Branson & More

Man, we had a whole lot of fun at our staff retreat in Branson. We got all our Christmas shopping done, which was great since we don't have one evening free to shop until after Christmas. We had a great time hanging out, eating, shopping, playing games, and just retreating!

Last night we had our adult leadership Christmas party and that was great! Everyone made food and we had a white elephant gift exchange. I stole a play shotgun thingy and Erin got bubble gum floss. Then we played catch phrase the remainder of the night. We had a great time hanging out and building relationships with our team! We are going to have an adult retreat in January at TenKiller lake which I am looking forward to. It's great to grow together as a team and honor those who give their time week in week out! We have a great team here at Journey and we couldn't do our services & ministry without them!

Well, tonight we have our 4/12 student leadership Christmas party, tomorrow is the home openers Christmas party for Master's Commission, Sunday night is the staff & elders Christmas party, Monday is the school band Christmas concert, Tuesday our worship team plays at the high school and we set up for the Youth Christmas party that night, then Wednesday is the BIG FORMAL Christmas party for 6th - 12th grade, then we leave Thursday to go home for the holidays and spend time with our family!!! We have a busy next so many days before Christmas.
Well, that is about it for now. By the way I have scored 77,770 on PacMan, YES!!!

Jr. High Service & PacMan

Well, I am pretty excited about the message tonight for our jr. high service. We have been doing a series we started called, "Light of the World". Tonight we are talking about God calling us to be a light to the world by letting our light shine into others! God has been speaking to me about this topic and some cool things. Our prayer for the students is out of Job 42:5 where he said, "My ears have heard of you, but now my eyes have seen." We want our students to see the light of Christ and then shine the light of Christ so others can say the same! Tonight is Erin and I's last normal Wednesday service with the jr. high students since next week we will be gone on our staff retreat then the week after that is our BIG Christmas party, so tonight is going to be fun. Daryn Crawford is sharing next week for the jr. high service!

We have been getting into pac man a lot here at the office. During lunch we head out to the back lobby and play some pac man on the arcade game we have and it is fun. I never really played pac man too much in the past, but I am loving it! We are trying to get the high score and see how high we can get it. Right now the high score is 44, 300ish which is pretty darn hard to get. But with some skill and God's anointing we can get there, I believe!

Christmas Time

Christmas Time! Yeah! I love it! The lights, movies, games, food, all of it! This is our favorite time of year! We have been playing Bing Crosby the last few weeks non stop! It is a busy time thought starting this Friday every night until the new year EVERY night is accounted for with parties, events, services, school specials, you name it. It is going to get crazy, but in a good way! We have our big Christmas party coming up Wednesday, December 19th. We are dressing up formal and having a full course dinner, games and more! We also have the opportunity to play at the high school for a special event. So our worship team is going to jam there on Tuesday the 18th! God is moving and doing great things. We have a big Christmas party for our adult leadership team coming up which is going to be great and a student leadership Christmas party for the 4/12 team! So we are going to be party'd out by the new year!!! Well, I need to get working with all that needs to be done so just wanted to update things!!! God bless!!!

Thanksgiving and More!

Well, Last Sunday the 11th after service Rachel, Angie and I headed to Indiana for Thanksgiving! We drove throughout the night at nothing could stop me from seeing my babies (Erin & Zion) We got in about 7 in the morning and it was a great trip. Angie stayed with Rachel and got to see our home town in Indiana and meet some of the families. We had a great time seeing family, eating and hanging out with them!!! We miss them a WHOLE LOT so it is great to spend time with them!!! Then we headed back Friday the 23rd about 3pm or so and got in early Saturday morning! Then we decorated for Christmas all day on Saturday and got our tree up and all that fun stuff! Then we watched one of our favorite Christmas movies, ELF!!! It was so fun this year putting up decor since Zion is old enough now to help out and have fun decorating! We LOVE Christmas time at the Barrett household!!! We love to decorate and listen to Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra Christmas music while eating wonderful goodies and watching Christmas movies!!! What a great time of year this is!

Sunday night at youth was amazing! We had a worship night, where we just got down to business with God and spent time in His presence. No games, no fluff just the meat & potatoes. God was moving really strong. We as leaders went around and prayed for students and God was really speaking and touching the hearts of the teenagers. Students were confessing of things to empty themselves and make room for God's presence. God was speaking into students lives for the future. And many students just received God's touch for whatever was going on! It was a great night of ministry and worship! We have such an amazing youth group here at Journey and amazing students that are stepping up into all that God has for them!!!

Well, it's time to get at it now that we are back and to get geared up for the next month and the upcoming year!!! We are starting a new series with the youth for the month of December called, Light of the World. We will be talking about Jesus being the light of the world and what that means then US being the light of the world and how to do that!!! We also, have our huge formal Christmas party coming up December 19th for 6th - 12th grade. We will have a full dinner, dress up, have games, goodies, give away a free ipod, and more it is going to be awesome!!!

Off The Hook

Man, the Transformation conference was off the hook! It was an incredible weekend totally in the presence of God!!! The teaching was intense, the worship free, the ministry powerful. I am still resting up a little from it, because it was non stop!!! The Lord really spoke some things into me during the week and it was great to see lives literally transformed from the inside out! I love going out to Tim's church in California and seeing everybody that I have built great relationships with over the past 5 years or so! It is also great to eat some REAL Mexican food, oh yeah!!! Yesterday, Jay Jay, Leslie, Jay & Kelly, Jarred and I went downtown Hollywood to see all the fun sites. It was Jarred's first time there so that was fun! We walked down Hollywood Blvd., Sunset Blvd., Santa Monica Blvd. and more! We went to L.A. Ink from the show on t.v. but they were closed for recording so we pulled into the back where they were hanging out and I got to talk to Kim one of the artist on the show! Then we went to Beverly Hills and got out and walked around the high class stores that you have to ring a bell to get in! We had a great time and we also saw the youngest boy from the Brady Bunch I forget his name but he walked by us in Hollywood! It's always fun to see who you might see when you are there! What a great time it was of ministry, refreshing, revelation and more!!! God is doing great things and it is great to be back in Sallisaw ready to keep pressing on for the things of God here in our area and our people!!! God come move in power!!!

California Transformation Conference

Well, Jarred and I are here in the hotel getting ready to go to service for the last day of the Transformation conference here in California! It has been amazing!!! God is moving powerfully, worship is super intense, and the ministry and teaching has been outstanding! There are about 10 of us from out of town that flew in for the conference here with the Gate Church. God has been speaking to me about this generation and the things He is desiring to do as well as some things specifically for Sallisaw! It has been great to enter into the depths of worship, it has been very powerful. Jarred has been able to make some great contacts for Masters. There have been some students really praying and thinking about it! Tonight he will get to share before the whole conference about Masters and get some contacts for those who are interested. We have also made some great contacts with other youth pastors around the country. Our youth are invited to "Sin City Outreach" which is a huge city wide outreach in Las Vegas. Wal-Mart has donated all their charity to this ministry because of the testimonies of lives being changed by this. They usually have 3 trucks full of stuff that Wal-Mart donates, but this year Wal-Mart backed out of all their contributions to other things because of the lack of impact it was making. Yet this ministry is so powerful that they are donating 11 truck loads of items to give away to the poor, broken, abused, hurting, and lost! So the main director of this ministry and I have connected here at this conference and he has personally invited us to come and bring our youth and possibly for me to lead some worship during the week when we meet together. God is opening all kinds of doors! I miss being back in Sallisaw with our students, but I believe God is downloading some things in my Spirit for our youth and community!!! Well, we are getting ready to head out here soon, so I need to get loaded up and ready to go!

Just a side note when we got off the airplane waiting for our ride near L.A. there was a movie being shot outside at the drop off area! It was called Cab Driver and I think it was a love story cause a couple was holding hands and looking at each other as a WHOLE crew had lights, camera, and action going on! So if they keep that scene we were there driving by twice with our head out the window starring at movie making!

Bacheloring>Youth>Holidays

Well, Erin and Zion are in Indiana with the family right now! Erin's grandmother passed away last Friday and they flew out Saturday morning for the funeral and to be with the family! Erin was going to come back today because we were going to fly out to California for a conference with Tim Roberson that I am leading worship at! Then we were going to go to Indiana for Thanksgiving and get Zion then and take her back with us! We weren't sure if it would be good for Zion to be away from both of us for a week and a half, so we were going to play it by ear! Erin didn't think she was going to do well since she has been with us everyday since we moved to Oklahoma. So Erin is staying back and just waiting for me to come up for thanksgiving break! So I am a bachelor for like 2 weeks, YUCK! I hate being away from my family they are my WORLD and take first place under God! So...we switched Erin's ticket to California for Jarred our 3rd year masters students. I am super excited he is going though and he will love it!!! He is going to do some recruitment for Master's so that will be great!!! I miss my babies though already and I still have a week and a half or so left! But there is a lot to be done around here and at home so I will use the time wisely!!!

Things have been super crazy with all the events we have been doing with the youth. We have had an overnight with 70 students, a fall fest wit about 80 students, a 5th quarter with different youth groups with 300+ students, a tailgate party after a football game with almost 100 students, Wednesday & Sunday services, guys night at my house, a chick flick movie night with the girls, and more!!! So I am looking forward to the holidays to slow down a bit with events and all that has been going on! Youth ministry can be tiring since it is so event driven. Services during the week are only about half of the impact youth ministry has! The other half is being a part of students lives which means going to games, concerts, events, etc... and doing youth events such as all that we have been doing! Staying up all night, creating fun events, inventing games, memories, and excitement to keep their attention and momentum! That's why I love ministry though...it's what makes it alive, passionate, fresh, God centered! I love doing what God has called me to do. Their is nothing like living in the destiny God has set for you! I wouldn't trade if for a 9-5 job any day, even though sometimes it's like a 9am - 5am job sometimes!!! Their is nothing wrong with a 9-5 job some are called to that type of job, but I love the heartbeat of the local church even when it doesn't clock out. Holidays look out cause I am going to embrace my family and hopefully rest a little for a fresh new year!!!

Fall Fest

Last night went great at the Fall Fest here @ Journey! We had around 70 teenagers and probably around a few hundred children throughout the night! We set up in the parking lot with the JSM band, had ping-pong, basketball, & pumpkin bowling! We played some great group games that was a blast! Pastor Tony and Journey Kids were all set up inside the building with mazes, games, and different stations for the kids! I didn't get to go through but I know it was a huge hit. We had tons of people come from the community and just stop by. It was for sure a great Fall Fest to honor God!

Last night I dressed up like a pirate. I had the whole outfit, eye patch, hook, hat & earing. It was a lot of fun. Zion dressed up like a bumble bee she was sooooooooooooo cute look at these pictures! Zion is getting cuter and cuter everyday. She is soooooo funny too! The other night we were playing on the floor rolling around and I picked her feet up off the ground and she said, "I don't like to be man handled!" I laughed my head off cause she loves the movie, "Night At The Museum" and that is where she heard that line!!! How funny are little kids! Erin's belly is starting to show and she looks so cute too! We find out in few weeks what we are having, we are so excited! Well, mom and dad are coming into town today just for the night. I need to get some things done so I can spend some time with them. They are on their way to Arizona, so they are just passing through!!!

Another Busy Week

Whew! We have been busy to say the least! Last Friday went great at the 5th Quarter United. We had probably around 300 students hang out throughout the night! All of our bands played, which was awesome! We had a inflatable boxing set, a huge slide, pizza, and just pure hanging out! Everybody is already talking about trying to do another thing like that again, they loved it so much! Then Erin had her, "Chick Flick Night" They had a great time playing some great movie games and eating some awesome snack food!!! Erin does such a great job when she does events and basically anything she does!!! I LOVE her sooooo much!

Things have been going great with the students, we are doing our series, "Who I Am" and it is really tuning the students into what God wants to do in their lives! Sunday night with the high school we had like 45 students, so that is great! God is really moving and opening the students hearts up. Tomorrow we are having Fall Fest 07! We are setting up outside in the church parking lot and having our band play, games, and some food & a costume party! It is going to be a lot of fun! I have a pirate costume, Zion is going to be a bumble bee, and we still need to get Erin an outfit! It is going to be a lot of fun outside tomorrow! Then Friday night after the football game we are having a TailGate Party in the parking lot until 12pm! We will have hot dogs, some music and just good 'ole fashion parking lot hanging! Sometimes students just want to hang out and not do anything so we are going to just hang Friday night! Then on Sunday the girls are going to join the Ladies Night that Mrs. Steph is putting on for the women of the church. While that is going on the high school guys are going to come over to our house and cook out, play some 360, and play some other games!

Well, a lot is going on so I am going to get back to it and hammer things out for all that is going on this week and the weeks to come!!!

Another Wonderful Day

Tonight we had a great service with the jr. high! We started our new series called, "Who I am" talking about who we are in Christ and how God sees us! Wednesdays are always really fun services and we have a huge group of 6th - 8th graders. This Friday we have a 5th quarter united that we are doing with 3 other churches in the community at the middle school gym after the football game! We are having inflatables, live music, pizza, drinks, and more. It is going to be a great night of hanging out and doing the event together with other churches! Erin is having the chick flick movie night for all the girls this Saturday from 6pm - 9pm in the zone! They are going to play movie games, eat food, and watch a chick flick movie!

We are keeping super busy with the day to day operations of running the church and more! God is doing great things though! Tonight I had a parent tell me about how God is just blessing their socks off everywhere they turn! Miraculous thing too that are totally God and nothing else! It is so great to be part of such a wonderful church where God is moving all over the place in the lives of people!

It's late right now and I can't sleep! My brain starts to wake up at this hour and it is not good! I have been running 1.5 miles everyday and yesterday I ran 3.5 miles! I felt pretty good and couldn't come up with a reason to stop so I kept pushing myself! I figured since Rachel (the MC student staying with us) could run 26 miles on Monday out of nowhere then I could push a little more than 1.5 miles. It felt good, I hate to run but I love how it makes me feel afterwards. Well, I am going to attempt to lay down and try to fall asleep. Hopefully I don't become more awake thinking and brainstorming, I tend to do that way too much at night!!!

Operation Overnight & More

Whew I am still resting up from operation overnight! We had 70 students come out for this awesome event! We played dodgeball, crazy games, worship, food, skavenger hunt, picnic, and more. It was a blast!!! 24 hours of intense youth ministry at it's best!!! Sunday at church was great, we started our new series Identity! I was able to lead worship since Chad was out of town of vacation and that is always fun! Then Sunday night we started the youth new series called, Who I Am. We are talking about what's makes us, us! And how does God see us! We had a fun night, and a great time in worship together. Our high school is totally pressing into worship and going deeper and deeper each time we meet!

Today we are cleaning and just catching up on things. These last few weeks have been crazy with everything going on! We are getting caught up though with everything today! Tomorrow we have a doctors appointment for Erin and the new baby! We are excited to go! Here in a few weeks we get to find out what we are having, yeah!!! I think we are having a boy or a girl, so we will see! Well, lots of thing to do today so I better get back to it!!!

Oh YEAH!!!

Friend day went amazing we had 560 people within our 3 services! Many people got saved and rededicated their lives to Christ and it was great! Then we had party at pastors which had about the same amount of people! We had multiple inflatables, food, music, hayrides, pony rides, 4-wheelers, mechanical bull (which really hurt by the way), horseshoes, chili cook off, and more! It was great to get everyone together within all the services and just hang out! Everyone did an amazing job rallying together and working all the events and making Sunday morning services be all they are! As pastor Jeff says it takes great people, serving a great God to make a great church, so true and we have GREAT people here @ Journey!!!

Tonight we had a blast at our 6th - 8th grade service. We are in between starting a new series so we had a fun night of team challenge and just having a good time! Tomorrow is Operation Overnight and we have like 50 students coming already! We are staying the night at the church from 6pm tomorrow until 6pm on Friday. We are going to have a blast hanging out, playing games, video scavenger hunt and tons of other stuff!!! It takes many events outside of normal weekly services to make youth ministry really powerful. You can't just rely on services to impact teenagers it takes so much more to get into their world! They have to really build trust and respect for leaders in order to really open up their hearts. Sometimes students have been so hurt from family and friends that they tend to keep high walls up between others. Events really tear down walls and build great relationships and memories for the students. It makes the weekly services that much easier and better to speak into their lives. It was super busy last week and yet super duper busy this week for the youth ministry too, so I will be sleeping like a baby on Saturday to say the least!!! God is awesome and doing great things. It is so great to hear parents come to me and say, "My son/daughter NEVER would come to church or youth and now they beg me to bring them out on Wednesday/Sunday for youth!" We are hearing praise reports and changes of attitudes and other things all the time from parents. That makes everything so much more rewarding when you see the seeds sprouting right before your eyes!!! What a great church, great pastor, and most importantly GREAT GOD we serve!!!

Trying To Post More!

Alright I am going to try and post blogs a little more often! We have been so busy though. This is peak season for us as a church with ministry. August - November seem to always be the BIG months that churches have the most people and most opportunity to impact! And that is what we are doing!

Today the t.v's for the foyer got hooked up thanks to Kevin Rodden! He did a great job running all the power and everything else! We have got some painting done thanks to Daryl Jones & Angel and we will have more helping these next few days with other projects. We have a lot of irons in the fire so to speak! This weekend is going to be great!

Tomorrow Erin's dad and step mom are coming into town for a few days, so we are excited about that! Homecoming is tomorrow night and the parade during the day, so that will be fun as well! Football is like the state fair here! The whole town goes to the games on Friday nights, kinda like the movies! It's a lot of fun seeing everybody there and getting to meet new faces!

Well, Zion and I are watching Annie and just hanging out getting ready to go to bed! I am still doing some laundry though, so I might wait up a bit! I had lunch today with the youth pastors here in town and we are doing a combined event October 26th after the football game in the middle school gym. This will be the first event we have done together in a long time I guess. It will be fun to get together and reach these students. The youth pastors are great guys doing a great job in their churches and the community! Well, I am going to get to the laundry and clean a bit, Good Night!!!

8 Students Got SAVED!!!

We had a great service tonight 8 students gave their life to Christ!!! God is moving and doing great things! After worship tonight, I just felt like the message I had prepared wasn't for the night so we changed things up a bit and just let the Holy Spirit lead us. I just got up and shared about being connected to the power source Jesus Christ and how we are like an extension chord. An extension chord is nothing of itself but when it is connected to the power source (an outlet) it comes to life and has juice!!! So we just gave a salvation call and 8 students responded. We have grown so fast that we have many students who just simply don't know Christ and what it means to follow Him. We have a great opportunity right now to build some foundations in these students with salvation. I love when God brings totally lost people to you and you don't even have to go out! Our students are doing the work bringing friends and God is touching their hearts week after week!

Well, this is an insane week with getting ready for friend day, party at pastors, and everything it takes to make that happen well! We are on top of it though and everything is falling into place the way it should! We have such great people here at Journey that make things easy, fun, and such a joy!!! Friend Day is going to be great with tons of people here that don't know Christ and we get to help point the way to Christ, HOW COOL IS THAT? God is going to move in power and anoint this service soooooo much! It's awesome being at a church that is so healthy and focused. We have such a great pastor that leads us and great people who serve so faithfully each week, I am blown away!!!

Well, I am so tired and ready to just lay down and rest!!! We have much to do these next few days and only so much time to do it!

Time Is Flying

Whew! Time is flying bye! It seems like time is a snowball effect the more it goes bye the faster it gets in life! If what I hear from older people is true, which is, "Just wait till you get my age and see how fast it goes!" then a day will be like 3 minutes (which is not good). Anyway, things are going great we are rockin' and rollin' as usual! We have so many great events coming up with Friend Day, Party @ Pastor's, Operation Overnight, Football team meal, Halloween October stuff, Services, Dig (which is going to start October 17th for the high schoolers on Wednesday night. Dig will be second base for all of our high school students that want to go deeper into God's word and their relationship with Him! Daryn Crawford is going to be leading it while the jr. high service is going on! 1st base for our high school students is coming out to Sunday night high school service then going deeper on Wednesday with Dig! It is going to be a great!

Holidays will be here before we know it! We are so excited about seeing our family back home around the holidays. We have been here 7 months and I have only been able to get back home once for a few days for my brother's wedding, so we are so excited about seeing our family and friends back home in Indiana. Our parent's have come and visit quit a bit actually which is awesome! But we haven't really been able to see our brother's, sisters, nieces, nephews, and so on! We are anxious to see them! I can't believe that it is the fall already! Time is flying and we are sailing on the wind of it! God is awesome and is moving all the time!!!

Busy Times As Usual

Man it has been busy! But isn't that life? Today we had a Frontline Ministry lunch at the Sharp's house and it went great! We talked about the fall and just encouraged everyone in what they are doing and Chris shard some great stuff! We have a great team of ushers, greeters, welcome center workers, cafe workers, parking lot workers, and so on! I believe that this ministry prepares the way for the word, worship, and all that God wants to do in a persons life! Ministry happens as soon as people pull onto our property and their experience needs to happen as soon as they step foot out of their car. We have a great team doing a great job here at Journey!

Things are going great with the youth! We had see you at the pole Wednesday morning, it was more like see you at the flood though. It rained and thunderstormed all morning long. We had it in the gym at the high school & middle school! We had a great turnout though for power going out and downpours. 65 at the middle school and about the same at the high school. Tuesday night there was a prerally at another church in town and Erin, Danny and I went to that. It was a great service of worship and just preparing the students for the event Wednesday morning. Then Wednesday I got to speak at Central schools youth alive. Which is a lunch time bible study group and that was fun! I also went to Sallisaw's youth alive on Tuesday and hung out for a while both lunches. It is great to see the students in their schools and stepping out for God! It was a busy week with the students for sure! God is totally moving here more and more as we press in!

Well, I am tired and I need to get some rest for tomorrow. Another big day of church and high school service tomorrow night! I have a great message ready about being either a firefighter in life or a firelighter. We have the ability to either put out people's fire in life or set them on fire for Christ! It is going to be good! Good night!

A Lot Goes On

Well, tonight was great at youth! We had our high school service and talked about keeping the fire burning in our hearts. What it takes and the things that will put our fire out if we are not careful. Sunday's are great in the zone, the feel is warm and worship is going really good. We have been having some good pressing in times during worship. We have an awesome high school group that we LOVE!

The last few days Zion has had a fever and is not feeling well. Today Erin stayed home with her and has been resting herself from being sick! Zion is so clingy when she is sick it's kinda fun to snuggle with her, not that I want her sick by any means though.

We have been busy here with football games, planning events, services, and simply the nuts and bolts of ministry. A lot goes on in order to do everything we do like: Message prep, creative brainstorming, setting up, creating games, caring for people, visiting schools & games, planning events, budgeting, leading volunteers, reaching out, cleaning up, organizing ministry teams, tracking and assimilating attendance, discipleship, the list goes on and on. It takes a lot to simply run the daily operations of ministry. I love it though and couldn't think of anything I would rather be doing than building the Kingdom here on earth.

Zion and I are hanging out watching Bob Ross. We like to watch him together, Zion loves him, it's so funny to hear her ask to watch Bob Woss!!! Well, we are going to go to bed soon we are very tired and some very sick, so...

God is on the MOVE!

Sunday night at the high school service was awesome! We had 43 high schoolers and God was doing great things! We talked about how God is a consuming fire and when we get close to Him He will burn the junk out of our lives! We took a clump of wax that was all nasty and said this kind of represents our lives (sometimes a mess with sin, hurts, fear, confusion, etc...) and when we draw near to God He burns them out of our lives. So I took a torch and melted the wax into liquid. Then we said, "Now God can mold us and shape us into the awesome vessel He has called us to be, which we had a beautiful candle that was crisp, clean, and smelled great! We said now God sets us on fire again so that people can smell the fragrance of Jesus through our actions. The light is like the hope that we give people through Jesus and the beauty of the candle is the awesome relationship we have with Christ! It was a great night, the students are responding more and more to the things of God!!!

Well today I had lunch with another youth pastor here in town and we had a great time eating some Mexican food. We are going to be doing some things together for see you at the pole next Wednesday and after a football game coming up soon! It is great to hook up with people that have a heart for teenagers here in the community and to see what God is doing through all of us! God is on the move and we are following!!!

What A Great Season We Are In!

Alright, Erin, Zion and i just got back from the pep rally at the high school for the 1st home game tonight. We are excited about going to our 1st Sallisaw Football game since we have been here. We didn't move here until February so football was over and every game so far has been away, so tonight is the night! Tomorrow we are going to go shopping for little "Z" she needs some new cloths. Her old clothes have stains and are getting a little ratty so it is time for the new. Tomorrow night we have a birthday party for one of our students that we are going to then Sunday we have our 1st high school service in the zone, yeah!!!

Wednesday night was amazing for the jr. high service! We had 45 jr. highers out and it was great! The week before we had only 24 to start the jr. high group and in one week we doubled!!! 7 students gave their life to Christ at the end and we celebrated with a pizza party! I would say that is a great start for the 1st service in the zone with the middle school. I can't wait to see what happens in these next few months with our youth, God is doing great things. On top of that we had an awesome family that donated a significant amount of money to the youth ministry. That will open doors for all kinds of things we need to do in the zone and with our impact in the community! God is moving and we can't deny it! We are so excited for the future and what God is going to do. We simply be obedient, humble, patient, genuine and God starts moving and we follow suit! We never have to force God, because we simply can't anyway. It is His timing, His will, His power and we become willing vessels. Open your entire heart and trust to God and He will do amazing things!!!

The New Baby

Well today we got to go get an ultra sound on the new baby! They needed to check some things with Erin at the doctor and we got to see the baby moving around! He or she was hanging out with arms back and feet out, it was awesome!!! Everything is fine and the baby is doing well. Erin is doing o.k. she has on and off days feeling better at times and pretty sick at others. We can't wait for the baby to come and find out what it is going to be.

Tonight we had our small group at the Peter's house and it went great. If you are not in a small group get in one, it is a great way to get to know people and connect with others. We had a great turnout with like 15 or 16 people there. We talked about Pastor Jeff's message and some other stuff that got brought up about being a contagious Christian. What a great church and great people we have here at Journey!!!

Tonight we worked on the zone and are getting it ready for tomorrow night's service. It is so great having these 2 services each week. I love getting to give all of our attention to each age group!!! Tomorrow we are going to have a great service talking about our new series, "Contagiously Consumed". We are going to have a blast with our team challenge too! Well, I am tired and need to get to bed, big day tomorrow with everything going on!!!

Monday, Monday, So Good To Me

Last night was our 1st high school service and we had a great turnout. The service went wonderful and we gave the students a tour of the zone which will be open next week. We still have a lot of finishing touches, but we want to do it right for the opening. It is great having 2 services to reach these two age groups jr. high and high school. We already are seeing good things.

I recently got a treadmill to start running on. Before we moved here to Oklahoma Erin and I were working out at the local Y and I was running up to 3 miles a day on the treadmill. But since we moved here I have stopped running and gained almost 22 pounds, yikes!!! So it is time to start redeeming myself back into an acceptable weight. Today I started off running a mile and I will slowly begin to work back up. I love running in the morning, cause it makes you want to eat right during the day. You don't want to waste all that hard work I guess. We are getting ready to take Zion to her dance class, which is so cute. Then we have a wedding to get ready for tonight. Erin is coordinating this wedding for the church. After that we will come home hang out and do some cleaning then probably go to bed and get ready for this big week. We have to open the zone Wednesday night and that means tomorrow will probably be an all nighter again to get it read so it will be a big day for a big week. Well, we got to get going so, I will try to blog a bit more often, we have been SOOOOOO busy lately, but who isn't? right?

The Split

Tonight we had our 1st middle school service! We had a pre-kick off service tonight! Next week we are opening the zone and starting Team Challenge. We broke the students up into 6 teams 6th - 8th grade girls and 6th - 8th grade boys. Each week they will be able to gain points by bringing bibles, friends, attitude, and various crazy challenges that we will do each week. Tonight they came up with team names and a team pose! They were some funny poses from the groups. Next week we will start all the challenges and have our service in the zone. We were going to have it tonight in the zone but it was about 85% done and we want to start 100% with a bang! So we pushed it back one week. This Sunday is our 1st high school service @ 6pm. We have a lot of little things to do in the zone to get it fully functional and decorated. It is looking really cool though and we are very proud of it. Tonight we gave the students a little tour to get them anxious and they really liked it!

Well Rachel Gluesenkamp is moved into our house all unpacked. She is a first year master's commission student from our home tome in Indiana. God has a huge call on her life and we are honored to have her here with us. We are all talking right now hanging out and she is drinking fish oil (yuck). Anyway, Erin came to the service tonight since she was feeling up to it. It is great to have her with me at the services I feel much better with her there. I have been really missing her there at the services hanging with the students and being such an example to them.

Well, I am going to go and start to shut my body down if it will. I have a hard time going to bed at night cause that's when my brain starts going on overdrive with ideas and vision! I think it will be easy to unwind since we have been so busy and working all night on the zone these last few weeks. I am ready to get it finished and be able to come home at night and actually go to bed before 3am on a regular basis.

Radio / Peanuts / Gotta GO!

God is doing great things! Tuesday Daryl Jones came into my office and told me that Spirit 106 out of Fort Smith was looking for a place to set up in Sallisaw to pass out bumper stickers and prizes and what not. So I called and said they could use our parking lot here at Journey and they accepted. Then the lady asked me if there was anything I would like to share coming up with the youth on the air live, and I said "Uh, yeah"! Perfect timing we are starting the split this next week, with Wednesday being the jr. high service and Sunday being the high school service!!! What a great opportunity! I got to get on the air twice and promote our fall vision and Journey church!!! God always knows what He is doing!!! So yesterday before youth I got on the air and talked! How cool is that?

Last night at youth was great, it was our last night together combined and we went out with a blast! Worship was really good and the students really responded. We finished our series talking about purpose. Each week for the VISION. PASSION. PURPOSE series we gave out something cool to remind the students of each element. The first week we gave everyone glasses to remind them to see life through God's eye view and with the right kind of vision. The next week we gave everybody a little heart to remind them of making sure their passion is in the right place (after God) then last night we gave everyone a peanut, that's right a peanut. At the end we talked about George Washington Carver who discovered over 300 uses for the peanut such as: cosmetics, paint, dyes, paper, gas, nitroglycerin, food, plastic, shaving cream, and my favorite peanut butter!!! We said most people just look at a peanut and eat it or pass by it, but George Washington Carver saw it as something more valuable. We said let this peanut remind us that we may be small but God created us for great things and many reasons. Our lives are like a peanut, if you eat it up and waste it, it doesn't amount to much, but if you understand you were created for greatness than you have purpose forever!!! It was a good night!!!

Well, I could talk all day, but I got to get working on the zone and other stuff, so adios!!!

I Think I am Tired Now As I Write This Title, Good Night!

Well it's almost 4am here and I just got home from working on the zone. I am not really tired believe it or not. When I get "in the zone" it is hard to stop until I feel I got more done than I should have. Daniel and I were up there doing as much as we could and we got a lot done! We were painting, cleaning, etc...It was fun hanging out and working together! We still have a lot to do and it will probably take some more all nighters to get it done!

Tonight was our 1st official leadership meeting for our adult youth team. We talked about how important reaching students is and that the level of our ministry is dependent on the level of our leadership. We will never take students beyond where we as leaders are. If we are at a level 7 in our impact then the students will never go beyond a 6, but if we raise the bar as leaders then students will start to follow suit. Everything rises and falls on leadership, in the words of John Maxwell. I completely believe that! The most important people in your ministry is your leaders first, without them you wouldn't have a ministry in the first place. We had 14 leaders show up tonight and express interest to be involved. That is a great start to building a great team! Well, I am tired and we have a big day tomorrow with youth and all kinds of stuff! It was a good day today!

Friday!

Well today I worked on the zone and got a good amount of things done. This next week I am going to have to pull some all nighters in order to get everything ready. We are having our grand opening for our 1st jr. high service September 5th and it is going to be awesome. Then we are having our 1st high school service that Sunday night the 9th. It is going to be great being able to focus on each of these age groups and really impact their lives. God has called us to raise up a generation of passionate followers of Him, and we are on the mission!!! I got home about 7pm tonight and Erin was not feeling well at all. She is still so sick and not able to do much at all. I feel so bad for her, tonight she just wanted to eat but couldn't. She took one of the pills they prescribed her but it actually made her stomach hurt even worse. We are really praying for relief and strength for her. When I got home I turned around and went to Wal-Mart to get some groceries for Zion and us. Finally I got home around 8:15 or so then cooked dinner for us. Erin was able to eat a little bit so that was very good! The pills made her very tired so she went back to bed and Zion and I watched Indiana Jones! Now I am cleaning and doing some laundry. I am getting behind here at the house with laundry, mowing, and taking care of the house kind of stuff, but tomorrow I am going to try to get some things done. I am very tired right now so I am going to go to bed soon and maybe sleep in just a bit tomorrow!

Mom & Dad / Dance Class / Youth / Erin

Mom and Dad came into town last Friday and stayed until Tuesday morning. We had a fun time hanging out, talking, and painting. That's right painting. I taught my mom and dad how to do Bob Ross style painting and they did a great job. They both did their own canvas landscape. I figured it would be a good time for theme to learn. We had a great time with them. They got to experience Zion's first dance class Monday night. Zion was sooooo excited to get all dressed up and start her dance classes in Fort Smith. She has been dancing a lot lately and wanted to do more. It was the cutest thing ever!!!

These last few days we have been working on the zone and getting everything ready for the appreciation banquet. Tonight we had youth and it went good. Everybody is starting to come back now that school is in session. Today Jarred and I visited the high school for lunch and got to see tons of our students, it was awesome!!! We talked about passion tonight and said that whatever you are passionate about will determine where you will end up in life. So it is so important to be passionate for the things of God! We gave everybody a little heart to remind them to be passionate for God and to direct passion in the right way!!!

Erin has still been very sick! We are praying she gets feeling better quickly this is really causing her to not be able to do anything. She has her moments when she feels a little relief, but she is very sick most of the time. It is hard on her to just be at home 24/7 and then watch Zion while she is feeling so horrible. To top it all off I am so busy right now with the zone and trying to get it ready for our kick-off that I haven't been home as much as I should. Be praying for her, she really needs it!!!

Well check out these videos and pics

Food Fight / Monday / Doctor / Youth

Well, Sunday we had the Back 2 School Food Fight and it was off the hook, out of control, awesome!!! We had more food than you could imagine. When we were done we were covered from head to toe! It burned in the eyes, felt nasty, smelled terrible, but was all worth it! We cooked out, played some games and had the food fight!!! Check out this video from the night!




Jennifer Emberton was in town visiting so Monday we took her back to the airport, and I got my haircut. Then we came home and hung out and I cut the grass and cleaned a bit!

Tuesday was our first Doctors appointment for Erin and the new baby. They really didn't do much since it is so early but we got to meet the Doctor and see the facilities. We are having the baby over in Fort Smith, Arkansas. The hospital is very nice and the people were super friendly. We felt very comfortable there. Tuesday evening Chris and Whitney Sharp came over and we ate and hung out. Then Chris, Pastor Tony, Billy and I went to play tennis at the local courts. We had a lot of fun, I hadn't played tennis in a while but it was a good work out.

Tonight we had youth and kick off our current series for the next few weeks called, Vision, Passion, Purpose! We are talking about each element as school starts back up! We had a good turn out and a great service! Things are going well. Tonight we talked about having vision in your life. We all wear spiritual glasses that we view ourselves and the world around us in. We talked about seeing ourselves and our future through the eyes of Christ and His plans for us!!! It was good! Check out the messages from our services out @ journeycurchlive.com under Student Ministry - Messages/Podcasts.

Erin has been terribly sick with the new baby! She really can't move around and do much! She is in a constant state of stomach pain! Food makes her sick and moving around causes the pain to stir up! We are praying that she gets better! I guess everybody's body reacts different to pregnancy. I hate that she has to go through this all day, everyday. Please be praying for relief and strength!!!

Well, tomorrow we are having some breakfast snacks for the students before the first day of school at the church! We are going to pray before school and hang out then carpool them over to school!!! It is going to be an early morning. I have a LOT to do these next few days and weeks with the zone, youth, church, family, and home!!!

Saturday

Yesterday we finished the painting in the cafe and got the frame work up for the half walls! We are moving along now!!! Everything seems to be working out very nice! It is going to be exciting to get it all done and ready to go! Today Erin is having the girls book club @ 3 then we are all going to Olive Garden over in Fort Smith. I think we are taking like 18 people to eat so that will be fun, hopefully we can get in. Tomorrow is the back to school food fight @ 5 and baptisms after church. We have 3 students getting baptized so that is awesome! Last night we had a staff night over at Pastor Jeff's! We all hung out, ate and talked, it was good. Well, I am going to get ready, clean, work on the house and all that fun stuff!!!

Wednesday Is Good!

Tonight was good at JSM! We did worship, and talked about being squeezed! What is in you will come out of you! So when the world and situations squeeze you, what is coming out? If the word of God and the things of God are in you then that's what will come out, but if junk and sin is in you that will be what comes out of you. We challenged the students to be ready this school year to be squeezed by friends, situations and the like. And also to be full of the things of God in our life so when we are squeezed the Godly stuff comes out of us. Tomorrow we are working on the zone with many projects to be done! Also, Jennifer Emberton is flying into town to stay with us for a few days. She is a friend of ours from back home in Indiana! Tomorrow we have a meeting for the servant appreciation banquet which is going to be great! Then Saturday Erin is having the girls book club meeting at 3 here at the house then we are all going to Olive Garden to eat. Then Sunday is baptism Sunday and we have like 4-5 students getting baptized and then later that day the back to school food fight @ 5pm. Is is going to be the largest food fight ever!!! Ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, BBQ sauce, flour, chocolate, hot sauce, and more!!! It is going to be insane!!! Well, I need to clean the car out for Erin tomorrow as she picks up Jenn and then do some more cleaning!!!

Fans, Brainstorming, Lumber & Enchiladas

Today I got in the office about 8:30am and started working on several different tasks! I put a fan behind me, turned it up all the way and it felt wonderful! I love fans they make me very happy!!! Then Pastor Tony and I met with Daryn to brainstorm the Servant Appreciation Banquet August 26th and that was productive. We got some good ideas to present Pastor Jeff and hammered out some details. It is going to be a great night of honoring leaders and pitching vision for the upcoming years of Journey! God is up to great things here in Sallisaw and we want to be on the font lines! Then Randy Butler and I went to Fort Smith to get much, much lumber for the zone. We got 25 sheets of plywood, 60 2x4's, and posts, screws, and various things for several projects for the zone. We have much to do in these next few weeks, but I think we can get it done. We need some great deals to come our way for sound equipment, media stuff and other things, so be praying for sales and money!!! Then we got back and unloaded everything and returned the vehicle and trailer we borrowed. I then went to Wal-Mart to get groceries and finally got home about 7pm. I made enchiladas for dinner, it took about an hour to do, I don't mess around when it comes to my Mexican food!!! Then we all hung out and played and watched some t.v. Now it is time for bed, since I am tired.

Monday's Are Great!!!

Well, today we got up and started cleaning, doing laundry, mowed the grass, Erin painted Zion's stencils, did dishes, payed bills, and now am just hanging out! Tonight we are going to Sean's going away party at Daryl's house @ 7pm. Tomorrow he leaves for his new house in Western Oklahoma. He is a student in our youth group that has really come along way! It is tough to see him go, but we are praying for the best! We are excited to be there tonight and see him off!!!

Monday's are our day of cleaning and working on the house then spending family time together. We really cherish our Monday's together. It usually is the only day that we really secure our time. Saturday's are sometimes free, but you never know with youth events, church stuff, getting ready for Sunday and all that. We try to never schedule anything on Monday's unless we really have to. It is great to know that you have a day that nothing can compete with especially when you are talking about your family, which always comes first!!! I think that too many people, especially in ministry, don't manage their time well, they let time manage them! I am a firm believer in securing your time and making the most of it! You can't create more time but you can manage and use it wisely. With that said I am not a have to always be doing something kind of guy. I enjoy my not doing anything but resting times, as long as they don't become a lifestyle obviously. I try to live by the idea of whatever your doing do it with all your heart! If it is a task, do it well, if it is resting don't focus on other things you think you should be doing, REST for crying out loud! If it is spending time with family, spend it wisely. Whatever you do, do with focus and purpose and unto the Lord! Well, I am going to get back to the laundry and other things before we head out so, adios!!!

Rodeo Time!

We just got back from the Rodeo here in Sallisaw and it was awesome! I had only been to one other Rodeo in my life and that is when I was about 8 or so in Cody, Wyoming. I was chosen from the crowd to chase after a calf and I never got it, how sad! Anyway, tonight we all went to the local Rodeo and watched some of our students ride and watched the competition. The guy who was mc'ing it was great! He seemed like a genuine cowboy. They even prayed before the Rodeo, like a real heart felt prayer and everyone joined in. Only in the bible belt do you see that taking place at a local community event! Zion loved the horses and got to see some of her favorite girls in the youth group riding them, Alex Pierce and Katie Haraway. Well tonight was great and we loved embracing the culture here in Sallisaw!

Today we just hung out and cleaned then went to Holly & Steven's wedding. Then we went to Fort Smith and got some materials at Lowe's and some other things we had to pick up. Tomorrow is the 2nd week of Heartland and I can't wait to see what God does at church with us! Hopefully tomorrow afternoon I can get some time and finish the stage so I can focus on some other projects in the zone. These next few weeks are crucial in getting ready for the school year and getting the zone up and running!!!

A Hard Working Day

Well, today I got up early and headed up to the church to get working on the zone! We got half the stage built today. It took a while to get everything we needed and get everything ready to go, but once we did we started moving on it! Rob Wells helped me out for a bit today and Sarah McLanahan painted the cafe. She did a great job getting all the base coats on the walls. We are going to do a cool circular design on the 3 walls so it will look cool when we are done! I have never built a stage before so this is fun and new to me. We are building a 8ft x 20ft stage and it is going well. I got online and watched some videos on how to do it and now am doing it. Erin helped with coordinating the wedding this weekend at our church and she loves doing that stuff. Zion and I hung out and worked while Erin did the rehearsal tonight. Then we came home about 7:30 or so and ate dinner here and watched National Treasure. I LOVE that movie!!! It is one of my top favorites. Shark Week is on the discovery channel this week so we have been catching that each night a little. Sharks are awesome! Zion keeps going to the potty because she does it by herself now. I think she does it just to do it for fun. Erin has been a little tired lately and is sleeping now and Zion keeps going in and out from the bathroom. Well, tomorrow we are going to the local Rodeo! We have some students in it and it is a big community event. We also have the wedding and some stuff to do here at the house! I want to get painting a bit here soon with Bob Ross but I am waiting for some extra time to do it. Well, that is it and I am tired and probably going to go to bed here soon!

Tuesday

Man Sunday was awesome for the Heartland kick-off. Pastor Jeff is an amazing communicator and always bring a great word Sunday mornings! I wore my Garth Brooks lookin' shirt and a straw cowboy illegal alien lookin' hat, it was great! Sunday night communion went good as well. We had a time of worship and just hung out in God's presence! Yesterday we all cleaned the house and just hung out being a little lazy, at least I did! I got about half the lawn mowed and my wheel fell off the lawnmower. I have to get another nut for the bolt, somehow it came loose and fell off. So I ended that journey and went back inside the cool air. At least I got the back mowed, I will do the front here soon! Later on today we are going to Fort Smith to get paint for the cafe, stencils, materials, price some items, search for backdrop ideas, couch ideas, bar ideas, rugs, lighting and more. So we have a lot to do over there today preparing for a whole bunch of projects. Tomorrow I am going to start building the stage and this week we will paint the cafe. We have a pretty good scheduled deadline for all these projects, but it will be cutting it close for the September kick-off for youth! We have lots and lots to do just to get things rolling for the school year. This year is going to be a huge step forward for us as a youth group we can't wait!!!

Frontier City, Baby, and Good Times Ahead!

Man we are tired! We took almost 30 students to Frontier City Wednesday and we had a BLAST! The nearest 15 passenger vans we can get is in Tulsa so Tuesday evening me, my wife, Zion and Pastor Tony went to pick them up and came straight back! Then Wednesday morning we left at 8am with 32 people ready to ride rides and buy $10 waters! We saw some great magic shows, rode some awesome gut wrenching rides and ate good ole' amusement park food! We got home about 10pm and unloaded and finally made it home by 11 or so! Then today we got up at 5:15am and headed back to Tulsa to return the vans! Zion slept the whole way there! Today was a great day we got some of the church decorated for Heartland this Sunday which is going to be AMAZING! I am even going to be wearing a western shirt that Pastor Jeff bought me! And I mean western, it's like an old school Garth Brooks shirt (at least I hear). This Sunday is going to be a lot of fun and meaningful! Tonight we are just hanging out at the house and taking a night easy watching a family movie together!

Oh, and bye the way Erin is pregnant with our new child! She is one month along and we are going to have a new little one with the Barrett family! Zion will have a playmate and sibling and we will have another beautiful baby to call our own!!! I am pretty excited about having another child, but it hasn't fully set it yet that it is actually happening! I wasn't sure if I was ready or not for another one but then again I don't think I ever would have been. So God just said I'll make the decision for you I guess! What is crazy is that like 10 people have either asked if Erin is pregnant or have given us a prophetic word that she was or is going to be. Actually at camp Brian Fields came up to her and told her that he believed the Lord gave him a word that she was going to have another one. I guess it was God's way of prophesying this baby into existence! We are so excited!!!

Good times ahead!!!

Zion's birthday, House Stuff, & Family Time

Well, my family is BACK and it is great! Friday night Erin, Zion and my mother and father-in law made it! Saturday we all worked on the house: Hanging curtains, sowing things, decorating, hauling a bed for Zion's room, dug out all the old landscape in front of the house (Dewayne and I attached straps to the trees and to his car and pulled them out), digging up the rock bed, making a rock bed in our back yard, hanging peg board in the garage, installing a dimmer on the lights, and grilled out for dinner! It was a busy day to say the least, but very fun to be doing it with family!

Today Pastor Tony and Mrs. Erin did the services at church and they did a great job! It was a journey kids Sunday and they led the whole service! It is so great to have awesome friends and fellow co-workers in the Kingdom of God! We love them so much and are so glad God brought our lives together!

Well, Today is Zion's birthday and we went out to eat, to the mall (she loves the playground at the Fort Smith mall) and hung out! Then we came home and painted and just hung around the house! Zion is 3 years old, my how time flies! She is the best little girl we could have dreamed of! I can't wait to see what God does with her and she grows up in His destiny for her! My family is the BEST! Tomorrow we are going to clean and keep working on the house I suppose so for now I am going to rest and chill!

Painting

Well today me, Sara McLanahan, & Payson sprayed the whole ceiling in the zone jet black. I mean duct work, metal, chords, you name it we sprayed it! It looks awesome. We were covered in black paint, I mean covered from head to toe! We had a lift that was fun driving around and it got us 20 feet in the air! The floor is covered with black. It looked like it was raining black paint! I am worn out from spraying that thing all day! I will sleep good tonight!We are on the way though to getting the zone all ready for the school year! This semester is going to be amazing! WE are believing God for great things! Well, I am tired and miss my family like no other! Tomorrow they will be here though and I feel like it's Christmas!!! I can't wait to see them and hug them all night!!!

Tuesday, Going At It!

It's Tuesday and we are ready to go another good week! I miss my wife and z like crazy! I need them here with me NOW! I have gotten a lot done though since I have some extra alone time! I have been painting a lot too! I have done like 4 canvases and am ready for more! It is really fun painting and learning these skills. I love to learn new things and stretch my creativity. Well this week is going to be busy with getting ready for our new series here at church and working on the zone! We have so much to do and it is weighing heavy on me! hopefully I can paint the whole ceiling black this week with the spray gun! I am waiting on a lift so we can get up there and shoot that thing! Then we will paint, build and decorate for the new semester. The goal is to have it done by the very 1st of September so we can have a big kick-off night! Well, I need to get back to work and start putting my hand to the plow!

Fun Days!

Transformers was awesome! I was not expecting a good movie, but I was blown away, I loved it! It is a must see in the theater. Today I woke up and saw that it was sunny for once and started mowing!!! Our grass in the backyard was up to my knees. It took me almost 4 hours to mow everything. I had to push the lawnmower back on the back wheels and get the blade in the air just to chop down some of it because it wouldn't cut that much grass at once! It was still wet so the mower kept getting clogged and I had to scrap it out every few minutes! But with much perseverance I finally got it done and I trimmed the house and yard by 1:00pm! Then I went to the Wolf's house to help with the project elevation! We are remodeling this families house as an outreach for all that has happened to them. It is great to be a blessing to others. The house looks great and Pastor Jeff has done an amazing job at championing this whole project (as a matter of fact he was there ALL day today working HARD) I respect a Pastor that is hands on even when he has a huge day tomorrow with preaching both services! Journey we have a great pastor that casts vision but will also jump in and live the vision, sometimes that is rare! Since I hadn't eaten all day I was wasting away to nothing (hah) and thought I had better eat something. So I got in my van to head home and it was dead! The battery has been going out over the last month or so and I had to jump it with Pastor Tony's car. Finally after 20 minutes I got it started then took it to Wal-Mart and got the oil changed and battery changed. After that I went home got a shower and finally had something to eat by 7:30pm or so! Then I finally got around to painting with Bob Ross. I set everything up and turned on Bob and followed his lead! It only takes him like 20 minutes to do a whole painting, but for me it was about 2 hours. I had to stop every few minutes and figure out what he was doing and how to do it. The picture turned out pretty good. Foliage is HARD to paint. He seems to do it perfect but it is going to take me a bit to get that skill down. Everything else was fairly doable but those close bushes and tress were a little hard. I had a lot of fun though, I can't wait to show Erin and Zion and work on some more stuff! I miss the snot out of my wife and child but they will be home soon (yea!). Tomorrow I get to lead worship since Chad is out of town and I am excited about that! Worship is my passion and I love to get together with others and see what God does as we enter in HIS presence! I am blessed and I love serving my AWESOME God!

Transformers

Well, it's Friday night and Daryn and I are going to see Transformers. I figured since I am single this week what not better to watch than a good ole' guy movie! We have started remodeling the zone and it is going to get busy! I am now on project zone and we have a lot to do! I am so glad God put us here in Sallisaw among such amazing people! We love Journey and all the students God has entrusted to us! I am so excited to get the zone done so we can move into the school year and reach students for Christ! The zone is a big part of reaching students, we have to have a place that will attract students and a place where they can be teenagers! It is also great to have a place where our students can be proud of and enable them to WANT to invite their friends to encounter God's presence in their lives!

Tomorrow I am going to work all day on the house since Erin is gone! Hopefully I can mow and do some yard work as well as inside stuff! We have a lot of projects with our house so there is always something to be done! Also, I hope to do a little oil painting while the family is gone. I have set up all my stuff and am ready to go! I bought a good canvas and me and Bob Ross are going to hang out for a while! Well, Daryn is ready and it is time to go!

Our Trip Home!

Well I got back from Indiana Monday night and I am home alone! Erin and Zion are coming back with my mother and father in law in a week and a half. Erin wanted to have more time visiting family and friends since we haven't been back home since we moved here 4 months ago or so! We went back cause my big brother got married! He got married Saturday and the wedding went great! My father married them and now has been in each of his 4 children's weddings, how cool! We had a BUSY visit! We got there Thursday late night and saw some friends then went to Erin's moms house and stayed the night. Friday morning we got up went to Columbus and ate at Johnny Carrino's since there isn't one close here (we figured we better make use of it) then we went to Target since there isn't one around here (but will be soon). After that we went to the rehearsal Friday night and had the dinner afterwards. We stayed at my parents house and stayed up and talked visiting! Saturday we got up and I picked up the wedding cake with my brother in law then went to the wedding and reception. Saturday night we stayed at my parents house and played games and cooked out. The fire works for Brown County was Saturday night because it rained Wednesday the 4th and they rescheduled them. Sunday we went to 2nd service at New Life and Erin's brother and wife dedicated their new baby girl. After church we had a family lunch to celebrate the dedication. We had to leave early before we even ate to get back to my sister's daughter's birthday! It just happened that we were able to be home for Kayla's birthday and that was very special! Sunday afternoon we played games met with friends then went our old Associate Pastors reception. He had stepped down and the reception happened to be when we were home so that worked out good as well. Then we went to Erin's moms to stay the night. Monday morning I got up and headed back to our home here in Sallisaw! It was a very busy visit but it was great to see family and friends. I miss the snot out of my wife and daughter!!!!!!!!!!! I am going to do some extra work around the house and spend extra time on ministry stuff since I am single this week! Well, that was our trip and now I am going to pray and read my bible before I go to bed, so adios!

4th of July

We just got done eating dinner with the Peters and we had a great time! It is so good to have friends and fellow church members that you can relax with and share stories and life! Erin made a great meal, like always. Now we are hanging out baking some cookies and just enjoying a night at home! Tomorrow is the 4th of July event and it is going to be great! God has GIVEN us a great opportunity to be LIGHT in the community! Whenever open doors like this happen we as the church should ALWAYS jump right on it! Jesus WENT to where the darkness is, He never boycotted or shunned opportunities to love people and be around them. To say that the church should take a stand and boycott something would be the same as watching a soul walk down the path to hell and say we aren't going to say anything because we need to show them what "righteousness" is! Jesus said how will they know unless they hear. People can't hear when you stay silent in your religious bubble. Sometimes I get spiritually lazy and become so inward focused that I forget there are people who are crying out for hope! Today a young man came in the office and wanted to play music for the church. He proceeded to say he was not "religious" but left his band and wanted a place to play. I though it weird that he came to a church he knew nothing about and asked just to jump in and play! Anyway, I talked with him about an hour or so about his life and what he believed. He was one who thought to believe in God was just a coping mechanism that was scientifically proven. His thought was so wrapped around science, philosophy, and other things that he was confusing himself. After a while I said look bottom line you have a 50/50 chance if you are right in your thinking then life is pointless you just rot when you die and everything is for nothing! Or if I am right and you are wrong you loose everything and will stand in judgment before a living real God! We talked a lot more than that but basically it was a great opportunity to share hope, truth, and the reality of God with him! I thank God that he gives me opportunity to share with people and I pray that I never be silent or pass when my time comes to love people into Jesus!!! That's what we get to do tomorrow night at the 4th of July event, PRAISE GOD!!!

Romans 12:10-11

Pastor Jeff had a great message this morning at church and we had stomp practice for the freedom fest here in town on the 4th! After that Erin, Zion and I went to Fort Smith to eat and hang out, then came home and rested as we caught up on season 4 of the 4400! That is an awesome show, I suggest watching it starting with season 1! Anyway, a scripture that Pastor Jeff read today stood out to me especially after getting back from Infusion this week. Romans 12:10-11

"Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord."

What a fitting challenge, to never be lacking in our zeal but keeping our spiritual fervor. The dictionary says zeal is:fervor for a person, cause, or object; eager desire or endeavor; enthusiastic diligence; ardor. How cool is that? Now check out what fervor is: 1. Great warmth and intensity of emotion. See Synonyms at passion. 2. Intense heat. Wow! Intense HEAT! Talk about being of fire for God! So I find it cool that one ingredient for zeal is fervor. You can't have a zeal for God (which is fervor for something) without having an intense heat for it! So Paul encourages us to NEVER lose our heat or fire for the things of God! Man, I have become guilty of being a boring follower of Christ! So many times I am so caught up in everyday things and trying to exist without an intense FIRE for the things of God! Now I don't think we have to be jumping off the walls to have fire for God, but I do think it means we need our intensity and desire to be boiling in our hearts! I mean we are the only ones that know how we truly feel in the inside! Only we can be the temperature gauge of our hearts. I know that sometimes how I feel on the inside isn't what truly comes out on the outside, but I know where my heart is and sometimes it isn't an intense fire for the things of God it is a flicker at best! I don't know about you but I accept the challenge from Paul and God's word to never be lacking in zeal and fervor, but to follow hard after the things of God because that is where LIFE, POWER, FREEDOM, WISDOM, TRUTH, COMPASSION, STRENGTH, PEACE, JOY, PURPOSE, ETC.. is found!!! God let my life be an example of zeal and fervor for YOU! May my fire never run low but teach me to fan into flame the gifts, and calling you have for my life, AMEN!

Infusion 2007

Well, we are finally back from Infusion Summer Conference and it was AMAZING! We took 22 students from our student leadership team here at JSM! It was a life changing encounter with God! Worship was intense, the messages were inspiring, we served the community, and had a blast! God is so great and is doing great things in our students! They really engaged with God's presence and power! I feel like this will be the beginning of some awesome things to come for our youth! God is wanting to rock through Sallisaw and we are up for the call!!! We are not just playing church here we are out to change the world for Christ! God's call on us is so powerful and consuming and we want to be and do ALL that God had for us here at Journey! We are truly raising up a generation of passionate followers of Christ! There is soooo much more to God than we could think or imagine and I want to pursue hard after HIS presence! Camp really inspired me to get more into God's word because that is where the power is, in HIS promises and truth! We get so fearful that the word of God and His promises might not work, but God is faithful and His WORD is alive and active able to cut through anything! I believe God's word can cut through the hardest heart, the worst sinner, the biggest atheist, and anything that is before it! We need to become a people that cherish the WORD and believe EVERYTHING that is in it! His word will never return void it will always go out and accomplish what it is supposed to do! God's promises aren't just stories and inspirational fairy tales they are the REAL DEAL! When we proclaim the word and the word is hidden deep in our heart it will go forth with POWER! I want my life to be used by God in the most passionate way that it can! Let's all step up to the plate and swing for Christ in every conversation, action, thought we do!

Game Night 2007

Last night @ JSM was awesome! We had our 1st Game Night! We had a crazy relay race then we played some intense dodge ball! We had prizes for best dressed gamer, best dressed team, and of course the winners of the night! We went all out with refs, whistles, air horns, and the whole deal! It is great to have nights like these where we build memories and laugh together just having a good time! It makes our intense services that much more meaningful when relationship are strong between the students and leaders! We had a great turnout last night even though it is summer, it is like our momentum is still staying strong. Go to http://www.skyalbum.com/showAlbum/79127 to see more pics!

Well, 2 more days till Meat & Man night! Get ready everyone and empty your bellies 'cause it's gonna be good! We have been preparing for this for a few months now so it is finally here! It is going to be a great night for the MEN! Check out this video for Meat & Man Night!

Wednesday

Well, tonight is game night and it is going to be awesome! I don't think the air is up and running yet so it will probably be a little hot but sweat is good! 4 more days till Infusion and it is going to be a good year for our leadership team! We are excited to see all that God is going to do. Well, today I have lots to do! Being that we are gone next week I am trying to make up for a week lost in the office, but I think I will be good! I desperately need to get my hair cut and shave, so that is a must before we go!

Meat & Man night is coming up Saturday and I can't wait! We are going to eat lots of incredible food from the grill and I am so excited to hear our special guest, pastor Mike! What a great opportunity we have to get the men of our church and community together and have a good time yet step up as spiritual leaders in our world! Men of ALL ages be at the church Saturday @ 6pm!

Today Was Fun!

Today was a GREAT day! We all went to the Zoo in Tulsa and we had a blast! Zion loved to see all the animals and play around the zoo. I was staring at a shark on the floor in the shark tank itching my eye and another huge shark swam right in front of the of the glass and scared the bejeebers out of me! I jumped a little and felt pretty dumb, but I laughed at myself, so that is good! Anyway, we had a lot of fun hanging out all day up there and it wore Zion out she took like a 4 hour nap afterward!

Tomorrow I go to Henryetta to pick up all the cookie dough orders from the fund raiser we did for Infusion! I am loading up like 40 boxes of cookie dough, I will be very tempted to eat it ALL! I will probably have the car at like 5 degrees so it doesn't melt! Then the students pick it up between 4-6 tomorrow at the church!

Well, Infusion is in like 6 days, MEAT & MAN NIGHT is Saturday, which is going to be AWESOME! and Game Night is Wednesday for youth! What a great week ahead of us! I have much to do since we will be gone all next week!

Father's Day

Today was a wonderful father's day for me and for all of our father's at Journey church! We had the, "Big Daddy Bowl 2007" where members of our church voted for their favorite fathers who competed in a challenge this morning at both services! They had 5 stations to race through the 1st being a 2x4 where they had to hammer a nail into the wood, then move on to baby diaper changing station and change a dolls diaper, then to a line of girls where they had to put their hair in pig tails, then to a hot dog stations where they had to eat a hot dog as fast as they could, then to the final station which was a couch and they had to find a remote with their name on it hidden in the cushion. We had referees with shirts and whistles, awesome intro videos for the contenders, and a fun challenge. The winner got a camo hat with the bid daddy logo, a bobble head trophy of a coach, and a brisket the size of my leg! It was an awesome challenge today that honored our fathers and gave our church a good laugh!

Pastor Tony, Mrs. Erin and my family hung out all day today in Forth Smith. We had lunch went to the mall and just had a good time. It is so great to have good friends that we can just have fun with! Now we are on our back porch with our tikki torches lite. Erin and Zion are coloring and I am on the computer! It is a beautiful night and it was a beautiful day! I love my family and am so grateful for them!

Today is father's day and I have the best father anyone could dream of. He is such an example of what it is to be a true, Godly father! My dad has always been there to answer questions, give advice and encourage me ALL throughout my life! I am so blessed to have him! If I could become half the man my dad is I would consider that a great success in life! He inspires me to be positive, believe God, and to follow God no matter the cost! I couldn't imagine where my life would be without my dad being there, helping me and giving his wisdom! Though I joke that I have surpassed my father in various ways (such as guitar) I haven't even come close to becoming ALL that my dad is! My dad is an awesome picture of what our heavenly father is and for that I say, "Happy father's day DAD, I love YOU!"

Last Night

Last night @ JSM was AMAZING! We had an all worship night and God really showed up! We had some ministry take place and just a great time hanging out with God! I feel like we really had a break through with worship and just encountering God's presence! The students really opened up and connected with God! We love our students here! It makes us so excited to see these students encountering God's presence in a very real authentic way! We love to have fun here @ JSM, but above all we want to engage with God's presence and His power to change us into the people that He has called us to be! You know who have truly worshiped when you got a work out if you know what I mean! We were hot, stinky, sweaty, and still pressing on into worship! It is all about chasing after God and running into Him! Last night was all about that and I believe we achieved it!

Now we have our summer leadership conference and it is going to be great! It is like last night to the 10th power! We are going to really raise up an awesome generation of passionate followers of Christ here @ Journey!

Moving Ahead!

Infusion is just around the corner and it is going to be awesome! We are taking our student leadership team to Murray Kentucky June 24th for a week long conference and we are excited! We have exactly 30 people going right now, so that is perfect! These students are going to encounter God's presence like never before and God is going to do some amazing things in our group!

Tonight we are having an ALL worship night for youth. The heart of tonight is to just simply get in God's presence and worship Him with all that's within us! Sometimes we need times of nothing more than just connecting with God and hang out in His presence. The Bible says there is fullness of joy in His presence and that all things are found in Him and Him alone! Tonight is all about just hanging with God!

Next week we are doing an ALL game night! That's right a night of intense dodge ball, crazy games, competitions and more. We are breaking up into teams and they will be able to accumulate points for each game. We are having a prize for the best dressed gamer, and best dressed team. This night is all about just building relationships together and having a good ole' time!

God is on the move and we are following Him! So many good things are in store for us and we simply need to just line up with God's heart! We make following God so hard sometimes, but I think the simplicity of just following one step at a time is where true peace is at. Most people think peace is knowing all the details in advance so they don't have to fear, but peace is knowing that we serve a God who is madly in love with us and has everything under control for our lives. It is not up to our ability to move ahead it is surrendering to His! God is faithful and the more we simply trust Him the more peace, joy and love fills our hearts till it overflows out of us into others! What a GREAT GOD we serve!!!

Youth Sunday

Today was great at church! It was youth Sunday and ALL the students did an amazing job with everything! We are so blessed to have such a great group of students to work with! Our church is totally behind us and the youth, we are so blessed! Even though a lot of students are on vacation and other various things, we had a great turn out of teenagers. It is good to bridge the gap between adults and students and this morning really built unity among the groups! I am sitting here in my living room chilling out on a Sunday afternoon, probably about ready to fall asleep. There is nothing like a Sunday afternoon nap! This has been a great start to a great summer. Now we have the remodeling of the Zone, camp and some other events, but it is time to get moving with the Zone! We have a lot to do in order to get in ready for a grand opening in September! The parking lot sale really enabled us to have the funds to get fun and creative with decorating so it will be very cool! God is moving everyday and we just need to open up and recognize it! It is so good to be here in Sallisaw serving God, Journey church & Pastor Jeff & Stephani!!!