Help us spread the word with this new link: www.originrsvp.com
Copy and paste this into an email to your friends and people you know near Chattanooga, TN, Ringgold, GA, etc. and let them know about our launch on April 5! Thank you!
Archive for February, 2009
The following book list is a list of books that have changed my whole line of thinking and look at life over the last 20 months.
1. The Secret Things of God- Henry Cloud
2. 3 Seconds- Les Parrott
3. Confessions of a Pastor- Craig Groeschel
4. Reposition Yourself- T.D. Jakes
5. The Laws of Thinking- Bishop E. Bernard Jordan
6. Little Black Book of Connections- Jeffrey Gitomer
7. Mindset- John Naisbitt
8. How Come Every Time I Get Stabbed in the Back, My Fingerprints Are On the Knife?- Jerry Harvey
9. A Renegades Guide To God- David Foster
10. Tribes- Seth Godin
11. Become A Better You- Joel Osteen
12. Good To Great in God’s Eyes- Ingram
13. 4 Hour Work Week- Tim Ferriss
14. The 4:8 Principle- Tommy Newberry
15. Thank You Power- Deborah Norville
16. Purple Cow- Seth Godin
17. Your Love Path- Joe Beam
18. The Shack- William Young
19. It- Craig Groeschel
20. In A Pit With a Lion On a Snowy Day- Mark Batterson
Jeff Gonzalez, Executive Pastor at Origin Church, and I were in an hour long conversation yesterday and decompressing over the challenges, the pains, the toughness of our lives right now as we plant a new church and we basically just unloaded our poison together and felt better. At the end of the conversation, we asked each other this question: “Alright; we both know that God is in this and would have us be nowhere else on the planet, right?” We both knew the answer immediately! YES! Ladies and gentlemen, I don’t know if you’ve ever experienced such warfare in this Christian life, but I can assure you if you have not, you are not invading any enemy territory! It means you’re comfortable! That’s where I’d like to be, but I’ve been there, and it wasn’t very rewarding! I felt dried up, used up, and unneeded. So, I guess it’s our choice! Are we going to be used or not?
It gets worse: On Jeff’s way home last night, he hydroplaned his car, ran off the road, and flipped the car. He landed with his body laying on the inside of the windshield. He tells the story that as he lay there, he just thought for a few minutes, “Lord, what else?” He shouldn’t have, but he walked away. He’s fine! Now, his car is totaled and he has no car. We discovered that at about the same time he was flipping his car, I was running off the side of the road in mine, and almost over-corrected the wheel bringing it back on the road; a near wreck experience. Ironic? I don’t know………………but, God is faithful! He must be up to something! He is working in our lives! We have been working hard, hard, hard, at two and three jobs each just to make it. Additioanlly, the same effort is being applied to the launch of this new church over the last 20 months. We are four weeks away from launching. He has a plan! There is no mountaintop without a valley! It’s rich, green grass down in that valley. The mountaintop is temporary! We were made for the valleys! Here’s the key to success through it all: The way we look at life and how we control our mind! That’s all!
A Big Chattanooga-Ringgold Easter
Posted: February 25, 2009 in Externally FocusedTags: chattanooga, easter, ringgold
A nice Easter extravaganza coming to Ringgold-Chattanooga for every child to enjoy! More to follow!
What is the best way for me to plug in to Origin Church?
Posted: February 24, 2009 in FAQTags: Origin, volunteer
We are going to ask the people of Origin to do 4 things well:
- Worship on Weekends (invest & invite others, intentionally give)
- Serve Somewhere (inside & outside Origin)
- Small Groups (connect for real life in groups of 10-12)
- Family Ministries (0-19; our lifeblood)
Culture change starts with 3 people! Look at Google. A small group can maintain the suspension of impossibility. Then, they draw in 12, which brings depth and new resources. Then, up to 120 where they all care about the vision. They love, “getting it done.” All of us have a three who can create something. We can create something that no one else can create, and if we don’t do it, it will be left undone in this world. Don’t bet against the three who can touch a town!
I’m halfway through it; hard to put it down. William Young’s creativity is pretty phenomenal! So far, a very sincere ability to make heartache understood. Looking forward to finishing!
The Warrior acknowledges that there are superior forces which guide him through the circumstances of life and death — his call is only to pay attention and to act without hesitation.
Over the last 10 days, five of our close friends have seen loved ones pass from this life to another……..Public thoughts, prayers, and lots of love out to The Stilwell’s in the loss of Mike’s dad, The Fossett’s in the loss of Amy’s dad, The LeGree’s in the loss of a dear family friend, The Wilson’s in the loss of Tuesday’s 30 year old brother, and The Champion’s in the loss of Jason’s 35 year old brother.
Death helps us re-focus on what’s really important. Death is a ticket somewhere; if Christ is your leader and forgiver, to His place. If Christ is not your leader and forgiver, to Mr. Red Man’s place. I love what Rob Bell says in Velvet Elvis, “Questions bring freedom; freedom that I don’t have to be God and I don’t have to pretend that I have it all figured out. I can let God be God. When everything gets answered, it’s fake. The mystery is the truth.”
We should be releasing, in the next few days, our RSVP for you to use to send to your friends that do not have a facebook. This will be really helpful for us as we ask you to help spread the word so we can better plan for our launch day. In other words, The Ringgold Depot seats 220 people. If we see that we are climbing close to that, then we are standing ready and able to announce two services on that day………….so, I’ll be back to you asap, with the link of an RSVP that, if you will, you can send over to your friends, acquaintances, and family, that live in the Chattanooga-Ringgold- Dalton, GA area! Thank you, in advance!
