Update

Things are moving along. I was able to meet with the staff from Marathon North today and talk through some things. It helps that they are only a little over a year old and it is encouraging to see where we can be in a year. I have been talking with North and they will possibly be our sponsoring church here in the upstate.

Two of my big concerns going into the church start was that of finding a worship leader and a location. As of today we have several people who have indicated they would like to be a part of the band and the new start. We will be announcing all of that info in a few weeks. But as of now it appears that need has been met. We have ended up with two possible locations and are working through the details to determine which will best suit our needs.

One of our prayer requests last week was that in the area of sound system and it appears that we have found our sound system and some more folks who will be a part of the core start up. This is huge because we were looking at a pretty good expense in purchasing a system.

We are currently looking for someone to head up the children's area. This will possibly be a paid position in the future but for the time being it will be volunteer. This is a big prayer request as we seek the right person.

4 Core Values

Last night we met and nailed down our 4 Core Values of Stone Bridge.

1. Passionate - We are passionate about God . We are passionate about people. We want to always build bridges to reach the lost.

2. Authentic- We want to always strive to be authentic in our worship. Our worship is our life lived out before God. We are not trying to be anyone but ourselves. We want people to see us as real.

3. Relevant- Changing our methods, never changing God's Message to reach today's culture.

4. Excellent- Excellence doesn't mean perfection but rather it means that we give our best in all we do because peoples lives hang in the balance.



In other news, today went extremely well with meetings regarding meeting sites and we ended the day with two possible locations rather than just one. Pray that we will make the right decision on our primary location to begin in.

We are still searching for the right person for our Childrens Ministry. This is one of the last major hurdles we need to cross before our launch date.

As of right now, we have 42 people who have committed to be a part of the start in one way or another. Things are getting exciting.

Core Groups and Location

This past week has been filled with some very cool conversations. The core group for the launch in mid-late fall is continuing to grow. We have around 15-20 as of right now committed to the core group that will be helping with the church start. It has been cool to have conversations with people who feel led in the same direction. Tommorrow I am meeting with an old friend who is interested in moving forward with a new church. Things are getting more exciting day by day.

In other news, we are hoping to have some stuff finalized on our location as we will have our third conversation with the folks who are responsible for the facility we are wanting to rent out for our services. Pray that everything goes smoothly with this and that we can proceed forward and begin getting the word out.

We have someone working on our graphics and we hope to have our logo ready soon and we will be meeting with a web designer this week to begin working on our website which we hope to have up within the next month.

Prayer Requests and Update

Things are moving along. We have gotten a commitment from our Worship Leader to which we will be announcing in a couple of days. We also have a few different people lined up for media(videos, counters and running the actual service). We will let you in on whose those folks are as well. Over the course of the last week I have been talking to the officials for the facility that we are looking to rent. We hope to have this nailed down by the first of next week. This will be a big factor in the actual date of which the church will start.

Now for some prayer requests. We are praying and looking for a lead person for our Children's Ministry. This will start as a volunteer position with the hopes of one day this turning into a staff position. We are also looking for volunteers in our Children's Area as well. Another position we are looking for is that of financial secretary. Again, this will start as a volunteer position and may one day be a staff position. Pray that we will seek out and find the right people for these positions.

We are also praying for the area we will be impacting and that we always be a church that combines our faith with our actions. We want to be active in the community in showing Christ's love through what we do.

We are praying for people who will make up the core group of the church that we all would be in unison and desire to make a difference where we live. And speaking of our core group, if you would like to be a part of our core group and get in on the ground floor of what is going to be taking places, please let us know and we would love to share with you the vision of what is happening.
Other prayer requests include that of a sound system and a projection system.

Stone Bridge Church

It's official, Stone Bridge Church will be launching mid to late Fall of 2007. In the Fall of 2002, Sammy and Melissa Clary began praying about a new church plant in the upstate of South Carolina. Over the course of the next few years things began to fall in place and the wheels began to be set in motion. In 2004, Sammy met with one of his good friends from Alabama, Cavin Cawthon, and they identified a couple of areas in the upstate of South Carolina for a new church plant. Again, the timing was not right but things still began to progress. Over the course of the last few years things have gradually moved in that direction. In February, Sammy and Melissa returned from Cincinnati,OH after spending a year and three months there during their son's bone marrow transplant.

Over the past six months, some amazing things took place. Sammy was able to be involved in Marathon Church as just a regular church member. This allowed him to learn and began to refine the vision for Stone Bridge Church. After much prayer, it was time to make a move. Sammy shared this vision with some friends and they began to pray. Again Sammy's friend Cavin Cawthon was able to provide demographic information and a location was chosen. The location will reach people from across the Easley, Liberty, and Piedmont areas. The exact location will be announced in the coming days as soon as contracts are signed.

This blog will provide a step by step look into the planting of a church. It will be candid and will share what takes place during the first year in the life of a church.

What can you do? Pray for us as we begin this new endeavor. We will begin some informational and core group meetings in the coming days. They will be announced on this site and Sammy's personal site.

Who are the staff? Sammy Clary is the lead pastor. Sammy has 14 years experience in Student Ministry and served on staff of churches varying in size and nature. Other staff members will be announced in the coming weeks and months.