The Lord laid it on my heart to preach this morning about our need to bear fruit for Him. The sad thing is that many Christians sit on the sidelines of life and show little fruit. They are all “talk” and no “do”. There are those who are in church every week and “profess” to be saved but have NO FRUIT at all. No fruit = no salvation. As a mission church it’s our goal to reach the community and see souls saved. After they are saved it’s our job to help them grow and mature to the point that they begin to bear “much fruit”. It really burdens a pastor’s heart to see/hear people “talk a good talk” and then never follow through with their commitments. One consolation is that it’s in every church you’ve ever been a part of (doesn’t make it right or scriptural but every church has people like that). When Cindy and I attended Church Planter training in Oklahoma in 2008 one of the team leaders made the statement that “50% of the people you start a mission with will not be there at the end of the first year.” and that is so sad but so true. Many “start out with a bang” but they fall by the wayside. We are so blessed at Life House to have a great group of committed believers who have a passion and zeal to reach our community and Texarkana with the gospel. It is sad though that some who started with us are no longer active and have allowed every excuse in the world to keep them from being faithful, serving or committed. God has put together a great group of people to be the “core group” of believers at Life House…..but I am praying for five couples or a total of 10 people to be brought to Life House in the coming year (established, dedicated, grounded people) to help us teach new believers and grow this great work. We are growing and seeing more and more every month but we need some good, solid, sold out believers who will come and help us in this new mission. We are praying and God is already working on some hearts and soon we will see those coming to join us and help. Pray for us as we seek to “bear much fruit” in the days and months ahead at Life House. Just some thoughts for you to ponder and pray about….
On a side note … Our 7th – 12th Grade Day Camp is coming up. Pray for the youth that will be present and pray that we can teach them and make a difference in their hearts and lives. Many good things are ahead and i’ll keep you posted. Praise God for all He is doing at Life House!! Pastor James
This past Wednesday night we “altered” our Youth & Children’s Wednesday ministries. This was the first week for the format and it went great. Instead of 4:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. being open gym/play time and then from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. being Life Groups for both ages we altered the schedule to: 5:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. – supper/snack time ; 6:00 – 6:45 p.m. Younger: Recreation Time; Older: Life Group Time 6:45 – 7:30 p.m. – Younger: Life Group Time ; Older: Recreation Time. The volunteers handled everything beautifully! The youth and children adjusted great. We even adjusted the sign in time for the children and youth and asked that all Ipods, cell phones and games be “Checked in” and placed in large envelope with name on outside and then “checked out” at the end of the night to take home. IT WORKED GREAT! We are always changing and always learning. Pray that through this new schedule we will be able to have more opportunities to teach God Word and truths to the youth & Children and also be able to impact them so that many might be saved. We want to bring LIFE to them! God has some great things in store! PRAY!!! Pastor James
CHANGES:
Starting NEXT Wednesday night, May 27 our NEW Wednesday night schedule for children and youth will begin. It will be as follows:
5:30 – 6:00 p.m. – Snack/Supper
6:00 – 6:45 p.m. - Children 4th Grade Down: Recreation Time / Students 5th – 12th Grade: Life Group Time
6:45 – 7:30 p.m. – Children 4th Grade Down: Life Group Time / Students 5th – 12th Grade: Recreation Time
7:30 p.m. – Load Up Time – Go Home!
PLANS:
7th – 12 Grade Day Camp coming in June. VBS coming in July. Children – 6th Grade Day Camp coming in August.
More outreach plans on their way! Stay tuned!
PROGRESS:
Plumbing in kitchen done. Electrician coming today to install plugs and ect. Sheetrock crew getting ready. Cabinet people waiting on us! It’s gonna be a blessing to have a REAL kitchen!
MORE LATER – keep watching this area! Pastor James
The Raymond Road Baptist Church (Jackson, MS) Mission Team is now home safe and from what I understand made it home in time to be in the evening worship service at their church last night. One of the blogs that Bro. Jonathan Russell wrote was posted yesterday and I thought many of you might find it interesting….so I thought I would share it with you….. http://www.insidethepastorsmind.blogspot.com/
Also, here are a few pics from this past weekend….
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The Raymond Road Baptist Church Mission Team (Jackson, MS) came to Texarkana and Life House to be a blessing and help us be “on mission” – and that they did. They came with a willing heart, big smiles and large love for Jesus and souls. They came WILILNG to work – and WORK THEY DID! From 8 a.m. to almost 8 p.m. this group cleaned, painted, changed out lights, light fixtures, prepared food, installed some fixtures, cleaned, cleaned, and then cleaned some more. Then at 4 p.m. they loved on some children & youth, played with them, laughed with them and touched some hearts. I believe that there were LOTS of hearts touched – hearts in Texarkana and hearts that are headed back to Mississippi. This team was and is a blessing and the Life House family can’t thank them enough for all they did while they were here.
The day isn’t over – we are waiting on coffee shop to open and then a joint worship service with our Raymond Road family. We are supposed to have a live voice/video conference with the Raymond Road Church & Bro. Jonathan this morning during our worship services – we hope that works! We believe this morning is going to be great!!! Pray for us and come see us if you can.
More to come later…..Pastor James
The Raymond Road Church group is here!! This group arrived last night about 5 p.m. and then made their way over to Life House for some grilled burgers and fellowship. They received the “GRAND TOUR” of our facilities (let’s see – took all of say….5 minutes! LOL). We then loaded up on the Life House van and took a tour of our mission field, downtown Texarkana and then back to Life House for some fellowship. What ensued was more than fellowship. What a blessing to see the spiritual “wheels turning” in the heads and hearts of this group. This group has a heart for people and a heart for missions. They are here in Texarkana to be a help to Life House but they are really here for more than that – God is doing a work in their heart getting them ready to go back to their mission field and reach souls like never before. I’m excited about all that is going to be accomplished today physically – but I am even more excited about all that we are going to see accomplished today in our hearts as we work, witness and reach out to people. Pray for us – COME JOIN US TODAY — 8 a.m. starts the work day and then at 4 p.m. (to 7 p.m.) we will have an OPEN GYM night for area children and youth. Pray that we can have a safe, productive and fun day. More about this later from my viewpoint. If you want to get another viewpoint – Bro. Jonathan’s (pastor of Raymond Road) then visit his site: http://www.insidethepastorsmind.blogspot.com/ and view his twitter feed. Interesting stuff!
SEE YOU AT LIFE HOUSE — -I HOPE!!!! Pastor James
Some NEWS from Life House that you might could use in coming days….
1. Raymond Road Baptist Church has a Mission Team coming to Life House TODAY!! This group should arrive around 5 p.m. or so. We will be feeding them a hamburger supper so anyone who can come help or would like to come join us – please come on as close to 5 p.m. as possible. This group is going to do some work around the church building this weekend as well as be a part of a “SAFE HAVEN” event Saturday afternoon.
2. SAFE HAVEN – The gym will be open Saturday afternoon from 4 – 7 p.m. for area children and youth to come “hang out” and enjoy a time of fellowship. We will need our church family present to help supervise work and be a part of this event.
3. Starting THIS Sunday night – ADULT LIFE GROUP will be held every Sunday evening at 5:30 p.m. Come join us as we study God’s Word and seek to grow IN HIM. All adults are invited – we will have child care available for those who might need it. Children’s and Youth Life Groups will remain on Wednesday nights (following open gym/safe haven time) for the time being.
4. NEXT Saturday night, May 23 at 7:30 – I LOVE EVELYN will be hosting a “Shoes For Evelyn” event. Bands featured are Mid-Winter & Cedars Return. Admission is FREE with the donation of a new pair of lace up sneakers to be used for the area homeless. Make plans to be there – support I Love Evelyn and be a blessing to the area homeless.
Now that you’ve got the “NEWS YOU CAN USE” — are you gonna use it? 
I knew you would! See you soon!! Pastor James
What was the first temptation? Think about it – what did the devil first tempt Eve with? How does that particular temptation effect humans? How does it effect your spiritual life? MORE TO COME…just give it some thought. I had a friend share something with me last night – and it HIT ME LIKE A TON OF BRICKS. Think about it – re-read the scriptures and meditate on that particular sin – the particular temptation and why did the devil choose THAT as the first temptation. Just something to think about…..
I continue to text daily with my “texter boys” and they are very receptive. Usually they text me first in the mornings and then I “follow up”. Many times it’s general “get to know you” kind of conversation but it always ends up encouraging them to keep reading the Word (book of John right now) and share with me what they see, hear and are learning. It’s slow but then again they are new Christians and they are not accustomed to the Word of God being a daily part of their lives. It’s a growth process and any growth is better than no growth. Keep praying for them and for me as we continue this journey. Pray that God would raise up a generation in College Hill that can “take over” this hill for Jesus. Thanks for praying….. Pastor James
Sometimes we get the question: “Are you guys Baptist?” and our standard answer is “YES, YES, YES – we are Southern Baptists and proud of it!”. Life House started over a year ago as a mission plant of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention. We are supported by them as well as the North American Mission Board, Southwest Arkansas Baptist State Convention, our sponsor church – Shiloh Baptist Church, Texarkana, AR and several other churches that contribute monthly to help and bless the mission work in Texarkana and College Hill. The Lord has blessed this work in the past year and God has used our State Convention as well as all of our supporting partners to get this work off the ground. Twenty four souls were saved the first year – and there are many more out there who need the Lord. Keep praying for us and do come see us sometime — see for yourself – we REALLY ARE BAPTIST! Pastor James