Thoughts On Sunday

Today was moving day. It was our first day in the theater. Here are a few thoughts:

• We had 2 first time guest not counting the youth group from Star City that was also in the service.
• We were in a groove setting up in the 6th Grade Center. It will take us a little while to get our groove back.
• We bought some more equipment for the move. We bought 2 light trees and a projector stand. The light trees will stay. We need a taller stand for the projector.
• The youth group from Star City was awesome. We were sad to see them go.
• Being portable is definitely not boring. We ran out of extension cords, and created a class room out of a hallway using pipe and drape.
• The music sounded great today.
  
• I preached on Nehemiah's move to Jerusalem.

Backyard Bash Tonight

The Backyard Bash for tonight has been canceled. The rain is supposed to continue all evening so we will reschedule it for July.

Last night's Backyard Bash was awesome. We had 25 kids show up with parents. Everyone had a great time.

The youth group from Star City has been amazing. They have passed out around 1500 fliers. Yesterday we went by a fire station and some other businesses and passed out bottles of water.

Back Yard Bash

In an hour the youth group form Southside Missionary Baptist Church from Star City, Arkansas will arrive. They are going to help us pass out 2000 fliers and put on two one night VBS environments we are calling "Backyard Bash." There will be crafts, snacks, games, and a Bible lesson each night. Here is where you can find them:

Friday Backyard Bash
Location: The Greens Apartments (13600 E 84th Street North)
Time: 6:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Inflatable: 20 ft. Slide

Saturday Backyard Bash
Location: Hammond's Residence (12209 E. 82nd Pl. N.)
Time: 6:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Inflatable: Castle Jump


**There will be two more backyard events the last week of July.

Glad To Be Home

In the last 10 days we drove through 9 states, over 4,000 miles. Tonight I'm glad to say WE'RE HOME!! I have never been so glad to be home. I can't wait for church on Sunday. It will be good to see everyone.

Next week is our Backyard Bash. We are doing a VBS type outreach at an apartment complex on Friday and in a neighborhood on Saturday. The youth group from Southside Missionary Baptist Church in Star City, Arkansas is coming over to help.

We Made It To Spokane

Friday and Saturday we made our way from Sheridan, Wyoming over to Yellowstone National Park. When we woke up Friday morning the weather report said the temperature in Yellowstone was 24 degrees and one of the roads was closed due to snow fall a few days ago. All I could think was wow, quite a bit different than weather in Oklahoma.

We spent most of Friday and Saturday in Yellowstone.

We stayed in Montana Saturday night. We drove through Montana, Idaho, and arrived in Spokane, Washington on Sunday.

Today the messengers arrived for the American Baptist Association Messenger Meeting. I heard about what God is doing in the U.S. and around the world during the Missionary Share Time. I am always amazed when I hear what God is doing in different cities. I am in awe when I see families that are living across the ocean planting churches so far from home.

I experienced a first tonight. We ate at a mexican restaurant that served salsa made without tomatoes. I didn't think that was possible. We ate with 5 other couples. I don't know if you can laugh too much, but we got close.

Newspaper Ad

There will be a quarter page newspaper ad that will run for the next 2 weeks in the Owasso Reporter. It will announce our move to the Owasso 10 Movie Theatre. Jimmy did a great job putting the ad together. Make sure and bring someone with you that first Sunday. It's going to be awesome!!

The Trip Continues

We drove through Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming on Friday. Here are some of places we went:

Bighorn Mountains and Forrest - South Dakota
Collin hit me with two snowballs without warning. So, it was on. No, I didn't seriously injure my son with this incredibly large snowball. I can't believe there was so much snow!!

Wind Cave National Park - South Dakota
We took a 1 hour tour of the cave but we also saw some buffalo.


Custer State Park - South Dakota
The drive through the park was awesome. We saw a lot of wildlife. Even if the drive took almost 2 hours to travel 50 miles. Collin kept using the map and telling us the road we should be on...maybe we should have listened.


Mount Rushmore - South Dakota
The pictures I've seen don't do justice to the mountain. When we were there one of the orginal workers was there and we got to meet him - very cool.

Beginning The Trip

We left at 5:15 a.m. Thursday morning. We were on the road for 14 hours. We drove through Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska. We finally stopped in Chadron, Nebraska.

Trip To Spokane

We're leaving for Spokane, Washington in a few hours for the American Baptist Association Messenger Meeting. We will be making stops at Mt. Rushmore, Yellowstone, and Glacier. Let the driving begin...

Lifepoint Is Moving

We're moving!!

June 29th will be our first Sunday in our new location - The Owasso 10 Movie Theatre. After several weeks of getting everything worked out. It is done. We will be leasing the theater for less than 1/2 what we originally thought. The theater manager has been awesome. Starting June 29th our service time will change to 10:00 a.m. Here is a list of benefits from the move:

1. Significantly less rent.
2. We will have our own key.
3. We can leave our sign out all week.
4. No road construction
5. Location has twice the traffic count as the school.
6. Cup holders (Jimmy came up with that one).

This is going to be AWESOME!!

Here is a video and slide show of the theatre:

Kati and Daniel's Wedding

After stopping in at Oklahoma Camp at Bogg Springs last week we headed over to Norman to check on our house that still has not sold. Oh the sadness. We now have it listed ourselves. You can check out the sweet blog Marnie created for the house here. Since she made the blog one of the neighbors has gone to the site and sent me an email wanting to buy the swing set in the backyard. I guess that is a start. Now if someone will send me an email wanting to buy the house.

We were also in Norman to be in a wedding. Kati Martin and Daniel Smith were married on Saturday. Marnie sang and I had a part in the ceremony. Kati and Daniel were in the youth group and MBSF when I was at Concord. They also worked as youth sponsors. Daniel has just been called as pastor to a church in Seminole, Oklahoma. They are two awesome people. I can't wait to see how God uses them.

Oklahoma Camp @ Bogg Springs

Last week Marnie, Collin and I made a trip to Bogg Springs Campground for the last night of Oklahoma Camp. One of the worship leaders at Lifepoint was leading music. They had 460 campers. Over 30 kids were saved during the week.

Simplicity

We do alot of stuff. I personally think life is too busy. I could give you an exhaustive list but just consider television, your computer, work, recreation, and all the other business and noise in our lives. I think there is a need to simplify. We don't need to do all the stuff we do. We desperately need less noise, less business, and more time with God.

In Luke 10 Jesus explains the importance of simplicity to a woman named Martha who is distracted by business. Jesus explains to her that everything you are doing isn't necessary. I think the same thing is true for us. Have you thought about all the jobs and tasks we take on? Are we letting ourselves get overloaded because of bad planning, procrastination, or just doing stuff that isn't necessary? It's also interesting that as Martha is overwhelmed she becomes the victim. I think we do the exact same thing. In the midst of our misplaced priorities and overstretched schedules we start to feel like no one cares. We need to simplify.

Here are some other verses that might be helpful:
Psalm 46:10
Mark 1:35
Luke 5:15-16
Mark 6:30-32
Mark 6:45-46

Sunday

Today we kicked-off a 3 week sermon series called Man vs. Wild. Here are some highlights:

• We had some families out of town but attendance was still good.
• We had one family attend for the first time.
• Our Worship Pastor was preaching at another church this morning. He usually makes sure all the sound and video equipment is setup. Today we took off the training wheels. One of the other guys took the reigns and we had no problems - impressive!!
• I Preached from II Samuel 23:20-23 and II Corinthians 11:25-29.

Lake Texoma Fishing Trip

This weekend a group from Lifepoint made a trip to southern Oklahoma for some fishing. Jeremy and Eileen Johnson put together a great trip. They knew some guides who took us out to fish for stripe bass or "striper." I took Collin with me and he loved it. We all loaded up in vehicles on Friday afternoon and spent the night at a small resort beside the marina. We got up the next morning and we were on the water by 6:00 a.m. We caught our limit. It was a blast. Here is a video of Collin bringing in a big one. If that's not enough there is a slide show too.