ricky.merrefield

So, it has been entirely too long since I’ve updated my blog. Here’s a few random thoughts to catch things up:

Surviving the Revolution
I am newly minted staff at Revolution church, and I couldn’t be more excited. I’m blown away by what God has done at Revolution, and even more blown away by what he’s setting up for Revolution. If you think the ride has been crazy so far, hold on tight, cause it’s gonna get crazier. I’ve said it a hundred times, but it bears repeating: I’m blown away that God sees fit to use me as staff at Revolution. I’m so far from perfect, I don’t see how God can call me his child.

Here’s a few things I’ve learned since starting at Revolution:

• It takes 11 members of Revolution staff 3.5 hours to siphon a tank of gas
• Revolution staff wouldn’t make a good pit crew (evidence, more evidence)
• The staff of Revolution church is absolutely on fire to reach North Georgia.
• Revolution staff don’t take themselves seriously, but they are absolutely serious about the mission God has given this church.

30 Days
Last week, Revolution started a new series called ALIVE. The basic premise revolves around this question: If you had 30 days left to live, how would your life change? It’s a tough question to face, but here’s a few thoughts on how my life would change:

• My relationship with God would increase. This is an area that I have honestly struggled with. One can never be too close to God, and I have dropped the ball on this one so many times. This would be the number one priority for me.
• My commitment to Revolution would increase.
• I would put my thoughts to action. I have a bit of a habit of coming up with crazy ideas. Everything from business ideas to how to improve what I do for Revolution to learning how to design websites, and everything in between. I can probably count on one hand how many I’ve tried. Thoughts without action are a waste of time. I would focus on just a few and make them happen.
• I would manage my time better. I waste too much time. Enough said.
• I would have an increased commitment to excellence. I can talk the talk, but can I take everything I do to the next level? Am I always trying to stretch myself to do better? There’s always room for improvement.

Well, Revolution’s signs won’t pick themselves up, so I’m out. Maybe I’ll write part deuce of this post tomorrow. I always have more to say =)

Peace

(We’ll just pretend it’s Monday, ok?)

• Revolution (and a bunch of other churches) wrapped up One Prayer this week. It was great to hear Gary, Steven Furtick, Greg Rohlinger, and Perry Noble share their one prayers for the church. That deserves a whole post of its own. Perhaps I’ll write one. Great stuff
• As much as I enjoyed One Prayer, I’m glad that Gary’s back at the wheel this Sunday.
• Revolution is doing something crazy Sunday. I’m not sure if it’s brilliant or stupid. I guess we’ll find out =)
• I get way too much music. This week, I picked up “The Bird and the Bee Sides” by Relient K, “Rotation” by Cute is What We Aim For, “Abandoned to You” by Re:Zound, and “On the Brink of it All” by Ever Stays Red. I could’ve bought more if I really wanted to/could afford to
• Note about the Cute is What We Aim For cd: This new one is worlds better than their first one. Seriously, I hated the first album. The new one is great.
• Been talking with Adam about helping out more around Revolution. I’m excited. If I could work there full time for free, I would. Why aren’t food and shelter free?
• Still not digging the graveyard shift.
• “Have you ever been fake for the sake of saving face?” Preach it!
• That was a line from a Cute is What We Aim For song. I’m seriously blown away by how much better this album is.
• Oh, the new Relient K album is ok at best. That’s not saying much seeing as I’m a huge fan. I’ll hold final judgement on the new Relient K lineup when they put out their next studio album.
• Going to Revolution’s band practice tonight. Maybe they’ll get started before I have to leave this time =)
• Revolution apparently hired a new youth pastor. They didn’t bother to tell me who it is, though. The nerve! Guess I’ll have to wait like everyone else. I’m excited for Revolution youth. When they get that going full steam, they’re gonna blow the doors off the youth of this area. Or something like that.
• Reading from Nehemiah now. If Paul has the gift of getting right to the point, Nehemiah has the gift of expounding greatly on the point. He’s kinda hard to follow.
• Thinking of starting another blog where I write my bible study journal thingy. More for my own sake than anyone else’s. I’m not much of a pen and paper guy.
• Some guy at work said he got an audio bible, and he listens to and reads the bible at the same time. Says he retains a lot more that way. I may try it, but audio bibles are expensive. If it works though, I can’t say it’s not worth it.
• Learned that the cutoff time for buying alcohol is 11:45 pm at work today. I swear it’s only because a customer asked =)
• Back to music: the Re:Zound album is less than impressive.
• Still haven’t listened to Ever Stays Red

…and that’s all I have to say about that.

So, I’m taking a page out of my Pastor’s book and doing a “mind dump” post. It’ll be a different format, but whatever. I can’t rip off everything he does.

Yesterday was amazing at Revolution Church. We did our first ever video message, and it went off without a hitch. Or, at least, it went without a hitch during the service. There were technical difficulties during setup, but everyone rallied together and got everything ironed out in time for the service. Revolution’s set-up team is second to none. I feel kinda out of place there.

Anyhoo, so the sound guys forgot to record the message during the first service. No biggie, I can’t claim to have perfect service record myself. They got the second one down, but somehow, the master disappeared. Or, at least, I don’t have it. Whoever runs the duplicator usually leaves it with the duplicator, which I take during the week. I assumed it was there, but it wasn’t. I need it to use for the Revolution Church podcast. As fortune would have it, and as I mentioned earlier, we had a video message done by Steven Furtick of Elevation Church. Thankfully, our Creative Arts Pastor, Adam Ellis, gave me access to the messages on OnePrayer.com, so I can download the message and extract the audio for the podcast.

Man, that last paragraph was really long-winded. I doubt you really cared about that. Oh well.

Did I mention that it’s a 554mb download and has two hours left? Fun stuff.

The guy who runs our lights at Revolution, Mark, finally had someone training on how to run the lights. Mark has pretty much singlehandedly taken our lights to the next level. Starting Easter Sunday last March, we pretty much overhauled our lights. We got a new lighting board, new (moving!) lights, and other stuff. Mark’s the only one who has any idea of how to run the new board, and he’s been running it every week since then. Oh, and he ran it about 75% of the time before then. It’s good to see someone else coming in who can give Mark a well-deserved break.

In other news, Revolution Church is partnering with Embassy Metro Church to serve the volunteers who make Give a Kid a Chance happen. The goal of this event is to make sure every kid from lower income families is given school supplies for this year. They also give the kids haircuts, vision, dental, and hearing screenings. There are also clothes and other items for the kids. Between the two locations in Canton and Woodstock, they hope to give between 2,000 and 3,000 kids a chance. Gary and Ross Wiseman of Embassy Metro have challenged our churches to take care of all the backpacks and school supplies for the kids, so that other churches can focus on other things. I think this is a great challenge. God can do great and mighty things through the hands of the faithful.

The joys of technology: It appears that the download has stalled. Take two…

Watch me find that master later and have gone through this for nothing.

Ok, I’ve rambled enough. Hopefully I can get this podcast up soon-ish.

For the heck of it, here’s the songs I listened to while writing this post (and waiting for that message to download). Yes, I like all of these bands. Don’t hate.

Hello Helicopter - Motion City Soundtrack | It’s Alright Blondie - Starflyer 59 | Undone - Seventh Day Slumber | Breakfast at Timpani’s - Relient K | Ma Poubelle - Sum 41 | Set the Dial - Run Kid Run | Universal - John Reuben | That For Me - Forever the Sickest Kids | Lift Your Eyes - Leeland | Sic Semper Tyrannis - Mae | Blue Comb ‘78 - Five Iron Frenzy | The Gift - Angels & Airwaves | Dirty Little Secret - All-American Rejects | Saving My Face - KT Tunstall | Let the Evil Go East - Greeley Estates | The Same (Doesn’t Feel the Same) - ZOX