Everywhere...God doesn't just love our nation!

Here, There, and Everywhere is our invitation and challenge for every person that attends Ridge Church to do one thing "SERVE" in three ways:

1. Serve Here--Local Church: we call it strategic service
2. Serve There--Our city: we call it intersect (more on this later!!)
   
3. Serve Everywhere--Our world: we call it Global X

We are planning two trips this year. One to Nicaragua and a return visit to Kenya. I want every person to be involved with global x--not just a select few! But we realize that not every one can go or can go at this time so our desire is that every person would either GIVE or GO (or both)! This year, when you get a a support letter from someone you volunteer with at Ridge Church or from your group etc--please give generously because it really matters! Check out this video shot by Patrick Mitchell (edited by Rusty Burchard) last year on our Kenya trip. Ridge Church's partnership with "Erik" has changed he and his family's lives--not to mention what it has done in all of us just to be a part of their lives!:

Eric Movie from Ridge Church on Vimeo.

Here, There, and Everywhere (a revolution!)

We just concluded our teaching series called "This is the year..." and it was one of my favorite Sundays in a really long time! Chris Kincaide led worship and killed the national anthem--I've honestly never heard it that good. If you're wondering why in the world we played the National Anthem...well you should have been there:-) You can catch the series wrap up HERE.

I'll blog more about this later but we unveiled something called "Here, There, and Everywhere" that gets me so pumped up. I believe it is a reflection of us pursuing the heart and purposes of God as a church. This is a video that went with the "Here" portion--"Here" is our Strategic Service Efforts. The way we say it is "People putting their heart and hands in the place of greatest demand". Check out the video:

Here, There, Everywhere. from Ridge Church on Vimeo.

This is the year...self deception ends!

Man--part two of our series "This is the year..." was incredible! We talked about how to end self deception and how commitment and conviction aren't enough. There is a third component that is crucial if we are to stop living with self deception. You can catch the audio message HERE if you missed it. We believe so deeply in the shaping force and support that a community group can be in a persons life. Hands down, groups are the most vital thing we do as a church. Check out this video that closed out both of our Sunday services, to hear how groups are influencing peoples lives here in this great city of Charlotte. Go here to sign up for our next group link. All of us need community!

Grouplink Winter 2010 promo from Ridge Church on Vimeo.

"This is the year"...kick off was awesome

We just kicked off a brand new vision series at Ridge Church called "This is the year..." You can catch up on part one HERE if you missed it. We talked about how "Nostalgia is a dream killer." It was a ton of fun and the day started with a DJ mixing our pre-service music and mixing with our band for the first song. Chris Kincaide did an amazing job closing the service with a Sick Puppies tune called "Maybe". It was the perfect closer to the day. The CD take away from the morning will be a game changer for people--can't wait to hear those stories. Trust me--last week was awesome but this week will be even better!

I had a ton of people ask me this weekend about our "Unexpected Christmas Project." It was truly one of the most humbling and inspiring things I had the privilege to be a part of last year. You can check out the video here. Many thanks to all who contributed time and resources to make this happen:

An Unexpected Christmas from Ridge Church on Vimeo.