WholeHeartedLife

Touchdowns and Celebration Dances

Monday nite my son, Matt, finally scored his first touchdown! It was a great one too - he ran it about 30 yards into the endzone while the opponents ate his dust. To say I was proud was an understatement. The thing that excited me is the fact that now that he's been there it's no longer unreachable - he's done it and now knows he can do it.

After the game the coach looked at me and (with excitement in his voice) said, "what about ol' fullback Pittman, who is that kid?!!?". He was excited for Matt - he was excited, as a dad, for me.

When I picked up Matt from school today he told me, "dad - when PaPa and I went to McDonalds after the game Coach came in the door and hollared, 'HEY! THERE'S TOUCHDOWN MATT!!!'." I thought to myself, "that guy was really excited that Matt scored.". I was reminded...

Something that I'm not good at is celebrating great things. Things like:

• the fact that, in December, Keyna and I will celebrate 19 years of marriage. I love my wife so much... i am so thankful that Jesus placed her in my life. When I have a tough day I often feel better just at the sight of her face.
• the fact that I have the greatest kidz in the world. My children are such a gift to me - they bring me joy and teach me what it means to love like Jesus loves. God teaches me a lot through them.
• the fact that I serve a church that is beyond what my dreams were when I went into ministry back in 1999. We have seen and done things that I had not even imagined prior to 2000.
• the fact that I have seen hundreds of people give their lives to Jesus in the past 9 years. HUNDREDS!!! I wish I had all their faces on my wall behind me to occasionally remind me...
• the fact that, musically, we have come to a level that we can play about anything that I bring to the band! I remember a day when we relied heavily on soundtrax - the thought of a day where everything in the service would be live was such a far off dream. Now, I can't remember the last time that we've used a soundtrack at hyde park.
• the fact that I had the privilege of taking my "rock band", Narrow Way Band, last Tuesday to play at the Robeson County Crusade. Nothing special, right? The special thing was that we played to an all ages crowd, including many who would normally not care for our brand of worship - and as a whole they loved NWB.
• While speaking of NWB... i have the priviledge of playing with a wonderful group of guys who love Jesus. 4 of us knew each other, in the band scene, before we loved the Lord. To lead worship with these guys, at the high level that they do, is phenomenal and Jesus is so worthy.
• the fact that I had the privilege of singing between 2 of my favorite worship leaders in the world Sunday. They aren't my favorite because of their talent (which is HUGE!) but because I know their hearts...
• the Word of God which speaks to me on a daily basis - the Holy Spirit which lives in me and guides me as I go through my day.
• the fact that I have a great group of people who serve in volunteer capacities at hyde park - have you thanked them lately for all that they do?
• the fact that this Sunday Nite, at 6pm, we will see the beginning of what I believe will be a movement among the students of UNCP at "The Gathering". God has done so much to make this happen - opened so many doors - given us favor among necessary people and placed people in our paths who will be instrumental in God doing a major work among the generation currently on our campus at UNCP.
• Lastly, I am thankful for you. I can't believe that people actually want to read what I write. I hope that you know that what you read here on WholeHearted is nothing more than the overflow of my heart. This blog is a blessing to write - I am better and more in touch with who I am in Christ because I have this outlet. I believe if everyone of you quit reading I would continue to write because for me, at times, WholeHearted is therapy. Thanks for being the vessel of "the therapist".

You know, when you're in a successful environment it's easy to take it for granted - i've done that a lot here at hyde park - not on purpose, it just happens. What has happened here is not normal in the church world today - MAY WE ONCE AGAIN CELEBRATE WHAT JESUS HAS DONE AND WHAT HE WILL DO AMONG US!  May we all be as excited about the great things that happen around us as Matt's coach was that he scored. WE SCORE! WE WIN!!!!

People Reach People 2

If you're a regular WholeHearted reader you've read that statement before - "Churches don't reach people, People Reach People". It sounds like something I picked up somewhere but it's not... it's something I believe that the Lord reminded me of one day as I studied and prayed.

On Sunday we had 3 people accept Christ (does that excite you?!?). For me, this is truly what it's all about. I know that there are many purposes of the church but like Rick Warren said, "there's only 1 of them that we CAN'T do in heaven." I wanted to share a couple of facts about the new believers:

• For 2 of them, Sunday was their 2nd time attending hyde park. For the 3rd person it was her 3rd visit.
• One of them returned because they loved hyde park and couldn't wait for their spouse to come with them the following week.
• 2 of the 3 attended hyde park because they had a friend who loved them enough to invite them to attend. The 3rd one knew someone who attends.
• One of the 3 attended with a friend who accepted JESUS a few months ago. The person who was saved a few months ago told me Sunday that they are ready to follow through with baptism!
• All 3 understood their need for JESUS in their lives and were excited about the decision that they made.

I'll say it again - it's people who reach people. God has given us all relationships that He expects us to leverage that those people might find new life in Him. Do you believe that people truly need what we offer? 

Who do you know that needs to experience hyde park for the 1st time? Don't stop praying for them and never stop inviting - you never know, your invitation just might change their life forever.

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It's Official - I'm SCARED of birds...

...literally. I've decided that I'm scared of a bird. Let me explain:

On the door underneath our carport hangs a basket that holds some pretty flowers. A couple of weeks ago as I would drive in to the carport I began noticing some birds flying out of the carport. "that's strange", I thought, "I don't usually notice birds flying in here". Two days later I found a nest built in the basket but it was too late - the bird had already laid the eggs you see in the picture to the left.

No big deal - it's just a little bird, right? That's what I thought too - until the first time I went to open my door (without remembering the nest) and this THING flys out of the nest scaring me to death! (it literally flew so close I felt the wind in my hair!). Then it happened again - and again - AND AGAIN! Finally it comes to the place that this bird caught me off-guard (just say it Mike P - scared me) enough that I COULDN'T forget it.

Now, everytime I go to open my door I touch the basket to scare the bird off - and everytime it flies out of that basket it scares me (no - I'm not kidding - i really am afraid of this bird!).

You know, this situation with the bird reminds me of something that a lot of Christians deal with. A lot of people know that God wants them to "do something" besides just attend church (just like I know that bird's gonna fly out). And even though they know God wants them to take that next step they're scared for some reason (just like I'm scared of this little bird for some reason). The only way for them to get beyond that feeling of guilt associated with not doing what they are supposed to is to do the thing that they know they should (just like the only way for me to get into that house is past that dumb bird). Why are we so scared to do something that is really not that big a deal?  

You know, at hyde park we have some really easy next steps that are right in front of us all: 

1. Summer of Service - Our Summer of Service begins this Wednesday nite and I want you to finally decide to DO SOMETHING... this isn't for everbody else - SOS is for you to serve with us (what a great way for some of you to meet some new people, huh?!?)
2. Our SuperHeroes Team - We still need a few really excited people to serve in "SuperHeroes", our summer kidz program.
3. Vacation Bible School - in July we'll spend a whole week pouring into lives of young people from all around our area. We are always looking for "new talent" to pull off our biggest kidz event of the year! IF YOU'VE NEVER BEEN A PART OF A HYDE PARK VBS YOU'RE GONNA BE BLOWN AWAY!
4. I wanted an excuse to show you a picture of the demon-bird that scares me at least 4 times per day. 

We want to make your taking the next steps in your faith as easy as possible - we don't want you just to learn God's word, we want to help you to live it out.

Let me know TODAY if you are interested in either of these opportunities.