How do you know that? Well, have you ever noticed that when God has big things in store that the devil will do all he can to stop it? In recent days we’ve experienced a bump in the road and the devil is mad because he can’t stop what God has planned for life house. God’s work can’t be stopped. God’s Word will never come back void. People can “talk” and they can “tear down” but they can’t stop what God has planned. We are excited! When we experience these type of things it simply means that the church is on the right track. We know what God has called us to do and we won’t be deterred. We won’t quit, we won’t give up and we won’t give in. God desires to use life house to bless College Hill and the surrounding Texarkana area by using the ministry of life house. In the weeks and months ahead we are going to see this ministry expand to be able to reach even more people with the gospel and with Jesus’ love. We are going to be able to feed more, clothe more, and reach more than ever before. WE CAN’T DO IT – BUT GOD CAN in and through us. We MUST be ready. We must be willing vessels. We must move out of God’s way and follow Him. A southern gospel song from years gone by said, “Lord, keep me in your will so I won’t get in your way.” God, please keep me in your will – I don’t want to stand in the way of all you are planning for life house and our people. Please continue to use us to reach souls for the kingdom. Let nothing the devil does prosper against us. This is your work – your kingdom work and we want to see you do great and mighty things in and through it. In Jesus name, AMEN.
This past Sunday we celebrated 3 years of ministry at Life House. God has done some amazing things in these past three years (alot of those things are posted in past blogs) and there would be no way we could ever thank Him for it all. Recently we’ve seen His amazing hand touching some lives and we are amazed at His work!
When we recently held the Community Wide Easter Egg Hunt God blessed and 700 plus people showed up. One of those was a latino Mom and her children. We had never seen them before but we were glad to have them. They shared they were invited to the Easter Egg Hunt when they got one of the door hanging packets. The next day was our outdoor Easter service. This young lady and her husband showed up for the service and brought their children. I noticed while preaching that they were visibly touched and during the altar call they both came forward and received Jesus into their hearts. Yesterday, in walked this family with their children and they were all smiles – ready to worship in God’s house. What a blessing!!! It gets even better — we have “sign up” sheets on the Welcome Center desk and today when I looked over the sheets they had signed up to help in a couple of our upcoming outreach events! GLORY!!
Another man, who got saved on Easter Sunday morning, is showing signs that God is really working on his heart and life. The following Tuesday after he was saved he couldn’t wait to share some things with me. One of those things was that he felt it was time for him and his live in girlfriend to “make things right” and get married. They too were in church Sunday – all smiles. If all goes as planned I will get the blessing of doing their wedding in the morning. GLORY, GLORY!!!! He also shared that he wanted to be baptized in the very near future. We will have the water run this Sunday – can’t wait!!
Ready for another one? One of the ladies who had been eating with us on a regular basis finally showed up and visited in our services a few weeks back. She let me know that she was a member of another church. This lady is going through hard times – sleeping in her car and making do until she can get back on her feet. This lady, showed up at the Easter Egg Hunt and wanted to help out. She asked if she could be one of the volunteers who walked among the crowd and handed out the Easter Sunday Outdoor Worship Service invitations to all who were at the egg hunt. She and several others did just that!! The next day, at the Easter Sunday worship service, I noticed she was sitting on the front row and through the service was crying. During the altar call she came forward and one of our men led her to Jesus!! A church member saved!!!
One last one… There is a man who rides our church van and eats with us several times a week. He has become a very familiar face and is loved by our people. He has been attending our services for a long time. This past Sunday came forward and said, “I need to be saved.” When he went to the back with one of our men to be counseled the counselor asked him what brought him forward this morning. He replied, “I’ve lived life my way long enough and I need a change.” It didn’t take long and he got saved too!!! His smile tells everything now!!!
The stories go on and on — I’m so glad that it’s not about buildings, budgets and boards. I’m thankful that we can SIMPLY focus on sharing Jesus and teaching people to grow in Him. God is doing a work in these last days in the churches who are willing to abandon everything for Him. It’s not about Life House – it’s about the giver of LIFE – JESUS!!! Pray for us – there are more souls to be reached. May Jesus find us faithful when He comes again. Pastor James
Post date: April 29, 2011
This coming Sunday will be the 3rd anniversary of Life House. And to think there were many that said, “It won’t last.” and “He won’t make it in that neighborhood.” – WRONG! LOL Jesus has a plan for this ministry and we’ve only just begun. We’ve seen 123 souls saved since we began and God has that many more and more besides. Come join us this Sunday as we celebrate all that God has done. 9 a.m. for Community Wide Breakfast, 10:10 a.m. (outside if weather permits – if not inside) for Anniversary Celebration. Pot luck lunch following the service. Make plans to come, bring a friend and see Jesus move like never before! If you have lawn chairs you might wanna bring them to insure that you get a seat! Pray for us and come join us if you can. If you or anyone you know needs a ride please call the church: 870-216-1936 THANKS! SEE YOU SUNDAY! Pastor James
Post date: April 29, 2011
Starting Sunday afternoon, May 8 at 4 p.m. our church family and anyone who wishes to join us will be diving into God’s Word and using the book “RADICAL” as our study guide. I CHALLENGE you to be present at Life House building at 4 p.m. and study with us. God has something He wants to teach our people and I can’t wait to see how and what He is going to do. Guests are welcome to come join us for this study. Get a copy of “RADICAL” by David Platt and expect God to do a big work in your heart. We will be combining our Men’s and Ladies Life Groups for this study. YOU ARE INVITED – hope to see you there!! Pastor James
Post date: April 29, 2011
This PAST weekend the Life House family saw the culmination of lots of prayer, prayer walking, outreach and faith that God was going to do something that “ONLY HE COULD TAKE CREDIT FOR” and boy, did HE!! On Saturday, the day before Easter, we were able with the help of lots of churches, community groups, classes and individuals, to host a Community Wide Easter Egg Hunt with 12,400 Easter Eggs. NOTE: We were hoping for 8,000 but it kind of “swarmed on us” lol. The Life House family and several volunteers from other churches gathered, set up and prayed. Over 700 people showed up for the event and it couldn’t have gone any smoother. Many new faces were seen and many new contacts were made. We didn’t know what to expect the next morning as we gathered early to set up for worship outside in the lot next door to our building. It was Easter Sunday and Jesus showed up in a BIG way. We saw 216 people for worship and the Lord blessed by saving 10 adults during the altar call. Some of those saved were first time guests who had come to the Easter Egg Hunt the day before. Some were people who had been attending for some time. One of the biggest blessings is seeing the change that new Christians go through when they first meet the Lord. On Tuesday a man and his fiance came to eat with us at Life House Community Cafe. He was one of the people who were saved at the Easter Sunday Service. He mentioned to me at the meal that they needed to talk to me before they left. We sat down together and he shared what happened to him on Sunday. He felt God not only saved him but touched him in such a way that the desire for many of the things he had been involved in was washed away! He then shared with me that they had decided to get married as soon as possible because they felt conviction about just living together! PTL! We are so blessed to be a part of this type ministry. God is always doing something and believe me – NO ONE – NO ONE can take credit for it all – except Jesus!! We look forward to seeing what God is going to do this coming Sunday!! Pray for us!! Pastor James
Post date: April 17, 2011
Can I make a suggestion to you? If you are looking for something great to read to bless your spiritual life – get “RADICAL” by David Platt. Don’t blame me if you never look at “church” again in the same way. I promise you will be touched. He also has written “RADICAL TOGETHER” – i’m reading it now. So what you waiting on? Get busy!
Post date: April 17, 2011
This past week I was “in revival” with the New Hope Baptist Church in Caraway, AR. Be careful because what you see isn’t always what you get! LOL
When I arrived at the church building on Sunday morning I was surprised to find this nice church building out in the middle of cotten fields. I began to wonder, “Who is gonna drive way out here for church?” and “How many people are gonna be here?” – Well, much to my surprise, LOTS of people drove out that far for church! Lots of adults, young adults and children too. What I found was far from a typical small town church – not there is anything wrong with a small town church except that it seems that many of them settle for a few songs, a sermon, take up offering and then head back to the house…content that they went to church. This is NOT a typical church. This church family was already on fire by the time I got there. I just had the blessing of helping “fan the flames”. We experienced a great crowd each night of the revival. Altars used, tears flowing, souls being touched, hearts being broken and a real spirit of revival everywhere!! What was supposed to be a typical “Sunday morning through Wednesday night” revival turned out to be an EXTENDED revival meeting. We ended up going through Friday night and from the reports I received after the morning service today – they are still on fire. God is doing something special with this church. They are willing to “get outta the box” for Jesus. Do me a favor…keep glancing every now and then toward the north east sky. If you see a big cloud of smoke – don’t get alarmed – it’s not something bad – it’s just the New Hope family burning up Caraway, AR and Craighead County for Jesus. Thanks Pastor Heath, Mrs. Candace and the New Hope Church family for allowing me to come experience the week with you. I’ve grown to love you guys lots — well most of you ….there is always Fred and Les! Guess you gotta love even them! LOL
BTW. These folks can cook! Some of the best food anywhere. All except those beet guys! The food was great and then they had these beets (LOL) — I only ate one because I heard through the grapevine that Pastor Heath loves those beets sooooo much I wanted him to have my part!
Post date: November 10, 2010
The Life House family is so excited that we were able to secure a 12 year loan to purchase the present building we are meeting in. We have been paying on the building as a “rent to own” situation for the past almost two years. In that time God has provided us the fund to pay off $40,000.00 and now we are working towards paying off the remaining amount of $100,000.00. As a congregation we believe God is going to pay off this building in double record time. We have faith! We believe! Many of our members and friends give weekly above their tithes to the building fund pay off fund. As most of you already know our target community as a mission is one that is very economically poor and many are even homeless yet they give what they can and are very faithful. Life House is blessed to have some “Partner Churches” and individuals who give on a monthly basis to support the work of this ministry and without them we wouldn’t be able to operate. Many people are fed, clothed and touched because of so many giving. THANK YOU!! We believe, as a mission congregation, that if we can see the building paid off it will enable the monthly payment of almost $1,000.00 per month to go back into the ministry to help us get closer to someday being self supporting as a congregation. We know God has a plan and that this is His work. He has blessed it beyond measure. We’ve seen 104 people come to know Jesus as Savior since we began as a mission church. We feed almost 2000 meals a month to the hungry, needy and homeless. We pick up around 75 or more youth and children each week to bring them to “Safe Haven” on Wednesday night. We feed them physically and spiritually and give them somewhere to go besides the streets. We seek to clothe and help those who “have not”. God has really blessed this work. (All glory goes to Jesus!) YOU have prayed and God has blessed Please keep praying for us. HOW CAN YOU PRAY?
1. Pray for souls. We want to see hearts touched, lives changed and souls saved. We want to help the addicted, the down and out and the hurting. We want to see homes changed, jobs secured and real LIFE for people. (JOHN 10:10)
2. Pray for God to provide our needs financially to pay off the building – as soon as possible. We are having a “My Gift To Jesus” Emphasis during the month of December. Every penny given above tithes will go toward principle debt reduction on the building when we make our first loan payment in January. We are encouraging out people to pray, set aside a special amount ABOVE THEIR TITHES and give it to Jesus as a birthday gift to Him on or by Sunday Dec. 26. On Dec. 26 all offering given (including our weekly tithe offering) will be placed in the ”My Gift To Jesus” fund to put on principle when we pay our first loan payment in January. Pray that we see a miracle and that a big chunk of this be paid off. God can!!
3. Pray for me as Church Planter/Pastor as we begin another year in 2011. I want to have leadership wisdom and God’s counsel as I seek to lead this mission to reach souls, help the addicted, feed and clothe the hurting, hungry and poor. Pray that I will never get in God’s way.
THANK YOU for your prayers, support and love for souls. Life House is so blessed to have friends who attend other churches but love souls and love missions. Keep praying! THANKS AGAIN.
PASTOR JAMES
Post date: September 19, 2010
This past Friday it was sad to hear that one of our friends who came to eat with us and also attended church at Life House had passed away. She was a good person with a big heart and a love for people, especially children and animals. She had experienced many heartaches and problems—some of her own making and some due to poor choices and circumstances. (As we all do.) She had many happy times in her life and she also saw some sad times. We had seen her smile and we had seen her cry. She had family and even some friends we never even knew about. She befriended some people and took them into her heart and made them a part of her family. As of yesterday her life is written. No one can change anything about it. Many are hurt, confused and upset—rightfully so…we all lost a friend. But the great news is that a few weeks ago Sabra Lipkin gave her heart to Jesus. She expressed a desire to get her heart right and allow the Lord to come in and save her. Because she believed and confessed, Jesus gladly came into her heart, forgave her of her sins, washed her white as snow. Because of His amazing grace—she was forgiven and made whole. While to many she is gone forever—but not for us as Christians. For us…it’s not “Goodbye forever” it’s simply“ So long for a little while—I’ll meet you in the morning.” Thank God we will see Sabra again someday. Christians NEVER part for the last time. Weknow that because of Jesus and His blood and forgiveness there will be a reunion day. Thank God for heaven! My question to you is… ARE YOU PREPARED? When it comes your time to die (and all of us will die!) will you be able to say without a doubt that you have found peace with God and that Jesus is your Savior? If not , why not give Him your heart before it’s too late. No one knows when we are going to face death but it’s best to be prepared. If I can help you find THE WAY, THE TRUTH and THE LIFE let me know. It would be my blessing to share with YOU the good news about God’s grace through. It’s ONE DECISION YOU WILL NEVER REGRET (Amos 4:12) PASTOR JAMES
FYI: There will be a memorial service for Sabra next Saturday, September 25, 2010 at 2:00 p.m. at Life House Church – 915 East Street, Texarkana, AR 71854 Come join us as we celebrate her life and homegoing. For more info or directions you can call the church office at: 870-216-1936
Post date: August 26, 2010
Last night was the first “Safe Haven” Student Ministry night of the 2010/11 school year. It took a virtual army of volunteers to “get the job done” last night but it went great. We even had some new volunteers step up to help and they did a great job. We were even blessed to have one of the “small groups” from Heritage Baptist Church, Texarkana, TX come help out. For the first night it really went well. Yes, there were a few things we need to work on and yes, there were a few things that came up that we had not anticipated but all in all it went very smoothly. We are very blessed to have a church family that is not self centered. They are soul centered. They love people. All ages, colors, backgrounds and status’. The Wednesday night student ministry requires lots of volunteers and I want all of you to know I really appreciate each and every one of you. Thanks for all you did/do to feed, pick up/deliver, teach, watch over, enroll, oversee, hug, laugh, and make a difference in the lives of the students God sends our way. I look forward to even greater things coming about next Wednesday night. Keep praying, keep inviting and let’s watch as Jesus touches the lives and hearts of the students! Thanks again Life House “ARMY”!!