Time for two,two,two...

Don't forget that we are back to 2 services this weekend at Ridge Church. We've been praying, planning, and preparing for this day for months. The two service times are 9am and 11am. We are kicking off two brand new elements along with all the great stuff that is already happening:

1. Full Student Ministry Environment: During the 9am service we will now have a service specifically designed for middle school and high school students. It opens at 8:45am for students to come hang out. Student Facebook Group HERE.
   
2. Waumba Large Group Environment: During the 11am service we are adding a new Waumba Large Group environment for the older pre-school children. There will be story tellers, worship and tons of excitement all in a really cool environment. The kids will love it.

With school just starting this is a great time to invite people to join you at church. For all of our awesome volunteers you'll be able to Attend one service and Serve one. This way people you invite can sit with you! Spread the word.

How to get in a group

I know there are a lot of new folks to Ridge that want to get into a community group (or small group) but aren't sure how to go about it. We have a really simple process to help people meet and form a group and currently it is the only way to form a group or get into a group at Ridge Church. We want to make sure that all of our groups provide a similar experience in terms of content, childcare, length of meetings etc. If you have yet to experience a group at Ridge then you haven't experienced the best and most important thing that we do.

Group Link
So how do I get in a group? It is called Group Link!! Group Link is an hour and a half event that happens two times a year and the next one is September 13th, 6pm at the Levine Center in Matthews. We provide dessert and make child care reimbursement available so that adults can connect with each other and have distraction free conversations.

It is a tremendous help to us as we prepare for group link if people will pre-register online. Group Link IS NOT a full commitment to groups. It is a time where you can literally "kick the tires" and meet a few people with the possibility of forming a starter group at the end of the night.

Go HERE to sign up!!

New t-shirts available

I love the new Ridge t-shirts! They look really good and they are really comfortable material. I just wanted to give you all a heads up that they will be available this Sunday. If you pre-ordered shirts those will be available too. We are making a big push to have as many volunteers as possible wear these shirts on August 30th as we move back to two services.

Sunday Recap

The Music
Great day of connecting with God through song and sermon. I know worship is more about our hearts than a specific song but there are some songs that for me personally seem to help me connect and focus easier. Here is the set from yesterday:

• "Big" by planetshakers. It's kind of the theme song for this series
• "Glory to God" by Steve Fee
• "Mighty to Save" by Hillsong
• Closer-- "We need each other" by Sanctus Real

It was both worshipful and fun. Josh and the guys really nailed the closer by Sanctus Real. It was a perfect ending to Andy's talk on Providential Relationships. Go HERE if you missed the talk. It's phenomenal.

The after party
Right after the service we switched out all the environments while everyone ate lunch and prepared for our once a year "all skate" volunteer training. Not sure the exact count but someone told me we had close to 65 people in all the various areas. About 10 more showed up Sunday night for the student ministry training. Thanks for stepping up to partner with this mission!

This fall is going to be full of life change! Don't watch from the sidelines. Get involved.

Fall and Funding

I'm so excited about this fall. Ridge Church is going big and it's just around the corner-- August 30th! Here's a snapshot of what's in the works for that day.

[Fall]
1) Student Environment Opens!
I couldn’t be more excited about adding a relevant and rockin’ environment for middle school and high school students. This has been a big missing link for us until now. I was committed to saying no to starting this ministry until I thought we could knock it out of the park. I gave a decade of my life to serving students because I’m passionate about teens. I want our church to platform these teenagers to be world changers!

2)Waumba Large Group Kicks off!
Waumba is adding a full large group environment with songs and an interactive story time that will enable the group leaders to focus on applying the lesson in small groups and loving kids like crazy. Trust me, you will be proud to invite your friends to bring their kids to experience this. And kids will definitely want to come back! Both of those are huge deals.

3)We launch back into two worship services 9am and 11am!
Our volunteers are so committed and so good and I’m stoked that they can now "serve one and attend one” which is exactly what we are encouraging. Some of our best inviters are often unable to invite because they are serving else where and don’t want their friends to sit alone. Not any more!

[Funding]
Life change always has to be funded and I'm excited to invite you to be an ongoing part of that. Once every two months I give a financial summary on my blog, in our worship guide, and in our evite. Below is a snapshot comparison of our last three months. Your sacrifice and generosity absolutely makes a difference! If you were to ask the three adults that were baptized on Father's day they would tell you just how much it matters! Your generosity is enabling life change. Summer is usually tough on giving and we closed out July behind so jump in and help out where you can. Go HERE to give online. Click on the image to enlarge it:

Out of blog hibernation

I took a "technological sabbath" of sorts for nearly 10 days. No twitter, no facebooks updates, no blogs, no texting. I think I checked emails three times. It's amazing how much time this generation gives to this stuff. (that is an amoral statement by the way) I had just finished up a three part series, and group retreat then headed off for vacation with my family. It was incredibly refreshing and a great reminder that what I do in my 9-5 will never be the most important role I play. Even as a pastor!

Organizational Culture:
Here is a quote from Netflix Company about organizational culture that a friend passed along to me. Very good stuff that has my brain evaluating and working in overdrive:

"The real company values as opposed to the nice-sounding values are shown by who gets rewarded, promoted, or let go" ...in other words the real values aren't on the walls or on the website they are in embedded in the behavior and practices of an organization. Good stuff. Good Reminder.

Five Things:
Here is a picture from our new series called "Five Things God uses to Grow your faith." GREAT series. The opener this week will be sweeeeeeet!: