I am here is Orlando Fla. with Mickey Mouse, lots of snakes and alligators, and best all, the Holy Spirit and thousands of Pastors and there there families from around the country! We are so blessed to be apart of the Assemblies of God. It gives USA covering and accountability but it also allows us the unique freedom to build a church that reflects what God has called us to be. Leadership meetings will begin tonight and continue all day tomorrow, with adult, youth and kids rallies each evening in the Orlando Convention Center.

We will return to Rocky Mount next Saturday. This coming Sunday morning we will return to COTR full force. I will begin two new teaching series. In the Sunday Celebration, I will speak on LAUNCH: Breaking out of Paradigm Paralysis. God wants us to launch into a new spiritual place, but so often the religious thinking we have developed over the years put us in a mental and spiritual paradigm that keeps us from experiencing what God has for us.

At the Wednesday Connection, I will begin a new expository series on the book of Thessalonians entitled “Mirror Church.” We at COTR are called of God to become a mirror church that others can look to for a model to follow. We will look at the original “mirror crunch” and see why others looked to them for direction and learn what it really means to be the elect of God! Most of all, we look for ward to seeing you guys on a regular basis.

God designed us for fellowship, and we have missed greatly just being together with the saints of COTR that we know and love so much.
This will be an amazing fall season!

See you on Sunday
Pastor Richard

Hello COTR! I hope all is well. I have just returned from a weekend of Sabbatical stuff. First, let me say that I heard

that Sunday Celebration was AWESOME. Thanks

to Pastor Billy Griffin for sharing the word and the many others

who have been ministering in my abscence. I also heard

that VBS got off to a rockin start last night! Bring

more kids the next 3 nights and see there lives changed.This past Friday, Lisa and I traveled to Boone N.C. to the mountains, what a beuatiful place. We visited granfather mountain, crossed the swinging bridge (what a view!), drove down
the blue ridge parkway and attended the Outdoor Drama “The Horn in the West.” What an inspirtional story about regulators who fled Alamance County during the 1760’s because they felt oprressed by the English taxes and were fighting the government. It was there that they met up with the legendary Daniel Boone and settled there in the montains. After almost ten years, the word came that the founding fathers had signed the Declaration of Independence and they were entering into war against England. These men and women joined the cause for fereedom that birthed this great nation we now live in. More and more, I believe God is calling the church back to that same spirit were we stand as the hope for spiritual freedom for those around us. Yesterday, My family went to Kings Dominion and what a great time we had! The park was not very crowded and we stayed until they kicked us out at 10:00pm. As I seek God during this sabbatical, I am trying to committ myself fresh and new to the day to day, hour to hour seeking of and fellowshipping with God through the Holy Spirit. One of the reasons for the success and fruitfulness of COTR is teaching people to cook on the high side of medium, and live in the inner courts of God with access to the Holy of Holies. This is important for pentacostol churches, because we can tend to fall into the trap of “Red Bull Christianity.” We come on Sinday ( or should I say one-two Sundays a month in some cases!) and we get “jacked up” on the annointing and then we crash about 5-6 hours later, only to struggle through the door again down the road to repeat the same process! There isa better way. Don’t get me wrong, there is specail spriritual realm we move into when God’ people come together. I miss so much the special love and power of the COTR worship. By the way, I have been atending church some while away on this sabbatical as I know I need to be wiht God’s people, even on this sabbatical. But, we want the corporate gatherings to explode out of the overflow of what is happening one on one bewteen us and God away from the church. Well, that is all for now, pray for us and we will see you soon.
Pastor Richard and Family

Hello COTR people and friends! I am sorry it took me so long to bring a new entry to my blog, this technology is a slow go for me. So these blog entries may look a little scary from my laptop for a while! I hope everyone had a great 4th. We were at Nags Head, it is awesome to watch fireworks over the ocean. Lisa’s parents were able to  join us as well. We attended Nags Head Church Sunday morning. It is a great church, but not COTR!

We look forward to coming to COTR Connection tonight and hearing Pastor Chris Jordan and being with you guys. I have enjoyed being able to spend time with my family, spend extra time studying as well as working on a few paint projects around the house. I was reading recently in Thessalonians and hearing Paul share of his deep love for the church there and how they had grown to a place where other churches were inspired by them made me think of the precious people of  COTR. You guys are the greatest!

Please remember VBS next week that our kids would not only have ball but learn things about Christ that would stick with them for many years to come.

Lets come out tonight EXPECTING!

Lisa and I will travel to Boone this weekend and visit with Pastor Robert and Diana Spradley on the way IN Greensboro, who are spiritual mentors to us and the Pastors who sent us out to start COTR. We are praying and thinking of you daily and already looking forward to coming back with a renewed heart for the vision.

Pastor Richard

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Empowering your Word from God!
We continued this week talking about Empowerment, and spoke about what happens when we have a word from God. It is exciting when we know he has given us a promise, a sign, clear direction. It causes faith to rise up in hearts. It really takes off when we empower that Word through our thoughts, words, actions, and the meditations of our hearts. Start empowering your word from God!

Guatemala Team returns safely to the US Early this morning,
Our Guatemala team returned to US soil! I am sure they will have many great testimonies of the work they did there and the way it changed there lives.

Sabbatical approaching July 1st
I have talked some the last two Sundays along with a church-wide letter about my upcoming sabbatical. During this time I will try step away from public teaching and preaching as well as the day-to-day administrative duties and commit myself to study and seeking from vision for the church. You will experience great ministry from different people during this time. Please direct any questions on this to Mary Lou or the church elders. Thank you for the notes and e-mails of encouragement I have receive as I prepare for this time of encouragement.

Extension Campus in Nashville/Spring Hope Area
If you have been attending COTR for very long, you know of our desire to establish some extension campuses around our region. One of the first areas we have a heart to target is the Nashville/ Spring Hope area. We have many families that drive from that area each week and we feel that not only would an extension campus help many of those families get more involved, it would allow us to reach many more people in that area with a closer location. There is almost 25,000 people in the Nashville/Spring Hope area alone! We have identified a potential location and have some inspections lined up for this week. If they go well, we will begin to communicate to key leaders and families that would potentially be a part this site. Please pray for this and stay tuned for greater details to come.

More on the Sabbatical!

You have received a letter about the Sabbatical, and I spoke some about this Sunday.  I  want to continue to communicate on this so everyone has all questions answered before July 1st.

- A sabbatical comes from the root word Sabbath.  It is a practice of those who serve in full-time ministry as a Lead Pastor where they step away from the day-to-day operations of the church and the responsibility of public preaching and teaching.  It is for the purpose of:

a)  Renewing their ability to cast vision for the church.

b) To recharge emotionally and physically.

c) To renew spiritually in a personal way and in the context of weekly study to bring forth relevant, divinely inspired teaching from God’s Word.

- In July, I was already scheduled for my family vacation, and August 1-8 I will travel to Orlando Florida to attend the Bi-annual General Council of the Assemblies of God.  My family attends this every 2 years with thousands of other Assemblies of God ministers for training as well conducting business for the Assemblies of God.  The Elders have asked that I take an additional 3 weeks around these two events as a sabbatical time. During those 3 weeks,

July 3-17 and July 26^th-31^st, I will spend time away from the day-to-day operations of COTR and away from the responsibility of corporate preaching and teaching, and concentrate on the purposes of a sabbatical just described.  I will also undergo a complete physical the last day before the sabbatical and make sure I am attending to any physical health issues during this time as well ( although I do not anticipate any!)

I look forward to this time, and I thank the elders and you for allowing me this.  In 13 years, I have never taken a sabbatical and I believe that it is a divine appointment to recharge me for ministry and renew my love for God and his people!

Weekly Services!

Wednesday Connection
GET CONNECTED!
Dinner: 6:00pm-6:45pm
(sweet and sour chicken, rice, and dessert)Connection- 7:00pmAdult Worship and TeachingGo Groups
Revolution Youth

Sunday Celebration
10:20 am
Free Starbucks Coffee before Service!
Teaching:  Empowerment and Spiritual Warfare

Other Announcements

Guatemala Team Doing Great!
Our Guatemala team has arrived safely and they are already entering into their ministry there.  We will keep you updated.

Online Giving Now Available… Just A Click Away!Go to http://churchontherise.org and click on Online Giving.
We allow 3 different options: General Account,  No Limits, and Missions Account.  If you would like it to go towards  a different account please just mail it in.

Podcast…If you have tried to listen to the podcast over the last year, please go back to the website and subscribe to COTR’s Podcast again.We had some trouble with the last link and it should be fixed now.

Pastor Richard & Lisa

What are you Empowering in your Life?

Where there is agreement, there is power! We empower things in our natural and spiritual life through what we come into agreement with. We have been talking about this for 3 weeks now and it has brought much revelation to our hearts. The vehicles for the things we are empowering are our words, our actions, our thought patterns, our attitudes, and the meditations of our hearts. Take stock of what you are empowering!

 Pray for our Guatemala Team! 
We commissioned 25 people to go forth to Guatemala in ministry this past Sunday.  They will leave this coming Saturday, June 13^th Pray for safety, service, and signs and wonders in the lives of the people there and our team members!

Other COTR Stuff!

Vacation Bible School
“Studio Go” 
July 13^th-17^th  
6:00pm-8:30pm nightly

Missions Fundraiser
Stuart Briscar will throw a golf ball 18 holes on June 29^th to raise money for local and foreign missions.  Consider a per throw sponsorship or a one-time gift sponsorship.  

 In closing…
Let me ask you… How is your daily prayer and devotional life?  On most days, our spiritual victory or defeat for that day is won or lost before any activities start.  It is based on whether you put your spiritual armor on in prayer.  Even 10-15 minutes alone with God each day can change everything.  That’s how powerful and loving He is! Remember this Focus on 5 Principle this week… DEVOTION! 

Pastor Richard and Lisa

earlier this evening we were at a birthday party

for my nephew Blake when we got a call from

Lisa’s sister Susan who said that there parents

had been in a car accident. We rushed to the

hospital to see the damge. Lisa’s dad and mom 

had been hit by a car when they slowy were

turning on to a road. we arrived and 

immediately got in to see them.  The good news

is Lisa’s mom is okay with only a gash on her leg

and soreness on her  left side. Her dad is having

cat scans and x-rays to check for internal

injuries. We prayed and God is bringing  his

healing touch to both their bodies.  We are

finding God at Wake

Med!!!!           

ABOUT BLOGGING!!!