OBEY Conference 2013

What a blessing it was to be in San Antonio again for the 12th annual OBEY Conference. My brother in the Lord Josh Tapia began this Youth Conference 12 years ago. I have been able to attend and support the OBEY Conference each of these twelve years. What a blessing it is to see lives touched and changed for the Lord at this conference.

This year there was over 425 youth and adults in attendance to hear Gods Word proclaimed and to lift up Jesus Christ. The young people were challenged to be set apart and to stand out for the cause of Jesus Christ and to go and impact their community with the Good News. Looking forward to OBEY Conference 2014. God bless you Josh and your ministry to the young people.

Celebrating my mom

This weekend will be my moms birthday. We will be going to see her and share in this special day with her.

I would like to take this time to say that I thank God for my mom. She has been a solid foundation for me in my life. From giving me birth in the emegency room when her life was in the balance to caring for me through the different challenges that I have had in my life.

My mom (and dad as well) has been a wonderful blessing to me spiritually. From the time she gave her life to Jesus Christ she has been a true follower of His. She encourages me and prays for me often and is a blessing to my wife and our kids.

Mom just want to say Happy Birthday and that I love you and I am blessed in having you as my mom.

Amazed and Impressed

I was recently invited to watch one of our churches 3rd graders take his test for his next martial arts belt. Jonah had not been in martial arts that long so I didn't know what to expect. He took his test with two other boys who were in his class but who had been in martial arts much longer than Jonah.

For 45 minutes Jonah and his classmates went through their test together. Jonah showed himself to be very impressive as he did his test without flaw. Jonah was able to finish the test and had done so well that his instructor gave him the next belt by passing the belt he was testing for.

Sometimes as Christians we limit ourselves in what we can accomplish because we are young in our faith or are not as well veresed in Biblical matters. But with faith in the Lord and with deligent work we can find ourselves impacting our peoples lives far more than we expect.

Jonah reminded me that hard and consistant work can accomplish much. God will take our abilities and availabilities and will do much with it.

GO M.A.D.

We are starting a new sermon series through the book of Acts starting May 1st. This years theme has been "Making a difference". What we will see in the book of Acts is how the New Testament believers made a spiritual and physical difference in the lives of the people they made contact with.

What we will also take a look at is how we can practically make a difference where we live and around the world. We are here not for ourselves but for the Lord and for those that God wants us to reach.

What an Easter event

What a day we enjoyed at Langford Elementary on Saturday April 23rd for our Community Egg Hunt and Picnic. We saw some 300 plus from our neighborhood enjoy a time of games, food, crafts and of course the Easter story.

The kids loved running around and picking up the 4,000 eggs we layed out for them and our church people enjoyed being with everyone that showed up. God moved in our event and we saw some 13 people give their lives to Christ (PTL).

We are looking forward to next years and looking to see how we can make it better for everyone.

Spring has sprung and so has God's love

What a great start to our spring season. We have seen plenty of rain and nice weather.

It has been wonderful to see new life in our new church this year. God has been moving in the lives of those that we have come in contact with. There has been a new season in our fellowship.

We have been praying for God to move in our hearts and in our lives. The dormant season of winter is behind us with new life before us.

This new life is showing up in peoples lives like never before. I believe it is because we have strived to be faithful to God's command to share the Good News of Jesus Christ all of the time. People have responded and as such lives are being changed and placed into the family of God.

Our lives may not always be what they need to be before God. But Gods love is not based on how we are today but in who He is.

Each Sunday we have seen how Gods love is being felt and experienced in our church. People who were content in being shy with their faith are now opening up and telling others about Jesus. They have recognized how much God loves them and how much He loves those they know.

God's love has moved and touched the lives of the young and old in our church. People are waking up to their need of Jesus Christ in their lives and His love for them is real and awesome.

What I and each member of my church need to remember is who we are in Christ - New Creations and what we are in Christ - His Ambassador. By being faithful to this fact, we will continue to see Gods love move in our lives and in the lives of others.

Made alike but yet so different

This week I have been enjoying a week off. Though it wasn't what I thought I would be doing during some down time it still has been a good week.

In the book of Genesis it tells us how God created all of humanity in His likeness. It says that He made "both male and female." As God's creation we have been so alike in a very special way but we have been made so different in every other way.

This week has been evidence of that difference in a man and a woman.

A week off for any man would be visions of the lake, camping, fishing, or taking a ride in the hill country on your bike. But this week has not been like that for me. I have been remodeling our home working day and night on the porch, painting, staining, dry walling and much more.

I will need another week off just to recover from my vacation time.

I love my wife very much and did agree to do this remodel with her on our home. The difference in us is that she finds this to be fun. Picking paint colors, curtains colors, rearranging the cabinets and so forth. We have gotten a lot accomplished together, things that needed done a long time ago.

But really do we need to do it on my vacation time?

My wife would say "Yes" because that is when we will not have any distractions with work or anything else. Isn't the meaning of vacation: no work? Laying around doing nothing and watching the NCAA Basketball tournament is my style of vacation.

I will say that even though I would have rather done something else I enjoyed my time with my wife and that is what is most important.