraces the best that church can be while pushing from us the things that often make church a “hot stove” to those seeking a living God. Have we arrived? No way, but each week we endeavor to push down pride, arrogance, selfishness, self-righteousness so that we don’t block people from seeing the best of Jesus because of the worst of the church. There is nothing like being a part of a healthy church and to remain healthy you have to check yourself before you wreak yourself. Let’s always strive to embrace what Christ embraced the most and that’s people… good people bad people, well people sick people, strong people weak people can all find their place under the steeple. (OK we don’t have a steeple, but I couldn’t resist the rhyme)

-end of rant

EMC Super Heroes & EB

These guys were out and about on Friday during drive time and Saturday from 10-2. They'll be out this weekend too. If your an emc-er honk your horn and shown 'em some love. They're out there waving saying hey and handing out invite cards. This weekend they'll be on Town Lake. For the kids they'll be at church on Easter Sunday.