I would like to invite you to join us on Tuesday mornings @7am (starting tomorrow) at the building for a time of worship and prayer. We will be taking this time to worship our God and pray over our city, our church, and other churches in Missoula. Everyone is invited, whether you are a seasoned “prayer warrior” or just learning how to pray. You won’t be required to pray out loud, but you can agree with others as we call on God to reach this city with the Hope of Christ. Our plan is to start with 20-30 minutes of worship, and take the last 30-40 minutes to pray. But we’re going to be flexible and Spirit led so it could change from week to week. Also, feel free to only come to a portion of it if that’s what your schedule allows.

I’m believing this word that was spoken over Israel and Solomon’s Temple is also true for River City Church:

So if you can make it, great! If not, no worries. Just come on the days that you are able. Or join us by worshiping and praying wherever you are on Tuesday mornings.

Every great move of God has started with men and women on their knees seeking God for revival. The next move of God in Missoula will be no different. Here’s believing for great things!

I hope you like the graphic! But more than that, I hope you’ll get your tail to River City Church this Easter! Along with our usual modern music and practical, life-giving teachings, we’re going to provide an amazing experience for your kids that they’ll never forget!

Every week we partner with Mismo Gymnastics to provide a fun learning environment for your kids. They’ll spend time in Missoula’s most popular gym learning how to live a “balanced” life, as well as how to face and conquer “obstacles” in life through faith in Christ. This Easter we’ll also be doing an egg hunt in the Mismo Gym. Believe me, your kids are going to love it!

So come on out to our new location at 1900 W Broadway at 10am this Easter Sunday. We’d love to have you join us!

Click here to view the event on our Facebook page!

• Worship set: You Deserve, Rooftops, Higher than the Mountains, Lord I Need You, My Reward
• I thought that worship was good on Sunday. We introduced a new song, “Lord I Need You”. Good stuff.
• We’re still missing a drummer, but it’s still sounding ok. I’m told that I’m the only one who really cares that we don’t have a drummer. The problem is…I care!
• I believe the purpose of our music ministry is twofold: 1) is to lead our people into worship, and 2) is to be evangelistic in our music. In other words, it should be done with excellence and should be culturally relevant.
• And that’s why I care when we don’t have a drummer.
• The good news is, it looks like we’ve got someone to at least fill in for a while beginning this Sunday. We’ll see how they work out.
• Seems like we had about 4 or 5 first time guests, which is awesome because I preached one of the more difficult messages that I’ll preach this year. Oh well, I’m not much into giving people what they want to hear, just what they need to hear
• We continued the series, Jesus did not say… with Jesus did not say, “The church is about what you can get out of it. Make sure you are being fed.”
• Consumerism is plaguing the American church. We’ve got to stop thinking about what the church can do for us, and instead develop a mindset of what we can do for the church.
• All of us have to be ALL IN  if we’re going to take Missoula and beyond for the Kingdom of God.
• I challenged everyone to step it up a serious notch or two when it comes to giving and serving.
• If we’re going to do what I think God wants us to do in 2012, we’re going to need the people of RCC to be all in.
• Btw, we finally have our new podcast page working!!!
• You can listen to the sermon here.

Today was our Christmas special. What an amazing, crazy day! I don’t think we’ve ever had a more technical program as we did today. We had a few hiccups, but our team totally rocked it!

• Worship set: O Come All Ye Faithful, We Cry Out, Christ Alone, How He Loves, Joy to the World.
• The kids did an amazing job today! It was so cute watching them do the ABCs of Christmas. And they did 3 Christmas songs as well. They did so well I think we should have them lead a few songs each week!
• Because it was our Christmas Special, we had a lot of visitors this week. We literally ran out of chairs. We had the hotel bring us more chairs two different times, and then we just ran out of room and people had to stand in the back. Not ideal, but sort of fun anyway!
• Not everyday you get to say, “STANDING ROOM ONLY!”
• Short sermon today. Kicked it off with a video called “Four Words Christmas”. The 4 words are “God Is With Us”.
• I asked how we would live our lives differently if we really believed that God was with us.
• Overall, had a great day today. Thanks everyone for bringing your friends and family. Your kids were amazing.
• Anyone else praying for Tebow today? As I write this it’s the 4th qtr. Doesn’t look good for Denver. Just wondering…

Sorry for the delay on this one. James and I took off for Lewiston, ID Sunday afternoon to do some steelhead fishing and didn’t get back until late Monday night. And yes, we caught 3 and lost 1!

• Worship set: Firm Foundation, Blessed Be Your Name, God of Wonders, The First Noel, O Come All Ye Faithful.
• Great to see some new faces and be able to connect with them. We have a great team who always makes our guests feel at home.
• We continued the “Jesus Did Not Say…” series with Part 3. Here are the 3 things I spoke on today that Jesus did not say…

1. “All things in moderation.”
2. “Dream really small dreams and make sure you never ask for anything big!”
3. “Don’t be a risk taker. It’s better to play it safe than to end up dead for my sake.”

• I wrapped up the sermon with the story of Benaiah in 2 Samuel 23:20-22. It’s one of my favorite stories in the bible, and one of my favorite books, written solely on this passage, is In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day by Mark Batterson. I’d highly recommend it!
• Next week we’ll have our Christmas service and the kid’s will be doing their recital. Be sure to practice those lines and songs, and show up a little early next week!

• Worship Set: Joy to the World, Forever, Rooftops, Your Great Name, Adoration
• Turns out we had a drummer last minute, so I played electric guitar and we had a full band! It’s been a while. Thanks Kelly for stepping up and drumming!
• We had a new computer,  new presentation software, and it took forever to get set up. Looked like it might be one of those days when the worship team just struggles through…but not even. We kicked the 1st song off and absolutely nailed it. It was like we had practiced all week together.
• I have to say I love the way Alex leads, particularly when it comes to arrangements. He’s got a knack for putting songs together and being creative with it. Love ya man.
• Very excited to see new people each week and return visitors from the week before. Welcome to RCC! I really hope that you feel like you can be a part of the RCC family.
• I realized recently that I’m constantly evaluating our Mission Statement, our Vision, and our Core Values. I think it takes a couple of years to really figure out as a church who you are and what you’re about.
• I’ve been trying to figure out what to tell new people about what to expect at RCC if they choose to join us. I’m thinking about saying something like this:

• We probably won’t wow you with our musical skills. Our meeting location isn’t the most hip. Our sermons are OK but probably won’t be aired on TBN. But if you’re looking for an authentic church where you will be welcomed and feel like part of a family, then RCC may be the place for you. We love people and we make relationships our #1 priority. Don’t get me wrong. We care about all the details on Sundays, but we major in truly connecting with people.

• Let me know what you think.
• I continued our series “Jesus did not say…” and focused today on the Christian life. Here are the 3 things I preached on today that Jesus did not say:

1. Jesus did not say, “Follow me and I will show you the easy life.”
2. Jesus did not say, “Believe in me, and then live however you want.”
3. Jesus did not say, “Your faith is a private matter. Keep your beliefs to yourself.”

• This is a challenging series for me personally. Jesus said a lot of things that I really don’t want to hear if you want to know the truth. Things like, “If you really want to follow me, then you’re going to be beaten and persecuted for doing it.” and “If you really want to follow me, then you’re going to have to give up everything that you valued, including your friends and family, even your own life.”
• I began following Jesus because he saved me from my sin. He set me free. He gave me joy and peace that I didn’t have before. But Jesus told us to count the cost before we followed him. He said it wasn’t going to be easy. He said we couldn’t continue living for ourselves. We would have to give it all up. The American Dream is nowhere to be found in the gospels.
• I think most, including myself, have yet to figure this out completely.

• Worship Set: Forever, Rooftops, Sing My Love, My Reward, Joy to the World
• Still looking for a drummer! If you know of anyone who might be interested please have them contact me brian@rccmissoula.org
• Setup and media was a little harder this week as Bud and Tara were out of town. We missed you guys!
• Thanks to Jarrod and Jonah for stepping up and helping out.
• Turnout was a little low probably due to turkey weekend. However, we did have a new family and saw someone there who hasn’t been around in quite a while. Thanks for joining us yesterday!
• The kids will be doing some songs and such on December 18th, so each child got song lyrics and a CD so they can practice. If you didn’t get one be sure and pick one up this coming Sunday.
• We’ll also have gift tags to pick up this Sunday for the family that we are adopting this year.
• We kicked off the new sermon series, “Jesus did not say…” yesterday.
• Here are the 3 things that I covered yesterday. Jesus did not say…

1. “God helps those who help themselves.”
2. “All roads lead to heaven.”
3. “Say a prayer asking me into your heart and you shall be saved.”

• Hopefully we’ll get the podcast up this week so that you can listen. I had a blast preaching this and can’t wait to tackle some more myths this next Sunday!
• If you want to know what Jesus did say about those 3 issues, shoot me an email and I’ll send you my sermon notes with all of Jesus’ quotes.
• As of now we are planning on meeting at the Best Western indefinitely. However, we are continuing to pray for a permanent location that we can call our own. Please be praying for us and let me know if you know of any space for lease in the North Reserve area.

• 1st day in our new facility! Our team is amazing. They pulled it off without a hitch!
• Our very first visitor showed up about an hour before the service started…and we promptly sent him away in the back of a police car!
• Seriously though, he was inebriated and had a weapon. We really tried to be graceful, but eventually gave up. Hopefully he’ll come back when he’s not being disruptive.
• On a positive note, the entire setup looked and worked great. The worship team rocked it. The Kidway area was all over it. The sermon wasn’t too bad either:)
• We kicked off our series through the book of Romans. I’m super stoked to go through this book. No other piece of literature has had more eternal impact throughout history than this one.
• This is the book that gripped Martin Luther and sparked the Protestant Reformation. This is the book that stirred in John Wesley and resulted in the Great Awakening.
• Literally billions of people have been impacted by this book.
• Yesterday I spent most of the sermon discussing Romans 1:17, where Paul writes, “The just shall live by faith.”
• This is the theme that we will be exploring throughout the entire book. This was Paul’s battle cry. This was Martin Luther’s battle cry.
• This will be our battle cry.

• It’s official! We are now meeting at 11am at the Lifestyle Fitness and Kid’s Club at 3075 N. Reserve St.
• Thanks E3/Convergence for partnering with us over the last 15 mos and letting us use your facility. It has worked out great.
• But it’s time to move on!
• We set up and did a worship rehearsal at the new facility this last week and it looked and sounded great. I can’t wait for Sunday!
• It was amazing how God orchestrated our worship set last night. Eric didn’t know what I was speaking on when he picked the songs, but I felt that every song was significant.
• I spoke on taking a step of faith and taught out of Joshua chapter 3. God told the priests to step into the raging Jordan River. Then and only then would he stop the waters.
• God goes before us, but signs and wonders walk right beside us.
• Often times God is waiting for us to make a move. He’s given you a dream or vision, and he’s waiting for you to step out in faith before he’ll do a miracle on your behalf.
• I dare you to move.

• I was out of town last week on the 20th so Eric Beeson spoke on tuning in to God. I heard it was great but they had recording difficulties, so you’ll just have to come and hear him live next time!
• We’ve been doing a new song (new for us) called You Deserve by Hillsong United. It’s high energy and a bunch of fun to worship to!
• Last night I spoke on When Dreams Die. We looked at the dream that God gave Joseph, and how that dream appeared to die several times during his life.
• However, sometimes God allows dreams to die. We looked at the Lazarus story in John 11 and saw that Jesus allowed Lazarus to die so that he could be resurrected for the glory of God.
• Sometimes God allows our dreams to die. He does this so that we don’t take credit for them when they come to pass. He wants the resurrect them for his glory.
• If you’ve had a dream that seems to have died, then have a listen and be encouraged that God wants to resurrect it!