Leading Timber Ridge

3.04.2014

Timber Ridge Volunteer of the Week

This week's Timber Ridge V.O.W. is Sabrina Carter. If you're ever looking for Sabrina on Sunday mornings, you'll most likely find her loving on kids and teaching God's Word in creative ways to our elementary aged kids in our Timber Ridge Kids worship experience. Sabrina uses her talent and time each week to make a difference in the lives of our children and to help them know they are loved by God. We're blessed to have Neely and Sabrina and their awesome girls as a part of the Timber Ridge family. THANK YOU Sabrina for all that you do to serve at Timber Ridge Church!

Pastor Nic & Sabrina Carter

(If you're interested in volunteering at Timber Ridge, click here to get more info and sign up!)

2.26.2014

Timber Ridge V.O.W.

This week's Volunteer of the Week at Timber Ridge Church is Clayton Iley. Clayton and his wife Jenny are making a huge impact at Timber Ridge. Clayton serves as a host in our worship experiences, helping people feel welcomed each week. He also serves on our Guest Services team on Sunday mornings. Thank you Clayton for all your investment and service at Timber Ridge!

Clayton & Pastor Nic

(You can make an impact by serving at Timber Ridge too! Click here for details on how to get connected on a ministry team.)

2.19.2014

Timber Ridge V.O.W.

This week's Timber Ridge Volunteer of the Week is Leslie Killingsworth. When I think about young adults who are making a huge impact at Timber Ridge, Leslie is at the top of that list! Leslie serves on Sunday mornings as a leader and teacher in our Kid Ridge ministry for elementary kids. Each week you'll find her loving on kids and teaching them God's truth. She also serves during the week by hosting and leading a LifeGroup for college girls in her home. Thank you Leslie, for using your time, talent, and ability to make a difference for the Kingdom!

Leslie & Pastor Jordan

(If you're interested in making an impact by volunteering at Timber Ridge, you can get more info here.)

2.05.2014

Timber Ridge V.O.W.

This week's Timber Ridge Volunteer of the Week is Ashley Lindsey! Ashley has been faithfully serving on our Guest Services team for almost as long as we've been a church. Each week you can see her smiling face serving in the Cafe, serving up some great coffee and tasty donuts. Ashley and her husband Matt also serve each week by hosting and leading a LifeGroup and are fantastic leaders, who help minister to others within our church family.

Thanks Ashley for all that you do to serve & make an impact at Timber Ridge! You're helping others connect with Jesus! You ROCK!

(If you'd like to find out more info about using your time, talent, and energy to make a difference by serving others at Timber Ridge Church, click here.)

2.03.2014

The Art of Timing

I must confess: I am growing to absolutely love the book of Proverbs in the Bible. Why, you ask? Because it is jam-packed full of practical, put-into-action wisdom for our daily lives.

This morning I read this:

If anyone loudly blesses their neighbor early in the morning, it will be taken as a curse. - Proverbs 27:14

Immediately it hit me: So many times in life WHEN we do something is just as important as WHAT we do. In short, timing really can be everything.

Think for a moment about what this proverb is teaching and you'll see it's completely true! No one likes a neighbor who loudly and obnoxiously blesses them with a way-too-early wake up call. The proverb is saying that even if you're trying to bless someone or encourage them, it can be done at the wrong time.

Consider this:

You need to address a failure or misstep on the part of a co-worker or staff member. It's probably not best to do it in the immediate aftermath of the mess. Give the situation some time to cool down.
You want to encourage your child to do better at a specific task. That's great! But having that conversation 2 minutes after they've just failed that task is probably not the best time for the rah-rah speech.
You want to call and have a long conversation with an old friend. It's probably not best to call during family dinner time.
The list goes on and on....

Here's what wisdom is: It's doing the RIGHT THING in the RIGHT WAY at the RIGHT TIME.

It's not just about WHAT we do. If we're really focusing on blessing others, we'll also consider the WAY and the WHEN of how we go about it. That ensures that the blessings we want to pass on to others stay as real blessings and aren't taken as something else altogether!

1.20.2014

Timber Ridge V.O.W.

This week's Timber Ridge V.O.W (Volunteer of the Week) is Tyler Gilbert. I'll never forget the first time I met Tyler. We were still meeting at the hotel and a mutual friend had introduced Tyler and I via Facebook and recommended our church to him. He sent me a message to get some info on the church and found out we started setting up around 5:45am on Sunday mornings. A couple days later, on his first Sunday to ever check out Timber Ridge, he showed up at 5:45am to help set up chairs! He hadn't even been to a church service & he was already serving.

From the set-up team during our portable days, to currently serving in our Timber Ridge Kids ministry and on our Guest Services team, Tyler makes a big impact at Timber Ridge. He has a heart to serve others and make a difference...and that's why we keep him around even though he's an OU fan!

We love ya' Tyler! Thanks for all you do to serve God & serve others!

Tyler & Pastor Nic

(If you attend Timber Ridge and would like to put your time and talents to use in serving God and serving others, you can get connected by clicking here.)

1.13.2014

More Vs. Your

There's an interesting dynamic in leadership that I've noticed in leading and in working with church planters and pastors over the last few years. Here it is: Lots of leaders want MORE responsibility.

Let's be honest: We're all busy. Our schedules are all swamped. If it's not a work meeting, it's a kid's soccer game. If it's not a soccer game, it's a neighbor's birthday party. We've over committed ourselves. It's the nature of the beast of the world in which we live.

So it's almost counter-cultural for leaders to crave more. More responsibility. More areas of ministry. More opportunities to lead and stretch themselves.

But leaders know this truth: More ministry means more impact. And that's why good leaders choose to lead in the first place. They want to make an impact. They want to contribute to something bigger than themselves.

If you're a leader who constantly finds yourself wanting more, can I offer you the very best way to get more influence, more leadership, and more responsibility in your organization, business, church, or group?

It's a very simple principle: If you want MORE leadership be faithful in YOUR leadership.

The best way to get more influence in ministry and more opportunities to lead is to be faithful with the ministry and leadership you've already been given.

If you want MORE responsibility, then rock out YOUR responsibility.

When you're leading and raising up other leaders in a faithful and consistent way with the responsibilities you've already been given, more leadership is sure to follow.

1.08.2014

3 Lessons For Every Church Planter

As we have planted Timber Ridge Church over the past two years, I've been fortunate to learn some solid lessons about church planting. Some I've learned from generous guidance and wisdom poured into me from other pastors and planters. Some I've learned the hard way...from life experience.

As I think back to some of those most important lessons I've learned, here are 3 things I would say to every single church planter out there.

#1: You will greatly overestimate what you can accomplish in the short term and greatly underestimate what you can accomplish in the long term. I have a great friend and mentor who reminds me of this truth often. In his words, "Church planting is a marathon. Not a sprint."

#2: Church planting is hard...but it is worth it. Planting a church will be far harder than you can ever imagine. It will require sacrifices from you, your spouse, and your family. It will mean facing criticism, making difficult decisions, and challenging yourself in ways you've never imagined. It's hard. But Jesus will change lives...and that is so worth it.

#3: God's love for you isn't based on your growth or success as a church planter. Probably the most significant lesson I've learned in planting a church is this: Before we were ever called to the ministry, before we were ever called to plant a church, we were called to Jesus. That is our most important calling. And the love of Jesus has absolutely nothing to do with our performance - even in church planting.

(If you are interested in church planting, but don't know where to get started, please contact me at nic at timberridgechurch dot com. We love to help church planters!)

12.23.2013

Merry Christmas from The Burleson's

The message of Christmas is this: When we couldn't get to God, He stepped out of heaven and came to us. Here's wishing you a Christmas season filled with the hope, peace, and joy of Jesus, the Immanuel, God with us.