Sunday Rundown

Well, today was our first Sunday and I have to tell you I was totally stoked.  I woke up at 4 a.m. and couldn’t get back to sleep.  I laid there in bed thinking and praying about the upcoming day and the events that would be taking place.  Finally I got out of bed to get ready and look over my lesson one more time.

We had a couple technical glitches that were easily overcome, which when you’re a mobile church you get used to that kind of stuff.  We even had our coffee maker do some really weird things, and is now in the big coffee shop in the sky.  My buddy Nate (not me, another Nate) made a quick run to Wal-Mart to get us a new coffee maker.

A small group of people from Rising Sun Church in Des Moines came up to help us staff the kids area.  Get this … the preacher at Rising Sun (a several hundred member congregation) had the day off and came up to work in our Kids Church.  Talk about a servant’s heart.  Very cool, Doug!

Long story short, even though we set everything up differently today than we did at last week’s practice service, the setup went on without a hitch.  We got it set up and ready with plenty of time to spare.  I’m really proud of our people.

I was starting to freak out a little bit with 5 minutes to go before the service wishing more people were there, but with about 2 minutes to go there was a mad rush at the front door.  Several people even came in late, and we ended the day with an official count of 110!  I was very pleased with the turnout and got to meet some very cool people.  I wish I could have sat down with each and every one of them to hear their story, but obviously wasn’t able to do it.  God is gonna be doing some great things through us and I’m really looking forward to meeting many more people.

Next Sunday be at the Ames Middle School at 10 a.m. for some more great music and a lesson on beating addictions.  Setup starts at 8 a.m.

Anyway, I’m beat so I’m going to bed.  I’ll sleep good tonight!

Our Radio Ads

We are advertising on 105.1 in Ames leading up to and past our launch.  We have 3 different ads that are playing for a total of 4 times a day, 7 days a week, for several weeks.  They are only 15 seconds long, but are designed to get the word out about us and drive people to our website.  We have them on our youtube channel (go here to see it), or you can listen to them here.

Have You Seen Our Billboard?

Our billboard is located on Duff Avenue in front of the Super Wal-Mart.  We have the north side in December, then in January it will be on the south side.  If you drive by and see it, let me know!

Church Planting Lessons

These aren’t the only lessons I’ve learned in church planting, but I’ve got a couple important ones I want to share with you. I’ll share more later …

1. Most of church planting is done in Plan D.  What I mean by that is you can enter your city with a strategic plan, but once you hit the ground you quickly realize you have to move to Plan B.  Then something happens and Plan C comes into play … and so on.  So don’t be a slave to the plan, but be true to the mission.  Church planting isn’t done in theory, it’s done in the trenches. If you can’t adapt, you’ll die.

2. Most of the time, the future isn’t clear.  If there is a church planting crystal ball out there, I haven’t found it yet.  I’m reminded of the time the Israelites had to step into the Jordan River BEFORE God showed the way and parted the water (Joshua 3:7-13).  They had to step out FIRST.

I’m working on something right now with Freedom Ridge that if it pans out will be a major plus for us.  But as I’m looking at it on paper I have no idea how we are going to pay for it.  If God wants it to happen, then it will … but I can’t get in the way.

Church planting is some of the most exhilirating, stressful, frustrating, and rewarding work out there.

Random Thoughts

1. I’m enjoying my time in Canton, Georgia.  The drive down here was a killer, and I’m not looking forward to doing it again on Sunday as we head back to Ames, Iowa … but, hey, anything for the cause.

2. We got here at 5:30 am on Friday and I was out of bed a little before 10; slept maybe 10 minutes in the car.  This morning I tried catching up on some sleep.

3. Yesterday I got to meet Gary Lamb of Revolution.  I had seen pictures and heard podcasts, but this was my first time to meet him face to face.  I was glad for the chance to visit with him because he spent some time in Ames where I am now planting a church.  So not only did I get to get some church planting tips from Gary, but they are tips tailor made for my city.  Pretty cool deal.  Thanks, Gary!

4. On Sunday, my new friend Jason and I are driving over to Oak Leaf to their first service to check them out, then we’ll be back to Revolution for the second service.  I’m really looking forward to it.

5. Georgia has a lot of scenery. My part of Iowa is fairly flat with some rolling hills; more corn than trees.

6. Gustav looks to be headed for New Orleans.  I’m glad I don’t live there.

7. I’ve got so many ideas rolling around in my head about Freedom Ridge that my head hurts. I can’t wait to go public with Sunday services.

I’m Going To The Revolution

On Thursday I’m heading south to Canton, Georgia, to visit Revolution Church. Revolution was started by Gary Lamb, and Gary used to minister in Ames. I’ve never met Gary, but I’m looking forward to checking out his church and I’m hoping I get to pick his brain for a couple minutes. I’m sure I’ll learn something I can apply to Freedom Ridge.

Freedom Ridge Informational Dinner

On Friday, September 12, we are having another informational dinner to give an update and share some things about Freedom Ridge. It’s FREE and you’re invited! If you want to be part of Freedom Ridge, then do everything in your power to be there. And it would even be cool if you could bring a friend or two along, because that’s what it’s all about.

Here’s the details …
Date: Friday, September 12
Time: 6:30pm – 7:30pm (if you can’t be there right at 6:30, come whenever you can!)
Location: 2330 Lincoln Way (it’s the CCF office space in the basement of First National Bank)
RSVP: please let us know by 5 p.m. on Thursday, September 11, that you’ll be coming so we know how much food to get. It would actually be ideal to let us know ASAP and not wait to the last minute.

This won’t be like past dinners. And I am looking forward to sharing with you more details about Freedom Ridge; a possible meeting location for our Sunday services; our missional view towards Ames, Boone, Huxley, Nevada, Story City, and beyond; and how you can make a huge difference in the lives of people and make an eternal impact.

I hope you can make it, and help spread the word!

The New Generation & The Church

I recently read an article about the new generation that has been dubbed by the pollster, Zogby, as The First Globals. He has written a new book called “The Way We’ll Be: The Zogby Report on the Transformation of the American Dream.”

The article talks about how the new generation of Americans (between ages 18-29) are making dramatic moves away from traditional American ways. He obviously writes about it from a political standpoint, but I think there is something for the church to learn from it.

Here’s a summary of how he describes the new segment of our socieity:

- they are materialistic and self-absorbed
- they want to look richer than they are
- they obsess about relationships
- they are more accepting of homosexuality (more socially liberal)
- 66% say abortion is always morally wrong (you read that right, it’s not a typo)
- they are “color-blind”
- they no longer identify themselves as primarily American, but global
- they are willing to adjust their lifestyle to conserve energy
- they hunger for authenticity

I see some good things in there, but I also see some troubling things. I think the church can really capitalize on the hunger for authenticity; but it must be a true authentic authenticity. Authenticity for authenticity’s sake is like a festering boil and those who want authenticity can see right through it and will call it what it is: fake. The article says, “The America of 2020 will be a more tolerant nation,” he writes. “Our people by then will have lived for two decades in a new world of less . . . We will expect our leaders to talk straight: Hype, hokum, and hooey in politics, in advertising, wherever it appears (emphasis mine) will be punished.”

So what do you think? How can the church be effective in reaching out to this mindset? There’s a lot to digest here, but it’s also a good opportunity.

You can read the article in it’s entirety here.

Pop Goes The Church – #3

I have agreed to do a blog discussion of Pop Goes The Church by Tim Stevens (TS) with 3 other much wiser and better looking guys than me … Mike Demastus, Dan Hudson, and Kyle Phillips. We’re going to read a section, then post our thoughts and insights on our own blogs.

I like how TS approaches chapter 4 by giving different examples of churches reactions to a movie being shot in their town. I like word pictures and practicality, so this is easy for me to wrap my brain around. He says, “Every church makes a choice in how to respond to the pop culture, and the choice it makes determines how much of an impact it will have on its community.”

Response Choice: Condemn the Culture. TS raises the question of when did the church decide it should mandate the direction of our culture? Why are we focused on the fruit rather than the root (p71)?

I love this because I’ve always thought churches are treating the symptoms rather than the cause. We get mad and boycott McDonald’s because of their acceptance of homosexuality. I don’t agree with it, but shouldn’t we be more concerned with the lives and hearts of the execs that made the decision. Why not pour our boycott energies into praying/serving them?

Going right along with this, TS says Christians are using the Bible as a hammer against people trying to force reform. No wonder people are turned off! Who gets the warm fuzzies over something that just whacked ‘em up side the head?

He quotes the book “A Matrix of Meanings” (this is a fantastic quote): “In the New Testament, only the Gospels were written with the general public in mind. Yet many in the church read pop culture in light of Peter, Paul, and John’s letters. Books of the Bible intended as ‘inhouse’ documents, designed to purify God’s people, have been used inappropriately to correct the broader culture. So the warnings against sexual immorality in 1 Corinthians 7 get directed toward audiences Paul never intended.”

When we condemn the culture and use the Bible as a hammer, we’re just proving that we ARE judgmental and uncaring.

Response Choice: Separate From the Culture. When Jesus was on earth, he didn’t make a ton of list of don’ts; instead he focused on lists of character qualities we should have.

Response Choice: Embrace the Culture. Many mainline denominations have done just this, and as a result have become like the culture rather than a “light in the darkness.”

Response Choice: Ignore the Culture. Just because you ignore it doesn’t mean it isn’t there. And you’re missing out on a teachable moment. Jesus didn’t ignore the culture.

Response Choice: Leverage the Culture. This is obviously the best choice, and it is just that … a choice.

Chapter 5 goes right into leveraging the culture. TS talked about “sacred vs secular.” I agree with him that a lot of stuff in the Christian market is downright cheesy and embarrassing. When Paul was in Athens he was able to speak to the people there of their “unknown god” and point them in the direction of Jesus.

We are starting Freedom Ridge with the belief that everyone is on a spiritual journey whether they realize it or not; it is up to us to point them to Jesus. We need to meet people where they live, tap them on the shoulder, and begin walking with them as we steer them to Jesus.

I’m writing a post on the new generation initially called First Globals that will publish early Monday (August 18th). It’s got some interesting tidbits that I’d like to hear your comments and insight on. Please make sure you check it out.

Do The Right Thing, Part 2

Yesterday I shared with you 2 principles I have learned in my life as a pastor about making decisions and doing the right thing. They were 1.) the right thing is not always the easiest thing, and 2. some people will hate you for your decision.

Today I want to share 3 more principles with you that will hopefully help you do the right thing.

3. Don’t second guess yourself. This is when you get into the arena of “what ifs?” and that is not a healthy place to live. Now if a trusted coach points out how it could have been done more effectively, don’t be to arrogant to adapt and/or regroup. But just because people whine and complain doesn’t mean your decision was wrong. Which leads to …

4. Stick with it. You may be tempted to give into the whiners, because that would be THE EASY THING TO DO (refer to #1). Again, if you’ve made your decision based on God’s vision for you then you’re OK. The Bible says in 2 Thessalonians 3:13, “…never tire of doing what is right.” If it’s right, stick with it regardless of the pain, discomfort, or temptation to give up. Then …

5. In the end, people will understand. Some of them may never tell you, but in their heart of hearts they will appreciate the fact that you did the right thing and didn’t waver from your convictions.

Moses in the Old Testament worked with the largest group of whiners in history. Moses just rescued them from bondage (through a bunch of really cool God-thing events, I might add), and they were whining from day one! But he stuck with the task God had given him, and God was able to work through it.

If you stick with your decision and people NEVER understand it is not your problem, it’s their problem. At least you did what God wanted you to do.

Now go do the right thing.

Do The Right Thing

Decisions, choices, are a part of life. Someone once said that our life is a sum total of all the choices we made. Sometimes the decisions come easily to us; they are a no-brainer. Then others call for a little more thought. Some call for courage.

Those in leadership positions face decisions on a daily basis, and these decisions will affect the organization either in a positive or negative way. It can be daunting, but it is necessary. Putting off a decision is in essence a decision you are making … deciding not to decide. And I’m sure I don’t have to convince you that only leads to many fires needing to be put out later down the road!

Don’t make decisions that only serve to pacify the masses or a few people; I want to encourage you to do the right thing and make the tough call. I’m by no means perfect, but here’s what I’ve learned as a pastor;

1. The right thing is not always the easiest thing.

Everybody knows this. Dumbledore of Harry Potter fame (I’ve read all the HP books and seen all the movies) said, “We must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy.” Very true, Dumbledore! If you just make the easy choice or decisions, you are NOT leading … you are coasting. And you can only coast downhill; it requires no effort to go with the current.

Fear of the unknown or uncertainty can cause decision-paralysis. Knowing this, someone much wiser than Dumbledore said, “If you wait for perfect conditions, you’ll never get anything done.” That’s King Solomon talking in Ecclesiastes 11:4 in the Old Testament of the Bible.

Having a clear cut vision from God and understanding His mission for your life and church will help deter the decision-paralysis. So step out, step up, be a leader and realize you need to do the right thing and make the right decision. When you do, realize …

2. Some people will hate you for your decision.

You can’t make everyone happy, and you don’t want to. Look at the life of Jesus. He was always ticking people off! It’s not because He was being a jerk, but it was because He was sticking to His mission and wouldn’t let the urgent detract Him from the greater goal.

When you have God’s vision for your church as the driving force for your decision making, you will tick people off. They will call you an uncaring-selfish-empire-building-dictator and may try to make life miserable for you. If you have made your decision in line with God’s vision for you and His principles, then don’t sweat it! There’s more important things to do than worry about what people think of you.

In a previous ministry I had to make a tough call of removing someone from a leadership position and it angered a lot of people, but it was the right thing to do and the church was better for it. It wasn’t easy, but it was the right thing to do.

Come back tomorrow and I’ll share three more principles that I’ve learned about doing the right thing.

An Observation About Encouragement

I recently came across this great post about encouragement. I copied it below, or you can see it in the original form here …

Pardon me for a moment while I make a pointed observation:

I have never met an over-encouraged pastor.
It’s almost an oxymoron. Almost all are walking-wounded. Bitten by their own sheep.

It has always boggled my mind when someone who has never undertook the tremendous physical, mental & spiritual challenge of planting a church criticizes a church planter. That takes a lot of gumption, y’know?

Likewise, it has always astounded me when someone who has never pastored a church criticizes their pastor. I think Paul said something about this in 1 Timothy 1.6-7.

It would be like me trying to tell my primary physician he’s doing everything wrong while he’s trying to treat me. Ludicrous & judgmental, right?

Further, it has also always struck me as audacious when seminary students criticize pastors. This is like a first-year med student walking up to a tenured brain surgeon with years of mettle and experience and saying, “Hey Doc, I’ll take the scalpel here. I obviously have a steadier arm having been watching from the sidelines. You can scrub out.”

My point? Your pastor doesn’t need your criticisms & judgments, trust me. He needs your prayers and loud encouragements.

Allow me to go a step further with this observation: If you have a long critical email/blog post/phone call that you can’t wait to use to get your pastor’s attention, read Hebrews 13.17-18 first. And then if you’re still feeling moved to speak, watch Session 2 from Unleash (unpacks Heb 13.17 perfectly).

Bottom-line: It’s hard to create something beautiful with a sledgehammer. Criticize by creating. Trust that the true Senior Pastor (1 Peter 5) is consuming
& guiding your local pastor’s heart – the workman already approved.

The Life Of A Church Planter

Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people: religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized—whoever. I didn’t take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ—but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I’ve become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life. I did all this because of the Message. I didn’t just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it!

-(From the Message paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 in the New Testament.)

The Freedom Ridge Personality In 24 Words Or Less

Yesterday we talked a little bit about what our weekend services will look like. Although I don’t know a single descriptive term, I want to fill you in on our personality because that will have a direct effect on our services. Again, I don’t know a single descriptive term to describe our personality.

Here’s what I envision when I see Freedom Ridge … we are going to be a church for people who don’t like church, so that means we’re gonna do things differently. Our format will be different; as soon as we can swing it we will be video intensive. We will have man-on-the-street interviews, video illustrations, and I will probably even teach some of the points of my lesson by video (so it will be on-the-scene illustrations, but I wouldn’t do this every week.)

The lessons will be Bible-based, concise, and practical; that means you will get something on Sunday that you can use in your life on Monday.

As far as music, we will be guitar driven. I am not opposed to using today’s culture to make a point (look at Jesus’ parables), so if there is a good secular song that will fit the theme for the day, the band will play it. The style of the band will be rockish. I’m especially praying for a couple electric guitar players that can really rock out. Again, I don’t want us to be the typical mellow-sounding-contemporary-church-worship-team that you’d normally expect.

Weekend services are just one part of Freedom Ridge. One trait that I want us to really be known for is community service. We will serve in a variety of ways with no strings attached purely because God loves people and so do we. If we ever disappeared for whatever reason, I want the community to miss us.

So if I had to boil it down to 24 words, I would say, “Freedom Ridge will be an externally focused and practical church that hits people where they live using culturally relevant means to fulfill our mission.”

Sound like something you might like to be involved in?? Let me know. We’re developing our launch team right now!

What Style of Service Will Freedom Ridge Have?

People ask me all the time what type of service Freedom Ridge is going to have. It is kind of a tricky question to answer in just one or two descriptive words, not because I don’t know what we will be like. I can see it very clearly in my mind. It is because I don’t know what “term” to use.

“Traditional” means you have a choir, perhaps dressed in robes sitting either on the stage or to one side of the stage. An organ and piano plays the songs while everyone sings verses 1, 2, 3 & 5 of hymn #472. There is nothing wrong with this, but we are definitely not going to be traditional.

“Contemporary” means you don’t have a choir, but you have somewhere between 3 and 12 people on the stage each with their own microphone singing what is affectionately called “praise & worship” songs with the words on a screen. You usually have drums, maybe a couple guitars, and definitely a keyboard. Throw in a casually dressed speaker, maybe an occasional drama, and you’ve got yourself a contemporary church service. I think contemporary is the new traditional. We are not going to be contemporary.

The other terms that people use to describe church services are “emerging” and “emergent.” Honestly, I haven’t been able to wrap my mind around what these mean. I could be wrong, but it seems that those who subscribe to this train of thought are re imagining what church is supposed to be and are tired of the way that modern churches are doing things, so they are going back to the way church was done 2000 years ago. I understand the premise, but it seems they are not going back to the true authentic church of 2000 years ago, but are only going back about 500 years. It is not to say they are traditional, because they are not.

To oversimplify it, it has something to do with incense, you can maybe sit on couches instead of pew or chairs, there’s some chants or group readings, you can visit a prayer or confession station, the service is more conversational, and there are definitely candles. We are not going to be emergent, although during our services some people may raise their ignited lighters as the band is rocking out a song to God.

So what type of service is Freedom Ridge going to have? Maybe conmergent. Maybe emergeporary. Maybe something else. We’re not going to be Willow Creek, or Saddleback, or Mars Hill, or LifeChurch, or Lakewood Church, but we will be Freedom Ridge. We’ll take what we can learn from other successful churches, apply it to our setting here, and not worry about fitting in some sort of box. Boxes are too restrictive anyway.

Come back tomorrow and I’ll give you a little insight into what we’ll be like.

Back It Up

We have this Dodge Neon with a standard transmission. It’s a stick shift. The other day it decided to quit going into reverse. We can drive forward just fine, but when it comes time to back the thing up you are out of luck. You have to get out and push, and even though it is a small car it is still pretty heavy. So we’ve had to adapt a little bit in how we drive. You need to pull through the parking spaces so you don’t have to back up. Instead of parking in the driveway at home, you park in the street … drive around the block instead of turning around.

I took it to the garage to find out how much it will cost to go in reverse again. $500. And that’s $500 more than we have right now.

I don’t know about you, but when I think of “backing up” or “going in reverse” in life, it has a negative connotation to it. The way I am wired, I am always looking forward. But every now and then it is good to back up just a little bit, get a different perspective and evaluate, and then adjust course if need be or continue moving on like you were. But you have to keep moving forward.

I’ve learned in church planting, you need to have a plan and a strategy; that’s a given. But you also need to be flexible enough to adapt your strategy as you become more aware of the community’s culture, or as different opportunities arise. Just because it looks good on paper doesn’t mean it is going to work out in reality.

When it comes to life, you can’t go through life staring into the rear view mirror. I know people who live that way, and it’s a miserable way to live.

So even though “reverse” is a necessary gear, don’t get stuck in it. Keep on keeping on.

Web 2.0

I’m really starting to get into this stuff known as web 2.0. Of course I have my blog, but I also have a Facebook account, and our church has a page on Facebook also. I have just created an account with Twitter and think I could have a lot of fun with it.

As a church planter, I am learning the possibilities and advantages of having these things. I’m sure I haven’t tapped into their full potential, but I am learning! There’s also some really really cool things we could do as a church with Twitter, and if the opportunity arises we will definitely do it.

So if you read this … request me as a friend on Facebook, become a fan of our church page, and follow me on Twitter so we can read each other’s tweets.  Technology is amazing.

Did Superman Need Jesus?

Do you remember that thermometer I told you about awhile ago? It is wireless, we have a sensor outside, and the base tells us what the temperature is outside and inside as well as the lowest and highest yet registered. So far the warmest day we have had was 75 degrees, until a couple days ago.

I was outside grilling some stuff for supper and I went inside to get a drink. The base to the thermometer sits next to our fridge, so I glanced at it to see what the temperature was outside because it felt good. I mean I was grilling outside, so it had to be decent. It said the temperature was 90.7 degrees!

I was amazed it was that warm, then I remembered where the sensor was. It needs to be covered so it is out of the weather. I had put it on the shelf underneath the grill with the wire hanging out a couple feet behind it. It was picking up some radiant heat from the grill. It still felt good outside, but it wasn’t 90.7 degrees.

This reminded me of something Jesus said when he spoke about how he is the vine and we are the branches and we can’t do much of anything unless we’re connected to him. We may feel like Superman and we’re invincible and don’t need Jesus, but sooner or later we’re gonna be reminded that we do need him. We might as well make it a point to be connected to him on a regular basis now so we don’t have to go through a potentially painful reminder later.

As a pastor and church planter, it is too easy for me to hit the ground running or get bogged down in details when I should be spending time with Jesus and working on my connection with him so that I can indeed bear fruit. I’ve got to be intentional. How about you?

Fusion by Nelson Searcy saved my butt

I’ve been reading the book Fusion by Nelson Searcy and it is very good. It talks about the assimilation process of churches and gives some very practical insight and advice on narrowing the back door of your church. It has a lot of good stuff in it, and it has a lot of stuff that you can begin to use in your church right now. We’re definitely going to be implementing a lot of the stuff in our church when we begin meeting publicly. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in fortifying their assimilation/first impressions/guest services in their church. Go buy it if you don’t already have it.

Tonight I was very thankful that I purchased it, because as the title of this post says, the book saved my butt. I headed out to my daughter’s track meet this evening and I grabbed the book to read in between her events. When I got to the track, the temperature was about 38 degrees and the wind was blowing about 20mph. So needless to say it was very cold. I sat down on the frozen metal bleachers and the chill shot right through me. The wind was blowing and I was shivering. After about 5 minutes I knew I was not going to get any reading done because of the wind and I was shaking too much to hold the book still. I thought I would go into hypothermia and quite possibly die.

Rather than hold the book, I sat on it. The 180 some pages were enough to raise me up off the frozen bleacher and increase my body temperature by a couple degrees. So Nelson, if you happen to read this post, I just want to thank you from the bottom of my butt for writing Fusion, because it saved my life.

What’s With The Name “Freedom Ridge”?

Yesterday I mentioned I’d give you some insight into how I chose the name Freedom Ridge for our new church.

I prayed a lot about it. I surfed the net to get ideas. I even made up a list of possible names as they came to me, and I showed them to my family and a few friends to get their input. Talking with others helped me to condense the list a little bit.

I was looking for something that could be more of a personality or a brand than just a name; something that describes who we are rather than just a cool name on a business card. I believe everyone is on a spiritual journey whether they realize it or not, and people are trying to fill some kind of void in their life with something. Those of us who are Jesus-followers know what they are looking for, and we need to make the introduction to Jesus.

When Jesus came to this earth, he said a couple interesting things. In John 10:10 he says, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” In John 8:36 he says, “So if the Son (Jesus) sets you free, you are truly free.” Who wouldn’t want to live life to the fullest? Who wouldn’t want to be truly free?

Freedom Ridge is not a place, but it is a state of mind, it is a life that people aspire to. Through Freedom Ridge, we want to give people Jesus so they can have freedom from religion, freedom of life, freedom from addiction, freedom from hurts, freedom from hangups, freedom to live the way God wants them to live. At Freedom Ridge, we definitely want to show people how to have eternal life through Jesus, but we are just as excited to share how everyone can have a full life NOW.

Mike Yaconelli said it best when he said, “Jesus Christ came to rescue us from listlessness as well as lostness; He came to save us from flat souls as well as corrupted souls. He came to save us from dullness. Our culture is awash in immorality and drowning in dullness. We have forgotten how to dance, how to sing, how to laugh… We have been stunted by mediocrity.”

There you have it. Freedom Ridge is about freedom in Jesus.

Church Names For Dummies

I recently sat in on a group of guys who were talking about church names and if they mean anything anymore. It was interesting to hear all the different view points and their reasoning. I was surprised how many thought that names didn’t really make a difference if someone would attend a certain church or not. I agree that a great name doesn’t necessarily make a great church, because if there is nothing behind that name (such as great ministries to the people and community) then chances are people will not return. But I am of the mindset that an attractive name is important, because how many people would go to check out the “First Church of Crap”? It doesn’t matter what they have ministry wise; people will probably be reluctant to visit a service.

Mark Driscoll came up with a formula for helping people pick out the perfect church name. You can see his blogpost here.

Tomorrow I’ll give you some insight as to why I chose the name Freedom Ridge for our new church.

Introducing Freedom Ridge Wear!

I am proud to introduce to you our first ever Freedom Ridge T-shirts.

The top example has sizes M-XXL available and the bottom example has S-XXL. (Sorry, no youth sizes available at this time.)

You can have your very own for $10 each, and it is a great way to get the word out about Freedom Ridge and to show your Freedom Ridge pride. Quantities are limited so don’t wait around to get yours. Send me an e-mail or give me a call and we’ll make arrangements to get your shirts to you.

Freedom Ridge Core Values Recap

In case you missed any of our series the last few days, here is a summary of what we talked about. Click on the core value and you’ll be taken directly to the page with an explanation of that core value.

Freedom Ridge Core Values

1. everyone is welcome

2. Bible application

3. be culturally relevant

4. enjoy life

5. knowing God

6. micro-missions

Freedom Ridge Core Values Pt6

Today we finish up our series on the Freedom Ridge Core Values. I hope you have enjoyed it and it helps you have a good understanding of the heart and mission of Freedom Ridge: love God, love people, change the world.

Yesterday I said this last core value would make a huge difference in your life. It’ll take a commitment on your part, but it will be well worth it. Our final core value …

6. micro-missions

As you can tell from our mission statement, we are based on the Great Commandment (“love God with everything you’ve got, and love your neighbor as yourself.”) I want Freedom Ridge to be known as a church that reaches out to people and ministers to them in practical, tangible, discernible ways. This is not to make us look good or feel good about ourselves, but is driven by our love for our neighbors and desire to follow the Great Commandment. The great thing about micro-missions is we can do them as a church or you can do them as individuals.

Every time you take part in service projects in the area, or serve someone in your neighborhood or at your job, or go on short-term mission trips, or even the simple act of bringing someone to Freedom Ridge with you, when you do these things you are taking part in micro-missions. We’ll even do something as crazy as canceling services on a weekend and have an organized time of community service.

Simply put, when you reach out to someone in order to demonstrate the love of Jesus to them, then you are taking part in micro-missions.

We believe that the life we live and know at Freedom Ridge is to be shared with everyone! So let’s get after it!

Freedom Ridge Core Values Pt5

We’ve got two more core values to cover in this series. So far we’ve looked at (1) everyone is welcome, (2) Bible application, (3) be culturally relevant, and (4) enjoy life. Don’t take yourself so seriously.

All these core values will help us fulfill our mission: love God, love people, change the world. Today, we look at one that is the foundation of all that we do. It makes it all possible, and it’s a no-brainer. Today’s core value …

5. knowing God

It’s amazing that the creator of the universe wants us to know him, and he made it all possible through Jesus Christ. 1 Timothy 2 tells us “God wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus …”

We will place a priority on helping people to know God. We realize that life is a spiritual journey and everyone of us are at different spots on our journey, so we won’t compare ourselves to each other. But we will encourage people to progress a little further each day, each week, and each month in their journey of knowing God.

Our weekend services, small groups, and service projects, coupled along with personal devotions, will help people in their journey of knowing God. Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love God with everything you’ve got. It’s hard to love him if you don’t know him.

Tomorrow we’ll discuss our last core value that goes right along with Jesus’ statement, “It is better to give than receive.” Don’t worry, it’s not about money and I promise you it will make a huuuge difference in your life.

Freedom Ridge Core Values Pt4

We are now halfway through our series of looking at the core values that define who we are at Freedom Ridge. Our core values enhance and clarify our mission: love God, love people, change the world. So far we have looked at (1) everyone is welcome, (2) Bible application, and (3) be culturally relevant. We want to reach the current and next generation for Jesus.

The core value we will cover today has to do with Freedom Ridge as a whole and Freedom Ridgers as individuals. Today’s core value is:

4. enjoy life

Too many people equate church with boredom, rituals, or being just for pansies. They think that church is a waste of time and only for the weak; that it is stuffy and serious, and if you are having fun then you aren’t being a good Christian. When Jesus came to this earth, he came with the mission to provide freedom from religion and freedom of life to anyone who would choose to accept him. He even said “I have come so you might have life, and have it abundantly.”

We’re pretty sure that Jesus has a sense of humor. At Freedom Ridge we want people to know it is OK to have fun and it is OK to laugh … even in church! We’ll have regular events with the sole purpose of having fun just to spread the joy.

Tomorrow we’ll hit the core value that’s the foundation of all we’ve talked about so far. Until then, smile.

Freedom Ridge Core Values Pt3

The core values we have covered so far this week are (1) everyone is welcome and (2) Bible application. These help define our mission: love God, love people, change the world. Yesterday I told you that this next core value could make or break Freedom Ridge and must be built into our DNA from the start, so without further ado let’s look at our third core value:

3. be culturally relevant

Have you ever heard churches say “But … we’ve always done it that way”? That’s not us. Our only tradition will be change, and the reason for that is we want to be as effective as possible in reaching the current and next generation for Jesus.

We won’t be afraid to try new things, and if it doesn’t work we won’t be afraid to scrap it. If a ministry or philosophy has outlived its effectiveness, we won’t be afraid to adjust it, rework it, or place it on the shelf of relics and move on. No sacred cows.

With that being said, I do want to stress that we will never compromise the message of Jesus Christ. Methods change, but the message stays the same. While we will be using culturally relevant means and updating the way we do things, our main goal will be to present the timeless truths of the Bible and the message of Jesus Christ in the most effective and understandable way possible.

Tomorrow we’ll talk about a core value that’ll bring peace of mind, and I’d venture to say may even blasts some stereotypes about church right out of the water. Can’t wait.

Freedom Ridge Core Values Pt2

Remember, our mission is: love God, love people, change the world. Our core values help define the mission a little further. Yesterday we talked about our first core value, which is everyone is welcome; we don’t care where people have been, we’re more concerned about where they’re headed. Today, we visit our second core value …

2. Bible application

This is important, because we want to give you something on Sunday that you can use in your life on Monday. We don’t want to waste your time by telling you feel-good-stories, or just teaching you a history lesson from the Bible. The Bible is a relevant and useful book and deserves more respect than that.

It is our goal and desire to share teachings from the Bible that affect you where you live right now. We want to equip you to get the most out of life. It is just understood that we will teach from the Bible because we are a church, so I won’t go into that right now. But the key word in this core value is the word application. How does the Bible affect me today? What does Jesus mean to me in my life right now? What can I learn that will make me a better person?

Freedom Ridge will be Bible-based, practical, useful, and up-to-date.

I’ll see you back here tomorrow as we hit on a core value that will make or break Freedom Ridge. It is important that we build it into our DNA before we even get started. Until tomorrow …

Freedom Ridge Core Values Pt.1

I’m gonna be doing a series of posts this week about the core values of Freedom Ridge. The core values are important, because they help define who we are and how/why we do things.

Our MISSION is simply stated: love God, love people, change the world. The core values take this a step further and defines the mission.

Our first core value is …

1. everyone is welcome

When Jesus said to “love your neighbor as yourself” he didn’t put any conditions on your neighbor. People are important. We don’t want to be a church that excludes people, but we want to welcome them regardless of race, economic status, political leanings, past ghosts, current habits, wardrobe choices, station in life, etc.

So at Freedom Ridge, we will welcome anyone and everyone. No perfect people allowed, which is a good thing or I wouldn’t be there either.

Come back tomorrow as we look at Core Value #2 …

The Mission & Core Values Series

Our mission at Freedom Ridge is simple: love God, love people, change the world. Everything we do will be tailored around our mission.

Starting on Monday (March 24) I’m going to do a series of posts on the core values of our new church, Freedom Ridge. I’ll make a post each day of the week highlighting a different core value. The core values get to the basis of who we are and why we do things the way we do them, so they’re kinda important. They explain our mission a little bit. Come back each day this week as we talk about a different core value.

I’m looking forward to it!

Freedom Ridge Dinner Thoughts

1. It was well attended. Everyone who said they would be there was there.

2. The food was good. I picked the main course up from the Hy-Vee deli. I told them I would pick it up at 6:15, and when I showed up they said they thought I was going to be there at 11 a.m. They put it back in the cooler and had to warm it back up. It put me behind schedule a little bit, but everything worked out OK.

3. The kids were awesome. They seem to have some musical ability.

4. Thanks to CCF for letting us use their space.

5. A couple families who want to be part of Freedom Ridge weren’t able to make it to this dinner. Maybe next time.

6. It was great to meet everyone and learn more about them!

7. Thank you, G, for bringing the dessert!

8. I’m excited about the possibility of working with and alongside everyone who is a part of Freedom Ridge. God has some great things in store for us!

Freedom Ridge Dinner

I can’t wait for Friday. We’re having a bunch of people together who are interested in hearing about Freedom Ridge. We’re going to feed them a free supper, and then I’m going to talk for just a few minutes about the vision and mission of Freedom Ridge and what we’re going to be doing as a church. We have a pretty good group signed up for our inaugural dinner, and I can’t wait to get them all in one place! It’s gonna be great. The weather is cold and snowy today, but so far Friday looks good. I can’t wait!

If you want to come, there’s still time. You can find out more info at our website.