Update

Just a quick note to everyone who is going to be volunteering at Stone Bridge. We will be having our volunteer training/cookout on Wednesday September 26th at 7:00 pm. Drop me an email and let me know how many from your family will be attending. This is a night you won't want to miss. This will be a fun night as we will be uniting all four of the Core Groups in one place as we move forward with the new church launch. I will send you directions when I get your email indicating how many will be coming with your family.

Update

Things are in full gear. A ton has taken place in the last few days. I am working through the messages for the first series Life In HD. We are starting to fill several of our key roles. We have someone who has agreed to do our accounting temporarily to help get us started which is a huge relief.

If you attended a Core Group meeting and haven't turned in your volunteer sheets, get those in as soon as possible as we will be having our volunteer training and cookout coming up in a couple of weeks. You can email your information to scbushelno@aol.com or you cand send it to 108 Garlington Court Easley,SC 29642.

We have just received all of our tax information back from the government as well as our 501 3c non profit status. Some people have been asking when they could begin tithing. The answer is that you can start as soon as you would like now that we have all of our paper work back. Our mailing address until we get our office space is 108 Garlington Court Easley,SC 29642. Any checks can be made to Stone Bridge Church.

We have decided on the structure of our elders/trustees. We will have two from within the church and at least one who is not from our church. We feel like this makes us even more accountable because we will have someone from the outside who doesn't have an agenda and can ask any questions to help us stay focused and grounded in all we do. We also have decided that none of the elders/trustees will be related to any of the staff so as to keep everything accountable that way as well. We will announce who these people will be over the coming weeks.

We will be having an annual outside audit to assure everyone that our finances are being handled above board.

Website, Tax Stuff, and Core Groups

The website is up and running www.sstonebridgechurch.tv .

Today was pretty productive on getting a ton of the official tax and paperwork stuff done. It is amazing how many things that you have to fill out for taxes, incorporation, non profit and so on. The good news is that all of this is completed and now I can spend more time on messages and series.

Our third core group meeting is Tuesday at 6:45 p.m in Piedmont. . Drop me an email if you need directions. The fourth one is scheduled for Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. in Powdersville.

Core Group Update

We have completed two of our core group meetings. Both went very well and people are getting on board. I was able to lay out our core values and our focus. I shared the vision with both groups and the response was awesome. We had some great questions and discussions. It was a unique learning process for me personally and it felt good to be able to lay everything out and see others get excited about what it going to take place.

We have two more core group meetings next week and I am excited to see what will take place in those meetings as well. It is not too late to get in on one of those meetings.

The cool thing about these meetings is seeing God fill the spots where we have needs. It is late and I have an early meeting with our web designer tomorrow. I will update more later.

People to Pray For

I thought I would just update on some key folks who are already on board and ask that you pray for these folks and others that will be leading key areas as we get started. Chasen Callahan will be our Worship Leader. Mark Sexton is going to be our Associate Worship Leader. Erin Brown and Casey Callahan are going to be heading up our Children's area. Jeff Garrison has signed on to head up our media. We have several others who are praying over things and making sure this is where God wants them to be. I will be updating this often letting you know some of the folks helping out so that you can get to know them more.

Full Speed

Things are moving along full speed ahead. Today has been incredibly busy and very encouraging. Between Melissa and myself we each ran into five more families that said they would be at Stone Bridge on 10.07.07 @10:07 a.m. at Wren High School. I already have been working on the message for that Sunday and I am excited to see what takes place. Be in prayer that people would stop just merely living and that they would Step into Life that Sunday.

Our Core Groups kick off tommorrow night at the home of Ray and Sandra Clary. We'll meet from 7-8. Thursday we will be in Anderson at the home of Jeff and Alfreda Scott. That also will meet from 7-8.

Update

The past couple of days have been extremely busy. The web site is coming together quite nicely and should be up and running within the next couple of weeks. We are putting together our Children's Ministry Team and have already met with a couple of folks who are going to be heading that up. This is huge because the Children's Area has been one of my biggest concerns.

I have met with several other people this week who will be a part of the church in different ways and each meeting has given me more insight into what it will take for the church to make an impact in the community.

This coming week begins our core group meetings. If you would like to be a part of one of these, drop me an email and I will send you directions to the one that you choose to come to. The response so far has been good and I am looking forward to seeing what happens when we begin to come together for these meetings.

Here's the Latest

We have just about finalized our upcoming Core Group meetings. I will post the dates and locations in the next couple of days. I will say that there will be one meeting in Piedmont, one in Anderson, one in Easley, and two in Powdersville. Once I post the locations, you are free to attend the one closest to you. These Core Group meetings will help you find out more about the church and have any questions answered that you might have. These meetings promise to be exciting as we will begin to see the possibilities that can take place. I am excited about sharing the vision of the church and even more excited to see what happens when people get on board.

Melissa and I will be in Cincinnati this week with Isaac while he has surgery. I will still update and this week I will be doing a three part post on what it takes to start Stone Bridge Church.

Check back for more updates this week and remember to go ahead and begin inviting people for 10.07.07 @ 10:07 A.M. in the Wren High School Auditorium. My prayer is that people would come to Christ from Day 1.

Location

It seems as though I missed the deadline to get on this weeks docket at the school board meeting by a day. So the final decision from the school board won't be made until later this month. Basically though, the school has already signed off on us using the school which is usually the main part. So with all of that said, I am not going to make everyone wait any longer to find out where we will be meeting. Keep in mind that this location is subject to the approval of the school board.

On 10/07/07 at 10:07 a.m. Stone Bridge Church will hold its very first service in the auditorium at Wren High School.

The reason this area was chosen for a new church plant is because Nothern Anderson County/Southern Pickens County is one of the fastest growing areas in the Upstate of SC. Currently, there are 20,000 unchurched people within a 5 mile radius of our location and more than 60,000 unchurched people with in a 10 mile radius. There are currently two new neighborhoods with in 4 miles of our location that will have over 600 new homes with in the next two-three years. That is not including a number of new smaller neighborhoods with 20-100 homes. With all of the growth there comes a need for a new church plant to reach this growing community.

We will focus on our core values as we strive to reach people for Christ. 1.Passionate- We are passionate about God and passionate about people. Luke 10:27
2. Authentic- The world is looking for people who are real. We want to be authentic in our worship while realizing that worship is our lifestyle. Romans 12:1

3. Relevant- Relevant to today's culture. Changing our methods, never changing God's message. 1 Corinthians 9:21-23
4. Excellent- Excellence in all we do. Excellence is not perfection but rather offering our best. Luke 21:1-3

More details will be coming out in the next couple of weeks. Our website is getting closer to being up and running. Be sure to mark your calendars for 10/07/07 and begin inviting folks on what promises to be an awesome day.

No News Yet

We hope to have some news about the decision from the school board soon. Our contact at the school was out today so we were unable to find out any information. I will be making a stop by the offices tomorrow to see what I can find out.

Today was more meetings with the sound guy. I did a lot of our content work to give to our web designer.

Tonight a local pastor came by and we talked about the church and things we've got left to do.

We have set up two of our four informational core group meetings set and look to have the others set by this Friday. These will be posted this Weekend and you will have a chance to sign up for the one that is closest to you.

Hopefully in the Morning

Hopefully in the morning we will find out the outcome of the school board decision. I will post info on the location as soon as we find out something.

Today was another day of paper work and logistical stuff. I finished up the paper work for the tax emept status and it will be sent in tommorrow. I met with the web designer and the web site is coming along.

The rest of the week is going to be spent on planning and core group preparation.

Location

No, I can't tell you the location today. But, I hope to be able to announce that in a few days after the approval is finalized. I met with the school officials once more today and turned in all of the required paperwork along with a check for the first month's rent. The school has been tremendous and very good to deal with. We had narrowed down our potential locations and this one just made the most sense as well as gives us room for growth. All of the locations that we looked at were very helpful and we possibly will be using one of the other locations for our youth services. I hope to be able to announce the location sometime next week when it becomes official. The school has signed off on it and now it goes before the board for approval.

I met today with our guys that will lead worship and we are all on the smae page as to what our focus will be when it comes to the worship service. It will be just that, a time of corporate worship involving everyone.

A couple of us also met today regarding our signage and graphics. This was a very good time of meeting as well. As soon as we are approved for our location, we will begin getting the word out through our print pieces, signage, and word of mouth.

Tomorrow, I will be meeting with our web site designer. This is important because this will be one of places that people will find out information about our church. We want the site to be appealing and informative.