LIFEsync

Going Global?

I am currently in meetings with young leaders from around the United States. We have been discussing how to engage our culture in missions. The discussion has been very engaging and refreshing. I think I am just excited to still be considered a "young" leader. Ha. Ha.

I'd love your ideas on what you think the future "shape" of our Christ-cause can look like. We have to share the message of Christ to the world! "How" we do effectively is a huge question! I have meetings for one more day, so please share thoughts as soon as you can. We have to "Go Global"!

Bruce Howell, your passion to engage our generation of leaders is encouraging! Thanks for your time.

A Friend Rests

Justin Clark Myer
October 16, 1976 - April 27, 2008

A life-long friend passed away this week. I have such fond memories of "Justy". No one loved life and laughter any more! He was a "belly" laugher! He was a super talented musician and singer. We have all struggled to understand the "why" of this circumstance. Justin has been in a coma for the last few years. Jason, Uncle Dave, and Aunt Sandra have been heroes in my book! They have provided incredible care to their brother and son.

Justin died Sunday, April 27, 2008 at his residence. Justin was born October 16, 1976 in Nederland, Texas to David N. Myer and Sandra Bridges Myer. He was a lifelong area resident. He was a member of Abundant Life Sanctuary Church where he was very active in the choir and music ministry. He formerly worked in the medical supply industry.

Survivors include his parents, Reverend David N. Myer and Sandra Myer of Port Arthur, Texas; brother, Jason Myer of Port Arthur, Texas; and grandmother, Joy Hart of Lakeland, Florida.

Rest, Justin! You deserve it! Get that Angel Band fired up! We'll never forget you and the smile you always brought to our face.

Jason...You raise the bar for what it means to be a "brother"! Uncle Dave and Aunt Sandra...my heart aches at your loss. You both have added definition to the word "love"!

The Future Bible?

As a Leader and Christ-follower, I know you are extremely busy. When I stumble across a great resource, I like to pass it along. I hope this can make your personal devotional life more fruitful.

You can now access the Bible via your mobile phone at http://m.youversion.com! If you have a web enabled mobile phone, you will be able to read and search The Bible in 14+ translations and much more.

Some of the key features include:

-Quick Search including Book, Verse, Keywords/Text.
-14+ translations currently including: ASV, AMP, ESV, HCSB, NASB, NCV, NIV, NKJV, TNIV, MSG, WEB, LBLA (Spanish), NBLH (Spanish), RVA (Spanish).
-Daily Reading (One Year Bible).
-YouVersion.com User contributions attributed to scripture verses including text, links and YouTube mobile video.

Enjoying the journey with you.

Jeff Hennigan

How is your paradigm doing?

Recently a friend shared something with me that her friend shared with her. It is reprinted here with permission from the author. I thought is was too "thought provoking" not to share with you. Enjoy.

As humans, we seek consistency, patterns, and expected positive outcomes from repeated actions. The results we see are satisfactory and usually applauded as a success by those we respect and admire. The process we have developed to achieve the results we deem satisfactory become a part of “how we do things”. In time, we migrate to operating in a prescriptive “box” gradually the process is no longer “how we do things”, but rather begins to define, “who we are”. Mentally, spiritually, and physically we move into a comfort zone. We develop a paradigm with strong emotional ties. This evolves over time, often years, we create a paradigm with expected and clearly understood outcomes. A tradition is born. In a church setting, the successful execution of the tradition, often without realization, becomes the desired outcome rather than being culturally relevant and connecting with the unchurched, under churched, and the core assembly. Our traditions are sometimes not understood, valued, or desired by those who we wish would accept or somehow “understand” they need our traditions. We may have a vague sense something is not working or misaligned but we haven’t grappled with why or we simply are comfortable.

When someone challenges our paradigm we perceive this to be an affront to who we are rather that the process. The tendency is for our response to be emotional rather than scriptural or logical. The change does not feel right. Traditions become encased in sentimentality and nostalgia. Our emotional entanglement is predicated upon previous experiences with positive outcomes. We cease to notice when the positive outcomes migrated to a tradition and then ultimately we are in a “brain stare” or paradigm. In turn, these traditions become an iconic part of how we have defined our selves or we think others view us. To change or evolve our tradition does involve emotions. Remember, the process became, at some point, a part of how we cognitively and spiritually define ourselves. The change does not feel right. Because it does not feel right, we struggle with adaptation. This is why you see individuals struggle with an issue or process that may be clear in its simplicity or next step evolution because they confuse the emotional with spiritual. To shift a paradigm or to move as the scripture says, “Into the deep” may involve a painful recalibration of method, motive, and a renewed view of the cross.

Phillip Sharp

Royce Wilson

Here is a pic of Royce Wilson. He is an outstanding communicator. I asked him to send me a pic for promo purposes. He wanted me to make sure I understood this was a "pre-diet". Wait...maybe he said it was a "post diet" pic. I can't remember. That is the joy of having ADD. Ha. Ha.

ALC - this is a "Don't miss" deal! You're gonna love Royce.

My Sunday Reflections

Good Morning! Here are a few of my Weekend Reflections....

-The Worship Experiences were off the chain yesterday! I love Sundays at ALC! The vibe around our church is just awesome right now. I love it when we end our Experience with Baptisms! The worship was a "10"! Great crowd. Great worship! Great sense of God's presence! And the preaching...well...

-We are in the middle of our Supernatural Series. Yesterday I spoke on "Holy Spirit and Tongues"! We even had a Greek language student share with us. If you missed it...get the podcast or CD!

-We have a Guest Speaker the next two weekends. Royce Wilson will be here. Don't miss it!

-Having a multi-worship experience format on Sunday has been the best thing we've done in ages. It has created a sense of community that is beautiful to experience. The ALC "Investors" who volunteer in ministry every week are amazing. Many "Investors" arrive at 7:30 AM and don't leave until 1:30 PM each Sunday. I feel very blessed today...I get to Pastor with people with hearts for God like this. We are truly enjoying the journey together.

-Rhonda and the LifeKids team are doing a fantastic job of growing our ministry to kids. Last week, our team flew to Willow Creek for a conference. I think it is critical that we "Invest in our Investors". It is good to see what other church leadership teams are doing right. You can check out the conference at: http://www.willowcreek.com/conspireconference/. You can bring your kids to LifeKids every week with assurance that our team will make their Experience outstanding!

- I was hanging out in the Loft last evening and got to connect with some of our Students. Encourage your students to be at our events. Check out the plans for what is happening in our Student Ministry. Jason Biggs is blogging here: www.jasonbiggs.typepad.com.

-Jeff Manning, our Assistant Pastor, is blogging here: www.jeffmanning.typepad.com.

-I am dead tired today! Do you clean the house right before "friends" show up? Miquell and I were up way too late getting ready for our friends, Jared and Loida Howell, to arrive. We are funny people...we wait until the last minute to get our home ready. Sunday was even longer than usual. We always enjoy hanging with our good friends.

-Looking forward to this: http://www.thewhiteboardsessions.com.

Supernatural Series Reflections

I am loving our current message series! Thanks to everyone who has prayed a covering over our family during the last few weeks. Here are my top reflections from last weekend...

1) Kumbaya Alert: I am amazed at our Band and Worship Team! They are leading us into the presence of God in both services every week. I can't thank each of you enough for your sacrifice! You are making me proud! Miquell - I am blessed to call you "wife"!

2) The Wall of Faith is filling up! I encourage every "Lifer" to get your names on the wall! We are believing God for great things!

3) I am pumped about our "Baptism Experience" on Sunday, May 18th. We wanted to do something "out-of-the-ALC-box" to wrap up this series, so we are having it at a local Natatorium. This will allow Baptisms to be an ALC "community" experience. This will allow us to have a larger number of participants and room for everyone to be a "front row" participant in this experience. Our baptistry on-site really doesn't facilitate a "community" experience. I am relatively confident that our candidates will still be "fully baptized" even off-site. (insert my grin here) If you want to be baptized, please sign up at the Information Kiosk THIS SUNDAY!

4) We will still be baptizing folks ANYTIME at our Worship Center. This Baptism Experience is an attempt to get "outside" the walls and build community around a sacred celebration.

5) Our attendance in both Worship Experiences is growing! We had record attendance in our 9:00 AM Worship Experience. It is awesome to see the seats fill up twice on Sunday. BIG THANKS to all the ALC folks for "stretching"! What have I been preaching for months? "The stretch always precedes the supernatural!" We are giving God room to blow our minds!

6) The Family Bible Study is a great tool for understanding basic Bible principles of salvation. Make sure you pick one up at ALC this week. I have asked every ALC'er to do their personal and family devotion with with Study before May 18th!

7) I am pumped about next Sunday's topic: The Holy Spirit and Tongues.

Good Night. Melatonin..don't fail me now. Ha. Ha.

New Church Plant In Chicago!

A good friend of mine, Dan Myer, contacted me recently about being on the Board of Advisors for a new church plant in Chicago. I am not sure what kind of "advising" I can do. Ha. Ha. However, I am passionate about seeing the Kingdom of God expand. It is evident that HPC and ALC have similar visions so it makes sense to be "connected" to what God is doing in Chicago through HPC. We are trying to brainstorm on how we can strategically align and connect in meaningful ways. Dan, Gayla, and the HPC Team - we are praying for you!

Great stuff! Check out their site: www.thehealingplacechurch.net

If you are an ALC Lifer, I'll see you tomorrow morning at a Worship Experience. 9:00 AM or 11:15 AM.
We continue our Supernatural Series!

iChat therefore iPray

You are looking at a screenshot of me, Eva, and my Dad from last evening. As our daily custom is these days, my father and I were visiting via iChat. How cool...we are able to see and hear each other! Modern technology allows Eva and Gibson to stay connected with their grandparents in spite of several hundred miles of separation. This picture captures a moment when Eva is praying for God to heal her DeDad. He is fighting cancer, but we are praying and believing for another miracle. Thousands of people around the country have continually prayed for his healing.

Dad - keep your head up! Keep the faith! We believe God even hears "iChat" prayers! I would've never imagined that an "Apple" could be a fruit of faith!

Who do you need to chat with today? Who can you pray with today? Don't let distance block the blessing.

The Lump

I have a lump in my throat. Emotions are deep. Words are difficult to write.

Today has been a day of remembrance for our family. It was one one year ago, April 17, at 4:27 PM, that our beloved "PawPaw" Lumpkin passed away. He was affectionately called "Lump" by his friends. Throughout the day, my mind has drifted down memory lane. I have prayed for my mother-in-law, Mick, and the other members of our immediate family during my drift.

Here are a few of those memories I stumbled upon...

"The Lump" praying over Miquell and me.

"Daddy Lump" and "The Mick" capturing the moment.

Eva getting to know the "Legendary Lump"!

He was a man that waxed eloquent in the pulpit, led with integrity, and left a legacy of faith that we will always "tether" our future to. Paw Paw, we miss you. We love you. Hug Jean, PaPa Rice, Nana, and Grandpa Hennigan for me.