After Jeana and I finished the marathon of services on Saturday and Sunday, we had our children and grandchildren over to our home, as well as Kate’s parents and grandparents. We had a delightful time, even though we did not get to sit down and eat lunch until 1:30.  We enjoyed everyone, and Jeana and the other ladies did a super job cooking.  We had an amazing schedule over the past few days, but Jeana was over the top!

Hey, this is just a picture gallery of our Easter Sunday – thought you might enjoy. As you can see from our pictures, Parker, our youngest, was sick as he had fever and a horrible cough.

What a great Easter weekend, but oh, what a driving rainstorm we had on Sunday morning for a couple of hours, and yes, right in time for church. After a light rain all morning, we had a downpour from 9:00 a.m. until after the service at noon.  Traffic was a nightmare due to weather, but thousands still came to both campuses.

The greatest thing about this past weekend is the lives that were changed. The gospel was communicated through music, drama, and message.  Many responded to Christ and others joined our church.  We are most grateful.

Our worship ministries did a superb job leading us in THREE DAYS. Thank God for leadership exhibited by Kim Noblitt and Josh Stanbery.  We are blessed to have these two men.

Pray for follow-up this week. The logistics on both campuses leading up to Easter, making Easter happen, and following-up after Easter are demanding.  To the rest of our team, I am most grateful.  Without them, Easter weekend would not be possible.

You can watch the services online, so let them bless you.

Yes, Sunday’s coming! We call it Easter Weekend because we do services on both Saturday and Sunday.  My friends, we have six opportunities for you to engage in a celebration of Resurrection Sunday.  Surely you can find one service to be a part of and for many of you, even consider serving in another service in some capacity.

Sunday’s coming with THE DAY OF TRIUMPH, yes, the 3rd day of THREE DAYS. I am so blessed by the great work of both of our worship ministries under the leadership of Josh and Kim.  Their staff teams, along with all the volunteers, have made these THREE DAYS very special in every way.  1,000 Thank Yous to all of you!

Sunday’s coming, and it will be even more special because of our Ministry Staff Team and all the volunteers who will insure logistics are covered in every way. Our hearts need to rejoice completely with all the folks who will be with us this weekend.  We need to welcome with a huge heart and a grand smile, reaching out with a personal touch that is genuine in every way.  Thanks to all of you.

Sunday’s coming, but will only be ALL it can be with INCREDIBLE, EXTRAORDINARY PRAYER occurring before it gets here. Join many who are praying individually, as well as groups that are praying on both of our campuses.  God is raising up a fresh, new, powerful, and personal revival to prayer.  This is so encouraging and blesses me greatly.

Sunday’s coming, and I cannot wait until it is here! See you at one of our services, and remember, invite people to meet you here!

Sunday’s coming, and we pray it will be a day of much life change. How wonderful this weekend will be when so many lives are changed forever.

Sunday’s coming, I will be here, and I pray you will be also.

The other day I really was blessed by reading a very special article about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It was so filled with great and deep theological truth, but yet written in a simple manner for anyone to understand.

Dr. Mark Coppenger’s article entitled, GOD THE SON–HIS VICTORIOUS RESURRECTION, was printed in SBC LIFE magazine. I want to urge you to take a few minutes to read it.  My friend, what a great way to close your devotion one morning before Easter.

Go to www.sbclife.org

Read it and be blessed.  Thanks, Dr. Coppenger, for a wonderful article.

A look back at yesterday gives a glimpse into my life. It all started early by rising around 3:05 a.m.  That first hour or so is committed to my personal devotion with God.  I read John 16-18 after my time of prayer, as well as Psalm 105 and Proverbs 24.  This morning I finished up the gospel of John – what a book!  I entered into study for upcoming speaking responsibilities.  I also reviewed a document asking for my assistance in writing one week of devotions in a devotional book that will come out for 2010.

After about four hours of study, I made my way to work out for the day and participated as well in an RPM (Spinning) Class. Jeana and I have done this a couple of days a week since January and have learned to enjoy “the feeling afterwards,” but the experience can be a real push on your physical training.  I returned to my home office and entered back into some final preparations for the day.  I then got ready for the day at the office both practically and physically, and then returned some phone calls on the way to the office.

Upon arrival and the completion of that phone call, I entered into a meeting with our Leadership Team. That meeting lasted two to three hours.  I then had a brief break, returned more phone calls, dealt with emails, and then entered another meeting with our school folks over some matters.  After the conclusion of this one-hour meeting, I met with my personal assistant, Anita, for a brief period of time, signed some letters and cards, returned some emails and a call or two, and then prepared to walk over to the other side of the campus and attend our annual banquet for all of our widows.

At the Banquet for our Widows, I gave a greeting and welcome, prayed, and then enjoyed the event. It was wonderful, as we had a very remarkable and engaging speaker. After arriving at home about 8:20 p.m., I ate a quick snack, went through more email and matters on twitter, then I prepared for bed.  I read the paper, watched the national championship game some, which had already lost its fire by the time I got home, so since I had dvr’d 24, I watched that to slow my day down some.  Therefore, I finally went to sleep around 10:30-10:45, knowing that North Carolina had continued in their journey to another championship.

After about 4-4 1/2 hours of sleep, I awakened and another day has begun.  All is well, I am blessed.  I look forward to another great day.

Praying for a phenomenal God-sized Easter weekend.

Our BIG week around here begins today. Everything we work on and do will be towards Easter Weekend.  Nothing is more important than this weekend.  Our ministry must be at our best in all areas of life and ministry.  This will take intentional focus by all of our staff and people.

A BIG invitation needs to be extended by us to ALL we see this week, everywhere we go. We do not need to be bashful or timid, but loving and bold in our desires for others to be with us on Easter weekend.  This BIG invitation also needs to be expressed in all of our ministries once thousands join us next weekend.  Our expression must be overflowing with friendliness, assistance, service, and a spirit of volunteerism that injects itself in every avenue of our ministry.  From parking lot assistance to greeters to workers in our preschool ministries, we must have our best foot forward in every way.  With six services, you could attend one and serve in one. Please consider this request.

E-vites are available on both of our websites at fbcs.net or churchph.com.  Consider inviting someone this week this way. Go through your phone and even invite a few people via text messaging or twitter. Dear friends, we must work hard and intentional to see all God wants us to see this next weekend.

Who will you invite to Easter weekend?

Day 2 of THREE DAYS is this Sunday.  It will be The Day of Sacrifice. My friends, Sunday will be terrific.  We have been praying, working, and preparing diligently.  Our music and dramatic presentation will be fabulous and I am praying God will use the message powerfully.  Additionally, we will observe the Lord’s Supper.

• Prepare yourself for Sunday.  How do you do that?
• Ask God to reveal any sin in  your life.
• Ask God to forgive and cleanse you of all sin.
• Insure your relationships are in order; if not, address them.
• Get up a little earlier on Sunday morning for the purpose of spending time in the Scripture and in personal prayer preparation.
• Ask the Holy Spirit to fill and control your life.
• Come expecting God to speak to your life.
• Respond to the Holy Spirit and what He is doing in your life.

WHO WILL YOU INVITE TO EASTER WEEKEND? That question is very important for us to answer.  People respond where a relationship exists.  Influence your relationships towards Jesus Christ and His church.  Influence them next weekend towards joining you in the service you attend and worship God.  Pray and invite people to Easter weekend.

I had an exhausting day yesterday.  It was all good, but exhausting. The great news is the Lord may be opening a door to advance His Kingdom across the world, all in an unprecedented way for our church.

See you on Day 2: The Day of Sacrifice.  It all happens . . . THIS Sunday.

For those of you who may be interested, in a matter of days we are going public on TWITTER. Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co-workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one question:  “What are you doing?”  Twitter is an opportunity for us to be hyper-connected.  My blog is my life “between Sundays,” and Twitter will be my “life between blogs.”

TWITTER will allow me to communicate, if desired, with you throughout the day. More details will be coming.  We are moving into our final launch strategy and will let you know soon.  We believe this will enable us to stay in touch with you regularly.  Twitter will permit me to inform you, inspire you, and encourage you throughout the day.  It may also provide a way for me to involve you more in the ministry and in my life.

So get ready, I want you to learn with me and grow with me.  More will come.

Have a great Wednesday.