This past Sunday we celebrated 3 years of ministry at Life House. God has done some amazing things in these past three years (alot of those things are posted in past blogs) and there would be no way we could ever thank Him for it all. Recently we’ve seen His amazing hand touching some lives and we are amazed at His work!
When we recently held the Community Wide Easter Egg Hunt God blessed and 700 plus people showed up. One of those was a latino Mom and her children. We had never seen them before but we were glad to have them. They shared they were invited to the Easter Egg Hunt when they got one of the door hanging packets. The next day was our outdoor Easter service. This young lady and her husband showed up for the service and brought their children. I noticed while preaching that they were visibly touched and during the altar call they both came forward and received Jesus into their hearts. Yesterday, in walked this family with their children and they were all smiles – ready to worship in God’s house. What a blessing!!! It gets even better — we have “sign up” sheets on the Welcome Center desk and today when I looked over the sheets they had signed up to help in a couple of our upcoming outreach events! GLORY!!
Another man, who got saved on Easter Sunday morning, is showing signs that God is really working on his heart and life. The following Tuesday after he was saved he couldn’t wait to share some things with me. One of those things was that he felt it was time for him and his live in girlfriend to “make things right” and get married. They too were in church Sunday – all smiles. If all goes as planned I will get the blessing of doing their wedding in the morning. GLORY, GLORY!!!! He also shared that he wanted to be baptized in the very near future. We will have the water run this Sunday – can’t wait!!
Ready for another one? One of the ladies who had been eating with us on a regular basis finally showed up and visited in our services a few weeks back. She let me know that she was a member of another church. This lady is going through hard times – sleeping in her car and making do until she can get back on her feet. This lady, showed up at the Easter Egg Hunt and wanted to help out. She asked if she could be one of the volunteers who walked among the crowd and handed out the Easter Sunday Outdoor Worship Service invitations to all who were at the egg hunt. She and several others did just that!! The next day, at the Easter Sunday worship service, I noticed she was sitting on the front row and through the service was crying. During the altar call she came forward and one of our men led her to Jesus!! A church member saved!!!
One last one… There is a man who rides our church van and eats with us several times a week. He has become a very familiar face and is loved by our people. He has been attending our services for a long time. This past Sunday came forward and said, “I need to be saved.” When he went to the back with one of our men to be counseled the counselor asked him what brought him forward this morning. He replied, “I’ve lived life my way long enough and I need a change.” It didn’t take long and he got saved too!!! His smile tells everything now!!!
The stories go on and on — I’m so glad that it’s not about buildings, budgets and boards. I’m thankful that we can SIMPLY focus on sharing Jesus and teaching people to grow in Him. God is doing a work in these last days in the churches who are willing to abandon everything for Him. It’s not about Life House – it’s about the giver of LIFE – JESUS!!! Pray for us – there are more souls to be reached. May Jesus find us faithful when He comes again. Pastor James
Post date: April 29, 2011
This coming Sunday will be the 3rd anniversary of Life House. And to think there were many that said, “It won’t last.” and “He won’t make it in that neighborhood.” – WRONG! LOL Jesus has a plan for this ministry and we’ve only just begun. We’ve seen 123 souls saved since we began and God has that many more and more besides. Come join us this Sunday as we celebrate all that God has done. 9 a.m. for Community Wide Breakfast, 10:10 a.m. (outside if weather permits – if not inside) for Anniversary Celebration. Pot luck lunch following the service. Make plans to come, bring a friend and see Jesus move like never before! If you have lawn chairs you might wanna bring them to insure that you get a seat! Pray for us and come join us if you can. If you or anyone you know needs a ride please call the church: 870-216-1936 THANKS! SEE YOU SUNDAY! Pastor James
Post date: April 29, 2011
Starting Sunday afternoon, May 8 at 4 p.m. our church family and anyone who wishes to join us will be diving into God’s Word and using the book “RADICAL” as our study guide. I CHALLENGE you to be present at Life House building at 4 p.m. and study with us. God has something He wants to teach our people and I can’t wait to see how and what He is going to do. Guests are welcome to come join us for this study. Get a copy of “RADICAL” by David Platt and expect God to do a big work in your heart. We will be combining our Men’s and Ladies Life Groups for this study. YOU ARE INVITED – hope to see you there!! Pastor James
Post date: April 29, 2011
This PAST weekend the Life House family saw the culmination of lots of prayer, prayer walking, outreach and faith that God was going to do something that “ONLY HE COULD TAKE CREDIT FOR” and boy, did HE!! On Saturday, the day before Easter, we were able with the help of lots of churches, community groups, classes and individuals, to host a Community Wide Easter Egg Hunt with 12,400 Easter Eggs. NOTE: We were hoping for 8,000 but it kind of “swarmed on us” lol. The Life House family and several volunteers from other churches gathered, set up and prayed. Over 700 people showed up for the event and it couldn’t have gone any smoother. Many new faces were seen and many new contacts were made. We didn’t know what to expect the next morning as we gathered early to set up for worship outside in the lot next door to our building. It was Easter Sunday and Jesus showed up in a BIG way. We saw 216 people for worship and the Lord blessed by saving 10 adults during the altar call. Some of those saved were first time guests who had come to the Easter Egg Hunt the day before. Some were people who had been attending for some time. One of the biggest blessings is seeing the change that new Christians go through when they first meet the Lord. On Tuesday a man and his fiance came to eat with us at Life House Community Cafe. He was one of the people who were saved at the Easter Sunday Service. He mentioned to me at the meal that they needed to talk to me before they left. We sat down together and he shared what happened to him on Sunday. He felt God not only saved him but touched him in such a way that the desire for many of the things he had been involved in was washed away! He then shared with me that they had decided to get married as soon as possible because they felt conviction about just living together! PTL! We are so blessed to be a part of this type ministry. God is always doing something and believe me – NO ONE – NO ONE can take credit for it all – except Jesus!! We look forward to seeing what God is going to do this coming Sunday!! Pray for us!! Pastor James
Post date: November 10, 2010
The Life House family is so excited that we were able to secure a 12 year loan to purchase the present building we are meeting in. We have been paying on the building as a “rent to own” situation for the past almost two years. In that time God has provided us the fund to pay off $40,000.00 and now we are working towards paying off the remaining amount of $100,000.00. As a congregation we believe God is going to pay off this building in double record time. We have faith! We believe! Many of our members and friends give weekly above their tithes to the building fund pay off fund. As most of you already know our target community as a mission is one that is very economically poor and many are even homeless yet they give what they can and are very faithful. Life House is blessed to have some “Partner Churches” and individuals who give on a monthly basis to support the work of this ministry and without them we wouldn’t be able to operate. Many people are fed, clothed and touched because of so many giving. THANK YOU!! We believe, as a mission congregation, that if we can see the building paid off it will enable the monthly payment of almost $1,000.00 per month to go back into the ministry to help us get closer to someday being self supporting as a congregation. We know God has a plan and that this is His work. He has blessed it beyond measure. We’ve seen 104 people come to know Jesus as Savior since we began as a mission church. We feed almost 2000 meals a month to the hungry, needy and homeless. We pick up around 75 or more youth and children each week to bring them to “Safe Haven” on Wednesday night. We feed them physically and spiritually and give them somewhere to go besides the streets. We seek to clothe and help those who “have not”. God has really blessed this work. (All glory goes to Jesus!) YOU have prayed and God has blessed Please keep praying for us. HOW CAN YOU PRAY?
1. Pray for souls. We want to see hearts touched, lives changed and souls saved. We want to help the addicted, the down and out and the hurting. We want to see homes changed, jobs secured and real LIFE for people. (JOHN 10:10)
2. Pray for God to provide our needs financially to pay off the building – as soon as possible. We are having a “My Gift To Jesus” Emphasis during the month of December. Every penny given above tithes will go toward principle debt reduction on the building when we make our first loan payment in January. We are encouraging out people to pray, set aside a special amount ABOVE THEIR TITHES and give it to Jesus as a birthday gift to Him on or by Sunday Dec. 26. On Dec. 26 all offering given (including our weekly tithe offering) will be placed in the ”My Gift To Jesus” fund to put on principle when we pay our first loan payment in January. Pray that we see a miracle and that a big chunk of this be paid off. God can!!
3. Pray for me as Church Planter/Pastor as we begin another year in 2011. I want to have leadership wisdom and God’s counsel as I seek to lead this mission to reach souls, help the addicted, feed and clothe the hurting, hungry and poor. Pray that I will never get in God’s way.
THANK YOU for your prayers, support and love for souls. Life House is so blessed to have friends who attend other churches but love souls and love missions. Keep praying! THANKS AGAIN.
PASTOR JAMES
Post date: August 18, 2010
When life house began as a new mission we only had a small handful of people who believed that God wanted a multi-ethnic church started in College Hill. Over the last two years God has blessed over and over again by sending us people of all ages, races and economic status. Little by little He is growing a very diverse body with one thing in common – JESUS. Each member of life house has a desire to see people of all colors come to know Jesus and experience LIFE – now and in eternity.
This past Sunday God added three new members to our church family. All three of these people prayerfully sought the Lord concerning a church home. All three “wrote out” their salvation experience (testimony) and then agreed to the four principles of being a member of Life House Church. What are the four principles?
1. To be faithful to Sunday Morning Worship
2. To be faithful to Life Group Meeting (Sunday Nights now)
3. To be faithful to find a place of service in the church and do it faithfully!
4. To be a “store house” tither.
Every church “expects/hopes” that their members will do the above but at Life House we believe that it’s a privilege to be a part of a church body – not a right. We believe that if you are going to be a member you should seek to be a blessing to your church and not just a “name on a roll”. We are praying that God will continue to send new people and families to our church and that they will be lights in this dark world to reach souls for Jesus. We don’t need pew sitters – we need workers in God’s vineyard. If you are looking for a church home and all you want to do is “SIT” – do us a favor…don’t consider Life House. In fact if you want we can give you the name of several abandoned church buildings that might fit the bill for you. You won’t have to attend, work, tithe, pray or anything – but you can call it your church home!! SAD! In these last days (and we ARE living in the last days) God is raising up churches – HIS people – to do the work He has called the church to do. It’s time to SERVE not SIT.
LAST NOTE: ARE YOU A BLESSING TO YOUR CHURCH FAMILY OR JUST A NAME ON A ROLL? THINK ABOUT IT!
Membership at Life House Church isn’t just a privilege but with it comes responsibility. On any given Sunday worship service you will find that we usually have 100 “visitors” in our service and around 35 members who have prayerfully stepped out and made the commitment to serve as a part of our church family. If you know anything about Life House you know that you don’t just “join and sit”. After you have prayed and sought God’s will and make that step to join Life House you must: 1. Write out your testimony. 2. Must have experienced Believers Baptism by immersion in a Baptist Church or be willing to submit to Believers Baptism at Life House. 3. Agree to the “Four Principles” of Membership at Life House which are as follows: You agree to: 1. Be faithful to Sunday Services 2. Be faithful to attend Life Groups 3. Be faithful to find a place of service in the church – one or more. 4. Be a “Store House Tither”. In order to remain a member of Life House you must be faithful in those areas. If you aren’t faithful then after counsel your name will be “dropped” from Life House Church Membership Roll. If you aren’t a member it does NOT mean you can’t come, serve, work and enjoy all the blessings of being at Life House – it just means you don’t have the rights and privileges of being a member.
One of those “rights” of being a member of Life House is being invited to any “congregational meeting” – such as tonights “MINI R & R” Meeting at 5:30 p.m. . What is “R&R”? We call it “Review and Renew” Meeting. It has been done annually but we are going to start having one quartertly – starting tonight and then every “FIFTH SUNDAY” Night. Tonight the Life House Members will worship together, share their hearts together and then I am going to be sharing some exciting news, challenging our members hearts and then close in a season of prayer. God has some “GREATER THINGS” that are soon to come and we must get ready. God is using Life House in a special way and we need to be ready to see Him open the flood gates of heaven.
It is a joy to serve as pastor of this great mission/church and I am totally excited about what I see coming. We aren’t your “typical” or “usual” Baptist Church – and we strive hard not to be! The last thing we want to do is become a “business, budget and battling” church. We don’t want to be a part of the “religious country club” that is permeating churches today. When the “constitution and by-laws” mean more than the BIBLE then the “church” is in trouble. God help Life House to keep their eyes on the Jesus and the cross. Help us never forget our mission.
Pastor James
VBS 2010 is NOW HISTORY! What a big and busy week. We are so blessed at Life House!! The Lord blessed us with some great mission minded friends from Springfield Baptist Church, Morton, Ms and First Baptist Church, Vinton, Louisiana coming to “DO” our Vacation Bible School this week. (THANKS GUYS – You all are and were a HUGE blessing to us this week!!)
As most of you who have worked in a VBS know – it takes lots of people, lots of hard work, dedication and time to “do one right”. Not only did our mission friends come and “do” VBS with us but also many of the Life House family worked hard to pick up and deliver children, cook, serve and clean up for “snack time” and other things to. (THANKS GUYS! You are the BEST!!)
This week we saw several new faces, lots of smiles, hugs, and laughter. We saw some youth “stretched in their faith” as they taught, sang and lead out in areas they had never experienced before. Through it all – God blessed this week with 11 souls saved – 10 in one night.
It is safe to say that, Friday night after it was all said and done, there were lots of tired bodies but rejoicing hearts in all who worked. My mind can only imagine what we at Life House are going to see come about because of this years VBS. Seeds were sown and a harvest is sure to come to pass. Pray for those children who came, heard the gospel and those who came and were saved. Pray that this week will impact their Mom’s and Dad’s. Pray that for many this will be a week that serves as a turning point in their lives and future. Pray that we will see God do something that only He can do in this community.
GREATER THINGS ARE YET TO COME!! Pastor James
Once again: THANKS to all who came, worked, shared, loved, prayed and gave. You made a difference in eternity this week!!
It has been a few months since i’ve blogged anything but felt that NOW is the time to COME BACK and keep the blog going full force. There are so many things that have happened since I’ve blogged and lots to share. Stay tuned…pray for us and i’ll be back real soon. Gotta run for now… Talk to you soon my friends!!
Post date: January 9, 2010
Our church family held their annual R&R Celebration (Review & Renew) for 2009 last Friday night. As we looked over the past year it was exciting to see all that God did during it. We were blessed to see God’s hand throughout the year. We are also excited over all that we believe He is going to do in 2010. We are praying for a great year not only for Life House but for the kingdom. We are “adopting” four other church plants so that we might encourage them and petition the Father to help them reach souls on their respective fields. We are wanting to teach our church family that as a new church plant we still need to look beyond our own neighborhood, city and state and reach out to others with the gospel. We are not the only church that is trying to reach the world and together (as we link arms and hearts) we will see souls saved here in Jerusalem (our local mission field), Judea (our states – Arkansas/Texas) Samaria (the United States) and to the “ends of the earth” – (the world – foreign missions). We have chosen to adopt:
Local Mission Field – Texarkana, AR /College Hill Community/ Texarkana, TX
State Mission Fields: Stuttgart Harvest Church, Stuttgart, AR – (AR) and Keystone Community Outreach Church, Ft. Worth, TX (TX)
National: DeSoto Community Church, DeSoto, Kansas
International: The Mapuche People Group – found in Chile.
Each of these ministries are important in God’s kingdom work. Life House Family is blessed to be able to partner with them and hopefully encourage and support them in many ways in the next year. God has been soooooo good to us and faithful to us and we are praying He will use our church family to bless others who are just like us.
Wherever you are…whatever part of the kingdom you are serving in – don’t lose hope or heart – God is with you and will prosper your work in the kingdom. Be faithful, pray and don’t ever give up! There are souls to be saved, lives to see changed, people to clothe, people to feed, people to love, children and youth to touch and train and we MUST keep working till He comes again. It’s a blessing to serve Him and we praise Him for being faithful in 2009 and know He is always faithful and will be in 2010. Can’t wait to see what He is going to accomplish in 2010 with Life House and many other churches who refuse to become “religious country clubs” but want to be His hands and His feet in the world today. It’s time to get up, get out and become the salt and light He has called us to be. Life House Church has renewed her vision for 2010 and is purposing in her heart to reach more souls and touch more lives than ever before. Will you join us? It’s time – He is faithful – are we? Serve Him in 2010!!