All I can say is…hallelujah

Last week, I was at Sr. High doing the recreation for the students. It was a busy week and the best way for me to describe it is “controlled chaos”. However, in the midst of all that was going on around me, God done this work in my heart. The worship was at first, a struggle. I didn’t know a lot of the songs that were being sung. Still, there was an overwhelming theme and one word seemed to keep popping up. Hallelujah. Simple enough you say, right? Yep. That’s just it. It is such a simple word for us to use to tell this all-powerful, all-knowing, all-encompassing, all-loving, all-just, all-caring God just how we feel. The word literally means praise the Lord. I get so busy with life and ministry that sometimes I forget to do this. Last week wasn’t one of those weeks. There were powerful times of authentic worship where you were just caught up in the presence of the Holy One. My question has become, why do we just settle for this at big rallies or at camps or something “other” than what we have on Sunday mornings? Why do we just settle for doing our own thing and leaving? My answer: We don’t take the time to truly get into a spirit of authentic worship. Whether it be Victory in Jesus or Dance in the River, we fail on most Sunday mornings to drop to our knees (in our hearts mind you, because doing that for real would be out of line) and hunger and thirst after a touch, a moment with God. We have become such an ordered society that we have to live by a thing that we have made: a Clock. That has to be one of the worst inventions for the true Spirit of God to deal with. We have become so time oriented that it is “tradition” for us to get out at this time. Go ahead, give me the excuses…I can hear them now. No matter, I want, no scratch that, I need to come into contact with the Almighty more than I am right now. Now I could go get this organic worship, that comes from the heart and we are truly thinking about and meaning the words that are coming out of our mouths, on my own. I do meet with the Spirit in my alone times, however, I hunger to meet him with other believers! Being a Christian isn’t a solo act. We are supposed to be living out this faith with a community of believers. May we, as believers, start taking the time to start singing Hallelujah in our every day life and when we are together. May the Spirit of God move upon our services and start changing us, start challenging us and start equipping us to live lives that are full of praise and service so that Jesus may be lifted high. May we come to place in our life we all we can say is Hallelujah! Our God Reigns! He is in control of all! Hallelujah!

Happy 4th!

Hello from Jellyville!
Things are slowing down a little for the next few weeks. We have something every weekend but other than that, things are quieter. So here is a quick fix as to what is going on with us:


1. I guess I forgot to tell everyone that we are getting the church parsonage. We are just waiting for Pastor John and Beth to get everything out so we can clean it and have it painted. We are excited to be moving and not be living in this apartment because...

2. There was a fire in our apartment complex a few weeks ago. We found out about it through a vauge letter that everyone got in our complex. What makes us so mad is that it was right next door to us! The people left their grill (full with hot coals) on their deck (which is against Indiana State Law) and it caught the wall that we share on the outside of our deck on fire. We come to find out that the Fire Dept. had to go through our apartment with hoses and such and NO ONE TOLD US!!!!!! So needless to say, we are ready to get out of here.

3. Sr. High Camp was great. I had a great group to help me ( Ben, Amanda, Bryan, Terry and Matt). I also had the privilege of speaking on Thursday morning in the rally. God really changed some hearts that week and I got to be a small part of that.

4. We have two fundraisers between now and family camp. We are doing a bar-b-que chicken sale this saturday. We are kind of going out on the ledge because our kids really havent pre-sold like we would have liked. So pray that the sale goes well on Saturday. Then, on the 21st we are having a car wash. All the money goes to sending the students to Orlando for the youth conference in December.

5. We (Sarah might be going, she got put on-call today) are going tubing with Jeff and Gwen and their family. Then we are going to watch fireworks tonight so it should be a fun day.

6. Family camp is coming...July 22-29. This year I am in charge of all the activities (afternoon and afterglows) that the teens will do at family camp. I really enjoy doing these kinds of things. Matt and Terry will join me again and it will be a great time.


I think that is it...hope this finds you well.