What and amazing Sunday!

Our "Super Sunday" had a huge impact on lives.  Every year we take Super Bowl Sunday and create a church wide event called "Super Sunday."  We take the excitement created by our culture and in-turn create excitement for our Savior and Church.  We make the day all about getting people plugged into a Small Group from Children through Adults.

I'm so proud of our church how people got excited, not about a ball game, but about inviting people to church.  All across our church in every Small Group there were new faces.

Our Sr. Adults had a neat get together in there area before their classes.  The used one of their rooms as a place to serve finger type foods before Small Group.  There was great excitement and joy among them.  Great job to all who worked hard in our Sr. Adult area to pull of this great morning.

In almost all our Adult classes we had to bring in extra chairs.  I love it when I'm having to run down chairs because a class has run out.  There were several classroom bursting at the seems.  It was neat to see them bringing in friends and neighbors and introducing them to their classes.  I'm so proud of how they made it their mission to invite people to be here.  Then they all had parties Sunday Night to watch the Super Bowl and build relationships.  Great job to all our adult classes.

Our Teenagers (h2o student ministry) blew it out of the water by inviting their friends.  We had well over 100 teenagers in Small Groups.  Not to mention they almost took up the entire center section of the worship center.  God is continuing to bless this ministry.  Plus they did an all day event ending with watching the Super Bowl (read more about it here).  Thanks to all our great adult volunteers that served tirelessly all day.

The Children's Ministry also has a big day in Small Group.  All their classes were filled with kids. It was fun to walk around and see all the groups as they taught these kids about Jesus.  They also had a huge event after Worship for the kids to go to Chuck E. Cheese.  Great job to Emily and all our Children's Volunteers and teachers.

This was a great day all about building relationships with people.  I believe God used it and will continue to use to in the days ahead.

Super Outreach on Super Bowl Sunday

Every year for Super Bowl Sunday our Student Ministry does a huge outreach called, "Super Sunday."  Our goal is to see a lot of students connect with our Small Groups that morning.  We developed an event that takes a lot of work but is very successful.  Here is what we do.

For weeks prior to the event we do lots of promotion with mailouts, social networks, phone calls, etc.
Super Sunday:
It all begins with Students arriving for Small Group at 9:15am that morning.  We have a great free breakfast for them, and energetic/engaging Small Group time in God's Word.  Next we attend or worship service.  After worship we load student on buses and take them to a local city park.  There we grill burgers, have chips, drinks & snacks.  While at the park we play ultimate frisbee, some students just hangout and talk, others play other games.  We stay at the park about 2 hours in all.  From the park we load back on the buses and go to bowling alley.  We bowl for 2 hours, this is the only part of the entire day that cost the students.  We leave the bowling alley in time to return to the church for the Super Bowl.  We have pizza for all the students, free, and they can play games, talk, and/or watch the game.  At then end of each quarter we give away a nice prize and at half time I do a brief devotional.  It all ends when the game is over.  This day is all about building relationships.  Here's what the schedule looks like:

9:15am-Small Group
10:30am-Worship
11:45am-Go to the Park for Lunch, Ultimate Frisbee, etc
2:15pm-Go Bowling
4:30pm-Return to the church and eat dinner (pizza)
Go home after the game.

It's a lot of work, but every year God brings us a lot of students for this day.  We usually more than double our normal Sunday Morning attendance.  We have seen God save students here, connect them with our group and finally we have seen several families come as a result of their teenager getting involved.  This has been a very successful outreach for us.

It is very worker intensive.  We have some of the greatest adult volunteers of any church I have every served.  We have parents cook cookies, bring bags of chips for snacks, drive, provide supervision and more.  We have a group of adults that takes care of the food, others that help with the recreation at the park, many other adults that come along to interact and provide supervision.  Without our great adult volunteers this day would never happen.  I appreciate them and value the service greatly.

I can't wait until Sunday to see what God does this year!

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Baptism, Top 10

The picture you see above is an award I received for our church being in the "Top Ten for student baptisms."  Over the past two years God has allowed us to impact a lot of lives for Jesus.  I'm humbled by how God has chosen to use our ministry in such a powerful way.  We have so many great adults that serve week after week that pour into students lives and as a result we see many come to Christ.  I'm so thankful for the adult team of workers we have that want to see teenagers lives changed by Jesus Christ.  I pray this year will be another great year of reaching students for Christ.  I pray this year we will once again see many students follow in believers baptism.

Awards are always encouraging to get, but there are still 100's if not 1000's of lost teenagers with in 10 miles of our church.  Join with me in praying for us to reach these students.

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Super Sunday is Coming

Super Sunday is an event we do every year on Super Bowl Sunday, which is February 7th.  Super Sunday is all about impacting lives and connecting people with a Small Group.  All our Small Groups are working hard to invite people to be in their Group that Sunday Morning at 9:15am.  Then we have an exciting Worship service at 10:30am, where we pray even more lives are changed for Christ.

We end the day with all our Small Groups having a Super Bowl Party at one of their class members homes.  These parties are a lot of fun!  This is a great way for new people to build relationships and get connected.  I hope if you live in the Texarkana area you will come and join us for "Super Sunday" on February 7th here at Beech Street.  Not sure where your Small Group meets?  We will gladly help you find the one that fits you the best.  Plus, we want to invite everyone to join there Small Group for a party that Sunday Night.  Even if you're not into football or the Super Bowl, just come enjoy the fellowship. 

God's Movement is Amazing

Last Wednesday night at h2o we had one of the God moments.  As our worship band was leading us to focus on Christ we began to sing "Jesus Paid it All" and the spirit of God feel.  It's hard to even described what God was doing.  Students were worshiping and as the band was bringing the song to an end God impressed on my heart that there were some in the room that needed to accept Christ right then.  I stood on the stage gave a simple explanation of what it means to accept Christ and 5 students did so right then!  Other students were on their face before God worshiping. 

I was just one of those God moments in a worship service.  I thank God for the 5 lives that were changed and for the many others that were challenged.  God is moving in our church in many different avenues and I'm excited to be apart of it.

Haiti Earthquake

It's hard to grasp all that has happened in Haiti due to the 7.0 earthquake that hit there on January 12th.  I do know this, God calls all of us to help in some way or form.   

Matthew 25:35-36, ³⁵For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'" 

So how can you help, who can you trust?  Here are two groups that I strongly believe in and trust to spend money given to them completely on the Haiti people.

Here is a link to some pictures from Haiti (click here) WARNING some of these are on the graphic side.

Group #1
The "International Mission Board (IMB)."  This is our Southern Baptist Mission Organization.  They are taking all their funds through "Baptist Global Response (BGR)."  You can read about the actions they are taking and give by clicking here:  (IMB-click)  (BGR-Click).  Both of these links take you to the same place to make a donation.

Group #2:
The other group is "Samaritan's Purse", which is run by Franklin Graham.  This is the organization that does "Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes" and many other mission works across the world.  When you click on the give link on their website a pop-up window with "Haiti Relief" comes up for you to put you donation in.  (Samaritan's Purse-click).

I'm sure there are other organizations that will do a great job, but I have been personally involved with both of these and completely trust them.

Ty is 6!

This past Saturday Ty turned 6 years old.  I remember the day he was born in the metropolis of Warren, AR.  God has blessed Sara and I with a great son who is very full of energy and life. 

This year he wanted to do a bowling party for his friends.  He had several of his buddies come and they had a blast bowling together.  Then on Saturday we did his family party.  This year his one big request was a basketball goal, of course he got it and some other stuff.  I thank God for the blessing of Ty and look forward to the plan he has for him. 

Standing for Christ at all times

I'm not a Texas Longhorn fan at all, but I am a fan of Colt McCoy.  As I watched the end of the NCAA BCS Championship game last night I saw and heard Colt make an amazing statement.  He had been knocked out/hurt in the biggest game of his life and the final game of his college career and here is what he said when asked about that...(watch video)



Here is Colt's Testimony.  That we would all strive to live this powerfully and give God the credit.

A plan?

I'm a guy by nature that likes to plan and have structure in my life and ministry.  We all have responsibilities and we all seem to be "busy."  Many ministries seem to just run from one event, one worship service, one weekend to another.  God led me a long time ago to be a person with purpose and a plan. 

The past several months I've been evaluating our ministry here at Beech Street.  After 2 1/2 years God has allowed a lot of incredible things to occur.  We have added a lot of structure to what we do both in the Student Ministry and in the Adult Ministry.  I have now set some new bench marks for us as a ministry over the next 2 years. 

For our Student Ministry I've been working on a sequence that takes a student from one point when they enter in 7th grade to another point when they Graduate.  This plan has already begun, but we are only 2 years into the process.  God has been giving me a lot of direction in this area over the past couple months as we move into the next 2 years.

Our Adult Ministry is well on the same track.  Our guiding direction as a church is:  Believe, Belong, Become.  I am now working hard to see us incorperate this into our Small Groups and Faithworks (discipleship) ministries with great intentionality.  I believe we will be helping adults deepen their walk with God, which translates down to the families.

This is going to be an exciting year as God continues to mold the plan he has for us in me.  I look forward to reaching more people for Christ and growing others to serve Him more.

A look back at my 2009 New Years Resolutions

New Year Resolutions...everyone seems to make them, yet few keep them.  I thought for fun I would look back at my 2009 Resolutions/Goals and see how I did.  Here were mine from '09:
1)Improve our family devotion time
2)Continue my financial plan
3)Eat healthier
4)Exercise Consistently

So how did I do?  1)We have worked hard to be consistent in our family devotional time.  I believe it's my responsibility to disciple my kids so we are still working, but had a good year in this one.  2)We have done excellent with our Financial plan.  We went through Financial Peace University (FPU) and have followed this plan and it has helped us be very responsible financially.  3)As for eating healthier, I have cut back my portions and eat less food at each seating.  I need to still improve on eating healthier foods.  4)I have Exercised Consistently all year.  I set a goal to run a 5k in early 2009 and did.  I have keep running and started other exercises as well.

As a whole I would say I did very well with my 2009 Resolutions.  So what are my 2010 goals?  That post is coming soon.

The Real Meaning of Christmas Charlie Brown Style

13th Wedding Anniversary & 33rd Birthday

December 21st is both my Birthday and my Wedding Anniversary.  The best birthday present I ever received was my wife.  I'll never forget that day that occurred 13 years ago today.  God blessed me with an amazing woman that shares this great life with me.  She is encouraging, uplifting, supportive and loving of me.  She is an incredible mother to Ty and Haley.  I can't imagine life without her.  We are a perfect fit for each other.

I remember seeing her walking down the isle of the church and thinking WOW!  As I look at her today I still say WOW!  I thank God for blessing me with Sara and the 13 years we have now shared together.  Each year seems to get better and better.  I love you Sara and Happy Anniversary!

 

Missions @ Beech Street

In December of each year Beech Street takes up it's annual Mission Offering.  The "Acts 1:8 Offering" is structured with this verse in mind, "...you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

Many people have given to this offering over the course of the entire year, while others give a lump sum on the actual day in December.  Last Sunday was our "ingathering" for the Acts 1:8 offering and we have received $97,000 to go toward missions, PRAISE THE LORD!  I fully expect it to go well over $100,000.  This money is divided up in to 4 categories and a percentage goes to each:  International Mission (IMB), North American Missions (NAMB), State Missions (ABSC) and Local (BSFBC).

It's exciting to be apart of a church that has a huge heart to see people won to Christ.  Thank you for your obedience to God Beech Street!

Ugly Christmas Sweater Party

I always enjoy attending our Small Group Christmas Parties, it's one of the benefits of also being the Education Pastor side of my job.  This past Saturday our "Threads Too" Small Group had an "Ugly Christmas Sweater" party.  As you can see from a few of these pictures there were some really ugly sweaters.  Lots of people went all out and did the entire outfit.  This group know how to have a lot of fun.  Sara and I had a blast hanging out with them Sunday night.

Sara & I

 

Burns, Neil & I

Sr. Adult Christmas Party

Thursday our Sr. Adults had their Christmas Party in the Fellowship Hall at the church.  They did a great job of putting a great event together.  The tables were decorated very nicely, the food was excellent and the entertainment was fun.  They had Roasted Pork Loin, dressing, sweat potato caserole, green beens, salad, rolls and some amazing deserts...I personally had the Apple Pie and Ice Cream cake...it was all very very good! 

For entertainment they had a "Illusionist."  He performed all kinds of illusions and did a great job of entertaining the crowd.  At one point he brought Pastor Craig up front and tried to teach him a trick.  He had Pastor Craig tear up a napkin is several of different squares then wade them up and put them in his mouth.  This idea was for it all to come out in one piece...of course it didn't work for Pastor Craig and it did for the Illusionist guy, it was  pretty funny.  (the picture below is of Pastor Craig with the napkin in his mouth.)

I always enjoy spending time with this age group in our church, they are such a big encouragement to me.  So many of them send me cards and offer many words of encouragement.  Plus they are some great prayer warriors.

New...

We had a great Thanksgiving with our families last week, now it's back to the ministry at hand.

Monday morning I hit the ground running, mostly planning for 2010.  Part of our staff team spent most of the day Monday meeting with "Worlds of Wow" about the design for our Childrens area.  Two of their team members came down Reagan, President, & Wayne, Project Manager.  Our team was very impressed with them and looks forward to partnering with them.  Emily, our Children's Minister, shared her vision and direction with them and this area is going to look simply amazing.

Tuesday I went to the monthly Super Summer Leadership Team meeting in Little Rock.  I am priviledged to serve on this team of Student Pastors from across the state in planning Super Summer for 2010.  For those of you that don't know, Super Summer is a camp for teenagers that takes place each summer at Ouachita Baptist University (OBU).  Super Summer does two camps, a Jr. High Camp & Sr. High Camp, with each one having  over 1000 students. 

Serving the Homeless & Struggling with Ty & Haley

Since our kids, Ty & Haley, are out of school for this entire week Sara and I decided to have them serve others.  I believe it's important to teach your kids and give them hands on experience.  We took Ty & Haley to the Friendship Center to serve lunch.  The Friendship Center serves lunch everyday to anyone in need.  The Friendship Center also does a variety of other services to help the homeless and those that might be struggling.  It's led by a great man, Bryan Bixler, who does a phenominal job.  Check out their website to find out more about what them.

Ty & Haley helped set up the food line and then they put food on the plate as the people came in.  They helped get ice in the glasses, pour tea and water, put rolls on the plate, put the desert on the plate and then handed the plates to those coming through the line.  They were both smiling and engaging to those that came through, which in turn brightened the day of many of these people.  (you can see Ty on the left putting the desert on the plates)

After it was over we set down as a family and talked about the morning.  I asked them what they saw and heard.  We talked about how we need to be grateful for the things that God has blessed us with.  We also talked about how we need to care and serve others.  This is only the beginning of many more service projects we will do as a family. (you can see Haley on the right putting rolls on the plates)

h2o live -Wed night recap

It was a good night at h2o and lots of fun.  Our worship band did a great job of leading us to focus on Jesus.  I appreciate them and their dedication and passion to led others to worship Christ.  I preached on Thanksgiving.  I talked about being thankful for what God has blessed you with and being thankful for what Jesus has done for us.  I had students write down five things they were thankful for in their lives, then I had random students share one of the things they wrote down.  It was neat to hear the different things students shared.  Then I challenged them to thank God more often for the blessings of life.  I concluded my message with being thankful for what Jesus has done for us...He Redeemed us.  We had a neat prayer time at then end where students spent time Thanking God for what he has blessed them with in their lives and for Him redeeming them.

After h2o and we were closing down for the night I was talking with two students.  As I was talking with one about following through in baptism the other students said she wanted to be baptized to, I asked her to tell me about when she accepted Christ and she had no answer.  I sat down with the two of them and walked her through what it meant to accept Christ.  She said, "I want to accept Christ tonight," so she prayed to receive Christ right there.  I love leading people to a personal relationship with Christ!

The most important thing we can do as believers is tell other people about Jesus.  It's exciting that God blesses us with the opportunity to see student accept Christ very frequently here.  May we never grow tired of telling people about Jesus!

Youth Baptisms falls from 140,000 to 75,000

I read this report on my brothers blog, Brian Mills, and thought I would share it with you.

Check this out:

1971 Southern Baptist Church Youth Ministries baptized around 125,000 students.  

The next year, 1972, that jumped up to almost 140,000 students.

Watch this –

1973 - 120,000 – pretty big drop from that 140,000 the year before.

Each year it has gone down.

1980 (7 years latter) – 109,000

1985 – 88,000

1990 – 90,000

1995 – 93,000

2000 - ??????

2001 – 83000

2005 – 83,000

2008 – 75,000

It's sad to see that we are reaching fewer and fewer teenagers every year with the message of Jesus.

When I came to Beech Street the end of 2007, I came with a passion to see the Baptism numbers here changed.  It broke my heart that no teenagers had be baptized that year.  For the past two years God has used our efforts and drawn many in to a personal relationship with Jesus.  Each teenagers that follows through in baptism represents a life changed by Jesus.  Here's a look at the last 10 years in the life of Beech Streets Youth Baptisms:

2000 - 8

2001 - 5

2002 - ? (no record)

2003 - 6

2004 - 12

2005 - 6

2006 - 3

2007 - 0

2008 - 17

2009 - 18

Praise the Lord for what God has done here over the past 2 years.  I pray God will continue to allow us to reach teenagers for Christ. 

Source: Annual Church Profile, Lifeway Christian Resource Center, Nashville Tenn. Compiled by the center for Missional Research of the North American Mission Board, Alpharetta, GA

Ty & Haley's heart for others...

 As I told you in my last post, our church finished up our Operation Christmas Child boxes this past Sunday.  The Saturday before Sara and I took Ty & Haley shopping to file the boxes we had gotten.  We allowed Ty to chose for the boy and Haley for the girl.  They put a lot of thought to what they chose to buy.  We talked a lot about the kids that would receive these boxes and what would make them smile and joyful.  Sunday morning before Ty & Haley brought their boxes to church they prayed over them and prayed for the kids that would open them. 

As Ty was finishing up with his box he decided he needed to add a Football, but we didn't buy one.  Ty went to his room and pulled out one of his favorite soft footballs that he and I play with a lot and put it in the box.  He said, "I've got more footballs, but this little boy doesn't have anything.  I'm giving this to him."  I must say it brought tears of joy to my heart, that my son was more concerned about giving to someone else, someone he will most likely never meet, that he was willing to give up one of his favorite balls.  (you can see the ball in the box he is holding)

I'm so proud of Ty & Haley both and the heart they have to give to others and to serve others.

What a Sunday!

This was just one of those Sunday's that you really since God's presence.  Sunday Morning I baptized two more of our students, God has given us the priviledge of seeing lots of students accept Christ and follow in baptism.  I love baptizing, it's just one of those major God moments in an individuals life and in mine.  As our worship time continued we had a neat time of praying over the Operation Christmas Child boxes, I will blog tomorrow about how God preached a sermon through Ty (my son) with this.  Then Pastor Craig preached a powerful message on the 10 lepers out of Luke and how only 1 of the 10 came back to Jesus.  At then end of the service we had 8 people join and one by salvation.  Just an amazing morning.

Immediately following the worship service we had a Operation Christmas Child (OCC) box packing and lunch.  It was neat to see so many parents bring their kids to this and teach them the importance of blessing other people.  It was also neat to see so many different ages of people represented.  It was a beautiful picture of what the church should look like, young and old working together for those in need.  I appreciate greatly the leadership of our Adult 4 Small Group in spear-heading our OCC mission.

Sunday night Sara and I finished up our discipleship class, "The Five Love Languages."  We have had a great group of people in their for the past 8 weeks and have had some great discussions.  As we concluded one of the couples, Jason & Sherri, brought in a small wedding cake and punch to celebrate the end of our class.  It was a lot of fun, I will miss meeting with all these people each week.

I am so thankful that God is at work here at Beech Street.  On a weekly basis lives are being changed for the kingdom of God, may we never take for granted what God is doing!

h2o live - Wed. night

We had a solid night at h2o Wednesday night.  The band did a great job of leading us in worship.  It fun to watch and hear them improve week after week.  I gave Rob the night to preach.  He preached on allowing God to use.  He talked about how Moses thought he couldn't be used, but God used him.  He encouraged students to allow God to use them.

It was a solid night, nothing fancy, but solid.  We had a large crowd of students again.  It still amazes me how God continues to use us week after week to impact lives for him, I hope I never grow tried of this. 

Recap on Friend Day

We had a very effective day of touching lives on Friend Day here at Beech Street.  The day began with our Small Group hour at 9:15am.  We encouraged people to invite their friends to attend their Small Group with them and we also encouraged our Small Groups to reach out to people. 

h2o student ministry had Kingsdown, a band from Little Rock, do a free concert during the Small Group hour, plus we feed all the teenagers a free breakfast of biscuits, gravy & bacon.  Over 100 teenagers showed up on a Sunday morning.  Kingsdown put on a great concert, we are still hearing how our students enjoyed the morning.  After the Small Group hour our students attended the Main Worship service at 10:30am.  (pictures below)

Our Children's Ministry had BOZ the Bear during Children's Church, 4yr olds-2nd grade.   They were excited to get meet BOZ upclose and personal.  He put on a program that all the kids enjoyed.  Many of them walked in Sunday Morning with a look of great anticipation, they were ready to see BOZ. (pictures below)

Finally, we had Dr. Grant Ethridge, Pastor of Liberty Baptist in Hampton, Virginia, as our guest Preacher for the day.  He preached out of Acts 2 and how lives were changed by Jesus.  Many people came down front to pray and some to make decisions.  It was a powerful morning of God moving in peoples lives.

Friend Day's are always exciting and encouraging to everyone.  They are a lot of work to pull of from but well worth it when you see what God does.  I look forward to seeing how God continues to use this Friend Day and the spirit from it in the days ahead. 

BOZ performing @ Beech Street

 

Landon & Ty (my son) with BOZ

Kingsdown in Concert @ Beech Street

 

 

Friend Day, THIS SUNDAY @ Beech Street

This Sunday is "Friend Day" at Beech Street.  We are offering a lot of things for different age groups this Sunday Morning, Nov. 8th.   The goal is for all of us to invite our Friends to come with us.  Everyday we interact with people that attend no church this Sunday is about them.

For our Children's Church, "BOZ the Bear" will be here to present the Word of God to them.  I believe all of our preschoolers will be facinated with Him and have an exciting morning.

For teenagers, the band "Kingsdown" will be performing during the Small Group hour, 9:15am, a free concert.  They are a rock style band that will engage the crowd.

The Highlight of the day will be our 10:30am Worship Service where Dr. Grant Ethridge will be preaching.  All our age groups will come together at 10:30am, with the exception of Children's Church, for a great morning of Worship and hearing the Word of God preached.

Ty & Haley meet PGA Pro David Toms

Thursday afternoon Ty & Haley got to meet David Toms, a PGA Golfer.  The First Tee of Texarkana put on a golf clinic where David Toms spent an hour hitting shots and answering questions from the kids.  He was very generous and kind.  Haley asked him, "How do you grip a club?"  He answered her and then after it was over and she was talking with him and he showed her how to grip the club.  It was a neat moment for her.  Below are a few pictures from today.

These 2 pictures are Toms showing Haley how to grip a club.

Below Toms is signing Ty's shirt

David Toms talking to the crowd in-between hitting balls

Ty & Haley on the driving range before the David Toms clinic

Gr8 Wed. night @ h2o

Last night was an amazing night at h2o.  I shared what God has been teaching me for the past month through His Word.  I talked about what Jesus made a priority in His life and what I saw the early church made a priority.  You see Jesus draw people to a relationship with Him (salvation) you see Him Serve people unconditionally.  I talked about how we must be about telling people how they can have a personal relationship with Jesus.  I even had a couple of students share about times in their lives they led someone to Christ...very powerful.  Then I talked about serving people.  We have got to serve people with not expectations.  Jesus did both serve people and invite them into a relationship with Him. 

We had 2 students accept Christ last night and scheduled 4 others to be baptized.  Just a neat night of God moving in lives.

h2o live - Wed. night

Last night was the last of our "Thr3e Big Nights" at h2o.  We concluded with and Xtreme Txt game.  We put together a list of questions from pop culture to biblical to everyday life put the question up on the screen and the first student to text in the right answer was called up on stage.  We did 6 questions, then did a simi-final round with those 6 to narrow it down to 3 and a final question for those 3.  It was a lot of fun and the students loved being able to text during church.

Our worship band did a great job after the Xtreme txt game of focusing our students on Christ through song and the Rob preached on Standing in your Christian Walk.  He challenged students to stand strong in life even though it's very difficult.  He talked about how God is pleased when we stand for Him.  It was a powerful word that ministered to students.

I enjoyed talking with several of our students on a deeper level last night one on one.  I had a goal of just focusing on one student at a time last night and hearing what is going on in their lives.  I must say it was one of the more meaningful nights for me personally at h2o.  I think it's because I took time to listen intently to one student at a time and not be in the constant Student Pastor rush of talking to everyone and impacting no one.  Times like last night remind me why I do Student Ministry.

YouTube Challenge WINNERS & Videos

Our YouTube Challenge to promote Small Group finished up today.  The Winners are 10th Grade Boys, led by Michael Chesshir.  Great job guys!  The 2nd place group is 8th & 9th grade girls & 3rd place is the 8th grade boys.  Check out the 1st, 2nd & 3rd place videos below, they are in order of place.  I congratulate all our groups on a job well done.

What was my personal favorite?  The 8th & 9th grade girls video.  They did a spoof of Rob and I and did it well.  It is very funny to me.

This was a fun promotion for our Small Groups.  They had to work together to create, produce, shoot, edit and promote their videos.  I highly recommend anyone doing this to promote Small Groups.  If you want to know how we did it check out my previous post by clicking on this link:  "How we did it."

1st Place:  10th Grade Boys


2nd Place:  8th & 9th Grade Girls


3rd Place:  8th Grade Boys


Good job to all!

Friend Day, Nov. 8th @ Beech Street - Video #1

Friend Day at Beech Street is on November 8th.  Dr. Grant Ethridge, Pastor of Liberty Baptist in Hampton, VA. will be our guest for the day.  Pastor Grant has been used by God to reach many for the Kingdom of God.  God has worked through him to grow Liberty to a church reaching thousands each week though 5 worship service.  God used him here in AR as well to grow FBC Lavaca to a dynamic church.  Pastor Grant is a guy that you will want to get your friends here to hear.  We want everyone to invite a Friend to come with them to Small Group-9:15am and Worship-10:30am on this day.



 For Preschooler's Boz the Bear will be here during Children's Church.  Talk about exciting! Your child will not want to miss this exciting opportunity to meet Boz up close and personal at Beech Street Sunday, November 8th.

h2o student ministry will be having a live band, Kingsdown, for teenagers during Small Group at 9:15am.  Kingsdown is a solid rock style band that has recently played with groups like: Switchfoot, Anberlin, Skillet, Superchick, Disciple and more.  This will be a great morning for teenagers to invite their friends to a FREE concert, plus we will have a FREE breakfast for them.  It's all on November 8th @ 9:15am.

 We look forward to God doing a great work on FRIEND DAY, November 8th at Beech Street.  Who are you inviting?

I hope you enjoyed the first of 3 Friend Day videos there are more coming in the weeks ahead.  We took the Geico commercials and spoofed them.

Disciple Now in Bastrop, LA

This weekend I traveled to Bastrop, LA to Grace Baptist Church and spoke at their Disciple Now Weekend, Chris Wright is the Pastor (above Left) and Tony Campanale is the Student Pastor (above Right).  Grace is a new church, 8 years old, and has a big heart to reach their community.  I had a great time hanging out with them and challenging them from God's Word.  The theme was "Identity" for the weekend.  I spoke on Identiy in Christ Friday night, Identity other see in us on Saturday morning and Identity to Lead Saturday night.  We finished up Sunday morning where I preached to the entire church out of Luke 5 on Passion for others people.

It was a great weekend and I appreciate Chris and Tony inviting me to be apart.  Sunday morning 4 people made decisions with 3 of them being Salvation decisions.  Grace is a neat church that is having a impact on their community. 

h2o...3 Big nights...Night #1

Wednesday night we began "Three Big Nights" at h2o.  Our goal is to offer things on these Wednesday nights to assist our students in bringing their friends to hear who Jesus is.  Night #1 we played the game "Don't Forget the Lyrics" and did it just like the TV show.  It brought in several new students.  I'm doing a message series called, "Upload."  Last night I preached on John 3:16 and the importance of Uploading Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior.  I talked about how we upload so much to our lives but the most important thing to put in our lives is a relationship with Jesus.  It was a good night with lots of energy and God moved in several lives.

Where have all the Christians Gone?

I read the following story on www.foxnews.com.  I have reprinted it below, or you can go to the original article (click here).

This is a very thought provoking article:

Where have all the Christians Gone?

Christianity is plummeting in America, while the number of non-believers is skyrocketing.

A shocking new study of Americans’ religious beliefs shows the beginnings of a major realignment in Americans’ relationship with God. The American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) reveals that Protestants now represent half of all Americans, down almost 20 percent in the last twenty years. In the coming months, America will become a minority Protestant nation for the first time since the pilgrims.

The number of people who claim no religious affiliation, meanwhile, has doubled since 1990 to fifteen percent, its highest point in history. Non-believers now represent the third-highest group of Americans, after Catholics and Baptists.

Other headlines:

1) The number of Christians has declined 12% since 1990, and is now 76%, the lowest percentage in American history.

2) The growth of non-believers has come largely from men. Twenty percent of men express no religious affiliation; 12% of women.

3) Young people are fleeing faith. Nearly a quarter of Americans in their 20’s profess no organized religion.

4) But these non-believers are not particularly atheist. That number hasn’t budged and stands at less than 1 percent. (Agnostics are similarly less than 1 percent.) Instead, these individuals have a belief in God but no interest in organized religion, or they believe in a personal God but not in a formal faith tradition.

The implications for American society are profound. Americans’ relationship with God, which drove many of the country’s great transformations from the pilgrims to the founding fathers, the Civil War to the civil rights movement, is still intact. Eighty-two percent of Americans believe in God or a higher power.

But at the same time, the study offers yet another wake-up call for religious institutions.

First, catering to older believers is a recipe for failure; younger Americans are tuning out.

Second, Americans are interested in God, but they don’t think existing institutions are helping them draw closer to God.

Finally, Americans’ interest in religion has not always been stable. It dipped following the Revolution and again following Civil War. In both cases it rebounded because religious institutions adapted and found new ways of relating to everyday Americans.

Today, the rise of disaffection is so powerful that different denominations needs to band together to find a shared language of God that can move beyond the fading divisions of the past and begin moving toward a partnership of different-but-equal traditions.

Or risk becoming Europe, where religion is fast becoming an afterthought.


Bruce Feiler is bestselling author of eight books, including "Walking the Bible" and "Abraham," and the host of the PBS series on "Walking the Bible." A frequent commentator on National Public Radio, CNN and FOX News. His latest book "America's Prophet: Moses and the American Story" will be published in October.

Sunday @ Beech Street

Pastor Craig was out of town this Sunday and he gave me the priviledge of Preaching.  I preached a sermon out of 1 Sam 14 talking about the importance of living a life of complete trust in God.  I asked the question, "What are we doing that if God doesn't show up, we are going to fall flat on our face and fail."  Jonathan new God could act on their behalf, he just didn't know if God would.  I want to live my life in that manner.  We had several guest with us and had one family join, with the teenager coming by salvation.

Missed the service Sunday and want to watch it click this link: http://www.beechstreetfbc.org/bsfbc_media

Sara and I are still leading a discipleship class on Sunday nights, "5 Love Languages."  We have a lot of couples in this class and our discussion time is always interactive.  It's neat to hear how God is using this study to impact marriages and open lines of communication.  We are loving spending time investing in these couples.

h2o YouTube Challenge has begun

Sunday we began the h2o YouTube Challenge.  This is a Small Group competition where they all made a video that promotes h2o small groups.  We then uploaded the video's to our h2o YouTube site (www.youtube.com/h2otexarkana) and the video that gets the most hits over the next 3 weeks wins. 

This has been a lot of fun for all our h2o small groups and they a now in the midst of fierce competition to see who can get the most hits.  I will feature a video on this blog every couple of days, or you can just go to our YouTube site and watch them (click here).

Want more information on how we did this?  Read a previous post I did on this "h2o YouTube Challenge - Part 2."

Don't see this everyday...

Saturday some friends of mine, Brendon Burrell (L) & Charles Thacker (R), went Gator hunting.  They caught a 12'11" Aligator that weighed around 600 pounds.  I hear it's one of the largest gators caught in AR history.  It took them over 4 hours to wear it down and kill it.  They said it pulled their little flat bottom boat all over the place.  Pretty amazing!  Charles also is our Sr. Boys Small Group leader, this made for some great discussion starter Sunday Morning.

Watch this...

The world is changing fast and how we communicate and interact is changing.  Check out this video, I have seen this video on several blogs and on YouTube.



Very interesting and thought provoking.

It's Your Year Series - week 3

Last night at h2o I continued our series, "It's Your Year..."  Last night I spoke on how "It's Your Year to Lead."  I preached out of Daniel 1 and looked at how Daniel was a leader in a very difficult situation.  I told students if you want to lead you must:
1. Be Grounded - have a firm foundation in your relationship with Christ so you will not let the little things harm your relationship with God. 
2.  Prove Yourself - when's the last time your proved your relationship with God by telling someone to watch you?  If you want to lead it will take time for you to prove it.
3.  Be the Best - If you are going to lead, be the best you can be and set yourself apart from others.

A lot of people want to lead but few become leaders.  You can lead but it's not a position or an appointment and it doesn't happen over night.  It was a night that the Word went forth and impacted lives.  I talked with several students about their relationship with God after it was over.  I love seeing students let the Word impact their lives!

Doug Fields steps down from Saddleback Staff

Doug Fields has been the Student Pastor at Saddleback Church in California for the past 18 years and has built/grown a ministry that has/is impacting thousands of students.  He has also been a great leader and friend to Student Pastors all across America and beyond.  He is a great man of God that has been used powerfully at his local church and to influence Student Ministry as a whole.  Here is a link to what is going on in his life as he transitions to a new phase in his life.  It's neat to see how Pastor Rick Warren, the church leadership team and the congregations are very supportive of what God is doing in his life.  Read about it (click here)  The Story...

What a great guy that God is still using to grow the Kingdom.

Sunday @ Beech Street

God continues to allow us to impact lives each and every week.  I'm so proud of our Small Groups and they way they are reaching out to people.  It's fun to see all the new faces connecting with a Small Group.  Our Faithworks (discipleship) is going extremely well.  Sara and I are teaching "The Five Love Languages."  We have a large class and they are a lot of fun.  We laugh a lot and learn a lot together.  All of our other teachers are doing great with their classes as well.

This Sunday Pastor Craig started a new series called, "Identity."  He is looking at what we believe.  Yesterday he talked about "God."  Check it out on our Beech Street Website www.beechstreetfbc.org

Week 2 of "It's Your Year"

Last night Rob preached part 2 of our series, "It's Your Year." He message was title, "Upgrade." He spoke on growing in your walk with Christ. He challenged students to want more out of their lives and to "upgrade" their walk with Christ. He led students through scripture pointing out how to grow and the importance of growing. I always love when it's invitation time, because our students are sensitive to the Word going into their lives. We also had one student that accepted Christ last night and another that is searching out God's plan for his life. Pray that he to will soon accept Christ.

Not only is it neat to see what God is doing in students lives, but also to see how God is growing Rob as a communicator. He did a great job sharing the Word. He has come a long way in the past year and the growth in his life is evident as well.

Just one of those encouraging nights as a leader to watch how God is using people under my leadership and growing them and moving them forward in their lives as well. One of those nights where you get...can I say it...warm fuzzy feelings about how God has used you in other peoples lives.

Pop Culture...did you know?

Maybe the hottest thing in Pop Culture right now is what Kanye West did to Taylor Swift at the VMA Awards on MTV Sunday Night. Didn't see it? Here it is (there is a 30sec add at the front before it come up).

MTV Shows

Later in the show Beyonce actually won the Best Video of the Year Award and called Taylor Swift back out on stage to finish her speech that Kanye stole from her. CAUTION: Beyonce's clothing is very revealing (again another 30sec add at the beginning of this one also).

MTV Shows

Then Tuesday night Kanye appeared on "The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno and offered this apology (another 30sec ad prior to video).

MTV Shows

This is the culture we seem to live in. It's sad that we no longer seem to respect people. We don't have to agree but there are a lot better ways to disagree then being rude. The sad truth is this is what kids and teenagers all over are watching and in most cases reenacting. Sad but true. As a Parent I encourage you to know what your teenagers are listening to and watching. Be engaged in the way they treat other people. Parent's be engaged in culture, because kids and teenagers are.

Faithworks kickoff

Sunday night we kicked off our Fall Semester of Faithworks. Faithworks is our discipleship strategy that takes place each Sunday Night from 5:00-6:00pm. Instead of having another worship service on Sunday night we provide another avenue for people to grow in their own personal walk with Christ.

We offer a wide variety of classes for people to chose from: How to handle your finances, a "Discover Beech Street" class for those visiting and new members which is always led by our Pastor, we switch up classes on marriage/family and parenting, Beth Moore class, focused in-depth Bible study classes and more. Plus we do all our Children's Choirs during this time. For Teenagers we offer Leadership Tracks: Worship Band, Puppet Ministry, Praise Team and a growth/study class. On the third Sunday of each month we offer a meal immediately following the Faithworks classes at 6:00pm. We charge a very minimal amount, yet it's very fun for everyone to get together and fellowship. Then as a point of rest for everyone on the last Sunday of each month we have what is called a "Green Night." These are nights when we have no church activities.

This has proved to be a very successful model for us. This past Sunday night we got of to a great start with a huge crowd of people plugged into these various classes. It looks to be a great semester for us.

Great start to the Fall

Sunday was a great start to our fall ministry here at Beech Street. I'm amazed by how many visitors God is bringing to our church each and every week. I believe it's a testimony to very productive ministry being done, of which our lay leadership is a huge part of this taking place.

Sunday Pastor Craig preached a vision message and talked about two main things:

1) New Day Campaign:
Our new day campaign will work to remodel and improve our facilities. Our Preschool & Children's area will be receiving a very nice face lift. It will look very kid friendly and be rearrange to better meet the needs of this ministry. Also our Preschool will be gaining a much needed update. Another element is our h2o student ministry will be relocating our worship room. This will allow for added growth in this ministry. Our Sr. Adult area will be updated to better meet their needs and accessibility. Finally, our Adult Small Group area will undergo a redesign to allow us to add more Small Group classes.

2)A 2nd worship service
Pastor Craig shared the vision to launch a second worship service. This service would be done in the same area we will be moving our student service. The area would double for student ministry and for our 2nd service. It would have a completely different feel and worship experience from our current service, but would still hear Pastor Craig via video/simulcast. I believe it will allow us to reach a people that are not currently being reached in Texarkana for Christ.

There are a lot of exciting things launching right now at Beech Street! It's a great time to be apart of what God is doing here. I will blog tomorrow about the huge kickoff to our Sunday Night discipleship ministry called, Faithworks. Wow, we had a lot of people here growing in their walk with Christ.

New Series @ h2o

Last night I began a brand new series at h2o called, "It's Your Year." Over 4 weeks we will be challenging students to make this year like no other year in their life this far. Rob and I will be team teaching this series and I kicked it off. I preached on "It's Your Year...To Transform." Yes, we did play off of the Transformers movies. I preached out of Acts 9 on how Saul's life was Transformed. We looked at how Saul fought against God, and asked the question "Are we destroying the name of Christ or Building up the name of Christ. Secondly we looked at how we each must be Transformed by a personal encounter with Jesus. Finally we talked about how once you've had a real encounter with Jesus it radically changes you, I asked the question "when has anyone been 'baffled' by what God has done in your life." You find that in Acts 9:22.

The just of the message was you must change...Transform your life if you are going to have a year like no other year in your life. For some that means salvation for others that mean refocusing your life on Christ. It was a powerful night and several students talked with me after about how they could Transform their lives.

Below is a video we shot that I used toward the beginning of my message.

Vote on who will win Tigers vs. Razorbacks!!!

vs

The big State Line Game of Texarkana Texas Tigers vs. Texarkana Arkansas Razorbacks is Friday Night. It's all on the the line for bragging rights.

Who will WIN the State Line Battle?

• Arkansas
• Texas
• Tie

View Results
Create a Blog Poll

Rob's 1 year Anniversary

Rob has officially served at Beech Street for 1 year, the actual date was September 7th. Rob has been a great asset to our team. Robs strengths are his creativity and his relational skills. He is on the school campuses almost daily at lunches and heavily involved in student lives. He has been a great help to me in expanding our reach to teenagers. With him here it has also allowed me to be more hands on with our adult ministry.

I appreciate Rob's heart to see more people reach for the Kingdom, and the incredible job he does serving along side you and me as we seek to reach people in Texarkana.

Kickoff Night

Our AWANA ministry kicked off Wednesday night. Emily Smith, our Children's Minister, did a great job organizing the event and getting kids signed up for this year. The parents signed their kids up and they had a huge shaving cream fight and met their leaders. Emily had over 95 kids here for the kick off. Great job Emily & AWANA workers!


h2o student ministry continues to grow as well each week now that school has begun. Last night I finished up my series, "high quality h2o," looking at what h2o is all about. I preached on "Reproducing" what God has done in your life in someone else life. I finished preaching on John 4:27-42.

God continues to grow both our Children & Student Ministries each week. It's neat to see new families connecting with Beech Street through these ministries.

h2o YouTube Challenge - Part 2

If you missed the previous post check it out and the video we put together for the h2o YouTube Challenge. (click here to read it or scroll down)

We are very passionate about reaching more people for Christ here at h2o and God has greatly blessed our ministry. Due to some major space limitations we are not able to do any major outreach efforts on Wednesday nights since we already pack that room out each week. So instead of doing our outreach focus on Wednesday nights this fall we are moving it to our Small Group Ministry on Sunday Mornings. Our goal is to see more students connected with a Small Group on a weekly basis as a result of the h2o YouTube Challenge. Plus this will be a lot of fun.

So how does it work and how did we organize it?

Important Dates:

August 16th: Inform Student Ministry Volunteers of the idea and basic instructions for the YouTube Challenge.

August 26th: Issue the YouTube Challenge to students via video at h2o live,
Wednesday night.

August 30th: Issue the same challenge via video in h2o Small Group

September 27th: Due date for the Videos from the h2o Small Groups.

October 2nd: Upload YouTube Videos to YouTube on our ministry YouTube Page. Show a group’s video in Bible Study. (www.youtube.com/h2otexarkana)

October 4th: Show a group’s YouTube Video in h2o Small Group.

October 11th: Show a group’s YouTube Video in h2o Small Group.

October 18th: Show a group’s YouTube Video in h2o Small Group.

October 25th: Announce the YouTube Challenge Winners!!!
(possibly have 1st, 2nd & 3rd prizes)

Show a Groups video each Wednesday Night.

YouTube Challenge Guidelines:
Time Limit: Videos should not exceed 2-3 minutes
(although creativity trumps time limits)

Content: All content must promote the h2o small groups on Sunday Morning at 9:15am, and should be clean and reflect a positive mentality about involvement in our Student Ministry. We will watch and censor any videos that we deem to be inappropriate.

Editing: The groups are required to edit their own YouTube Videos. We will not aid or edit anything for you. See programs like “iMovie” or “AVS Video Editor”. They are free and easy to use.

Remember: This is a YouTube Video, not a professionally edited and directed movie. Make it good, but don’t be a perfectionist, you will ruin the fun nature of the project.

Final Format: You may turn your video in on a Jump Drive, or a DVD. Please call with questions.

Completion Date: Your group’s video needs to be turned in on or before September 27th!!!

Uploading: We will watch and up-load all YouTube Challenge submissions. Please don’t upload the video yourself or it will not be eligible for the challenge.

How do we win?
We will upload every group’s YouTube Challenge Submission on October 2nd for the whole world to see. Whichever Group’s YouTube Video receives more “hits” by the end of October 22nd by 11:59pm will win the YouTube Challenge!!!

We modified this to fit our ministry from an event done by Brian Mills. Gotta love sharing ministry ideas with your brother! Check out his blog to see what he's up to. If you're a staff member at a church I suggest reading his blog often.

h2o YouTube Challenge

We have begun a huge Small Group push called the, "h2o YouTube Challenge." What is the purpose of this? To promote our Sunday Morning Small Groups and to get more students plugged in on a weekly basis. Each Small Group will create a Video and submit it to me to upload to our www.youtube.com/h2otexarkana site. Once we upload the video, which ever Small Group gets the most hits over the course of 4 weeks will win $500. The Winning Small Group will be able to do whatever they want as a group. Again our focus is to promote Small Groups and to get more students involved on a weekly basis.

How does this work? I will blog about that tomorrow. Check back for a detailed look how we have organized our YouTube Challenge.

It's a New Day...

Sunday was another great day at Beech Street. For the past couple of weeks our Worship Center has been packed out with people. Lots of people are visiting both our Worship service and our Small Groups. It's neat to see how our church is reaching out to these people.

Craig finished his series on our purpose as a church: Believe, Belong, Become. He preached on Become. The focus of his message was us going out to a world that is in need of a Savior. We have got to be the hands and feet of Christ. Check out his message below.

At lunch I led a Small Group Leadership meeting. Over the past year I have been organizing our Small Groups to be even more effective. We have some great Small Group leaders here at Beech Street and now we have a leadership team in each class. Each of our Small Groups is organized to have the following leaders: Teacher, Assistant Teacher, Inreach leader, Outreach leader, Hospitality/fellowship Leader and a Care Group leader. I taught on our plan for our Small Groups and how each leader fits. I'm excited about how God is going to use our Small Groups at Beech Street as we continue to grow and reach more people.

We finished off yesterday with a NEW DAY vote. We voted to have our architect draw up plans for the remodels of the Education Building, Senior Adult area and to relocate the h2o student worship area. Great things are ahead of us.

"B the Church"-Become Matthew 9:35-38 (8-30-09) from BEECH STREET FBC on Vimeo.

The guys singing at the beginning is Mark Bartels. He is a student at Ouachita Baptist University and is working with our h2o student band.

Holly floaty, big boaty

What's that all about, it was some crazy saying that just popped out of my mouth while I was preaching last night. I love preaching the Word. Well last night at h2o was a blast. I believe God is up to something big as we head into another school year. I continued my series, "high quality h2o" last night. I'm preaching through what h2o student ministry is all about. I believe it's important for teenagers to know and own the ministry. Last night I preached on "Equip," growing in your walk with Christ.

I challenged our students to "want" more then just their salvation experience. I talked about growing in your walk with Christ and understanding more of who God is and how He can work in your everyday life. The sad truth in America today is we have a bunch of Christians that are lazy and have no desire or drive to seek after God. The same God that did so many incredible things in people lives in the Bible is the same God we serve to day and the same God that wants to do those things in your life. Jump in and pursue your relationship with Christ.

I'm very proud of our worship band and the time and effort they have been putting in to sound simply amazing. I believe our worship on Wednesday night is becoming very contagious, that's obvious by just watching the crowd as they are drawn in. Great night at h2o!

Do you know...

Sara and I have got in the habit of hanging out in our front yard and walking around our neighborhood almost every night. As a result we have gotten to know a lot of people that live around us. We talk with someone new or that we haven't meet at least once a week. There are some of our neighbors that we are starting to build good relationships with.

Last night after walking in our house from being out I thought to myself; engaging people is really easy, just go out in your front yard or get out of the apartment. Sara and I just carry on normal everyday conversations with people and get to know them.

I challenge you to try it. Most nights we go out about 6:30-7:30 and people are outside. We let our kids ride their bikes and meet new kids. Try it, you will get to know some people you never new lived near you.

Good day...

Sunday was a good day at Beech Street. Over the past couple of weeks we have had lots of first time guest visiting with us. God has chosen to bring people to us and we are seeing many of them connect with us through our Small Groups. One thing I love is to hear what guest have to say about our church, one recurring statement I hear over and over from them is: "Everybody is so friendly and welcoming here." That is a statement that every church wants said about them and I'm so proud of our people for being welcoming to all who come.

Of course with a lot of guest coming it puts a lot of work on us. Our staff has been working frantically to follow-up with these people, but the neat thing is we have organized our Small Groups in a way that they help us follow up. God is growing our Small Group ministry and using it to help us reach more people.

Sunday was just a great day of worship and ministry on our campus and I'm excited about what God is doing through us, the people of Beech Street.

h2o live

This past Wednesday night at h2o was very effective. Our worship band is doing a phenominal job leading students to worship. I am very proud of the work they are putting in to led our worship service. Over the past couple of weeks I have been reteaching what h2o is all about. h2o is more than just a name, it is the map for which we do ministry.

h2o=water
W=Win
A=Accept
T=Team
E=Equip
R=Reproduce

This week I taught about the word "Team." What do we mean? We want to "Team" everyone up with a Small Group. One of the major focuses of h2o is to see students involved in a Small Group on Sunday mornings. This Wed. I spoke of the importance of a Small Group in your life and what our Small Group seek to achieve. I spoke about all the elements of our Small Groups, here are the highlights: 1)Teaching/Learning the Word of God; 2)Praying-they are a place students pray for each other; 3)Fellowship-they do things as a Small Group outside of Sunday morning; 4)Outreach-they designed so you can bring new people in; 5)Ministry-they do small ministry projects together.

It was a night that the Word went out and it came back strong. Lots of students talked with me after the worship time about getting Teamed up with their Small Group. I'm excited to see how students grow in the walk with Christ as they Team up with their Small Group.

My kids first day of school

Wednesday morning my kids started school. This is Haley's first day of Middle School, she is a 5th grader this year. This is Ty's first day of Kindergarten. They were very excited, yet a little nervous about the big day. Can I be honest, I was a little anxious for them.

I walked Haley into her middle school and they were all huddled up in the gym listening to a lady talk. She got put with her home room class and they headed out. I left the gym thinking, wow my girl is growing up.

Then I went to drop off Ty. As soon as we walked in the door at College Hill Elementary his best friend Haak was coming in as well. They walked down the hall together just talking the whole way. Then they went in their separate classes, that's a good thing because they would cause a lot of trouble if they were in the same class. I helped him get his stuff put up and find his set. Then I walked out the door.

Life passes quickly is what I realized yesterday. I only have a short time to invest in my kids lives, so I best make the most of it. God has blessed me with two kids that love Him and I pray they will stay close to Him as they continue to grow.

Showing off the backpacks

Ty & his friend Haak

Ty setting at his table

They both had a great first day.

Sunday @ Beech Street

It's really neat to see how God is moving in peoples lives here at Beech Street. Almost every week we are seeing people follow in Baptism, proclaiming Jesus as Lord of their life. Over the past couple of weeks we have also had lots of first time guest, with many of them returning and attending one of our Small Groups.

Pastor Craig is preaching through our purpose as a church: BELIEVE--BELONG--BECOME. Yesterday he preached on BELIEVE and the importance of us winning people to Christ as a church and as individuals. One of the main goals of Beech Street is to see people enter a personal relationship with Jesus.

This week began a series of training meetings for me. I believe it's important to meet with your leadership and give the guidance and direction. This week I meet with our h2o Small Group leaders and talked about our plan for teenagers an their Small Groups. I can't mention it yet, but on August 30 it all begins. Trust me, it's exciting! I trained our leaders and prepared them for this fall.

Over the next two weeks I will be meeting with all our h2o adult volunteers that help on Wednesday nights and our Adult Small Group leaders. I love to equip people to do the ministry. We have some amazing volunteers, workers & Small Group Leaders here at Beech Street and I greatly appreciate each and everyone of them.

2 years @ Beech Street

It's hard to believe that 2 years ago today we began our journey at Beech Street. God has done so many amazing things in the past two years that there is no way I can mention them all. Here are a few things that come to mind.

I remember my first Wednesday night here, we had 27 students show up. I remember being excited to see how God was going to use these students and adults to grow our ministry in the years ahead. I remember us quickly raising over $45,000 from our church to remodel our youth area that we would call "h2o." We had so many great adults & students that volunteered their time to work for several weeks remodeling this room. Then Grand Opening night @ h2o was a night I'll never forget. We had 98 students show up with several praying to receive Christ and God birthed "h2o student ministry" here in Texarkana with a bang. From their it has been a fun ride.

I'm more excited than ever about what God is doing here at h2o. I believe, as exciting as the last two years have been, that some of our most incredible days are just ahead of us. I'm praying for God to continue to use us to reach teenagers for Christ and to see others deepening their walk with God. I believe as we continue to implement the h2o strategy, within the next two years God will have our ministry to a very healthy place. Thanks to the many great adult volunteers that God has blessed us with the future looks incredibly bright and rewarding.

Not only do I do Student Ministry, but I'm also the staff member over all our Adult Small Groups and Discipleship Ministry. God has allowed us to birth several new classes over the past two years. We have seen our Young Adult Ministry explode with these new classes. We have also began new Senior Adult Small Groups & Men's Small Groups that have grown rapidly as well. I feel like I'm just beginning to get the Adult Ministry well organized, but God has been using our Small Group Teachers and Leaders to grow our Small Groups and reach new people.

Two years have passed and I feel like we are just beginning. I'm very thankful for these two years and look forward to many more.

I've posted some pictures below from the past two years.

The picture below was my family the year we moved here. The picture at the top of this post is my family this year. How things change.

Let's keep going and reaching people for Christ Beech Street!

Check out Brian's journey

My brother, Brian Mills, and his family are moving to Nashville, TN. For the past two years Brian has served as the Student Pastor of Second Baptist Houston's West Campus in Katy, Tx. He is now moving to LongHollow Baptist Church just outside Nashville, TN to be over all there Student Ministry. Brian is one of the top Student Pastor's in America and God is continueing to give him favor and great influence. Check out his blog to find out what's going on in his life. (click the link below)

Time of Transation: Read what is going on in the Mills Life

Blessing our schools

Last night our church family loaded backpacks with school supplies to give out to kids in need. I've seen a lot of people reached for Christ through service projects like these. There are a lot of people that simply can't afford school supplies for their kids to go back to school and we are going to be able to bless them by handing them a backpack full of all the supplies they need. We will also be putting in a flyer from our church and information about our kids ministry.

Thank you to all of our church members that chose to be a part of this last night, it was neat to watch people at work and then the incredible prayer time we had over these bags. I hope we can do a lot more of this type thing in the future, because it meets people where they are. Isn't that what Jesus did, meet people where they were? This is missions on the local level. Great job Beech Street!!!

From a personnel stand point, it was a great teaching experience for me as a parent. I got to teach my son & daughter the importance of giving and blessing people. I want my kids to have a passion for giving and blessing other people.



From

Serving the Football Teams

Today we took Gatorade and Rice Krispy Treats to the Arkansas High football practice and handed them out to the players when they finished. Coach Miller has been very gracious in letting us interact with the team and we greatly appreciate him.

It was neat to see the looks on the players faces as we handed out the Gatorade and snack. They were all very thankful and it opened another door for us to impact teenagers lives. We will be doing more things like in the weeks to come. We strongly believe in being on the campuses an interacting with students.

We will also be doing this at Texas High hopefully next week and the Jr. Highs.

Sunday @ Beech Street

Mission Nebraska '09 from BEECH STREET FBC on Vimeo.

This was the video from our Mission Trip to Nebraska. God used our team to make a great impact in the Kearney/Grand Island area.

It was good to be back after being gone for two weeks. We had an amazing morning of worship. I got to baptize another one of our teenagers, Ty Kemp. Craig finished up his series "Ourchurch." He talked about the final of the 7 churches in Revelation, Laodicea.

Now it's time to put the final touches on our fall schedule. Looking forward to what God is going to do.

Mills Family Vacation

My family and I are on vacation in Perdido Key, FL, which is near Gulf Shores, AL. My brother and his family and my parents are with us also. Everyone needs time to rest and refresh and we are having a great time here. I might blog some more this week, not sure yet, to busy being a beach bum and eating lots & lots of Seafood...mmmm it's good!

Below is a picture of us after we got off the water bumper boats. It was a lot of fun, but we got soaked.

Finished Strong!!!

Well our trip is officially over. I'm writing this at 10:45pm on Thursday night. God has been very faithful to us and has worked powerfully through our team. Thursday was no exception to us seeing God at work in a mighty way.

Thursday morning we concluded our two Bible Clubs, one in Alda, NE and the other in Grand Island, NE. At the Bible Club I led, in Alda, we gave kids an opportunity to respond to Jesus on Thursday. One of our girls, Lacey, indicated she wanted to accept Christ. I paired her with Sara and Haley and the led her to faith in Jesus. She was so excited. The picture above is Lacey with Sara and Haley after she had prayed to receive Christ. It was exciting for everyone. The Grand Island group led by Emily finished the week strong as well. There are some strong seeds planted and we pray they will be harvested soon.

Thursday Morning:

Thursday Night we held a Block Party in Alda, Nebraska. After the huge success of our Block Party in Shelton on Tuesday night we were excited about tonight. I must say God once again showed up. We had over 60 people show up with a large number of them being Hispanic. Dave, our church planter, is looking to start ESL (English as a Second Language) Class here and within that do a Bible Study. Tonight several expressed interest and he even secured a home to begin in. We also meet several other towns people that were very interested in being a part of a Bible Study. It was amazing to see how God just opened so many doors with us doing a simple Block Party.

Thursday Night:

What an amazing week! I will write a wrap up post later in the week. We leave at 5:30am Friday morning to come home.

Below is a picture of Dr. Young and Amber. They both had a birthday while on this trip. We celebrated in style with our entire group. Happy Birthday to you both, and thanks for letting God use you this week.

Tuesday Night Block Party & Wednesday

Tuesday nights block party in Shelton, NE was a HUGE success. We set up a jump house, some kid games, cooked hot dogs, made sno cones, made cotton candy and the people came. Over 100 people showed up for the event. This gave Dave, our church planter, lots of names to began a work in this city. He hopes to begin with a Bible Study and see where God takes it from there.

Our team, the people from Beech Street, did a phenomenal job. They worked hard and engaged the people in conversation from the time we showed up till the time we left. At one point Pastor Craig said to me, "our people are making me so proud." God is using our people to make a difference here in Nebraska.

Below is video of our team in the jump house before the Block Party started. Yes, even the adults were in there, even Dixie Dickson got in on the fun. This was prior to the event starting.

Pictures below from the Block Party in Shelton, NE on Tuesday Night:

WEDNESDAY:
Wednesday morning we did our third day of Bible Clubs. Today we shared the gospel very clearly. Our story was on the death and resurrection of Jesus. Our craft was the salvation bracelet and in our Wordless Book we talked about being cleansed of our sin. It was a very strong gospel presentation today. When I asked our kids if they had ever heard how Jesus came to forgive them and have a relationship with them after going over the ABC's. Three girls responded, "we've never heard that before." Wow, we are truly breaking ground. I pray the Word will grow in their lives and they will accept Christ.

Below are pictures from Wednesday Mornings Bible Clubs & Work Team. The Grand Island team didn't take a lot of pictures today.

Tomorrow is our last day in Nebraska, it's our final day of Bible Clubs and it's our final Block Party. I will blog more tomorrow.

Tuesday in Nebraska

It is Tuesday here in Nebraska. Our work team accomplished a lot on Monday. Duane and George built a porch for a lady in Grand Island, NE. The lady who they built the porch for sent her grand kids to a backyard bible club a couple years ago and they accepted Christ. As a result of the kids accepting Christ she was drawn to the church and accepted Christ as well. This week we blessed her and built her a porch on her house.

The other Work team is building a fence for the YWCA. Our church planter planted a church in Grand Island, NE and is using the YWCA to meet in, the YWCA charges them rent to use their facility. The project we are doing we help out the YWCA greatly and it will allow the New Church Plant to meet there rent free.

Our Bible Clubs grew today, the one in Grand Island grew from 4-10 and the one in Alda grew from 4 to 6. God is honoring our efforts in these clubs. Today we taught, "Jesus is the Son of God." We are also teaching the Wordless Books. Each color represents the salvation plan. These are very effective with the kids. Pray as we give kids the opportunity to enter a Relationship with Christ tomorrow and Thursday.

Our Kitchen crew is doing a phenomenal job. They don't like pictures, I've tried to sneak a few, but they run. They have cooked breakfast, lunch and dinner for us everyday. They are a vital part of what God is doing here through our team.

It's so neat to see how God is working through our team. The people that are with us are simply amazing. We have adults, students and some older kids. It's neat to watch the CHURCH in action.

Tonight, Tuesday, we are doing a block party in Shelton, NE. We have a party trailer, a jump house and we are cooking out for the people of this town. We are expecting several to show up. I'll post pictures of it tomorrow.

Work Team in Grand Island

Alda Bible School Team

Grand Island Bible School Team

Check back tomorrow for more updates.