WholeHeartedLife

5 Things Toward Heaven...

I was looking for a picture of someone making a list because this is a list day for me. I wanted to share with you the things going on in my life right now - if you have time will you join me in praying for these things?

1. The Commit '08 Men's Conference at Galeed church this Friday Nite and Saturday Morning. I'll be speaking along with one of my favorite speakers, Mike Cummings. It is my prayer that God will call all of us men who are attending into a deeper place of commitment, passion, obedience and holiness. So men, if you're free I know a great place to be this weekend - I think it's gonna be great.

2. Will you pray for GroupLink? In my message last Sunday (you can hear it here) I shared Hebrews 10:24, "And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.". Well, GroupLink IS MY consideration of over a year of asking, "how can we get people who aren't connected, connected?". It could be one of the most incredible things we have ever experienced at hyde park. Pray that God will do something so big that WE can't take credit for it.

3. And speaking of GroupLink, are you going to be a part? If you aren't a part of a hyde park Bible Fellowship Group, the time is now. Register here.

4. The Gathering. October 19th, UNCP Annex - in conjunction with BSU and FCA, we will take the gospel onto the campus, teaming with the students for the renown of JESUS. Pray that God will tear down walls, prepare hearts and be HUGE on campus - "Jesus, do what we could never do!".

5. "Night of Worship" Don't forget - Next Sunday Nite we will just have an evening where we celebrate Jesus together and pray... we have a great night planned for you all!

What's Your "Next Step"?

This week on WholeHearted we are talking "Next Steps".

I am SO about "next steps". I love to see people take the "next step" of regular church attendance - the "next step" of identifying with Jesus through baptism - the "next step" of church membership - the "next step" of joining a small group - the "next step" of deciding it's time to grow in my faith. "Next Steps", for me, are one of the highlights of leading people in their journey towards God.

Wednesday Nites at hyde park are about "next steps". There are basically 2 tracks that can be excercised on Wednesday's in the arena of the "Next Step":

Track One: Service.

One of the greatest things that will happen as you become a follower of Jesus is that you take the changes happening in you and allow God to use you to impact others through service. Wednesday is a beautiful time to serve JESUS through our Awana program. Awana is a kidz program that helps kidz to grow in their knowledge of who God is and what He means to them. Because of Awana my 12 year old daughter knows more scripture than most people who are reading this RIGHT NOW! Amazing!

Those who serve in Awana are affecting our future for Jesus. Ready to take the "next step" of service? Let me know.

Track Two: Learning

If you were at hyde park Sunday morning you heard Pastor remind our church that we need to learn to feed ourselves spiritually through reading of scripture and prayer. Becoming a "self-feeder" is one of your most important "next steps" (if you missed Sunday's message I HIGHLY SUGGEST that you check it out here). He went on to say that we want to help those who are learning about God to go deeper in their faith. Our Wednesday nite classes are designed to do that. Here are our current classes:

Class One: If you feel like you need to learn the major teachings of Christianity, Pastor's new class, "Foundations", is for you.

Class Two: Parenting is one of the toughest jobs that we have. We all want to raise kidz who grow up to be great adults (no pressure, right?). If you want to learn about raising "rock-solid" kidz you'll want to check out our class, Value-Packed Parenting.

DivorceCare: Are you struggling with the pain of divorce or separation? DO YOU KNOW SOMEONE DEALING WITH THIS?  Our DivorceCare group is a much needed "next step" for someone dealing with separation - are you willing to help them take the "next step"? Ask about our give-a-way brochures that can tell your friends what they need to know about DivorceCare.

All classes begin at 6:45. You can get more info about classes here.

(by the way: While I'm throwin' links at ya, some of you might be wondering about how to actually take the "next step" of bible study?  Here's a cool tool on our site that you maybe never saw. Enjoy - hope it helps you to take a "next step".)

How We Can Help Those Separated or Divorced

This card was so encouraging to me. It showed me that we have a ministry that really stepped up and helped someone who was hurting. It showed me that we love people and acknowledge that people sometimes end up in situations that they never thought they would. BJ was one of those people.

BJ is our new DivorceCare Coordinator and I wanted to share his testimony with you because his desire at this point is to help others in the way that some helped him. 

Beginning on Wednesday, September 3rd we will begin our next chapter of DivorceCare. You may think that you don't know anything about this and can't help - take a moment to check out this humorous video and see how you can help BJ help people.

See - i bet you didn't realize you could help SO MUCH by doing SO LITTLE. Do you know someone who is hurting because of divorce or separation? Maybe you could help them to find healing. For more information contact BJ Bailey at: drumsunc@yahoo.com

Telling the Truth when Convenient?

If you're a sports fan and frequent sports news you know that there has been nothing bigger other the past few weeks than the debacle which is Roger Clemens and baseball (Clemens and others have been accused of using steroids and HGH to increase their ability). Andy Pettitte was also accused and has admitted to using and said under deposition that (his friend) Roger Clemens had used also (to which Clemens has denied EVER using).

The other morning on "Mike & Mike in the Morning" (ESPN radio - XM) they asked a question to the listeners to the effect of:

if you were asked similar questions about a friend would you implicate them (or throw them under the bus) or would you choose to "misremember"? ("i'm sorry, i don't clearly remember the answer to that question...")

Both Mike's said that they may lie to protect a good friend rather than "throw them under the bus" and their listeners overwhelmingly disagreed, saying things to the effect of "what kind of message are you sending to the young people?" I agree. However...

The people writing in were saying to them that Andy Pettitte chose to tell the truth about his friend because he "lives out his faith", that he believes that he "answers to someone Higher than Him" in reference to his being a follower of JESUS, and they (Mike & Mike) absolutely hammered him (and the writers) - not because He is an outspoken believer but because he made himself out to be a hypocrite. And he is (as am i at times). Unfortunately they were right.

The JESUS He believes in, causes Him to be truthful when under deposition. I appreciate him being honest when being questioned. The argument however is, If honesty is so important to him why is He cheating by using steroids and Human Growth hormone (hgh)? And if telling the truth was so important to him why did he not come forward when George Mitchell was looking for baseball players to tell him what they knew about steroid use in baseball - why did he have to wait until he was under oath to tell the truth. It's another case of fess-up because "I got caught".

Unfortunately, this is just another example of what happens when you and i don't live out our faith all the time. The choices that we make in life either add credibility to the witness of JESUS living inside of us or they tear His living witness in us to pieces - giving others excuses to doubt who HE truly is and permission to use the "H" word. We look like hypocrites.

We can't play the "faith card" when it comes to telling the truth when we don't EXERCISE AND LIVE OUT that faith in the decisions of life.

This Makes Me Sick!!!

On Sunday nite I read about the shootings that had taken place at the Youth With A Mission headquarters on Saturday...then, before I went to bed i found out that a similar shooting had taken place at New Life Church in Colorado Springs (this story tells of both incidents). I don't know about you but the thought of this kind of occurance happening anywhere in America just makes me sick to my stomach...

Not that I'm fearful - I live on the truth that God has taught me: that He does not give me a "Spirit of fear, but one of power, love and a sound mind." There are many days that I have to repeat that verse as a lear, for fear of the unknown at times challenges me.

I am also reminded that this didn't catch God off guard (God never says, "Ooops - didn't see that One coming). I hate it when unexplainable stuff happens; but truth is, God uses tragic things like this to draw people to Himself. I wish that it wasn't like this...but it's in times like these that we must trust what He tells us in Romans 8:28.

What bothers me most is that this can happen anywhere - the thought of this happening in a small town is frightening isn't it? (remember, God doesn't give you a spirit of fear - we've gotta trust Him...) When I see things like this I automatically think of my family:

• I think of my family. Keyna and the kids are my most prized possession, I would do anything to protect them... this is when fear begins to grip me most, when I think of my family in these situations.
• I think of how our visibility makes people notice us. This is good when it comes to influence, but bad when you think of things like this. I will trade this for the opportunity to affect and impact more lives anyday!
• I am reminded that things like this will continue to happen - my prayer is that it will never happen to us or anyone we know, but it could, couldn't it?
• We've gotta believe that God controls all things - ALL OF THEM! (remember this?). We don't always understand, and He's not gonna explain it to you (and if He did, you probably still wouldn't understand ).

This is why we must press on and do what we do - changing a culture, reaching the unreachable, loving the unloved and becoming a blessing to our whole community. Let's continue to pray that God would place a spiritual hedge of protection over and around us, allowing us to continue to serve Him in a most courageous way. And may we continue to pray for New Life Church and YWAM.

(Here's a link to the interview to the lady God used to put an end to this horror - very compelling, she tells her story to the reporters.)

Dr. Falwell

I was saddened to hear of Dr. Falwell's passing but am excited about his promotion.

I was a fan of Dr. Falwell. I met him in St. Louis about 4 years ago; I'll never forget how shocked I was that he actually took the time to hang with me a few minutes in the lobby of the hotel we were staying in. I was a little taken aback by his humbleness (I believe his charisma and confidence at times made him appear otherwise - that day I saw humbleness) despite his fame (or notoriety, depending on who you speak with).

I loved hearing Dr. Falwell talk about starting Thomas Road, how he knocked on "90 doors-a-day" for the 1st year of the church's life. I loved hearing him tell about starting Liberty (an excellent school that I have very seriously considered attending for my Masters work) - hearing the plans that he had made that would keep him working way past the age of 90. I remember him saying, "God IS NOT finished with me yet!"

He's still not, Dr. Falwell. On Tuesday, when they celebrate your homegoing, no doubt, many lives will be affected and changed for the glory of God because of your life.

"Lord, that you would allow us to impact our region the way that you used Dr. Falwell to impact the Lynchburg area! Please - in the Name of Jesus."

Public Service Announcement

Being that I'm so passionate about information - I just wanted to warn you about this. Brandon felt bad because it got him (he wanted to spare you the humiliation). Here it is:

WARNING:
If someone comes to your front door saying they are checking for ticks
due to the warm weather and asks you to take your clothes off and dance
around with your arms up, DO NOT DO IT!! THIS IS A SCAM!! They only
want to see you naked.

Brandon said, "I wish I'd gotten this yesterday. I feel so stupid."

By the way, Brandon's getting married Saturday - we've tried to warn Kristy, I guess she's just not gonna heed our advice.

Ministering During a Crisis

Todd Rhodes, of Monday Morning Insight, has another excellent article by Tommy Mitchell (Tommy was a police officer who served during the 1997 Pearl, Mississippi school shooting). Tommy gives some first-hand experience of what is going on right now for the people at and around Virginia Tech. Check it out here.

Virginia Tech

Man, what transpired at Tech yesterday is unbelievable, unreal. I can only imagine what these parents are going through...

Todd Rhodes, over at Monday Morning Insights, has a short article about the way that Christians are responding to the tragedy at Virginia Tech. You can read it here.

Let's pray for all of them and remember how precious life is.