A BEAUTIFUL QUOTE

Yesterday, while talking with a new TRCer, he made a statement that was music to my ears. Let me give you some thoughts and then I will tell you what he said.

I pastor a church founded, by my parent's; located in my hometown, where I went to school; and down the street, from where I have lived for 33 of my 36 years on Planet Earth. Leading a church is difficult enough, but doing it in my parent's church and in my home town can make me, at times, think, "God, what are YOU thinking?"

Why? Because on most occasions a pastor comes to a city, no one knows his name and he begins to lead. In my case, the mayor of Monroe was an English teacher at my Jr. High, I have friends who own businesses here and run into people everyday attached to my childhood; consequently, the good, the bad and the ugly on Jeff Knight and TRC has been lived out in the city of Monroe! There are no secrets, no skeletons; believe me, if there were, someone in this town would know about it.

So yesterday this man, who has been coming to TRC for about 9-months, made this statement about TRC. He said, "Everything negative we had heard about The Rock Church is simply not true." I loved it! As an "ambiguity buster" of the gospel I get fired up when the ambiguity is busted about The Rock Church!

I was thinking today, what did he mean by "Everything"? He meant Common Misconceptions. Here are a few we have heard throughout the years:

We have heard there is a common misconception that people think they, "Have to dress a certain way to go to The Rock Church." Truth? We only want people dressed when they come to church. Is that asking too much?

We have heard there is a common misconception that people think, "The Rock Church doesn't want young people to date." Truth? We have an internship where we ask our interns to dedicate 10-months to God without a dating relationship and we are strong proponents of "rating your dating while waiting for mating," but we are not anti-dating. That's funny considering how many singles go to TRC every week! Shout out to the singles.

We have heard there is a common misconception that people say, "The Rock Church has lights, and loud music for worship; it is just a show." Random thought, "What church is still using candles?" Truth? Yes, we have lights of all colors. Loud music? WHAT? Just teasing, our music volume reflects the passion in our services and worship is a big part of our passion: some services are loud, others are not. Is it a show? No way, there are far too many people working toward the common goal of Connecting People to Life to be a show; nevertheless, it is not the church I grew up in, but that doesn't make it a show.

We have heard there is a common misconception that people think, "The Rock Church is one of those soft-relational-don't-talk-about-sin churches." Truth? There are not "soft" and "hard" churches when it comes to sin; in fact, there are only "with judgement" and "without judgment" churches when it comes to sin. I will take the "without judgement" approach every time, but that doesn't mean TRC does not confront sin. There are far too many people mad at us to be considered a "sin friendly" church. We just don't publish their names.

We have heard there is a common misconception that people say, "All they talk about is money at The Rock Church." Random thought, "What church is operating without a financial budget?" Truth? We talk about honoring God with our money by living generously. Do people seriously think nearly 1,000 people would attend a church every week that only talked about money?

We have heard there is a common misconception that people think, "The Rock Church is one of those, you know, emotional churches." Truth? We allow the Holy Spirit to guide our service planning and implementation. Are there people still wondering if God wants us to experience Him for real? Yes, God wants you to experience Him emotionally, socially, relationally. financially and physically and who would not want that? When people get saved, there are tears; water baptized, yep, more tears; and when people experience the fullness of God and the Holy Spirit, total joy! Yep, TRC is emotional for the things of God, but not in a weepy wimpy way, maybe in the 80's, but that was 20 years ago, we have heard all that before.

We were asked one time, "Does TRC fund a NASCAR Team and the building of Choppers?" That would be cool, but NO! Instead we use other peoples toys (NASCAR and Choppers) to reach people with the gospel. People don't think the Church owns all those cars at the annual Father's Day Car and Bike Show, do they? Although, how much fun would the staff have with those rides? :)

I was told one-time by a dear friend, "Jeff, you're too conservative to be charismatic and too charismatic to be conservative." My response, "Yes sir, God made me, and there are two ditches along every road."

The Rock Church is doing everything in its capacity to Connect People to Life--life with a capital L! The truth is TRC is not a church for everybody, but it is a church for somebody, so to all those somebody's out there, "Keep it up!" 48 re-commitments to Jesus and 15 first-time salvation's on Easter, with 91 water baptisms last weekend is not a Common Misconception! It is now a historical fact!

I love this town and our county! I love The Rock Church! Guess what? I love all the critics who have told us over the years what we couldn't do. I love EVERYTHING!

Let me say it again, "EVERYTHING negative we have heard about The Rock Church is not true." Now that'll preach on behalf of every church and in every city!