Living the New Life

One of the things that I spoke on yesterday was that we should pray bold and specific prayers.  I have begun praying a specific prayer today that we will see 50 new adults come to New Life by the end of the year.  That is a measurable prayer.  I am believing that we will a sun stand still moment in the coming months.  What I am asking for is for fellow Lifer’s to agree in prayer with me for these 50 adults.  When I say agree; I mean to pray, fast, and pursue after the harvest that God has for us.  Anyone care to join me in this quest?

Just want to bring you up to date on the today’s happenings.  We had 135 and I feel good about that considering it is Spring Break, we have a lot sickness, and prom was last night.  We had many come down for prayer this morning and I felt just a warmth of love at New Life.

This evening we had our very first Koinonia fellowship with our Life Groups.  Our group had 20 in attendance.  I will post overall participation later.

I spoke this morning on the mindset of Prayer.  If we want God to move in a great and mighty way then we must pray.  I talked of how Joshua prayed the prayer that made the sun stand still.  We should pray in such a way that when they come to pass only God can get the credit.  We should pray with Audacity, Accuracy, and with Action.  Joshua and his men prayed while they pursued their enemies.  That day God honored their labors by killing more with hailstone than the Israelities did with the sword. 

God is awesome!  New Lifer’s you rock!!!

It was a honor to be able to officiate the ceremony today of James and Rebecca Davidson.  The wedding was awesome from the weather to attendance to the food.  The wedding was at the Churchwell Plantation and the ceremony was conducted outside.  It truly was a special day. 

Sarah left yesterday to drop Bethany off for the week in Florida. Bethany is on spring break this week.  If I can get the other set of grandparents to get Andrew, Sarah and I may take off for a getaway one night.  Hint, Hint.

I am stoked about tomorrow.  I have already shared my message with 3 people, and I wish church was ready to start right this minute.  Get ready!

One of the things that I love to do is greet and welcome the people.  I am also at the back door as they leave because I want them to have a pastor that is personable.  Jesus made Himself available where others could come up to Him, and possible touch Him.  I want my people to be able to have contact with their pastor.  I do know some guys who would just rather not be bothered.  I have a tendency to think that they will become separated from their people not as a preacher, but as their pastor.  Just some thoughts.

I need to take more time to thank people for everything that is going on at New Life.  This past weekend was only possible because we had so many people all pulling in the same direction.  Thank you guys.

*  To my Staff, thank you so much for the extra hours, the willingness to go the extra mile, and for putting up with me.

*David and Nickie Rojas- could it have gone any more smoother?  If the worst thing that happens is we have trouble putting up a volleyball net in the sand court- then you know that you hit a home run.

*Amy Whitehead-  Thank you for your incredible memory and frankly girl, you just find a way to get the job done.  Great job!

* Michael Butler-You were the muscle and also the long arms that could reach and stretch to get the job done.  Don’t worry, I would never make you handle the weight of the cross alone.

*Kina Floyd- Thank God for you!  I asked for just a little bit of help.  It took what 12 hours?  Your desire to see things done the right way are an inspiration.  Keep up the good work.

*Margie Bridgers- Margie, you are constantly rescuing me.  I am glad that you have the ability to understand what I fail to put into words.  It is a gift.

*Danny Joiner-You are the nuts and bolts to my big dreams.  My wife says that I see and do and then move on to what I see next.  I thank God that you are here, to help me follow through.

*Sue Jackson-  I noticed just how hard you worked this weekend.  Thank you so much.  The little things make a big difference.

*Steve Hatley-You are my comic relief.  Thanks for not burning the food.

*Jeff Turner-  I love you so much.  If you say you can get it done, it gets done.

*Cameron Taylor-We got the speakers in!  Your help with the stage was a big help.  BTW, I am still waiting on the picture of Kailey.

*Brittany Lucas- Thank you for not breaking my glasses this year.

*To all 180 people who came out and partied.  It is only going to be bigger and better next year.

*Sarah Carnes- I saved the best for last.  Thank you for all your help.  The kitchen worked so much smoother this year.  I love you more every day.  I owe you some stuffed flounder

I am still not quite sure, but I felt a rush of adrenaline this morning as I got on the stage.  There is big difference between adrenaline and anointing.  Maybe because so many people had worked so hard on the staging and props?  Maybe it was because of the brunch, where so many people came that we ran out of stuff?  Maybe it was because we had so many first time guests in the service?  Maybe it was because we had 204 in attendance?  Maybe a little bit of all but then having 2 of the 3 families I invited come helped a lot too.  The thing is that I am still pumped up.  I know why I am still so excited—-11 stood an accepted Christ as Lord, answering two questions 1)  Do you love Me? 2) Then “Follow Me”.  9 then walked down for prayer to follow up on that commitment.  God is awesome!!!!!

If you were there, leave me comments on the sermon:

I feel like Johnny Cash this week singing “I’ve been everywhere, man, I’ve been everywhere”.  Today continues my travels as I go to pick up some supplies for this weekend.

We had 9 in attendance last night at the Celebrate Recovery meeting.  I love the dynamics that we have as we open up and share.  Special thanks goes out to Pat Sewell for making the spaghetti.  It was awesome.

My son Andrew is an interesting creature.  He is not quite two, so his verbal skills are minimal at best.  The crazy thing is that he has started singing.  Have you ever heard someone sing, who can’t talk?  It is so funny and cute that you can’t help but to laugh.  It is truly an uplifting moment.  I told him two nights ago, I love you and he responded, love you.  At least that is how I interpreted it

One of the things that I love to do as a Pastor is to greet the people.  I make sure that I am at the back as they leave service.  I believe that Pastors need interaction with the people of the church.  We can learn a lesson from Christ that He walked through the crowds.  I know way too many Pastors who never step foot into the sanctuary until after service has already begun.  When service is over they retreat to their office.  I think it is poor taste and also an insult to your sheep.  Take the time to get to know them.

If you think that your church has problems, then you should think about the early church.  Their Pastor (Christ) was literally taken and beat down in front of them and then crucified on a cross.  Some of the leaders spread out and ran away, while others just flat-out denied that they knew Him. 

I am thankful for the cross.  Christ rose again and spent some 40 days with those people in His tribe and left them saying….I will come again.  In the meantime wait.  Wait?  For what?  The comforter is coming.  Sometimes we have to pray and wait before we get what we need.  To many people can’t wait for God and they miss out on what He has for them.

This weekend was very eventful.  I went to my first cycling race (think fast and the furious on bicycles) and I enjoyed it.  I told Sarah that analogy and she asked were there any Asian people there.  Actually there were.  I met a cool IT computer guy named Eddie.  He continually was telling people “kill it!”  I think it is a cyclist thing.

I have not followed much College Basketball this year, but how bout them Dawgs!  Georgia had a weekend that must be described as a miracle.

While watching one of the games, I saw a mouse in our home.  That meant that I had to break out the mouse trap.  I placed peanut butter on it and set the trap.  The next morning the peanut butter was gone.  The only thing is that so was the mouse trap!  I was afraid that the Rats of Nimh were living at my house, but later Sunday afternoon we finally found it.  The mouse had dragged it at least 5 feet under the stove.  Thankful it had gave up the ghost there.

I normally have the day off on Monday, but I ended up working today.  I was at the hospital this morning, wrote a ton of cards, and also did 4 visits.  I also got the Celebrate Recovery sign up.  Not bad for Monday, Monday…

BTW, If you are from the church don’t forget your 48 hour challenge!