unMediocre

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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Bobbie and Roger Steele retired not too long ago. What did they choose to do with their one and only lives? They decided to take in foster kids.

Right now they only have room for 2 or 3. But today, scores of volunteers arrived to change that. They added a screened in porch, a storage shed, a basketball court, paint throughout the house, a computer/learning room, picnic tables… The list goes on.

Next stop… McKenna Farms.

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I’ll be all over the place Saturday shooting photos and just listening to stories at several of the Community Makeover sites. The buzz in this town is absolutely astonishing… It’s all over Facebook, blogs… I’m giddy.

About a dozen of my friends will be shooting photos and video along with me. We’ve already mapped out our schedule. We won’t get to everything (that would literally be close to impossible even with dozens of photogaphers), but we’ll get the essence of it all. The goal is to have a recap video live on YouTube by the time folks get home from the Worship Service at Sam’s Sunday night.

I’m planning to be publishing some quick blurbs and photos as I make my way to different sites. Annette and the girls will be coming along with me for most of the day… I’m very excited about that. You might want to follow me on Twitter if you don’t already. (I’ll have my phone on me so I can approve you pretty quickly if you request to follow me.)

But now to sleep in prep. I already stayed up later than I should have.