Integrity

Proverbs 10:9 "The man of integrity walks securely, but he who takes crooked paths will be found out."  

I am blown away that many refuse to protect integrity and live as if they are not controlled by the Holy Spirit.  I have often said when you lose your integrity, then you lose your influence. Once a person's influence is gone then you will be fortunate to ever gain it back.  The issue for Christians and Jesus followers is simple: keep your integrity because as long as you have that you will have influence.  

Joy Prom

Luke 14:12-14  Jesus said also to the man who had invited him, when you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they also invite you in return and you be repaid.  But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you.  For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just."

At LifeSong Church, we truly believe that every life matters.  Joy Prom is a full-scale prom for people with special needs.  The purpose of Joy Prom is to demonstrate God's love to those who are frequently marginalized by modern society.  Our goal is to honor our guests with a first class event that gives them an evening to remember.  We want each guest to feel special and let them know that they are loved and valued by God and this community.

A FRESH START

I'm looking forward to 2009 of fresh starts and new beginnings.  I'm blown away that God gives us another year for Him.  This year my goal and church's is to pursue Christ in a greater. 

Goal is to read the Gospels and Proverbs three time this year and write down observations that you have noticed to help you pursue Him this year.

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John -- 89 chapters

Proverbs -- 31 chapters

Total is 120 x 3 = 360 days of reading.  My prayer is that one will not read of sheer habit but they would read with a journey mindset.  It has already blessed my heart to hear stories; we are only 5 day in.  

GOD'S AMAZING CREATION!!! My little gummy bear

Happy Thanksgiving

I love thanksgiving ..... mainly because of LOTS OF FOOD!!  I am thankful for many things.  Here is just a few:

* My Family -- yes even the little two inch baby inside my bride's belly.

* My Family -- hello family sorry we will not get to hang out this holiday season ... we will see you around Christmas.

* My Church Family -- I am grateful to God for the LifeSong Church family.  You are very special to us.  We deeply love you guys.

* My Friends -- we have friends all over the country and we know that many of you pray for us on a regular basis.  we love you all!!

* Finally to that person that introduced the fried turkey idea .... let's go eat!

Unwrapping your Spiritual Gifts

We have been on a journey for the past couple of weeks dealing with the idea of unwrapping your spiritual gifts. I am blown away by the amount to Christians that have no clue what their spiritual gift is or the fact that they are not using their gift to bless others.  

 

Ephesians 4:16 "from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up itself in love."

What are spiritual gifts?  A God-given ability, given to every believer at conversion by the Holy Spirit to share His love and strengthen the body of Christ.  ERIC REES  Discovering your spiritual gifts in not the ultimate goal -- using them to bless others is.  

Do you know your GIFT?  Not unwrapping it is like getting a present this Christmas and never unwrapping it....... I would never do that and neither would you.  In Ephesians 4:11, Christ "GAVE" us the gift and the word gave is a word of value.  So, the gifts that Christ gave is special and something of value so find out what your is and start using it to bless others.

Baby at the Tyler's

We just found out this morning at 2:00 am that we are having a kid.  Britt wakes up and feels pregnant and then takes the TEST.  You know what I mean.  How in the world do you wake up and feel pregnant?  I am already amazed how MOMs know and feel certain things. 

PRAY for us!!  This is an awesome moment as we look forward to our lives changing forever.  

Party at the Pastor's House

Britt and I love to have people at our house.  Tonight we had around 50 people over enjoying wonderful desserts.  We called tonight connection dessert.  At LifeSong, we emphasize people getting involved in service and this gave many an opportunity to connect with other people they see at church on a regular basis.

Being intentional about building relationships are essential in a new church.  GO LIFESONGERS WE DEEPLY LOVE YOU ALL!!

Hope FORE The Nation

We know that a hammer could build a church but who would think that a golf tournament could build multiple churches in Burkina Faso.  Britt and I just left a banquet tonight were an auction raised around $50,000 to build churches.  I am still blown away.  TO GOD BE THE GLORY!!

People really do want to make a difference.  Most people are waiting for an opportunity to get in on God's activity.  A simple Golf Tournament could change the people of Burkina Faso and the Kingdom of God is expanding by swinging a golf club.   

VISION SUNDAY

We opened our service on Sunday with this video to communicate it's our responsibility to go and B "E" THE CHURCH.  Over the next 6 months we are discussing what it means to BE THE CHURCH in Ephesians.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfGvn0ZEXco

Leadership Meeting

Many church leaders know that the success of a church will always depend on how you develop and train leaders.  Over the past couple of weeks, we have started a training called Execute.

The word Execute means to perform or accomplish something as an assigned task.  At LifeSong, we are truly lead by leaders in the church and we understand that if they are not properly poured into then there is no Execution on Sunday.  Most people want to be all that you want them to be the problem is they are not sure about our expectations of them.  In revealing Execution, we are revealing expectations. 

God has blessed us with great people at LifeSong Church.  

Sunday Thoughts!

I would like to praise the Lord for the LifeSong Church family. These people absolutely amaze me. Some of you know that we had to change the cafe around from being a church to Cafe. The owner of the cafe is trying to auction it off this week. Pray God's will be done there. The majority of people stayed after church and the ones that couldn't had good excuses but our folks are literally the hardest working people on the planet. I have been part of many churches but I have never seen any church with the servants available at my right hand. All I need to do it speak and they are there!! To God be the glory for great workers He has sent to LifeSong.

Now for the service on Sunday ...... Logan and Lori knocked it out of the park. I spent 40 minutes talking about two thoughts God put in my heart this week.

1. Love your Family.
2. Love your Bible.

I wrestled with this because we are going through the book of Ephesians which is awesome! God used the service yesterday to speak to many hearts. I told a friend that I spoke on the family and a family got saved. How awesome is that?

VISION SUNDAY is coming October 12th. Hear the direction LifeSong is going the next three months.

PRAYER SERVICE

YES, like many of you leaders and pastors dread a Wednesday night prayer service? Why? We spend little time praying and much on bible study. I'm not opposed to bible study time but don't call it a prayer service when we spend minutes on prayer. Can I get an AMEN here??

Last night, LifeSong had its first prayer service. It was so different, here were the elements:

• Lighting was down
• People came into an environment where it was intense
• Music was playing
• Opened the service with a call to repentence
• Pray over specific needs (not grandma's cousins uncle's father-in-law ......you get the point)
• We prayer walked
• We experienced group prayer with guidance from prayer leaders
• Everyone got a prayer journal with a challenge to double their time in prayer

We involved many different environments with a common purpose ......... the awareness of PRAYER.

Next month, we are doing something entirely different. I will tell you about it later. So, pastors and leaders, if we really believe that prayer is the power then let's call God's people together for an intense time of prayer.

SALVATION IS HERE

Many of you have been praying for Gary Goett's salvation over the last year. Gary is the master developer of Southern Highlands. He is for sure a very influential man in Las Vegas. Yesterday, his wife came to know the Lord. R U SERIOUS!!!!!!!!!!! Here is the email I received last night.

Well this morning I sat across my Mom who I have had an extremely difficult relationship with my whole life and she shared with me that she surrendered her life to Christ this morning. My Mom has struggled for a number of years with a number of addictions, is not healthy mentally and has been in the hospital twice in the last 4 months for a total of 8 weeks in ICU due to 3 different major surgeries. We have thought we were going to loose her a number of times due to illness and her own doing and this has been a huge burden...and prayer request to all of you for awhile. I just wanted you all to be able to rejoice with me on this day when all the angels are rejoicing in heaven for yet another will be joining us all for eternity in heaven!

God is doing some amazing things .......... more to share later. Stay tuned.

SUNDAY!!

I'm amazed everytime I stand up before our people on Sunday and think to myself where did all of these people come from and how did they hear about us? Couple of praises!!

• We finally have our worship leaders in place. THEY ROCK!!!!! Lori and Logan are absolutely a God send to the LifeSong family.
• Great stuff with the association (more on this in the future when everything develops).
• Gentlemen I have never meet before dropped off a check for $5,000 because he heard about the things we are doing in the community and excited for us to continue. This gentlemen doesn't even go to our church.
• We have average over 100 people for the past couple of Sundays and we are only 2 1/2 months old.
• Starting our Upward Soccer Sports League in Vegas.
• Starting our Men's and Women's Ministries this month.
• Families are getting control over their finances in Financial Peace University.
• We are starting a Grief Share Ministry.
• Much more to come!! I share with our church the best is yet to come!!

This verse sums of my quiet time today and God's activity lately. Proverbs 8:35 "For whoever finds me finds life, And obtains favor from the LORD."

BACK TO SCHOOL

It may have been the case years ago that churches actually worked together to engage their communities. Now, when I talk about partnership with churches most people think just in conversation pieces alone, but not actually holding hands for the same purposes. I believe churches are diagnosed with the "territory disease."

LifeSong is in such a large community that even if we could reach everyone, we would never have the resources to make it work. I'm pretty certain that it is the same where you are, but why do we not celebrate when churches do their part in Kingdom expansion. Anyway, I could talk forever on this issue .....read below.


The state of Nevada has issued thousands of dollars in tax cuts on the public school system. Administration has asked parents/students to assist in purchasing extra copy paper for the teachers, in addition to the normal school supplies the student will have to buy. LifeSong Church and Destiny Church have partnered together to pull off a free school supply give-away at a "Back to School Bash." Both churches realize that the economy is a challenge for many families and we want to serve this community by meeting a practical need. Local businesses and churches will partner with us to allow this event to be a success. We are hoping to provide the free supplies to the first 500 kids at the event. Other items that will be donated-Lord willing-are free hair cuts, dental cleanings, food, movie, concert, and much more. LifeSong could not pull off an event of capacity alone. That is why churches should be willing to work hand in hand to better their communities and grow the Kingdom of God.


Churches could do so much more for the Kingdom of God if we were willing to work together. It's truly a process!!

Financial Peace University

At LifeSong, one our core values is FAMILY. We believe families should have opportunities to serve together. We encourage families to commit time and energy each week toward building and developing values within their family. We desire to see our families build guine relationships where they live, work, and play.

LifeSong Church: Helping Families take Control over their Finances

Statistics show that seven out of ten families are living paycheck to paycheck. According to USA today, the number one reason for divorce in America is related to money issues within the marriage. Does this sound familiar…are you looking for Financial Peace? Check out this stat: the average family that completes Financial Peace University eliminates $5,300 in debt and saves $2,700 in just 13 weeks. Now, that is a reality worth pursuing.

Over the next 13 weeks, we will offer Financial Peace Universtiy to our people and the community to help them get control of their money. Dave Ramsey teaches about how to save money, live on a budget, communicate about money, eliminate debt, find bargains, and experience the joy of giving.

30 Day Give

At LifeSong, over the last couple of weeks we have set our hearts as a church to deal with serving others as a practical way of showing the Love of Christ. Has it worked? Absolutely, we have had families give like crazy. Few stories:

1. We have taken up close to 1,000 pairs of socks for the homeless community.
2. Families have bought groceries for single mom's.
3. Give our landlord additional $500 just to be a blessing.
4. Families giving waters our to workers
5. Gentlemen works a second job and all of the money from the second job over the next 30 days is to help needy families.
6. Free movie in the parks.
7. LifeSong feeding the security and the community association of Southern Highlands.
8. Help support pastor's in Honduras and provide schooling for families in Kenya.
9. Many more stories that I'm actually forgetting right now!!

It's so cool because I can see how families are truly looking for opportunities to pour into others. Over the course of the month, we haven't asked families to give one penny extra to LifeSong; however we are seeing our greatest month of giving since we have started. Proof ....... if you keep your hands open, it is amazing what God will entrust you with.

Sun Stand Still -- 5 year anniversary

Joshua 10:12 "Sun, Stand Still.... " If there was a time to ask God to make the sun stand still, it was last night. Britt and I had a dinner cruise on the Pacific Ocean right outside of Maui. We had the opportunity to watch the sun set. Wow!! This picture doesn't do it justice.

We are having the best time. We were talking yesterday that everybody should come to Maui at least once in their lifetime. Fortunately, we have friends that live here so we were able to get unbelievable deals, making this trip just as affordable as any other vacation we have had. Saving for 5 to 10 years is well worth the investment to be a part of this wonderful place that God has created.

Johnny Hunt

Could this be the year? First, I am absolutely grateful to know Pastor Johnny personally and I could not agree more with my dear friends across this country that Johnny Hunt is exactly what our denomination needs. Pastor Johnny has spent his life investing in "preacher boys" all across this country and the fruit still remains. Only God knows how many people have been touched and impacted for the Kingdom by Pastor Johnny.


God called Britt and me to plant a church in "Sin City" or Las Vegas, that is. I am here today because of the First Baptist Church of Woodstock Georgia and Pastor Johnny's training and encouragement. We are planning to launch June 15th and I believe every victory that is WON (and we have already seen many) will all be because of one word ...... INVESTMENT. Pastor Johnny is the epitome of investing in relationships with God, people, church, and the Kingdom.


Pastor Johnny I wanted to say to you along with the blogging world that I deeply love you and you are making a difference in the next generation of leaders. See you soon!