Huckabee rolls through Blue Ridge!

Today Presidential contender Mike Huckabee made a campaign stop at North Greenville University. Milo and I drove up there to catch the action. In fact, as we were getting out of my car Governor Huckabee's bus came rolling in past us. It was interesting to be a part of a campaign rally and observe. I'm still undecided but I like many of the things Mike Huckabee stands for.

Tonight it started snowing. Half of the Upstate will be closed tomorrow! I'm going to get up early, get some message prep out of the way, and take Thursday instead of my regular Friday off. It's going to be fun to take Ethan (and maybe Landon) and play in that white stuff! I told Ethan today on the way home that we were going to have snow tomorrow morning. He told me, "No daddy, no snow, pop-tart!" Sometimes you gotta say, "Whatever?"

New York City Coaching Network January Meeting

I spent today at the Journey Church office in Manhatten with 15 other pastors from around the nation for a coaching network I'm involved in. I've never been involved in a network like this. It's been a great benefit to me. The issue at hand today was that of evangelism. Pastor Nelson Searcy laid out four areas concerning this area: The Pastor's role, Personal Evangelism, Promotion, and Preservation/Preparation. One thing that stuck with me today was the "principle of spiritual readiness" we discussed. Those who use well what they are given will be given more. We can put some preparation into expecting God to work in our church and God will bless it. Roy Mansfield stated churches pray for the fire of God to fall down on their churches but don't prepare the wood to burn. Are we as a church preparing for God's blessing to fall down on us by getting ready for Him to entrust us with new babes in Christ? Growth groups we are starting next month are a great first step!

By the way, I shot a video in Times Square I am going to share Sunday morning in my message. It is short and sweet but I couldn't waste an opportunity to be in the most recognized place in the world and not use it in some way to illustrate a message point.

Practicing Jesus Habits

Yesterday, I spoke at the ordination service of our worship and student Pastor, now the Reverend Milo Wilson. I gave a charge to him and it is a reminder to all of us ministers, whether full-time, part-time, bivocational, etc. BTW, all of us are ministers; God has simply called some of us out to equip the rest of the church to carry out His will. At Milo's ordination I shared that we can learn much about the teachings of Jesus, but we can also learn much about the habits of Jesus. I shared these habits that I gleaned from a book by Jay Dennis entitled, "The Jesus Habits."

*Practice seclusion

*Practice prayer

*Practice worship

*Practice building relationships

*Practice confrontation (with love)

*Practice challenging the status quo

*Practice listening

*Practice love

*Practice thankfulness

*Practice faith

*Practice handling criticism effectively

*Practice making family a priority

*Practice having fun

*Practice integrity

*Practice resting

*Practice giving

*Practice fitness

*Practice keeping your word

*Practice using and memorizing Scripture

*Practice living for a purpose

*Practice fasting

It was a wonderful night of affirming a brother in Christ into the ministry. Thanks again to Pastor Aaron Rayburn at Edwards Road Baptist Church for moderating the council and allowing us to meet at their beautiful church facility.

Wild West Fall Fest!

Halloween night our church sponsored a "Wild West Fall Fest" at the Red barn right off highway 101 in Greer. Lots of families came out and it was a great time. Thanks to many who volunteered their time in working the games, bringing hay and decorations, keeping the campfire going and making s'mores, conducting hay rides, crafts, refreshments, parking, "Pecos Pete's Pumpkin Patch," and the grand finale "Trunk or Treat." We were able to connect with over 30 families in our community to let them know God loves them. That's why we did what we did. Last year we had a fall festival at the home of one our dear ladies in our church. It was a blast! But, this year I wanted to take the good time we had and share it with our community. If there's any way we can be a bridge of God's love to people, I'm all over it!

Journey Church Coaching Network

After the Fall Fast the next day I packed my bags and headed for New York City for a coaching network I've been accepted in. I arrived Thursday, spent the night, and headed into Manhatten to the Journey Church offices on west 44th st between 8th and 9th avenue promptly at 10 am. There are 14 other guys that have been accepted into this network. We will meet 5 more times; once each month from 10 am to 3 pm. We have a book assignment to read in which we'll write up application points. Most importantly, Pastor Nelson Searcy from the Journey Church will guide us through church systems. Now that may not sound real exciting to you. But for me, I'm eating this stuff up! Many times we hit roadblocks in our churches. We can blame the people for being unfaithful, uncommitted, blah, blah, blah. Now, sometimes that may be true. But, many times it's a problem with our system. Pastor Nelson says that systems save you time, energy, money, and stress. There are eight systems in the church. He asked us to identify our strongest and weakest. I came away from this conference fired up. I am ready to get to work on two of our most important systems: the weekend worship system and our small groups system. We are going to take them up notches above where they've been. Hold on!

SeaCoast Church

Today is a treat for me. I am not preaching at Ridgeview Church and am going to take a break and just be out today. My family and I are going to worship at SeaCoast Church in Greenville. This church is doing a great job of reaching people for Christ. They are a multi-site church based out of Charleston and one of the most innovative churches in America. Sometimes as a Pastor when I visit a church it's hard for me to get out of "evaluation" mode and just be a person that's there to worship. I want to truly relax this moring and focus my mind's attention and my heart's affection on Jesus. But, when I get back and reflect I will jot a few notes down of great things they are doing and see how we at Ridgeview can improve. It's all about the Kingdom! I am focused on helping as many people in my lifetime as I possibly can escape the prison of a Christless eternity. That's what drives me. I look forward to the Christmas season to throwing the lifejackets out to many people in our community as we start a new series entitled "Christmas 3:16."

Last night it was announced on the local news that Blue Ridge High school coach David Farnham is battling cancer and is in Greenville Memorial Hospital. I first met Coach Farnham two summers ago as he was helping lead a clinic for the Blue Ridge Youth Association. We had him come speak this past February at our church for our church's SuperBowl Sunday. We even put a humorous video together with him in it. I still laugh every time I see it. Check it out at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAwxTQ--fS4.

My prayers are with Coach Farnham as he battles this illness. He's a great man not because he's a good football coach but he loves the Lord and lives his faith out as he leads young men.

Thank You!

Today in the morning worship service my wife announced her resignation as children's minister of Ridgeview Church. She has begun a new job at Piedmont Psychiatry counseling chidren and adolescents. I can't thank her enough for all she has done! Almost 4 years ago we as a new church had our first worship service. From day one we had a children's church for parents to leave their children as they made their way into the worship service. It was staffed from preschool to 5th grade. We literally had nothing when we first started as a church with no structure or program for kids. Tanya came in and gave it structure. Now, I feel our children's ministry is running on all cylinders. We had strong numbers this morning in our Ridgekidz area. We baptized a young girl today as well named Eden Huskey. Our Wednesday night Champtions 4 Christ is a great discipleship time for 14 to 15 kids who have signed up. It's high commitment. Thank you Tanya for going on this journey with me and jumping in there where needed in this new church plant. You have helped plant seeds in young hearts and minds that are growing into a harvest of young men and women sold out to Jesus!

Our home group met tonight at our home. It was our second meeting of the Fall semester that runs September 9 to December 9. Pictured above is one of the many reasons I look forward to group!

Small Groups, Home Groups, Growth Groups, Connection Groups, Journey Groups, Shepherding Groups, Bible Study Fellowship Groups, Sunday School That Meets In Homes Groups

I don't care what you call 'em, they are vital to a church. Just read through the book of Acts, especially chapter 2. I have led a home group since we started the church 3 1/2 years ago. I am still learning better ways to do do small groups in our church. I have read countless articles, books, etc, on small groups. Currently, I am listening to "The Small Groups Intensive Workshop" on CD that I purchased from churchleaderinsights.com. It is the best resource I've ever laid my hands on how to do groups. I wish this stuff was out when we first kicked off groups. It's good, really good!

P.S. Pictured above is one of our first groups we had at Ridgeview, the Yearick/Stovall group.

Ridgeview's Summer of Servive 20,000 Touch Celebration Sunday

14,588 Touches!

Ok, we didn't quite reach our goal of touching 20,000 people this summer with the love of Jesus in some way. But, there was much joy in the journey! Pictured above is one of 3 block parties our church hosted in various neighborhoods in our community this past week. Today was our celebration Sunday where we hosted around 175 student athletes from North Greenville University and fed them lunch. It was a great day! We showed a video of North Greenville University President Jimmy Epting. He couldn't be with us today but extended a welcome to the students and thanked our church for hosting them. He even said he knew me when I was a nobody but now I'm a somebody. He cracked everyone up! It's been a great summer. We've served many people in our community; 14,588 to be exact. Hopefully, we all can see that serving others as Christ followers should be a lifestyle and we should do it cheerfully as unto the Lord. Speaking of good cheer, today I started a new message series on living the joy-filled life. I think one of the most powerful moments today is when we showed a video testimony of Renee Smith who is an active attender in our church. Renee is a couple of years younger than me and has been diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease. I have admired so much her attitude through this trial. She has a joy about her. You see, happiness is based on circumstances. Joy is based on a relationship with Jesus Christ. Renee is truly an example of what living the joy-filled life is all about. It isn't based on circumstances. It's based on Jesus!

Sunday Night Reflections

This morning at Ridgeview Church a beautiful thing happened. Our church became a meeting place for the Blue Ridge community to gather together and not only worship God but also remember one of our own who lost her life a little over a week and a half ago. I conducted the funeral for precious Lexie James who moved out of our community with her family last December to live in Knoxville because of her father's job transfer. Today was an opportunity for those who were not able to go to the funeral and even for those who did to gather together and start the healing process. We had Keith Vaugh from the Blue Ridge Little League share some remarks and present the family with a beautiful plaque/picture of Lexie in her Blue Ridge softball uniform. We had principal Tommy Hughes who leads the elementary school in which we gather for worship on Sunday share some wonderful stories of Lexie as she left her mark on Mountain View Elementary. We had her father read a letter he wrote that encapsulated the essence of what Lexie was like. Also in attendance were the girls softball teams that Lexie played on along with parents and others whose lives had been touched by Lexie in one way or the other. It's important for churches to be involved in the community. Ridgeview will always be involved in serving our community in the name of Christ. God allowed our church to minister to others today who were in our church for the first time. That's what we are about at Ridgeview. That's what we do.