Congratulations to Coach Vic Rimmer and his Lady Saints basketball team for having a 33-1 record this season and earning the right to be playing tonight for the State Championship. We are so proud of this team. They are playing for it all tonight in Hot Springs, Arkansas, at 7:00 p.m. You can listen to the game on the radio on 105.3 FM if you are not able to go. Pray for these girls and for Coach Rimmer. They have knocked on the door the last two years, but tonight I believe we will go through the door that will lead to a state championship, our first in girls basketball.

Life continues to full and exciting. We have had some fabulous days, even this week. On Tuesday night at Pinnacle Hills, we had a great Dinner with the Pastor meeting with 95 guests and 43 of them making decisions for Christ to come into our fellowship. Praise the Lord! God is moving.

See you on Sunday: I am speaking on, “Facing the Future Without Fear.”

Yesterday was another full day. It all started just after 3:00 a.m. with personal devotion, followed by study and preparation with a brief break for a quick breakfast, and then back to the grind of study.  Following that, I ran for 30 minutes outside and it was a very windy morning.  Upon return, it was back to my office to go through emails and final preparations for the rest of the busy day.

I then had lunch with Shawn Smith and Chuck Butler, our two Student Pastors at our Springdale Campus. Following that time, I drove to Pinnacle Hills for a creative worship meeting, followed by appointments, quick huddle meetings with staff members, then to the hospital for a visit, and back to Pinnacle Hills for a special Dinner with the Pastor for an estimated 125 guests of our church. At this gathering, I tell them about myself, our family, and our church.  We are open and honest with them so they will know if they have a desire to unite with us.  Without question, we present the gospel and every time several people come to Christ.  At that setting, they can join our fellowship.

Now it is Tuesday night just before 9:00 a.m.  I just got home and am taking time to write about the experiences of this day for you.

Jeana did a fabulous job on her interviews with Dr. James Dobson’s Focus on the Family.  Wednesday is her last broadcast, so pray for its success.  I am proud of her.

Have a great Wednesday.

Anywhere you can receive Focus on the Family this week on Monday-Wednesday, you can hear my wife, Jeana. She was recently interviewed as a part of a panel of men and women. Dr. James Dobson conducted the interviews. I look forward to hearing the interviews myself. Spread the word. This is a huge opportunity for the Lord, Jeana, and even our church.

You can listen online by following this link.

Seven months ago, I wrote our Ministry Team an email and told them I felt that God wanted to begin a movement in NWA and the men in our church. I had no idea what God was going to do, but how the world has changed since September ’08.  I believe the movement was about my life; yes, God had to move me first before I could lead. To lead, I had to listen and to listen, I had to humble myself.

Today as you read this, I am humbled; humbled how God has moved us, how God has changed our priorities, changed our focus, and changed our lives. My great responsibility is my time with God daily.  I have prayed over the men’s registration list since the conference, and my prayer for you is this- that the men’s conference is the beginning for you to have a more in intimate relationship with God.

There are many men’s ministries in our church to support you in your journey with God. The Men’s Conference has another important meaning for me. As the Men’s Conference was wrapping up Friday night, I left the conference around 9pm and drove to Willow Creek Women’s Hospital where my grandson was born at 12:02 a.m. I will always remember that my grandson was born on the day that over 1000 men gathered.

God is moving and preparing us to influence the next generation.

We will be communicating with you soon the 2010 dates for the Men’s Conference.

Thank you Jesus!

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not My ways. [This is] the LORD’s declaration.” (Isaiah 55:8, HCSB)

There are times in our lives when we experience the unimaginable…divine interventions, undeserved favor or perhaps unconditional love for a wayward child…ONE SUCH UNIMAGINABLE experience took place this past weekend when over a thousand men gathered to seek the face of God.

God has a unique way of moving in unimaginable ways and poured out His presence on men both young and old. This is what a few men had to say about this weekend.

• “This conference had impact.  I appreciated the bluntness in respect to men taking accountability and standing up.  Rock on, and let’s take this to the next level.”  John

• “This weekend challenged men to become fearless in these days that we are living.  This was truly a powerful movement of God in my life as a believer.”  Jeff

• “I have never experienced the closeness of Christ until that night.  I want to be a fearless man for my family, and I was ready to become a fearless man for Christ.  I want to live a fearless life.”    Mike (accepted Christ during conference)

Many times our lives are characterized by a lack of faith and often demonstrated by our actions and decision making. This is often true for the church as we try to rationalize a much smaller plan than God actually has in store for us. Consider if you will, the Men’s Conference, when hundreds of men waited until the last week to finally give in to the tug of God on their life. Yes, we all delay (I think it is a genetic challenge for men) but when we finally give into our own desires and recognize that “God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, and our ways are not His ways,” we are radically changed.

This weekend, we saw several men walk up on stage UNASHAMED and proclaim I WANT JESUS in my life. Another prayed, HEAL MY MARRIAGE; while yet another CLAIMED VICTORY OVER ADDICTION. For every thought and action seen, there were hundreds of silent prayers asking God to radically change and transform their lives.

We live in unimaginable economic times.
We live in unimaginable moral times.
We live in unimaginable ethical times.

We serve an unimaginable God who has conquered the sins of the world.

His thoughts are not our thoughts.
His ways are not our ways.

Hallelujah, What a Savior!!

“See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.” - Isaiah 49:16

Forsaken … some may think God has forsaken our country or our region. Some live with hopelessness, anxiety, and fear. Some think that men have forsaken their role as a fully-devoted follower of Jesus Christ. However, this past weekend at our Men’s Conference, our men left with a renewed sense to live “fearless” for God, to live with hope.

As I gazed across the worship center on Friday night, I saw 6th grade boys … I saw college students … I saw men in their 40s and men in their 70s. All of these men were engaged in what the Lord was doing all around them. These men were worshipping together. It was a beautiful sight.  These men responded to what God was doing in their life, and I praised God that He was rising up men of many generations to be “fearless” for God.

As I spoke to men who attended the conference, there were many great comments about the past weekend. Kevin Cortez, a young married adult shepherd, said he loved the fact that the conference was not geared toward self-help philosophies, but it was geared toward every man getting right before God.  I had the privilege to bring my 12-year-old son, Chandler, to the conference. He told me the thing he liked the most was despite the vast range of men there, 12 years old to 70 plus, every person there got something out of the weekend; it was good for everybody. Nick Tyler, who attends the Springdale campus, told me that it was two days of powerful worship and engaging speakers that armed him to live “fearless” at home and in the work place. He also said it was great to be able to have his boys, David (15) & Drew (12) with him at the conference to experience worship with other men.

In Isaiah 49, part of the wonder is concentrated in the word “See,” referring to the unbelieving lamentation of the preceding sentence. Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.” How amazed the divine mind seems to be at this wicked unbelief!  What can be more astounding than the unfounded doubts and fears of God’s favored people? The Lord’s loving word of rebuke should make us blush; He cries, “How can I have forgotten you, when I have engraved you on the palms of My hands? How dare you doubt my constant remembrance, when the memorial is set upon My very flesh?” O unbelief, how strange a marvel you are! We do not know which to wonder at most, the faithfulness of God or the unbelief of His people. He keeps His promise a thousand times, and yet the next trial makes us doubt Him. He never fails; He is never a dry well; He is never as a setting sun, a passing meteor, or a melting vapor; and yet we are as continually vexed with anxieties, molested with suspicions, and disturbed with fears, as if our God were the mirage of the desert. “See,” is a word intended to excite admiration. Here, indeed, we have a theme for marveling. Heaven and earth may well be astonished that rebels should obtain so great a nearness to the heart of infinite love as to be written upon the palms of His hands. “I have engraved you.”  It does not say, “your name.” The name is there, but that is not all:  “I have engraved you.”  See the fullness of this! I have engraved your person, your image, your situation, your circumstances, your sins, your temptations, your weaknesses, your wants, your works; I have engraved you, everything about you, all that concerns you; I have put you altogether there.

As we experienced all the LORD had for us this past weekend, the key thought that I took home was this … God has engraved me on the palm of His hand.

Will you ever say again that your God has forsaken you when He has engraved you upon His own palms?

This past weekend, 1,071 men met together for our 2009 Men’s Conference. I think it’s a natural thing for all of us to ask when coming off such a huge weekend…what could God do with 1,000 men? I think it’s a rather simple answer. Look what He did with 12 men. With 12, Jesus spread the message of hope to the world. With 12, He met the tangible needs of the community. With 12, He started churches. With 12, He taught the faith. With 12, He changed the world. What could God do with 89 times as many men! If these 1,071 men sell out completely to live out the principles we learned this weekend; our community, state, nation, and world will be different.

When I reflect on the weekend, the word change comes to mind. That’s been the buzzword for the past few months. During the election, President Obama and Senator McCain both promised change for America. I know the President, Senate, and Congress are a group of powerful men and women, but they hold nothing compared to 1,071 of God’s men ready to see God’s kingdom expanded. As the number of men kept growing during the week and the anticipation along with it, I would have conversations with other men telling them, “This could change the future of the church.” I believe it can.

How could it change our church? When 1,071 men get on fire for God, 984 of them being a part of our church, there is the possibility for some God-sized things to happen. Imagine our church, being 130+ years old, setting the bar for being on the cutting edge of ministry. Imagine our church not being satisfied with past successes but pressing onward to reach more people. Imagine our church financially flourishing during this struggling economy. Imagine our church establishing a place of hope for the down and out. Imagine our church sending out believers to the ends of the earth with the Gospel. Imagine the change that 1,071 men could have. In the words of our new president, that’s change we can believe in.

What a miracle:  1,071 men present at Men’s Conference, and what an event! A mighty movement of God occurred this weekend as 99% of those men present were members of our church.  What a moment.  What a God event!  The Lord showed up, men came to Christ, and lives were impacted supernaturally.  Great, great things happened.

The pictures you will see today are just some highlights of our Men’s Conference. I hope you enjoy them. This week, I will share with you some of the great things that happened -  testimonies and experiences of the weekend.