• 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.

Ever get an intense, uncontrollable desire to study Christian doctrine? The kind of urging that keeps you up at night? Yeah me neither. But the truth is we need to understand the essential, life-changing, eternal truths found in the scriptures. And we’re going to do just that…but it won’t be as boring as it sounds. We’re going to focus on truths found in the Gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, as well as the books of Acts and Revelation. You see, there are a lot of important things that Jesus said…and there are a lot of things that Jesus did not say, but that we think he said! Things like, “God helps those who help themselves”, and “To thine own self be true.” I can’t wait to tackle some major myths regarding the Christian faith, while at the same time bringing some life-changing truths that Jesus indeed shared with us. So be sure and invite someone this week. It could change their life. It could change your life. We’ll see you on Sunday!

• Worship Set: Your Love Never Fails, Your Grace Is Enough, Rooftops, King of All Days, One Thing Remains, All
• In case you haven’t noticed, we’re leaning a lot on Jesus Culture songs right now. It’s common for them to make up 50-75% of our set list. Lovin’ it!
• Alex and the team did a great job. If you were there, you will notice that we’re still looking for a drummer. Anyone?
• We were back at the Best Western this week. These guys have been so good to us. They’re even giving us some storage space for free. Can’t beat that!
• We had some new faces this week! Great meeting you guys! Even had a guy who was staying at the hotel and he heard the music and came down and joined us. Turns out he’s from the Lewiston-Clarkston area where we moved from and we have some friends in common.
• Today I talked about the tension that is created when we as Christians live in the world but are not of the world.
• I took Mark Driscoll’s method of evaluating what parts of culture we should embrace or reject. He calls it Receive, Reject, or Redeem.
• Receive: Some things we can receive as is. I don’t have to worry whether my iPhone is holy or not. I can just receive it and the operating system it uses. (some of the apps may be questionable!). There is nothing inherently evil about it even though Steve Jobs was a confessed Buddhist.
• Reject: Some things in our culture are clearly rejected because God has clearly rejected it through His Word. For example, there is nothing good about pornography. I’m not going to try and use it in any way to connect with others. It is evil and destructive and we must reject it. It is not allowed in my house!
• Redeem: Some things may not be inherently evil, but perhaps are being used for evil. However, just as Christ has redeemed us, these things may be redeemed by the church and used for good.
• There will always be many opinions on controversial subjects about whether or not they can be received or redeemed, or flat out rejected. For example, I believe that I can redeem a beer so that I can connect with someone to share the gospel with them. In fact, I did this last weekend. However, there are many who would believe that this is evil and would flat out reject the use of alcohol in any form. Perry Noble used the song “Highway to Hell” as an opener for their Easter services this past year, and saw many people come to salvation during his services. Many people feel that was inappropriate but Perry feels that they were able to redeem the song for good. The Puritans hated Christmas. The Revivalists hated hymns. The list can go on and on.
• Bottom line, is that you must know what the Word of God says about a particular subject. If the Bible clearly rejects, then so must we. But there are many things in pop culture that the Bible is silent on. Therefore, we must check our motives. If we are going to receive or redeem something that may be questionable, then why are we doing it? Paul says in 1 Cor 9 that he became all things to all men so that some may be saved!  He didn’t do it to be the cool pastor or for shock value. He did it to help share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Lastly, listen to the Holy Spirit. The Spirit may tell you to redeem something to reach a people group God has called you to, and he may tell someone else something different. Paul preached against circumcision in general as a necessary means for salvation, but then required his young disciple Timothy to be circumcised so that he could reach a certain people group. Hmm.
• We’ll see you next week at the Best Western. Invite a friend or family member that you’ve been praying for. We’re kicking off a new series titled, “Jesus did not say _______.”  It’s gonna be good!

I’m ready to start the Sunday Replays again. Here’s what happened today at RCC:

• Worship set: You Deserve, Rooftops, One Thing Remains, Adoration, My Reward.
• Great worship today. Aidan Beeson from RCC Lewiston drummed for us last minute and nailed it. Eric and Jamie did an amazing job leading as usual. Passionate and Spirit-led.
• Good turnout today considering we had to make a last-minute venue change to the Hilton. Some new faces and return visitors. Thanks for joining us today!
• I have to admit I’ve been a little cranky the last 2 months about our meeting location (or lack of a steady one). But I decided to repent of my stinky attitude and be thankful that God has provided a location each week. I like the Hilton, where we were today, but the Best Western has been very accomodating and is practically giving us the meeting rooms each week. It’s hard to beat that.
• I keep telling everyone that the church isn’t defined by 4 walls…but I sometimes wonder if I really believe it or not! While a permanent meeting location would be great, God is certainly not confined to a particular location.
• So we’re going to keep doing what God has called us to do: make followers of Jesus wherever we go!
• I’m so grateful for Kevin Beeson and his family coming all the way over from RCC Lewiston to preach today.
• Kevin is a great friend and is also my pastor. River City Church in Lewiston sent us out to Missoula 3 yrs ago and has been our greatest supporter. It’s good to know someone’s got your back!
• Kevin preached a message on Lazarus from John 11 that was the most unique word I have ever heard on that passage.
• The main emphasis was on John 11:44 And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in graveclothes, his face wrapped in a headcloth. Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him go!”
• Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead and could easily have unwrapped him and cleaned him up…but he asked the people to do it instead. Jesus wants to use each of us to help remove the grave clothes off of each other. The graveclothes of our past. The unforgiveness. The addiction. The jealosy. The anger. The shame. The ___________.
• What grave clothes are you still wearing? The only way that others can help you is if you are living in community with them. Biblical community like that found in the book of Acts. Unselfish community.
• BTW, we have some ways for you to get connected and live in community. We’ll be having a Welcome Dinner for our newest guests here soon. Keep checking back for the time and place. We have a men’s group that meets on Thursdays at lunch. We have a women’s group that meets on Tuesdays at 10am. We have a Financial Peace University that meets on Wednesday eves at 6pm. We constantly have ways to connect through various events. In fact, we almost named our church “Connect Church”. Not kidding.
• One of the things that RCC does really well is provide ways to connect. If you can’t connect here, you probably aren’t trying that hard!
• We’re working hard to get a new podcast page up. Keep checking back because we should have it up some time this week and we’ll be posting sermons from the last 2 months.
• Ah, it’s good to do Sunday Replays again. Be sure and join us next Sunday at the Best Western so that you don’t have to read the blog!

Hey everyone! We have invited Kevin Beeson, Pastor of River City Church in Lewiston, Idaho to come speak this Sunday at RCC. Kevin provides oversight to RCC Missoula and is a great communicator. If you haven’t heard him speak before, I guarantee you will be humored, encouraged, and challenged all at the same time!

We will be meeting at the Hilton Garden Inn on Reserve rather than the Best Western, so note the change! As usual, we will have something for your whole family. Let’s show Kevin and his wife Shelley our support by coming out this Sunday @ 11am!

I have no idea what it’s like to coach an NFL football team, much less a Superbowl team. But I can imagine that after a certain amount of time coaching in the NFL, you come to recognize when you have a team with Superbowl potential. That’s how I feel with our ministry team right now at RCC.

We’ve always had good people on our team. I’ve always placed my relationship with our team members even above their ability to serve. But there is just something, a chemistry perhaps, that happens when the right team comes together. A coach can sense it. It is something special and something that doesn’t happen every season.

The team we have right now is that team. It’s the team that I know God can use to take RCC to the next level. The Superbowl if you will. I can’t tell you exactly why I know this. Part of it is because I am friends with them all. I love them. I’ve got their back and they’ve got mine. Our relationships are more important than our roles. Part of it is that they all have a unique calling. Part of it is that they are passionate for the cause of Christ. Part of it is that they want to see RCC succeed in reaching Missoula, MT and beyond for the Kingdom of God.

Put all of these things together and you’ve got the perfect storm. A Superbowl Team.

What more could a coach ask for? I’ve got the best team a pastor could want. Can’t wait for the post-season. Let’s run up the score!