Gospel Center newsletter
The latest issue of the Gospel Center’s newsletter is available to download [here]. Enjoy!
refuel
For the next few weeks I plan on being silent on my blog, facebook and twitter. I won’t be checking statuses, or updating mine. I want to shut some of the noise out of my life in an effort to refuel my soul.
These past few months have drained me and I need to refuel my soul. For me, part of that means stifling some of the noise.
See you in a few weeks.
Angel Food
The October menu for Angel Food is available [here]. Angel Food Ministries is a non-profit, non-denominational organization dedicated to providing food relief and financial support to communities throughout the United States. The program began in 1994 with 34 families in Monroe, Georgia, and has grown to serve hundreds of thousands of families every month across 44 states. We are thrilled to be able to offer it to our community.
fundamentals
Looking forward to starting this new series at the Gospel Center this weekend! Sunday morning, 9:30am.
pray for those in jail
I’ll admit it, tonight I just didn’t feel like going to jail. My head hurt and I was exhausted.
But I kept thinking about all of my friends there who have way more tough than I do. Some who face abandonment because of the crimes they have committed. Some who are bound by the cycle of sin that they can’t break.
I pushed through the doors, listening to the iron gates slam behind me.
God met us in that little room. He ministered to me through the singing of the guys. He was with me as I preached.
Pray for those who are in jail. If you know someone who is incarcerated, write them, try to encourage them.
Also, pray for those that minister in jail, especially the chaplains. They could use all the prayer you can give them.
At times I wish we could see more success in our jail ministry, But when I think of that, God gently reminds me that we do have several former inmates attending the Gospel Center including the town drunk, who has been transformed by God’s grace.
up7street takeover
Looking forward to this Sunday, as we have upstreet takeover. Our teens are doing all parts of the adult morning service, including the preaching. I will be co-preaching with one of our teen boys. He chose the subject and Scripture and I helped flesh out the content.
Really looking forward to introducing our teens to leadership positions in the Gospel Center.
take me back
I love the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15. The one son wastes his inheritance, messes up his life and finds himself feeding pigs. Worse yet, he is even joining the pigs for dinner. Finally he has had enough and decides to head back home, to ask his father to be a servant. Because even his father’s servants were living better than he was. The story concludes with the son walking down the dusty lane and sees his father running towards him, welcoming him back to the family.
Ministry isn’t always full of glamourous stories. There are times when the life seems to be sucked out you. Recently I was startled to find out that one of my friends had fallen back to his old lifestyle. Individuals searched the city until he was found. As I was sitting beside him, he cried out, “pastor, do you think God will take me back?” It was a joy to walk beside him that night as I shared the story of the prodigal son and how God would gladly welcome him back home. We wept together and prayed together.
I can never thank God enough for taking me back.
