One Prayer
What would we pray if God would answer One Prayer for the Church at large?
This month, Pine Ridge, is partnering with hundreds of churches globally to do a series simultaneously called One Prayer. The series will begin this weekend and run for a total of four weeks. The premise of the series is, “If God would answer ‘one prayer’ for the church at large, what would you pray?”
My prayer is that God would make us CRAZY! Find out more this Sunday!!
So it’s been a few days since I have had a free moment to post anything. Yes - life has been MAD crazy. Some things have changed since last time I posted and they have resulted in me and Becki getting less than 8 hrs. of sleep in the last 5 days combined! I am not even sure what is day and what is night at this point. 
Anyways, I just wanted to give a few quick hits to follow-up from an amazing weekend!!
1. Brogan Timothy Grandstaff [see pictures HERE] - my son was brought into this world on Saturday, June 28, 2008 at 10:37 am. He was 6 lbs. - 7 oz. and 20.5 inches long.
Man, I can’t even tell you how much I love this kid. He is so amazing! What a surreal moment it was when I got the chance to hold him for the first time. That moment was priceless and one I will remember for the rest of my life.
If you didn’t already know it - my wife is amazing. She had a long delivery with a few minor complications, but let me tell you that girl blew my mind. I couldn’t have done what she did and watching what she went through just made me love her even more. Becki is doing great and recovering just fine - now if she can just find some time to get a little rest - then she will be doing even better.
Thanks to all of you that have offered to bring meals, left messages, sent flowers, and sent emails. You guys are awesome and we appreciate all of the love you have shown to me and Becki!!
2. Free Gas Giveaway [follow-up Channel News 2 coverage] - Our gas giveaway was this past Saturday - obviously I wasn’t there, but I heard it was amazing!! The awesome volunteers at PRC pumped gas and washed windows for over 225 cars. They pumped out over 2,800 gallons of gas and brought in over $11,000 in business for Exxon - in just 2 hrs. - that is absolutely AMAZING!!
Thank you to all of our incredible volunteers - you guys continue to blow me away!!
3. Compassion International - Sunday, we had Compassion International at church and we gave people an opportunity to leave a lasting mark on our world by financially sponsoring a child from Uganda.
Compassion estimated - for a church our size - that we would probably have 15-20 people actually step-up and sponsor a child. Well, it looks like in our first weekend - we more than doubled their estimate. We are going to have 50+ sponsored children from the country of Uganda. Compassion was completely impressed and astonished at how incredible all of you were.
Thanks to all of you for stepping up and making a decision to leave a lasting mark on a child’s life by giving them a fighting chance at life!!
4. PRC Give Back Project - This month we gave everyone at PRC 4 incredible opportunities to ‘give back‘ - through our families, through our communities, and through our world.
This month alone - many of you partnered with us as we seized upon that opportunity and ‘gave back‘ to nearly 10,000 people - through our Family Night at the Park, Father’s Day Service, Gas Giveaway, and Compassion International. What an incredible month!!
Pine Ridge, we can’t stop now! Now, is the time when are community is watching - now is the time where we have got their attention - now is the time when they want to know if this is really who we are - now is the time when they are wondering what we are all about - now is the time for us to change the way people think about God and the Church.
We can do it - but we can’t stop - we can’t slow down - we can’t back-down - we can’t take our foot off the accelerator. God still has BIGGER things in-store this county. He has done so many UNBELIEVABLE things through us this month, but the best is yet to come!!
This Sunday, we will wrap up our inked teaching series by talking about leaving mark on our world.
We will have Compassion International in the house and I will be interviewing Matthew Moore from Compassion Internationals Church Relations Dept.
I feel God has specifically called Pine Ridge to leave a mark on the country of Uganda. I was floored by what I saw when I began to research that country. I was completely broken when I saw the devastation of poverty and AIDS on specifically the children of Uganda.
I have been blown away by all that Compassion is doing - not just in Uganda, but all over the world. You are not going to believe the type of mark this organization is leaving behind and I am excited about our partnership with them.
I can’t wait to see some of you choose to adopt a child and be part of leaving a lasting mark on their life - what an incredible opportunity we have to once again give back!
It’s going to be an awesome ending to our Inked teaching series - see you Sunday!!
In case you missed it - we were on WFMY News Channel 2 at 11:00 pm last night. They did a story on our free gas giveaway. You can see that story HERE!
I just got a call from Channel 2 News and I just found out that they are coming out to the gas station tomorrow to record a follow-up story.
Earlier this morning I did an interview with WSJS News out of Winston Salem as well.
Man, I am loving the attention our Give Back Project continues to get! We came to this county with one thought in mind - to change the way people think about God and Church - and I believe in our short existence we have begun to do just that.
It’s hard to believe that we have been able to do all of this this and get all of this attention and we aren’t even a year old church! Just imagine what God is going to do in our 2nd yr. of existence!!
God is awesome and I know tomorrow is going to be another amazing day!! Hope to see you out there!!
Don’t forget that The Pine Ridge Give Back Project continues tomorrow! We will be giving out free gas and washing windows as we continue to give back to our community.
Come and join us from 9am - 11am at the Exxon - off of exit 147 in Graham.
Also, don’t forget to continue to share your stories about how our give back project has impacted you, your family, and the people you have been in contact with through these projects. Go and share your story at prcgiveback.com.
Pine Ridge - what an incredible start to the first summer in the history of our young church. We have already begun to see God do some HUGE things this year through several of our PRC Give Back Projects.
Last Friday night was our 2nd annual Family Night at the Park, where we saw over 5,000 people come out to enjoy our free event. It was an awesome night and I was overwhelmed to see so many people from our community there. This Saturday, June 28th, from 9am - 11am, we will be giving away free gas and washing windows as we once again ‘give back’ to our community. That project will be happening at the Exxon off Exit 147 on Main Street in Graham. Don’t miss another incredible opportunity to serve our community.
I have been blown away as I have watched so many of you sacrificially give of your time and step-up to volunteer, not only at these community events, but each Sunday as well. Our volunteers are the best volunteers I have ever seen and you guys never cease to amaze me.
This summer has already been a crazy one and many of you have been serving and volunteering each week. In honor of you, we want to make this summer a little less stressful and ease some of the madness. Beginning this Sunday, June 29th, we will be moving to our summer schedule. We will be offering just one service [10:30 am] from this Sunday through August 10th.
Between all of our service projects and family vacations, it is our desire to never wear people out, or expect too much from them. To keep some of our volunteers from having to serve at both services - we have made a decision to cut a service out and make it easier on our volunteers.
We will still be doing it ‘Pine Ridge style’ every single week. Our music will still be rocking, the teaching will still be on point, and our children will still be having a blast in their areas - we will just be packing all of it into one incredible service.
I can’t wait to see that place packed to the walls on Sunday. I can’t wait to see the excitement, energy, and anticipation. To be honest, I am pretty pumped up about it. I love the idea of getting everyone under one roof at the same time. It will give all of you a chance to meet some people that you have probably never seen before!
It’s going to be awesome - see you this Sunday at 10:30 am!!
Don’t forget that the Pine Ridge Give Back Project continues this Saturday! We will be giving out free gas and washing windows as we continue to give back to our community.
Come and join us from 9am - 11am at the Exxon - off of exit 147 in Graham.
Also, don’t forget to continue to share your stories about how our give back project has impacted you, your family, or the people you have been in contact with through these projects. Go and share your story at prcgiveback.com.
Man, what an amazing weekend! Our Friday Night @ the Park was unbelievable - even better than expected!
We doubled our attedance from last year [more than 5,000 people in attendance] - in just our 2nd year of the event. I am already thinking of ways to make it bigger and even better next year!
Thanks to everyone of our volunteers that made this event such a HUGE success!! Our people continue to blow my mind! I honestly believe we have the best volunteers that I have EVER seen!! Thanks again!!
Below you can see some video from the night and you can check out two web albums HERE & HERE!
We got some front page love today in the Burlington Times-News about our Family Night at the Park event. You can check out the article below or read it HERE for yourself!!
Church gives back through ‘Family Night at the Park’
By CHARITY APPLE/Times-News
The bright yellow signs marked “Family Night at the Park” are posted all around Alamance County, and if you get close enough, you can read the fine print. It indicates that Pine Ridge Church is presenting a free family fun night at Burlington City Park (beside the YMCA) from 4:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. today.
Once there, visitors will receive vouchers for free amusement rides and snacks. “Camp Rock,” a much-anticipated Disney Channel movie, will be shown in the field besides Thataways Teen Center, 1334 Overbrook Road, Burlington, and the Pine Ridge Church band will perform at 6:45 p.m. This event is part of the church’s mission to give back to the community.
“We want nothing in return,” said Brandon Delk, connections pastor at the church. “We want people to come out and enjoy a free family event.”
More than 3,500 people attended last year’s Family Night at the Park and Delk said “we’re expecting double that number this year.”
Lead pastor Tadd Grandstaff and his wife, Becki, moved to the area two years ago in hopes of starting their own church. They had some money set aside for marketing and Tadd said instead of using it for fliers and handouts, they decided to create a free community event.
“I don’t care if anyone knows we’re doing it,” he said. “That’s not what it’s all about. We just want to build relationships with people.”
Pine Ridge Church has put its money where its mouth is - in more ways than one. During a worship service in March, the offering was given to churchgoers that day with a couple of stipulations - the money couldn’t be used for themselves or given back to the church. It had to be used to bless someone else and the story would have to be posted on the church’s Web site: prcgiveback.com.
Since gas prices are so high, the church has also planned a gas giveaway from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. June 28 at the Exxon station on Main Street in Graham. Twenty-five cents will be subtracted per gallon (for a maximum of 20 gallons) and volunteers will be on hand to pump gas and wash windows.
“It’s who we are,” Delk said. “It’s in the DNA of our church. We want to capitalize on every opportunity to give back to the community.”
For details on Family Night at the Park, visit www.familynightatthepark.com or call (336) 329-8478.
WOW - it’s hard to believe our 2nd Annual Family Night at the Park is finally here!! [4:30 pm - 10:00 pm at the Burlington City Park].
Words cannot even express just how pumped up I am about tonight - it’s going to be incredible!!
I can’t wait to see the thousands of people that will come out to the park with their families & friends!!
I can’t wait for our community to come out and be part of a totally free event - with no strings attached to religion or the church - just because some people decided that they wanted to love and care for people - JUST BECAUSE!!
We came to this county with one mission - that was to change the way people think about church and the way they think about God. I believe tonight we will get one step closer to doing just that. The church has had it’s own agenda for far too long and tonight there are no hidden agendas.
Instead of asking the community to come to us - we are going to our community and doing something for them regardless of the fact that they may never know who was behind it. We have been called to Give Back to our community and tonight we are once again doing just that!!
How could we ever ask the people in this community to ever be part of ‘our community’ if we aren’t willing to go and serve them? Tonight we are going to be servants and I don’t care if we ever get any of the credit!! That’s what tonight is about!
Family Night @ the Park is going to be awesome - make sure you don’t miss it!!
Tadd Grandstaff is a Church Planter and Lead Pastor of Pine Ridge Church in Graham, North Carolina.
