This weekend I will be officiating the wedding of Nathaniel Balough and Morgan Williams in Westminster SC at Magnolia Manor. Never been there but I'm always up for new places to see. One of the great joys of being a Pastor is to be a part of some of the most meaningful times in a person's life. I enjoyed our premarital sessions together and I look forward to this joyous time in their lives.

This past Monday Milo Wilson and myself loaded up his truck and dropped off the 56 "Operation Christmas Child" boxes that our church collected Sunday. Thank you Ridgeview Church for participating in a great world wide outreach. We believe that good works can be the bridge upon the good news can travel. Over 7 million shoeboxes will be shipped all over the world with the good news of Jesus Christ. That's an awesome thing to be a part of!

I am currently reading Neil Cole's book "Search and Rescue: Becoming a disciple who makes a difference." He says on page 68, "There is no greater legacy to pass on than the mission Jesus gave to us originally-to go and make disciples of all the nations. These were Jesus's last word to his disciples. Last words are lasting words." God has been laying on my heart and mind the fact I must do a better job of making disciples. Sometimes it feels like I'm making spectators. Neil Cole lays out a great plan. It starts small at first; that's hard when we're focused on numbers. But, part of my problem is I am looking at church growth and health through numbers of addition (i.e. we have 20 more this year than last). Neil says we should look not at addition but multiplication. I've been challenged on how to see church multiplication- I will get to work on it soon. You can count on that because life is too short to do anything less than the will of God.

I read a portion of Bob Roberts book today called "Glocalization." This stood out to me:

"The fruit the Holy Spirit produced in our lives is a far greater tool for evangelism than possessing skills. It is only through transformed lives that we will ever see the Church make global impact. 'There is a direct relationship between the power of the gospel being lived out in the lives of people in a community and how much that community is altered by the gospel.' In other words, it is how you live, not what you believe, that will transform the world."

I am currently listening to the book "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch. He recently passed away of pancreatic cancer but his lecture has gone viral on the internet. Here is a quote that has stuck with me:

"The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out; the brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. The brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough. They are there to stop the other people!"

Nothing in life that is worth anything is easy. What has God called you to do? Go do it; and the moment you hit your first wall don't walk away and say, "It's just too hard." If you do, then maybe you didn't clearly hear from God or maybe you really aren't interested in giving your life to him when things get tough. I'm so glad I didn't give up when I hit my first wall of rejection by a mission agency years ago about starting a church. I even had one guy from seminary tell me I would fail. Believe me, I thought about giving up long and hard many times! As I approach our 5th anniversary I thank the Lord I didn't! What about you? What is God calling you to do? Don't give up!

This week we kicked of our Fall '08 Growth Groups. Sunday night our college group met at our home led by Patrick Knorr (he's the guy...well, I guess you can figure out who he is in the pic). We had a great meeting and then we had the Hargrove/Riggs group meet at our home Tuesday night. Again, another wonderful evening. My vision for Ridgeview even before we had our first worship service was to see our church meet throughout the community in small group Bible studies. I love what we do with our groups by not only having a time of Bible study but also these groups are serving once a month on Sunday and once a month in the community. Next up- single mom's oil change. Spiritual growth happens by taking in the word and giving out as well through service. A Christ-follower needs both in his or her life. I know I do!

Today I paid an $80 fine at the Greer municipal traffic court for allowing my decal to expire. I was guilty and I had no ground to stand on. It kind of reminded me of the guilty verdict God renders towards my sin. I am guilty. Fortunately for me and all people, God "demonstrates His own love for us, while we were still sinners Christ died for us (Romans 5:8)." That's good news!

Last Friday a reporter from the Greenville News Greer edition called me about an article they were going to do about O'Neal Village and our church that is going in there. It was published on Tuesday. I thought they did a great job on the article. I am very excited about the direction we are headed!

My father turned 70 last week. We took him to lunch. No frills. Just the way he liked it. I wrote him a letter that shared how proud I was to have a dad like him. He told me Sunday night how much that meant to him. The Bible says we are to honor our father and mother. I believe we all should sit down and write a letter to our parents and share with them good things we've always wanted to say in the living years. Here's a rather somber question: if your mom or dad were to go home with the Lord tomorrow would there be things you regretted not sharing with them today? Don't wait. Do it now. I'm glad I did with both!

I picked this up this week. It is known as the responsibility process. I know it will help me because there are things on my mind at times that take more energy there mulling about them than to deal with them. Maybe this will help you?

1. What is a difficult or troubling situation in your life?
2. What payoffs or benefits do you get for keeping it like it is?
3. What costs do you pay for keeping it like it is?
4. How do you create, promote, or allow it to be the way it is?
5. What do you pretend not to know?
6. What do you want?
7. What actions could you take and what requests could you make to get it?
8. When will you do that?