How many does it take to get a mission church going? MANY MANY PEOPLE! We have been so lessed, from day one until now three months later, to have had so many willing people to come volunteer and help us get off the ground. This work hasn’t been been accomplished by one person – it’s taken a multitude of volunteers who have given countless hours in hard work to get the building in shape, things repaired and working, food collected, event needs moved, set up and then served and cleaned up and returned to the building. This is an ACTIVE church! Thanks so much to all of those in the Life House Church Family who give countless hours of hard labor, money and items to help this ministry. THANK YOU sister churches and fellow christians who have given time, money, donations of items and ect to help us get off the ground and help us to reach out to this community. Because of each person’s hard work (and it continues even today – as we are in full swing getting walls up, painted and things decorated and ready for open house and launch day) this ministry is AHEAD of SCHEDULE! AMEN! PRAISE THE LORD FOR IT ALL!
How many does it take? – It’s taken countless numbers of people so far…and the good news is that it will continue to take countless people to do the work of the ministry of Life House Church. We will never rest. We can’t afford to sit down and take it easy – Jesus is coming soon! We can’t afford to sit on a pew and just soak up the services. No sitting on the premises — just stand and work on the promises of God!! If you are looking for a “status quo” church – don’t visit us. If you are searching for a church that you can “move your membership to” and just “fill a pew” (in our case a chair) -then don’t come to Life House. We have upfront expectations (4 of them) for anyone who prayerfully decides to join our church family. If you are searching for a church that you can just sit in — keep looking! If you are searching for a church that you can pour your heart into, one that you can give some time, touch some people, reach the hurting, lift up the fallen, pray with the downtrodden, see souls saved — WELCOME TO LIFE HOUSE! There is room for you!
Many who read my blogs are members of some great churches out there. Thanks for praying for this work. Thanks for your support. Keep on praying and know as one of your Southern Baptist Mission Churches – we appreciate all you have done and are doing to help this work get off the ground. Thanks again. Now get up and get busy — Jesus is coming soon! Pastor James
I met a friend today while shopping and in conversation about this new ministry she remarked that life was short and that she wanted to spend the rest of her days doing something for the Lord that made a real difference. It got me to thinking: How am I spending my days? We only have a certain number of them and we can choose how we spend them. For many life is spent selfishly. For others it’s spent in their little world of religion, family and friends. How many lives have you touched for Christ? How many children other than your own family have you loved, cried over, prayed for, touched? How many have we fed? How many have we reached out to unconditionally? How many have we had in our homes and at our tables that couldn’t afford to “return the favor”? How many? Only you can answer that question. It’s personal. For me – I’ve determined that life isn’t about how much money you make, how big the house you live in or how nice the car you drive. It’s about making a difference for HIM in the lives of others. It’s about reaching souls for the kingdom. I don’t have much time left on earth compared to eternity and I don’t want to spend it in useless meetings and things that really make no difference. Let’s spend it FOR HIM! Let’s make a difference. When life is over will others be able to look at your life and see that you loved Jesus and others more than yourself? If not – maybe we need to change some things. It’s my heart to try! Pastor James
After we felt God lead us to begin the new work at Life House God blessed and allowed Cindy and I to be approved as North American Mission Board Missionaries. We have always pastored “established” churches. Our first church just celebrated their 129th anniversary and our last church was in it’s 30′s. Being a part of a new work and serving as a missionary is new territory for us yet exciting territory. We’ve been blessed in this short time of serving to find many people and churches in the body of Christ who have a “kingdom mind”. They have the mind that kingdom work isn’t about just their local body but reaching souls world wide. Someone summed it up at a recent church visit when they said, “I’m excited that we can go on a missions trip to reach souls in another country, another state or even a few miles from home in Texarkana.”
We have been blessed by churches already both personally and as a mission. One VBS from a church in Arkansas sent me a “get well” card signed by every child in VBS from the Kindergarten to 6th grade. What a blessing! To think the church thought of us and prayed for us during VBS. This church also gave their missions offering to Life House Church to help the mission. THANK YOU! AMEN!!
We’ve seen churches give time, energy and money to help us…and we are humbled and blessed that they would travel, take time and give their hard earned money to get this work off the ground. We’ve seen several churches in both of our local associations, state of arkansas and even some churches that aren’t even Southern Baptist give to help a mission work to become a new, strong church. Thank God for churches that have “kingdom minds”.
I”m proud to be a Baptist, even a Southern Baptist. Baptists by and large are people with a heart for souls. Yes, there are some churches who are more concerned with their programs, policies and politics – but that’s all over the world. Thank God for those who don’t just write a check but actually put their heart into missions and get their hands dirty for the kingdom. It’s our joy to labour with kingdom minded people and churches. Pray for us and come see us at Life House. Pastor James
Yesterday Cindy and I had a full day of church activities. I had the blessing of preaching the homecoming message at the first church I pastored (over 20 years ago). It was great to see so many of the faces we knew and loved while were were there. Some who were children during our time there are now adults with children of their own. It was so great to sit and listen and join in as they sang the old four part harmony gospel songs that were so popular duing the “singing school” days. This is a singing church! It was great to watch as people of all ages (yes even teenagers and some in their 20′s) stood up and “led a song” from one of the three hymnals that this church uses. Several piano players are always used during the song service (whoever the person leading the song at the moment asks to play) and they all can make the piano sing. No matter what “style” christian music you prefer you would have to admire and admit that the singing at this church is heart warming and beautiful. From solo’s to quartets they blessed the Lord and sang with all their hearts. It was good to go back again, see hear and taste (yes they have heavenly food too! Great cooks!!) their home cooking. I’m sure that this is what one corner of heaven is going to be – all day singing and dinner on the grounds. It’s a dying art form but one that we really enjoyed experiencing again yesterday!
The morning was also a little sad for us. This was the first time we can remember going to homecoming at Bodcaw #1 that Cindy’s mom was unable to be with us. Bodcaw was here “home town” and Bodcaw #1 was her home church. How she loved those homecomings! She loved the singing as much as anyone around. To hear her sing with all of her heart, those old time four part harmony songs was a joy and one that we will cherish forever. Thankfully Cindy’s dad was able to be there and give the morning devotional. Seemed like old times! Many of the faces that sat in the pews while I was pastor there have gone home. I couldn’t begin to name the names for fear of missing one. Each one of those people have a part in our hearts and having shaped our lives for the better. Precious memories. Soon though – because of Jesus we will be with them again and enjoy a homecoming like none of us have ever experienced here. AMEN!!!!!!
Last night we had the blessing of preaching at First Baptist Church of Lewisville. This great missions minded, loving church is always a blessing to be with. They have such big hearts. They are one of our partner churches for Life House Ministries. It was great to have several from Life House Church drive up to be with us and many of them shared their hearts during the service. It was a great night! Pray for this great church as God is working in their hearts to possibly step out on faith to begin a ministry in their part of the world that could impact their church and their community in big ways. God is working if only you and I will get out of the way and let Him!
I appreciate the members of Life House taking care of the services while I was away. It’s great to see many stepping up and showing more and more leadership abilities. Pray for our church family and if you get a chance – come worship with us one Sunday to experience Life House with us!
Pastor James
This morning Cindy and I will be with Bodcaw #1 Baptist Church in Bodcaw, Arkansas to preach at their annual homecoming. This church was our first church to ever pastor and they are precious to us in many many ways. We look forward to being with them, renewing old aquaintences and hearing their great singing. They still “do” the four part harmony, everybody sing a part – kinda singing. Then after the service there will be “dinner on the grounds” or as in our day -”dinner on the table in fellowship hall”. These people can cook! They helped make me what I was for five years! LOL Then tonight Cindy and I will be with the First Baptist Church in Lewisville, (Pastor Bobby Daniel will be away headed to camp). We’ve invited any and all of our church family from Life House to meet us there at 6 p.m. to share with this church in their services. If anyone from Life House is able to come I am going to give them the opportunity to share their hearts for a few moments about the mission work, their vision and what God is doing in their lives. Pray for us throughout the day but most of all pray for the Life House Core Group who will be here having services today. Ray Williford will be preaching, Josh Ross will lead the music and I know it’s going to be a great time of fellowship and worship at Life House. I pray that the afternoon report from Life House says “WE BROKE ANOTHER ATTENDANCE RECORD!”. Continue to pray as God leads and deals with people’s heart about becoming a member of this body. We are not pushing church membership. We are centering on knowing that you are saved and if you are saved then growing into a daily walk with the Lord. We want people to have RELATIONSHIP and not RELIGION. It’s my prayer that we always have more in attendance than we have on the “church roll”. Those who are a part of the church need to be committed, faithful, serving.
This week in Life Group we will be doing a Core Group Spiritual Check-Up. Our church family will sit in the presence of the Lord, study His Word and search their hearts to see if they are truly committed to this new work. We MUST have a committed group if this church is to be solid and be the light and life house God intends it to be!
Lastly – there is MUCH work to be done next week. Walls to be erected, painted, finished. Bathroom to get finished. Exterior siding and walls to be erected and much more if we are to have any chance of having our building ready for OPEN HOUSE on August 9 and Launch Sunday – August 10.
Pray for us and get your work boots on – it’s going to be a great week for the Lord. Pastor James
Tonight was our second Outdoor Bible Bash and it was great! We had plenty of volunteers and lots of kids, food and fun! Thanks to all who were able to come work, those who donated food, those who set up, those who tore down and cleaned up – THANK YOU! Together we were able to reach into several NEW homes and several repeat homes in the College Hill area. It was great to see some adults from the area come by – many that said they didn’t attend church anywhere. We were thanked by several people who said they appreciated us trying to make a difference in the area. Some have promised to visit our church others already attend other places. No matter what happens we as a church family can lay our heads on our pillows tonight and know that we tried to make a difference in several children’s lives. We are called to go forth sowing precious seed and God is responsible for the increase. I pray that sometime in the future we might see souls saved because of the love someone showed the community. I’m tired but it’s a good kind of tired. Thanks also to our sponsor church, Shiloh and their youth group for showing up and playing a major role in the events of tonight. You guys are a blessing! Thanks again….see you online again soon!
Pastor James
Last night was our first 7th – 12th Grade Game Night in the Life House gym and we weren’t really sure what to expect. We had prayed, planned and worked to get things ready and little by little we saw 20+ youth show up. All of the youth were from our target area – some were already churched and some unchurched. Looking out over the gym watching kids play basketball, pool and pingpong – watching as some “hung out” around the picnic tables for fellowship, watching them eat and drink, laugh and share – really made the night a blessing. Getting to know many of these youth was a joy! We were able to “spread some seeds” and meet them, talk to them, gain some confidence and comfortableness with them and the Life House Church Family believes that those seeds are going to spring up in the near future. Thanks to all the Life House Church Family that were able to come and work this event – It was a success! I’m sure that the next time we have such an event we will see twice the number of youth because many of the ones who came last night said they thought that the building had closed and that a church had taken over and there wouldn’t be anymore game nights — YES AN NO! Yes, there is a new church on the hill – LIFE HOUSE! NO, it’s not correct that there won’t be any more game nights. God has given us this facility to USE for His glory to touch people and seek to reach them for the Kingdom. YES, we are are “business” and our business is to do the work that Jesus did…mix with people, love people, accept people and bring them to the cross!
Now to work and then tonight we will have our second, Outdoor Bible Bash. Pray!! See you here soon. Pastor James
One thing I’ve never had much of is patience and lately the Lord is using circumstances and events to try to teach me more of it! With my recent accident I’ve had to have help in so many ways to even take care of daily events and so many (especially my patient wife, Cindy, God bless her!!) have stepped up and being such a help. As a church planter/pastor I have the responsibility to get some things done and so many people and churches have helped us get to where we are today. We are MUCH further along than we were the first day we entered this location. The building is a work in progress and it looks great but we still have much to do to get ready for August 9th – Open House and August 10 Launch Sunday. We’ve got walls to erect, paint and ceiling fans to put up and lots of other “little touches”. We are looking at July 28 – August 3 – anytime day or night to try to move the project forward. We will be having Vacation Bible School August 4-8 at night so if we work that week it will have to be during the day. Won’t you pray for us that IN HIS TIME we will get all things done and be ready for open house and launch Sunday? God can do it and i’m expecting Him to DO IT AGAIN!! Pray for us and come see us! Pastor James
One of the things I really love about pastoring the Life House Church family is that everyone there seems to have this attitude of “earnest expectation”! They know God is up to something and they are praying, working and expecting Him to do things that simply amaze us. We are so blessed!
We were blessed to be able to order carpet for the front of our building (the ministry and worship part of the building). Through tithes, offerings and support of our association and partner churches we were able to have the money to buy it and it really looks great! The “neat” part of the whole deal is…it was a BIG chunk of money for a little church – yet when we went to pay for it (and we did) the store we purchased it from handed us a check for $1,000.00. We were blown away! It was given to our church from the men who laid our carpet to help out in our new ministry! WOW! Praise the Lord! That doesn’t happen everyday!! HMMM …another GOD THING!
We were also blessed to have our State Missions Representative, Bro. Roger Gauntt, with us in Life Group last night. Bro. Roger has worked with me from day 1 and has been an encourager, help, source of information, prayer partner and supporter. We are blessed to have him at the Baptist Building in Little Rock. He doesn’t just “talk” but he also “walks” (literally!)! After Life Group last night we went into the community to go door to door and hand out flyer’s for the two events we are having this weekend and Bro. Roger went with us…door to door – talking and meeting people on behalf of Life House. THANKS!!!
We also had a couple (long time friends of our family) from our local area (from one of our good sister churches) come visit with us last night at Life Group to see what was going on and know more about the mission. They know about missions and they love souls and we appreciate them coming to visit with us and encouraging us in the new work!
PHYSICAL UPDATE: I went to my first follow up doctors visit yesterday. It was the Orthopedic Dr. He “looked” at me and suggested some therapy and come back in three weeks. I am doing great and don’t have to wear the sling unless I need it for comfort. I am going to do my best to NOT NEED IT and get back to being me! I go tomorrow (Friday) to the dr. for follow up visit concerning the bones in my face. I am not any prettier but not any uglier either in spite of the facial injury! LOL Thanks for praying for me and keep it up. I’m not back to 100% but I’m headed towards 99%!!
Lastly, God is going to be speaking to you today. He is going to nudge you and prompt you to follow Him. I don’t know what He is going to ask you to do…but just listen and obey. In Life Group this week we are learning to not just HEAR God but DO what He says. If you hear Him and you DO what He says – why not drop me an e-mail and let me know what happens. I KNOW you will be blessed if you hear and obey!
Thanks for reading my blog – post a comment or two if you want! PASTOR JAMES
You never really know how many friends you have until something happens in your life and they all begin to gather around you to help. With my recent accident, I was hospitalized and then sent home to re-coup and truthfully I’m not the most patient patient in the world! I wanted the recouperation part of this whole ordeal to last a couple of days and then me be back up and around to my “ole” self. Well, that isn’t happening but slowly and surely I am making headway. Through all this time of slow recouperation God has used many many people to minister to our needs. The cards (and you know I LOVE cards and mail!) have been a blessing and touched us. The gifts such as helmets -(why would I need those?), monetary gifts, calls, visits and ect have really blessed us – not the size or amount but just to know someone cares and is thinking of you means MUCH. And then there is the food!!!! I’ve always said “if you live in the south one thing is for sure – every ailment, disease, problem and need can be cured with good southern food“! So many of you have been gracious to bring/send us some great food! Thanks!! One group of people who have really taken on this task seriously is the “Meals On Wheels” ministry from our sponsor church, Shiloh Baptist Church. THESE LADIES CAN COOK!!! We were totally surprised when they decided to bring us meals for the past two weeks to “help out”. Boy – did it help out!! Not only was the food great but getting to meet so many from our sponsor church was good for us too. Thanks Shiloh and to EVERYONE for anything you might have done to make this time easier. It’s our prayer that God will bless you for blessing others. Ministry is touching the lives of others – and we’ve certainly been ministered to! Keep praying for us and before long i’ll be back at full speed. Sure wish it would hurry!! Have a great one and thanks again — Pastor James