Living the New Life

Just in case you were wondering, I am alive.  I may be dead tired, but alive nonetheless.  It was a great week at youth camp.  I will give you more details tomorrow.  Just wanted my faithful readers to know that I have not kicked the bucket or anything.  Check back in tomorrow.

This Sunday was very busy with a lot of different things going on.  All in all, I think we pulled it off.

- We had the Masonic Lodge in our church building offering the GA Chip program to our church and community.  They arrived early and stayed late.  They were super friendly, and I hope that we made a good impression on them.  The GA Chip program is a great idea that all parents should take part in.  The lodge members are great at community service.  Thank you guys and girls.  Also a special thanks to Helen Churchwell for heading it up on our end.

- With Cameron and Kailey on vacation we had Steven Bridgers, Jr and Brittany Lucas shoulder the music load.  I will be honest—I thought the music was great yesterday!!!!!  The praise team looked excited like few times I have seen before.

-We had 147 in attendance yesterday which I am very happy about considering so many gone on vacation.  I had several of the Mason’s comment that I preach excited.  Well, I am excited about the Lord and the work that He is doing at New Life.

-We had our monthly leadership meeting yesterday and I spoke on trust.  I am sure that we will upload it later.  I mentioned that July will be service to our community month.  We are planning on passing out Sweet Tea one Saturday, Giving away popcorn on another, and then the Esther Project on the 26th of July.  I believe that if you do not minister to others; you are not a church, you are a social club.

-Our Sunday evening classes are doing well.  So far changing the service time to 5:00 has been well received.  Charlie and Patricia Phillips are doing a great job in the cooking class.

Let me wrap this up by saying that I live in the greatest neighborhood there is.  There is a warmth that I feel from them.  They are truly amazing. 

I am leaving in the morning for youth camp.  Bethany will actually be going as a camper.  It seems like only yesterday that she was born.  I can’t wait to see her later today because she has been at my parents for about a week.  If I can get any Internet in Tifton, I will update my blog.

I am so glad to be back home.  I had a great week at Campmeeting but I am very excited to be home.  I can’t wait till tomorrow’s service.  I have an expectation that God is going to do something unbelievable.

I recieved my Ordained Bishops liscence this past week and I am very humbled and honored to have reached that point in ministry.  To God be the Glory. 

Thursday at lunch I had the opportunity to have a luncheon with 10 other Pastors.  I hope it was the start of something greater to come.  We need to connect with one another better.  It is the power of agreement.  We all shared and everyone had their own story of God at work.  It was lengthy, but what I should have expected that with Pastors sharing.  Special thanks to Pastor George Moxley for blessing us with your words of encouragement.

I have so much more to share, but I will end in an update on my diet.  I was very concerned about how it would go with me being away at Campmeeting.  I got up everyday at 5:30, walked two miles and watched for the most part what I ate.  I weighed in very nervously this morning and I was shocked to see that I had lost another 4 lbs.  I was blown away.  I have now lost a total of 44.5 lbs.  I am only 10 pounds away from my offical final goal.  Canaan Land is just in sight!

i have been sort of out of the loop this week.  I am borrowing a friends Internet access to blog in Tifton, GA.  I have been down here at our denominations Camp-meeting service.  I really enjoyed Tommy Bates on Monday and Tuesday night.  I guess what I was most impressed with was his flow.  Cool Stuff and way talented.

I have been diligent on my walking at 5:30 every morning even though I am away from home.  I just wish that I had my scales here.

Last night I received my Ordained Bishops ministerial license.  It was a great moment of reflection for me.  I also want to thank all of my family and church folks who showed up to support me.  You all are the best.

Lastly, I really miss my wife this week.  She is having to work so she is not here to share this time with me.  I hate it when she is not around me.  She is the greatest thing in the world and proved it once again by bringing me another fresh gallon of my sugar free tea.  She is smart, has a great personality, my best friend, and looks like a super model.  Sarah, I love you!

Sorry I forgot to upload the file when I posted.

are-you-listening-2

This was is a completely different type of service.  Steve has included the first altar call during the music- followed by the sermon.  It really was an awesome service.  Enjoy!

Today was special for many reasons but it has to start with my daughter Bethany’s 5th Birthday.  It is so hard to believe that she is already 5.  Wow, I feel old.

This morning was one for the books.  We had 148 in attendance with an old fashioned altar service.  I am tired and my throat is sore.  I believe that the Lord is up to something.  I love it!

One of the things that I constantly struggle with is my ability to communicate to my leaders my total concept.  I am a dreamer.  It is that simple.  If I am not careful, I fail to accurately portray my dream to the very ones who handle the nuts and bolts of putting my dream into action.  This is still a work in progress for me as I struggle with this constantly.

Communication should always be a two way street.  I hear a lot of leaders say that we need better communication.  The problem is that when people do communicate and it is not what we want to hear, then we get upset and make them either scared or uncomfortable.  This effectively ends real, honest, and truthful communication.  As leaders we have to have thick skin even though it is hard sometimes.  This is the only way that we can ever have meaningful dialogue.

I struggle with this and I tell my workers that what they say may get me upset, it may hurts my feelings, and it may even be wrong— but it may be right.  I have to have honest and forthright people around me so that we stay balanced as a church leadership team.

This has been quite an eventful week.  I have been trying to play catch up since I was gone for on vacation.  Yesterday, I recieved a huge honor for me that blew me away.  I have been invited to speak at a morning Campmeeting service for the Congregational Holiness in July.  I am very honored at the opportunity to speak to this body.  I was raised in the CH Church and in many ways it is still home.

To give a quick update on my diet, I have now lost 38.5 lbs.  This morning was a new weight low-so I am very happy with the progress made so far.  I have to leave now for a meeting of Pastors at Red Lobster—pray for me hard saints!

If you are wondering what has taken me so long to recap Sunday’s service it is because I really had no idea what happened.  I wasn’t there.  I was on vacation in Florida.  Well now I am back and better than ever-I hope. 

I know that Danny Joiner spoke and did a really good job.  We had 128 in attendance on a holiday weekend so I am very happy with that.  Last year, Memorial Day weekend was our lowest attended service of the year.  God is so good and faithful! 

I plan on sharing a good bit of the things that God has been dealing with me the last few weeks in the coming days.  I also will have some guest bloggers visiting later in the week.  Next week, I am going to be at our denomonations campmeeting in Tifton, GA.  Our State Bishop has really put together a great list of speakers for this year.  I am really looking forward to hearing Tommy Bates.  I have never heard him, but his reputation is outstanding.  I am believing God to do great and mighty things at this years campmeeting.  If you are going to be in the area show up and give me a shout.