I MET JESUS!

Last weekend, Jim Caviezel, who played Jesus in The Passion of the Christ, came to speak at Seacoast Church. I found out about his coming about a month before and requested that I be allowed to open and close the service. My wish was granted...

I went through many rewrites before settling in on my final routine -- in the end, I went with what you see in the video attached to this entry. Here are a few of my favorite moments from the weekend:

• After the Saturday evening service, Selina and I met Mr. Caviezel and got his autograph. When we walked up, his friend said, "Jim, this is Ryan, he's the guy that did the opening we were all laughing at!" We shook Jim's hand and he said I was hilarious and very natural on the stage... I told him that was the greatest compliment of my entire life!

• On Sunday, after doing my opening, as I was coming off the stage, Jim gave me a hug. I wasn't expecting it, so I leaned into the hug after he was moving on. I ended up bumping into Shawn Wood, a Seacoast pastor who was walking directly behind him.

• On Sunday afternoon, I came back to the church for a video shoot and walked into the "bullpen" (a waiting room for the Sunday speakers). When I walked in, Jim Caviezel was sitting in a chair facing away from me. When he turned and saw me he said, while shooing me away, "Hey 50 feet, 50 feet!" referencing a line from my opening.

All in all, a cool experience I won't soon forget... a special thank you to my wife, who coached me repeatedly on my opening!

HATE MAIL

The following transcript is from a voicemail message I received last week:

Ryan May, this is Rob Alderman. I just heard that you are going to be planting a rival church in Chattanooga. I want you to know this is not good, that the Lord will be very upset with you for this. And I plan to do everything I can to stand against it and to make sure that it does not prosper. And that your evil ways will not come to fruition.

My phone number in case you’ve forgotten it because you don’t ever call me anymore is…. But, I’m not certain that you’ll be able to get though because I don’t think my phone allows heretics to call me. Congratulations on the baby. I hope he turns into a person that won’t go and plant churches right next to their friend’s churches. That’s all. Bye.

I shamelessly put the above transcript before what I'm about to write for mere shock value... the reality is that Rob is a great friend who left this message in complete jest. But, I told him I was going to post it, so there it is.

Rob pastors a church group called Bridges Community that, to my understanding, meets in bars throughout the Chattanooga area. A very cool ministry. When I called Rob back, we had a good conversation about how different our ministries will be and he assured me that we can be associated with him so we can claim our church has an "urban" ministry. :)

Rob, I'm looking forward to ministering in the same town as you and have no doubt we will each be reaching a different audience, while still having the same mission: to reach those who do not know Christ.

After all, that seems to be God's plan...

"All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it." (1 Corinthians 12:27)
"He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love." (Ephesians 4:16)

THE NET'S NEWEST MEMBER!

We are officially growing the church from the INSIDE OUT! Selina is pregnant!! Up until today we had only shared the news with our immediate families and a few friends. Today we announced it to the Seacoast staff. And now... the world!

How we told Selina's family - we gathered with them in Georgia for her grandma's 75th birthday a few weeks ago. Near the end of the party, I distributed gift bags to each member... including my wife, so as to not cause any suspicion. On my go, they opened their respective bags which contained buttons that said, "Proud [Aunt, Uncle, Papa, Momo (our "grandma" name for Selina's mom), etc.] of the Mayby (our name for a May family baby)!"

How we told my family - on Thanksgiving I had the honor of praying over the meal. I opened in usual fashion and then closed with, "...and dear Lord, thank you for the little baby growing in my wife's belly. Amen." Then everyone opened their eyes, waiting to hear that we were only kidding. But, alas, we were not and mom then shrieked in excitement.

How we told the Seacoast staff - At All-Staff, Greg opens the floor for people to introduce newcomers to the team. I took that opportunity to say, "Well, this is my wife, Selina, it's her first time here. And we would also like to introduce someone else to you, but right now he's a little hard to see, since he's only 2 centimeters big and in my wife's stomach." More shrieks, a lot of clapping, and many congrats followed. Oh, and the start of a song by pastor Greg to the tune of Happy Birthday, only substituting the word birthday with conception... I think you had to be there...

Anywho... we are extremely excited and looking forward to adding a bit more pressure to the move to Chattanooga and the start of a new church. And now we are just trying to figure out all the important things, like what the baby will call his grandparents, how much extra money we'll need over the next 18 years, and does SkyMall magazine sell a change-less diaper.

FELLOW CHURCH PLANTERS

While in Indiana, we took Friday afternoon to visit with Shane and Rachel Frazier who are starting a church in Lebanon, IN on January 13th. We met Shane and Rachel during our ARC assessment a few months ago. We had a great visit and enjoyed hearing about how God has provided for them leading up to their launch date. We look forward to seeing what God does through this amazing couple.

CHURCH, WITHOUT A CHURCH!

Yesterday evening we went to visit my long-time friend, Adam Sessions, and his family. During our time together Adam's mother, Sandy, told us about a home bible study group she started attending with some other ladies in the neighborhood. Sandy has not attended a church in many years, nor does she attend one now, but here she is, growing in her relationship with Christ within the comforts of her own neighborhood and among her own friends. Sounds like church to me!

I asked her how the group got started and she said that one lady decided to start it and made some calls and then those ladies called some more ladies and before you knew it, 10 or so women were meeting for the study every week. I told her that was a perfect example of what we would love to see happen at The Net Church... people gathering on their own and extending an invitation to their network of friends. That's how the gospel grows... one by one, intentionally, through relationship.

Author and researcher, George Barna predicts in his book Revolution that home groups like this, that are not a part of a local church body, will continue to grow. I do believe the local church holds value though and my hope is that instead of trying to compete with this trend, we will make it our goal to marry the two. This will require the church to be a place that's relevant and a place that home group members will want to attend. By God's grace we will be known by these characteristics and be able to watch the church grow!

GOBBLE, GOBBLE!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Selina and I flew into Chicago last night and are spending the holiday in Indiana (we agreed early on to alternate years between the two families). While watching the Macy's Parade this morning, to our surprise, the Ooltewah High School Band made an appearance! They performed in full-on clown garb. I watched with pride, knowing that this time next year we will be residents of the city of Ooltewah, Tennessee!

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FREEEEEEEDOM!!!!!

Tuesday I got the priviledge of playing William Wallace, parodying a scene from Braveheart. This picture is of me and my buddy, Jim Miles, heading to the shoot.

The video was for the Seacoast Volunteer Gala. Last year was our first year doing a gala and we were commissioned to produce 5 videos to introduce an award for each purpose represented at Seacoast. This year we are doing 6 videos and a live musical number. In addition to being William Wallace, I also got to play Gollum from Lord of the Rings, Yoda from Star Wars, and Rose from Titanic... yes, you read that right. I have a feeling few church planters are going through the things I'm going through for the Kingdom... or would want to, for that matter! :)

The videos are currently in post production and should be available for viewing mid-to-late December. We'll keep you posted!