“I Love the Lord”…..Whitney Houston

I watched the rerun of the Oprah show late tonight and saw the second interview with Whitney Houston. I really didn’t know what to expect, but I was so impressed with her. She was very honest without being disrespectful, which i would imagine would have been very difficult given what she has experienced. It seems her life, had become very much like so many lives today. Simply out of control. Her marriage, her emotions, her physical life, and her career. Everything was out of control.

She obviously made some bad choices, and got herself in a mess. Addicted to drugs, estranged from her husband, and just trying to pull it together. My favorite part of the interview was when Oprah said, “who do you love?” Whitney replied, “I love the Lord” Oprah asked her so how did you make it? She said I know where my strength comes from, I would never have made it if it wasn’t for God.

Our lives may or may not be out of control today, but it wouldn’t hurt for us to remember we can not make it without Jesus. He has done so much for us, and his grace is so good, and has empowered us to overcome all the negatives in life. So tonight I say like whitney, I love the Lord, and I would never have made it, outside of his goodness and Grace. I know where my strength comes from. Not me, but the Holy Spirit. Thanks Jesus for living in Me, guiding me, encouraging me, and inspiring me, and loving me.

Thanks
David

Press

I love Paul’s words in Philippians 4:13, I press toward the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus. He said I forget the past. I look forward to the future. I press.

To succeed in life we must learn to press. I can’t stand mediocrity. I dislike it very much when people do things half way. Especially Christians, I think we as Christians need to leave the world a strong message.

Paul Said, I forget the past. We must learn to walk in Gods grace, and quit pilfering through the past. Whether good or bad, our past can paralyze us because its easy to get stuck there.

Paul said, I look forward to the prize of the high calling. Two words that denote great value. Prize, and High Calling. We should see the things of God, the dreams, and goals, and passions He places in us should be seen as a prize as a high thing. Something of great value.

He said I look forward. People who are mediocre or do things half way are people who are wallowing in the past or can only see what is right in front of them.

Remember to reach the prominence of purpose, you must press. You can’t go at it half way. It must be apprehended. It must be pursued, it must look in the face of obstacles and pressed through.

Sometimes when we are in the middle of change, or involved in lots of areas of ministry, we just look at each other and go wow, we have a lot to do, isn’t it awesome! Then we just press until its done, and done well.

value the press, and press for the value.

David

No place like Home…

Something happened when we were in Rwanda. Something that caught us all off guard. It was so surprising, it evoked emotion immediately and unexpectedly. It made us all so proud, and so inspired. It was truly a great moment.

When we were at the university of technology in Kigali, and had the night with the next generation, where we thought about 300 hundred would gather and over a thousand showed up. It was an inspiring night in itself. The passion with which these young men and women worshiped, the talent of the singers and dancers. The response to the challenging word I spoke on the responsibility and hope of Rwanda. There was one thing however that happened, so spontaneous, so completely unexpected that it blew us away.

The night was an all night event, so because we had a leadership conference to finish the next morning we left about 1:30 a.m. Before we left I wanted to introduce the entire team to all the young people. As i was going down the list, telling who these people were and what they did, and what it took for them to come, they were so receptive, and cheered and clapped. It was great. Then it happened. I got to Sam Laymen, who is an airplane electronics engineer, and in the U.S military. I introduced him, and what he did, then I said, he is in the Air force, he is in the U.S. Military. That placed erupted! They cheered and clapped and cheered and clapped, it was so unexpected that I got emotional, pride swelled in me. The thought came to my head. The world does not hate America, no matter what the media says, not matter what some in America think. That place went crazy when we said he was in the military. We all teared up, and I explained to them, why that would mean so much to us, and i told them thank you for loving America, and America’s military.

I left there conflicted. Realizing that I had not known how effected I was by the constant bombardment of negative reports about our nation. I realized that it wasn’t true. I realized how proud I am to be an American. We were all just blown away.

I thank God that He is using us to help other nations and other peoples around the globe. I thank God for placing me and my family in the United States of America, so we could have the mindset and the prosperity to be able to do what we do. When we go, we are not trying to turn other nations into the western world. I train our people that is not what we are doing, we are helping and sharing the Gospel, but at the same time we are not ashamed of America, we are thankful and proud of our nation and what it stands for. Lets not lose that.

God bless America! There is no place like home.

David

The clinic…

We are so excited that we got all the glitches worked out for the clinic. Here in Rwanda many times the national govt is a very cooperative and forward thinking and grateful for people coming in and helping, but sometimes, not all the time, just sometimes the local govts are not. Thank God for giving us connections and friendships that have helped us get through the issues and have our clinic. The clinic was a huge success. I will have to post pics later, due to some technical difficulties.

The area that our clinic is in is a major prostitution area one of the biggest in Kigali. A lot of the problems we saw were STD’s, some stomach viruses, some infections, some problems that were severe enough we were able to refer them to a hospital and doctors care.

The first day because of some of the difficulties it took us a bit to get started once we did we saw around 175 to 200 patients total. The second day we had more dr.s and were able to see around 500 patients. It was a very busy day.

The children were dirty and mostly bare footed. They’re community was the poorest of the poor. It was a slum. One of the dr’s told me that the ditches there, and he pointed to them, they were filled with trash and all kinds of filth. He said when it rains and the ditches fill with water, they will use the water out of those ditches to drink. So you can see what a need their is for medical care and for teaching these families how to be healthy. What not to eat, what not to drink, what promiscuity is doing to them.

One of our doctors spent time while people were waiting in line teaching them. He said they are just ignorant of the facts. This is how they have lived from generation to generation and their thinking has to be changed.

I can’t imagine that their life expectancy is very long. In this culture if you are 50 or above you are considered old. Some places even 40’s are considered old. To most of the young guys we were working with, i was old, and as you all know I am very young. (sorry a little of my mid life crisis coming out there..lol)

When we talked to the minister of Justice, he said something that is very true. There is something to do to help in every sector of society. Humanitarian efforts, spiritual efforts, infrastructure efforts, business efforts, and on and on.

Our meeting with the ambassador was very informative. Stewart Simington the third. He is a good man. He has only been in Rwanda since September, but he definitley has his finger on the pulse of this nation. He was very helpful in giving us ideas for the future and was so welcoming.

He was very appreciative of Americans coming here trying to help. He has invited us to bring the entire team to his house this afternoon to talk. He wanted to see them all. He is a great representative for America here in Rwanda. You would be very proud of our embassy here as well.

So We have done what we can, the team is out shopping for souvaneirs and I am staying back in my room recovering from a bout of either food posining or a bug i picked up but either way yesterday was tough. Its times like these that you truly miss home. I’m feeling great today. Just resting recouping my strength, and ready to come home. let me say again how great this team has been. I always say this after a trip but its true every time. I would take harvest people anywhere around th world to help people because our culture connects well with those who we are trying to help. Thanks Pastor Kirk and Nancy for raising us to care about people locally, regionally, nationally, and around the world.

Love you all and look forward to seeing you soon.

David

Helping people…the great adventure

I love adventure.  I love trying knew things, taking a challenge, doing something thats fun or gives you a rush! I love the risk of it the commitment of it, the courage it takes to be adventerous.  If someone around me is not asking, “you’re really going to do that?”  or,  “are you sure you want to do that?”  I know I’m not really living.

I love adventure.  The greatest adventure in life is taking the challenge and the risk.  Making the commitment, and sacrifice.  Accepting and embracing inconvenience for the sake of helping others.  There is no rush, no excitement, no fun, like helping other people.  Getting involved in their lives, dealing with their issues and helping them find solutions, this is adventure.

There are so many christians in the world right now who are living this great faith adventure, and I love it!  I love it that the church is figuring out, that the answers are not in setting behind our four walls enjoying each others company, but it is in reaching out and bringing people in that is changing lives, and causes great adventure.

Christians who aren’t passionate about Jesus, are struggling being bored with their Christianity because they’ve lost the adventure that is supposed to be at the forefront of a Christians life.

One of the reasons I love our church, and many like it is because we are living the adventure, we have lots of people who have embraced this exciting life and are doing it together.  This week we will be serving women at our “Girlfriends Conference”  Women from all four of our campuses and over 50 other churches will come together and experience a highly creative, spiritually impacting, relational and fun conference.

We have volunteers that will take their time and serve these ladies so they can have this life changing experience.  We also run youth camps all summer long, june through august at our OKC facility.  Rental camps and Our National youth ministry, Youth America. Next Monday we will be taking a team to Africa, where we are leading a pastors and leadership conference as well as a medical clinic for two weeks.  At the end of  July we will be taking another team to Camobdia, To work with Orphans and impoverished children, helping them  not be victimized by human trafficking.  We have a Kids camp as well as a Royal family Kids Camp which is our ministry to Foster Kids.  A free camp for 85 foster kids ages 7-11.

That may sound like a lot, and is why we call summers at harvest one big adventure!  We are committed to Change the world through the adventure of helping others.  All the teens, all the kids, all the adults, locally, regionally, nationally and globally we will help this summer, are all part of this great adventure called Christianity.  Its about taking the chance to love people, to extend grace to them, and to live life full tilt for the greatest adventurer of all time.  Jesus!

So jump off the bench, get off the sidelines, get in the game and enjoy the adventure and who knows, you might open up a life of adventure for someone else.

David

My girl Taylor

Check out this cool web site featuring an article about my girl Taylor….http://www.paperdolllife.com/cause/

Next Generation….

OK, I’ve had it…Sound mad don’t I? Not really, I just hear so much talk about how bad the Next generation is coming up. It May be true for some, but I know a lot of young people who are productive, who care about life, who care about the important things. It will not be some political plan, some technology, some process or ideology that ushers in the next great thing, or the next great leadership movement. It will be the leaders of this next generation. The young people so many love to hate today.

I know that all we hear about is the negative on everything, partially because the media stokes that fire, and partially because we buy the smoke. However There are some great young leaders coming up. Oh there not in Hollywood, they are not even visible to you and I, but they are there and they have some thoughts.

My Daughter is one of those. Guess what, My daughter is not in to drugs, My daughter is not caught up in things that are illegal or self destructive. Now hold on before you judge me for being prideful, which, alright I’m a little guilty of, She isn’t perfect, and she tries my patience on a consistent basis, just by being a teenager, I try hers as well.

Taylor turned 15 today, she is, and I can’t say this without partiality, one of the best kids I know. She really wants to change the world. She cares about people, she cares about her relationship with Jesus and allowing Him to use her life, and their are tons like her. Volunteering, using their gifts and talents, and time to help others.

I think our future looks bright! I love it that my daughter wants to change the world. That can sound kind of idealistic to us over 40 crowd. I must still be idealistic too then cause I’m trying to change the world as well. So Taylor is going with me to Cambodia this year, and we will do our best to help others together, and by the way, that’s how you change the world. So all you young people out there, we believe in you, we see potential in you, and we are depending on your leadership and enthusiasm in the future to help change the world.

I have people ask me all the time how did you get your daughter to think like that, to be like that. I use to say, just the grace of God, but the truth is a little more specific than that.

1. I spend time involved in her life, and listening, cultivating and supporting her dreams and talents.

2. I surround her with dreamers. I have lots of friends who are big thinkers, and world shakers and I get her around them and let her listen and naturally they speak into her life.

3. She is planted in a great church and has great Pastors and pastoral figures speaking into her life, and helping to encourage and support her.

4. We Talk, talk, talk about everything.

5. I have listened to parents who have gone before me, and employed their advice.

6. She has the most incredible down to earth yet faith filled mother on the planet.

7. She surrounds herself with friends who are full on committed to Christ and she creates friendships with kids who she is reaching out to for Christ.

I can hear someone saying right now, well she’s still young and she could mess up. Yep, and probably will, Thank God for His Grace and the knowledge that His dreams for her do not hinge on my imperfections, her mothers, her leaders or hers, but rather on His perfection.

So Thank God for Taylor and her generation….Can’t wait to see how the world changes.

David

A revolution of Service

I have been so proud of our team over the last two days.  Yesterday we were finishing up our seven days of Servolution.  Our project was to help with the CARE program at the MWC police department.  Our team started gathering early and preparing to go in and help.  Something happen that changed everything.  A fire started in MWC and spread over a significant area of MWC and Choctaw.  We know now that 49 people were injured, and 50 houses were a total loss with others being badly damaged and still others with smoke damage.

The police told us with everyone being called in, there would be no way we could do the project we had planned, they suggested we go over the the community center and see if there was something we could do there.  At the same time, the leader of this project and one of our other guys in the church called and said why don’t we turn our servolution project into helping the evacuees, of which there were hundreds.  So I stopped and picked up a lot of supplies told our team who were already in their “serve team” shirts to head to the community center and start setting up supplies.  We called on other serve teams to join us, and just set up and started helping people.

Giving out water, and food, and toys for the kids.  We started thinking, “who could we partner with?”  So we called starbucks and they supplied coffee and Hot chocolate.  Krispy Kreme provided donuts.  There were pets so a vet brought dog and cat food and treats.  People just started showing up and giving us hot food, to pass out, people in the community started coming in and saying where can I serve.

We worked with the Red Cross, what Great People they are and an incredible organization.  There were also folks there from the Southern Baptist Disaster relief organization, incredible servants everyone.   I must say that the MWC community leaders, the city council, the police, and firemen, The officials, and the leaders of the community center, Were so sharp.  This city and its leaders have their act together.  The sherriffs, the city manager, so many people and organizations working together to help others.  We were so blessed just to be part.

There were so many churches sheltering people and helping people, our friends the Burchetts at Eastpointe brought their people together today and really helped the people who have so much damage and loss and the public servants working so hard as well.

So there are some things I learned.

1.  Don’t set back and call leaders in the fray and ask them what you can do to help, they don’t have time to figure it out for you and at the moment don’t know what to tell you.  Just get into the fray with them, and start serving.  This is the best thing you can do.  The church is not an outsider in the community it is a part of the community.

2.  Partner, Partner, Partner….You have connections others don’t have and they have connections you don’t have.

3.  Realize that people want to help.

4.  Wear matching shirts so you can be easily identified and people can come to you for help.

5.   Help the kids, if they can be connected with it gives their parents a chance to think, and rest a minute.

6.  Be open to jump in and do what you can without hesitation, be willing to say yes, when needed.

7.  Your team will give over and above, and people will always rise to the occasion.

8.  Always be thinking about the next step.

9.  Serve the servants.  First responders put it all on the line, and have no time to stop and take care of themselves, so serve them as well as the victims of the disaster.

This was really a great way to solidify a servolution culture in our team.

I invite you to join the party and embrace what our friend Dino Rizzo Cause a “Servolution!”

Servolution Day 5…Acting like Jesus

Yesterday Morning, it was freezing! Very little wind, but a great time to serve the college students of our community. We took 8-10 volunteers and a ton of food. Pop Tarts, granola bars, G2, bottled water, Starbucks coffee, and we set up two stations so when students were on their way to class they could pick up a quick breakfast free.

It was so fun to do this. We had a lot of great interactions. It is such a blessing to watch the response of people when you just serve them with no catch. When you want no donations, your not making some kind of presentation, you’re not trying to get them into something, you are just serving them and giving them stuff for free, it blows them away.

Wasn’t long before word got a around and students, teachers, were coming from all over the campus to get some food and beverages. I heard them talking, and everyone was thanking us and asking us why we were doing this. Some people in the administration want us to come back.

The same thing happened today, when we created hospitality for families waiting in the surgical waiting room at the local hospital. So many times when you see people who are stressed and anxious you want to help, but you don’t know what to say, or do. The one thing we could do was serve them. I talked to the chaplain of the hospital, and he said that when we serve them and give food to them, it gives them a moments peace, and gives them a feeling of hope.

Last two days have been great.

When we serve people, when we care enough to do something for them just to be a blessing in their lives, then we are acting like Jesus.

We have had many partners in these projects and are looking for more. We know that if we can get together with others we can truly make a difference in our world!

Day 2 and 3 Servolution….Personal Impact

Saturday and Sunday on harvest MWC Campus our projects were an absolutely no cost car wash, and an outreach to “Manor Care” a local nursing home facility.

we have had a good number of volunteers in all our projects. The car wash was Fun and interesting. People would pull in we would give them a couple of gifts, a bottle of water, and a car wax product and applicators, then we would wash their car. It was amazing to me, how many people wanted to give us money, and when we said no, it was as if they couldn’t grasp what we were doing. They really were having a hard time understanding this totally free, no agenda car wash. Once they got it they were really appreciative, wanted to know where we were from, and why we were doing this.

It shocked me at the response, and to be honest made me a little sad. I was sad because it is so foreign for someone to do something kind like this just to be kind, and not have an agenda or want something in return. It has really challenged all of us, to live our lives serving others, every day. Coming out of this, it will no longer be an event but a lifestyle.

We washed one lady’s car who lived in the neighborhood close to the wash, and her family were obviously impoverished, didn’t have a lot, but a few minutes after we had washed her car, her little son came walking up from their house, his hands full of change. He said “we wanted you to have this” If we had been raising money they had no clue what it was for, but were so moved by our generosity they were ready to give. Our youth pastor told the little guy, you take that money back to your mom, and tell her we just wanted to bless you guys.

I pray that the church becomes known in the community, not as the neediest, but as the most generous. Let the world know that Jesus Loves them, and his people stand ready to show it.

On Sunday we had great services and that afternoon we went to the nursing home. We took adults, teens, and children with us, and we sang songs, we gave out gifts and we just sat down and talked with these wonderful, beautiful elderly people. Honestly our hugs and hand shakes were the best thing we could have done. My girls, Sydney and Taylor set down and talked to a lady named Pauline. She was so sweet, obviously her memory was affected and she had a hard time putting thoughts together, so we just begin to tell her about ourselves, and she loved it, she loved my girls hugging her, and holding my hand. It was interesting watching my girls in this setting, they have so much love to give and i am glad to be teaching them that this is what Christians do, they show the love of Jesus in a practical way. My oldest has decided that after church on Sunday we should make it a regular journey to see Pauline, and my youngest just cried, visably moved at the loneliness of an elderly person in her situation.

Love goes farther than we can imagine, its a touch of sincerity, a hug that says, I don’t even know you, but I care, a heart that is overflowing with compassion, not even knowing what to do but to say, I love you.

What we are finding is serving people can be inconvenient, and serving people can be awkward, but serving people is the mandate on our lives and the expression of our faith, and the love of our Savior.

Our culture, our people, our families, and our lives are changing, I feel forever. We have always done things for the community on some level, we have branched out in the last few years locally and globally, but I feel we are moving to a whole new level of love, and compassion for people. A revolution means a complete turn. This has been a complete turn of serving. A Revolution of Service.

More to come….honoring and appreciating our Dept of human services employees today. They’ve already begin to thank us, and we haven’t even done it yet. Just the thought moved them.

Remember its not about what we are doing, its not about, how good we are, cause we all know better, its about one thing. Expressing the Love of Jesus to people in all walks of life. Thank you Jesus, it’s all about you.

David