Me Worship

We all know some of these folks!

Storefront Update

They are now floating the walls and will texture tomorrow afternoon!
I thought I would show you a few pictures of the progress.
The door in the upper right hand corner of the back wall opens into our storage area. We removed the stairs (they took up too much room) and will use a ladder to access it.

We were able to remove half of the old sign and will get the other half down soon!

Below is the foyer area and where we will have our Youth Sunday School Class.
It will be nice to have a reception area instead of walking directly into the Sanctuary.

The church pictured below is across the street from our new location.
Hill Country Bible Church has 50 acres of land and great financial backing,
but they do not believe that speaking in tongues or healing services
are a part of corporate worship- they lack the REAL power!

Over 30!

Our attendance today was 31 - with 11 regulars not there! We were so excited to break 30!

A former fellow Sunday School Director from Nebraska, who I met at General Conference, just moved here and will be attending our church. His mom and dad live in Pflugerville. He was full-time for the last year at the church where they just came from. They even started a new work by themselves before helping at their last location, so they are experienced. They were all in service with us today and joined us at the mother church tonight! I knew it was a possibility for them moving here, but he shocked me by showing up at our new storefront Thursday unannounced! He said, "We're here and I am ready to help." He found out where our new location is from a bulletin that I sent to his parents this week. (I have been contacting them to get them to come to church.) Needless to say, I was very glad to see him.

Another couple joined us for the second time. They are really sweet. I visited the ladies mother in the hospital earlier in the week and found out that she knew my grandfather when he would visit Bro. Hosch's church in Dallas - many years ago!

Thanks to Dad and Mom for spending the week with us working on the new place. They really were a blessing.

I received a call earlier in the week from someone who has visited our church several times on Wednesdays. He had a friend who had some questions and he wanted me to come by his house and help this friend out. So, I joined them and spent about two hours explaining how you can know you are saved. He has never been able to really read the Bible because of dyslexia, so I told him about the audio Bible that is available online. He got excited that he wouldn't have to read and get confused. He wanted some Scriptures that he could look up and listen to. So I left him with an "Into His Marvelous Light" study guide. I also offered to teach him a Bible Study and he was very interested. God has been definitely dealing with him. Another open door....

Growing. Thank you Jesus!

The Work has Begun!!

Last night we had our first worknight. We are excited to get the new church ready and get moved in. One of the main advantages to the new place is the ability to have Sunday School classes - can't wait to get that rolling.

The main thing that happened last night was buffing the floor. There were several places that were quite marked up, but they cleaned up pretty good. It looks a whole lot better!! Gene and Dad have spent the past three days getting supplies, building some walls, putting up sheetrock, etc.

We are looking forward to what God has in store for this new location. The ceilings are tall so it actually feels like a church and not just a little room somewhere. No one will have to feel like they're going to hit their head on the ceiling if they decide to leap for joy!

I've included some pictures. Enjoy!!

Happy Anniversary, My Dear!

Karla and I had a wonderful anniversary weekend! I took her to the Gaither Homecoming on Friday night here in Austin and yesterday we enjoyed being together with the young people from our church. Today, our actual anniversary, our church presented us with a card and gift certificate to Pappadeaux! They are so sweet. Sis. McClain presented it after her husband got through with the Sunday School lesson. We received several cards from members of the Bernard's church and all kinds of people came by and told us Happy Anniversary at church tonight! It was neat. Karla had her first choir practice this afternoon with over 50 members. In the past few months there has only been 20 or so singing in the choir! They were all so excited. Tonight, after service, we enjoyed the company of Rodney and Stacey Shaw, Jarrid and Kendra Younkin and all the kids! We laughed a lot! What a great anniversary weekend! We didn't get to take a trip alone like we have so often in the past - but this weekend was full of the things both of us love so much. Singing, church people, food and choir! It doesn't get much better than that!

18 years of wonderful times! Karla has truly brought joy into my life and I thank God for her. We are best friends. There is no one I would rather spend time with. So at the close of this great day— Happy Anniversary, my dear. I love you.

Proud Parents

Cameron received his current high school transcript this week and found out that he is ranked 8th out of 396 students in his class! I'm afraid I was too shocked when he told me because we have always told our boys that they should do their best, but not to stress out over being perfect. If we knew they could be doing better, we would push them - but otherwise, we would just let them enjoy life! Church is our life. Our family is our life. We tend to take most of the days that they are allowed to miss for family time. I know that the educators don't like this, but I think it is because their funding is tied to attendance! We are very proud parents. This really is an answer to our prayers when moving here. We asked God to help them adjust and continue to do well— and He did. Cameron just got home today from doing community service at the Austin Food Bank with two church friends. He has two more Saturday's to complete his assignment for Pre-AP English.


I have to also mention that Chad is doing very well - all A's in Middle School. We went to an "awards assembly" last week where he was one of the kids given an award for having straight A's on his report card. Also, he invited a friend, Omar, to service with a church card a few days ago. He came home yesterday excited because the boy told him that when he gave it to his mom, she said that they would come this Sunday! We will be looking for them. He has made numerous friends and doesn't mind talking about church.

It is OK to brag a little about our kids along the way, isn't it? I hope you don't mind.

New location now official…

Today we signed the contract and paid the deposit to move into a new storefront. I have included this map so you can tell where I am talking about. The "OLD" location is where we are now. The "NEW" location is the new storefront and the rectangle labelled "Land" is where the piece of land is located that is in contract right now.

Our new location is 1650 square feet which is more than double our 800 square feet location now. We will be able to have a Children's Sunday School class, a Youth class and an Adult class all going on at the same time. One of the features that our church members are most excited about is that the bathroom will no longer be behind the pulpit area! In our current location, you have to march yourself right past the pulpit to take a bathroom break!! It has cut down on people taking these breaks during church.

We will have to do some sheetrock, texturing, paint and air conditioning. It will probably take us a few weeks to get it ready. The A/C that we install here will be transferred to our new building, so we are not losing that investment. We were able to get February and March rent free to do the remodel. The ceiling in the Sanctuary area is 23' at the peak, so the A/C and all will be exposed and the whole ceiling painted black. We should start cleaning it out next week. The church is SO excited!! It is wheelchair accessible and SOOOO much newer than where we are now. We will have parking right in front of our unit and also at the back entrance. We will also have over 500 square feet of storage upstairs. So, really, it is over 2000 square feet.

We want to add a projector unit and Bro. Todd Shahan has offered to find us a computer to use. "Thanks, Todd!" We will also have to purchase new chairs since we only have about 30 besides our pews. I don't think we will use the two pews that we have. If you know of someone who has some nice chairs available at a low cost, let us know at gholleyjr@aol.com! We really need 75 or so.

I will post pictures as we go along. I will get the keys tomorrow or Monday. Right now, you have to look at the place through the eyes of faith! I told my wife before I took her in to show her around, "You have to trust me! We can make this place look nice." She caught a glimpse of it! After living with her Dad through building numerous churches and remodels; as well as us building several homes, she is now able to see past the ugliness to the final project. Sometimes she just says, "I'll have to trust you on that one!"

Beer and the Bible

I ran across this article today and thought it quite interesting. In trying to attract the non-churched to be exposed to the Gospel, some have stepped beyond what is considered moderate even in our world's standards. I could not believe the lengths that this church has gone to attract new people to their doors. They have gone to handing out beer…

Every month dozens show up at the brewpub to drink beer and talk about issues ranging from racism in St. Louis to modern art controversies to the debate about embryonic stem cell research. First-timers are invited to check out the church on Sunday, and Journey leaders say many have. Theology at the Bottleworks is just one of The Journey's ministries, but it has helped the church grow from 30 members in late 2002 to 1,300 today. ----more

The real Gospel still works for those who are really ready to make a change in their life. If we are just trying to attract a crowd, then I suppose handing out beer would be as good a game plan as any!? But we were not called to attract a crowd. We were called to bring people to a place called Calvary where they can find liberation from the addicting substances of this world. If we are feeding them more of what has them bound, we are sending the wrong message. God is still in the business of deliverance through repentance, baptism in the name of Jesus and the infilling of the Holy Spirit. I am thankful for the TRUE message that doesn't have to be peddled through secular means, it comes on the wings of love.

Happenin's

Let me first say that I am so excited to hear all the great reports from Life Tabernacle, our home church, and all the churches that we are associated with! It just seems that there is a special move of God sweeping across the land. The miraculous conversion in Wichita Falls and many souls being touched. Keith and Carla's report from today was incredible!! I talked with Kenny Prince on Friday night and God has just really opened up the doors for them to get started in a great way. (I'll let them blog about it....hint!) Jonathan and Brenda having 2 get the Holy Ghost a couple weeks ago. Doug and Lori's new daughterwork starting off with a bang. Some friends of ours here in Austin, Melvin and Lisa Reddy, started services last week in Cedar Park with 18 first-time guests. Don and Charity Ryan in Minerva, Ohio have had some great reports recently. I get so much excitement from hearing these reports. God is so good.

Today was another great time in the presence of the Lord. We had 28 in service, with 3 first-time guests. One was a neighbor of the McClain family. Jake Robertson and I knocked on the McClain's door on our very first outreach Saturday. Their whole family of five are now attending and brought a guest today. She said that she was very touched by God speaking to her directly. The other two guests were friends of the Sharp's, the older couple who started coming in December. They are also an older couple and they said they would be back Wednesday. Many of the saints were refilled with His Spirit today. The worship was so loud! It was great. We enjoyed eating lunch with Kim Dutton's sister and family (John, Mikki, Gavin and Katie Adams) today after service. God is so good.

Our land deal is progressing. It looks like that we will have 3.9 acres free and clear before long on Pfennig Lane (LOL- you gotta love it!) Pray that everything works as planned. God is so good.

We have a new storefront in the works. We should know for sure this week. It is double the size we have now. Hopefully that will carry us for the year until we can have our new building. I'll share more when we have something definite. We are very excited! God is so good.

I can't wait to see what God is going to do next. We are truly on The Great Adventure.

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FYI, we are taking on more jobs:

• Karla is now the Choir Director for the Bernard's church. It was official today. The current Music Director stepped down and Sis. Bernard took over the department. It is an interim position for this year. They are looking to add a full-time music director in the future. They had a music meeting today and signed up a bunch of new members to grow the choir. They only sing on Sunday night, so that will fit our schedule. She will have practice two Thursdays a month and two Sunday afternoons. She will do good. I realize I am a little biased! It will keep her current with songs and give her a place to use her choir skills. We don't quite have a choir YET!!

• I was voted in as the Austin Hill Country Section Home Missions Director at my first Sectional Conference here. I was told that there would not be a lot to do unless there was a Church-In-A-Day in our section. Then later I found out that the next three CIAD projects are planned for our section!!!! It will be interesting. Greg Steele of Johnson City is the South Texas Home Missions Director.

WOW now?

I was reading a favorite blog of mine by Seth Godin, a marketing guru, and came across the above picture from an article in The New York Times.

This article is written about the unveiling of Microsoft's new operating system, Vista. It has been a long time coming and has has many setbacks. It was expected to be released some time ago. Nonetheless, it is out! The marketers have created a curiosity in the computer world. “Will I like it? Will it make my life easier? Will it crash? How much will it cost?”

There are all kinds of ways to build excitement in marketing and Microsoft has the resources to create a massive splash across America. In fact, if you look at the article mentioned above, you will also see a picture of acrobats hanging off the side of a building in Manhattan to unveil Vista. WOW! The words on the presentation screen in the picture above state: “The Wow starts now.”

Seth's words were: “Not one smile in the bunch, never mind ebullience, mania or even pleasant anticipation. Just because a marketer says something is amazing, exciting or just plain wow doesn't mean it is.”

His comment struck a chord in my spirit. Take a look at the guys in the photo. They are from left, Kevin B. Rollins of Dell, Sean Maloney of Intel, Steven A. Ballmer of Microsoft, Hisatsugu Nonaka of Toshiba, Hector Ruiz of Advanced Micro Devices and Todd Bradley of Hewlett-Packard. These guys are the ones who are there to share the good news!

While the marketers are dangling people in mid-air to create excitement, the guys who really know what this is all about cannot muster a smile or at least a look of anticipation? I understand that they are not actors, but they shouldn't have to put on an act if this product is really supposed to give new life to machines across America and to their businesses! It should show. It makes you wonder if Vista is all that the marketers are saying that it is.

As the ones who have experienced God and His good news of a new life for us, we should never forget that we cannot lose the excitement of His presence. What do we look like when we stand before people to express our praise and worship to the King of Kings? Do they leave asking the question, “What's the big deal?” No, we are not actors, but we shouldn't have to be. When we really think of the life-changing “product” that we have in our midst, it will show in our enthusiasm. (This thought was also mentioned in Ronda's blog a couple of days ago about musicians and singers.)

While we are marketing our churches and promoting the ministries that we offer, we must remember that our expressions at church must mirror the promotion. When our flyer says “Exciting praise and worship,” we must make sure that we are excited about our God in each service. When we promote “Dynamic preaching,” we must make sure that our preaching is more than a warmed-over, lack-luster sermon. We must practice what we promote!

The great thing is that we can accurately describe the moving of the Spirit as awesome and it WILL be if we cultivate it! God always comes through. We are not promoting something that doesn’t produce. This new life experience is real! Let there be no question in the minds of the lost that we believe in it. Let us not lose the “Wow” as we share the good news.