Jesus Christ is my passion. College football is my hobby. With that said, I'm pumped about the big game this Saturday: South Carolina vs. Clemson. Bragging rights for a whole year. Granted, we Carolina fans haven't had a whole lot of bragging to do over the last 10 years. Regardless of who wins Saturday, I'm also looking forward to Les & Helen Neely speaking at Ridgeview Sunday. Les and I grew up at Taylors First Baptist and he and his family are missionaries to Zambia, Africa. God is at work all over the world. Let the nations rejoice!

Part of the benefits of being a pastor is that I get to share in some of the most significant times in a person's life. Last Saturday, I had the honor of officiating the wedding of James Ratica and Megan Smith. I met with them for three premarital sessions at my favorite office, Starbucks. It's always exciting to see a couple dream together their future. James and Megan are most likely returning from their honeymoon today or tomorrow. Good advice for any marriage, including mine: pray together, keep Christ in the center of your home. Best wishes James and Megan and I look forward to being your pastor for many years to come.

Congratulations to Darren Gaddis who was elected President of the Kentucky Baptist Convention today! Darren is Pastor of Central Baptist Church in Corbin, Kentucky. He and I met the first few hours I arrived on the campus of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth, Texas. I was moving in to the dorm and he introduced himself. We became instant friends and we were roommates for a semester or two. I was in his wedding, he was in mine. Darren and I were able to hook up in Greensboro, NC this past summer at the Southern Baptist Convention for a few hours and it was great to catch up with him. I always have a great laugh when I see him. He is one of the funniest guys I know. I am grateful that he sent the student ministry of their church down here a couple of summers ago to help me out with outreach at Ridgeview. He will do a great job as KBC President and I will continue to pray for him as he leads.

Ephesians 4:32 states, "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." What a morning we had at our second single mom's oil change! The first time we did this last May we had 12 ladies. Today we had 17! It's an awesome feeling to forget about myself for a couple of hours and serve others in the name of Christ. I guess I shouldn't be surprised because according to Ephesians it's what God created me to do and prepared in advance for me to do. Thanks to everyone from Ridgeview who gave up their Saturday morning to serve Christ by serving others. I love you guys!

Pastor Rick Warren says that you judge a church not by the seating capacity but by the sending capacity. Our church each month has a designated "First Saturday of Service." This month we are sponsoring a single mom's oil change. I got a call this morning from a single mom who will be bringing her car Saturday for the free oil change. I love it! It gets my juices flowing to serve my community. I truly believe that good works become the bridge upon which the good news can travel. I want our focus as a church not to be on how many butts we have in the seats but how many butts we have serving in the streets!