Pastor James’ Blog

So many times we as christians and churches get so wrapped up in our own little “kingdom” and world that we forget that Kingdom work isn’t about US. It’s about christians and churches working together to reach people with the love and gospel of Jesus. It’s about making a difference in others lives. It’s not about what I can get or gain  or what my church can get out of it but it’s about working for Jesus and giving Him the glory for any good thing that might come of it. If someone is touched by us or our church and then they end up going to another church or not going to church at all – that’s their choice. We have done what we know we’ve been called to do and we leave the results up to the Lord. We are not in charge of the end results – we are in charge of planting the seeds and when it’s harvest time we are to reap the harvest. If the church of today would only realize that TOGETHER we accomplish much more than any one church can accomplish then maybe working together would be the norm rather than unusual.  While writing this I am reminded of the many Partners In Ministry that Life House has.  There are so many who have given time, prayer, money and effort to help this Southern Baptist Mission get off the ground and begin to grow.  Mission work isn’t easy or cheap – but it’s what the church has been called to. It takes several pulling together to get the job done. We are blessed with a great sponsor church and several Partner’s In Ministry Churches who don’t just “TALK” missions but rather get down and DO missions. To all who are partnered with us – thank you. THANK YOU  – THANK YOU!  Because of you – four souls have been saved at Life House in the past three weeks and two have followed the Lord in believers baptism! 

Pray for us. We still have many needs (and probably always will) but we don’t have ONE NEED that God isn’t able to supply in His time.  Pray for :  1. Some black praise team members.  2. Musicians both black and white.  3. a young black man who is called into the ministry and would be willing to come and gain experience in the ministry by serving as my associate pastor.  4. A youth pastor with a missions heart. 5. for God to provide us the money to buy the lot next door to our building and the money to purchase the building we are in.  6. wisdom for me as I seek to lead our church and help it be successful in reaching out to people in our area. 7. for our church family as they grow spiritually in the Word and in the work.

Thanks again to all who are our “PARTNER’s IN MINISTRY” churches. If YOU or YOUR CHURCH would like to join us in becoming a “PARTNER IN MINISTRY” person or church – let me know. I would be glad to talk to you about it or even come speak at your church (at no cost) and tell you about Life House, her vision & heart. Thanks for letting me serve as your missionary to College Hill and the world.   My God is AMAZING!

Pastor James

We had a great time of worship this morning at Life House. It was good to see some new faces in the crowd and hopefully they will come back and worship with us again soon. We had three out due to sickness and hopefully they will be well soon. 

 This afternoon we had the opportunity to have our first ever “Back To School Supply Give Away” and it was a HUGE success.  Thanks so much to the church that gathered all of the school supplies and made them available for us to give to our community.  We were able to give out approximately 100 bags of school supplies to children in and around our area. We were able to also meet several families who don’t go to church anywhere and were interested in what we are doing in the community. Pray that we made a positive impact on the lives of people and that even if they never come to Life House they will find a church that will show them how to be saved and help them grow in the Lord. 

We also had the blessing of having some of our regular students that are involved in Life House help us out this afternoon. They all worked really hard.  Best of all one of our 9th graders came to me during the day and asked if they could talk to me about being saved. PRAISE THE LORD they trusted the Lord as their Savior in my office! AMEN AMEN AND AMEN!!!!  I asked “if you could tell anyone in the whole wide world that you’ve just gotten saved who would you want to tell?” and her reply “you and Mrs. Cindy”! WOW! What a blessing. I handed her my cell phone and she sent a text message to “Mrs. Cindy” (She had to go in to work for a little bit this afternoon) and she shared that she had been saved. Mrs. Cindy sent her a text back pretty quickly and was excited. You should have seen the smile on the girls face when she read it!  We’ve seen four saved in the past three weeks and God continues to bless week after week with so many great things.  Keep praying and we know God is going to do something great at Life House!  Pastor James

Just a quick blog — God continues to be soo good to us!  The mission field we are in is so exciting.  A local church (who desires to remain nameless with their gifts) has graciously collected school supplies for our mission to give out to the children in our area for FREE in Life House name.  I went by for the “first load” (more to come after Sunday) and they had already collected a HUGE amount of supplies. The kids in our area are going to be so excited!  We can’t wait to see their faces and know that in some small way the Lord’s churches are making a difference in the lives of people in this area.   Special thanks to the church who worked hard to collect so much – YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!

   Then today – our house has been flooded all afternoon with kids in the neighborhood coming in and hanging out. They drank cool-aid, snacked, laughed, played with the dogs, played games and just “hung out” in a safe place. We are so excited that many of them feel comfortable enough to come visit with us. 

 Tonight after getting home from working at Weight Watchers a couple of kids were waiting on our steps for me to get home. I already knew the kids from VBS and church — and they said that their parents wanted me to come talk to them if I could as soon as possible.  To make a long story short – I ended up doing a wedding on the spur of the moment for this couple so that two families who were living together “could make it right”.  Now I know some of my “preacher brethren” wouldn’t have done the wedding but I had a chance to talk to them, share Jesus with the family, invite them to Life House and make a difference in their lives.  I feel the Lord would have done the same thing – make a difference in the lives of people who are trying to get it right.  

  The fields are white already to harvest….and we are living in the field! Pray that we can impact our area with Jesus.  I love what God has called us to do…the results are up to HIM!  Pray for us.  Pastor James

  Since beginning this ministry the first Sunday in May we have seen God do amazing things at Life House!  Everytime you look around something is happening and no one can take credit for it but the Lord. God has provided more than we could have ever hoped or asked for in such a short time.  Our building is up, running and functional – even looks great!  We actually look like each room has a purpose. It’s clean, attractive (not gaudy by any stretch of the imagination) and most of all it’s proof that God has a plan, purpose and future for Life House.  As with any new ministry there are always those on the outside who are skeptical but if anyone is skeptical at all we invite them to come by, take a look, come for a service and see what GOD HAS DONE. There is no way a small group of people could accomplish all that has been accomplished in such a short time. God has brought together our state convention, North American Mission Board, our sponsor church as well as five other partner churches and also a group of faithful believers to be His hands and His feet in this new ministry. God is soo good!   Pray for us and if you get a chance come by and see us. If you already have a church home  – stay there and help it grow! If you are searching for a missions minded church that is color blind, status blind – one that loves people and doesn’t care about their past — then come visit with us at Life House – you will be glad you did!  It’s awesome serving God with people who have faith enough to believe that God is going to work miracles in our lives and in our church.  Better go- gotta get out and about and watch for the next thing God is going to do!  See you ’round!  Pastor James

    One of the things I have noticed in the Word over the years is that Jesus had a real burden for souls. He deeply cared about their physical needs, their spiritual needs and their lives in general. He came to “seek and save that which was lost” but while seeking to accomplish that objective He fed, loved, touched, healed, taught and ministered to the needs of people.  What about you? Can you say that you have a deep burden for people?  Many of us “SAY” we have a burden and love for people and lost souls but never show it in any way. We tend to think “they know where our church is…if they need something or want to get saved let them drop by and someone here will show them the way.”  Hmm — WRONG.   True – everyone should be welcome in our churches but if we learn nothing else from Jesus earthly life and ministry it should be that He got out, touched, ministered, loved and went to where the people were.  We are to seek to form relationships with our community (family, friends, fellow employees, neighbors and ect) and seek ways to share the LIGHT and shake some SALT. (Matthew 5:13-16).  Sadly, most christians are satisfied to “go to church” and experience entertainment rather than experience worship and go into the community and make a difference. What about you? How long has it been since you did something for someone (someone not in your family, group, or class) and not expect anything in return? How long has it been since you intentionally went out of your way to be a blessing to someone?  How long has it been since you sought to show Jesus love with someone in a tangible way?  I don’t know about you – but I have a burden for people. I long to see our neighborhoods impacted with the love of Jesus and His saving grace!  Pray for us as we seek to reach those “in our world” and we will be praying that God will give YOU a fresh burden for the people in your world and that you will step up and shake some salt and shine some light in your world!  Pastor James

In recent days Cindy and I have had a chance to get to know some of our neighbors and people in the community better. Vacation Bible School opened some doors and some hearts and fruit is already being seen by it.  One thing that we are learning is that no matter what neighborhood you are living in – people are all the same. They all have the same needs, fears, problems and stress.  People are people – red, yellow, black, white. People are people.  We’ve lived in lots of places but one thing you can say for this area is that the people are not good at “faking it”. They are real. You see them and what you see is what you get. Now I don’t know about you but for me that makes people easier to deal with. If I KNOW what you are thinking, how you are hurting, where I can help – then I can deal with whatever comes up. It’s those who wear a “mask” and they say one thing, think another and then go about their way with a forked tongue and two faces. Trust me – you won’t find much of that in this area!  Pray for Cindy and me and the members of Life House Church as we seek to impact the people of our community. Pray that we can be open and real with our love as they are with their lives. This is truly a mission field and we count it a priviledge to be put in it. It’s our calling. It’s our home. It’s where God wants us.  He has plans and I know that without a doubt lives are going to be touched, changed and hearts are going to be moved and souls are going to be saved….not because of us ….but BECAUSE OF HIM AND WHAT JESUS DID ON THE CROSS. Pray – and come see us!  Pastor James

Life House can say for sure that she experienced a BIG DAY in the Lord’s house today!  We hit a new high attendance in morning worship (52) and had the biggest meal ever!  The Life House ladies really filled the tables full of great food!   Great job!   Then we all gathered in the gym area and witnessed the first two baptisms in the history of Life House. Soon you will be able to look in the gallery section and see the pictures and watch one of the video’s of the baptismal service. Take a look and rejoice with us. 

At 1:30 today several of our friends came and joined us for the short “kick off” – “launch” service. We were blessed with some great music.  I appreciate both Bro. David Farren, a friend and former staff member of mine at another church and also, Bro. Todd Reed, the pastor of Shiloh Baptist, our sponsor church being with us. They both shared their hearts and then prayed for our Core Group, the community and for the work of this new church.  Thanks guys! 

The work has JUST begun. We are now going to hit the community and world with all we have! We are going to “LAUNCH OUT INTO THE DEEP”. We are going to go out and seek to win some fish (souls) for Jesus!

Pray for us – get involved and watch what God CAN and WILL do  when we get out of His way. I love you church…let’s get busy for Jesus is coming soon!  Pastor James

 It’s hard to believe but today is “LAUNCH SUNDAY” for Life House Church and Ministries!  Much time, work, prayer, love and preperation has taken place to get us to this day. NO – not everything is done on the building (and probably never will be as we will always be a work in progress.) NO – we are not a fully mature church – we are launching out as a brand new infant church. It’s gonna take some bottle feeding, loving, rocking and teaching to ever get us to the stage we can sit up, crawl, walk and then run for the Lord. But TODAY we are called to LAUNCH OUT – get away from the shore, get off the bank. We are called to GO OUT DEEPER. Too many churches fish from the shore. Too many churches NEVER GET IN THE BOAT!  Well, our boat is now loaded – and TODAY we are going to LAUNCH OUT INTO DEEP WATER.  Yea, I know…there are waves in the deep water. I know that storms can toss our little boat around. But the good news is — JESUS IS THE CAPTAIN of our ship. HE can calm the wind, waves and storms. HE IS IN CONTROL!  So today, we LAUNCH OUT and start letting down our nets to catch a great haul of fish — Because HE SAID SO!         (Luke 5:5)  Our core group is excited!  We are going fishing and we are looking for a great catch!  Tired of sitting on the bank? Tired of never getting into the boat? Tired of “same ole same ole” in your church or christian walk? THEN launch out into the deep!   See you on the lake of life – fishing for HIM.  Pastor James

to join us tonight (Saturday) for an informal “OPEN HOUSE” at Life House from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.. No “fan fare” – just us simply walking people through our building, explaining our vision and enlisting prayer. The building isn’t “finished” but we’ve come a long ways! Come by and see for yourself.

Also – YOU ARE INVITED TO LAUNCH DAY SERVICES.

    9:45 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. — Prayer Time

   10:00 – 10:30 a.m. – Life House Coffee Shop Fellowship Time

   10:30 a.m.  — Celebration Worship Service

   12 NOON – (Approx).  Potluck Church Wide Lunch

   1:30 – Special Short Afternoon LAUNCH and DEDICATION service.

    You don’t want to miss this historic day in the life of LIFE HOUSE  CHURCH! 

NOTE: If all goes as planned we will be baptizing (for the first time at Life House)  during our morning celebration service!

Our first VBS is NOW OVER!  What a great week!  Seeds were sown, smiles were everywhere and best of all two youth were saved on the last night!  AMEN AMEN AND AMEN!!!!!!!!!  We are so excited that God reached down and gave VICTORY in the lives of these two young people!  Both want to follow the Lord in baptism and we hope that will be possible in the near future!  We’ve not yet scratched the surface of all that God is going to do in and through Life House. We KNOW God has plans and we are going to reach souls – one at a time. Pray for us and rejoice with us! THANKS to all who worked hard, gave, prayed and made this first VBS a HUGE success!  Thanks most of all to the Lord – He’s still on HIS throne and still in the saving business!!  Can’t wait till Sunday — Pastor James