I’m catching up on some reading on vacation. I love a good book on the beach or perusing the blogs while my wife takes an afternoon nap. So I thought I’d share a bit of that…

• Death by Love by Mark Driscoll is a great book that explains the Gospel in some powerful, practical ways. And I get to hear every other paragraph in a book about nursing that Harrison is reading. Fascinating
• Perspective – a blog post explaining the subtle differences in what really makes a difference in people’s lives.
• Pastors & Affairs – a blog post written by Gary Lamb, a polarizing figure these days in church planting. Regardless, he makes some pretty great points about how pastors are actually MORE vulnerable to affairs than other men. He’s been on both sides of this tragedy. We need to be bathing pastors in prayer and accountability. I’m thankful for both in my life.
• Why I’m Pumped about the Future of the American Church – blog post written by Larry Osborne, a pastor I’ve grown to really respect. This post says so many things I’ve felt and thought but this actually puts them to words and uses scripture to help it make sense. This fired me up!
• Alarming Numbers Regarding Pastors – a blog with some interesting stats that explain why we value rest for our staff at OneLife. It also reminded me of why I need YOUR prayers!
• Balance and Rest in Ministry – a blog that reminds people like me who could err on the side of workaholicism why rest and balance isn’t just important, it is NECESSARY!

We started my favorite series yet! “Throwback” is going back to the old days of what we THINK church is supposed to do and looking at what the Bible says church REALLY is supposed to do. Here’s how week one went…

• Best news, two people started a relationship with Christ!
• And guess who preached? I did. But guess who wasn’t there? I wasn’t!
• Yep, thanks again to technology we did video for the sermon for two reasons.
• First – because my wife and I left for vacation toward the end of the first service. We are having a great time looking out of our window at the beach as I type!
• Second – I wanted our first service of “Throwback” to give a good feel of what I think about when I throwback to the old days. So the sermon was preached from the church I grew up in – High Point Baptist Church in Meadowview, VA.
• Check out the video, especially the great intro that our creative director Tyler did: http://www.vimeo.com/13189922
• The big idea: Jesus said HE would build HIS church. Not even all the powers of hell can stop it! That’s what we want OneLife to be a part of: an UNSTOPPABLE force! All of our pre-conceived notions of what should happen at church – be it traditional or modern – are just tools God uses to build his church.
• Apparently I threw back to my old redneck vernacular, too. Words like “holler” and “williab” found their way into the sermon
• The service opened with an awesome video and good ole hymn – Victory in Jesus – by the OneLife Band. It was one of my all-time favorite songs they’ve done because of how different it was without changing the melody. It rocked!
• With all of this in mind, the energy was great. On top of that, attendance was great too! Highest first service attendance since Easter.
• Thanks to our awesome volunteers and OneLifers who keep inviting their friends and family, we’ve said “Goodbye!” to the idea that churches can’t grow and build momentum during the summer.
• Although the video sermon was fun and “worked” I am VERY excited to be back live for the rest of the series.
• Next week is going to be another rockin’ week.
• Rumor has it there might just be a fiddle and Charlie Daniels Band’s version of “I’ll Fly Away” rockin’ out. Can’t confirm or deny that at this time
• Don’t miss it! I promise you’re gonna love this ENTIRE series!

We start a new series on Sunday and I am STOKED! Why the big hype in my mind? Here’s what I’m looking forward to…

• Bringing back some old hymns…in a not-so-old kind of fashion.
• Fiddles, harmonicas, piano and organ sounds…you name it, we got it planned (just not gonna tell ya which week gets what!)
• New stage set, graphics, and videos. The creative team just gets better and better.
• Bulletins! Bringing back the old fashioned bulletin…kinda
• Seeing what the Bible really says about the Church.
• Getting rid of pre-conceived notions. Notions of traditionalism trumping Scripture and notions of contemporary methods trumping Scripture, too!
• Healing the wounds of people who have been hurt by the Church.
• Learning about the unstoppable force that Jesus said His Church should be.
• Seeing dozens of new volunteers getting plugged-in to OneLife’s vision of seeing people far from God discover Him and how their one life can make a difference.
• Most of all – seeing people start a relationship with Christ and their lives being radically changed as a result.

It’s going to be a great series. Don’t miss a single week! You’ll be glad you didn’t. Oh yeah…and don’t come alone! Bring somebody with you and get ready to ‘Throwback” to the good ole days with us! See ya Sunday.

Well, this was an unusual weekend. It was the first time since OneLife began that my wife and I both missed a Sunday (other than when we didn’t have church after Christmas…) Plus we had a parade on Saturday and a guest speaker and worship leader on Sunday. So how did it go???

• The band rocked out to “R-O-C-K in the U-S-A” in the Powell 4th of July Parade on Saturday.
• I think it may have surprised a few of the parade goers who expect a church to not have fun
• We had a ton of OneLifers there to pass out some OneLife flyers with awesome coupons on the back to Sushi Spot and Brickyard BBQ. HUGE thanks to them for helping us out!
• And candy. LOTS of candy. Last year we learned that most groups didn’t throw candy. How un-American is a 4th of July Parade without candy!?
• Sunday was  a great day for us on many levels.
• First of all, I am personally learning the value of rest! We won’t go this long again without a weekend away to recharge and rest. I figure if God took the 7th day off to rest, I should probably learn a lesson or two from that.
• We enjoyed sharing in worship with some great churches online thanks to live streaming. We checked in on NewSpring Church and Oak Leaf Church.
• Josh Duncan, a church planter we are partnering with in South Knoxville, filled in for me at OneLife and did an AWESOME job!
• Check it out here: www.onelifeknox.com/watchonline
• Joe Collins, who usually leads our elementary kiddos in worship each week, led worship in the main auditorium. He also did a great job!
• Some things we did NOT do: No flags marched down the aisle, no songs about a government, no fireworks or streamers.
• Instead we focused on the God who gave us all of the freedom we celebrate and the freedom from sin He gives.
• I’m so proud of our team that OneLife isn’t about A man but THE Man and they don’t skip a beat when one of our regulars are out.
• I’m also proud of our OneLifers who were in town and didn’t use the holiday as an excuse to lay out of church. Attendance didn’t drop much at all.
• Volunteerism didn’t drop either…thanks OneLifers for that!!
• Next week we kick off a series that I am SOO excited about. It might just be our best one yet. Check it out here: www.onelifeknox.com/series
• So don’t miss it! PLEASE! You’ll be sorry you did! And bring a friend with you!!!