unMediocre

Big changes are underway here in the Parris household. Yesterday marked my final day of serving as the Program Director at West Ridge Church…and today marks Day 1 of an adventure in Church Planting! Annette and I will soon be packing up our lives and moving to Charleston, SC, to join some friends who are planting River Church in the West Ashley community. I will serve as Arts + Innovation Pastor.

I’ll write about how all this came to be in great detail very soon, but for now you can check it all out on our new family blog, parrisfam.com.

Carlos over at ragamuffinsoul.com has asked his readers to chime in each Thursday with random examples of creativity in action. We call it “Creative Chaos.”

Added a few photos to the Comm Makeover gallery that were taken by my friend Matt Yung. He is a much better photographer than I.

5000 people. At least 10 Paulding County churches represented. An hour and a half of one of the most powerful moments I’ve ever experienced worshiping with other believers…and I’ve experienced some powerful moments.

It followed a weekend of over 3000 people serving through more than 250 service projects throughout the area. Click Here to see all of my posts from Community Makeover. Also visit the Engage Atlanta website.

[Sidenote... 5000 people at this one event. That is more people in one Sam's Club parking lot worshiping together than the total population of all the churches in Paulding county when West Ridge Church opened its doors in 1996.]

[Sidenote 2... I'm still waiting for some more photos from a 'real photographer'...so hopefully I'll have more shots to show soon.]

The gallery’s pages don’t work seemlessly when you click “next” at the last photo of each page. So be sure to view all the pages. there are about 60 photos here.

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Here’s the recap video Jeffrey put together from the footage taken at some of the sites. Keep in mind that there were over 250 projects, and over 3000 people serving (those are confirmed numbers…not estimates), so this is a very limited snapshot of what happened.

Last night was amazing… Absolutely amazing. I’ve been recovering since last night, and I’m trying to get caught up today. I’ll give an extensive recap and post tons of pictures asap.

I’ve added some photo galleries to the 3 posts from yesterday’s site visits. Here, here, and here. (Scroll down to the bottom of the post)

The trailer stages...almost in place!

I am absolutely pumped that in less than 24 hours, the single largest gathering of Christians in the history of Paulding County will be happening right smack dab in the heart of Hiram, GA, and MY TEAM will be the men and women making it happen. I’m stoked.

I left the site a couple of hours ago after meeting with our logistics liaison, Jud, our technical director, Chris, a couple of super nice fellas from JLT Trucking in Cartersville (they have donated the use of two flatbed tractor trailers to be used for the main stage, and they have treated me like I was a high-paying regular customer since day one), and the guys from PDH Systems in Acworth who have gone way above and beyond what we asked for, and have donated whatever we’ve needed but couldn’t afford…they’re providing our audio, lighting, some staging, stage roof/awning thing, truss, lifts…you name it.

I can’t wait to see the completed setup when I arrive Sunday AM.

We had to change the orientation of the stage at the very…VERY last minute. But I’m very pleased with the final decision.

So at 7:30pm, if you’re driving through Hiram along the main strip in front of Home Depot, Sam’s, Target, or any of the stores or restaurants in between, you WILL see and hear a few thousand Christians singing to the One who made them.

It shall be quite spectacular. :)

Melissa lost her husband Jim to a motorcycle accident on September 18 of last year. He had only owned the bike for an hour or two when someone turned across his lane causing the accident. Their daughter Hannah Brooke was only 3 or 4.

A group of men from West Ridge brought in loads of dirt, a bobcat, a trencher, and lots of shovels and strong backs to fix drainage problems in their yard. It was a massive project that Jim had begun, but Melissa completing the project on her own was not an option. These men are taking the load off of Melissa’s shoulders. They couldn’t be more excited.

This is the body of Christ, people.

This is McKenna Farms. Jesse is a physical therapist and a horse owner. When she realized the need for more occupational and speech therapy centers in Atlanta, she ceized the opportunity to make a difference on the west side of Atlanta, and to merge 2 of her life’s passions.

After purchasing a friend’s horse farm, she began McKenna Farms where dozens of volunteers and therapists now work with children from all over the area.

This weekend, teams from West Ridge and a local football team are building a retaining wall (80-feet long) to make possible a future covered arena, and to keep the current barn from washing away. They are also trenching to improve water drainage from the riding fields.

A team from Church @ The Ridge is building a huge sensory. Very cool.

I think a team is also clearing a horse trail through the woods.

No small potatoes at this site. I’ll add some more photos later that show more of the facility.

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