Pastor James’ Blog

BOTH services today were such a blessing to me. I think in my last post I shared some about the morning worship service but tonight we did a review in both the Men’s and Women’s Life Groups.  Following the Life Groups we all met together so that I could share some things about our future as a church.  The church family received overwhelmingly the ideas and vision that I sought to cast for the future of Life House.  We even spent time sharing outreach ideas, target area ideas and what it means to be faithful as a member.  Some of the changes which will take place now and some which are coming later are:

1. In order to become a member of Life House Church you must commit to four areas: 1. Faithfulness on Sunday Morning   2. Faithfulness to a Life Group   3.  Faithful to an area of service  and 4. Faithful to tithe.    The church family shared their hearts and it was decided that anyone who is a member of Life House and does not attend, serve or give for three months should be automatically dropped from our church roll.  That person or family is still more than welcome to attend and be involved in anything they desire to but they will no longer be members of Life House until they are ready to ask to be re-instated and commit afresh to the four membership commitments.

This applies unless of course there is a REAL health reason or circumstance beyond that person’s control. Also, a repeated attempt will be made to encourage the member to be faithful to their commitment. Only after repeated attempts and three months of non service will a person be “dropped” as a member of life house.

2.  Starting in July we will begin meeting on Sunday Morning at 10:10 a.m. — Our key verse as a church is John 10:10 and by using that as our starting time we can let people know what time sunday worship service starts AND throw in what that verse means and means to us. 

Other things are coming down the pike – just be ready because God is about to do even GREATER THINGS at Life House in the very near future.   THANKS for your prayers and support.     Pastor James  

2.

     Services today at Life House were great!  It was a blessing to see new faces, hear people singing to the Lord, watching the slide show about our youth and the 7th – 12th grade day camp and hear them speak.  It was great to share the Word and see the Lord moving in the service.   I preached this morning on “How’s Your Heart?”.  So many times Christian people feel that because they have been saved that their heart is totally, at all times, right with God.  IT’S NOT. As a matter of fact – you can I both know that SOME Christians are the most judgemental, critical, negative people you could find anywhere.  So many christians feel that because they “look holy”, “dress holy”, and APPEAR to have it all together that they are better than those outside the church. WRONG!  You can look, dress, smell and act – HOLY – but you can still be UGLY inside!  You can have an unclean heart…aheart filled with bitterness, gossip, hatred, prejudice, control, unforgiveness and evil thoughts.  God does NOT look on the outside as most people do – He looks on the inside.  I for one struggled early in my ministry with being judgemental towards men with long hair, earrings or people with tattoos.  I usually didn’t even know the people I WRONGLY assumed that they weren’t as good as me or that they really weren’t “good people” since they had that type appearance. I was totally wrong!  In the past few years God has enabled me to “get past” that.  I’ve met some of the most sincere, godly people who have all or some of those traits listed above.  It’s been my blessing to get to know REAL people. People who have a past (and don’t we all) and live REAL. They don’t try to be something they are not – they simply are sinners saved by grace seeking to live for the Lord.    So tell, how’s your heart?  Are there some places that you need to allow the Lord to come in, wipe clean and help you with?  By the way – be careful. If a man says he has no sin – he’s a liar and the truth is not in him. Not my words – they are HIS.     I’m glad to be a part of a church that loves PEOPLE -just as they are. One that doesn’t see color, past or the outside.  They look at the heart and desire to help all people come to know Jesus.   What a blessing!!   Pastor James

    We have officially finished our first 7th – 12th Grade Day Camp and it was a great blessing!!   We were able to get to know our teens in a deeper way and even got to meet five new teens that fit really well into our youth group.  We can say that we studied, laughed, played, ate and more together. The Magic Springs trip Thursday was lots of fun and then our “hang out” afternoon on Friday was too.  Thanks so much to everyone who made this week possible. Without faithful volunteers we could never get all that needs doing done at Life House.  Thanks also to those who gave money, cooked, hung out and did anything at all to make this first day camp a success.  We are looking forward to the future and all God has in store for our youth.  Pray!    Pastor James

Today’s Day Camp was filled with some exciting events.  Today focused on learning respect for those in authority over us (that authority has been given by God). On day 1 we learned to respect God as our ultimate authority.  Day 2 we learned to respect our parents or guardians as our authority in home.  Today we learned to respect those who protect and serve us: policeman, deputies, firemen, etc.. We also learned that we should respect our teachers – who seek to impart knowledge and wisdom into our lives so that we can have a better life here on earth.  We also learned that we should respect one another and “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” .  We went to the Miller County Sheriffs office and took them a cake and a card to show our appreciation for them. The Sheriff, Chief Deputy and Head Jailer – as well as the staff were GREAT. They went above and beyond the call of duty to make us feel welcome, show us around and share their hearts about their daily jobs with us.  It was more than we could have ever hoped for and the youth were excited about it.   We all even got to meet Nero the drug dog.     We later went downtown and took a cake and card to the Texarkana Arkansas City Police. They were gracious and thanked us for it.   We didn’t have time to finish off the day with teachers but one lesson that was learned by the youth in a “round about way” was ….we asked each group of teens (we had two groups – 1 &2) to come up with a list of 10 places or items that the other team had to find on a scavenger hunt.  Needless to say as they “brainstormed” some of them tried to make it hard for the other team.  The FUN came when we discussed “doing unto others as you would have them do unto you” and explaining that verse.  At the end it was revealed that each team would be responsible to DO THEIR OWN scavenger hunt that their group came up with – not the other group!  You should have seen the faces!  Lesson learned!!    

We ended the night with our usual Wednesday Night Safe Haven Ministry and had a great number of youth, children and adults.  Tomorrow is the big day for the “big trip” – more later on that!!  Hang on – God is still working at Life House!!       Pastor James

     Today was filled with lots of fun, laughter, teaching and food!    We were blessed today to have two new students come join our Day Camp and had three new ones yesterday.  The young people yesterday do not have a church home and the two today are in a family that is seeking a church home in our area. Pray that each will find God’s place for their lives – and we pray it’s Life House. 

    The youth have really bonded with each other and with our sponsors too in the past two days.  It’s been so much fun to see them interact, share, think and express themselves in new ways.  We now have two walls in our gym that have been “written on” – (holy graffitti???)  and they really say alot about the group and what they are learning this week.  We also enjoyed a “digital scavenger hunt” and it was hilarous and fun.  This group really plays well together, shares and has surprised us in so many ways. We can’t wait till tomorrow – even though we are tired physically.

Please keep praying for us and for the youth we are interacting with this week. Some are saved, some aren’t. Some are already a part of our church youth group, some are not part of any youth group.  Some come from “good” homes, others don’t.  ALL of them have blessed us this week in so many ways.  I can’t wait till we are able to get the pictures up and share them with you all too.  Keep watching the website and enjoy them when they come in. 

Well, better go chill and get ready for another big day tomorrow. Pray as we continue to sow seeds – would love to see someone saved this week.  Pray!!   Pastor James

We are already getting geared up to make the most of this summer at Life House.  We held a Prayer Walk yesterday and covered the perimeters of College Hill.  We had the blessing of meeting people, praying for people and inviting them to come to Life House for worship. 

We begin 7th – 12th Grade Day Camp tomorrow morning. It will be held Monday – Friday and we are hoping for a good week of teaching, ministry and fun. If you know any 7th – 12th grade students who might enjoy coming – invite them. Also, if you are an adult and wanna come join us – come on! 

 We have several events planned for this summer and believe God is going to use them to help us reach souls for Him. More on those later!!

The services today were a blessing too.  Although we had a few of our regulars out on vacation and etc. we were blessed to see six new faces in our service.  All of them seemed to enjoy the service and it’s our prayer that they will come worship with us again.  God is putting together a dedicated, evangelistic group of people that have the same heart and desire: to reach souls no matter what color, age or economic status.  The faithful members of Life House have the same love and share a desire to reach out.  Sure we have a few members (like all churches) that started out with a big bang and have now fallen by the wayside. I thank God for those members who don’t just talk a good talk but who are faithful and dedicated.  As a pastor it’s awesome to have people you can count on.  Anyone can talk but it takes dedication and commitment to put words into action. At Life House you MUST have a servants heart if you are going to be able to help us accomplish the task we’ve been called to do.

I’ve been asked:  What are your present needs?  Answer:

1.  Pray for the present members of Life House. Pray that they will ALL be faithful, dedicated and have a servants heart.

2. Pray that God will send us 10 (couples or singles doesn’t matter – just a total of at least 10) solid, grounded, faithful workers to join with us to reach souls.

3. Pray that God would open the door for a solid, grounded, doctrinally sound, black pastor to join the staff as one of the associate pastors.  Also, for a black youth pastor who would serve with a white youth pastor as co- youth pastor’s.   We also are praying for a black man/woman to join us as co-worship leader.  Pray for God’s leadership and direction in these matters.

4. Pray for souls to be saved, lives to be changed, homes to be mended, marriages restored, addictions broken and much more in our area. 

5. Pray for wisdom for me as pastor as I try to lead this great church. It’s a great responsibility to be called to lead a new church and help it get established. I want us to be all that God desires for us to be as a church. 

God has been sooo good to Life House and I can’t praise Him enough for all He’s done. Pray for us – come see us and most of all – keep on loving and serving Jesus ’till He comes!     Pastor James

One of my friends posted on their facebook status the following verse: 

 ”Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe.” Philippians 2:14-15

   Do you ever find yourself looking on life in the “half empty” mindset?  The negative will always bring you down.  I’m not suggesting we not be honest or realistic with ourselves but the truth is that our perspective can make or break us in many areas of our lives.  It’s a sin to complain all of the time. It’s not healthy, productive or beneficial.  Negativity only breeds negativity in others around us and the situations we find ourselves in.  WE ARE BLESSED and many times are so negative we don’t even SEE the blessings.   I know for sure I’m blessed and sometimes let people, attitudes, mouths and etc. get me down when there is really no use in me even paying attention to the negative.  I love what one of my friends says from time to time:     I AM TOO BLESSED TO BE STRESSED OR DEPRESSED!!!  

Today – make it a point to THINK ON GOOD THINGS and EXPECT to see God’s hand in your life. Expect God to show up and reveal His love to you.  YOU ARE BLESSED!  Get up, smile and walk with a spring in your step – you are BLESSED!!  No more complaining – no more whining – no more depression!   It’s time to get up and LIVE for HIM!  Hope you have a BLESSED DAY!!!  Just some rambling thoughts from a crazy preacher!!    Pastor James

Following our Adult Life Groups last night most of the adults and several of our youth enjoyed a cookout and swim fellowship time. It was lots of fun!  The food was good (burgers and all the trimmings), the water refreshingly cold, the fellowship super!  You never heard so much “chatter” and laughter in any one place. The night ended with lots not wanting to go home, all tired and everyone blessed. It’s such a blessing to be a part of a church family that loves one another and shows it. It’s so great to be able to see this new church family coming together and becoming more and more like family with each other.  Cindy and I are blessed to be  a part of their lives and this ministry. Thank you Jesus for what you are doing at Life House.  There’s always room in the family for more – so pray that God will continue to save souls, add to the family and grow us for His glory!   Pastor James.

P.S. Don’t miss a service at Life House or you might miss out on an impromptu event like last night!!  You never know when we are going to just announce a fellowship or event at the spur of the moment and if you aren’t in the service you might just miss it!!

This coming Saturday, June 6 at 2  p.m. you would be welcome to join us for a Prayer Walk around College Hill.  This idea was presented to me last night by one of our members and I really think that it’s a great idea. Anyone – ANYONE who wants to join us and simply go with us as we walk the community and pray is welcome to join us. You don’t have to be a member of Life House.  We are going to pray over the homes, stop and talk to people as we walk and let them know what we are doing and ask if we could pray for them (and do it right then). We will share pamphlets about who we are and what we are doing.  We are going to be hitting College Hill hard with outreach this summer and we need to bathe the area in prayer. You can’t pray too much!  Won’t you begin praying now for us and for the prayer walk and ask God to open some doors, touch some lives and begin “rolling the devil off the hill” in College Hill.   SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT THIS SATURDAY – and come join us if you can. Meet at Life House by 2 p.m. and let’s head out and PRAY, PRAY, PRAY, PRAY!!!                                       Pastor James