Glory Stories

Plans for next summer

2011-10-09T23:09:00.003-05:00

I just wanted to let you know that I've met with our missions pastor and we are making plans for next year's trips. I'm super excited about the way things seem to be going. Stay tuned for more details and please be praying for God's will and His provision. Thank you again for believing in me, and believing in what God is doing around the world.

I'll give you more details as they come...but I think I'm going back to Africa this summer!!! All glory to God!

Africa pictures

2011-09-12T20:38:00.002-05:00

Since I've been home I've managed to post a few photos on my Durban site. If you'd like to check them out you can click here to see them.

My trip across the world has not improved my technical capabilities so posting the photos on both sites has proved more than I can manage. Thanks for your patience and your continued support. All glory to God!

Report from Durban

2011-08-28T12:11:00.002-05:00

I'm not sure when I posted here last, so if it seems like you're picking this up in the middle of the story you can check out my other blog for more details. I'm currently in Durban, South Africa, about half-way through a mission trip. So far, absolutely amazing.

I think it’s Sunday night. It feels like we’ve been up for days. I know that we go to bed every night, but between late nights, early mornings and the African rooster outside our window, the nights seem pretty short. This has been an absolutely amazing trip so far.

Yesterday we got to train volunteers from several different countries on awareness for HT. It was great. They were so open and hungry for information; one of our team members said they were spongy

After that we went to the streets and invited people to church. I’ve never handed out tracks before so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Again, it was great. I met a guy named Grant. He was obviously homeless, obviously drunk and smoking a cigarette that he probably found on the road. I invited him to church and he quoted scripture to me. We chatted for a few minutes and then he wandered away. A few minutes later he wandered back over and we chatted again…then again…then again. Finally I asked him, “Tell me Grant, are you supposed to be preaching instead of drinking?” His eyes filled with tears and he dropped his head. As he walked away I said, “You know God still loves you, right?”

One of the guys on our team had a couple of pairs of socks to give away. He took them over to Grant and his buddy. Grant came back around the corner, walked over to me and pulled up his pant legs to show me his new socks. He was beaming. I smiled at him and nodded. “Donna,” he said, “God bless you. May God truly bless you and your ministry.” I thanked him and told him I’d be looking for him Sunday at church. We crossed the street to meet up with the rest of our team and all I could think about was, ‘that could be me.’

That should be me. With all of the bad choices I’ve made; wrong places, wrong faces…I should be either living in the streets or dead. But for the grace of God, there go I.

Thank God for His mercy and forgiveness. All glory to God!

Headed across the world

2011-08-22T18:38:00.002-05:00

Okay...it's really time to pack. I can't put it off any longer. I'm so excited about this trip you would think that packing would have been done a month ago...turns out I don't have enough clothes to do that. C'est la vie!

Please be praying for our flights and everything that this trip entails. Durban is a major port so lots of people (good and bad) are trying to make a living. Some of them are trying to make a living by selling other people. As most of you know, we have been in the fight against human trafficking here in the U.S. for several years. Please pray that God would open doors of opportunity for us to make a difference in South Africa too.

I'm not sure what kind of internet access we'll have but check in here or my other blog for updates. Much love and thanks for all your support. All glory to God!

Christ is Lord!

Departure in 9 days

2011-08-14T20:19:00.002-05:00

Hey y'all,

I've been so busy getting ready for Africa I've forgotten to post anything in forever. If you want to catch up on what's been going on please check out my other blog for updates. Once I get the Africa trip behind me hopefully I'll get back on track here.

Thank you for all your prayers and support. All glory to God!

Durban update

2011-03-17T19:34:00.003-05:00

I wanted to give y'all an update on my fundraising efforts for the Duban, South Africa trip. To date, we have raised about 51% of the funds needed!!! How cool is that?

I haven't done fundraising for a trip in quite a while. I gotta tell you though, this website method is waaaay better than selling hotdogs outside of church for $1 each. (That was what my sister and I tried when we were headed to Jamaica several years ago to help out at an orphanage...not our best idea ever). Website; yay! Hotdogs; boo!

A huge thank you to everyone who has made a donation. A huge thank you to everyone who has made a decision to provide prayer support before and during the trip. A huge thank you to everyone who has spread the word about this venture.

I can't go unless I'm sent. Thank you for believing in me and in this trip. I believe we're going to change lives in South Africa.

If you want more info about the trip you can visit my other site at youcansend.me/donnafrank/. All glory to God!

Durban, South Africa

2011-03-06T21:55:00.003-06:00

I have (im)patiently waited 8 years to go on another mission trip and I am thrilled to announce that I am going to Durban, South Africa this summer. My last trip was in 2002, when I built houses (the size of garden sheds) in a dirt field in Mexico. The year before that I went to the Blossom Garden Children's Home in Jamaica and saw true orphans for the first time in my life. Both of those trips changed me significantly. I am expecting no less from my trip to Durban.

We have the huge honor of helping out a local church with their street outreaches to victims of human trafficking. The sex industry is booming and that means men, women and children are being forced to prostitute themselves to stay alive.

As many of you know, I have been involved with anti-human trafficking efforts for several years here in the US. We now have the opportunity to take what we have learned and equip like-minded churches in their cities. Our desire is to bring light to the darkness and hope to the hopeless. I am humbled to be included in such an important mission.

I love that my church has a heart for the lost and broken, here and around the world. My prayer is that I will represent Jesus and Healing Place well. Please be praying that I will be a good paper plate; serving up Jesus to all who are hungry.

If you are interested in learning more about this trip you can click here to visit my Durban website. Your prayers and support are greatly appreciated. I will do my best to keep you updated as we prepare for this great adventure. All glory to God!

Amazing God

2010-12-13T08:45:00.002-06:00

It's Monday morning and I'm sitting at my local Starbucks reveiwing the past few days. What an amazing weekend! Friday night we did Midnight Outreach and took roses to the clubs for the ladies. One of the clubs (which we only recently got into, after nearly 2 years of prayer) told us how much it meant to us that we decorated their dressing room for Christmas and brought roses to them every month. The manager said that they wanted to give something back; that the girls wanted to collect money to help us buy toys for the poor. HOW COOL IS THAT???

The dancers want to help the poor. The people we have been reaching out to want to reach out and help others. Amazing. At another club one of the women told a volunteer that she had had a horrible day, but when she walked into the dressing room and saw the gifts from Healing Place her whole attitude changed. A small gift, delivered with love, changed her whole day. Amazing.

When we went north-side the streets were absolutely barren. A volunteer checked the news on her phone and found out there was a recent prositution sting and 19 men and women were picked up in the sweep. I believe God Himself is intervening in their lives to create opportunities for change. Lock-down can be a rough place for prostitutes and cross-dressers so please pray for their protection and salvation. I believe that God will use this for their good.

Saturday morning we had our special needs Christmas outreach. What a party! Bounce houses, face painting, manicures, crafts, popcorn, pizza and more; everything designed with special needs kids in mind. The activities were great, but our guests of honor were what really made the day a success.

I met a young man named Landon who was there for the festivities. We had an interesting conversation:

Me: Hi there, my name is Donna. What's your name?

Him: Landon. When is your birthday?

Me: October 27th. When is your birthday?

Him: Thursday.

Me: Your birthday is Thursday?

Him: No, yours.

Me: Pardon? (looking to his mom for direction)

His mom: He means your birthday is on Thursday. Next year, Oct 27th will be a Thursday.

Me: Seriously? Is that right?

His mom: 99% of the time he's right. You can look it up, but he's usually right.

I looked it up later. Next year my birthday will be on a Thursday. Incredible. I couldn't tell you when my birthday was this year, never mind next year. How does he do that? Incredible young man.

My buddy this year was named Ian. He and his mom came to the party and I got to hang out with them. I like a person who knows what he wants; Ian is that person. House of balls? Yes. Crafts? No. Face painting? No. Pizza? Yes, with a coke. Definitely my kind of guy. His friend Luke was there too so Ian and I played football against Luke and his buddy. It was a tough game, not just because it was full-contact but because the ball was imaginary. I'm so glad that our church is big enough to play invisible football in the entrance. I'm not sure who won, but it was a hard-fought game.

I chatted with a woman while Ian was eating his pizza by the haircut booth. She told me that her husband was having a mid-life crises, that he had told her he didn't love her anymore and that he was leaving her. I didn't know the woman, but I assume she has at least one special needs child, as she was at the outreach as a guest. She said they had been married for 9 years and he was leaving. She asked if I knew what she should do. I listened more that I talked, and I told her about our divorce care group for people walking through tough situations. I gave her the number for the church so she could get connected. As she walked away I wondered what other parents were carrying when they came through our doors. Realizing the weight that others carry often puts my life in perspective. Please pray, not just for this woman, but for all of the parents and caregivers who are laboring to raise their gifts from God.

It was an awesome party, an awesome day. Thank You God, for my awesome church!

Sunday morning I was absolutely stoked. It was finally here...Miracle Offering Sunday!!! I went to the 9am service because I couldn't wait to give. Since the day I got saved I've wanted to build the church; what a great opportunity to be a part of what God is doing. A large part of Miracle Offering will be used to finish building our children's space upstairs in the arena. We get to give our little bit to God, watch Him multiply it, and then see generations of kids find the hope and truth of Jesus Christ. It doesn't get any better than this! If you missed Sunday, don't sweat it. I think you can give to the Miracle Offering until year end.

So, that was my weekend. Amazing events, amazing people and my amazing God. All glory to Him!

PS:

Another exciting thing...my website is finally up. Check it out and lemmino what you think. Thanks for your interest and your prayers. God bless you all.

The Shame Vault - my new book releases today

2010-12-07T08:46:00.003-06:00

Okay...it really happened. My new book, The Shame Vault, released today on amazon.com. Thank you for your prayers, your support and for believing in this project. My website hasn't launched yet but if you want to buy the book or just check it out, you can go to this link.

Again, thank you for everything. All glory to God!

Thanks and mercy

2010-12-02T14:10:00.003-06:00

I've been thinking about my last couple of weeks and decided to make a list of things I'm thankful for. In no particular order, here are a few recent experiences:

The night before Thanksgiving I was standing in an apartment in New Orleans with a single mom and her disabled son. We had taken them a ham and prayed for them, leaving them with hugs and smiles. Less than a week later a man knocked on her door, waited for her brother to answer and then shot him dead.

I saw a young woman panhandling at the intersection. I can't be positive, but she looked like Tree (a woman we met months ago at New Beginnings who chose to return to the streets of New Orleans).

Friday night a drunk girl at church told me that she was going to smash my head into the concrete wall.

A few nights ago I sat with a group of friends giving the Gospel to a drug dealer in some one's living room.

What I'm thankful for:

- Single mom and disabled boy were not home. The murder is still a tragedy but not what it might have been. As we speak they are being relocated to another home.

- Tree is still alive. The night Preston and I drove her to New Orleans and watched her walk into the night I was afraid her pimp would kill her. Apparently, he did not.

- Sunday morning the drunk girl apologized profusely and stayed for church service. She is seeking help for her addiction.

- Drug dealer said he's going to come to New Beginnings on Friday. He wants a new life.

I am so grateful that God is so merciful towards us. Without us deserving it, earning it or even wanting it, He extends His love and grace to the unworthy.

He saved me...from most of the list above. He saved me because He loves me. He saved me because He is good...not because I am good. All glory to God.

I love my God, I love my church and I love my life.

What are you thankful for?

Machete 1: snake 0

2010-11-16T14:25:00.002-06:00

Last Saturday afternoon I had just gotten home when my roommate yelled at me from the back yard to come and get the dog. Emily (my roommate, not the dog) looked a little frazzled. I asked her what was going on and she told me to put the dog in the house and come to the backyard. As I was walking in the house she hollered, "Look out the window before you come out!"

Okay, I was intrigued.

Imagine my surprise when I peek through my back blinds and see my (nearly) 5' tall roommate standing in the yard, sweating and holding a bloody machete. Of course, I don't go out. She points towards the ground and I re-adjust my gaze to see a giant snake loosely coiled, its head severed just below its neck. And yes, it had a neck.

Of course, I still don't go out.

As you may recall from several posts ago, this isn't the first time my faithful friend has battled a serpant in the yard. Fortunately for me, the killing was done before I got home, thus saving me the energy and embarrassment of running, screaming like a school girl, into the house.

My friend Emily is the best friend anyone could have. She's a highly skilled snake asassin, encouraging at all times, and makes the best cupcakes in the state. Seriously, what more could you ask for?

A short time after the killing I was sitting in the kitchen while Emily was cleaning blood off the machete. A quick measurement had confirmed her suspicion that the snake was over 3 feet long. The neighbor thought it was a water moccasin but Emily's dad said it was a copperhead. The internet proved her dad correct.

Random fact: did you know that snakes eat their food whole and if you kill a snake and then cut open the fat part of it's belly you might find a whole rat? I'm not saying that we actually did that...but Em's dad is a really good sport about things :)

So, that's the update in my life. Hope you're enjoying a snake-free existance, wherever you are.

Oh, one more thing; my new book, The Shame Vault, will officially launch on Dec 7, 2010. Please be praying for favor, provision, right connections and all that stuff. If you're interested in getting a pre-release copy you can let me know. I should have my author copies within a week or so. I think the list price is $12 but I can let you know for sure when they come in. Thanks for your prayers, your support and your continued belief in what I do. All glory to God!

Some nights are harder than others

2010-08-03T16:16:00.004-05:00

When I saw her walking around the parking lot I hoped she was coming to New Beginnings. Her hair was raked up under a trucker hat that sat precariously off the side of her head and her freshly bruised face was not yet the rainbow of colors that it was sure to become. She had the look of a homeless person; her bare feet and dirty fingernails giving testament to the fact that she hadn't bathed or slept indoors recently.

When a volunteer brought her upstairs to me she introduced herself as Tree. Her unsteady gait was likely the result of too much alcohol, but the recent beating could also be to blame. Neither one would have surprised me. I shook her hand and told her I was glad she came.

After group ended Miss Alliece decided our best course of action was to take her to the hospital. She wanted a ride back to New Orleans but agreed to see a doctor about her injuries first. Four of us went to Our Lady of the Lake to see how we could help her. After a substantial time in the waiting room it was finally our turn to be seen.

I went in with Tree to help with whatever I could while the others stood sentry in the waiting room. It can be a long night in the ER, so it's always good to have back up. I helped with the hospital gown, but politely declined the specimen bottle when it was handed to me. I think collecting bodily fluids goes beyond the second mile...although better people than I may well have helped out.

Doctors and nurses came and went. We waited, talked, got fluids, talked more, had CAT scans, x-rays, pain meds and antibiotics. Tree drifted between sleep and discomfort while we talked. The doctor asked her what the man had beaten her with. She said it was only his fists and boots this time.

Tree is 24 years old and lives in New Orleans. For the past 7 months she has lived in a tent, except for the brief time she spent in hospital 2 months ago when she gave birth. Her baby was born premature and is still in ICU. She said she needs to get back to the city to see him.

She was 13 when her mom died, and at 16 she moved in with the man she now shares a tent with. He was in his mid-twenties at the time. For several years they criss-crossed the nation jumping boxcars. Tree told me that trains have no mercy...they'll cut your leg off in a second. She said it with such certainty that I wondered if she'd seen it happen.

We talked about the streets...and what you have to do to survive there. Tree was dancing in a club until 2 months before her son was born, but she's also worked escort and streets. Her boyfriend just got out of jail so he's back in the tent now. He was in for battery. She told me that right now she's not working the streets, other than begging, but now that her boyfriend's back that will likely change.

About 3am the doctor came back with good news. None of the bones in her face were actually broken, just severely bruised. Her CAT scan came back clean so she didn't have a concussion or a brain bleed, and the x-rays didn't show any broken bones in her torso. (They had been concerned about possible internal bleeding because of a rib injury). The antibiotics they gave her would help with both her internal infection and the unsightly black gash on her foot.

About 1:30am we had decided that the team in the waiting room could call it a night. At 3:15am I called Preston (who had probably just gotten to sleep) and asked him to come back so we could drive Tree to New Orleans. I had gotten her a bed in a local safe house but she backed out. We talked about safety; how she wasn't strong enough to take another beating like this right away. She agreed, but said she had a place to go in New Orleans. I asked where we were taking her and she said she had friends she could stay with. I asked if she would be safe, if they had a couch for her to sleep on and if they had a/c. She answered yes to all of them. I don't know if I believed her, or just wanted to.

As I helped her get her clothes out of the plastic bag the stench was near unbearable. When clothing gets beyond dirty it gets tacky; her clothes were sticky. She was pulling her shirt on over her head and said, "Uhg...dirty clothes again." I couldn't guess how long she had been in those same shorts. As she pulled them over her bruised limbs she reached into the pocket and pulled something out. "My harmonica!" she said happily, "I forgot I had this." For a moment she looked like a child on Christmas morning...a new toy held out excitedly for me to see. I smiled at her, but I wanted to cry.

Preston and I helped Tree into the car and headed towards the city. She told Preston where we were going and fell asleep before we were out of Baton Rouge. As we entered New Orleans she woke up but had little to say. We exited by the Superdome and pulled down a deserted street.

"Right here is fine," she said. "Let me out here." I pulled over and parked on the side of the road. There were no houses, no apartments, only a stretch of concrete fading under an overpass into the darkness. She let us pray for her and then got out. I hugged her neck and reminded her that she had our number if she needed anything. She thanked me and walked away, silently disappearing into the shadows.

I got back into the car and just sat there. "So, that's it?" Preston asked. I nodded. "You want me to drive?" he asked. I nodded again. We headed back to Baton Rouge, the sun easing into the sky just before we got back home. Some nights are harder than others.

editing...check

2010-07-19T11:55:00.003-05:00

I have survived!!!

The past couple of months have been spent trying to prep my new book for publishing. I had no idea how many layers of edits are required before it can go to print...layout, conceptual, finals, etc...thank God that my publishers know what they're doing! We haven't even started the cover work yet, but that's a whole other beast.

Now that I've passed the point of no return (everything now goes into print 'as is') it seems I may have a little more time to reaquaint myself with my forgotten blogger family. I would like the thank the 4 people who continue to check my blog every week to see if there's anything new...it makes me feel needed :)

I'm not sure when I last wrote but things have been busy here. The new HPC arena has now been open 17 weeks and we are adding a third service in mid-August. It's a 5pm Sunday service which I'm really looking forward to. I haven't done Sunday night church since my brief quasi-Pentacostal stint. Sunday night church is a blast!!!

My work is still the same...9 hours a day with mostly myself for company. I've decided I'm not nearly as entertaining as I thought I was. Still, God must be working something out because He hasn't moved me yet. Our Human Trafficking team is going to Arkansas in late August to do a training with another church; I'm looking forward to that. I'm also trying to decide if I should visit home before the snow flies (which can be anytime after October). So many decisions, so little wisdom.

Not a lot else to report here...I just wanted to say hello and let you know that I've survived the editing process for The Shame Vault. Thank you so much for your prayers and support. My prayer is that lives will be changed by this effort.

Be blessed, in Jesus' name. All glory to God!

Repent...and Stay Small

2010-04-29T10:28:00.003-05:00

We are in the final day of hosting the ARC Conference at Healing Place today. The Association of Related Churches (ARC) is a group that support each other, plant other churches and generally tries to build up the Body of Christ. I don't know a whole lot about it, but I know that right now we have hundreds of pastors visiting Baton Rouge that are on fire for God.

But, this blog isn't about them, it's about what God is doing in me as I try to submit to and follow my King Jesus. This is what I learned last night: I'm still a sinner in need of a Savior. Most of me already knew that, but somewhere deep in my heart I got a clearer vision of that last night while Pastor Dino shared his heart.

The title of the message last night was 'Stay Small'. Pastor Dino talked about how we need to stay small in our own sight and not despise small beginnings. I'm going to list the scriptures he used last night so you can do some further study, but these are the take-aways that I got:

1. Comparison is acid to my soul.

2. Everything that God does starts with something small.

3. You stay small, keep Him BIG.

4. There are no big churches...there is only a big God using small churches in a really big way.

At the end of the message he prayed for us...for all of us struggling not to despise our small. I had to repent. I don't know why God has me where I am right now, but He knows. God sees my struggles and my pain and my boredom. God sees it all and He still allows it. I have to quit asking myself why I'm here and start asking God what He wants me to accomplish while I'm here. I have to quit despising my small.

I asked God to forgive me and I believe He did. His word says that when we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I'm so grateful that God gives me grace...even in the midst of my confusion.

If you're struggling with where you are, I challenge you to read these scriptures and ask God to give you revelation. Lemmino what He tells you. All glory to God!

1 Samuel 15:17

Luke 19:17

Micah 5:2

Matthew 15:34

James 3:4

Zechariah 4:10

Mercy and Joy

2010-04-20T13:49:00.002-05:00

The streets of North Baton Rouge are typically pretty busy but last Friday night things were quiet. Earlier in the evening three people had been shot between Plank Road and Choctaw so anybody who could stay inside did. As usual, our ICU (Inner City Unit) team thought it was a perfect night for outreach.

Although we didn’t see a lot of people, God gave us some very cool connections. We got to visit with a prostitute who has been sporadically attending Sunday service at Baton Rouge Dream Center. She may not have been quite as excited to see us as we were to see her, but God knows what He’s doing. Although we always intend our roses to bring joy, they occasionally bring conviction. We just trust God to work it out.

At the Top 10 Social Club we handed out roses and chatted with the patrons. For any of you who haven’t been, the Top 10 is an interesting club on Choctaw with some of the biggest bouncers I’ve ever seen. I’m not sure what all goes on in that place, but I suspect the people aren’t there just for the music.

On Sunday morning a woman showed up at Healing Place on Highland Road. Pastor Dino said hello and asked how we could help her. She burst into tears and couldn’t answer. We eventually learned that she had been at the Top 10 Friday night when we handed out roses. She looked at the rose, read the card and told her friend that they had to leave. She said, “If God sent the church up into this club, He’s trying to tell us something.” That’s how she landed in service Sunday morning, listening to Pastor Dino teach on joy.

This woman is not some horrible sinner that spends all of her time drinking in bars. She used to go to church and read her bible, but then something happened that just got her off track…she called it a downward spiral. I understand the downward spiral. I understand how things can get fuzzy; the lines between right and wrong get blurred by pain, circumstance and pressure. Bad decisions pile on top of each other until we forget that there’s a God who loves us jealously. We forget His mercy until He sends an outreach team into the very bar we’re sitting in; they smile, hand us a rose and tell us we’re not forgotten.

I am so grateful for God’s mercy. I’m grateful that His arm is not too short to save nor His ear too dull to hear. I’m grateful that, in the same way He reached into the pit and snatched me out, He is still snatching people into freedom today. And we get to be a part of it.

All glory to God!

Know your strengths...

2010-04-09T17:43:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I finally cut the grass in my front yard. I'm not sure, but I think a family of lions was contemplating moving in. Something had to be done.

So, I'm in the yard, minding my business with grass flying and lawnmower humming. Then I saw it...a snake!!!

For any of you who don't know me well, I would rather lick a bug than see a snake. It's one of those unreasonable fears that defies logic; and no, it doesn't help that they're more afraid of me than I am of them. I'm not sure that's even possible.

I did the only thing I could think of...I tried to run over it with the lawnmower. When that didn't work, I did the next best thing; I started screaming like a little girl. It was not a pretty sight. I was considering climbing up on my roommates car when she came out to see what was going on. I pointed to the snake, now on the sidewalk, and continued screaming. Emily calmly took off her flip flop and bludgeoned the snake (as much as one can bludgeon with a size six flop). It slithered around a little and Emily asked me to throw her my shoe. The size 10 Saucony seemed to do the trick. She left me to guard the carcass while she went to get a bag to dispose of it. When she returned I poked it with a stick...and it moved. Then I stepped on it, several times, to ensures it's deadness. The demonic thing came back to life and tried to slither away!

Emily beat it again while I ran for my machete. (Yes, I have a machete.) After multiple wild slashes at the thing, we finally declared it dead. (Once the head was chopped off it showed very little will to live.)

Emily bravely picked up the pieces and threw them in the trash. I can't even tell you how relieved I was that she was there.

I don't think you could find two people more different than Emily and myself. We are almost polar opposites in everything. But, God brings people into our lives to help fill gaps. If there's a noise in the night, I am the first one to grab a bat and wander around the yard... Emily, not so much. However, if there's a slithering, evil, demon-inspired creature snaking around the yard, Emily is the go-to girl.

I'm very grateful for the people God has put in my life. God knows what I'm good at and what will drive me, shrieking like a child, onto the top of my best friend's Mustang. If you need prayer or a demon cast out, I'm your girl. If you have a snake in your yard, I don't even want to hear the story. We have to know our strengths.

All glory to God, and ever-lasting thanks to my fearless roommate. Be blessed, in Jesus' name.

My new favorite day

2010-04-05T16:54:00.003-05:00

It has been an amazing ride since I moved to Baton Rouge and started attending Healing Place Church. I've had lots of great days, lots of memorable experiences and a couple days I'd rather not mention. My new favorite day at HPC, however, happened this weekend.

As part of Servolution we were hosting an Easter egg hunt for families with special needs. Saturday morning was pretty wet and the sideways rain made it an easy decision to move the event inside. As God would have it, our new worship space opened the week before and we were able to hold the entire event in our large foyer. For a lot of reasons, that worked out even better than the original plan. Doesn't that sound like God?

I don't know how many families we hosted but I got to hang out with a young man named Joey. He was there with his mom but I sent her to go and get a manicure while Joey and I painted Easter eggs and got some pizza. He was also a major presence in the bounce house but an early injury forced us back to the food section. Fortunately, Joey was able to walk it off without incident. I should mention, the Chik-fil-a cow wandering around and was a little bothersome to Joey. He pointed out to me that the cow was unnaturally tall, and that cows shouldn't be able to walk on their back feet. Both excellent points, but we reduced the bovine-fear to a workable level.

Joey and I were resting in one of the lounge areas when he told me he wanted to dance. I told him that I thought he should. He was a little concerned about the crowd but I assured him that they would probably love to see him dance. With that, he busted a move...Michael Jackson couldn't have kept up with him! Before we knew it, other kids joined in, the cow was dancing and a circle of enthusiastic onlookers cheered them on. Joey's mom was trying to take a picture of him dancing but she had tears streaming down her face.

That's when Saturday became my new favorite day.

A little while later Joey was laying across the footstool, flat on hs back. He looked up at me and said, "I'm famous, I'm happy and I'm tired."

It was so cool being at an event that was specifically designed to meet the needs of kids who face such tough challenges everyday. I loved the Easter eggs all over the floor, I loved that the Easter Bunny was in a wheelchair, and I loved that so many families got to connect with the church and with each other. I loved that one little boy, if only for a while, felt like he was famous. I hope all of our special guests felt famous.

Resurrection Sunday offers so much hope. We had great services, people got saved and we got to worship our Lord and King, Jesus Christ. Sunday was great....but I'm still smiling about Saturday!

All glory to God!

Servolution Week

2010-03-30T09:18:00.002-05:00

This week is Servolution at Healing Place Church. We are doing outreaches for the 10 days leading up to Easter and we're trying to make it all but impossible for people to go to hell in Baton Rouge.

Last weekend was phenomenal. I volunteered at New Beginnings (addictions ministry) on Friday night, then I went on ICU (Inner City Unit) outreach. Saturday morning I went to the House for Haiti extreme makeover and then to the Tigers Against Trafficking 5K run (I assure you, I was not a participant). Sunday morning we held our first Sunday services at the new HPC Arena and were near capacity for both services. Sunday afternoon I did a drive-by to see how our second set of House for Haiti volunteers were doing. Of course, they were working like Hebrew slaves and loving it!

That was my weekend. How cool is our God?

In one weekend I got to: help people struggling with destructive behaviors, give snacks to cross-dressing prostitutes downtown, help with demolition on a house that will provide tens of thousands of dollars for aid in Haiti and help bring awareness to victims of Human Trafficking. And, I got to see people flood the alter at Healing Place and make Jesus their Lord and Savior.

Again, how cool is our God?

I am so blessed and so humbled that God allows me to be a part of everything that goes on at my church. The opportunity to be a healing place for a hurting world is so far beyond anything that I deserve. (Truthfully, anything short of burning in eternal fire is beyond what I deserve.) I am so grateful that God allows me to see what He's doing in His people.

Thank you for sharing this journey with me. All glory to God!

Back in the light

2010-01-26T20:15:00.003-06:00

I've missed you so. Contrary to popular belief I have not: (a) been captured by pirates, (b) moved to the Sahara or (c) fallen completely off the face of the earth. It felt like all of the above, but I've been right here all along. Thanks for your patience.

I'm not sure how we got to the end of January, since just last week it was Christmas. I think it has something to do with all the W-2's, 1099's and FUTA forms I've been wading through. For all of you non-math people (like myself) those are just a few of the joyful tasks of year end book-keeping. God bless the accountants!

Since I seem to have survived the melee of year end, I decided to poke my head out and say hello. Some pretty cool stuff has happened over the last several weeks and I wanted to share it with y'all. One of the most exciting things is that I signed a contract with a publishing company for my latest book. Woo hoo!!! Sometime in late 2010 my new book The Shame Vault will be finished and on the shelves. Please be praying for all that is involved in that process. Another cool thing, I've been invited to speak at a Women's Conference in NYC. That won't happen til May but I'm jazzed about it none the less. Cool thing #3: I got a new dog! Well, she's not really new since she's already 4 years old...more of a new-to-you model. Her name is Coco and I adopted her from a shelter. I've had her about 3 weeks now and she's absolutely great. We're still working on the whole 'alpha dog' thing but I think we're gonna make it.

Tomorrow morning I'm flying home for a visit. I'll get to spend time with my family, hopefully ride my sister's new snowmobile (depending on whether or not she remembers what happened last time), and have a few days to breathe. I'm really looking forward to taking some time to refocus and clear my head. I'm believing that God is going to speak to me and bring clarity to some murky issues.

Hopefully I'll be blogging some of my adventures so stayed tuned for further updates. Be blessed, in Jesus' name. All glory to Him!

Fully clothed...

2009-12-23T09:20:00.007-06:00

The goal of faithfulness is not that we will do work for God, but that He will be free to do HIs work through us. God calls us to His service and places tremendous responsibilities on us. He expects no complaining on our part and offers no explanation on His part. God wants to use us as He used His own Son.
(taken from My Utmost For His Highest, by Oswald Chambers)

I'm currently sitting at my desk and thinking about Christmas. I wanted to send a Christmas greeting to the wonderful people who follow this blog, but somehow 'Happy Holidays' just wasn't cutting it. I wanted to expose some deeper truth, but I seem to be short on wisdom. Nevertheless, I'll share some random thoughts.

There are 2 cards sitting on my desk; one depicts a manger emanating light and the other is a gaily decorated church with a snowman out front. Both are lovely and both share a piece of what this season is about. But here's what I'm thinking: the purpose of Christmas is simply preparation for the Cross. All roads from Bethlehem lead to Calvary.

I sometimes try to find spiritual meaning in physical experiences and, as I was thinking about it, I think I may have stumbled upon something. This might get murky but stay with me...

My early experience with God was like Christmas: unmerited favor, shiny toys and gifts of grace beyond measure. There was nothing I did, or could have done, to deserve the forgiveness and peace that He granted me. Salvation was like Christmas morning.

I'm not sure what I expected, but 'walking out my salvation in fear and trembling' has been more rewarding and more searingly painful than I could have ever imagined. Discovering truth, separating soul from spirit and taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ Jesus has taken more sustained effort and energy than I possess. Without the glitter and glam of Christmas morning, God continues to give me precious gifts of peace and endurance along the way. He is the author and perfecter of my faith.

Some part of me thought that getting saved and living for God would bring joy, hope and love. It has, but it has been liberally mixed with pain, doubt and occasional hysteria. The joy has come after surviving the nights of sorrow. Hope is made visible when the light of God's truth exposes the lies of fear. And love is as present as breath, understanding that God so loved the world that He ransomed His Son for my once miserable soul. Living for God is joyously painful as God surgically removes the broken areas of my life with His sword of the Spirit.

Oswald Chambers states that we should not complain and God does not explain. How that burns the flesh!!! When God found me I was like the demonic man that could not be bound by chains. Jesus set him free and then the man, fully clothed and in his right mind, sat at Jesus' feet. That is what I am called to do.

The greatest gift I've received is the ability to sit, fully clothed and in my right mind, at the feet of my Lord Jesus. What more could I ask for?

May God's mercy and grace envelop you and your family this Christmas. May you live in peace, fully clothed and in your right mind, at the feet of Jesus. Be blessed. All glory to God.

Merry Christmas.

Ham with a side of hope

2009-11-23T17:13:00.005-06:00

Cool story from Thanksgiving Outreach...

Saturday morning we're buzzing around the Baton Rouge Dream Center resembling bumble bees on meth. There are volunteers everywhere: some holding signs on street corners, some waving traffic through the parking lot like air traffic controllers and some moving (literally) hundreds of pounds of smoked meat onto the sidewalk. The infamous Thanksgiving Outreach is underway.

I got there late and I missed the instructions so I have basically no idea what's going on. The cool thing is, it doesn't matter. We have such an amazing team of volunteers that I just wander through the lot and enjoy the excitement. It's raining, the wind is biting and hundreds of HPCers are there to serve.

Cars are lined up waiting to deliver Thanksgiving groceries to families they've never met. SUV's packed tight with kids, friends piled into sports cars, pick-up trucks with life group buddies...all of them eager to feed the poor and pray for the hurting. This is what church is all about.

One family, in particular, got to serve in a whole other capacity. When they knocked on the door to deliver the Thanksgiving ham, a young woman came outside and got into their vehicle. She told them she was working with a counselor from HPC and needed to leave with them. Almost without explanation, she threw her belongings into the trunk and asked them to drive her to the Dream Center. Without hesitation, the family packed her in and drove off.

As the volunteers were driving off, they called the Dream Center for instructions. I was dispatched from our side to go and meet up with them. I grabbed two of our faithful volunteers and we headed out.

The details are irrelevant but here's the bottom line. Within an hour, the young woman found herself in a safe place, with safe people around her, for the first time in many years. Saturday morning she woke up in an abusive, violent situation where she was forced to trade herself daily. Saturday night she went to sleep in clean bed, in a safe house, without fear.

The family that helped save her did not get up Saturday morning hoping to rescue a victim of human trafficking; they simply wanted to be a healing place for a hurting world. They showed up intending to deliver groceries; instead they delivered hope. Ordinary people taking part in extraordinary life change; that's what the Kingdom of God is all about.

All glory to Him!

In the silence

2009-11-18T10:50:00.003-06:00

We are building a new worship space at my church and it's been in the works for a few years now. Minor things like category five hurricanes and global recessions have slowed the progress, yet we forge on. We will open the doors in a few months and everyone is getting really excited about it. This past weekend we did something that totally impressed me. Any of you who know me personally will know that I'm not easily impressed, as my internal cynic sometimes gets the best of me. But this past weekend, I was utterly impressed.

Pastor Dino decided that before we open the doors of our new facility, he wanted the Word spoken over the facility in its entirety. We signed up for 15 minute time slots and read the Bible from cover to cover. It took several days (and all-nighters) but we made it from Genesis to Revelation. It was one of the coolest experiences I've ever been a part of.

The section I read was out of Matthew and had lots of 'Woe to you, brood of vipers' stuff. As I was reading it I began to wonder if God was speaking to me specifically. Jesus was rebuking the Pharisees for being white-washed tombs; clean on the outside but full of deceit and corruption on the inside. I began to wonder if I should just lay down the bible and repent.

I am a sinner, saved by grace. I don't live the life of overt sin that I once did, but I still struggle with being more like Jesus and less like my self-serving, me-focussed, center of the universe self. I want my life to glorify God and bring the saving knowledge of Christ to the lost. I want to be, as Pastor Dino puts it, "a paper plate to serve up Jesus".

What is it in us that demands that we be heard? What broken part of us cries out for our rights, even in the midst of our sin?

I don't want to be a white washed tomb. I don't want to be a Pharisee that loves to be noticed and needs the approval of others. I spend lots of hours every day in silence. I used to want God to speak to me and tell me what to do. Now I want to get to the place where I'm content to sit in the silence, just knowing He's here with me.

Have you gotten to a place where God's presence is all you seek? Not His voice, not His direction, not His hand: simply His silent presence. If you have, lemmino how you arrived there. I'm eager to learn.

Be blessed and be free, in Jesus' name. All glory to God!

What's your story?

2009-11-09T14:21:00.004-06:00

I've been back from Chicago for a week and a half but I'm still trying to process everything that I heard. The Story 09 conference was incredible; great leadership, innovative and more creativity than I can even describe. It would take 50 posts to convey everything that I learned, but I'm going to focus on one thing.

Donald Miller recently released his new book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. If you're content with your life, please don't read it. It jacked me up entirely. I bought it several weeks ago but I didn't read it until I was flying to Chicago. If reading the book wasn't enough, Donald spoke at the conference as well. By Wednesday night I was wrecked.

The premise of the book is this: you are telling a story with your life. It might be a great story or a horrible story, but either way you're telling it. You are the leading character, for better or for worse. The whole story line revolves around the choices you make.

I'm a writer, so I think a lot about characters, plot lines and settings. I have a whole collection of people who live in my imagination, just waiting for an opportunity to leap onto the page and start living their stories. What I've realized in the past ten days is, I spend more time thinking about their stories than I do living mine. My fictional characters have all kinds of adventure, romance and suspense. I spend nine hours a day at my laptop. I'm not living an adventure, there is a most definite absence of romance, and the only suspense I have is whether my pay check will cover my bills. That's not a good story.

I've realized that some part of me believed that once I write the bestseller, my life (my story) will really begin. Here's the scary part though; Donald Miller had already written the bestseller and moved into the new condo and he still had a story he didn't like. The condo didn't make the story any better and neither did the bestseller. Those things may have changed the setting, but they didn't do anything for character development. He had to make choices to change the story he was living; not just the stories he was writing.

I want to live a better story...and I have no excuse not to. I belong to (arguably) the greatest church on the planet, I have great friends, a supportive family and enough sense not to play in traffic. I should be living a great story!!!

I've decided that my problem is based primarily in selfishness and fear of the unknown. I say I want adventure, but I don't like talking to people I don't already know. I say I want suspense, but I sit on my couch instead of taking a risk. We don't even have time to enter the romance debate, but suffice it to say that I have some hang-ups there too. And the downside to all of this: writing a bestseller won't change any of it.

So here I am, again, at the foot of the cross asking God to heal me some more. I want to live a great story...a story that makes Jesus famous and brings glory to God. That's probably not going to happen sitting on my couch.

What's your story? Are living life to the full or do you have a remote in one hand and cheetos in the other? I don't want to have another conversation about somebody else's adventure; I want to be living my own. Any thoughts on how I can get started?

Sausage gravy at the truckstop

2009-10-20T15:09:00.002-05:00

The single waitress and the lone cook did not seem excited when ten of us strode into the diner at 9pm. We repositioned a table and made ourselves at home, passing the sticky menus around the booth and laughing about something I can't recall. The most pressing debate: the big breakfast platter versus the philly cheese-steak omelet. One of life's tough decisions.

Our real purpose in visiting the truck stop cafe was to scout out the land. Our new outreach (which just happens to involve eating biscuits with sausage gravy) is to provide public awareness and a point of contact for victims of human trafficking. Most of the people I talk to tell me that human trafficking is a problem in India or Thailand. I tell them that it is, but it's also a problem in Baton Rouge. Many will argue with me. It wouldn't be right for me to point across the room to a thirteen year-old whose sister was sold to a neighborhood pimp, or to the single mom on the third row who was only eight when her mother traded her for crack.

These aren't people we met at a strip club on Midnight outreach; they are in our church, sitting in our pews every week. If human trafficking is a third-world problem, then it got lost. It landed, alive and well, smack in the middle of the land of the free and the home of the brave.

I volunteer with an organization that helps fight human trafficking so I hear a lot of stats. Did you know that it is now more profitable to sell people than drugs? The only criminals that make more money than traffickers are arms dealers. Weapons, people, drugs; the 3 most profitable criminal activities in the world. It is estimated that over 100,000 Americans will be victims of human trafficking this year. Most of them will be women and children; many will be teenage girls, hoping to escape abusive situations at home. Sadly, the streets have nothing to offer. According to statistics, runaways will be approached by both drug dealers and traffickers within 48 hours. That gives us, the church, less than 2 days to find these kids and intervene.

You may be asking yourself how any of this relates to biscuits with sausage gravy. Victims of human trafficking are, this moment, being moved across America in tractor-trailers. Commonly referred to as 'lot-lizards' these women and children are traded between truckers, moved from state to state, and often kept drugged to prevent escape or detection. (Please don't misunderstand me; I'm not claiming that every trucker is a trafficker; simply stating that's one of the methods used by the industry to transport victims.)

We want to be a healing place for a hurting world. Sometimes that means we feed the orphans, pray with the sick or visit widows. Sometimes it means we eat greasy biscuits at 10pm and pray for the opportunity to talk to a waitress, a cashier, or a trucker so that we can educate them and help make a difference in somebody's life.

We did get to talk to the waitress Saturday night and we hung posters in the bathrooms with a national hotline number that helps victims. We didn't talk to any victims, but I believe God will honor our efforts. I believe that one day, one girl will read that poster or talk to that waitress, and God will make a way of escape for her.

Please join me in praying for the people entangled in human trafficking; the victims and the perpetrators. Jesus went to the cross for all of us, and He wants all of us to make it to heaven. All glory to God!

ponderings...

2009-10-03T13:43:00.001-05:00

As most of you know, I work at a self-storage business. That means I have a fair bit of free time (approximately 40 of the 50 hrs I work every week) to think, read, write and ponder. I don't read much when I'm writing books, simply because I don't want to accidently pirate someone else's idea and magically make it my own. I've recently finished another draft of my latest book but I'm not completely done so I can't start reading yet. That means, much of my time is spent pondering. Say it with me: uh oh...

As mentioned in previous blogs, Donna spending time in her own thoughts can be dangerous. Odd happenings occur, like Donna referring to herself in the third party. I watched "A Beautiful Mind" last week...that didn't help much either.

What do you ponder?

Seriously, please tell me...I need something fresh to ponder.

Comment and lemmino, maybe your ponderings will inspire me!

Just me and Donkey

2009-09-24T16:02:00.000-05:00

I'm sitting in my office spending time with my friend Donkey. For anyone who hasn't worked in the self-storage business, it's hard to grasp the value of having a friend to share your day with. I usually arrive at work about 8:45am and depart shortly after 6pm. Yep, that nine full hours to spend alone in my head. Occasionally customers come to visit me. Perhaps they're just being friendly for the nine seconds it takes for me to process their payments, but I consider it a visit. In self-storage, you take what you can get. Donkey sits in my window sill and keeps me on track. He's about three inches tall, has a red bandana, and if you flip his head back a chalky tablet that resembles candy pops out. Some would think that he's just a Pez dispenser, but I know better.

I used to work at an inner-city outreach facility that serves as one of our Healing Place Church campuses. The Baton Rouge Dream Center has all types of programs, activities, services and some of the coolest people you'll ever meet. The choice to leave there and come here was difficult, but I knew God was moving me. The reason I mention the Dream Center is because that's where Donkey and I met. My friend Emily knows that I love donkeys. (That's right, donkeys. You wanna make something of it? Sorry...I digress.) So, because of my affinity for these precious beasts of burdens, one day she presented my with my very own furry, Pez dispensing donkey. I was immediately in love. I kept Donkey on my desk along with another friend, Sheep. Sheep is much bigger than donkey but also furry. Sorry folks, no Pez with Sheep, which is probably good because they'd be the size of matchbox cars; that's a lot of chalk.

(A sad story about Sheep: one Sunday afternoon one of our DC kids got hurt on the playground and had to go to the hospital. While we were waiting for parents to arrive, I allowed said child to hold Sheep until Momma got there. Both child and Sheep left. Only the child came back [Cue sad music]. I now have a picture of a sheep in my office but its just not the same.)

The reason I've taken you down this rambling road is to tell you why I have to spend my time with Donkey. The reason Sheep and Donkey lived on my desk is because they were visual reminders of my nature. Sheep are fluffy and lovable and quietly kind. They're submissive, gentle and they follow the shepherd without question. That's how I would like to be.

Donkeys, on the other hand, are unruly, stubborn and hard to train. They are more apt to do their own thing than whatever their master wants, and they're frequently making noise when everyone around them wishes they'd be quiet. That's more like me than I care to admit.

Don't get me wrong, I would love to be a sheep instead of a donkey. I try to hang out with sheep and emulate them, I read books and listen to podcasts and go to church and pray that God changes me. Still, more often than not, I'm a donkey.

With Sheep gone, it's just me and Donkey left. I wonder if God's trying to tell me something.

Any thoughts? I'd love for you to share your own inner-donkey story...if only to make me feel better. Be blessed and be free, in Jesus' name. All glory to God!

A good, solid throat-punch

2009-09-14T14:14:00.000-05:00

Have you ever just wanted to throat-punch the devil? That's a pretty regular thought for me so, as often as I can, I just go ahead and do it. I love that the prayers of the righteous availeth much. I feel like we should all just availeth today! (That's right, I'm goin King James on ya now, baby!)

Every day this week I have something going on. I'm not complaining; I love it when life is stacked up. I had the opportunity yesterday to sit on a panel at church (Baton Rouge Dream Center) and talk about how God set me free from addictions. It was a wonderful, humbling experience. On Thursday evening Anne Jackson is coming in to speak at the Hub and I'm so pumped I can hardly wait. (I've only really met Anne one time but because I read her blog almost everyday I think of us as internet buddies. The time I did meet her I gave her MRE's and ostrich jerky from the warehouse...in hind-sight, maybe not the best gift to give a mostly-vegetarian.)

My week looks like this: writing group, accounting meeting, life coach meeting, counseling session, street outreach, Anne at the Hub and then a double-header of softball on Friday night. So what's the problem?

I'M ON CRUTCHES!!! Oh yeah, I feel a giant throat-punch coming on!

I don't know what happened but sometime in the past few weeks my hip decided to quit working for me. I've been to the doctor's, had x-rays, taken medicine (pills and {yikes!} needles) and I'm currently waiting for an MRI. I know that we should consider it all joy... seriously?

I'm a terrible patient and I don't suffer well. Will you please be praying that God will heal my body quickly? I think, praying in one accord, we can collectively throat-punch the devil hard enough to get him off of us. And I love kicking his tail :)

All glory to God!

PS
If the devil has been giving you trouble send me your prayer request and I'll put it on my list. I love praying for people and watching God move!

Lessons from the alley

2009-09-05T10:49:00.000-05:00

It's Saturday morning and I'm at work. A few months ago I left my job at the Dream Center so I could write my next book. I asked God to move me to a place where I had time to write and still had a paycheck. I currently manage a self-storage facility. Some days I think I can hear God laughing.

Seriously though, it's been a great learning experience. I recently finished the second (or maybe third?) draft of my manuscript and now I'm in the excruciating season of query letters, endorsements and book proposals. It's odd, but it seems like its easier to write an entire book than to write a 5-page paper about the book. Nevertheless, we forge on.

I've never done well with time spent in solitude. I tell people that my mind is like a dark alley; I should never go there alone. Over the past three or four months I've spent a lot of time in the alley. Some days have been really rough, but for the most part it has been an interesting time. God has been working out some things; things that I didn't necessarily know were there. Here's a little insight on what I've been learning:

1. Alleys are dark for a reason. Darkness not only hides a lot of stuff, it intimidates as well. One of the reasons I've spent a great deal of energy avoiding my mind is that I wasn't quite sure what I would find there. I've battled with a number of significant issues over the years and, although God has faithfully carried me through all of them, I suspect that some of the skeletons still clatter around in the alley. Sometimes it's easier to avoid an area than to try to clean it up.

2. Alleys typically smell bad. Many of the alleys that I've wandered down are lined with dumpsters; a type of socially acceptable trash heap. Most of the time, if something stinks, it's because it's old and dead. My mind has a few dumpsters in it; containers (memories) filled with other people's trash that has collected in my head. Most of the issues (and some of the people) are long-since dead, but they live on in my head, usually to my own demise. For much of my life I have believed that it was me that stunk. Upon closer investigation, I realized that most of the garbage isn't even mine. I somehow granted access to my dumpster for other people's junk. Granted, I still have lots of thoughts and habits that I'm working on getting cleaned up, but for the most part, my life is more sanitized than it's ever been.

3. Sometimes people throw stuff in the alley that doesn't belong. There are things in my life that I will carry because they are mine to bear, but not everything in my head belongs to me. Before I started this mental dumpster-diving excursion, I just accepted all of the junk as my own. I don't know if it's been through the writing of my latest book or the fifty hours a week I spend alone, but I have come to realize that a bunch of this stinky mess isn't even mine. Part of my journey has been releasing the junk back to it's rightful owners.

4. We can police the use of our dumpster. I don't have to let other people's junk fill up my alley. I was raised in a lot of confusion which led to some unhealthy behaviors like codependency and people-pleasing. For much of my life I thought that I was responsible for whatever happened to land in my life. I have come to realize that I really get to decide how much ownership I will take in in any given situation. I've found a lot of freedom in that.

5. We can empty the dumpster whenever we need to. When Jesus Christ died on the cross, He made a way for me to have a clean slate anytime I needed it. The bible says that when we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That means, the trash that is rightfully ours, can be removed every time we repent. But what about the trash that other people heap into our lives? I believe the answer to that is forgiveness. As we release the people into God's hands and let Him deal with their trash, they no longer have access to our hearts and minds. Unforgiveness is a prop that holds the door wide open for resentment and bitterness. If you're holding the lid open, don't be surprised when people throw their trash in.

6. It's up to us to keep our alley clean. Once the trash man (God) cleans up our mess, it's our responsibility to keep it clean. The word 'repent' means to turn away from. When Jesus forgave the woman who was caught in adultery He told her, "Go now and leave your life of sin." He forgave her, but He also gave her instructions on how to continue on with her life. If we are serious about asking God to clean up our lives, we have to be serious about 'turning away from' our sin. For me, I had to enlist some help for that. I had to allow people into my life to hold me accountable, and then I had to be honest with them. Here's a free tip: accountability is not telling someone what you've already done; it's asking them if it's a good idea before you do it. Accountability has saved my walk with God. It's humbling, often embarrassing, and sometimes downright scary. And it will only work to the level of honest effort you put into it.

I have had ample opportunity in the past several months to work on my 'clean up Donna's alley' project. I haven't liked a lot of what I've found, but God has been with me every step of the way. I probably still wouldn't choose to have a picnic in my alley, but some of the stench has been removed and there's more room to move around. Progress, not perfection.

What's going on in your alley? Are you living the life God intended or are you holding a hankie over your nose hoping you don't throw up? Either way, God will meet you where you're at. I encourage you to take some time and investigate your personal alley. Shine the light of God's love and mercy over your dumpster. Forgive other people. Forgive yourself. And then, leave your life of sin. You don't have to keep the junk. Jesus is standing, arms open wide, waiting to receive you and your mess.

All thanks and glory to God.

Welcome back Kotter (aka interns)

2009-08-18T15:15:00.000-05:00

This is the first week for our new interns with Healing Place School of Ministry. We have 16 fresh and eager students who have made the decision to spend the next nine months living, breathing and eating servanthood. They will study, serve, outreach, serve, worship and serve some more. They will get to sleep some too, but I think that's scheduled for some time in March. I had an opportunity to hang out with them a little bit last night at one of their services and I am so excited about what God is doing with the next generation. What a privilege to watch these young people running hard after God.

Lance brought an incredible word for us about the culture of Healing Place Church. My two favorite points: 1. Stay Flexible and you won't get bent out of shape. 2. The difference between where you are and where God wants you is pain tolerance. I love that! (Actually, I like it better in theory than in real-life...it always hurts less in theory.)

So please put the interns on your prayer list and encourage them whenever you see them. This next year will be tough battle for many of them; we don't want them feeling like they're in it alone. All glory to God!

Angus burger at BK

2009-08-11T13:32:00.000-05:00

I went for lunch with some friends after Sunday service and Molly told a great testimony about a guy she met at church. For anyone who doesn't know Molly, imagine angel food cake covered with chocolate ganache, warm caramel, with tiny bits of melted German chocolate. Yes, she is that sweet. (And genuine, which is amazing considering her ultra-sweetness.) Anyway, Molly sees this guy at church and says hello. She asks how his week was and he tells her it was incredible. He goes on to share that, this week, he was released after serving a 19-year prison term. Molly told him that was fantastic and she asked him what he did on his first week out. He told her that he got and Angus burger at Burger King. Molly celebrated with him.
This guy heard about us when he got hooked up with our Prisoner Re-entry program. I absolutely love that Healing Place makes such a concerted effort to reach those that Jesus tells us to reach: widows, orphans, prisoners, the poor. I love that, on this guy's first non-incarcerated weekend in 19 years, he made it a priority to be in church. You can't tell me that God isn't at work within the walls of our prisons.
I was thinking; what would I do on my first week out?
A better question: what would you do?
Drop me a line and lemmino. Be blessed in Jesus' name. All glory to God!

Help me and get free stuff (really)

2009-07-29T11:41:00.001-05:00

As some of you know, I'm in the process of writing another book and designing an accompanying website. I need your help. The website will be a place for people to unload the shame they've been carrying around with them. They will do this through sharing their stories and reading the stories of others. In order to help people feel safe enough to share their shame, other stories need to be already posted for them to read. This is where you come in.
I am asking you to considering sharing your story (or at least a part of it) with future readers of the website. Your story can be a past victory, a current concern or anything else that speaks to the issue of shame. Whether your story involves sexual sin, addictions, abortion, neglect or anything else; I need your input.
I believe that God wants this book written and this website up. I, personally, would rather not deal with any of it (as shame seldom brings out the best in people)...but, more than my comfort, I want to obey God. You can email me your story (send it to templebuilder2000@yahoo.com) or send it to this website as a comment. If you wish to remain anonymous, I suggest sending it as a comment because that doesn't require an email address. Comments that come to this blog are sent to me before they are published online. I will ensure that materials sent to me are only published on my upcoming website.
As an incentive, I'm going to try something that I've seen on Anne Jackson's blog (if you don't already follow her, I would suggest that you start...she's a great writer and she's hysterical!!!) I am going to give away 5 copies of my first book (Straight from Hell) to people who send me their stories. In order to be eligible for the drawing you must provide a way for me to contact you (so anonymity may not be the way to go).
Send me your story (via email or as a comment on this site), your contact info, and I will enter you in the drawing. Winners will be notified privately via email.
Thank you in advance for being willing to share your stories. I believe that we can make a difference in somebody's life...but sometimes we first have to be willing to show them our scars. Thank you for your willingness.
Send your stories, pray for me and we'll watch God move. All gory to Him!!!

A stroll thru Sodom

2009-07-21T11:27:00.000-05:00

Last Friday we did Midnight Outreach in New Orleans. It was great...we got to train some more people, share our passion with them and get them lit up for the cause of Human Trafficking. After we did the training we helped prep the roses and then headed to Bourbon Street. Say it with me, "OFF THE CHAIN".

I've been on Bourbon Street before but this time it was different. For some reason, I couldn't stop looking into the eyes of the people on the street. They were walking aimlessly, beads around their necks, drinks in hand; but their eyes seemed so lifeless. And it wasn't just a few of them...it was the two Hispanic gentlemen sitting on the curb, it was the gaggle of scantily-dressed teenage girls on the corner, it was the quiet homeless woman that asked me for money, the tourists in their souvenir t-shirts...it seemed like all of them were desperately lost. Some were falling-down drunk, some were catching beads from the second story bars and some were just standing and staring; drinking in the scene of perversion around them.

Usually when I'm on Bourbon Street I am going into the clubs to give roses to the ladies. Since we didn't have as many volunteers as we usually do, I stayed on the street to help watch over our group. I have to say, I think it's less offensive to be in the strip clubs. I was trying to explain the scene to my sister and she said, "It sounds like Sodom and Gomorrah". That was exactly it, she nailed it. On the drive home I was thinking about the scripture where the angels are going to destroy Sodom for its sin. I thought about Bourbon Street and the people of New Orleans. I thought about the hundreds of thousands of people who come from around the world to be a part of the debauchery. I wondered, if the angels came tonight, would New Orleans would burn?

I am so grateful for places like the New Orleans Dream Center and Church of the King. I'm so glad Pastor Dino and DeLynn let us go and be a part of reaching into the darkness. Please pray for New Orleans; for the city, for the people and for God's mercy to cover all of us. All glory to Him!

Lift up your face

2009-07-08T10:50:00.000-05:00

if you put away the sin that is in your hand and allow no evil to dwell in your tent,
then you will lift up your face without shame; you will stand firm and without fear.
You will surely forget your trouble, recalling it only as waters gone by.
Job 11:14-16 (NIV)

One of the toughest battles I’ve had to fight since my salvation has been the struggle to overcome shame. This is an excerpt from my journal just before I got breakthrough in this area:
Shame is like platelets, its just part of my blood. It runs through my body and mind on a continual basis. I am ashamed of who I am, what I am, where I came from and where I’m going. I am ashamed of how I look, how I talk, what I say and how I think. I am ashamed of my body, my weight, my intelligence, my creativity, my talents and my humor. I am ashamed of everything about me. I am ashamed that I am me. I am ashamed that I am.

Although I believe that everything in the Bible is true, I wondered if I would live long enough to see my face lifted up without shame. I simply couldn’t imagine it. I couldn’t imagine not wishing I was someone else, somewhere else or something else. I couldn’t imagine being okay with being me.

The place I had to start was to recognize that, whether I’m okay with me or not, God still loves me. I am accepted in the Beloved, and He is pleased with me. Somehow it’s easier to accept myself if I think somebody else thinks I’m okay too. If you read the scripture at the top of the page again you’ll see some of the benefits of getting free from shame: standing firm, no fear, forgetting your troubles. It’s not an easy battle, but it’s well worth the fight. You are worth fighting for.

Question of the day:
What do I need to ‘put away from my hand’ so that my face can be lifted up?

11-4 and lovin it!

2009-07-01T09:20:00.000-05:00

Last week we did a 'Lewis and Clark' outreach. (For non-history buffs like myself, Lewis and Clark were explorers that went into the unknown in search of new frontiers. I only know that because I lived in St Louis for a while and they were popular there, although I still don't know why.) So last Friday a group of us met at 11pm at a bowling alley (yep, that's just how we roll) and went in search of new people to serve. We walked through bushes, climbed under overpasses and searched the levee looking for someone with whom to share the love of Christ.
I got home about 4am. I was tired, dirty and wet. My jeans were soaked up to my knees and my shoes were covered in mud. In the five hours we were out there I only talked to one person. A young woman, probably early twenties, was working in front of a motel on Airline. She was a little nervous and more than a little high. It was clear by the way she dressed that she was selling herself. She wouldn't talk to me, wouldn't take a card and didn't want anything that I tried to offer her. All she wanted was to be away from us. I wished her a good night and watched her disappear into the shadows. As she walked away I prayed that she wouldn't get beat for me talking to her. Prostitution is a brutal business.
One of the volunteers asked me what we do now. I told him we pray...and that we keep coming back. Eventually she will talk; or at least let us feed her. It's always a process, and it's always slower than I would like it to be.
Riding on the shuttle I was thinking about our team. I realized that on our team, at 2am, there were people from 4 different grants. We had Aaron from Victims Services, Charity and Jillian from Street Outreach Program, Joey from Prisoner Re-entry and Miss Alliece from Human Trafficking Coalition. It made me think about God's creativity and how He has positioned Church United and Healing Place Church for such a time as this. On our team we had people searching for victims, homeless youth, ex-prisoners and prostitutes. It made me wonder how many other organizations were searching for those particular people.
I am so glad that Pastors Dino and Delynn allow us to go into the streets in the middle of night to seek that which is lost. I believe, with everything in me, that's what Jesus would have us do. Sometimes on outreach we see miraculous healings and salvation. Sometimes we get home, at 4am covered in filth, and wonder if we made a difference. I don't know if we touched anyone's heart on Friday night but I believe God will honor our effort. And, if nothing else, I got to spend the night with some of the coolest people on earth, doing exactly what I love to do. I love my life, I love my church and I love my God. All glory to Him!

baseball bats and God

2009-06-18T17:12:00.000-05:00

The other night I was asleep in my bed when I heard my roommate holler, "Donna, someone is trying to get in through my window!" I was on my feet and standing in the hallway about a half-second later. "What?!?" She said it again. I went back into my room, put on a sweatshirt and grabbed a baseball bat from my closet. "Grab your cell phone", I told my roommate as I headed to the door. I flicked on the light, walked down my driveway and turned the corner of the house. I wasn't really thinking; I just went into combat mode. I prayed as I walked out of the house but I wasn't sure what I was walking into. Nonetheless, I walk into the night.

On Emily's windowsill was a little black and white cat, just sitting there. I laughed.

I told Emily to come and see; and we both laughed. As we went back into the house she said, "So that's it? You just grab a baseball bat and walk straight into it?" I told her that I would rather be taken out in my driveway facing my fear than to be cowering in my house, afraid of what might be there.

I went back to my room and as I was laying in bed God whispered to my heart. He told me that is the way He wants me to write my books...to just grab a bat and go. I was convicted. I've been supposed to write this book on shame for the past 2 years. I'm a little afraid of it and, well, kind of ashamed. But, I've made a decision that I'm going to do what God says. I'm going to grab a bat (pen) and go.

I should be launching a new website, hopefully in the next few weeks. I will let you know when it happens and then I'm going to need help from all of you (and your friends, relatives, co-workers and the guy you just met on the elevator). The website will be gathering stories about shame and those stories will help shape my new book.

Please be praying that I will grab a bat and go. Be blessed, in Jesus' name.

All glory to God!

Right here, right now

2009-06-13T10:21:00.000-05:00

Last night we got to do Midnight Outreach and it was FABULOUS. For those of you who don’t know, Midnight is an awesome outreach we do where we go to the clubs, bars and streets late at night to remind people that they are not forgotten. We typically take roses to ladies dancing at strip clubs, chocolate to the bouncers, and snacks to the people we find trolling the streets. It’s always exciting and God always shows up. Last night we had some really cool experiences.

Sometimes it’s just the regular crew of HPC volunteers that head out into the night, but last night we had the privilege of being joined by a mission team from Washington, DC. They are a great group of young people from Mark Batterson’s church and they are spending a few days with us at the Baton Rouge Dream Center learning how we do outreach at HPC. Our goal is to reach the world by serving one; and one of the best ways to do that is to equip other churches so they can replicate these outreaches in their own cities. It’s a cool opportunity to pass on the DNA of Healing Place.

So this is pretty much the highlight reel of last night:

Strip clubs:
• Gave out roses and chocolate at 3 south side clubs
• Favorite moment: seeing one of our volunteers crying in the parking lot, unable to express her gratitude for God delivering her from that life. Before Christ, she had been a stripper for 10 years. She knew everyone in the club, and last night she was able to walk in, hand out roses, and be a light of hope in that very dark place.

Top 10 Social Club:
• Handed out roses, chocolate, lip balm with hotline number and gifts for patrons to take home to their children.
• Favorite moment: a man standing in the parking lot, surrounded by team members praying for him, at midnight. He said that something had told him to go stand “right here, right now”. Our team leader told him that something had told us to go “right here, right now’. Cool God moment.

Street corner:
• Favorite moment: watching a prostitute take a rose from the hand of a volunteer. When we pulled up she started to run away…she said we scared her…then she took the rose and thanked us.

The Alamo:
• Handed out roses, chocolate and lip balm to people who were hanging around outside at this by-the-hour motel.
• Prayed for people who are lost, hurting and desperate for change.
• Dean got to talk to the owner and he said we could hang up a poster in the office letting people know what we do. This is extra cool because earlier in the week the same guy threw out one of our outreach teams off the property. Another God-connection.
• Favorite moment: meeting Brian. He was standing outside his room with Don and Monica, barbecuing in the back of their pick-up. They had a small charcoal grill, a plastic fork and some pork chops. We walked up and offered them chocolate. They took it and thanked us. We happened to have charcoal in the shuttle (thanks to Vince) so we offered them that too. Brian looked at me and asked why we were being so nice. I told them we were with Healing Place Church, and we were just out reminding people that they weren’t forgotten. “For real?” was his response. Monica said, “Sometimes it feels like we’re forgot”. We got to pray for them and invite them to church. Just before I got back onto the shuttle Brian crossed the parking lot with a Styrofoam tray full of pork chops. He offered it to me. I said, “Oh Brian, thank you so much but I can’t take your dinner.” He put it into my hands and said, “Ma’am, you can’t not take.”

I have been offered all kinds of things, from all kinds of people, in all kinds of situations. I have rarely been so humbled by someone’s generosity. Brian, Monica and Don were cooking their meal in the back of a pick-up truck in the middle of the night because their room doesn’t have a stove and they have nothing else to cook with. They had no plates, a plastic fork from a take-out place and no knife. And they gave their dinner to us. They fed the thirty-plus volunteers who were willing to show up at midnight and let them know that God loves them. After we prayed at I looked at Brian and said, “God is after you, Brian. You know that, right?” He dropped his head and nodded. He looked back at me and said, “Yes, I know that.” I believe God grabbed hold of his heart last night. I know He grabbed mine.

All glory to Him!

P.S.
I go to the coolest church in the world!!! Can you even believe we get to do this??? Thank you, Pastors Dino and DeLynn for allowing us to do this. Thank you for caring more about souls than about public opinion. Thank you for sending us to the least of these. God bless you.

Matthew 25:40
The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.

Thought of the day

2009-06-04T13:30:00.000-05:00

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
Psalm 139:23 (NIV)

I was walking in the park the other day and I saw a group of children in the distance. They were probably in third or fourth grade and they were wearing school uniforms. They all looked similar, except for a young boy with a cast on his arm. The plaster was neon orange and stood out dramatically from everything else. I could tell, from a hundred yards away, that this boy had been hurt.

I started thinking about all the times I had been hurt; without a neon cast to show for it. So many times we are broken and wounded, and yet our closest friend isn’t able to tell.

Why is it that we insist on hiding our brokenness? Most times, with me, it’s either pride or shame. I’m afraid that no one can help or, worse yet, that no one will care. So there we sit, quietly bleeding to death, hoping and fearful that no one will notice.

God always knows about our hurts and He always wants to heal them. We don’t have to be anxious about going to Him, we can be like David and invite God to search our hearts and thoughts. The more access we give to Jesus the quicker He is able to heal us.

Question of the day:
What’s my payoff for not letting God help me?

Ang and Nat in Africa

2009-05-28T16:20:00.000-05:00

Here's a pic Ang sent me from the mission field. Natalie just came back from 9 months in Africa and Ang is going back for 9 months in September. I have had the privilege of spending a significant amount of time with both these former interns and I can't wait to see what awesome plans God has for them. All glory to Him!

P.S.
We currently have teams in Africa and Honduras so please keep them in your prayers. Thank ya!

Trying something new and need your feedback

2009-05-27T16:41:00.000-05:00

Typically I use this blog to share stories about what's going on at the Dream Center or at HPC. I'm going to try something a little different but I want your feedback. Occasionally, just for grins, I'm going to toss in a post that has a 'daily devotional' flow to it. Lemmino what you think; if all four of my readers hate it then i'll shelf the idea :)
All glory to God!

Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
Matthew 6:11-13

How many times have I wanted to receive my daily bread, be delivered from the evil one, but not have to forgive the people who had hurt me? I don’t believe that anything in God’s Word is random. If we want provision and deliverance, we have to recognize that forgiveness falls in the middle of the two; it’s a package deal.

A pastor once told me that the difference between bitterness and joy was our capacity to forgive. I have known bitterness. I could write volumes on how to remain bitter; how to nurture resentments, relive offences and fan the flames of hatred. Joy, however, was a different horse all together. I had seen joy from a distance, but I couldn’t say I’d ever really known it. I was too busy with my bitterness to waste time on something as fleeting as joy. That had been my attitude prior to learning about forgiveness.

I don’t believe that forgiveness is something we can come to on our own. I believe that God will meet us at the exact point we’re able to bring ourselves to, and from there He’ll do the rest. God commands us to forgive those who come against us…He wouldn’t command us to do something and then not help us. That’s simply not His character.

Whatever burden of unforgiveness you’re carrying can be laid at the foot of the cross. You don’t have to be tied to your oppressors through bitterness or anger. You can free them through forgiveness, and thereby free yourself from their power over you. Unforgiveness is a trap, but it’s not your enemy that gets entangled.

Question of the day:
Who am I allowing to stand between my provision and deliverance?

Coming and Going

2009-05-22T13:58:00.000-05:00

It seems like half the people I know are either out of country or about to get on a plane to cross the pond. This is a really cool time for Healing Place because we have mission teams going to Honduras, Swaziland, Mozambique...all kinds of great places! And, we have teams coming in to learn how to do outreach, HPC-style. People are coming and going all over the place; and all for the purpose of making Jesus known. I love it!!
Side note: I was at a meeting at the Annex last night and just as we were leaving, the Hub (college ministry) was gearing up for their weekly service. I heard it was Redneck Nite, which alleviated some of my concerns about how our next generation was dressed. I gotta say; JP in his shrimp boots, cut-off t and overalls...not a good look. Love your spirit though Bro.
OK, back on track. I've had the opportunity to talk to some of the people going on these mission trips, and I got to pray with some of them. A common theme, throughout the prayer requests, was this: I want God to do something amazing. These kids could have asked me to pray for anything...safety, finances, favor, anything. What they wanted most, was more of God. Way cool.
So be praying for all of our mission experiences, both here and abroad. All of us, I think, want to see God do something amazing. I know I do. All glory to Him!

Highlights

2009-05-19T09:10:00.000-05:00

There are so many things that happen and I think 'I really need to blog that'. But then 6 other things happen and I never make it to my laptop. So, today I am going to share a few cool things that I've seen lately.
- Intern Graduation happened on Sunday afternoon. These are the people who, for the past 9 months-3 years, have worked like Hebrew slaves (serving at campuses, raising money for missions, writing papers, studying for tests, worshipping, giving, building the Kingdom and reaching the world by serving one), all for an audience of One. These guys are sold-out for God and I believe every one of them will be a world changer for Jesus. It was so cool to see them walk across the stage and receive their diplomas. GO INTERNS!!!
- Volunteer Appreciation Day was Saturday. Until you've spent a day on False River with 20 inner-city volunteers who have never been outside city limits, you haven't lived. Favorite quote (from GED student): "Well I ain't never been on a river neither...we jus gonna act like it's a bathtub!" Second favorite quote (from Carole to her child): "Evangeline, if you get hit by lightening you are in so much trouble!" Gotta luv our peeps!
- David Wray preaching at BRDC...all I can say is WOW! He did a slammin' job; and he and Bethany are just so cool!
- Last Sunday I walked into the sanctuary and saw Ang (intern) talking to a woman I didn't know. Ang subtly waved me over to the woman, who was talking fast and sobbing. Ang gave me the 'I'm not sure what's happening' look so we both just stood there and listened. The woman finally got out what she wanted to say: Thank you. She told us we ('we' downtown means anyone in a Serve shirt) had knocked on her door and prayed for her to get a job and the next day someone called her and offered her one. The tears were tears of excitement and gratitude. How cool is it that we get to stand close enough to watch God move? Love it!
I am sure there are a hundred other things that I could write but I have to go for now. Oh yeah, if you haven't read Pastor Dino's book yet, Servolution, put that at the top of your to-do list...it's fantastic.
All glory to God!!!

Kept Safe

2009-05-08T19:45:00.000-05:00

I'm sitting in my living room eating a Hot Pocket and watching TV...yep, the secret life of Donna Frank. I'll be leaving to go on Midnight Outreach in less than an hour but I haven't blogged in so long I thought I'd see if I still knew my password. The fact that you're reading this means 'so far, so good'.
We have a team in from Texas this week...a cool group of young women who play college basketball and, in their spare time, drive to Baton Rouge to help out with inner-city outreach. So far this week they have grilled for people on the street, hosted a b-ball clinic for at-risk youth, fed the homeless and done outreach is various venues. I saw them this afternoon and they looked a little weary. They will be on Midnight with us tonight so I hope they had a moment to rest. They're doing a double-header with midnight and bar outreach so they should be getting in around 3am. Gotta love mission trips!
I have to change my Serve shirt and get ready for round 2 (or 3 or 4). I love that on a Friday Night at 8pm HPCers are prepping roses to take to strip clubs across the city. I love that, right now, there is a woman somewhere, in a terrible situation, getting ready to go to work in an unbelievably bad occupation, who doesn't know that God loves her beyond measure, exactly where she is. And I really love that in a couple of hours, we get to tell her.
I love that Jesus went to hard places. I love that Pastor Dino and Delynn allow us to go to the hard places. Lots of churches don't get to go; many times for fear of what others might think of them. I am so grateful that my pastor is more concerned about what God thinks than about what others may think.
"Fear of man will prove to be a snare but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe" (Proverbs 29:25)
I love my church. I love my Pastor. Most of all I love my God! All glory to Him.

1/2 way thru Servolution

2009-04-06T21:53:00.000-05:00

It's Monday night and I just got back from outreach...in about 2 hours we handed out 500 hot dogs, a couple hundred drinks and 600 apple sauce and clif bars. Thankfully we had almost 60 volunteers helping us bless the people in Dixie and Prescott/Mohican.

Yesterday we had about 160 volunteers help us with our after-church luncheon. With close to 450 people on site it was one of our biggest Sunday services since we opened. Saturday we were slammed with multiple outreaches and hundreds of volunteers: adopt-a-block in Dixie, water giveaway at North Foster/Winbourne, paint-a-house on Fairwoods, extreme makeover at Desire Street Academy and an OCS match party on site. And just a few hours before we kicked that off we were in the streets and clubs for Midnight Outreach. I gotta tell ya, I need a nap!

Right now, in hundreds of churches around the world, God's people are reaching out to the lost and hurting through acts of service. Healing Place, under the incredible vision and leadership of Pastor Dino, has started a revolution through serving. It is both and honor and a privilege to be able to participate in Servolution 2009. All glory to God!

In the streets with Okies

2009-03-18T22:25:00.000-05:00

What a week...and it's only Wednesday! We have been hitting the streets hard this week with 2 awesome mission teams on site...much love to Church of the Harvest and World Harvest, both coming in from Oklahoma to serve beside us for a few days. Quick recap thus far:

Monday night: Mark and Kayla Berger led the charge on our outreach in Kerr Park (a local facility in Dixie that would be considered sketchy on a good day). Undeterred by overcast weather or ankle-deep puddles, we served over 100 burgers and 80 hot dogs in about 90 minutes. And since we're the BRDC, we served em up with Cheetos, green beans, Spanish rice and peanut butter crisps. Yep, cause that's just how we roll North-side... no shame and no fear...we will serve anything we can put our hands on in any combination we can fit into a clam shell! And can I tell you, the people loved it.

Tuesday: After hitting Eaton Street with some prep work for our upcoming block party (trash clean up, flyer distribution, making friends with local businesses) we headed over to Prescott/Mohican area to hand out food and invite people to church. In less than an hour we provided snack packs to about a hundred people; over half of them children. They're hungry...for food, for God and for hope. And we were able to feed them, pray for them and let them know they're not forgotten.

Wednesday: I had the privilege of leading devotions with the teams this morning. I looked at the 40 or so kids sitting in that room and I thought 'the future of the church looks good'. These kids are hungry too...for more of God. That's a pretty cool hunger for teenagers to possess.

Tomorrow we'll hit the streets again and expect God to move in a mighty way. I love that God is rocking Baton Rouge and wrecking us for Jesus. I love that my church makes it a priority to feed the poor and invest in the next generation...and I love that God allows me to be a part of it. All glory to Him!

Great guys, great week

2009-03-13T19:01:00.001-05:00

I love hanging out at the BRDC! We've had an incredible week, gearing up for incoming mission teams and just doing what we get to do. I started the week by going on the Monday Night Outreach with 2 of the coolest people I know...Mark and Kayla Berger. They're just good folks; love God, love each other, love people. They've been leading this outreach for awhile now but I don't usually attend. I'm so glad I went this week. We went to a park in Dixie where they were having little league b-ball practice inside and a bunch of kids hanging around outside in the play area. We served about 100 plates of chicken pasta in under 30 minutes. They were some seriously hungry kids. Once we ran out of food the volunteers split up; some to the football field, some inside running drills and some of us went door to door. It was slammin! We got to feed people, pray for them and offer the hope of Jesus Christ. It just doesn't get much better.

We've had some guys helping us out at the DC; guys who spend most of their time locked up at a local prison. They've been with us for 2 weeks and today they finished up. Before they left we gathered together at the DOC truck and talked for a few minutes. We told them everything they had been a part of...from preparing for GED classes to getting the church ready for somebody to encounter Jesus. We thanked them for everything they did and then Craig prayed for them. It was really cool. One of the guys said, "If God made people better than you them He kept them for himself". Another inmate said, "On behalf of all the guys I want to thank you. Lots of times we go places and people treat us like prisoners. You treated us like employees, and that something most of us left behind a long time ago. Thank you."
Not much to say after that; just stand there and try not to cry.

So yeah...great guys, great week, great God we serve. I gotta go for now because we have Midnight in a couple hours. I love my life...all glory to God!

A day at the DC

2009-03-04T18:52:00.000-06:00

I am currently sitting in the parking lot at HPC Highland. I wanted to take a moment to share my day with you. A few weeks ago we opened our BRDC Coffee House which is a tool we use to reach out to people in the community. When people call our hotline number we often refer them to the café so they can meet with someone who can talk with them, pray with them and offer some counsel. Sometimes we refer them to other agencies, sometimes we can help them in-house; we just try to help everybody get to whatever their next step might be. We can’t solve all their problems but we can point them to the One who can. Today we had 20 people drop in. I was so stoked! We had everybody from toddlers to the elderly…all gathered together drinking coffee and eating snacks. Thank God for the warehouse!

The twenty people at the café was just the beginning…we also had some other guests up in the house. All this week we have five gentlemen helping us with painting and repair work. We love volunteers and we will put anybody to work that even looks our way. (We truly are shameless about that.) The really cool thing about these guys is that when they’re not with us they’re locked up in prison. They’re with us on work release from Department of Correction and they are some of the sweetest, most genuine guys you will ever meet. One of them has less than a month left before he’s released and will be returning to north Baton Rouge; only a few blocks from the Dream Center. He’s done 11 years. Another gentleman is from New Orleans. He told one of our staff, “Some people lost their house in the storm…I lost my whole city. I don’t know where I’m going back to.” He had a wife and two children but that was 17 years ago; before he got locked up. His kids are grown now and his wife is gone. He’ll be out soon too.

I think it’s so fine that God has strategically placed these guys in our midst. They get to be a part of what God is building at the Dream Center. They get to take ownership; to play a part in the miracle. And while they’re fixing holes and painting walls, another group of volunteers is getting the GED room ready to start classes next week. We have partnered with the Literacy Coalition and will be hosting classes Monday-Thursday every week. I think that will be huge in helping some of our friends and neighbors to get to the next level.

So we’ve got toddlers, prisoners, young people, the elderly, volunteers and the good folks from the Winbourne Baptist Church all rolled up into the mix. I don’t know what God is cooking up but it’s gonna be like nothing we’ve ever tasted before. I can’t wait!!!

All glory to Him!

Give to give away

2009-02-27T20:46:00.000-06:00

Thrive is back!!! Over the holiday season we put the brakes on Thrive so we could focus on outreach and church service. Now that we're through crunch time we're back in full swing. We switched it up a little; focusing on the men at Roselawn on Thursdays and the women on Fridays at Winbourne. On the 4th Friday we bus everybody in to share a meal and hang out; kind of like a family dinner. Today was the 4th Friday.
We had almost 80 people there and I had the privilege of sharing for a few minutes before we ate. I talked about Paul being bitten by a snake after the shipwreck, and how we have to shake off the things that try to defeat us. When the viper latched onto his hand, Paul just shook it off into the fire and moved on. We talked about the storms in life and the things that can get us off course; things like addictions, anger and unforgiveness...things we have to learn to shake off.
After lunch I was talking to a volunteer when JD walked over and shook my hand. He leaned in close and whispered "You really blessed my heart today. I'm just gonna shake it off." He looked me square in the eyes and said again, "I'm just gonna shake it off". I thanked him and smiled before he darted off.
The first time I met JD I was prowling around down at the levee on a homeless outreach. JD was living in a tent about 30 feet away from the railway tracks with a couple of other guys. He was upset about his girlfriend being away at detox and, he was mostly drunk.
I believe that God is big enough to enable JD to shake off the drinking, the rejection and the things that keep him on the fringe of society. I don't know what he came in with today, but he left with hope. That's what the Dream Center is about...seeking that which is lost, bringing hope to the hopeless and healing to the hurting.
I love that we get to do this. I love that Pastor Dino and Delynn's heart is to serve the poor. I love that HPC'ers give...for the specific purpose of giving away.
I love my church. I love my God. I love that I get to serve Him at HPC. All glory to God!

Poster Children

2009-02-23T14:17:00.000-06:00

Cool thing happened on Saturday at Cyrus International. For those of you who don't know, Cyrus is an organization based in Baton Rouge that helps orphans, those living in poverty and victims of human trafficking. Their mission is HOPE (Helping Oppressed People Everywhere) and they're a great bunch of people.
We did our first outreach on Saturday; a public awareness campaign about human trafficking. About a dozen people got together and put up posters at Starbucks locations and truck stops around Baton Rouge. The posters were provided by the National Task Force Against Human Trafficking and they provide a number that victims can call for help. Pretty cool, eh?
Most people think that Human Trafficking is a problem in India. It is, but its also a problem in Baton Rouge. You don't have to cross the ocean to meet victims; you just have to cross the city. I work at the Dream Center downtown and we come across people every week who have been sold by the people who are supposed to love and protect them. Horrifying stories...young girls, beaten with fan belts, for refusing to have sex with strange men, multiple times a day.
Right here, right now, in our city, this is going on.
I don't know what the answer is, but I know what the answer isn't. The answer is not to look the other way. The answer is not to hope somebody does something about this atrocity. Get involved, give money, volunteer your time...do something.
There's a movie in theaters now called 'Taken'. See the movie. After that, if you want a more realistic version of human trafficking, rent the movie 'Trade'. After that, pray that God would show you how to make a difference. He will answer your prayer and through you, the prayers of the estimated 2 million people who are sold every year. Yep, 2 million. Two million of our sisters, daughters, brothers, wives and friends. That's a lot of people.
Best guesses think that $9.5 billion dollars will be made this year selling human beings...not even selling so much as renting them out in 15 minute increments. They need help...they need us. Pray, give and get involved. Make a difference in somebody's life today.

At the well

2009-02-14T19:29:00.000-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day (or President's Day if you're reading this a couple days from now)...either way, Happy Day!
We've had a great week. Some way cool people from Cross Point Church came to hang out with us for a couple of days. They helped out with Homeless Breakfast and Thrive but had to catch a plane Friday afternoon.
Today we did outreach downtown; getting ready for our block party next Saturday, handing out chocolate at the intersection and going door-to-door with flowers for the ladies in the community. Good times all around.
Yesterday we had Midnight Outreach; a very cool deal where we take roses to ladies who work at adult entertainment establishments. The Gold Club is a high-end strip club in Baton Rouge. Every month for the last 2 years we've been sending flowers in for the girls with the bouncers. They never let us in, but they send in the roses.
At other clubs, on special occasions we not only take the girls roses, we decorate the dressing rooms and take them gifts. Yesterday afternoon, the Gold Club let us in. The club was closed and the girls weren't there yet, but they allowed us to decorate the room and leave them Valentine presents. The thin edge of the wedge :)
We filled their room with chocolate covered strawberries, Live the Dream water bottles, balloons and heart-shaped candy. The roses were left in a champagne cooler and 'Healing Place Church loves you' was written in lipstick on the mirror. I would have loved to seen the girls' faces when they came in.
Sometimes I feel like we get to be Jesus sitting by the well...building relationship with the women other people don't make time for. The girls dancing at these clubs would have gone to draw their water at noon. I love that we get to remind them that they are valuable, loved and not forgotten.
I love that Healing Place is all about making room for the outsiders...sending people to well, at noon, with the mission of reminding people of God's love. I am so grateful that Jesus came for me when I was at the well. When I was lost, hurting and in desperate need of truth, He came and met me there.
Thank You God for setting me free. Thank you Pastor Dino for your heart for the lost. And thank you Healing Place Church for sending us to the well. All glory to God!

Saturday Morning

2009-02-09T10:48:00.000-06:00

It's been a long time since I've been on a Saturday morning outreach. I used to go all the time, but recently it seems like there are 100 other things that are eating up my Saturdays and keeping me from where I really want to be.
I've been sick all week but I decided that I was going on Saturday no matter what. I am so glad that I did. The outreach team is great; huge hearts, lots of fun and sold out to God, so just being around them makes me a better person. This week we went to a new area, kind of kitty-corner to the Dream Center. We knocked on doors, prayed with people and let everyone know that we've having a block party in 2 weeks. They were so receptive; genuinely glad that we were there.
The prayer requests are so simple that it sometimes hurts my heart. Joy needs a breakthrough in transportation. She goes to school full-time, works full-time and has trouble getting back and forth. Miss Emily needs strength; surrounded by five kids who are gathered around the tv watching cartoons, she looks weary. Tre works at the auto body shop across from the open lot where the block party will be. He's excited that we're going to be there and offers his electricity, water and anything else we need. Great connection...thank You God. A woman sitting in a lawn chair in an empty parking lot eyes us suspiciously and thanks us for the drink. She tells us to be careful; that we're in a bad neighborhood. We smile and tell that's why we're here.
I love that we get to spend our Saturdays in bad neighborhoods, handing out snacks and telling people about Jesus. I'm so excited that we're going to have a block party right in the middle of all of the drugs, violence and chaos...we are throwing a party for Jesus in the center of the enemy's camp.
How cool is our God? All glory to Him!

Volunteers = souls

2009-02-04T20:29:00.000-06:00

Today we had a huge day at the Baton Rouge Dream Center. It wasn't a block party or a massive outreach; it was moving furniture. Yep, movin, haulin, sweatin and draggin. That's how we roll. Here's the coolest part...I didn't move a thing. The whole deal was carried out by volunteers and interns. I pointed a couple of times and gave a few directions, but other than that, they did it all.
We started with rooms full of excess furniture; some broken, some moldy, some circa 1950. All of it needed to be sorted and moved. We relocated some, gave some to a local charity and dragged some of it out to the dumpster. And when I say we, I mean the volunteers.
Here's the coolest thing about HPCer's...we send out an email, ask them for help, and they show up. A guy named Jeff showed up today with a pick up truck and a pair of gloves. He worked like a Hebrew slave for hours. I've never met him before today. Jillian, one of our regulars, headed up the whole thing...I didn't even ask her to, she just saw a problem and volunteered to resolve it.
I love that the DNA of Healing Place is servanthood. I love that we have the opportunity to make every day a servolution. You might not think that moving furniture will change the world, but I beg to differ. The rooms we set up will house mission teams that come in from around the nation to learn how to do inner city outreach. The furniture we donated will become affordable furnishings for a family that can't buy new items. Even some of the stuff we hauled to the curb will be picked through and taken into people's homes. Trash vs treasure; all in the eye of the beholder.
I believe that everything God entrusts us with can be converted to souls...bottled water, used couches, hygiene items, all of it. But, the only way we can make that conversion is by having the manpower to do it. Hence, volunteers = souls.
I love that Pastor Dino's heart is to reach the world by serving one. I love that we get to be the hands and feet that serve that one. I love my God! I love my church! I love my life! All glory to God!

Sunday morning at the BRDC

2009-01-25T11:03:00.000-06:00

This will be a quick post but I want to share what's going on right now. I'm sitting at my desk at the Baton Rouge Dream Center at 11am on Sunday morning. Outside my door our refreshment table holds hot coffee, juice and an assortment of pastries and snacks. There were probably 20 people in line when I walked by...men, women and children who have just gotten off the vans we sent out to bring them to church. For some, this will be the only food they eat today.
Through my window I see a man who is unshaven, unkempt and most likely spent the night on the street. In front of him is a woman that I would guess struggles with mental illness; some days she loses the battle. These are people of every age, shape and ability who got up this morning and made a decision to get on the bus and come to church. They put God first today.
I am humbled by the fact that God lets us serve His people. He has given us a front row seat for the miracles He is about to do in His people. They will get their coffee and then go to their classes. They will sit for an hour while volunteers teach them what it means to be Christians. Then they will move to the sanctuary and listen to someone preach the gospel. Some will get saved (in Jesus' name) and some will sleep. Either way, I believe that God is pleased by their effort.
I pray that He will be pleased with our effort too. All glory to God.

Popeye's and PVC

2009-01-19T14:41:00.000-06:00

Oooy! It has been a crazy weekend and now I just need a nap. We had our official launch of the Baton Rouge Dream Center on Sunday. I know, we've been open for a long time already, but this was the official kick-off. (In order to make anything official in Louisiana there has to be a football metaphor.)
Art Moore (retired NFLer) came and preached an amazing word and his talented wife Gail brought the house down with her music. The crowd loved it! We had just over 300 people come to service and stay for lunch...nothing like a little Popeye's fried chicken to round out your weekend (or your waist).
I had a lot of things on my to do list but this morning I thought I would cut the grass. Not a problem...fire up the mower, push it around the yard, run over the clean-out pipe, watch it explode into a thousand pieces. Wait a minute...that's not right. I stood there looking at the gaping hole that should be covered by PVC...nope, looking straight down into the sewer pipe. Bummer.
On my second trip to Home Depot I was trying to figure out how many times I've mowed the grass without breaking that pipe. It's gotta be over 50. Maybe I should have stayed in bed.
You ever have a day like that? One minute you're pushing through, not thinking much about anything, and then you're looking into the business end of a sewer pipe. I wonder if that's what it was like in Gethsemane. One minute Jesus is hanging with His boys, the next minute His crew has pulled the chute and Peter's saying he's never met the guy. Talk about a rough day. I know that a busted PVC pipe can't be compared to the agony and sacrifice of the Garden, but that's how quick your day day can change. That's how quick my day went from carefree to frustrating.
I was sitting in my car at Home Depot (the second time) and I was really struggling with being mad at myself for running over the thing. Then I had a thought (straight from the Holy Ghost) that maybe it didn't have to ruin my whole day. I felt like God told me just to roll with it...fix the thing, but don't let it take control. I felt like He told me to enjoy the day, no matter what happened. That was really cool for me. I try really hard to operate in high grace with other people, but I don't have a lot of grace for my own mistakes. Thank God He has enough grace for all my screw-ups. The grass got cut, the pipe got fixed and I still have time for a nap. My God is so good. All glory to Him!

Pressed, shaken, overflowing

2009-01-12T20:10:00.000-06:00

I don't even know where to start. This weekend I had the incredible privilege of hanging out with our Healing Place School of Ministry interns at their Spring Retreat. I am continually amazed at their sacrifice and dedication to the things of God. Friday night Pastor Mark Stermer preached a message that made me want to get saved again and then Saturday night Pastor Timmy Straight brought the fire full force. And between those great teachings were breakout sessions taught by some of the best communicators at Healing Place. Just incredible!
And as if that wasn't enough, Sunday morning Pastor Dino preached down at the Winbourne Dream Center. Another amazing word. How cool is that that I get to be a part of HPC. Truly awesome.
Are you ready for the finale? Today I got a new car. Not brand new, but definitely nicer than the one I've been rolling in. Don't get me wrong, I love my '94 burgundy Corolla, but there's something about leather seats and a sunroof that just let's you know God is giving you the bump-up. He is so good to me. All glory to God!!!

Back in Baton Rouge

2009-01-08T12:05:00.000-06:00

I am now safely back home after another voyage to the frozen Tundra (aka Canada). Had a great time, spent some time with family and made it back before that critical shift between 'quality family time' and 'quantity family time'.
Hope the holidays found you well. I'm glad to be back and am hoping to blog more frequently than I had been. I'm shooting for 2 posts a week...feel free to hold me to that with pointed comments and friendly reminders.
I had a little free time on my way home so I wrote a little something to share the moment. Be blessed!

Jan 5/09
I spent the day at the airport. Not a section of the day and not at several airports. 7 1/2 hours at a small airport in upstate New York. I'm writing this blog entry on the plane. And by that I mean physically writing, with a pen and paper. Who does this anymore?
It was my decision to leave my laptop at home, as was it my decision to spend the day at the airport. I'm on my way home from a family vacation. My family didn't vacation, I just went home to see them. Then I drove my nephew back to school with my mom. She offered to wait with me at the airport but, in my opinion, the only thing worse than spending 7 1/2 hours alone at the airport is spending it with someone else. That's not a slam against my Mom...she's great. She would have stayed the entire day and not given it another thought. I'm big on second thoughts; and third and fourth, etc. I can think my way out of just about anything. I sometimes tell people that my mind is like a dark alley, I should never go there alone.
There's solid entertainment at the airport. I'm a big fan of people watching so the first couple of hours went pretty quickly. You have to be careful though, as people-watching can resemble stalking if you do it for too long. I watch people and try to guess what their lives are like. The 2 guys working the car rental booth were great. They both needed to shave their heads, as they may be the only two people who don't recognize that they're bald. I like shaved heads, whether by necessity or statement. I don't like it as much if the shaved head is covered by a spiderweb tattoo, as that changes the statement significantly, but I appreciate the honesty and courage it takes to shave your head. It tells the world that you aren't defined by your hairline. I'm not really sure what the comb-over tells the world, but it can't be encouraging.
Back to the guys at the booth. I watched them check out ever female that passed their section and then share their thoughts about her. Then I watched them be totally professional when a client approached. All of their customers were male, so I don't know if testosterone or professionalism would have won out in a duel. It made me kind of glad that I wasn't renting a car.
A couple of random thoughts:
I saw a sign painted on the tarmac that said "Yield to air crafts". You think?
I saw a sign posted on a street corner that said "Yield to the blind". A nice gesture I guess, but how do they know they have the right of way? Is there another sign somewhere, maybe in Braille, that tells them that?
I fear the decline of society is pending. We have to tell people not to walk in front of airplanes and not to run over blind people.
Thank God for signage!

A Christmas Story

2008-12-22T21:15:00.000-06:00

Christmas means a lot of things to a lot of people. For some it represents a time of celebration and hope; for others it’s simply a painful reminder of loneliness and disappointment. This week we got to be a part of sharing the love of Christ and reminding them that they are not forgotten.

All week we were gearing up for our Christmas Festival at the Baton Rouge Dream Center. Planning, counting, strategizing and recounting…all part of trying to safely plan for a thousand plus visitors at one of Healing Place’s newest campuses. In the midst of renting bounce houses, buying popcorn and ironing the angel outfits we decided that throwing a Midnight Outreach into the mix would be fun. So at 4:00pm Friday afternoon we loaded up the shuttle with Christmas cookies, gift bags and decorations and headed down Airline to a couple of strip clubs that we frequent. (That sounds worse than it is).

Last year we had the opportunity to decorate the girls’ dressing rooms and take them gifts, but this year we were able to provide gifts for their children too. Talk about a humbling experience. The clubs were almost empty when we decorated the rooms but they were jumping when we came back with the roses five hours later. Typically we are in and out quick; hand them a rose, quick smile, next girl. This time I had girls grabbing me by the arm, hugging me, asking me who we are and where we are from. They couldn’t believe we were there; they couldn’t believe we were there for them. The ladies got t-shirts, bracelets, chocolate and whatever else we could gather from HP Women’s events. Their kids got Miss Kitty bags and silly string soap. You would have thought we were handing out new cars. The gratitude the girls showed was unbelievable. Like I said, a humbling experience.

From those clubs we headed across town to Gold’s. We don’t get to go in there yet, but we’re believing that door will open soon. One of our new volunteers couldn’t believe there were fifty girls working that night. Yep, sad but true. We gave roses and gift bags to the bouncer so he could take them to the ladies. As we were leaving he said, “I just want you to know how much this means to the girls. They talk about y’all all the time. What you do really means something”. Pretty cool, huh?

After Gold’s we stopped by Bennie’s Bar and then the Top 10 Social Club. Lots of people out on the town; lots of liquor, lots of partying, lots of pain. We got to give them bracelets and chocolate. We also invited them to church. It’s so cool that we can point down the street and say, “Come see us tomorrow, we’ll be looking for you”.

I love that Christmas at Healing Place includes everyone. We are not just about the beautiful people, although God loves them too. Christmas at HPC means handing roses to strippers and giving toys to kids who have been orphaned by drugs and violence. It means standing with families in the midst of their chaos; offering hope to a lost and dying world.

I love Jesus. I love that He came for me. I love that my church sends me out to tell others that He came for them too. Blessed to be a blessing…today and every day. Merry Christmas and God bless. All glory to Him!

Tech support

2008-11-17T19:51:00.000-06:00

Okay...it finally came; my replacement phone!!! I have been without a cell phone since Thursday evening. Ironically, I had already scheduled to switch my internet provider so my land line was disconnected Saturday afternoon. I didn't know if I was going to make it.

It's funny how dependant we can become on technology in such a short period of time. I didn't grow up with cell phones. When I was a kid we had a party line (one long, one short was our ring). For those of you under 40, a party line means that more than one household shares your phone line. Convenient for Mrs. Barkley who listened to every conversation; not so convenient for anyone wishing even a modicum of privacy.

We had a bit of a bruhaha at after school on Thursday. Sometime between the excessive cussing and the visit from the police, my phone went missing. No biggie, right? Oooy! I have insurance on the phone (which I would recommend for anyone who works with at-risk youth) so it isn't a huge deal to replace it. But here's the thing...somewhere between the party line and my Q-9 Global, I have become hopelessly dependant on my phone. It keeps track of everyone I know (contact list), records everything that's important (reminders), and tells me where and when I am supposed to be somewhere (calendar). Today the Fed Ex man delivered my new phone, but it doesn't know any of the things my old phone knew. It looks the same, but it's completely different.

So, my request to you is this: if you and I have scheduled anything in the next 6 months, please feel free to text me the details.

How cool would it be if people could be reprogrammed as easily as cell phones? I got saved watching a movie called 'Jesus' on my VCR. It was Aug 2nd, 2000. That day I got total forgiveness and a brand new life. My mind, however, continued to suffer from faulty programming. I had all kinds of issues: lies that presented as truth, memories that haunted me and seemingly endless confusion. It would have been great if I could have powered down, hit delete and started fresh. It didn't happen like that.

The bible says we 'walk out our salvation in fear and trembling'...that's a fancy way of saying there's no delete button. Everything becomes a choice we have to make; contacts, reminders, calendar. The cool thing is, we don't have to make those choices by ourselves. God sent the Holy Spirit to guide us, correct us and comfort us. And, He'll never leave us or forsake us. You can't beat that kind of tech support!

All glory to God!

Seeking that which is lost...

2008-10-20T17:33:00.000-05:00

This is an email that Miss Alliece sent to Pastor DeLynn...it's a nutshell of what we've been doing lately:

It has been a week and I don’t know where to begin with this story of 19 year old Julia* —I have taken in so much info day by day…

The first time she heard about HPC she was 14 walking from Prairieville on Airline Highway headed for Walker. She had taken acid, swallowed lighter fluid and was bleeding all over from her cutting herself. A guy pulled over and she got in the car—said he would take her to Walker—she knew what that would mean—a trade off—her body for a ride—then she thought what if I die—what if I care? But the scene changed when he began talking to her---he said—I don’t know who you are or what you are going through—but me and my wife—we have been through some stuff---and I just wanna tell you about this church---healing place church—don’t ever forget that name---don’t ever forget that God cares about you…

Then there was a Chick Night and you gave out pink princess mugs….Julia smiled as she told me this story and said she still has her princess mug—she loves it..in my mind—I am wondering how she kept up with this mug----all these places…hospitals, streets, St Louis, New York, Las Vegas, Mexico, L.A., Houston, and Lake Charles….and then I am telling myself to remember to tell DeLynn every ounce of extras that you squeeze into the budget to pay for these gifts is worth it..a pink princess mug? She has held on to it in the midst of being shuffled around the country in the porn industry.

Last Monday night Julia drove by hpc and saw cars and wondered was this another one of those women nights—she continued to drive and turned around at the Acadian exit to come back to check it out..she just didn’t know if she wanted to live anymore…she says its kind of a blur—you talking—and then you started talking about weight—she said she’s never heard anybody get that real from the stage—like a Pastors wife sharing and being real---in front of a crowd—like maybe once a year out of town—but you gotta see everybody tomorrow—it fascinated her—yet she was so relieved that somebody was willing to get on the stage and get real and tell women let it go….about the real things in life..the undoings in life…she went to the alter. Angie Bush prayed with her…then took her to Rachel Hamen..Rachel came and got me…I was so excited because I wanted to get to her at the alter—she had that look—had been sitting on my row—but I couldn’t get to her.

The next day I met her at Starbucks---I asked her did she want out—like really out of the Porn Industry—she said yes---I said then “its on”…. Called the FBI—a guy I have been working with through the human trafficking task force—he connected us with Houston---we met them on Thursday and dropped off the car at the airport—did the rescue and got outta town…the “industry” is sending out threats to her by calling her friends who don’t even know her lifestyle…they track her through her phone and the car—so we got rid of the phone too..we are working on a plan to get her into a program for human trafficking victims/sex trade industry---in the meantime she is at a place we call the Vault—[the place you can’t get in]…keypads, alarms, paul charbonnet and paul trahan with their guns, and of course Donna.

This all began when she was 12 years old….thank God for Healing Place Church, pink princess mugs, and an honest pastor’s wife speaking freely from the stage…. Thank God for Brother Wayne who taught his daughters they are princesses and now you have handed it down to this broken girl who is beginning to see a glimmer that just maybe she can wear a Tierra too…
Thank you for letting me be a part of this wonderful place to Do the ministry, not just talk about it….yep reaching the world by serving one….

How cool is it that Jesus commissions us to seek that which is lost? I love my church!!! All glory to God!

* names have been changed

Awesome Weekend, Awesome God!!!

2008-10-05T20:44:00.000-05:00

I can't even tell you how good God is. I have had an amazing, exhausting, miracle-filled weekend and I just have to tell you about it.
It started on Friday morning with Thrive, our weekly community support group. My good friend Kim Braud came and shared her story with the women while her husband Adam spoke for a few minutes to the men. Kim and Adam are two of my favorite people; real, dedicated to God and to each other, genuine... the kind of people I like to be around. I was sitting in the sanctuary listening to Kim and watching the women. Some were nodding, some were crying but most were simply locked in. Kim had opened her heart to show them her scars, and in return their hearts were being opened. God was moving and they were getting set free. It was so cool.
I should probably mention that we had a visiting team in from Church of the Highlands; a great group of men and women who drove half the night after working all day to come and serve along side us at the Dream Center. They got in Friday morning about 2:30am and left Sunday after church. We worked them like Hebrew slaves the entire time and I didn't hear one complaint. That's a sign of great hearts and great leadership. I don't know they're pastor but he must be pretty cool to have people like them in his church.
Friday night a bunch of us piled into the van to do Midnight Outreach. We had a bit of a mix up with our roses so we ended up doing our route backwards. We started on northside and worked our way back to Highland. Can I tell ya...northside was hopping!!! We went to Top 10 Social Club, kind of a local hot spot located on Choctaw, and met a bunch of cool people. One guy told us about his experience with Hurricane Gustav...he has sleep apnea and counts on a machine to keep him breathing throughout the night. Since he didn't know when his power was going out he spent most of the storm sitting up in his chair, facing the door with a gun in his hand. Can't be too careful when the lights go out. Fortunately, he made it through and had a big grin Friday night. He told Alliece that he was coming to church on Sunday with his 15 kids. I didn't see him today so I guess something came up. Hopefully next time he really will come.
Bennie's Bar was busier than I've ever seen it. After handing out roses to the ladies and candy to the guys we were ready to load up; well, most of us were ready. Franco had to finish his dance with some woman who insisted that he dance with her...I gotta tell ya, he had more moves than I woulda given him credit for. Good times and Jesus!
By the time we got back over to Highland side Kittens was too crowded to go in. We took the girls from Church of the Highlands into Southern Comforts and it blew their mind. They couldn't believe how appreciative the dancers were...how they thanked us, hugged our necks and told us they loved Healing Place Church. It was fine. We headed back to Highland in time to drop the team off with JP for Bar Outreach.
Saturday morning I had the privilege of attending our Kingdom Builders breakfast. It was awesome! Lee Domingue gave an incredible message...I wanted to write a check for $1.2 million on the way out the door. (I was short about $1.2 million so I couldn't write the check, but I believe that's only temporary). I love being part of a church that is not afraid to talk about money. I believe that's why we will change the world and bring Christ to the nations.
Saturday afternoon I took the team to Walker to help one of our volunteers with some hurricane-related yard work. Mostly we went just to spend time with him and stand with him. His daughter is currently in ICU after attempting suicide. Kinda puts things into perspective...
Sunday morning we had a great service at BRDC. A video message from Pastor Dino rocked the house and about 15 people got saved. How cool is that? We started service 3 or 4 months ago and today we had 255 in church. That's just God.
I'm sure I left out some cool stuff that happened this weekend, but that's what I can think of for now. If you haven't already started praying about our upcoming fast than give it some thought. Check out Pastor Dino's blog to get the scoop on 40:SAP. It's gonna be awesome...I can't wait to see what God is gonna do.
Be blessed, be bold and serve Him! All glory to God.

Where to begin?

2008-09-15T11:45:00.000-05:00

Shortly after my last post my laptop was stolen. That was the beginning of my downward spiral into the abyss of non-blogging. I have resurfaced...and I would like to thank the 4 people who have religiously checked my blog to see if I had returned :)
A lot has happened in the last 2 months, and the last 2 weeks in particular. As many of you know, I live in southern Louisiana but I am a transplant from Canada. I have lived here for a few years now, but Gustav was my first experience with a real-live hurricane. It made me wonder: why do people live here!?! For those of you who have not had the privilege of encountering a hurricane; it's not pleasant. Oh sure, it sounded like it might be fun...all those country songs about hurricane parties, etc...but it wasn't fun. It was kind of scary. I played hockey for about 25 years and I'm pretty sturdy on my feet. I'm not used to being moved around by the wind. Not nudged; hanging onto the wall so I didn't blow away. What's up with that?
At any rate; I survived. And I got to do a lot of incredible things as a result of the storm. I work downtown at the Baton Rouge Dream Center and for the first few days of Gustav we became a refuge for some evacuees. A couple of nursing homes had contacted Pastor Dino about taking in some of their residents in the event of evacuation. Anyone who knows Pastor Dino will know what his answer was. So we had about 120 house guests at the BRDC and they stayed 4 or 5 days. I think the really cool part was the people that we got to shelter. One of the homes was an assisted living facility from somewhere near Crowley. The other was a nursing home from Abbeyville. They sent their staff and residents to stay with us throughout the storm and we had some interesting times.
Some of the residents from these homes went to stay with family when the facilities were evacuated. The people that came to us had no where to go, or no one that wanted them. They arrived on school buses and ambulances; a little scared and somewhat disoriented. I guess that happens when dealing with a geriatric/psychiatric population, but moving into an inner-city church on the edge of a hurricane would shake up anybody. We did our best to make them feel at home; put up welcome banners, played bingo with them and hunted down all the Chuck Norris movies we could find. It was quite a slumber party!
I don't know which was more encouraging; watching their staff care for these lovely people in less than ideal conditions, or watching our volunteers care for their staff. I have no doubt that HPC has one of the finest volunteer bases in the world. We had people show up day after day, willing to clean, do security details, wash sheets, prepare meals and simply love on people.
When the nursing homes left the disaster relief teams started coming...organizations from across the nation who mobilized in an instant to help our state. Again, incredible men and women of God. What a privilege to get to serve along side of them.
So that's what's been happening over the past few days. Hopefully in the days to come I will have time to share some of the story of what God has been doing here.
Please pray for us and all of the states along the coast. As we are trying to clean up from Gustav, Texas is still without power from Ike. I don't know how long hurricane season lasts down here, but I'm ready for it to be over...I need a nap!
Thank you for all your prayers and your continued support. It is such an honor to belong to a church whose mission it is to be a healing place for a hurting world. All glory to God!

What you did this weekend...

2008-07-09T22:05:00.000-05:00

What a kickin weekend! If you’re dragging a little bit at work this week, tell the boss that you have a good reason. And then tell him what you did…

On Friday morning you were a part of Thrive at the Baton Rouge Dream Center. You drove vans and shuttles to bring the homeless, the helpless and the forgotten: men, women and children into the House for a message of hope and forgiveness. You grilled chicken, made potato salad and baked brownies. You served the people and fed the hungry. You loved them, you spoke kindly to them and you saw them. You looked directly into the eyes of those who spend their lives on the outside…of everything. You were there when Billy Gaines and his family ministered to them through songs of victory and freedom. You were there when they got back on the vans, groceries in hand, with a smile on their faces. Then you drove them home.

On Saturday you took the stacks of Get Connected cards and went house to house for visitation. You prayed for people, gave them something cold to drink and reminded them that they’re not forgotten. You invited them back to church for Sunday…and they came.

Sunday service was our biggest turnout to date at the Dream Center. You did church with 313 people!!! Pastor Mark Stermer all but called down fire, Billy and Rachael Gaines brought the house to tears and the alter was flooded by people crying out for change. And you met them there. You drove the vans that picked up the people that nobody else will. You shared your pew with a man still reeking of alcohol, but desperate for a new life. You made room for the woman with all those kids who weren’t very clean. You helped that child in Kid’s Church who didn’t catch on the first (or second or third) time, and you continued to help. You greeted and ushered and secured and gave. You did it all.

And then you were part of our July 4th Weekend Blowout (a.k.a. free garage sale). You helped set up, you donated stuff, you shopped, you handed out bags, you found lost kids, you found lost adults, you rummaged and returned and rummaged some more. By the end of it, you had given away 491 items: clothes, kitchenware, bathroom items, toys, shoes, belts and bags. You moved it all! Then you loaded everyone and everything into the vans and drove them all home again.

No wonder you’re tired.

The bottom line is this: you are some of the finest individuals I have ever had the privilege of serving with. You reach, serve, give and build…not for a moment, but as a lifestyle. I am humbled by your sacrifice. Whether you drove a bus, cooked a meal, prayed for us or tithed at Highland…you were a part of this. Thank you. You are spectacular. Now go take a nap!

Standing in the Yard

2008-06-02T20:56:00.000-05:00

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth...it just feels like it. I started a new job several weeks ago and I've been soooo busy that I don't have time to blog. I miss talking to you guys (which is weird since I have no idea who reads these things). Anyway, I wanted to say a quick hi and let you know that I'm still here.
I'm still working downtown at the Baton Rouge Dream Center. I'm still helping out with paper work, facilities, working with teams and doing outreach. Now I'm also working at an after school program for 12-18 yr olds and working with homeless and at-risk youth. I'm having a little trouble with time management, but only because there's not enough of it. I'm starting to get the hang of what I'm doing so it's improving every week.
We had almost 100 people at Thrive on Friday. That's just God. When Pastor Johnny asked us a couple years ago to start a ladies bible study he told us to shoot for 10 women. Now we have men, women, children...the whole gamut. How cool is that?
On Saturday outreach we went to Dixie (a poverty-stricken neighborhood a few miles from the Dream Center) to hand out groceries and invite people to church. I saw Aliquisha again standing in her yard. She's about twelve years old, has an obvious developmental disability and was wearing the same white t-shirt and blue shorts that I've seen her in for the past 3 weeks. I waved to her and she gave me a quick smile. My heart breaks for her. She comes to church with us every week...and then she goes back home and stands in the yard.
I use to spend a lot of time standing in my yard when I was a kid. There was stuff going on in my house that shouldn't have been going on...stuff that shouldn't go on in any home. I wonder what goes on an Aliquisha's house that makes her stand in the yard.
I am so grateful that God is the Father of the fatherless. He knows every situation, every fear and every reality that each of us face. I believe that God will intervene in Aliquisha's life. I believe He will make a way where there seems to be no way. But until He does, will you be praying for Aliquisha with me? Thank you. God bless.

Recap from the living room

2008-04-20T21:45:00.000-05:00

Okay, we didn't have outreach on Saturday because all our guys were attending HPC's inaugural Men's Conference, so why do I feel even more wiped out than usual? I'm sitting in my living room and I'm having trouble staying awake to watch the hockey game on TV. It's a playoff game between the Stars and the Ducks...and I'm from CANADA!!! Falling asleep during a playoff game is a punishable offense where I come from. (Don't tell any other canucks that I dozed off.)
In my defence, it's been a big week. Miss Alliece preached an awesome word Friday morning at Ladies Thrive. It's tough to stay composed when so many of the women around you are wiping away tears. Then I had the privilege of speaking on a panel at New Beginnings on Friday night. Since all the fellas were at the conference we did an open-forum deal where women could ask us anything they wanted. It was pretty cool; a little intimidating, but pretty cool.
I went to church Saturday night and Sunday morning; two awesome speakers with really on-time messages. I think it's great that within 16 hours I heard from a Ukrainian and an Australian pastor, both live right here in Baton Rouge. Pastor Dino has the coolest friends!
Tonight we had a meeting at Winbourne for our core team at the Dream Center. We're launching our church service next Sunday at noon so we're prepping for the big day. It's always exciting to be part of something new, but it is such a privilege to get to serve with such a fine bunch of individuals. I believe God is getting ready to do something BIG in north Baton Rouge. My plan is this: show up, strap in and watch God be Almighty God. It's gonna be awesome!!!
All glory to Him.

Record-setting Midnight

2008-04-12T15:42:00.000-05:00

We did Midnight Outreach Friday night and we made it back home in record time. That's both good and bad. It's good in that our team of volunteers (who by any standards work well beyond a normal week) got to be home and in bed before Cinderella lost her slipper. The down side though, is that the reason we were finished so quickly is because we saw so many girls.
We usually start out with 8 dozen roses and about a dozen boxes of chocolate. The roses are for the ladies working inside the clubs and the chocolate is for the bouncers who look out for the ladies. We started out at Escapades and then went to Kittens. Typically we would hand out somewhere between 20-30 roses between the 2 clubs. Last night we distributed close to 50. I don't know why there were so many women in the clubs, but I do know they were happy to see us. One of the dancers asked a volunteer, "Hey, are y'all that church from down the road, right there on Highland?" The volunteers smiled and nodded. The dancer continued, "I love that place. You guys are so good to us". I don't know if she's ever been to HPC, but I think she would consider it. She smelled her rose and smiled at us. Pretty cool, eh?
In less than 40 minutes we found almost 100 women who are in or around the sex trade, all within 15 minutes of the doors of our church. I love that our pastors send us out to find them instead of just hoping they eventually come to us. Some of these ladies don't have 'eventually'; their lifestyle doesn't allow it. I'm grateful that HPC is a church that builds for tomorrow but offers hope today...that we get to reach the world by serving one. All glory to God!

Your spot

2008-04-07T21:01:00.000-05:00

On Saturday we did a training session for some of our volunteers that help us out at the Baton Rouge Dream Center. It was a bit of a long day, starting at 8am and finishing up around 2pm, but it felt good. Miss Alliece did an awesome teaching about puzzle pieces; how each of us have a specific place that we fit into the grand scheme of things. I sometimes forget that. I forget that I can't fit into an open space just because I want to, or just because there is a need. I can only fit where God shaped me to fit. And it's important that I get into my spot. Not everybody is shaped like me. Oddly enough, not everyone feels comfortable strolling the streets of North Baton Rouge hoping to run into people who are frying their brains with crack or trading their bodies for a 3-piece chicken dinner. Not everyone is excited about praying for people who have more of the devil in them than they can hide. But, that's my spot.
Throughout the day I gained a better understanding of some of the people I've been serving with. We had about 30 people come out for our training; some of them regulars and some new ones. It was cool getting to know them a little better. Even though I see many of them every week, it's usually a zero-sixty pace. We don't usually sit around together and share lunch, but Saturday we did. Like I said, it was cool.
After a couple hours of teaching we separated into teams for outreach. Some people hit the streets with gloves and trash bags for adopt-a-block, others took food to the river bank, and the rest of us stayed at the warehouse and sorted boxes for future outreaches. Our warehouse team was kickin! The amount they sorted in 90 minutes would have taken our regular 3-man team several days. Kudos to them.
After outreach we moved over to Winbourne for lunch, more teaching and a facility tour. It surprised me how many of our team didn't have a clear picture of our vision for the Dream Center. By the end of turbo training it seemed like they not only had the vision; they were infected with it. I love seeing people catch Dream Center fever.
If you're not already a regular, come hang with us on a Saturday morning. We meet at Roselawn every week at 10am. Who knows, you might end up finding your spot. See you then!

Pressed down, shaken together and running over

2008-03-29T23:17:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago we did adopt-a-block with Blue Sushi (our junior leadership class). We were picking up trash around the Dream Center to spruce up the neighborhood. During orientation Miss Alliece mentioned that when we were in St Louis we used to do lawn care as part of our adopt-a-block. At the end of the day one of the Blue Sushi dad's told Miss Alliece that he wanted to help.

On Thursday that dad showed up at Roselawn with a trailer full of yard equipment. He brought us 6 lawn mowers, 5 weed whackers, 4 blowers, gas cans, the whole nine...all completely free of charge. How cool is our God?!?

Ask and ye shall receive. All glory to God and many thanks to Shane.

Numbers 16:48

2008-03-29T21:22:00.000-05:00

"And he stood between the dead and the living; so the plague was stopped." Numbers 16:48

I had the privilege of speaking at Thrive on Friday. It was really cool because our visiting team from Chicago opened it up with a drama presentation of the Gospel. We rarely have the men and women in the same room but we got them together for this special occasion. The team did a phenomenal job; by the end of it both men and women were wiping away tears. Very powerful.

I spoke to the women for a few minutes about facing the floods in life; physical, emotional and spiritual. I talked about depression, anger and suicide...and about God being King over the flood. After the teaching the ladies broke into their groups to talk about what was going on in their lives.

During lunch Charity came and got me; she wanted me to talk to a woman who had come to Thrive. We walked into the fellowship hall and Charity waved a young woman over to us. She asked Joan* to tell me her story. Joan recently lost her job and, as a result, was losing her apartment. She's a single mother and had decided that her children would be better off being raised by someone else. She didn't want to live anymore and was planning her suicide. That was on Tuesday.

That afternoon she met Charity's outreach team who were handing out snack packs and flyers. Charity works primarily with at-risk and homeless youth. Joan was handed a flyer with Charity's hotline number but she disregarded it. A few minutes later her son walked over and handed her a copy of the same flyer. She wondered briefly if it was God.

After much debate she called Charity and set up an appointment to meet with her. Charity invited her to Thrive and she actually came. We were standing in the hallway and she grabbed my hand. "I felt like you were talking just to me," she said, "all that stuff about the water rising and suicide...you were talking right to me". I shook my head and said, "That was God talking to you girl, not me".

She told me that she hadn't had a drink since Tuesday, that Charity was helping her get her stuff straight, and that she didn't want to die anymore. She smiled and hugged my neck, continuing to thank me. I told her that if she held onto God she was going to make it.

The mission team that was visiting from Chicago handed out the flyers on Tuesday. Friday afternoon I shared this story with them. We talked about Numbers 16 and how Moses sent Aaron into the middle of the congregation to intercede for the people. Aaron stood between the living and the dead, and God stopped the plague. That's what the team got to do this week. That's what we get to do every week. We stand between the living and the dead; in the midst of addiction, depression, suicide, and violence. We stand there and offer them the same Hope that was offered to us. We offer them new life.

A black & white flyer, a team from Chicago, and a woman on the edge...add God's mercy to that and we get to witness another miracle. All glory to God!

Down the tracks

2008-03-29T20:46:00.000-05:00

We had another great team in this week staying with us at our Winbourne Dream Center. Harvest Mission Community Church of Chicago sent us 16 of their college age members to help us with outreach, facilities improvement and our after school program. They were awesome...great attitudes, solid skills and a heart for God. What a privilege to serve along side them. Pastor Jimmy and Hannah did a great job leading this fine group of servants.

We tried to get them involved in a little bit of everything we do. On Thursday afternoon we went down to the river bank to take some food and blankets to some of the folks who stay down there. The first couple of camps were empty but on our third stop we found some people to visit with.

Homeless outreach is always a little dicey...very hard to know what to expect and things can change on a dime. As we were walking down the railroad tracks and through the woods I was praying that the visit would go smoothly. The entire Chicago team was Asian and I wasn't sure how we would be received. I went in first and spoke to the three men and one woman who were at the camp in the woods. I told them we had a team in from Chicago that was helping us out. The team filed in behind me and waited. There was a brief silence and one of the homeless guys said, "Any of y'all Korean?" About half the team raised their hands.

I wasn't sure where this was going and I didn't know what I should do...so I prayed. I am seldom shocked by anything that happens on outreach but what happened next definitely caught my attention. The homeless guy smiled and said, "Welcome" in Korean.

We got to visit with them and give them some cookies and tea. We prayed for them and they prayed for us. It was such a blessing. As we were driving back to the Dream Center I was thinking, 'who knew that a homeless dude living down the tracks spoke Korean?'

I am continually amazed by God mercy and His timing. All glory to Him!

10 days of outreach

2008-03-23T20:54:00.000-05:00

I don't remember when I last blogged...it feels like forever ago. These past ten days or so have been incredibly busy but really cool. I think this is how it went down:
- Last Friday we had about 35 women and about 20 men at Thrive. After the message and group time the ladies lined up for our shoe giveaway extravaganza. Nothing sets up a girl for Easter like a new pair of red stilettos.
- Friday night we took the show on the road for Midnight Outreach. We went to strip clubs, bars and the back streets of North Baton Rouge. At one point a police officer joined our search and gave us a guided tour of the prostitute stroll. He drove ahead of us, lights flashing, and used his spotlight to point out some of the people who would rather not be found. It was an incredibly effective tactic. 200 roses and several hours later, we headed back to the HPC to grab a couple hours of sleep before our next outreach.
- On Saturday we threw a serious block party at Palmer Apartments (Prescott/Mohican Crossover). As we were shooting hoops and grilling hot dogs a crowd of dealers sat across the street and watched us for an hour. They were waiting to see if we had undercover cops at the party before they were willing to cross the street. About thirty minutes before we packed up they were laughing with volunteers and eating burgers. I guess we passed the test.
A nineteen year old girl with her baby showed up, even though she was scared and didn't want to come. She had called our hotline because she and her baby were homeless. We were able to feed her, give her some groceries and get her into a shelter before nightfall. Pretty cool.
Another woman was driving by and turned around when she saw the Healing Place Church tent. She's going through a rough time right now and a friend of hers told her that HPC could help her. She's in the middle of a nasty divorce; with a drug-dealing ex-husband that threatening to burn down her house. She works as a counselor, but stood in tears as she told us her story. When the counselor needs counselling, it's cool that people think of HPC. We got to pray with her and gave her some direction to get some more help. She stayed for lunch and hung out with us for a while. She looked better by the time she left.
Palmer Apartments is a rough hood; in fact the whole area is rough. The kids are hungry; for food, for attention and for direction. The parents are desperate; many of them lacking both employment and the skills to gain employment. Drugs, violence and hopelessness...those are the prevailing traits of the area. Nobody plans for the future...they just try to survive from one day to the next. That's why HPC is there; we want to offer them the hope and future that's found in Jesus Christ. So, we show up. We play games with the kids, we feed anyone who will eat and we invite them to get involved at the Dream Center. We pray for people, laugh with them and cry with them. Our goal is to do life with them; a life centered around God.
- Saturday night our first visiting mission team arrived to stay at the Dream Center. We had 55 high school students from Guts Church in Tulsa spend a week with us. They were great: dedicated, enthusiastic and eager to serve. We did lots of work, lots of outreach and had the opportunity to touch a lot of lives.
- Sunday afternoon Blue Sushi joined us downtown for Adopt-a-block. They picked up trash, cleaned yards and served with willing hearts. That's pretty impressive for a group of fifth graders.
- Monday we spent the day at Winbourne with our Guts mission team. We painted, scrubbed, hauled and bleached. By 4pm I was ready for a nap (one of those Rip Van Winkle naps). I went home to bed while another team headed to New Orleans for a special St. Patrick's Day edition of Midnight on Bourbon Street. Once again we partnered with Church of the King and the New Orleans Dream Center. How cool is that?
- Tuesday night we had our second Family Night at Winbourne. Great fellowship, exciting entertainment and another opportunity to present the Gospel. Adam did a great job bringing the word and our volunteers, as always, were top-notch.
- Friday morning our Guts team left and in the afternoon we bussed some of our Winbourne people in for Easter service at Highland. The really cool part is that we had to call in a second bus because we had so many people who wanted to attend. I think we ended up with 70+ at church. Pastor Dino preached a great message and about 25 or 30 of our people responded to the alter call. What a humbling experience to be a part of that. Jesus came for the lame, the blind, the oppressed and the broken. He came for everyone on the bus. I watched Mr. Clyde, an old homeless man with one eye make his way to the front of the church. I watched our Thrive attendees, men and women, tears streaming down their faces, find hope at the alter. Teenagers from Prescott apartments walked the aisle; many for the first time. Like I said, humbling.
- Sunday morning I attended the 10am service at Highland...me and everyone else in the Greater Baton Rouge area. It was great. I sat in the back foyer with about 15 other people (on 12 chairs). The way cool part was that the people didn't care that they were crammed into the foyer. They listened, they clapped and they were engaged in the service. They were a part...even if they were the back part.
So, that's been my week (or 10 days or however long it's been). I'm wore out, looking rough and feeling like I slept on the clothesline. But, that's how we roll here at HPC. I wouldn't have it any other way. All glory to God!

K-Ron and the boyz

2008-03-10T18:46:00.000-05:00

We had a volunteer orientation last week for people in the community who want to get involved in what God is doing at our Baton Rouge Dream Center. It was a great group...a few people from Highland, a couple of homeless guys, some Ladies Thrive attendees and a handful of kids that attend our After School program.

Adam Hymel and Miss Alliece were facilitating the session but there was lots of feedback from the audience. We were talking about the core values of of HPC (reach, serve, give and build) and our mission of being a healing place for a hurting world. Miss Alliece was doing a basic teaching on salvation; how we need to be grounded ourselves before we can reach out to others. She asked the group if anyone knew what it was like to lost.

K-Ron is a twelve-year-old who attends after school. He currently has a broken bone in his hand so he has a blue cast halfway to his elbow. At Miss Alliece's question his skinny arm shot straight up. "I got lost in JC Penney one time." The group laughed and Miss Alliece asked what happened. He said, "Well, I was lost, and then I walked around for a long long time til I got found."

That is so the story of my life (minus the JC Penney). I once was lost but now I'm found.

I saw K-Ron a couple of days later...he had just been pulled out of a fight and the police were on their way. Somebody had jumped somebody earlier in the day so now it was time to pick sides and start swinging. He's short, skinny and has a broken hand. And, he's doing everything he knows to do just to survive the day.

We got to pray for him and Charity made a deal with him that he wouldn't fight anybody over the weekend. We made plans for him to help us out at the block party so that he'd have something to do on Saturday other than run the streets. He showed up early.

I really have no idea what all God has planned for us at the Dream Center. I know that the needs are overwhelming, the people are desperate and there aren't enough hours in the day. And, I know that without intervention, there's a very good chance that K-Ron and his friends will die in the streets.

I don't have anything to do with budgeting, financial decisions or anything of the like. I know it costs lots of money to run a facility the size of Winbourne and to do all the outreaches we do across the city. I'm so grateful that HPCers are givers; that we're built on the sacrifices of many. I'm grateful that HPCers don't just take care of their own kids; they take care of the K-Ron's that nobody else is caring for.

Whatever God is doing downtown, I'm excited to be a part of it. I'm excited to see what God is going to do in and through K-Ron. The future's bright, y'all...come be a part of it. All glory to God!

A couple of things I noticed...

2008-02-25T20:24:00.000-06:00

We had another great weekend at HPC. It had a kinda crazy, off-the-chain feel about it, but it was still great. Here are a couple of moments that stuck out to me:

Friday morning:
I’m standing in the playground at the BRDC in the middle of Ladies Thrive. There are people everywhere because Cooking for Christ is just about to start serving lunch. Miss Frances is praying over the food so most of the people have quit hollering. I’m standing about five feet behind Miss Frances and although I’ve bowed my head, I’m still watching the crowd. This dude named Nathan* comes through the gate and he’s on a mission. Nathan is one of our regulars and he has some peculiar personality traits. I’m not sure how well he can see; his eyes sort of point in different directions. He’s hard to understand because he talks really fast and sometimes repeats things, and it’s hard to know when he’s talking to me or when he’s talking to himself. He’s homeless and I suspect he may have some mental health issues. So, when he comes through the gate at full tilt I immediately go on full alert. He takes about three steps and looks around. He sees people with their heads down and Miss Frances praying. He stops dead in his tracks, takes off his hat and bows his head. As soon as the prayer ends he puts on his hat and continues across the courtyard. I don’t know if anybody else saw him, but I believe that God was pleased with Nathan.

Saturday morning:
I’m driving the shuttle down Mission Street with a group of our awesome volunteers. We’re going door-to-door handing out pasta and inviting people to come to our Family Night at the BRDC. It’s this Tuesday at 7pm in case you want to be a part (this commercial was brought to you by the letter W and the number 7). So, we pass by Dufroc Elementary and I blast the horn about a hundred times because the schoolyard is swarming with HPC kids getting ready to do their school makeover. This weekend was ‘Amplified’, a special retreat for our junior and senior high kids who want more of God. They stayed at host-homes and had prayer meetings, community service projects and unbelievable worship. So, I pass by the school, everybody waves and me and my merry band of men (and women) continue on our way. Then about five minutes later, I get the call. “Hey, we hit a snag at Dufroc…the kids are coming to Winbourne to serve. Any ideas?” God is so funny.

So this is the cool moment that stuck out to me. We had close to a hundred kids show up at our Dream Center and they were willing to do whatever we asked. They painted walls, scrubbed toilets, made grocery bags, whatever. They didn’t complain about the change of plans, they didn’t ask a hundred questions and they didn’t seem to care who did what. All they wanted to know was, ‘how can I help?’ This is the same generation that you read about in headlines. This is the generation associated with school shootings, bomb threats and suicide. I tell you what, we don’t give this generation enough credit.

I went to their worship service on Saturday night. They spent 4 or 5 hours praising, praying and crying out to God. Around midnight about 40 kids got baptized in the pond. I spent most of Saturday night watching a few hundred kids worship the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. It was unbelievable.

All glory to God!

Bourbon Street Outreach

2008-02-17T22:32:00.001-06:00

The guy sitting alone at the bar was probably in his mid-forties. A couple of seats down from him were two young ladies who may have been twenty. We walked up to the girls and handed them each a rose and wished them Happy Valentine’s. They looked at us suspiciously but took the roses anyway. The guy asked me what we were doing so I told him we were out reminding people that somebody cares about them. One of the girls turned to me and said, “Do you love strippers?” I smiled at her and said, “Of course we do. That’s why we’re here.”

The girls introduced themselves as Diamond and Wednesday. We chatted briefly but said we had to go as there were lots of other women we wanted to give flowers to. Diamond stood up and hugged my neck. “You really do love strippers” she said. I smiled and nodded. I thought she might cry. As I turned around the guy at the bar said, “You guys are the nicest people I have ever met in my life.” I thanked him and wished him a Happy Valentine’s as well. We walked out of the smoky bar and stepped back onto Bourbon Street.

We do Midnight Outreach every month, but this is the first time we’ve done it in New Orleans. We partnered with a great church whose heart is to reach out to the lost and hurting in their city. By joining with Church of the King we had the opportunity to impact hundreds of people who are tangled up in darkness and destruction that comes with involvement in the sex industry. We got to seek that which is lost.

A few blocks down the street a woman stopped us. “Hey, y’all really do love strippers.” She had a rather large tattoo and a rather small shirt. I’m not sure if she had two or three piercings in her face, but it’s her eyes that I remember. She stood in front of our team and said, “I’ve been into every club along this strip and they all say you’ve been in there giving roses to the girls.” She was very intense so we just listened. “I’ve danced in every club on Bourbon Street. You guys are the first people to ever do something for us. You guys care about us. Nobody cares about us. They hate us. You can tell by the way they look at us. They hate us.” Her words were coming out fast enough to tell me she was high and she was moving the entire time she stood there. She told us that she doesn’t strip anymore since she got engaged. Now she just rides the mechanical bull at the Bourbon Cowboy. She told us that if we wanted to ride the bull she could get us in for free. We thanked her for the offer but told her we had other clubs we needed to go to. She thanked us again, lit a cigarette and disappeared into the throng.

This is why we do Midnight, so that women like Diamond, Wednesday and Rose can be reminded that they’re more than what they do. They are precious, important, wounded people. They are not just strippers and prostitutes; they are somebody’s daughter, somebody’s sister. They are the ones Jesus went to the cross for…just like you and me.

I am so grateful that HPC allows us to go beyond the box of ‘what is acceptable’. I am so grateful that we are, like Pastor Mike says, a second mile church. How cool is it that we are now known, on Bourbon Street, as a church who loves strippers? What an awesome privilege. All glory to God.

Thrivin' Friday

2008-02-17T21:45:00.000-06:00

Ladies Thrive this week was off the chain. We had about forty women there from the community and another dozen or so from HPC Women's Ministry. Miss Alliece taught on Mephibosheth (2 Sam. 9) and how he wasn't forgotten...even though he was crippled, orphaned and left behind in Lo-debar. She talked about how Mephibosheth was lame because he had been dropped as a child. She asked if anyone in the crowd had been wounded by someone else's actions...if anyone else felt isolated and left behind. The room was silent except for the sniffling. Heads were nodding as tears ran down their faces.

The point of the teaching was that David remembered Mephibosheth and brought him out of Lo-debar and into the palace. Instead of living in isolation and shame, Mephibosheth 'ate regularly at David's table, like one of the king's own sons'.

The teaching ended with Miss Alliece leading the women in a prayer of forgiveness. Before they broke into their discussion groups our volunteers delivered gifts to each of the women. The HPC chicks brought cupcakes, cookies, chocolates and socks for the whole group. The ladies also got a long-stemmed red rose. They were overwhelmed. More tears; but this time tears of gratitude.

Regardless of what Feb 14th brought for these ladies, our Valentine's party of the 15th was a huge win. Encouraging message, cool gifts and a red rose from the Lover of her soul...everything a girl could want. Happy belated Valentine's day to all.

One True Love

2008-02-15T20:21:00.000-06:00

Valentine's Day can be rough. Single, married, divorced, dating or recovering from all of the above; there's a lot of pressure. Between tv ads for diamond pendants (what exactly is the purpose of a 'pendant'?) and the sympathy cards from happily married friends, it makes for a tough 24 hrs smack in the middle of February. I have no idea if guys feel the squeeze or not, but for us gals just making it through the day is a win. And here's the thing: I love my life! I love what I get to do, I love my friends, I love my church, I have a great family. If Feb 14th weighs this heavily on me, what does it do to someone who doesn't love their current life? Over the past 36 hours I have had the opportunity to witness the effects of this 'holiday'.

We had big plans for Valentine's Day: Midnight Outreach in Baton Rouge in the mid-day and then off to New Orleans after that. God is doing a really cool thing right now in allowing us to partner with a great church in New Orleans called Church of the King. We're working with their outreach team a little to help them launch some new ways to reach the people around them; including a Midnight Outreach for people tangled up in the sex trade. More about that in a later post...

So, we're at the Dream Center packing chocolate, pulling thorns off roses and preparing ourselves for a long night of God-only-knows-what. We are pumped!!! Then we get a call and everything changes. Instead of going to Hooters to give roses to the girls serving cold draft and chicken wings, we're headed to Scotlandville to meet with a girl who just told us that she's contemplating killing herself and her two small children. Hold the wings and hit the gas.

We find Trisha* in an apartment that would need renovations before it would be nice enough to condemn. She has no heat, no lights and no water. There's almost no furniture and the whole place smells like a dumpster. We hop out of the van and hand her a rose. She takes it and tries to smile. While Charity talks to her we make conversation with the neighbors and give the guys some chocolate. After a while Charity asks me to come inside with them. I get a quick rundown on the situation and then we pray for her. As we're praying I get that nudge from the Holy Ghost so when we finish I ask her, "Do you know who Jesus is?". She shakes her head and says, "No. I think maybe he's in the bible but I never read it." (Selah)

We take her through a brief teaching on Jesus being the Son of God and dying for our sins, and in the back of my head I'm thinking, 'she almost died today and took her 2 sons with her...and she doesn't know who He is'. We have so much work left to do.

Charity led her in a salvation prayer and she accepted Jesus into her life as her Lord and Savior. How awesome is God? She came to Ladies Thrive today and brought her two little boys. They're coming back to the Dream Center to meet with us again on Tuesday and we're going to help her sort through some of the pain and chaos. God's grace amazes me. For Valentine's Day she got a rose and salvation. She got hope. Jesus is the gift that keeps on giving. All glory to God!

*not her real name

Pickled peppers and fast cars

2008-02-10T21:16:00.000-06:00

We had another great weekend downtown at the Baton Rouge Dream Center. It was about 8:45am when I arrived at the building Friday morning, so I was a little surprised when we already had handful of homeless people waiting for the opportunity to serve. They were chillin' down by the dumpster, waiting for Craig to show up and hang out with them. How cool is that?

We had about forty women join us for Thrive; all of them anxious to hear what Alliece had to say this week. As the ladies listened to the teaching the homeless guys were busy sweeping halls, picking up trash and painting the nursery. After the teaching the women sat around in their small groups while the homeless guys took turns getting their new clothes from the boutique. As always, the men were grateful for the clothing, and grateful for the opportunity to serve.

At our Saturday morning outreach we had two teams going door-to-door handing out pickled peppered, pinto beans and tiny bags of hershey's kisses. (As you can see, we're big believer's in a balanced diet.) While one team was over on Wyandotte, our other team was visiting families on a cul-de-sac a few blocks away. From out of nowhere, a car sped down the street and crashed into a parked car. Thanks to our quick-thinking volunteers (and a big hand from the Holy Ghost) everyone was safely moved out of the way. During the excitement one of the neighbors invited the team inside her home and we got to pray together. Next week we're going back to that street to do a block party. It's so cool that in the midst of all the chaos and confusion in that area, that God has called us to spend time with those particular families. God cares about all of His kids; and I love that we get to watch His light show up in dark places.

The Dream Center, like all of Healing Place's outreaches, is about being a healing place for a hurting world. Next weekend we're going to feed the hungry, visit the widows and bring hope to the hopeless. Wanna help? Meet us at 450 Roselawn at 10:00am Saturday morning. God's going to to show up and show off. It's guaranteed to be a blast! See you there.

All glory to God!

Just down the street

2008-02-05T09:12:00.000-06:00

Saturday morning we had our door-to-door street outreach in north Baton Rouge. It was extra cool this week because we had a couple dozen kids from student ministries come and help us out. I love the enthusiasm and energy they bring, but I particularily love seeing the next generation taking the doors of the church to the street. Tyler, Crystal, Tweezz and the gang are doing an incredible job of forming this group of young people into a mighty army for God.
The team I was on went to a stretch of apartments on Prescott. A tuff hood indeed...not an easy place to spend your days. The first woman I talked to was sitting in her car with a baby in the back seat. We gave her some pretzels and applesauce and she asked us where we're from. We told her a little bit about the Dream Center and HPC. She didn't say much, just nodded a lot. I asked how I could pray for her. She told me that her sister's baby had just died. She wanted prayer for her sister, their family, just everything. As I was walking away I thought about how much God loves His kids; how He sent us to that very parking at that very moment so that we could pray for a greiving woman and her family. He is so good.
Another team member came up to me a short while later and said they had prayed for a baby with a tumor in his head. Incredible. We also got to pray for Mr. Hank; an elderly gentleman with bad knees who was sitting on his couch in an apartment that smelled worse than any I've smelled in a long time. Mr. Hank doesn't have any teeth, so we traded out the pretzels for a bag of hersey's kisses (no nuts). He thanked us for the prayer and the food, and he told us to keep safe.
There are dozens of other stories from Saturday but they all come down to one thing: Jesus came to seek that which was lost...how cool is it that He lets us help? All glory to God!

Friday recap

2008-02-04T15:31:00.000-06:00

Friday was a crazy day...Miss Alliece was out of town, half of our volunteers were away and I was speaking at Thrive and didn't have anything to say. When we got together for morning prayer Adam looked at me and said, "So Donna, what are your thoughts?" I shook my head and answered, "I think that if God doesn't show up, we're falling flat on our faces." I don't think that was the encouraging word he was hoping for.
Personally, my life has been very stressful lately. There are some things shifting and changing and some days I don't feel like I can get me feet under me. That's how I felt on Friday. With less than 30 minutes until I was scheduled to teach, I sat at Miss Alliece's desk and told God that I couldn't do it. I asked Him to be God; to show up, give the women His message, and basically just carry me through the day. He is so faithful. I have no idea what I spoke about other than I started with a scripture from Exodus. Afterwards, one of the volunteers told me it was the best message I had ever preached. All I could do was point up.
Firday night I had the privilege of speaking at New Beginnings. That is such a cool ministry. Craig, Yvonne and their whole team do an amazing job. Working with people struggling with destructive behaviors is tough. God definitely put the right people in the right places. About three minutes before we started Craig asked me how I felt. Again I shook my head, "I got nothing, Craig. I've got a scipture I don't want to use and no idea what to say." Craig shrugged and said, "Forget the scripture. Talk about whatever you want." I took the mic and God showed up again. He is so very good to me.
I know that the scripture says that when we are weak, He is strong. I'm so very grateful that when I am nothing, He is everything. All glory to God!

Amazing

2008-01-28T13:21:00.000-06:00

This weekend was incredible! It started Friday morning at Ladies Thrive; we got to celebrate what Jesus is doing in the lives of these women and we got to celebrate Miss Gertrude's 87th birthday. We met Miss Gertrude a little over a year ago while we were doing outreach on 39th Street. When we knocked on her door, she not only accepted the groceries we were handing out but she opened her home and her heart to us. She has been an active member of Ladies Thrive almost from the beginning. Every week she shows up with a smile, an encouraging word and a heart of gratitude. No matter what the other ladies are facing, Miss Gertrude's answer is always the same: "God's gonna bring ya through, baby...you just hang onto Him".

After the women had finished their groups they enjoyed another great meal prepared by the Cooking for Christ team; meatloaf, scalloped potatoes, green beans, fresh rolls and apple crunch dessert. You have to provide your own lipitor, but a fine meal none the less. Then the ladies lined up for their opportunity to shop for their new clothes at the boutique...mostly organized chaos.

One of the things that continually amazes me is the depth of gratitude expressed by the homeless men that attend our Friday outreach. They can't wait to help us; they move furniture, pick up trash, sweep hallways...and they love it. They get clean clothes from the boutique, and they are genuinely thankful. They don't just find a hot meal and a pair of pants; they find purpose. It's amazing to watch.

By Friday night the Winbourne Dream Center had a completely different flow. HPC's Student Ministries team had their leadership retreat so we got to host a slumber party for about 50 of our young leaders. (I use the term 'slumber' lightly, as there was very little sleeping tht actually occurred.) I walked into the Fellowship hall Friday night about 10:30pm and caught the tale end of Pastor Mike's message. Then I got to join them for an incredible time of worship...2 1/2 hours of young people crying out to God, praying for each other, some dancing, some facedown on the floor. I think it made God smile. Again, simply amazing.

Saturday morning we did our regular outreach at Roselawn: preparing groceries, taking them to the streets and going door-to-door to remind God's people how much He loves them. We had a small crew but we still got to watch God move. I love that He doesn't care about the numbers...just about our hearts. Praise God. After that I went back across to Winbourne in time to catch their outreach; delivering food to hungry people living in appalling conditions. We gave them juice, pretzels and some hot meals (thanks to the good people at Chik-fil-a).

There were a number of people at the retreat that I've never served with before. After watching them on Saturday I am very encouraged about our future leaders: sold-out to God, desperate for His presence and willing to walk where Jesus sends us. How cool is that?

To top off this incredible weekend, we celebrated HPC's 15th birthday Sunday evening at Vision Night. I'm still processing the message Pastor Dino gave...hopefully I'll blog about that further when I get my head around it.

So the word for today: amazing. Amazing people, amazing outreaches, amazing worship, amazing message, amazing God. I am continually amazed that God allows me to be a part of this. All glory to Him!

The River Bank

2008-01-21T09:39:00.000-06:00

Saturday morning we had a really interesting outreach. A church in Baker had contacted Alliece about bringing their youth group in for an inner-city experience. The kids had made blankets and wanted to give them out to the homeless. I suspect they got more than they bargained for.

It was cold outside. It was really cold riding in the back of a pick-up truck driving around looking for people who don't want to be found. (Hats off to all of our volunteers who braved the artic wind and still had a smile on their face.) We found our first group of people living under the overpass downtown. Tucked in beneathe the concrete, roaring traffic overhead, they received the food and blankets with genuine thankfulness.

We then headed down to the riverbank where we found a few of the camps. They aren't places you would stumble upon accidentally...we had to be very intentional in our search. As always, God pointed the way for us. As our team carried water, snacks and blankets through the underbrush I wondered what they were thinking. Many of them had never seen people who live like this. I suspect that some of them are still working through it today. One of the youth group leaders told Alliece through her tears, "I drive past here everyday; I had no idea there was anyone down here. I just drive right past them and don't even think about it."

Our last stop was at a trailer park in north Baton Rouge. These people aren't technically homeless, but only because they have a physical address. Many of them live without heat, electricity or running water. They are hungry, cold and desperate. We give them blankets, food and medicine. They hug our necks; some of them cry. All are surprised to see us.

Our group gathered to pray at the end of the outreach. The youth group leaders hugged us, thanked us and cried again. They said they would come back to help us. They thanked us for allowing them to be a part of what we do. We loaded into the vehicles and headed back to the Dream Center. We were cold, wet and muddy...and all of us had a home and a hot shower to look forward to.

Something to think about: But for the grace of God, there go I.
All glory to Him!

Confessions of a selfish Christian

2008-01-14T15:26:00.000-06:00

I was in Starbucks Saturday morning before outreach. I ran into somebody from church and he asked what we were doing downtown. I told him, "The usual...door-to-door, hand out groceries, pray for people." We talked for a couple more minutes while waiting for our drinks. As I was walking out to the shuttle that 'still, small voice' arrested me.

It wasn't that thundering voice of God that makes you afraid to breathe; it was quiet and almost exasperated. The words 'the usual' echoed through my mind, bringing waves of conviction with it. I felt like the Holy Ghost was asking me when I allowed the Great Commission to become 'the usual'. When did feeding the hungry, visiting the lonely, healing the sick and setting the captives free become mundane? I stood beside the HPC shuttle, green tea frap in hand, and I wanted to cry.

At some point in my self-important schedule, I have allowed the awesome privilege of serving become ordinary. I don't want that to be true. I don't want to take for granted the opportunities I have been given by being a part of Healing Place Church. I don't want the miracles that I see every week to go unnoticed; by me or by others. God is healing people, setting them free and changing lives...and I have the audacity to call that 'the usual'. Shame on me.

I spoke to a friend over Christmas and he told me how much he misses doing outreach. He's currently at school out of state and can't find another church like HPC. The truth seems to be, very few people have the chance to do what we do.

So, there it is. Despite my best effort to put Him first, bring Him glory and make Him known, I continue to be selfish, self-centered and all about me. God have mercy on me. I'm not sure what to do with this new-found information (new to me, not new to God). I think maybe I need to start keeping a list of the miracles I get to witness. I've asked God to forgive me and to help me replace 'self' with God. That would make me Godish, God-centered and all about Him. I think that would be a much more fulfilling route to take. Please pray for me in this much-needed transformation. Thank God for His mercy. All glory to Him!

Saturday in the Park (no, not the song)

2008-01-06T16:21:00.000-06:00

On Saturday morning we did our usual street outreach, but this time we took it to a couple of trailer parks in North Baton Rouge. After loading up the truck with vegetable soup, baby food, ice tea and blue apple sauce (yep, blue apple sauce ‘cause that’s how we roll baby) we headed out to see who we could talk to about Jesus.

One of our street teams that works with at-risk youth had visited the park before, but this was the first time 40 red Serve shirts swarmed the park at once. The residents were surprised, but very grateful. We had the opportunity to tell people about the programs we run at the Dream Center, but more importantly we got to tell them about Jesus.

As I drove along the narrow street I saw a group of children in their yard playing with a grocery cart. I didn’t see any other toys in the immediate area. It made me think of being in Mexico and watching kids play with a sparkplug. But I wasn’t in Mexico; I was thirty minutes from my house. The moment we gave them the apple sauce they opened it, using the peel-off lids for spoons. It was funny and heart-breaking all at once. They loved the applesauce; not because it was blue but because it was food. God bless the children.

As we were getting ready to leave a man ran up to the truck. He wasn’t interested in the free food; he wanted to know who we were. As it turned out, he was released from prison a short time ago. He had found God while incarcerated and has been looking for a church to attend since he got out. He talked to some of our people and got the information he needed. He attended the 10am service today at Highland campus. How cool is that?

That’s why we do what we do. We do it to feed the hungry, to open the doors of the prisoners and to proclaim the name of Jesus. I can’t imagine a better way to spend a Saturday. All glory to God!

Matthew 25:36

2008-01-06T16:18:00.000-06:00

I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' Matthew 25:36 (NIV)

We encounter a lot of people at the Baton Rouge Dream Center every week; people with serious problems and desperate need. On Fridays we invite the homeless to join us for fellowship and a hot meal. Some come just for the food, but many don’t; some come just to be seen. Being homeless in America doesn’t just mean you’re without shelter, it means you’re invisible. As a society we turn away from those things that are unattractive; things like obvious sickness, addiction, filth. We don’t just look past the guy holding a sign at the intersection, we look through him…like he doesn’t exist.

On Friday we got to be the hands of God yet again. Thanks to a youth group who raised money to buy coats for the homeless, not only did the men get a hot meal but they each received a new jacket and a fresh set of clothes. For most of them, it’s not like they got another coat; this is their only coat. As the temperature hovers just above freezing, these new jackets provide much needed protection against the elements. This jacket means they get to sleep at night. Their gratitude was humbling. They smiled and thanked us, again and again and again.

Jesus came for the throw-aways of society. He came for the homeless, the addicts, the prostitutes and the dealers. What an awesome privilege that He has entrusted these precious souls to us…that He allows us to be a healing place for a hurting world. Thank you for being a part of changing lives.

The Best of the Best

2007-12-29T18:23:00.000-06:00

I have the incredible privilege of working with some of the finest people on earth...the HPC volunteers who work in the inner city. It's not just their dedication and passion; it's their complete willingness to lay down their own schedules and agendas to make room for others.

A few weeks ago Pastor Dino preached about us having others inside our others. (If that doesn't make sense to you then order the sermon and give it a listen. It's an incredible word.) Basically, the message is that whatever we have inside of us needs to be passed on and birthed in others. That's what I see our volunteers doing on a weekly basis. Despite holiday plans, family commitments and general busyness, our volunteers continually lay it all down for the others. The week before Christmas we ran outreaches back-to-back: homeless, Thrive, Midnight, Turner Plaza, all within about 30 hours. That doesn't include the prayer time, prep time, warehouse time, the planning or the meetings that go in to pulling it all off. Not to mention the Winbourne Christmas event that brought almost 1000 people to our new campus. Throughout all of that craziness, this is what I saw:

- people changing travel plans to be available
- people staying up late and getting up early to serve
- people getting their whole family involved to reach others
- people staying on outreach until the last possible moment before getting in the car to drive countless hours to see family in other states
- people loving the unlovable and hugging the unhuggable
- people representing Jesus well, even when people didn't always act right

Like I said, some of the finest people on earth. It is such an honor to serve God...and it's especially cool that I get to do it with the greatest folks and the greatest church on earth. All glory to God!

30 hours on Serve Team

2007-12-27T22:16:00.000-06:00

Last weekend was trippin!!! We started Friday morning and finished Saturday afternoon. I think I had a short nap at some point but mostly it was flat-out mayhem. I love inner city outreach!!!!

Ladies Thrive
Every Friday we have a support group called Ladies Thrive for women in the community. It’s really a bible study, designed as a safe place for these women to share their frustrations, their fears and the demands of living in a community torn apart by violence, drugs and despair. We usually have anywhere from 25-35 women, some of whom bring their small children. Last Friday we had our Thrive Christmas party…and it was wild!

We had 44 women in attendance, and probably close to 50 kids. Normally we send the few children we have down to Jump Start, our preschool literacy program that works with kids ages 2-5. On Friday Margaret and Susan (Jump Start workers) did a tremendous job just keeping track of everyone. While the kids were shooting hoops and making crafts, the moms were learning more about God and how to cope in this crazy world. After the teaching all of the ladies got a Christmas present: beautiful cheetah-print robes or fluffy fur throws. They were so excited. The women were trying on robes, posing for pictures and generally having a great time. Cooking for Christ prepared another tasty feast for us and everyone enjoyed a holiday meal together. As we loaded the shuttle to take everyone home there was laughter, appreciation and peace…a pretty good start for Christmas.

Okay, we may have had a a minor incident involving a plunger, 2 mops and a little boy peeing in a trash can, but we're calling it a win none the less. :)

Midnight Outreach
The streets always hold an undercurrent of desperation, but this near to Christmas everything is magnified. The tears are closer, the rage is hotter and everything can turn on a dime. But, that’s why we’re there. We want to be available when people are willing to turn…we want them to have an option other than violence, drugs or hatred. Jesus is never closer to people then when they’re on the edge. Tonight, you allowed us to walk the edge with them.

We handed out almost 200 roses to remind ladies that their worth is not determined by their occupation; even if their job is exotic dancing. We handed out gift bags filled with give-aways from HPC Chick events; sparkly crowns, fancy chocolates and earrings. We gave out Tylenol, tissues and copies of Pastor Dino’s book. Anything we could find that would bless these precious people, we wanted to get into their hands. For many, the presents they got from you will be the only Christmas gifts they receive.

You make it possible; through your giving, your prayers and your commitment. Everyday you make the choice to put others first. Thank you for being a healing place for a hurting world.

Turner Plaza Christmas
Some came in their blue jeans, some in their Sunday best. They walked in, were wheeled in, or helped along by friends and neighbors. On Saturday morning the residents of Turner Plaza, a government-run housing project predominantly occupied by the elderly and disabled, were treated to a turkey dinner prepared by Cooking for Christ that was fit for a King. After sharing a meal together, Miss Claudia led us in Christmas carols and high stakes bingo. (High stakes defined as much sought after prizes like vaporizers, hygiene products and cheetah-print bath robes.) The residents and volunteers had a blast.

For many of the tenants, this will be the only party they will attend this holiday season. With limited resources and little family support, Christmas can be a lonely time. The food and prizes they received may seem like a small thing, but the smiling face and echoing laughter said otherwise. For a time they were not old and disabled, they were not poor or crippled; they were simply a collection of friends, some old and some new, sharing a celebration of Christmas. We closed in prayer and everyone gathered their belongings, their meals and their gifts. It was a great day for them and for us; another opportunity to be a healing place for a hurting world.

Okay, now I'm going back to bed. See you in the New Year. All glory to God!

Let me introduce myself...

2007-12-16T16:49:00.000-06:00

Contrary to popular belief, I have not fallen off the face of the planet. I don't think I've ever gone this long between posts and I apologize for the delay. That being said, I have an excuse for my tardiness.

Here's the thing...the holidays here are simply too close together. I grew up up in Canada, eh, so I'm used to a different schedule. At home we have a reasonable break between Thanksgiving and Christmas (mid-Oct to late Dec.) That gives everybody time to regroup, to recover from the quantity time with family and to work in a crash diet between inexcusable eating binges. But here, everything is back to back. There's still a leftover drumstick in the fridge and y'all are cooking up another whole bird. Granted, maybe it's because I ate Cooking For Christ's turkey dinner for 4 days straight that I'm over-loaded on dressing and gravy, but I still think the big days are a little too close. Since it's unlikely that the nation will change the official holiday schedule just to suit me, I'll move on.

Yesterday we had our big Christmas outreach at our Dream Center on Winbourne Ave. Talk about slammin!!! With about 250 volunteers and probably 700 people from the community, we had that place packed out. Just to show you how good God is, on Tuesday of this week we were praying that people would come...more than the 70 people we had registered at that point. Well, they came and came and came. We had hot dogs, fake snow, karaoke caroling and cookie decorating. Once the kids finished eating, playing games and jumping around the bounce houses we invited everyone in for a Christmas service. Kari Smith delivered the word, Ang Musso rocked the place, it was amazing. Kids made decisions for Christ and everybody had an awesome time. Hats off to Kari and her team for pulling it all off.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, our incredible team of elves (aka HPC volunteers) sorted, pulled and packed over a thousand toys to give to the families who came. How cool is it that very child between the ages of 2-12 left with a toy? Mark and Kayla were running the workshop and were absolutely fearless in getting the job done. Their willing spirit humbles me. Kudos to them and their team for making the seemingly impossible, possible.

I don't know how to say this without it sounding like a Grammy speech, but there are just so many people who laid it all down to make this happen: Jeannie, Barbara, Mr. Pat, the interns, Dean, Summer, Frankie; your servant's heart is a testament to God's grace. It is such a privilege to serve with every one of you. Everybody who gave, showed up, painted a face, prayed, held a child...you made it happen.

I love my church. I love that our pastors have a heart for the poor. I love that giving and serving are priorities in our congregation. I love that two weeks before Christmas hundreds of people gave up their Saturday to make a difference in somebody's life. Lives were changed on Saturday, including mine. Thank you, for making it all happen. All glory to God!

Playing catch-up

2007-11-24T15:40:00.000-06:00

Do you ever get so far behind you feel like you'll never catch up? That's what has happened to me lately in the blogging world...there have been so many stories to tell I haven't had time to write them. In an effort to let you know what I've been doing I'm going to recap. This might be a long read so feel free to get a drink and use the facilities before starting. You ready?

Parking Lot Miracles Nov 9/07
Baptisms are always a cool event; the whole idea of letting go of the old and rising up into a brand new life in Christ. We baptized seven people today in the parking lot of our Baton Rouge Dream Center on Roselawn. These are women who have been attending our weekly support group, Ladies Thrive. Over the past year we have had the opportunity to watch God move in their situations, to change their hearts and to bring new hope into their devastated lives.

We baptized Monica today, who less than a year ago was on probation and dangerously close to going back to prison. For the first three months she came to Ladies Thrive she cried the entire time. Today, as she came up out of the water, a smile covered her face as she raised her hands in victory.

Connie suffered a stroke several months ago as a result of smoking crack. She doesn’t do that anymore and she says it’s because she started coming to our Friday meeting. She got baptized today too.

Nicole came up out of the water and started to cry. She stood in the parking lot, soaking wet, and allowed our volunteers to hold her while she wept. She is scheduled to get on a bus on Sunday to go away for six months to learn Braille. Nicole is legally blind.

These are just of few of the precious women that we get to meet every week. They are broken and bruised and beautiful. They are the reason that God sent His Son for us. What a privilege to be able to share their lives. All glory to God.

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Matthew 28:19

Street Outreach Nov 10th/07
The next day we were doing our usual door-to-door street outreach in North Baton Rouge. We were rolling down in the 46th-48th Street area when one of our volunteers met Paul. We gave him a Yoo-Hoo (cold drink) for him and his girlfriend, along with an invitation to join us for our Thanksgiving meal. He was kind of high, a little messed up; pretty typical of the 47th Street crowd. Here's the cool part: the next day he and his girlfriend show up at HPC Highland for service. They're pulled together, well-dressed and excited to be there. He told Miss Alliece that he took the yoo-hoos home and told his girlfriend that if these people are willing to come into the hood to find him, he wants to check out where we're from. So, I saw him at Sunday service, at Fall Fest that night, and Thursday morning he was volunteering at the homeless breakfast. He gave up his Saturday to help buff the floors at Winbourne and is looking for more chances to serve. How cool is that?

That same day we met a young woman walking the street by herself. We gave her a flyer about Thanksgiving and invited her to Ladies Thrive. I touched the fresh razor cuts on her wrist and told her that if she ever wants to talk she can come find me. She looked at me briefly, then nodded and walked away. As with most cutters, the pain oozes from her very core. I hope she comes to talk to me soon. God wants her, and He sent us to find her.

The following week we went to the streets again; seeking that which was lost. We found the homeless, the poor, the broken and the angry. We invited them all to come and eat with us. I don't know how many people we met, but the need seems endless.

Show Time! Nov 21st/07
Thanksgiving Eve was a great night at our 2nd Baton Rouge Dream Center (Winbourne Avenue). With the help of over 200 volunteers we transformed the old Fellowship Hall into a fine dining experience for several hundred of our favorite people. From personal hostesses to waiters in black tie, the ‘free turkey dinner’ was intended to exceed the expectations of our guests.

Many of our visitors experience rejection, disdain and public humiliation on a daily basis. Living a life of poverty, addiction and homelessness is a tough road, with very few survivors. Last Wednesday they were the guests of honor. From the first glass of tea to the apple crunch dessert they were treated with the dignity and love that everyone deserves.

The blind woman smiled and said everything was wonderful. The single mom said the food was great; her kids were really full. The homeless man with the eye patch didn’t say anything, but he hung around until the last possible moment. That spoke volumes. Happy Thanksgiving to all.

“And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it for me!’
Matthew 25:40

I think that's a rap. In the midst of the excitement and craziness there was lots of other drama, but God was faithful through it all. Thank God we serve the One who is more than enough; no matter how great the need. All glory to Him!

Stepping out of the boat...again

2007-11-08T22:04:00.000-06:00

We had our first Baton Rouge Dream Center volunteer meeting tonight that was geared for people who have a heart to work with inner-city youth. I gotta tell ya, I am pumped up! Craig and Charity did a slammin' job delivering the heart of our youth programs. Between our after-school program and our street youth outreach I believe we're going to make a huge impact in the lives of these young people.

I know what you're thinking; "Who are you and what did you do with Donna?"

Okay I admit that, in the past, I have never imagined that I would voluntarily work with kids. I'm still not convinced that I'm called to minister to children, but Charity and Craig made a pretty compelling case. Did you know that 9 out of every 10 teens are sexually active? Or that 10% of kids suffer from depression? Did you know that the average age for girls to enter into pornography and prostitution is 12 years old? Did you know that the sale of child pornography is a $3 billion industry in the U.S.?

It's staggering. And worse yet, it's right here. These aren't kids living in Thailand, they're living in our own back yard. They're the kids we see on Saturday morning outreach. They're the shadows that need food but can't look at you. They are the unlovely.

Jesus said that He didn't come for those who are well, but for those who are sick. These kids are dying. I know Jesus wants us to go after them; to pull them back from the gates of hell; to let them know that they are valued and valuable. He died for them, just like He died for me.

So, I stand convicted, terrified and not knowing what to do next. The only thing I really know to do is to get out of the boat, keep my eyes on Jesus and ignore the crashing waves. Wanna come with?

Weekend Recap

2007-11-05T10:58:00.000-06:00

It's Monday morning and I'm really glad I don't have a huge day planned. Even though it was a normal weekend it felt like it made me a little tired. Friday at Ladies Thrive we had a small group; probably twenty or so. We often have closer to forty but the group always dwindles at the first of the month (check time). Still though, 20 is a far cry from where we started; Charity, Miss Alliece, Barbara and I sitting in a circle praying for someone (anyone) to come. God is good.

Saturday we hit the streets with some cold drinks, soup and invitations to our Thanksgiving meal that we'll be serving at BRDC Winbourne. We're hoping about 500 of our neighbors will join us for a turkey dinner. It's being held the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and we're recruiting volunteers so make sure you get hooked up to serve. Last year we had a great time at BRDC Roselawn and we're believing that this year will be even better.

I love that we get to take the doors of the church to the street. This week I was driving the truck so I wasn't knocking on doors. Talk about a cool vantage point. I watched as dozens of red shirts went down the street; praying for people, feeding them and representing our God with bold enthusiasm.

I know that we're not supposed to compare, but I think we have some of the greatest volunteers in the world. Every week they show up, eager to share God's love with people they've never met. They knock on doors in some of the roughest areas of Baton Rouge, simply to remind the residents that God loves them right where they're at. How cool is that?

Kudos to the team...love y'all and see you on the streets. All glory to God!

Happy November

2007-11-01T19:30:00.000-05:00

Okay, it seems like the the last time I knew the date it was mid-July. Does anybody know where the summer went (or even the fall)?

I have this great calendar that my friend Emily gave me as a gift. Every month there's a new picture of a donkey (or sometimes several donkeys). I turned the page this morning to see my new donkey and the page said November. Then I heard on the radio that there's only 53 shopping days before Christmas. Who knew?

Before I found God, or rather was found by Him, my life was pretty much the same: wake up, endure the day, unintentionally hurt somebody, go to bed. I didn't mean for that to be my life, but it was. I had no concept of hope or a brighter future. I endured the pain and waited for the end. I am so very grateful that my life is no longer like that.

I think I've figured out how I lost the entire summer. It was swallowed up in Fridays at Ladies Thrive, weekend services, Servolution, fix-a-house, street outreach and the Women's Conference. It was spent doing what I love, with the people I love, for the God I love. That's pretty cool.

Happy November...enjoy the day...live your call and leave everything on the table. All glory to God!

Get the tape

2007-10-29T18:02:00.000-05:00

Okay, I don't know what happened but when I got up Sunday morning my cell phone said that it had automatically adjusted itself for daylight savings time. I'm thinking, 'Cool, had no idea that was now.' So I reset the other clocks in my house, do a little prayer time, go for a walk, etc. I realize that I have time to make the noon service so I shower, dress, makeup, the whole nine. I get a text message about doing a delivery after service and I tell them that's great. I hit Starbucks (for the sent-straight-from-heaven green tea frap), run another errand and then mosey over to church. I'm thinking that it's odd that the traffic guys aren't working but, hey, whatever. I walk into church and hear Pastor Dino speaking through the closed door. I ask the woman working the product area why church is going on now. She says, "Oh, do you have one of the phones that said the time changed?" I nod so she continues. "Yeah, that happened with a bunch of people. It's really 12:53."

I walked into the sanctuary just as Chris Caine was taking the stage. I sat down quick and pulled out a notepad. I've heard her speak several times but never like this. She talked about how God had woke her up in the middle of the night with a message for us. It was incredible.

Our Miracle Offering is coming up in a couple of weeks so there's been some buzz about that. Chris talked about giving what we have in our hands; like the widow who was assigned to feed Elijah. The widow didn't have anything but a little bit and a plan. Her plan was to eat the little bit and die. Seriously, that was the whole plan...eat and die.

I've read that scripture plenty of times and I've even taught from it before. For some reason it never spoke to me like it did on Sunday. I can't do the teaching justice so I urge you to GET THE TAPE. GET THE TAPE. GET THE TAPE.

I love that we're building a new facility to make room for others. I love that after service I got to go with Miss Alliece to deliver leftover roses and ice cream sandwiches to the battered women's shelter. I love that even though I don't have a clue what time it is God makes sure I'm in the right place at the right time; to receive a word from Him. I love my life, I love my church and I love my God. All glory to Him!

And GET THE TAPE!

Last day? Not even close!

2007-10-28T09:22:00.000-05:00

The Live the Dream women's conference has officially ended, but it really feels more like a beginning to me. As I sat through the sessions and listened to various speakers I felt like God was planting some things. I didn't realize it at the time, but between the laughter and the tears He was moving stuff around, in my heart and in my spirit.

It was birthday yesterday (ha ha devil...I'm still here). I've had plenty of birthdays that were marked by pain and for many years I felt like October 27th simply noted another year served in this life sentence. Yesterday I was standing in the sanctuary, arms raised in worship, and I heard the devil say, 'here you are, 39, single and with nothing to show for your life'. Everything in me wanted to drop my arms, slide out the side door and go home. It took everything in me just to stay there. Then I had a flash of Holly swinging that sword in every direction; fighting fear, fighting financial pressure, fighting for her life. My arms stayed up. I thought of Tammy, standing by the water, gripped by fear, but none the less with a song in her heart. I sang a little louder. I thought of Chris Caine, before she was Chris Caine; when she was abandoned and nameless in a hospital ward. Now I was hot. As the people around me sang I rebuked the fire out of the devil. I reminded him I was a blood-bought, sanctified, child of the God Most High. I told him I was the head and not the tail, above always and never beneath and that he had to get off of me in Jesus' name. I stretched my arms up higher, I sang louder and I thanked God for Who He is. I worshipped.

I didn't go to the conference because I wanted God to set me free from birthday issues. I didn't even know I had birthday issues. I showed up because I wanted to serve my church and support my pastors. Isn't it cool that, when we just show up, God does a mighty work? I believe God did many mighty works this weekend. And I believe that this conference is what the bible refers to as 'small beginnings'. Pastor DeLynn is anointed to lead an army of women into battle. She does it with her smile, her love and her faith. I had no idea how powerful her weapons are, but I thank God for them.

See you on the battlefield. All glory to God!

Day Two: still kickin!

2007-10-26T22:59:00.000-05:00

I just got home from Day Two of Live the Dream. I'm not sure what the highlight was; Chris Caine convicting me with a word from God or seeing JP bust a move dressed as a giant bumble bee. I gotta tell ya, brotha got some groove!

The whole day was fantastic. Holly brought another great message, Chris was her amazing herself and Pastor DeLynn made the whole thing incredible. Oh, and Tammy gave us a taste of what tomorrow will bring...great music, dance and more manna from heaven.

I always love the worship at HPC but this weekend it seems to be at a whole other level. Candace and Jason and the crew have made it so easy to press in to God. I want to be able to worship like they do. Don't worry, I have no misconceptions about my vocal talent (or lack thereof), I just want to find that place where they seem to live...that whole 'in spirit and in truth' thing. They're just incredible. I'm so glad they belong to our house.

Gotta go for now. Another big day tomorrow and I don't want to miss a thing. Be blessed in Jesus' name.

Day One: Kickin!!!

2007-10-26T07:13:00.000-05:00

Last night Pastor DeLynn and her team launched our first ever women's conference...and it was slammin! The worship was incredible, amazing dance routines and a word straight from God brought through Holly Wagner.

To be honest, I wasn't entirely sure that I would enjoy an evening spent with 1200 women crammed into the HPC sanctuary. I'm not a big fan of crowds and I don't always enjoy a five-hour stretch in heels, but here's what happened: it wasn't about the line-ups or the heels or the unbelievable speakers. It wasn't about the music or the visual effects or even Pastor DeLynn. It was about God. It was about what He is doing in the lives of women, around our city and around the world. It was about Him reaching out and touching hearts, bringing dozens of ladies to the saving knowledge of His grace and mercy.

I love that HPC is always about more souls. I love that our pastors continue to choose sacrifice and risk over safety and ritual. I love being part of a church that is running hard after God.

All glory to Him!

BRDC Winbourne...cleaning it up!

2007-10-22T13:38:00.000-05:00

Saturday was amazing! We had over 250 volunteers show up to cut, scrub, scour and sort. We moved furniture, landscaped, pressure-washed and generally changed the face of Winbourne. Some of our new friends from the Winbourne Baptist congregation were there and they couldn't believe it. Their entire congregation consists of about 40 people (5 men and 35 widows) and has an average age of seventy. When our volunteers showed up with all of our passion and enthusiasm, even the pastor didn't know what to say. He was grinning ear to ear at the end of the day.

We met briefly before the work started just to thank God and to bring Him praise. It is all His doing that we even got the building, so we never want to forget how or why we're there. At the end of our meeting everyone was dispersed to their assignments. It looked like someone had just hit an ant hill with a lawn mower; a sea of red flowing out in every direction. It was awesome!

Aside from cleaning, we also got to meet some of the people in our neighborhood: a woman who wanted to pay her tithe to us because she watches Pastor Dino every week to television; someone who desperately needed clothes to wear from our new boutique; a woman who has prostituted herself for the past twenty years and wanted prayer. These are our neighbors. What a privilege!

I love that God has entrusted these precious souls to us. What an honor to be able to serve them, to pray for them and to direct them to Him. Father, let us do it well, in Jesus' name.

Getting Closer

2007-10-18T23:26:00.001-05:00

It's closing in on midnight and I'm still here at my computer. I've been working on a few (seemingly hundred) last minute details for our big clean-up day at BRDC Winbourne. It absolutely blows my mind the way God works. I know that the Word says His thoughts are higher than my thoughts, but He put this one out of the park!

I was walking through Winbourne again today, simply amazed at the facility. I don't know who built it or for what purpose, but it seems like it was designed specifically for HPC. Every single detail points to us using it to reach our city. From the office space to the barber chair, God thought of everything.

I was unloading a truck as a group of high school students walked right past our door. I overheard the receptionist tell Miss Alliece that 35 of the 40 members of their church are widows. We are surrounded by lost, hurting and dying people...exactly where we want to be!

I love that we get to be a part of reaching God's favorite people. I love that Jesus left His throne in heaven to come down for me and you; to give us a way to get back home. I desperately needed help and He was there. How cool is it that we now get to be the signpost for others, to point them in the direction that leads to hope and freedom?

Oh Father, in Jesus' name let us always only point to You. All glory to God!

Official Invite

2007-10-16T21:22:00.000-05:00

I want to officially invite everyone to come to our clean-up day on Saturday Oct 20th at Winbourne Baptist Church. We are launching our fourth Dream Center (yep, 4th...1,2,3,4. Can you even believe it?!?) and on Saturday at 8am we're getting the place ready.

I know what you're thinking: spending a Saturday cleaning up a huge church doesn't sound like a lot of fun. Who wants to spend their day off hauling furniture, cutting grass and mopping floors? Well, here's the deal: we're hauling furniture to set up the room where we'll have bible studies, after-school programs and homeless outreach. We're cutting grass so that the kids that will frequent our Dream Center have a safe environment in which to learn and play. We're mopping floors so that when the people in the community come to see us they feel respected, loved and valued.

It's never about floors; it's always about souls. It's about being a good steward of the things God has entrusted to us. We want to please Him and we want Him to give us more. Understand though, we don't want more buildings for the sake of buildings; it goes back to souls. More buildings means more work, but also more lives touched. We have an opportunity this Saturday to sow into the lives of hundreds of people living in north Baton Rouge. They need to see the love of Christ and they need to know we care.

That being said, y'all are officially invited to come out Saturday morning and make a difference in someone's life. Bring your vacuum or your weed-whacker or both. Bring your spouse, your kids or a date. (Hint: Chicks dig guys who volunteer. Seriously, I'm not just saying that to make you come.)

Saturday 8am corner of Winbourne and Foster. See you there!

One step

2007-10-15T09:25:00.000-05:00

I can't shake a line from Pastor Dino's sermon this weekend. He said, 'Faith is one step'. He was talking about Peter stepping out of the boat to walk towards Jesus on the water, but he was also talking about you and I. He was talking about us taking that one step towards whatever it is that God has called us to. For some He's calling for us to get plugged in; to find our place in His house. For others He's calling us to a deeper level of commitment. Maybe He's calling us to to take that step that throws us headlong into completing abandoning our plans, to make His plan our only priority in life. What's your one step?

I thought about Pastor DeLynn too. At HPC Women events I've heard her say, more than once, that she was afraid no one would come to her meeting. In ten days she will be hosting the Live the Dream Conference where 1200 women will show up to experience God's love. That's a big step. I love that our pastors are willing to take those big steps... to host a first-ever women's conference, to build a facility in the middle of a construction-crisis, to open a fourth Dream Center simply because people are hungry. That's what I want to do. I want to be like Peter and Pastors Dino and DeLynn. I want to stand at the foot of the mountain and tell it how big my God is. I want to jump over the side of the boat, even when I'm the only one going, simply because Jesus told me to come.

One step. Am I willing?

Did you wonder where I went?

2007-10-09T22:29:00.000-05:00

I haven't posted in over a month, but not due to lack of stories. Quite the contrary, I've been too busy (and overwhelmed) to write. Here's the nutshell version:

- My book officially launches next week and I've been working out the kinks with my publisher. Please pray that the release goes well.
- I did a quick trip to Florida to see my Dad and step-mom. His health is failing and the doctors have provided all the care they can. I think he's going home soon. It will be a blessing for him, but it's difficult for the rest of us.
- Servolution was a slammin' success. Click on the serve blog link (look to the right) to see what we did with the 500+ volunteers that showed up to change the city.
- Ladies Thrive continues to grow and the last Men's BBQ had over 60 guys there. God is doing wild things downtown...come check it out!
- We're working on some new programs that we're going to run through the Dream Center (after-school program and outreaches to street youth) so we're neck-deep in planning all that. If your heart beats for lost kids, you'll want to get involved in this.
- The Live the Dream conference is fast approaching. Sorry guys, it's just for the ladies and it's gonna be kickin!

I'm not sure what else has been going on, but that will give you a glimpse into my life. Thanks for visiting with me... I'll try to be back soon. All glory to God!

two very small copper coins

2007-09-08T22:21:00.000-05:00

In Luke 21 Jesus is watching the people putting their gifts into the temple treasury (and yes, He's still watching so don't be skimming from yo tithes and offerings!). In verse 2 He sees a widow putting in 'two very small copper coins'. Jesus tells His disciples "this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on". I was thinking about this story on Friday morning.

As many of you know, we do a women's support group every Friday at the Baton Rouge Dream Center called 'Ladies Thrive'. We usually have somewhere between 25-40 women from the community come to hear a bible teaching and then have small-group discussion and prayer. Afterwards we share a meal and send them home with groceries. If I had to guess I would say probably 90% or more are living below the poverty line; many with disabilities, many elderly and all in harsh situations. That's part of what made Friday so special.

A few of the ladies got together because they wanted to bless the BRDC volunteers for giving our time every week to help them. The picture above is the gift basket they presented to me as a thank you for helping out. The moment I received the basket I thought about the widow's 'two very small copper coins'. These women did not give out of their abundance...they gave out of their poverty. I don't even want to think about what they will do without this week so that they could offer me a gift of gratitude. It's precious and so very humbling.

I know that my God noticed it...He always notices gifts given without strings. I believe sacrificial giving makes Him smile. And I believe He will pour out a blessing on these ladies that they can't contain. I hope I'm there to see it.

I love HPC. I love our pastors and I love inner-city outreach. Can you even believe that I get to do this every week?!?! Thank You Father...all glory to You!

Live for God or shut up.

2007-09-04T14:35:00.000-05:00

I'm a bad blogger. I get busy with everything that's going on and forget to write it down. Here's what stuck with me:

Elevate (internship program at HPC) has started up again for their Fall semester. We've been blessed by getting to work with several of their students, some first-year and some second. These young people are laying down their lives for the cause of Jesus. They spend their time between classes, assignments, work, prayer and serving in various capacities with the church. The crew that we have are fantastic; great attitudes, hard working and dedicated. I'm sure you'll hear more about them in future posts.

Wednesday afternoon we went into the community to do Widow's Outreach. We got to visit with some incredible people and share their lives. Miss Agnes wasn't home. Miss Agnes is always home, so when she didn't answer the door we went to ask the neighbor if she was okay. As it turns out she was in hospital. We promptly loaded up the van and headed to Baton Rouge General to find Miss Agnes. She's a very special lady whom I've had the privilege of getting to know a little bit over the past several months. She's 91 years old and was a preacher for 32 years. She always has a sermon ready and it's always a word for the moment. Wednesday afternoon was no different. As she was propped up in her chair, breathing oxygen through a tube, I asked her what she wanted to say to our Elevate interns. She looked directly at them and said, "Live for God or shut up. If you're not going to live right than don't you even be talkin bout Him."

Talk about a word that will preach.

That has stuck with me all week. Through Ladies Thrive on Friday, street outreach on Saturday and Pastor Dino's weeekend message. Live for God or shut up. A strong word from an awesome lady.

All glory to God!