It’s been a few days since I took the time to “blog”, so I wanted to “catch you up” on some of the most recent blessings at Life House and in our lives. In recent weeks we’ve had two groups of students come from Mississippi – two different churches and both were a huge blessing. One group stayed a week in Texarkana and the other did a quick “overnight mission trip” – both accomplished some great things to help us in our mission here. It’s great to be a part of a denomination/group of churches that not only GIVE MONEY to missions but also GET OUT AND DO MISSIONS. We are blessed by their love, spirit and willingness to serve. We’ve been blessed in the past few weeks with many professions of faith and seeing several new faces in our services. Last Sunday God blessed the service as we saw several new faces, enjoyed the ordinance of Believer’s Baptism and ate together. The music was awesome, the spirit of worship was alive and God moved on our hearts. He has plans for Life House. I totally believe the Lord wants to use Life House to be His hands and His feet in our area. We are to be a SERVING church – touching people, feeding people, loving people, reaching out to them — getting in the streets and making a difference in our world. One of my friends wrote on face book last night the question: “If your church were to disappear from your town, would your town miss her? ” I SURE HOPE that people would miss Life House. Not because she is the biggest church in town or has the nicest building (we aren’t and we don’t!) but rather because they see the love of Jesus and feel His love in her witness to the community. There is much work to be done. Many souls still need to be saved. Many lives, homes need to be changed. God has a work for us to do — and we must “be about our Father’s business”. His business is PEOPLE! Jesus didn’t call the church to endless committee meetings, budget battles, Constitution and by laws meetings or even business meetings — we’ve met long enough! The world is dying and going to hell and the church is sitting in endless meetings!!! It’s time to stop being a “business” and be the CHURCH!! Get out and bring them in!
Lord help me, help Life House — to have your heart and to be effective in showing LOVE to those in our world. Help us never to get caught up in the trappings of being a “business” or a ”christian country club” but help us to be the church – not DO church! Pastor James
Life House Kingdom Builders Youth Program begins tonight and we are totally excited! We believe that this is going to help our youth begin to mature in the Lord, find places of service, begin to “do” acts of service and grow deeper in the Word. Please pray for us as we introduce this new program tonight. It WILL require work on their part, accountability and dedication. As a mission we are building the kingdom by reaching souls, teaching them a new life and the Word of God and helping them to memorize God’s Word in order to begin to walk in it daily. God has blessed Life House with some great youth and many of them have been saved in the last few months. Pray that we can use this new program to be a blessing to their lives, their families, our church and our community too. Pastor James
You know what I mean. One of “THOSE” Sunday’s where you KNEW that the Lord was present and all over the place. You could feel Him, sense His presence and see Him moving? We had a service like that yesterday. The Lord was present and it was GREAT! From the Prayer Walk Service to the closing note – God was all over the place. We are excited about all that we see God doing now and all that He is going to do in the future at Life House. Two souls were saved yesterday and that is so awesome! We know God has a purpose and a plan for us at Life House and that purpose is to reach souls for Jesus, love on people and try to meet needs where we see them. Pray for us and come see us! Pastor James
We are very blessed to have some great youth at Life House and 99% of them have been saved since the church began. All are great kids and their attitudes, temperaments, ideas and beliefs are all shaped by their “raising”. Their home life, what has been modeled to them as “normal” and how they were/are treated have shaped them to this day. May of the things you and I take for granted (social graces, respect, dress, etc) are not known or learned here. More has been “CAUGHT” than “TAUGHT” many times. Now the Lord and Life House have come into their lives and it’s up to us to teach them some “life lessons” and some “spiritual values and characteristics” to help them become the people God desires for them. God wants a good life for each of them – satan and the world doesn’t. God is on their side and satan is against them. It’s up to us, the leadership in their lives, to help mould, shape and direct them to walk in God’s paths. We are working on this very task at Life House. Pray for us. We are not dealing with the usual “churched kid” but rather kids who have found Jesus as their Savior and are still surrounded by the world they were brought up in. We believe God wants to use Life House to help teach children and youth a better way. We believe that God is going to use Life House in this community to raise up a new generation that desires good things. A generation that is going to change this community for the better. Pray for me, as pastor, and for all who work with me in the leadership of reaching and teaching these youth and children life lessons that they need. It’s a big task but NEVER TOO BIG FOR GOD! Pastor James
Starting next Sunday at 9 a.m. – Life House Family will begin having a weekly Prayer Walk in the worship center. It’s a time of simply praying for the service and various needs that are present in our church, her members and guests lives and the service that is to come that day. Join us for this special time of prayer.
Also, starting next Sunday night, Life House Family will begin having a “Praise and Prayer Service” at 5:30 p.m. — no preaching…just simply a couple of songs to help us center our minds on the Lord and then a time of real, “get down to business” prayer. No frills, no service, just prayer time. We are excited because great things begin to happen when God’s people really begin to pray. Come join us for this time of prayer or if you want – e-mail or send us your prayer requests to be placed in our prayer box and prayed over each week.
Believer’s Baptism Celebration and potluck lunch is scheduled for Sunday, July 26, 2009. We invite all to come witness the baptism of several new believers and to enjoy worship and a potluck lunch that day. It’s always a blessing and you don’t want to miss it!!
Well, thats all for now – hope you have a blessed day. Look for a “God moment” in your life – He’s there …just watch for Him! Pastor James
Saturday morning the mission team from Springfield Baptist Church in Morton, MS loaded up and pulled out on their way home from Texarkana. They were a tired bunch of folks but excited over all that God had accomplished at Life House and Texarkana last week. We were so blessed at Life House to see a high of 119 at VBS and the Lord saved 15 souls (might be 16 because the youth pastor at Springfield found a slip that had a name on it that he thinks is one who was led to Christ this week). The building was full to overflowing with children & youth, smiles were everywhere, hugs and laughter. The kids sang their hearts out, ate their snacks with joy, made some awesome crafts to take home and devoured the Bible stories. It was a huge, busy week that made a difference in countless lives and at least two churches for years to come. THANKS Springfield Baptist Church youth and sponsors for all your hard work. Thanks Life House adults and youth for your hard work as volunteers this past week too. Because of you all there are at least 15 people now in the kingdom of God with a future in eternity.
We also were blessed to hear Saturday that four souls were saved last week at I Love Evelyn – a homeless ministry run by two of our members, Chad and Marjorie Matthews. The members of Life House love this ministry and believe that God wants to use it to reach and touch countless homeless people who are in and come through Texarkana area. Pray for this great ministry and support it in any way you can. It’s located on the corner of Broad and Texas Blvd in downtown Texarkana.
We were blessed this week when the cabinet crew from Mena, AR came and installed a complete kitchen for us. We’ve never had “real” cabinets, counter tops and ect. They didn’t just send/build just anything – this crew built top of the line cabinets, counter tops and more. THANK YOU so much from the bottom of our hearts! The owners of the business (name withheld because not sure they want their names broadcast) donated the cabinets free of charge to the mission. The men who built the cabinets did so, from what I understand, after hours in the shop in Mena, AR. The men even took off work two days, came to Texarkana last week, rented hotel rooms, payed for their own way to deliver, install and bless Life House and her ministry. This is going to open even new areas of ministry for us as a church. THANK YOU to ALL who had a hand in building, delivering, setting up and blessing us with this beautiful new kitchen. Come by and we will gladly show it to you!!
God has certainly been good to us at Life House and we can’t praise Him enough for all of HIS blessings! Pray for us and come see us when you can! Pastor James
The first night of VBS started out good….last night it doubled in attendance….today I’ve heard from several in the neighborhoods that are coming for the first time this week and bringing friends and I’ve even added another “stop” to my van pickup route tonight. Who knows (ONLY GOD!) how many we are going to have tonight!! It’s already been a blessing! The Springfield Baptist Church youth group have worked in the fields (spreading the word about VBS, passing out fliers, loving on the community) and they have done a GREAT JOB of doing the lessons and recreation times at VBS. We don’t know how many lives are going to be touched this week but we know that kingdom work is taking place! It’s great to be a part of a church that is focused on souls and the kingdom. It’s not about us — it’s about JESUS and His love for lost souls and the kingdom! Pray for us. Come see us! PRAY FOR US!!!! 
I can’t wait! Pastor James
WELCOME TO TEXARKANA AND LIFE HOUSE CHURCH SPRINGFIELD YOUTH AND SPONSORS!!! We are glad you’re here!!!
About 5 p.m. yesterday the youth and sponsors from Springfield Baptist Church, Springfield, Mississippi made it to Texarkana. We are thankful they had a good safe trip and came with their “boots on” ready to work with us at Life House. We enjoyed a fellowship time last night complete with burgers, swimming, and hanging out. We topped off the night by going to “Sparks In The Park” and enjoying hanging out and watching the fireworks. This morning the group is getting ready to come to worship at Life House and a full day of outreach and setting up for our Vacation Bible School this week. Pray for our VBS and send any kids you might know that are 3 yrs to 6th grade to come enjoy the fun! It’s gonna be a busy but great week.
Don’t forget also that we begin our worship service (starting this morning) at 10:10 a.m. instead of the usual 10:30 a.m. —— Join us for a great time of worship!! I can’t wait to see what God is going to do at Life House today and throughout this week!!
Hope to see you soon! Pastor James