TonyMorganLive.com

I think it’s kind of endearing that my five-year daughter has learned to say "I think you should get a room" every time she sees me hugging and kissing on my wife. She’s acting like she doesn’t like it when she sees me kissing Em. In reality, though, I think she loves it. (I sure do.)

Have a fun Friday…and if you’re married, I think you should get a room. Tell your spouse that Pastor Tony said so.

"It all comes back to the product. When I worked for Salvatore Ferragamo, they had great ad campaigns all the time. But at the end of the day, they weren’t willing to make any changes on the product side. It doesn’t matter how you’re advertising or where your stores are. If you go in and there’s nothing you like, it doesn’t matter."

Tamara Rosenthal, Director of Marketing for Lacoste USA as quoted in Fast Company (August 2005)

Here are a few links that passed through today that might be of interest to you.

• Liberty University has loosened their dress code. It’s now OK to wear jeans to class. I see a new opportunity for my favorite clothing store–The Buckle.
• Perry had some great things to share on a tough topic.
• PurposeDriven.com picked up the article on exceeding guest expectations. Or, just skip this link and go buy yourself a copy of First Impressions by my good friend, Mark Waltz.
• Is Google getting ready to offer us free Wi-Fi? Probably not in Granger.
• You mean if I owned an Apple computer, I might actually get a virus? I’m proud to say that I pay Jason to track down valuable information like this…and it makes me happy.

So, what does it take to get a pre-release copy of Seth Godin’s new book, The Big Moo? I’m on the lookout for a copy if anyone is in a charitable mood. Or would that be moooooooood?

Here’s the "box score" for this past weekend at Granger Community Church.

Music: "Spoken For" by MercyMe; "Unchanging" and "On Our Side" by Chris Tomlin

Message: "Bridge the Gap: The Party" — Mark Beeson, Senior Pastor, talked about God’s vision for fulfillment through serving. By telling the story of his ministry through the years, Mark encouraged everyone to come and help do something great for God.

Service Highlights: As we prepare for ministry growth this fall, the primary next step that we wanted to offer out of this service was to encourage people to step into a serving opportunity at Granger. Specifically, we are hoping to add to the number of people who are serving in children’s ministry and First Impressions. More than anything, though, we want people find a place to serve that matches how God has wired them up.

Stats: 4,705 total attendance (3,612 adults + 1,093 kids); 8.2% increase from the same weekend last year

Percentage of weekend attendance by service:

1. Sun 10:15 am = 30%
2. Sun 11:45 pm = 20%
3. Sat 5:30 pm = 18%
4. Sat 7:30 pm = 17%
5. Sun 8:45 am = 15%

Final Notes: Next weekend we launch the Brand Nu Me series to help people take their next steps toward Christ following the hundreds of decisions that were made during the Bridge the Gap series. Among other things, we’ll be encouraging new believers to participate in baptism.

It’s official! We’re going to have a Blogapalooza at this year’s Innovative Church Conference in Granger. If you’re planning on being at this year’s ICC and you blog, read blogs or dream of being blogged about, you are officially invited to my first-ever Blogapalooza.

During one of the conference lunches, we’re going to reserve a room for anyone who’d like to gather and talk blogging with some of your favorite Granger bloggers. It’ll be an informal deal to let you meet some of my friends. We’ll be releasing more details in the comings days. We may even be announcing some special guest bloggers who will be in attendance. As if you needed it, now you have one more reason to join us for this year’s ICC.

If you’d like to participate in the Blogapalooza, please leave a comment with your name or email me to let us know you’re coming. That’ll help us know how many we need to accommodate with room set up and food. And, tell you’re friends. This is a word-of-mouth deal only.

That’s about how long it takes for something I say in Granger, Indiana to makes it’s way downunder. This week, a network of Anglican churches in Sydney picked up my article on 10 Easy Ways to Keep Me from Visiting Your Church Because I Visited Your Website. I originally posted this in mid-May and it’s been the most referenced link on my site by far. Apparently doves scare other people as well.

Check out what Mark Hughes, the author of Buzzmarketing, had to say about WiredChurches.com.

Have you received your September/October issue of Rev Magazine yet? The issue features a cover story from Tim and me on attracting a crowd to your church. Not sure if you should read this article? Maybe you should consider, first, whether or not you’ve ever experienced this…

Be honest. Have you ever been in a church service where you had to try as hard as you could to stay awake? You know what I’m talking about. You begin to gaze out the window as the message drones on. Your eyelids grow heavier. Your head begins to nod. Drool starts to drip down the side of your chin. Soon there are visions of sugarplums dancing in your head. The sugarplums start out waltzing. Then they form a kick line. Then the sugarplums start a line dance, and you begin humming a bad country tune. As you try to regain consciousness, you start to ponder the question, “Is there such a thing as a good country tune?” It doesn’t matter, of course, since you have Jesus in your achy breaky heart.

Something tells me I’m going to see a sharp decrease in Nashville subscribers with this post. Makes you wonder what new country songs people will write about my blog, though, doesn’t it?

Let’s put any misconceptions to rest up front. It’s true that Gary Lamb has been pestering me for some time regarding my "Cool Church of the Week" posts. And, he had a lot to say after Terry and I put our necks on the line to list our Top 10 Innovative Churches. In the interest of full disclosure, I will acknowledge that there have also been emails exchanged that I haven’t revealed to the general public because I didn’t want to discredit any past or future cool churches. Finally, no money or other bribes have been passed under the table to sway me in this decision process. I have reached this conclusion on my own accord. I just want to assure you that the "Cool Church of the Week" selection process has not been tainted.

With that behind us, I’d like to introduce you to Ridge Stone Church in Canton, Georgia. Gary is the lead pastor of this new church plant that held it’s first services a year ago this weekend. Ridge Stone had been meeting in a middle school until last weekend when they moved into a movie theater within their community to accommodate future growth. Some might see doing church in a theater as a challenge, but Gary and the Ridge Stone team have found at least ten benefits to this ministry transition.

I really admire guys like Gary who are willing to launch new ministries. It’s exciting to see how God is already blessing his faithfulness. The doors of Ridge Stone have only been open twelve months and they already have a few hundred people attending their service each weekend. Gary has a lot to offer fellow church planters. In addition to reading his blog, you may want to check out these insights he shared on Terry’s site last month.

If I wasn’t attending Granger Community Church this weekend, I’d head to the movie theater to check out the service at Ridge Stone Church. Because they were willing to take the risk of changing locations in order to reach more people for Jesus, they are my "Cool Church of the Week."

Gary, now will you can stop pestering me? :-)