Over 8 years ago I received a phone call that rocked my world forever. It was a call from West Ridge Church with an opportunity to come be the Middle School Pastor. I remember the moments of shock, excitement, nervousness… all swirling around inside. I was just about to be married and my world was beginning to move in a pace in which I never expected.

My wife and I visited West Ridge within a month of being married. Lead Pastor Brian Bloye had been part of my life for many years as my Middle & High School Pastor. The thought of working under him was something that I could have only wished in my first ministry position. I remember hearing stories of West Ridge and what God was doing. The “Dream Team” that they had put together, and the miraculous things God was doing within their community. To be a part of Brian’s church and serve along side of his staff was almost to good to be true. Tandy and I visited and made a list of things we believed, wanted, and dreamed of finding in a job. To our amazement we realized on our way back home that West Ridge had checked off every single thing on our paper.

Upon returning back to Virginia, West Ridge gave us a little time to think and pray about the decision to join them. It was more complicated than anyone would have ever known. Personally it was the easiest decision I could have ever made, but I wanted to know it was what God wanted for our new family. As I talked with my mom on the phone one night I told her… “This is supposed to be difficult. They told me in college to prepare to make little stops in smaller church settings to get my feet wet. Opportunities would come later to work up to bigger things.” My mom simply replied; “Why would God make you wait and hold something so good, if you have always done your best to obey Him? Maybe he wants to use you right now in a place you didn’t see yourself being in.” That was all I needed. We called West Ridge and accepted.

Quickly our lives were changed forever. We arrived in a county where we didn’t know how to get around, started a brand new job, left all our family & friends, bought our first house, and had our first kid all before our first anniversary! Life was crazy, and more than we every expected. But we soon found a home here, a church that was sincere in how it loved people, and a community that was more concerned with others than themselves. This place grew us, mentored us, counseled us, and spurred us to limits that we never thought of before.

From working with students, to college and young adults, with opportunities to teach before out entire church on several occasions, I was doing things I never thought possible. From never seeing more than a few states in my life, to traveling the world (Russia, Jamaica, Israel, Africa), I found a church that saw life as bigger than themselves. Changing and crafting my thought, living, and theology all along the way.

I never thought that back in September of 2008 I would find myself sitting before Brian, telling him that all that he and this place had done had helped prepare us for God’s next journey… starting a church. There was never a time in college that I ever thought those words would come from my mouth! But God had other plans. Plans that we had to obey, plans that would be difficult, hard, and emotional. Why? Because our new journey would lead us many miles away from family and friends so dear to us. Yes, we were willing to be obedient, but did not want such a great part of our life to end. But it has…

Today, May 31, 2009 was our last Sunday with this community of people.

Brian, West Ridge staff, family, and friends you have helped grow us and prepare us for what God has done. I never dreamed of working in such an amazing environment. I enjoyed working beside everyone of you. Each of you have played such a significant part in my life, Tandy’s, and our children. What each of you brought to our life was needed and it has helped us for what lies ahead. Our hearts are anxious for what God is going to do, but heavy and emotional at the distance that will be between us. Our love and thoughts of you go deeper than you will ever know, and what we are about to do has your thumb prints all over it. We do not leave in our own personal desires, but out of obedience to simply do what God desires.

Brian taught me all the way back in middle school that our lives our to be about one thing… Kingdom work. God is asking us to play our part, and so we take what we learned and we are living it out. We will keep you updated, we will visit, and know that Genesis Church is a home away from home. West Ridge Church we will cherish and remember forever.

-From the Grandstaff’s with love.

I am in Lynchburg, Virginia at Thomas Road Baptist Church attending Innovate Conference 2009. The conference so far has been amazing. Very refreshing and challenging teachings for us personally. Much needed and not just another big event. Here are some of the notes from what I have heard and am learning while I am here. Will update more later.

Click Here Now.

The next 5 days are really big for us in the process of where we are at. We leave for Lynchburg, VA my home town to be approved for some church planting support, network, attend a conference and prepare for our last 3 weeks here in GA. We covet your prayers greatly during these next few days. I am asking some of you to consider praying for us each day as we are gone. Here are some things we need you to pray for:

1. Our house to sell. We have been diligent in our preparation to sell our house and now we are letting God write his story. Please pray that it would be looked at and an offer would be made. If it sells for what we are asking (which is just what it’s worth) we can erase pretty much all our debt. What a huge release and fresh start that would be in our adventure.

2. That God would find favor upon us this weekend. We go before a board with a Q & A time for this support. Pray that they see God’s vision and plan he has given us for what we are going to do in Orlando.

3. For our family. This month is difficult. School is ending, and many friendships, memories, and moments are soon to distant and different in our life. Separation is hard and my wife and kids are extremely connected here. Pray for our transition, for protection on our relationships, protection on our marriage, and peace as we move forward in obedience to God.

4. Support. We are still in the process of gaining support financially Genesis Church. (we have been extremely blessed so far) Still, we are praying that God would lead a few more people to give, to see the vision, and to be drawn to play a part in helping us reach people in Orlando, Florida.

5. Genesis people. One family has already moved ahead of us to Orlando, the Walker family. Pray for them as they adjust and settle in to a new place. That they would meet people and begin to find home in a brand new culture. A few people are still trying to figure out how to move down, pray for them during this time.

6. Our team. One family (Simpson Family) is in the process of trying to put their house on the market, transition jobs or find a new one, and are expecting a baby this fall. Other team members (Jason & Rachel) are about to be married in 3 weeks and will be moving down in December. Pray for them, their transition, and that God would prepare the way for them.

1 Timothy 2:1 I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone

We need your prayers and request them greatly. I will keep you updated so check back here later this weekend. Thank you.

As the last few weeks have passed I am now more than ever understanding and focusing in on 3 things I believe have become crucial to this part of our church planting process… (NOT new, just things that you hear but don’t truly understand till you really get into the process)

1. Know, believe, and hold to the vision God has given
- it’s easy to start to questioning, doubting, and giving into great opportunities because of tough moments and miss out on the best ones that wait ahead. patience is a virtue.

2. Stand in the values & philosophies that make up the foundation
- people, organizations, networks, and associations are all great, but if you compromise these up front you lose ground for why you started and were called to lead. it’s not worth giving these up just for financial security. this was never ever supposed to be easy.

3. Turn to God and NOT to man
- we read books, blogs, listen to podcasts, have people who will come, give us praise, feed our self-expectations, our ego, want to speak into the vision, and be a part of what they read and hear, (we love these moments as human beings) but it’s God who is leading this… NOT man. seek Him and listen to what He is asking, then do it no matter what sacrifice it might take.

“HE who began a good work is faithful to complete it”

on Saturday Night, May 16th as I will be right in front of a TV for this one. Yes!!!!

Why because I am his #1 fan… a freak! Named my kid after him… seriously! (HERE)

I write this post as I journey on an inward search for how to effectively balance life with all it’s amazing opportunities and equally as big distractions. Recently the world of twitter  has emerged as a social networking giant, doubling and tripling the amount of users each month. Yet, as I have engaged in this world I have seen some great things and disturbing things that have me asking myself lots of questions…

[The Good - A network of endless opportunities]

I am all for networking, especially with todays technology and possibilities. I have seen great things happen as technology expands our ability to connect, reconnect, and create new networks with people around the world. Just recently within twitter world I have seen people responding immediately in prayer for total strangers, ReTweeting great thoughts to think about, and posting to followers for connecting , support, and encouragement with people they may have or may have never met. Heck, some of you are reading this post because of twitter and facebook. A new international tool to share my heart, thoughts, and journey in life with. Nothing wrong with that, and that’s what I have seen through these tools. 

One girl in our church was recently hospitalized on Sunday night from a serious car accident. Within minutes through facebook and twitter people new about it, responded, were praying, and one their way to the hospital for support. Amazing! 

I am currently in the process of starting a church in Orlando, Florida and twitter has already connected me to people I would have never met. I have learned about the area, networked with other pastors, and found out about the city from total strangers. I have even had a church across the country partner with what we are doing… all through twitter.

When my wife’s grandmother died, when our son went to the emergency room, immediate response and prayer… this blow my mind.

Daily I have the ability at my finger tips to read others thoughts, blogs, encouragements, letters, teachings, hurts, pains, frustrations, and see how I can help, pray, and possibly respond. 

I am reminded of Paul’s letter to a group of people where he shows that they used all forms of communication to connect, support, and teach those in the church:

2 Thessalonians 2:15 So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter. (and might I add in todays culture… facebook, myspace, and twitter)

[The Bad - Might Be Too Much]

With each new technological advancement in our society comes a lot more of one thing… distractions! One twitterer Daniel Henderson taught me “Satan doesn’t have to destroy you, he just wants to distract you.” There are great things like tweet deck, twitterific for my iphone, twitterfon, etc. but each one only keeps me from accomplishing some very important things. It used to be email that got in the way and distracted most of us from getting things accomplished, but now facebook and twitter have taken things to new levels.  One person had a statistic that said something like… “the normal working person could receive 100 emails on average a day, now with twitter they can receive over 400 daily.” That’s a lot to read and lot to keep us sometimes from doing other things that might be more important.

I find myself (yes I as well) in circles with other people, pastors, and friends who sit at tables and instead of talking, we twitter, look at facebook, and loose out on time to truly connect. We sit in meetings checking twitter, instead of engaging, listening, and putting forth our best focused efforts on the task at hand. My wife has implemented a “NO DRIVING & TWITTERING” rule, cause I found myself shamefully checking twitter and driving. Not only dangerous, but also keeping from conversing with my own family in my car. So where does it stop, and how do we find balance?

[The Ugly - A self-building kingdom?]

This is where I am having the hardest time. Just this week I deleted twitter from my phone. Moving deeper into my church planting efforts I find myself networked with many other churches, pastors, and ministries. I search hard to find a line cause I want to see what is happening and what is taking place within their community, but for the most part it seems as if twitter has become a huge bragging and competition platform. I see people shouting out stats, stories, and ministries happening that have me often wondering if it’s truly to share God’s glory, or to make themselves more famous? To let others see God’s hand at work, or get their church on the radar for the next conference? I have read people ReTwittering comments about themselves as if they were writing their own promo for a book, and found myself reading endless tweets of people who seem to be trying create the next best comment that gets pushed around twitter to grab more followers. I often feel as if some are even trying to become what I call “the 140 character pastor.” The one who is hoping that while he teaches his quote s are getting posted all over the world because of how creatively he worded something. Is it about God or more about how much you get noticed?  That’s not what this networking device is supposed to be about. That’s not what we entered this journey for. Yes, there are some profound things that we all need to hear, and twitter helps accomplish that quickly to many in need. But, ReTweeting, the most followers, and having our quotes posted are not the goal. The goal is to connect with the body so that more for God’s Kingdom can be done. I’m just seeing a lot of people mix that up with building their own. 

There are a lot of reasons I love twitter/facebook, and there are reasons I don’t know how much I want to engage in them. Some are doing a great job with this new technology and some are abusing it. Even in writing this… am I just getting something off my chest or hoping that someone else will follow? One thing for certain… I know there is a balance, I know there is a line, I am searching, and wondering where and how to find it?

How do you see it? How are you handling this in your life?