What a day. It’s been nearly 24 hours and I am still recovering. Sometimes I feel like I did when I ran the Nashville Half Marathon (x3) thinking “there’s going to be a downhill soon so I can get ready for the next incline.” If you’ve ever run the Nashville Half, you know that the decline rarely comes. That thing is all inclines. Long. Slow. Inclines. But this isn’t about running. This is much more exciting.
Yesterday morning at Rock City Church, we celebrated 2 years. When I say celebrated…we CELEBRATED. After months of planning, a perfect storm of sorts came together to produce an amazing day. Here’s a few highlights:
1. We launched our Theater 23 Experience. In ways which none of us can really explain, Rock City has literally doubled in size over the last 5-6 months. Our most popular worship experience at 10:45am has been operating at a maximum capacity for months. This alone breaks many rules. Once you reach 75% or so, growth actually begins to become decline. People no longer feel like they can find a seat or worse, invite a friend. Many of our regular attenders had already moved to the 9:00am and 12:30pm services to create more space. It wasn’t enough. Theater 23 was created to open up an additional 200-300 seats for our 10:45am service. Our volunteers and core members voluntarily moved to our 2nd theater for a live stream of the 10:45am service. By doing so, we opened an additional 140 seats on our first weekend! It’s no coincidence we had 70 guests and 33 decisions for Christ yesterday. All because someone said “I’ll give up my seat.” Eternity for 33 people was changed yesterday by this selfless act by 140 others. Amazing.
2. We announced our intention to launch a 2nd Rock City Campus in North Columbus in the fall of 2013. While we continue to “wait” for God to show us where our main location will be one day, we will “go” to an area of town that we feel He is leading us to. We won’t be satisfied with just growing while a majority of our city remains unchurched. Much more to come on this, but we look ahead with great expectations.
3. We celebrated 2 years. We capped off the evening with a birthday bash like no other. For 2+ hours we celebrated all that GOD has done through a church that meets in a movie theater. We shared stories and relived some of the more remarkable things that God has done and will do in the future. It capped off a full and eventful day.
Oh….and to quote the late Steve Jobs…”One More Thing….”
4. We finally made public our Rock City Church App! This has been a personal project of mine for a few months now. Thanks to the coordinated efforts of our creative team, we pulled together an app that we were so excited to share. If you’re a regular attender or just want to know what Rock City is all about, give it a download. You can hear/watch sermons, read the notes, see the media, follow our blog and connect with us online. There’s even a Bible built into the app that includes a daily reading. It was hard to keep this one a secret, but I’m thrilled with how it turned out.
It’s now Monday night. I’m already elbows deep in the continued advancement of moving ministry forward. As you can see by the list above, there is always more to do. One thing I love about Rock City is the challenge of never being stationary. We’re on the move to follow the charge and see that all in our city hear the message of Christ.
More to come…..
Filed under: Executive Director, Rock City
