As I type this long over due blog let me just say I am overwhelmed.   God is so good through the lives of people who make up this little church called Living Hope.  I am overwhelmed by His goodness.  Growing up with no dad, it took me so many years to expect good from God.  So officially I am publicly saying thank you Living Hope for 10 years of seeing the faithfulness of God intersect with our faith.  It has been so good.  So totally overwhelming. 

Every step of our journey He has led.  From 10 years ago in the Manor Grange to three years after that to Prairie High School, to four more years to Prairie Community Church.  Thank you Prairie Church for being so faithful.  Thank you Don Coonrod and the original leaders/elders for having the vision to start Prairie over 20 years ago.  Ron Webb told me that Prairie would be celebrating their anniversary this weekend as well.   So we celebrate God's goodness together!

I am overwhelmed by the obedience to God I see each and every week.  God calls His people to "hear" and "obey" Truth.  There is a culture of obedience that never stops to amaze me and always encourages me.  Last weekend, hundreds of people made a bold, visible and important decision in their lives to start giving to God.  God is the Lord of all the tennis balls.  So many 'got it' this weekend.  ONLY GOD.  I have heard so many stories and am spiritually visualizing so many chains dropping as we collectively commit to reaching more people for Christ. 

I am overwhelmed by so many stories I heard this weekend.  One of the stories from this weekend was from a guy who is giving an older car to God, because years ago, he began to rebuild this car and used all of the money that would have went to God.  He said that there have been nothing with problems, because he in effect was robbing God to fix the car and wants to give back to God what was His to start with.  I was so blessed by his story.  The car is 25 years old.  Not all that much value in "it" but the value for me was in seeing this man's heart.  He prayed in the e-mail and wrote out his prayer to God, and here's an excerpt:  I used Your money Lord to finance this car, since the money was Yours, then all the parts are yours. Hence the car was, and always been Yours. You are only asking me to give to You what is rightfully Yours.

Lord I rather walk a thousand miles in obedience and blessing, than drive another mile in disobedience and cursed. So from today forward Lord I ask for the strength, commitment, discipline, and consistency to always walk in obedience.

That my friends is what God will honor.  Remember, his shovel is alot bigger than ours.  Trust Him and Test Him and see what will happen. 

I can't wait for this weekend.  BAPTISM.  Please, please don't miss it.  We are going to end 10 years with starting the next chapter for Living Hope.    If you are planning on being baptized, invite everyone you see that is breathing.  People will come, lives will be changed and God will be glorified again.

I had some friends sing after the 1:00 PM service.  The African Gospel Choir has been part of Living Hope, they blessed us, at that service.  I am excited to have them share with us this weekend after the 1:00 PM service, for an encore.  People loved it.  You will too if you can make it. 

Overwhelmed.

John

Have you seen the show Prison Break?  I love a show that makes me think.  It is in the second season.   We came up with the thought for a new sermon series.  Jesus really came to lead the ultimate prison break.  In Luke 4 we see the fulfillment of the prophecy from Isaiah 61.   

It says, "...He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed..." Luke 4:18

As we begin this series, I was thinking about this verse:  Jesus said in John 8, "You are truly my disciples if you keep obeying my teachings.  And you will know the truth and the truth will set you free." 

I want to look at critical things that keep us from freedom and in bondage.  I want to look at different divine interactions Jesus had with different people.  Check this out, divine interactions if we obey Jesus always result in divine interruptions.  But it is only in being interrupted that we experience freedom. 

This weekend, we will begin Prison Break at the Brush Prairie campus.   I hope you invite a friend to join you. 

All the hundreds of new volunteers! Yeah God for you.  God says bring it, you did, He gets the glory and we get to be part of something bigger than us.

Hockinson, Fisher's Landing and Orchards will be finishing the High School years series this Sunday.  I am so excited for each campus.  They are all growing in numbers, in ministries, in life groups, etc.  Thank you to all the people who have stepped up and stepped 'out'  God bless you.

Our newest campuses, Portland and Longview will both launch in early 2007.  Thank you Pastors Dean and Bruce and your families for risking and sacrificing for the Kingdom of God.  Thank you to the core teams of both campuses.  It is worth it.

Busy week coming up.  We have a Church leadership gathering this Thursday at 10:00 am, entitled "WHY THE WEEKEND"  I hope together as leaders we can learn from each other and grow and more become "ONE" church, the church God had in mind.  If you want to be part of something exciting, come and volunteer this Thursday.  To see leaders gather together is such a great experience.

Never stop bringing what you have to God.  What you have is all you have and all God wants.  Don't hesitate.  Bring it to Him.   

ONLY GOD. 

John

Let me start this blog by saying God is so good to me.  I have been sick most of the week.  The cool thing is not being sick.  Food is only designed to go into the stomach not come out of the stomach.  The cool thing is that in 10 years of pastoring Living Hope I have never been sick on a weekend I was speaking.  Sick afterwards, many times.   It gave me time to reflect and think about my life, my family, my faith and our church.

I have replayed in my mind last weekend so many times.  818 people made purity commitments.  There were over 4500 people in all nine services, so that is over 20 percent of our church family.  That is a revolution. 

This weekend, I am going to be at Fisher's Landing campus to do the purity service at 9:30 AM.  Then I am going to Hockinson campus to do the purity service at 11:00 AM. 

I will be at our Brush Prairie Campus on Saturday and at 1:00 PM on Sunday.  I am excited to have Geoff Surratt come and speak this weekend at the Brush Prairie campus.  In our series "HIGH SCHOOL YEARS" we have been looking at one word "ACCEPTANCE"   Accept you, Accept others, Accept the fight, Accept the Purity Revolution and this weekend will be Accept Rejection.  Geoff is one of the senior leaders of a church called Seacoast in South Carolina.  They are leading the nation in multi site strategy.  I hope you can come this weekend, then next weekend I will end the series with Accept God's Dream. 

Some thoughts for us.

We need people (if they are willing) to move to a Saturday service, preferably 3 pm or 5 pm.  Or Sunday at 1:00 pm.  The truth is we are so packed at 9:00 am and 11:00 am (almost 2000 people in just those two services) we had families leave last weekend because simply there is no room in Kidsworld and I am at a loss for what to do.  The only way we can continue to accomodate is to honestly sacrifice.  People who are unchurched only go to 11:00 AM because that is traditional, so if you are inviting friends, by all means come to whatever service they will go to.  WHEN YOU CAN, try a different service or...

A different campus......  Also, we need people to move to one of our three other campuses.  Either Hockinson campus (11:00 AM) or Fisher's Landing campus (9:30 AM).   Orchards is in the process of becoming a LIVE feed of the current service and will serve as an extended overflow, with service times at 9:30 and 11:30 AM.  At Orchards, it will be the worship and everything live fed. 

Please understand that our campus strategy is an integral part of our future.  If you haven't tried a campus, please try one this weekend.  I will be at both Fisher's Landing and Hockinson.  Currently we are locating a permanent site for Fisher's Landing on we think on 192nd.  Also Pastor Bruce is now spending 40% of his time focusing on our Portland campus which will launch early 2007 and will be somewhere in the Pearl District.  In addition, we are still looking for a location in Longview area.  It too, will launch in 2007.  Multi site campuses are here to stay.  There have been churches approach us that want to partner with us, and become a satelite of Living Hope.  Those discussions are beginning to happen and it is all exciting.

A bigger building is at least 2 years out, but we have an amazing building team working diligently on this process, and are within days of submitting for a permit to building a bigger auditorium.

Have I dumped too much on you?  Sorry.  I just want to continue to be the church Jesus had in mind when He gave it away to His disciples.  I just want to see more changed lives and hear more stories of marriages (like the one I heard about this weekend) restored.  The church is the hope of the world.  Needless to say, I still believe the church is the best thing going, and when it works the way God designed it, there is nothing like it. 

So much to talk about, even more to pray about.  So many hurting people who need hope and who need Jesus. 

See you at a campus this weekend? 

john

Blessed are the pure in heart, they will see God.    Matthew 5:8

It is Sunday morning, I am getting ready to leave my house, and I can't get over the way God moved last night in the heart of so many singles and students.  There were in three services 260 people standing on our stage committing to staying pure before marriage.  The 16 year old pregnant girl, who has felt so rejected by so many people, including some of her family stood on the stage crying with a white rose in her hand symbolizing a new beginning.  The multiple couples who stood together vowing to have physical purity until the day they get married.  The lady who walked up on stage, who was almost 50 years old who said to me "It is about time I get this right."  I love moments like what we experienced last night.  I love seeing people pursue God, and His intimacy.

I can't wait to see what happens today and then next Sunday at our campuses.

Purity matters.  Purity means unmixed devotion.  Why is it we demand it in our water, our food and in other areas, but in sexual areas we don't?  Because we have been lied to and it is time for the purity revolution to begin. 

A revolution is a drastic and far-reaching change in the ways of thinking and behaving. 

Students and singles.  You are revolutionaries for the cause of Christ.

Purity matters because it is always the path or way to intimacy. 

Blessed are the pure in heart, they shall see God. 

I am so proud to see what God is doing in your lives.

John