WholeHeartedLife

Sunday Nite

So many emotions and thoughts running through my mind as I write this... We had a great day today at hyde park. The stuff I'm thinking about tell me that I just discovered my topic for this weeks WholeHearted. Here's Sunday Nite...

• I thought that Pastor's message this morning was really strong - if you're struggling HE WAS SPEAKING TO YOU! His message, "When Times are Tough" asked the question, "What do you do when you have done right and everything seems to go wrong"?
• One of his points was "don't let bitterness get a foot hold" and used Hebrews 12:14-15 and I made a note on part of that verse, "the key to having peace with others is to be holy and v. 14 says, 'without holiness no one will see the Lord'". DANG!
• Enjoyed being on worship team this morning while Steven did an excellent job leading. In the last service the weightiness of "Let Me Sing" hit me: Let me sing LOUDER than creation to You (does my worship even chart with the glorious worship that YOU receive, Lord?) For the pain You bore in Your body (YOU took it on YOU for me... knowing that I would be the way that i am) to bring my soul to You (i can't believe that YOU even cared to bring me to you even though i rejected YOU).
• I looked at Bree before she sang, "You Said" (one of my all-time favorite worship songs, by the way ) and asked, "You got your holy ghost on"?
• I can't believe that we will be doing Christmas music in less than 3 weeks!!
• Some of you were asking about my message, "I Got This One!" - it's online here

Went to a portion of the Crossover Middle School Service tonite and it was unbelievably great!

• Heard the Crossover band do "Everything Glorious" by David Crowder tonite and was BLOWN AWAY! Really, really great - Justin was rockin' the vocal - the whole band was terrific tonite!
• Asked Madison tonite when she got in the car about Brandon's message and she said, "he was great tonite - He sounded like you up there, daddy!". Poor Brandon... she meant it as the ultimate compliment
• Before I left Crossover I had one of our members come out and share their testimony about tithing with me. The person said that times had been really tough lately and after hearing Pastor's message ("A Manager for God") about trusting God with their finances and then reading my testimony about tithing they decided to tithe on their money - the scary thing was it was all that they had left until the 20th. They gave it because they decided they were gonna trust God. Without giving away the story (because I hope the person will share it themself) God showed Himself strong on their behalf. You can't outgive God. He challenges us to "test Him in this"... I dare ya!

In closing - Emergency Food Drive: You have given over 500 lbs of food so far hyde park!!! Way to Go! But we ain't done... keep giving until it hurts cause there are some people who do hurt and need your help. And last, Operation Christmas Child boxes are due this Wednesday - let's do this thing and be the blessing God has called us to be.

I love serving with you!

Sunday Nite

"Thank You, Lord, for meeting with us today at hyde park! Thank You for showing up, showing out and showing off... thank You for being so obviously present and sharing Your presence with Your people. Thank You for giving me the priviledge of speaking into people's lives - I pray that we have all drawn closer to You as a result."

This was an amazing, yet challenging day at hyde park. Sunday Nite - can't wait to hit my bed, but before I do...

• I got out of bed around 4:30am this morning. After laying there for a long time praying and thinking about the day and the message (probably for around an hour) - i finally said to myself, "what are you waiting for? You might as well get up...". I'm glad I did.
• I felt like God was gonna do something special today. He did. Countless people shared with me how the message spoke directly into their lives and their situations.
• I felt like God was going to bring people into our services who don't normally come or hadn't been in a while. Once again, He did. Before the start of the 8.21 service I was already amazed about the people who were visiting with us at such an early time.
• A lot of tension in the room at times during my message. For those of you who are wondering, that IS NOT a bad thing. I believe that God often uses tension and discomfort to drive His point deep within our heart.
• People met JESUS this morning! I had the priviledge of talking with and praying with a few of them. That never gets old, ya know?
• Rhonda and the band did a tremendous, powerful job this morning with music.
• I hope that you will actually read the 2 chapters I summarized yourself. I could literally do a whole series from 2Kings 18-20.
• I never thought I would actually preach about eating crap and drinking urine!
• Here's the link to the 2 chapters - read it - I DARE YOU!
• My head hurts. My heart is full.
• In the last part of my message I was talking about the part of the pattern that you, "Seek out a prayer warrior". Sara, a leader from our Crossover middle School team, was sitting with my Madison. Sara said that when I said, "you need to seek out a prayer warrior - someone who you KNOW walks with Jesus", Madison leaned over to her and said, "that's my dad - my dad's my prayer warrior".
• That previous statement says it all for me.

I close by saying that I wish I had something prolific to say. Instead, let me say that I am so thankful to serve at hp - God is Good. Let me also say that I believe everything I closed with this morning about the future of our church AND our city. Do you?

Sunday Nite

I know that I say this almost every Sunday but we had an amazing morning at hyde park! I totally enjoyed leading you (hopefully) in worship... the extra hour of sleep last nite made it even more reason to celebrate!

• There were more than a few people who showed up to church an hour early this morning - a couple of them actually ended up in a small group because of it!
• Great feel in the house this morning...
• "I can only Imagine" can be a powerful opener, especially when people don't see it comin'.
• Actually sang "Open the Eyes of My Heart" this morning - I can't remember the last time we actually used it in worship at hyde park. We have sung that song so many times, almost like an old hymn here. "Open the Eyes" is a classic song that felt good to sing to Jesus after not connecting with it for a while, ya know?
• The new song that we introduced this morning, "Let Me Sing", is by Todd Fields, worship leader at North Point Church in Atlanta
• The scripture is used this morning before "Let Me Sing" was from Ephesians 5:19Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 20always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. You can listen to it/watch it here
• Ever heard the term "Mac Daddy"? Well, this afternoon I experienced the "Nap Daddy - daddy of all naps". I'm not a good "day-sleeper" - something about being wound so tight that I'm afraid that I'm missing something
• Pastor's message this morning was strong - the teaching of being a good manager of what God has given us! For me GIVING to the Lord is huge. Just like Pastor's demonstration with the M&M's, the reason people have a hard time giving/tithing is because they have the order backwards - the operative word would be to give God our "first-fruits"!

I didn't really get the opportunity to comment yet about Friday Nite's Trunk-A-Treat (or as Pastor calls it our "love on our community with lots of candy nite ). I drove the "hyde park express" train non-stop for over 2 hours (the kidz love it!!!). Here are the stats directly from Brandon's update from my Facebook page:

Trunk -a- treat totals:

61 - trunks passing out candy
39 - volunteers (parking, games, food, cake walk, face painting, hayride, HP train, etc)
1711 - we know that registered

We ran out of 1086 - pounds of candy that we provided...not counting candy given as game prizes....or candy that people brought for their own trunks...

we ministerd to lots of people tonight...sweet!

 

I know that we had over 20 cakes donated for our cake walk - I thought that it was cool that one of the people that i've invited to church and has recently been attending won a cake and was excited about it! Anyone of you who has pictures add them to your facebook or send them to me - I'll add them to mine!

 

Best as we can tell we had in excess of 2,000 people (the parking people SWEAR we had over 4,000 ). All I know is we had a bunch of people and it was fun and a tremendous nite - hyde park, you really stepped it up and I am SO proud of all of you! Let's have a great week for Jesus.

Sunday Nite (with pictures)

Today was a really great day at hyde park. I know that I say that most every Sunday... I guess that the reason that I say that every week is because A) it WAS a great day and B) it is our desire to bring our "A" game every single Sunday!!

• We had a big morning this morning as we celebrated the Lord's Supper / Communion in all 3 of our worship experiences.
• I have truly enjoyed the way that we have attempted to be more and more creative in our practice of the Lord's Supper. Rather than doing it the "same ol', same ol'" way we've been experiencing it at 3 tables at the front of the worship center in groups of 6 to 8. As we do it the band and singers do their thing. The thought behind this is while some are taking the supper the others are participating in worship through song - no down time.

Opening with "And Now My Lifesong Sings" this morning was cool as it set the tone for what was to happen. On the other hand, I know that it was difficult for those walking in late as it might have been a "what's going on here moment". I guess that's another reason we should always aim to be early, that way if something goes wrong you'll still be on time.

• I was the drummer today. No issues with drummers, I just WANTED to be the drummer today, to play in the band. Our band is filled with a group of dedicated and amazing musicians whom I LOVE playing with occasionally. We have extra drummers that are available to play but truthfully, I like to sit in the drummers seat and observe our worship from their. The drum throne is the least stressful place in the house for Mike P on a Sunday - no worries back there!
• By the way... speaking of band and singers - everyone did a tremendous job today. We had some small issues, but if you look at the set and the challenges I put before them today...

  Baptism took place in the 11.11 service this morning, my man Paul brooks doing the honors.

• Paul baptized 9 this morning including 2 of his sons!! Yeah... I got a little teary eyed thinking about how special a moment that was for him. One of the highlights is that most of those being baptized were young people. Pastor Dennis said it right when he reminded our congregation that we as a congregation have invested into the young people of Lumberton - he believed that this was a picture of Jesus honoring that investment!

• You know... just about every Sunday that I walk into the place I walk in with the thought, "this might be the day... the day when God breaks out and shows off... the day that many, many lives WILL be changed!" I often think to myself that many will be saved. What are your expectations coming into worship? I don't ask that in a "look at my faith!!!" kinda way, I'm just saying that when we don't come into the house expectantly, what are we coming with? I'm just sayin... 

ok... it's been a long day - better hit it because tomorrow's gonna be a BIG day!

Sunday nite

I had an amazing day - I also had one of the most challenging days that I've had in a long time. I cannot tell you the last time that I felt this exhausted! I want to tell you about everything - but my head hurts, my back and legs hurt and I feel really old... (whichever of you just said, "you are old", you just need to hush!). But before I set down for a long winters nap...

• I Preached today... As I shared from my heart I was amazed that people were obviously challenged and moved by the message. Praise God we saw 5 people trust in Jesus this morning!

• Our music today was... I was absolutely BLOWN AWAY! I found myself broken and crying in all three services. So proud of our musicians.

• Looked like we had a good crowd take 101 and 201 today!

• I can't wait for next Sunday - Baptism and Lord's Supper Day. Next Sunday is gonna be a very, very special day (i can feel it in my bones).

• Tonite we held the 1st "Gathering at UNCP". It was an amazing nite. Great crowd. Narrow Way Band. Aaron throwin' down on the mic! Hopefully I'll post some pics tomorrow. Thanks to all who helped with "the gathering". I will tell you this: I believe that we had 9 students trust in Christ. I hope that you weren't part of the crowd who missed it -cause you did!

I've got so much that I want to tell you about it... you're gonna have to check back tomorrow - I really must get some sleep - NOW!

Sunday Nite (And Class of '88 Shout-Outs!)

This weekend was "extreme"... I don't even know what to say.

On one hand this weekend was amazing: it was my 20th class reunion this weekend. I got to see and hang with people that I haven't seen since we graduated from high school - some of them are:

Paul Bullock, Robby Fisher, Torrence Williams, Lee Dudley, Tripp Brown, Jennifer Simmons, Brian McDaniel, Andrea Adams, Jessie Oxendine, Ginger Crumpler, Kendrick McCoy, Kim Livermore, Charles Johnson, Tanya Riley, Erica McArthur, Brian Skipper, Knox Thompson...

and some others that I do see occasionally like Chris Crain, Herman Ospina, Rober Fisher, Erica McComb, Andy Price, Steve and BeBe, Dee Dee Rouse, Paul Matthews, Coval Long... i LOVED SEEING ALL OF YOU - it really was a highlight to be with you, even if just for a little while. I enjoyed meeting many of your spouses and kidz also.

To all of you who don't live here anymore, you should know this: I am still here because I have been placed here to be light in the midst of darkness, to right what sometimes is wrong and to declare that Jesus has more in store than most would ever imagine. You all need to visit for the weekend and check me out at hyde park.

On the other hand - this weekend was possibly the most difficult weekend of my career... Without going into a lot of detail I spent Saturday morning with friends who's lives were turned upside down. It was heartbreaking and reminded me of the fragility of life, the importance of walking "in Christ", and the truth that our lives can literally change in a moment. After listening to a friend "broken" I will never forget the sound of his weeping - I believe that the memory will almost haunt me forever. I found myself wishing that just for one moment that God would give me the ability to turn back the clock 24 hours - what would I do different if I could? I'm thankful for Godly friendships and the love that this friend continuously showed to me - I hope that I will somehow find a way to return the favor in his time of need.

Saying all that, this morning was, for me, a difficult one. As we opened the morning with the old hymn, "I need Thee Every Hour" I was struck by the fact that God knew that I needed to lead that this morning - that the reminder was mine... We then proceeded into "Blessed Be Your Name" and the challenge struck me that I was to have joy in spite of a lack of happiness. As we took on "Victory" I was reminded of the fact that Jesus has changed my life from the Inside Out...

...but this morning, as we made the declaration in song, "how great is our God and all will see how great, how great is our God!" - i don't know, for a moment, as I remembered the truth presented in song, declared and most importantly, BELIEVED, for a moment everything seemed as it was supposed to be - for a moment everything was RIGHT.

This morning I remembered that I don't declare my faith in Jesus because of what He'll "do" for me, I declare my faith in Jesus because of what He's "done" for me - and because of that I can say, in spite of the joy, pain, happiness and sadness, "blessed be Your Name, Lord God - be glorified in my life". 

• Thanks goes out to those of you who are loving on the Stephens family during this incredibly difficult time.
• Thanks also goes to those loving on the Everette family - Daryl's father passed on friday.
• While I'm thanking, thanks to those of you who loved on me today... you are amazing and I love you much.
• Our band and singers are tremendous - I love you!
• Big Shout Out to the crew who managed the blood drive - you ROCK!
• I had the best mocha at the ROC Cafe' this morning!
• Remember, Choir rehearsal this wednesday at 8. New members are welcome this week.

I love serving with ya'll - see you this week!

Sunday Nite

Sunday Nite... what a long day I had today.

• Led worship today at hyde park. 1st time in about 3 weeks. Love the new song we introduced this morning, "Happy Day".
• Spent the afternoon setting up projection and screens for the Robeson County Crusade.
• While I set up projectors my family went to the fair. You don't know how much I HATE that we didn't get to do that together... Today was the only day working into our busy schedule this week for the fair.
• Left there and went to Crossover Parent Invasion - great night there with Brandon and the Crossover team. Before I left there I saw some parents cream-pied while they buried their face in it digging for bubble gum and had to wash make up off of my face (i looked like I was trying out for Twisted Sister or something ).
• Justin McQueen leading worship tonite for the Crossover band - AWESOME! I wouldn't be surprised to see him on the "big stage" leading worship in our near future
• Left Crossover to head over to the Robeson County Crusade. Saw 6 kids give their hearts to the Lord tonite!!!
• Disappointed in the number of younger people at the crusade... Also disappointed that it seemed that everyone there was "churched".
• On the bright side, Jamie Parker did a great job leading worship. Don Whit was very engaging and gave a powerful story leading up to the invitation. Bill Chase did a great job with the mass choir.

On a completely separate note...

• Do you love this weather like i do?
• Hope that you signed up to be in the "trunk-line" today at church for our Oct. 31st Trunk-a-treat! Don't forget to bring your candy this week!!!
• I continue to be amazed at the great work that Jesus is doing through NewSpring church. They had baptism yesterday at both of their campuses (Anderson and Greenville) and saw 602 people baptized. I SAID THEY SAW 602 PEOPLE BAPTIZED!!!! If that doesn't make you want to just praise Jesus... check yourself.
• I love NewSpring church - Everytime I go there I just bawl... what they are doing there just speaks to me and the way that Jesus made me. I've told Pastor, "every town in america needs a church like that!". I mean that with everything within me.
• Don't forget... Narrow Way Band will be leading worship Tuesday nite at the Robeson County Crusade. We're gonna take it up a notch!

Ok - that's it for tonite. Time to find some sleep...

Sunday Nite

It's Monday morning... I know that this is late but yesterday was great (rhyme on a dime, all the time )

• I was in "experiential mode". I saw the 8.21 and the 9.51 service... 

• Greatly enjoyed the worship in both services. Thought Steven, Brandon and Bree all did some great leading yesterday.

• Had a great mocha at the ROC Cafe' yesterday. What did you have at the ROC yesterday?

• Have you taken someone new to the ROC Cafe lately? What a great way to introduce something new to someone new to our church...

• with that in mind - thanks to Hubert and the crew at the ROC Cafe'

• GroupLink was the bomb! When each group went to their class and the group leaders told "their story" - AWESOME!

More to come later!

Sunday Nite

We had another powerful day today at hyde park -  a day that I may never forget and as a result, I am TOTALLY beat... this is gonna be short

• I worshiped at 8.21 this morning - great, great morning in there. I was so proud of all that I witnessed...

• Rhonda totally brought it leading worship this weekend! So great to see her in the leader spot once again (she hasn't led in a few months). I was SO proud of her!

• The new song that she led, "Hosanna", is one of my favorite new songs

• Tonite, we had "Night of Worship" and all I can say is "WOW!". Tonite was an incredibly powerful evening of worship... the prayer time was especially bold... and when, at the end of prayer we began to belt out "Savior, worthy of honor and glory, worthy of all of our praise - YOU Overcame!" I thought the roof was gonna come off that place!!!

• I saw people outwardly worship this evening that I'm not sure I've ever seen worship that way! Always an encouragement to see people say, "i'm gonna worship you visibly no matter what others may think.". For me, doing that has always felt like surrender.

• I know I say this a lot, but we have some of the most amazing musicians - UNBELIEVABLE! Those people rocked my face off tonite!!! What a priviledge to serve with you!

We also had our 1st GroupLink today...

• Huge Success! We had 65 attendees - 6 new Bible Fellowship Groups, all well filled and just a spirit of expectation in that place.
• We laughed - we met new people - we stepped out in uncertainty - as a result, many more people are connected at hyde park than were just yesterday.
• I AM SO PROUD OF YOU WHO TOOK THE STEP INTO GROUPLINK - YOU TOOK A NEXT STEP AND GOD IS GOING TO USE IT IN A MIGHTY WAY IN YOUR LIVES.

Ok - that's it - bed time - my head hurts... holy hangover seems to have already kicked in

Sunday Nite (and a couple of other things)

Today was awesome at hyde park! Let's not waste any time (my family just got home so I'm ready to hang with them!)

• All 3 services were great today! There was a wonderful spirit in all of them.
• Of course, the 11.11 service was off the chain!! Week after week it truly is the service that all of us who do multiple services talk about. Not that the others aren't great (they are) - you just gotta go to it to understand.
• Of course, I spent Friday nite and Saturday morning at "Commit '08", a men's conference in Bladenboro. I had the distinct priviledge of sharing the platform with Dr. Mike Cummings, who has been a sort of hero of mine for a long time. The chance to speak on the same conference with him was a big deal to me - intimidating, but a big deal. What an encouragement he was to me.
• Those men were really challenged this weekend. Join me as we pray that they will follow through on the commitments that they made.
• Back to hyde park... had some new friends visit today that I had invited - i was SO excited when I saw them walk in the door...
• A few of you shared with me that you had friends visit today. In other words, there were a lot of people fishin' today
• I'm really excited about all of you who have agreed to serve on the First Impression Team for this fall. If you have been on the FIT Team in the recent past and still wanna serve, let me know. Chuck Smith, who has served FIT since the beginning is taking over the helm there and I'm stoked to see him step up. He'll be working, along with Laura, to make sure that everyone's hyde park experience is out of sight!
• "From the Inside Out" - the passion in that song... the 2nd verse kills me - "Your will above all else, still my purpose remains - the art of losing myself in bringing You praise". I am SO working on the "art of losing myself". If you've been a friend for any amount of time you've heard me quote John the Baptist who said, about Jesus, that "He must increase while I must decrease". Lord, teach me to do that.

Pastor's message today was tremendous. He said some things in his message just really spoke to me: 

• "In 30 years of pastoring I have never met a growing Christian that wasn't involved in a small group - they may exist, but I've not found them yet!"
• "If we're gonna become like Jesus, we've gotta hang around people going in the same direction we are - We become like the people we hang around."
• "The people, instead of being turned off by the church they were turned on." in reference to Acts 2:47
• He who walk with wise men will be wise. But the companion of fools will be destroyed. (Proverbs 13:20). "if you hang out with the wrong people one day you might get caught up in something you have no intentions of getting caught up in - all because you were just a companion."
• "Think about it - most of the foolish things that you did was with people you thought were your friends."
• "Sometimes I ask God to help me to love people then he put's somebody like you in my path."

Last thing - I am SO EXCITED about GroupLink next weekend! Many of you have signed up to take this new journey with us and I AM PUMPED! Thanks for signing up and get ready because this Sunday, IT'S ON! Love ya'll.