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.