President's Day with the Family

Today, I decided to apply the sermon that I preached on Sunday to my own life by "embracing today." I have no extra time to take a day off, but today is President's Day. And President's Day is not significant this year, besides the fact that my children were out of school and they will never be this young again. I told Beth when we woke up, "We'll long for this day twenty years from now." So, we spent the day together as a family, and we had a blast! We took pictures on the Shelby Street pedestrian bridge. We then went to "Love Circle" off West End Blvd. Lincoln especially took pride in climbing the hill - his personal Mt. Everest. We then had a late lunch / early supper at The Loveless Cafe on Hwy 100. We walked off the large meal with a short hike outside of Percy Warner park. Lots of laughs. Lots of pictures. A day I'll never forget.

Sunday's Service - Amazing!

All I can say about Sunday is – Wow! Two great churches came together, and it was an explosion of energy and excitement. The Hope Center Fellowship was so welcoming. I know God was pleased to see His church come together. It was interesting to see people from both congregations recognize each other. Maybe all the different churches keep us from recognizing that those we work and shop with are our fellow brother and sisters. I hope to see more of His body coming together.

Great Meeting at The Hope Center

Tonight Beth and I had a chance to share the vision God has given me for a local chuch with the members of The Hope Center. The people seemed to receive us well. We felt so loved. I can't wait for my family at Sumner Life to connect with these great people.

Big Meeting Tonight

Tonight is my introduction meeting with the members of Hope Center Fellowship. I am so excited about this! I will miss being with my Sumner Life family, but I know they will have a great night with Kim Driver teaching. When I think about tonight's meeting, I am not really nervous. I am confident in God's vision He has shared with me, and to share that with a new group of people is quite an honor. There is genuine excitement and enthusiasm right now. This is such a special time.

The Merge

It has been an exciting few weeks as the leadership team and I have been working on a merger with The Hope Center Fellowship in Hendersonville. The Hope Center Fellowship is a wonderful church that has been without a pastor for 14 months. In this proposed merge, I would be the lead pastor of the combined congregations. We would establish a new name for the merged churches to present a fresh face to the community. There are many reasons to merge, but here are some things that come to the forefront of my mind:
1. It demonstrates unity to the community. People are tired of churches splitting. It would be great to see two churches come together.
2. This move would allow both churches to be in a stronger position to reach the dream God has given them to be a church of influence.
3. This makes the churches stronger financially.
4. It enlarges the family.
With any merger there are challenges, but I desire for the people of both of these congregations to enjoy the miracle of this new opportunity. There are some rare times in life that life we are part of moments that are bigger than life and unforgettable. I hope people recognize this moment as such an opportunity. I pray that the song recorded in Psalm 126 can echo the experience of this new beginning:

1 When the LORD brought back the captives to Zion,
we were like men who dreamed.
2 Our mouths were filled with laughter,
our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations,
"The LORD has done great things for them."
3 The LORD has done great things for us,
and we are filled with joy.

Welcome to 2008. We need a new year, but God doesn’t. Every year we look at a new calendar, and let the new year define our life, and create time boundaries. It’s so good to know that God isn’t limited by certain years; He is always doing a new and fresh work – daily.

Speaking of Jerusalem, Zephaniah described God within that city as:

The LORD within her is righteous; he does no wrong. Morning by morning he dispenses his justice, and every new day he does not fail. – Zephaniah 3:5 (NIV)

Christmas Review

It was a great Christmas! Our Christmas Eve service was successful, and my family had our traditional Mexican food afterwards (a Texas thing!). Christmas morning was fun because we had five children under age 7 in our house. We had a Christmas Dinner with 16 people, and it was a great time of fellowship and laughter. One of the highlight of this Christmas was the opportunity I had to preach at the Gallatin Outreach on the 20th. I am amazed each month at the poverty that is evident at these outreaches. I was able to share Christ with these beautiful people, and several responded to the invitation. What a privilege - nothing was a significant as this night during my Christmas. Now will be several days of reflection and vision casting for 2008.