I am totally pumped about Rocky River Church! I know I say that a lot, but only because it is true. It is especially true right now because we have SO MUCH momentum. You could say, "Big MO is in the house!" Here's a few reasons why - with some scattered thoughts mixed in....

- Our staff and volunteers are really getting "it" done! We have people stepping up to the table BIG TIME to get things done. And remember, "getting things done" at Rocky River Church means that lives are being changed for Christ. That's what we do.

- I think our "VISION" series has been a home run. I've been teaching through the Great Commission Christ gave to the Church in Matthew 28 and about our VISION at Rocky River Church to accomplish HIS mission in our community - and all over the world. People are getting it too! It is awesome to see.

I have realized through this series that what Bill Hybels (the Senior Pastor at Willow Creek Church) says about vision is true; "Vision leaks."

- Vacation Bible School kicks off tonight (Monday, June 21). I know a lot of guys think VBS is outdated and no longer effective. Then you have never been to our VBS We rock some VBS. This year it is called "SUMMER SLAM" and it will be slammin' for sure! http://www.rockyriverchurch.com/vbs

- I'm really digging our website. Mark, Greg, and Steve are doing a GREAT job with that. We still have some things to add, but man, it is really a nice site. http://www.rockyriverchurch.com/home

- We have moved our Sunday services into the cafeteria rather than the gymnasium at Pitts School Road Elementary School. We had to do it last Sunday because the gym floors were refinished earlier in the week. BUT we fell in love with the setup. So we're working on a plan to keep worship there. The atmosphere was great!

- I love the "Next Steps Tent." That was new for us yesterday and the number of Connection Cards we received was WAY up. Think about the "Next Steps Tent" as guest services.

- Our worship at Rocky River has been AWESOME! Erik and the bang are doing a great job! They are really pushing me to do a better job with my craft - and I love it!

- Our building is also creating excitement and some of the momentum we're experiencing right now. Any day now - ANY DAY - we should get the approval on our permits. The contractor and grader and ready to hit the site as soon as those permits are finished. So stay excited!

- Our student ministries are growing too! Travis and The Flood are having as many students on Wednesday nights as we do on Sundays. THAT IS AWESOME! Can't wait for Thirst Camp!!!!!!!

- I kind of saved the best for last. Our people have the right attitude and that is making the biggest difference of all in our church. Our people have a spirit of unity these days - united around the mission of Christ and the vision of Rocky River Church. I'm sure there are little pockets of sulkers (someone is always going to be pouting about something), but the majority of the congregation is TIGHT! So the right attitude is HERE.

Anyway, that's about it for now. Let me close with this. I have a friend names Nikki and this is what she says to her two sons, "BE STRONG, STAY FOCUSED, PLAY HARD, HONOR GOD!" That's my challenge for all of us. Be strong in the Lord, stay focused on His mission, play hard (do life with gusto), and do it all to honor God.

God bless.....
Jimmy

Today was truly amazing at Rocky River Church! The MUSIC was terrific! I felt really good about the message. Several first time decisions for Christ! YEAH!!!! And the place was PACKED!

Great job Wanda, Jennifer, Stephanie and all who helped with the Thanksgiving meal today! Love you gals! EVERYTHING was great!

I love Rocky River Church! God is doing something special in us and through us.

A good friend of mine has been praying for her husband to come to Church (Rocky River Church) for a while now. He doesn’t believe in God and has no use for church. He has told her that he will come tomorrow – but only once. She posted this on her Facebook page earlier this evening and I’ve hardly thought of anything else since reading it. It’s a reminder to me that the stakes are SO high at Rocky River Church. It reminds me that church is not some kind of a game. Okay, sure it is for some people. Sure, there are plenty of people who just come and put in their time and that’s about it. But it’s not for my Facebook friend whose husband is giving her church and her God one chance tomorrow. ONE CHANCE!

So, here’s what she’s praying will happen tomorrow (by the time you read this it will probably already be Sunday). She’s praying that there will be a place for them to park when they show up so her husband won’t circle the lot a couple times, get frustrated and take the family to IHOP instead. She’s praying that the right people will greet them at the door – the friendly lady who makes people feel welcome but not so over the top that he will feel uncomfortable. My friend is praying that the people who take care of her son in the children’s ministry (the ones he likes) will be on duty so he won’t cry when she drops him off at the nursery. She’s praying that the music will be great – that the band will be thinking more about her husband than about themselves so God can honor the music and that it will connect with him. She’s praying that I’ve had plenty of time this week to pray, plan and prepare for my message this week so that it will be as though God is speaking straight to her husband. She’s praying that God will use all of us to create a place of transformation where her husband will be changed by the message of Christ. She’s desperate!

Do you see how high the stakes are? Do you see how important that parking team, greeter team, kids ministry teams, the setup/tear down teams, the worship team and the teaching teams are? The stakes are high…! For my friend, her husband’s eternity is at stake.

I plan to have on my game face at Rocky River Church tomorrow. I hope you will too... And even though you don’t know my friend, will you be praying for her husband?

Thanks…
Jimmy

This Sunday I'm continuing our sermon series called EPIC: God is telling an Epic (BIG) story and the world and you get to play a part. The sermon is called "Seeing Through Eyes of Faith." It may be that the greatest human factor that influences your life is the way we see things - the way you see yourself, your job, your kids, spouse, your problems, your past and even other people. Your perspective - the way you see things - makes a difference. This Sunday I'm going to teach you to begin seeing things through eyes of faith, not FEAR. This will make the difference in whether or not you see the supernatural moving of God in your life, OR not. Learning to see through eyes of faith and not fear will determine your success or failure, victory or defeat, happiness or misery. My focus passage is Numbers 13.

Come join us this Sunday at Pitts School Road Elementary School. Go to www.rockyriverchurch.com for service times and directions. See you then. It will be a life-changing experience!

Hey guys. With all my sermon prep, etc. I think I got a little aggressive by asking you to read so many chapters in Mark. Actually, reading is not that big a deal, commenting on it is. Here's chapters 1-3. I'll do chapters 4-6 about mid-week.

The Gospel of Mark

I love this Gospel the most. Let me give you a couple reasons why…

(1) Jesus is the most human in this Gospel. Jesus is both God and man but while the other Gospels really focus on Jesus’ divinity, John Mark focuses on His humanity. The reason I like that is because I can identify him the most in Mark’s Gospel. An example would be when Jesus (out of anger – a human emotion) turns out the money changes in the Temple. I get angry occasionally.

(2) Mark’s Gospel is written to Gentiles. Just in case you don’t know what that means, to the Jews (the people of God) there are two groups of people: The Jews and then everyone else. Everyone else is Gentiles. Here’s why I like that fact. Mark is written to non-religious people. It’s written to people who don’t know Jewish customs and so Mark gives us a kind of “stripped down” picture of Jesus. Hope that makes sense.

Let me give you some fast facts about Mark’s Gospel:
1. Mark was written by a man named John Mark. He was a close friend of Peter. His Gospel is a collection of Peter’s sermons.

2. The Gospels are passion narratives that answer the questions, “Who is that man hanging on the cross?” When you read the Gospels think that way. At the end of Mark’s Gospel, Jesus will be identified as the Savior. Everything that comes before that is a description of Who the Savior is.

3. Here’s something important about Mark’s Gospel unlike the other three. There is what theologians call “The Messianic Secret” in Mark. Remember when Jesus cast out the demons in the man in the synagogue in Mark 1. The demons said, “We know who You are.” And Jesus said, “Be quiet. Don’t tell anyone.” And that happens a number of times in Mark. The reason is that Jesus is not an exorcist per se; He is not a healer per se. He is a Savior. And you don’t really know who He is until you see Him hanging on the cross.

4. Keep this in mind as you read Mark. Jesus is called the “suffering Servant” in Mark. When Mark’s Gospel was discovered the church was under Nero’s persecution. Literally Nero was dipping Christians in lighter fluid and burning them alive – as lights – at his garden party’s. The church was suffering. This book encouraged God’s people by helping us realize that although we too suffer in life, we have a Savior (and Lord) Who understands our hurts because He too suffered.

My thoughts on chapters 1-9…

Mark1:1-15
The “new” Exodus has begun. Except this time it is not the Hebrews escaping from Egyptian slavery, it is all of humanity escaping from the slavery of sin. Jesus is seen as the second coming of Moses. He is the complete picture of everything God has been trying to say to human beings for thousands of years.

Jesus is baptized. He is then tested in the desert. Once He passed the test Him ministry begins – the call to faith and repentance.

Mark 1:16-45
The disciples spend this section in the background of Jesus’ ministry. They are amazed that Jesus has such compassion on people – regular people. I suppose they expected Him to be like the other religious leaders who didn’t really like people. At least they showed very little compassion for people. Jesus spent time with them. He loved them. He healed them. He took care of them. He turned “religion upside down.

Mark 2 – 3:6
Jesus made the religious leaders look bad. They were also jealous that for so long people only listened to them because they had to. NOW, people are standing in line to see Jesus. They love Him! The religious leaders also hate the fact that Jesus doesn’t keep up their protocols. He eats with sinners. He breaks the Sabbath laws.

Don’t miss that in 3:6 both religion and politics join together to plot Jesus’ demise. Normally, these two groups would have never gotten together. It’s the old “The enemy of my enemy is my friend” thing.

Mark 3:31-35
This is the story where Jesus asks, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” Re-read this part. Jesus is really turning things upside down. Mark has already said that “all of Judea” is coming out to see Jesus. He’d become like a rock star in Palestine. Everybody wanted to be with him. In the past, the families of religious leaders received special privileges, as did the leaders. Jesus is saying that in His Kingdom there is no special privilege and perks. Everyone is equal. Everyone is important. Pedigree doesn’t matter.

Email me your questions and thoughts at jimmy@rockyriverchurch.com

I just got back from our Rocky River Men's Retreat in Myrtle Beach. IT WAS SO INCREDIBLE! This is the first time we've ever done anything like this before at R2C2 - it's the first time I've ever done anything like this with a group of guys, period. We ate some good food, played 36 holes at World Tour (as fine a golf course as you'll play anywhere). We weren't sure how everything was going to turn out as far as the weather. And even though we had some rain - a lot of rain on Thursday - it cleared up and we really did everything we had planned to do.

We ate good food, laughed and talked smack for hours, grew spiritually and just had a great time. Here's a breakdown of the golf and fishing.

Thursday golf winners: Brian Bush, James Britt (my dad), Bob Givens (my dads golf partner) and Jimmy Britt. We broke Brandon, Travis, Greg and Brian Honeycutt's hearts on the last hole on the Open side at World Tour. Sorry guys :).

Friday golf winners: Greg Kesterson, Brian Honeycutt, James Britt (who played from the Senior tees because technically he is a senior) and Bob Givens (who is also old). They had a combined score of -9.

Friday golf, 2nd place: Brian Bush, Jimmy Britt, Rich Straight and Tim Gromis. We had a combined score of -7.

Friday golf, 3rd place: Brandon Whedbee, Travis Bush and Brian Walters. (They rotated shots to compensate for the 4th man). They had a combined score of -3.

Friday fishing highlights: Wilton Pait, Steve Hatcher and Joe Bagley slept late, fished for about 2 hours and drove from Surfside Beach to North Myrtle Beach to eat at Hamburger Joes. Then they took a nap. :)

Friday water volleyball match (5 games). Winning team: Brandon "smiling at you while I'm whoopin' you" Whedbee, Travis "the Hit Man" Bush, Steve "the Hatch" Hatcher, Greg "aging like a fine wine" Kesterson and Rich "pretty boy" Straight.

Runners up: Brian Honeycutt, Brian Walters, Brian Bush, Tim Gromis, and Jimmy Britt. We played like champions. :)

BTW, let me give honorable mention to Wilton "the Cooter" Pait and Joe "point me to a cot" Bagley for cheering us on...

Just in case our wives are reading this, we did devotions every night, we prayed together for our families and the spiritually lost in our community. We had some very powerful moments together. It was indescribable. I can hardly wait to do it again next year. Heck, we may do it in the Spring.

Tim, Greg, Brian H., Brian W., Brian B., Wilton, Joe, Steve, Brandon, and Travis... thank you for a couple days with men - men of God - that I will never forget. Thank you for letting me be myself and for having the courtesy of doing the same.

I can hardly wait until Sunday. The music is going to be OUT OF THIS WORLD! The message is BUSTING out of me. I'm going to preach it to the guys on our men's retreat about 100 times over the next couple days! Nah, just kidding about that...kinda.

Anyway, we are expecting our biggest crowds ever. Our people are inviting their people and we've been praying for spiritually lost people in our area for weeks. There just seems to be this rumbling under the surface of our area that is about to explode. The rumble is revival that is coming to our area. And I think it is going to erupt on Sunday morning at Pitts Elementary School.

I hope you are making plans to be a part of what God is going to do this week. Come early (the 9:30 service if possible). Bring a friend with you. Expect God to change your life this week. Let me say that again. EXPECT GOD TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE THIS WEEK! And enjoy the ride!

I'm going out of town for a men's retreat tomorrow morning. We're going to play some golf, do a little fishing and a lot of praying for God to change our community through us. Here why I'm doing this retreat (and it is not just because of the golf ☺). It's because I'm going to challenge our men to be leaders - in their homes, at work, at play and ESPECIALLY the church.

Sally Field (I loved her in Smokey and the Bandit and that is about it) was wrong when she made a fool of herself at the Emmys. She thinks the world would be better off with less fighting and more moms/women leading it. Now girls (those of you who are reading my blog - like my mom, several aunts, etc.), I have seen women lead and do great things and I give you mad props for what you do. The fact is that woman have had to take the lead in this country - and in the church - because too many men won't pull up their pants and lead. And the many of the men that are leading are too sissified to lead like men - Godly men - like we're supposed to.

We've stood back, drank our beer, got hooked on Sports Center, porn and Xbox and left our women to do a man's job. I'm a little bit ticked off about this because we men have surrendered our manhood. We've gotten high on stupidity and immaturity and the result of it is that our nation and our children and our families are going to hell.

It's time to man-up! I'll say more about this later, but MEN, MAN-UP and bring your family to God's house this Sunday. Your wife is waiting on you to be a leader in your home. She's tired of doing your job.

DANG! I don't know where that came from...

Anyway, this Sunday is going to be awesome at R2C2!

I am so pumped about this Sunday at Rocky River Community Church. We have so much momentum and there is an incredible buzz about R2C2.

This Sunday's message is a "pre series" message to our Baggage series that begins on September 23 (a week from this Sunday). Some of you have asked what the "baggage" series is all about. So here goes. All of us carry some kind of “baggage” in life. Baggage is the stuff from your past that you carry around your soul. It’s the words people have said and the things they did that weigh you down and limit your potential. God is more than willing to take your baggage away if you are willing to let it go. Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matt. 11:28) During this series we're going to go to the Bible and learn what God says about how we can pack up the pain and hurt, find release from generational curses and even addictions. God is going to take the load of guilt, fear, and regret off your back. I'm tell you now, this is going to be a series for the ages.

Oh yeah, it is communion Sunday at R2C2 and that is always special.

Really, you do not want to miss being at R2C2 this week! God has something incredible for you and your family. Don't miss out on the blessings!

I can hardly wait until Sunday at Rocky River Community Church! And that is a great feeling. There is just so much excitement about what God is doing. People are literally coming up to me in the community to say, “HEY! I’m coming to Rocky River this weekend!” There’s a buzz out there. We have such great momentum. I want to ask you to help us keep the MOMENTUM going. Here’s how…
1. Invite the people you know – who don’t go to church, are spiritually lost, and/or have given up on “church as usual” – to come to R2C2.
2. If possible, please attend the 9:30 service. We are slammed in the 11:00 service and need those premium seats for those who don’t know Jesus. We are already looking for ways to add chairs and make strategic changes so that we accommodate our growing church. HOW EXCITING IS THAT!?!?!
3. Get there early! This weekend’s services are going to be “straight off the charts” powerful from the very first moments. Make sure you have enough time to get your kids signed in, have a cup of coffee in the hospitality area, and then get a good seat.
4. If you are volunteering in one of our ministries, be sure to attend the service opposite of the one where you are serving. This will enhance your worship experience for the weekend. And while serving is VERY important, so is your own worship.
5. If you are not serving then jump in and help. It doesn’t matter where you serve because we have openings in every ministry. What matters is that you jump in and participate. Two perfect places to connect and make a difference RIGHT NOW are our setup/breakdown team and the parking team. For the parking team email Jamie at jalmond@cmpd.org and for the setup/breakdown team email Lonnie at lrbatema@gmail.com. Lonnie can also help you get connected in any ministry area.
6. Pray! If you are a Follower of Christ pray for our staff, our volunteer teams, ministry team leaders, the lost people in our community that God is working on to bring to R2C2, and all of our resources. And by all means, be praying for the spiritually lost people you know.

I have said it so many times lately but I can’t help but say it again, GOD IS DOING SOMETHING SPECIAL at Rocky River. I’m so thrilled to get to be a part of with you! Don’t forget to have a good time. Keep talking us up in the community. Keep giving. And keep following Jesus Christ!

"MOE" is short for MOMENTUM! We got momentum bigtime at Rocky River Community Church. Oh man today was another AWESOME day at Rocky River! I'm serious - it was off the CHAIN - or as Brandon says, "Off the meat rack". We were packed. The offering was God-sized and the band was ROCKIN! The message was so so :). It was the best Sunday I can ever remember at Rocky River.

MAJOR PROPS to our volunteers. The guys that came in this morning at 6AM are just freaks - that's it - plain and simple. I love you guys. Kids stuff rocked! Lots of kids with smiling faces at R2C2. Last Sunday our Middle School/High School ministry (Project 252) broke an attendance record. Today...they broke that record! Whew!

R2C2 - strap in because it is on. God's doing something BIG!