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Archive for the ‘Random’ Category

Did you know? (Part 1)

Posted in Graystone Church, Random on May 14, 2013 | 2 Comments »

This blog post is for those who like to be “in the know”.

Baby Jase has now lived with us for 3 weeks. We are the only family he knows. There is no new news on his future. The family situation is unique and complicated. We are trying hard to get more info from Gwinnett County DFACS. Please keep praying for him.

Graystone has one of the best Care Teams in the universe. I know this personally as a plethora of people have provided meals for our family over the last 3 weeks. I’m pretty sure I’ve gained a few pounds. Thank you!!! I had a lady introduce herself to me Sunday at Graystone. With tears in her eyes, she praised Graystone’s Care Team and talked about how much she and her family felt loved and cared for as her husband was in the hospital. They are new to Graystone. Thank you to everyone who serves on our Care Team. YOU are the best! It means the world to people when we can demonstrate Jesus’ love to them in times of need.

BTW, last Sunday’s message at Graystone (Give it to God…Hannah), was not for someone else. It was for YOU!

Last Sunday, Mother’s Day, was the 3rd highest attended Sunday in Graystone history. PRAISE GOD! If you would like to keep up with Graystone’s weekly vitals (nickels and noses), you can check them out each week on the Graystone website. On the homepage at the top right, click “Online Giving”. Then scroll down and click “Vital Signs”. Also, Graystone is currently $16,000 ahead in our YTD Offering Needed. Thank you for your faithful giving!

This Sunday, we will have a guest speaker. His name is Joel Thomas, and he’s the Campus Pastor at Northpoint Community Church in Alpharetta. Northpoint is one the largest and most influential churches in the world. We are honored to have Joel share with us. He will teach a message based on the story of King Rehoboam, the 4th King of Israel. You do not want to miss it.

Also, this Sunday, we will have our annual Senior Recognition. We will be recognizing those kids graduating from high school (not PreK, kindergarten, MS or college). If you have a child who is a graduating senior and would like him/her to be recognized, please contact alan@graystonechurch.com.

I’m pretty pumped because I’m no longer recording my message on Thursday at 1:00PM to an empty audience. Our tech team will now record the live 9AM message at Ozora. This is going to be much better for me personally, and I think it will make the video messages better. We will see.

Well, thanks for reading. This is probably enough info to tie you over until tomorrow. :-)

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Graystone T-shirt Contest Winner for March

Posted in Graystone Church, Missions/Outreach, Random on April 5, 2013 | Leave a Comment »

As a few of you know, we’ve started a monthly Graystone T-shirt Contest. Click here to read the details. The winner for the month of March (first EV-VER winner) is Ryan Brooks for wearing his Graystone T-shirt in NYC at the Empire State Building. Congrats to Ryan! You are the winner of $1 million or something else. I’m still trying to figure out the “something else”.

Let’s keep wearing our Graystone T-shirts out in the community and around the world. Post your pictures on twitter or facebook and tag Graystone Church, and you will have a chance to win this prestigious award. Thanks for playing!

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Graystone T-shirt Contest

Posted in Graystone Church, Missions/Outreach, Random on March 8, 2013 | 2 Comments »

I’ve been encouraging EVERYONE to wear a Graystone T-shirt on Saturdays (T-shirt Saturdays) and use it as an opportunity to invite someone to church. I was recently wearing my red 03.03.13/Grand Opening of Graystone Walton T-shirt at the Hoover Dam outside of Las Vegas, Nevada. I had the idea that it would be fun for us to post pictures of ourselves and our friends/family members wearing a Graystone T-shirt in interesting places or events in our community and around the world.

So, if you would like to get involved in the fun, post your pictures on facebook or twitter and tag Graystone Church. We will recognize monthly winners on my blog, and you will receive a million dollar cash prize or something else. I hope to see you Saturday wearing a Graystone T-shirt.

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Someone gave Graystone a 20 foot box truck

Posted in Graystone Church, Random, Stewardship on March 6, 2013 | Leave a Comment »

Quick story…Graystone’s trailers were too small to hold all the equipment for Graystone Walton. We weren’t ready to invest $4000-5000 in a larger trailer. So Kyle Hood was gracious enough to let us borrow his 26 foot trailer which had to be pulled by a big truck. We’ve been using Elliott’s truck to pull the larger trailer.

Yesterday, someone out of the blue gave Graystone a 20 foot box truck. It can hold and transport all the equipment for Graystone Walton. We no longer need to borrow Kyle’s trailer. And “anyone” can drive the box truck, so we are not dependent on Elliott driving his truck.

2 thoughts:

1. You cannot out-give God. If God can get it through you, He will get it to you. See John Reeves story.

2. Let’s keep praying, “Lord, surprise us.” God continues to have His hand on Graystone. It’s so fun to watch Him work. To Him be all the glory!

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Friday 5: Brad Paisley, Bulldozer, Walton, Vision Night, & Hyperbaric Chamber

Posted in Graystone Church, Missions/Outreach, Random, Sports, Vision, Volunteers, tagged Barter Kings, Basketball, Brad Paisley, bulldozer, hyperbaric chamber, woodworking tools on February 8, 2013 | Leave a Comment »

1. Last Sunday, Graystone’s band played Brad Paisley’s song, Online. We had to change the lyrics a little. It was the perfect feature song for our new message series, Identity.

2. This Sunday at Graystone, we will show video footage of me driving a bulldozer. It was a blast, and I think I may have missed my calling in life. Not really. I’ll explain Sunday.

3. Graystone Walton launches in 22 days (03.03.13). Our incredible Walton staff and set up team will be setting up EVERYTHING this Sunday at 8:00AM at Loganville High School.

This Sunday we will set everything up: parking signs, coffee bar, guest services, sound system, drums/instruments, children’s area, etc.
Next Sunday, February 17, we’ll have a practice service at 10:30am.
Then, Sunday, February 24 will be our Preview Service where I will be speaking live at 10:30am. I’m so pumped about this.
Then, the grand opening is March 3, 2013 (03.03.13) at 10:30am.

Who do you know in Walton County that you can invite?

4. Vision Night is Wednesday, February 13 at 7:00PM. If you are part of Graystone Church locally, please make it a priority to attend. This is one of our favorite nights of the year. In 2012, we held hands around the entire outside of the building (Prayer circle) and from the roof, I prayed for our church and community. It was freezing cold but AWESOME. I can’t tell you what we’re doing this year, because Heath likes to keep things a surprise. You don’t want to miss it. It only happens once a year.

5. I’m looking to barter for a hyperbaric chamber. I would like to use it for our Graystone Basketball Team. If you haven’t heard, we are the best church basketball team in the universe. We are getting a little old, so I need an edge to help my players recover quicker from injuries and sore muscles. If you have any leads, please let me know. We have an awesome set of woodworking tools that I would like to trade.

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Friday 5: Duck Dynasty, Bruno Mars, Jesus, Christmas, Foster Kids, Going Broke

Posted in Discipleship/Spiritual Growth, Graystone Church, Random, Sports, tagged Bruno Mars, Christmas, Duck Dynasty, Foster Care on November 9, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

1. Bradley and Dilan went home yesterday to live with their mom. This is great news because the goal of foster care is to reunite the kids with their parents. The boys lived with us for 9 weeks, and it’s amazing how quickly they became a part of our family. I’ll share a little on Sunday about Bradley and Dilan, and I’m going to try not to cry because it has been brought to my attention by some of the elders that I am a cryer. Also, I have a major sermon brewing in my heart of what I’ve learned from foster care about us being adopted into God’s family. I’m not sure when I will preach this message, but I’m pretty sure it will be “one of my good ones”.

2. This Sunday’s message is titled, “Overcoming the Fear of Going Broke”. We are currently living in a down economy and the results of the election are making it even harder on many of our church members, especially small business owners. God has laid the perfect message on my heart for Sunday. In fact, Jesus has already preached a sermon on this. We’ll be looking at what He has to say about the economy. If you liked last Sunday’s message, then you will really like this one. If you didn’t like last Sunday’s message, then suck it up and come anyway. God wants to continue to challenge and strengthen your faith.

3. Rumor has it that KATB (Kyle and the Band) will be playing a little Bruno Mars. Can you guess what song their singing? BTW, I play the rain stick, and I am currently between bands. If you know anyone looking for a large rain stick player, please pass my name on to them.

4. We are planning to have 4 Christmas services this year over a 2 day period. So, hopefully, this will work out for EVERYONE’S schedule. Christmas is one of our favorite (if not best) services of the year. Our service times will be Sunday, December 23 at 5:00 & 6:30PM and Monday, December 24 at 3:30 & 5:00PM. Please go ahead and start making plans now for which service is best for you and your family to attend. Also, Christmas is a wonderful time of year to invite a friend. Who are you bringing?

5. Duck Dynasty is the best show on TV. They are now in my top 5 favorite things. BTW, I am thinking about not getting a haircut in the month of November. It could get a little unruly.

My Top 5 List

Jesus
Family
Graystone
Sports
Duck Dynasty

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Friday 5: Tennis Mullet, LSU vs Bama, DST, & the Election

Posted in Bible, Graystone Church, Random, Sports, tagged Alabama Crimson Tide, ALTA Tennis, Daylight Savings Time, Georgia Bulldogs, Hell, Hotty Toddy, LSU Tigers, Presidential Election on November 2, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

1. This Sunday is Daylight Saving Time when we move our clocks back (or they automatically reset) one hour (Fall Back). So EVERYONE gets an extra hour of sleep. I’ll take it.

2. Even if Alabama pounds LSU (which EVERYONE is predicting), I will still be at church on Sunday morning. If LSU wins, which is highly unlikely, I may even be wearing the royal colors of purple and gold. If not, I’m sure we will hear a few “roll tides” from some of our redder necks in the congregation. :-) As always, I will be praying for the Georgia Bulldogs to win. Hopefully, there will not be too many hotty toddy cheers at Sanford Stadium.

3. My message Sunday is titled, Is America Going to Hell? I’ve struggled all week with this one due to the political tension in the air and the sensitivity of the election and such. But I feel like God has laid a challenging message on my heart. Hopefully, it will be “one of my good ones”.

4. I’m taking a different approach to this “election message” than most of you think. My message will come from the book of Daniel. So, we will be talking about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Or as one of my good African American friends likes to say, “Shadrach, Meshach and A Bad Negro”. We are also going to be hitting up 1 Peter, Philippians, Romans, Exodus, Proverbs, and Joshua. You might want to bring your bibles…electronic, paperback or leather bound (old school baby).

5. Sunday afternoon, the Graystone Ladies Tennis Team will be playing in the semifinals of the ALTA City Championships. If they win City Finals, their coach has promised to grow out his long, flowing blonde mullet. You can pray accordingly. I’m sure that many of you would be divided in your vote as to whether or not you would like to see your pastor daunting a mullet.

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Friday 5: New Series, Snake Handling, and Middle Schoolers

Posted in Graystone Church, Random, Volunteers on October 19, 2012 | Leave a Comment »

1. This Sunday at Graystone we begin a new message series, Phobia (What do you fear?). We did a series by the same title 4.5 years ago in the warehouse but all the messages are new and fresh (I.e. like a freshly shaved chrome dome or like fresh fruit you might find at a farmer’s market). Also, please pray for many new visitors to come from the 35,000 mailers that went out the homes closest to Graystone. As you know, ANYONE and EVERYONE are welcome at Graystone Church. This would be a good Sunday to invite a friend. Just saying.

2. There may be some snake handling this Sunday at Graystone. It will not be done by me (I hate snakes.), and it will not be live. This is where we can ALL agree on video technology.

3. The tables and chairs that appeared out of nowhere on Graystone’s front patio were donated by Starbucks. I’m am not getting paid to tell you this but am simply letting you know. BTW, we are looking for a volunteer or two who could sand, stain and seal the wood planks on the seats of the outdoor chairs. If you would love to do this or feel guilted into doing it by this post, please talk to elliott@graystonechurch.com.

4. In case you missed it, middle school is combining into one service at 10:30. It all kicks off this Sunday. We have rearranged the Student Room to create more space and a better atmosphere. The most exciting thing is that all the middle schoolers will worship together, which will create for fun, excitement and stronger friendships. You can hear more about it by watching this video.

5. This Sunday, I will be announcing the physical location for our first expansion campus, Graystone Walton. And it will not be in Caleb Cooper’s bedroom at his parent’s house (sorry for the inside joke but the original Graystone Core Team will get it). Speaking of, we are in the process of pulling together a Walton Campus Core Team and a Launch Team (6 month commitment). Please pray about serving on one of these teams. The new campus begins on March 3, 2013 (03.03.13)…T-minus 135 days! I cannot wait. In fact, I just high 5′d myself. It ended up just being a loud clap. But I’m pumped!

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Any Landscape Design Ideas?

Posted in Random, tagged Landscape Design on September 28, 2012 | 9 Comments »

Today, my blog is going where it has never gone before: Landscape Design. As many of you know, yard work is not my thing (Fantasy Football is BTW). Last night, I had a wide hair which proved to be quite therapeutic. I decided to dig up 3 half dead bushes between my driveway and house (See pictures above).

Did I consult Jennifer about this first? Of course not. Actually, she didn’t even notice. She has her hands FULL right now. Also, tearing these bushes out had nothing to do with that black snake that jumped at me last year and escaped into the bushes. Really. And no, I am not on Pinterest.

So, I’m looking for a little advice here.

What should I put in place of the bushes?

Here are a few of my thoughts. Please vote on what you think would be best, and I’m sure some of you will have some better ideas.

Here are a few options:

a. Leave the space how it is (This is my #1 option right now.)

b. Cement the space and basically extend the driveway to the house.

c. Plant more bushes. If you like this option, please suggest what bushes and how many.

d. Apply some type of ground covering (I.e. pine straw, mulch, bark, rocks).

e. Put in a park bench. This could go over the ground covering or cement.

f. Turn it into a beautiful flower bed for Julia and Jessie. This could be an ongoing father daughter project.

g. Plant some spices (I.e. parsley, mint, etc.)

Well, what do you think? Do you have any other ideas or suggestions?