Belong Believe and Become

I'm still pumped after last Sunday's service especially seeing so many people make the decision to take the next step in their walk with the Lord. I've found that many feel bad about their lives because they just haven't ever had someone tell them what it looks like to "win" in life. A win in our life with Christ is just to be willing to take the next step with Him. For some that will mean water baptism, for some the baptism in the Holy Spirit, for some serving, but we all can take the next step in Christ. We are plagued by this notion that living for God is just a series of doing good things, when in reality God is helping us to become new creations. I believe that God has led me to this simple process that we at HOF are to help people to move through: Belong, Believe , and Become.

Belong: I can remember when I went away from Christ as a teenager and it was because I didn't

feel like I belonged. My goal is to make everyone who has any contact with HOF to

understand that they belong to Christ. The great church leader Paul said, "you belong

to God". That's huge because of what it also means, that we don't belong in some

places we find ourselves. When you know where you belong then it's easy to know

how to live.

I'll post more later

Grow in Love 2010

Grow in Love 2010 is in full swing. As we grow in love by S.O.A.P.ing for at least 20 of the next 30 days and doing 10 random acts of kindness, I want to encourage you in your efforts.

And may the Lord make your love for one another and for all people

grow and overflow, just as our love for you overflows.

1 Thess. 3:12NLT

Paul, speaking by the Holy Spirit, was saying that our love growing is not the goal, but overflowing is the goal. Overflow speaks of running out of our life into the lives of those around us. That's how the gospel is moved through a family, workspace, or a community. And not just for church people, while that's a start, it's for all people. So come on HOF, let's overflow in love:

• 20 days of S.O.A.P. so God can overflow on us
• 10 Acts of kindness to overflow on people.

This is the gospel.

19 years today

Today is Vanessa's and my anniversary. We are celebrating 19 years together and believing that the best is yet to come. We met at a youth crawfish boil at Dale and Lori Martin's house as she was riding home with a friend and stopped by the outing. She soon started attending here and we began to spend time together in group outings and then after knowing her for about a year I asked her out. We dated for 1.5 years and then had a whopping 50 day engagement. Our wedding colors were peach and navy blue. My father officiated the ceremony and her pastor participated. We honeymooned in Steamboat Springs, CO. I taught her how to ski that week, which almost resulted in a divorce on the slopes. God has blessed us tremendously in every way, but especially with 4 children and a church family that we love. I can't thank both of our parents enough for helping us and pointing us to Jesus. I am loving the journey.

Kingdom movement today

Today is really a special day for several reasons. First off, today is the day that leaders are saying goodbye to the old and will mark their transition to something new. That's always a bittersweet moment, but so necessary. I'm grieved by the fact that so many are stuck in the same old ruts of life, knowing that something needs to be done but having no power to break out of the old. I guess that's why God uses leaders, changers, motivators, and mold-breakers. I am so proud of Wade and Cynthia Moran and Rob and Carly Mooney for their hearts to go to another level for kingdom purposes.

It's also a great day because Cayle and Bridgette, okay they will be official sometimes this year, are stepping into something new. I love seeing those who once listened and responded become the ones who lead and do and reach others. This is kingdom movement. There is so much movement that happens that has nothing to do with kingdom, it's because of offense and incompetence and because of an itch to just do something else. But today this movement is kingdom minded and for kingdom purposes. As I look forward, I've never been more convinced that "The Best is Yet To Come" for HOF and for you.

S.O.A.P. on Romans 7-8

Here are some key thoughts that I think we have to live with in our minds:

1. Law only applies to the living. (verses 1-6)

• We died to it's power in Christ.

2. Law is not bad, but sin took advantage of the laws commands and deceived me.

• Sin used the law to kill me. (verses 7-13)

3. The trouble is not the law, the trouble is in me, the way I think. (verses 14-25)

• The answer is Christ Jesus.
• The battle is in my mind.

"I love God's law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind." Romans 7:22-23

4. I must begin each day with God's thoughts for me, not how I feel. (8:6)

• When I start with how I feel, I will always end up in the wrong place.
• When I begin with what God says about me, I will please God.

So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. Romans 8:6

Super Bowl

Wow, what a game! I can't remember when I've enjoyed a game as much as last night's Super Bowl. We were at a friend's house and had a lot of great food and deserts, but the game was all that a Super Bowl is supposed to be. Both teams played well, not a lot of penalties, exciting plays all around and the Saints are the champs of the world in football. Just a testament to the fact that with the right ownership, leadership, personnel, and work ethic then great things are possible. I'm sort of a Saints bangwagon fan, I've watched but have not been emotionally attached. I'm a believer now, I really like Sean Payton and Drew Brees. They strike me as real good process guys that believe in something and work the plan to perfection. It certainly made for a great Sunday at church with everyone pumped about the game. I believe that God is up to something in HOF. I can't wait to see it unfold.

Rom. 6:19

In S.O.A.P.ing this morning I saw something I think is a huge thought for us. It's from this verse:

19 Because of the weakness of your human nature, I am using the illustration of slavery to help you understand all this. Previously, you let yourselves be slaves to impurity and lawlessness, which led ever deeper into sin. Now you must give yourselves to be slaves to righteous living so that you will become holy.

• The phrases, "you let yourselves......." and "Now you must give yourselves....." really speak volumes about our lives before knowing Christ and after.
• If your life is defined by what you let happen to you because you don't exercise your will to choose, then you aren't living the life God has designed for you.
• If your life is defined by what you are giving yourself to then God's word is alive and working in you.
• Paul is using the "slave" analogy to help us to see that we are all slaves to something. Sin by letting ourselves sink into whatever comes along.
• I'm a slave to Christ when I give my life to Him and His will.

Do you ever feel like you are just pulled along by the current of what everybody else is doing and what friends are doing? You let people talk you into things, you let others manipulate you into situations that are not comfortable? God's not like that, His will for you is to be able to exercise your free will to choose because that's how He made you. You choose to give your life to Him, you choose to give your love to Him, YOU CHOOSE TO GIVE. God made you with the power to choose, the power to choose Him. I choose to give him my life today. It's going to be a great day.

Romans 5 S.O.A.P.

13 Yes, people sinned even before the law was given. But it was not counted as sin because there was not yet any law to break.14 Still, everyone died—from the time of Adam to the time of Moses—even those who did not disobey an explicit commandment of God, as Adam did. Romans 5:13-14

What an interesting thought here about sin and the law. Even though sin was in the world long before there was law to break, men still died from sin. Too often sin is viewed as the breaking of someone's law, man's or God's, when in reality sin is like a deadly disease. The law is merely a sin detection system for our lives. Kind of like the smoke detector in your house. When you burn something while cooking, the smoke detector goes off and alerts you to the real problem, that something may be on fire. Same thing with the law, because the real problem is this deadly thing called sin in our lives that will result in death if not dealt with in the right manner. So men sinned before the law, or they just never had a detection device to let them know how they were doing. The end result is today what it was in those early days: death. Jesus' life provides us with the antidote for sin: forgiveness.

21 So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God's wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 5:21

Coaching Network in Arkansas

Well we finally made it to NW Arkansas after being delayed in Memphis because of bad weather. I know it is going to be well worth it because one thing I've found is that when something is very hard to accomplish it has great value to it. Today was strong, as we caught up with my friends in the coaching network and what is going on in their lives and ministries. We are being coached in using various tools to gain a proper perspective of what has happened, what is happening, and what needs to happen in our churches. I guess the best way to describe it is that all my thinking about church is being challenged, I'm having to reevaluate the way I've thought about people, leaders, and ministry in the light of some new truths. Our host, Casey Henigan and his team, are very gracious and Keypoint Church is a happening church. Casey hosted us at his home tonight and it was great to hang out with so many cutting edge leaders. Vanessa is with me, and she's been visiting her best friend from her single life so I'm happy for her. They see each other so seldom. We are in Bentonville, the home of WalMart so this is like a trip to the Shopping Mecca for Vanessa. Snow covers the ground, they have had about a foot of snow in the last 3-4 days.