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I don’t want to be PC3

Sounds pretty inflammatory, right? Stay with me.

Yesterday was another amazing day at The ROCK. The crowd was down but the energy was way up! David & Carolyn’s teams did a phenomenal job leading worship and bringing the visuals. Our Creative Arts Ministries are stepping up in a HUGE way! Kid’s ROCK was pumping. Our HandUp inner city teams were bringing their ‘A’ game as well. I loved seeing the greeter’s welcoming everyone with huge smiles. Four people raised their hands to give their lives Christ!

After church, I was able to slip out and catch the 12:30 service over at PC3. Yesterday marked their first official service in the new building. It is huge and beautiful and a gift from God for their ministry. Duane and the band brought it in worship. Mike Ashcraft delivered a great message that I may well “borrow” from in the future. They gave $25,000 to a pastor from Kenya. In all yesterday, 5,500 people worshiped in one of the three services at PC3. It was an awesome day for them and I could not be more excited and proud of what God is doing through their ministry.

I love their church, but I don’t want to be another PC3. We are called to be The ROCK. I’m pretty sure Mike doesn’t want PC3 to be The ROCK. Why is this? Because God has called The ROCK & PC3 to this city to be who we are. I want to be who God called us to be and to do what He called us to do. There are more than enough hurting people in our city for all of our churches.

I love my city and I love the many great churches in our city. I applaud you all. Port City Community Church, know that The ROCK is cheering for you. CONGRATULATIONS!

Tomorrow, I’ll share about some other amazing churches around here. Until then, tell me about how your church is making God’s name great in our city…

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I’ve been bad, but…

Yes, I know. It’s been too long since I last posted. It’s not that I have not had something to write about. The problem is that I have too many amazing things happening to pick one or fifty to fill you in on. So, I’ll just post some random awesomeness (Gabriel would say) for your enjoyment.

• Jen went back to the doctor about the new cysts that had formed on her ovary again. This was not good. After a lot of talk and prayer, Jen decided that, if the cysts were still there at follow-up visit, she would have the ovary removed. This was not an easy decision for Jen since it was her only, remaining ovary. But, when we went back, the tech performing the ultrasound said, “I don’t understand this, but the cysts are gone!” Yeah, God’s up to something and we can prove it!
• I’m an uncle again! Don & Abbye gave birth to Rylee Lyric this past Saturday! Actually, Abs did most of the work. MAN! Rylee is beautiful! I am so glad I did not have a girl. I would spend all of my money on a little girl and then hurt the first boy that tried to hold her hand.

• One Prayer has been incredible. Check out the lineup of speakers. Week One, Dad kicked us off with, “Lord, Make Us Joyful“. Then we had Craig Groeschel share his prayer, “Make Us One”. Then I taught, “Make Us Selfless“. This past Sunday, Dino Rizzo messed us up with “Make Us Extremely Generous”. This coming Sunday, Dad will finish the series with “Lord, Make Us Your Church”.
• I love that video made it possible to have men like Craig and Dino speak to us. We even grew as a church through this series… IN JUNE! I thought churches were not supposed to grow during the summer. Somebody should have told all of our ROCKERS who are inviting their friends like crazy!
• We are having our annual 4th of July party this Friday. This year, we are dubbing it “Blowing Stuff Up 4 Freedom” and it’s going to be huge! We are actually setting the fireworks to music. You’ll have to see it to believe it. If you live in Wilmington, you are invited. Find out more HERE.
• PC3 had their last services as a portable church this past Sunday. The next time they meet, it will be HERE. I am very excited for them. This move is going to be HUGE for them. GO PC3, GO!
• Jeff and the crew over at Lifepoint had some big news this past Sunday as well. This September, they are moving to Ashley High School. God is up to something HUGE there as well.
• Every day, I drive by Northside Baptist on my way to work. It is fun to watch their new building going up. It is HUGE and it gets me fired up every time I see it. Pastor Kenny Chinn and his team are doing an incredible job leading their church.
• I get to have lunch this week with Pastor Tim Blevins from Life Community Church this week. I’m hearing some amazing stuff about what’s happening there as well. They just kicked off their first weekend with the Angel Food Ministry. This ministry is going to make a huge impact in our city!
• I’ve been loving the music in our weekends recently as David Pray has been leading our teams. The more I get to know him, the more I thank God for joining him to our church for this season. Stay tuned…
• I could blog like this for at least 20, 30… a lot more.
• Needless to say, God is up to some HUGE things around here and I am loving the ride.

So, what’s God doing in your world?

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An amazing day already

Here is what has happened so far today.

• Our new 10 bay CD duplicator and full color CD printer arrived. Our media center is about to go to a whole new level.
• We made the decision to initiate some major systems changes. Over the next 3 months, we are going to see some significant improvements in how we support our ministries and interact with our church family.
• We had an amazing lunch with Jeff, Daryl, Tiffany, Drew, Brad and Dave from Lifepoint. I love what God is doing through their church. It was cool to see our teams interacting together.
• This comes on the heels of Carolyn and I having coffee yesterday with Mike from PC3.  PC3 has on 10-11 more services until they move into their new building. That’s awesome.
• I made arrangements to do some promotion for a very big announcement coming soon. God is doing something huge at The ROCK. Not in the future. He’s doing it right now.
• Matthew helped Jen out today on the murals going in down the hall. A big part of the hallway is now blue. It’s exciting.  WOOOHOO!
• Connecting with someone later today about some big vision things. If you cannot sense the intensity, your spidey sense is a little off.
• During lunch today, Jeff spoke to our staff (I didn’t give him any forewarning) and it was powerful and right on time for us. I love getting around guys that have big vision and are idiots for God. Thanks for hanging out with us today.
• I gotta get back to work. I can’t play Halo all day like some churches… Hey, somebody just shot me with a rubber band.

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