10,000 Hits!

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He met needs...

Why did people follow Jesus? Why did they show up when He did? He met needs. I was reminded of this thought that I taught to our church last Wednesday, when I was reading Don Ryan's blog a few days ago. My mind has been stirring this around.

People did not come to a water well because the well was so beautiful, with special rocks laid just perfect. They came because they were thirsty and the well met the need. People gather around a fire, not to see the beautiful wood and how efficiently it burns— but because they need warmth.

Beautiful buildings, efficient services and well-laid plans are great! If you know me, you know that I definitely believe in having things looking and working right—but....the most important thing about a church service is Him. I am striving to make the simple sanctuary (actually ugly on the outside) where we hold service to look its best. We practice music, are training people to help a service flow smoothly and want to run things like we have a hundred more people than we do...because that time is coming. But if we do not have the moving of His Spirit, our times together do not meet the needs that are resident in each person's life. That is the purpose to which we are called—bringing the hurting to the One Who meets needs.

When our little congregation pulls together and worships God, the true living water begins to flow to thirsty souls and the fire of the Spirit starts bringing warmth to the cold hearts. Needs are met. We cannot meet the need and we cannot even know every need, but He does. It is so beautiful when He begins to move and you see someone begin to 'warm-up' to His touch. A tear streams down the face, a hand is raised in submission, and then He floods over them to fulfill the longing deep within. They are oblivious to what the place looks like where they are standing. They don't care what anyone else is doing or what the social status is of the people around them. They are getting their thirst met. They feel the warmth of His love deep within. They are changed.

Through the demonstration of the Spirit and power we will see growth because needs will be met. Paul told the Corinthians that he came to them weak, in fear and with no enticing words of man's wisdom. It was a demonstration of the Spirit and of power that made the difference.

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1 Corinthians 2:1-4
1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.
2 For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
3 And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.
4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:

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We already have all we need. His Spirit is within us. Just let Him move THROUGH you to someone else. I don't know how to meet their need, but a single touch from Him will do the work...thirst is quenched....the cold heart is melted.

Christmas Hospitality

Each year, we enjoy having friends and family come over during the Christmas season for special visits. It has often been the youth group or College/Career during the last 17 years of marriage! The smells of rich food, cider and Christmas candles fill the air. It is special. We spent some time this week getting our house in the Christmas mood! I always dread doing it, but it really makes the season special.

Although our life is quite different this year, we just couldn't let the season get past us without celebrating it with others. Our first Christmas gathering for 2006 was this past Saturday evening. Our guest list included:

Rodney and Stacey Shaw—
their son, Taylor & daughter, Brooke
(Associate Pastor, New Life UPC, Austin, Pastor Bernard)

Melvin and Lisa Reddy,
(starting a daughter-work church in Cedar Park, TX, Austin Metro)

Jarrid and Kendra Younkin and baby girl, Eliana. (starting a daughter-work church in Round Rock, TX, Austin Metro)

Neither one of the new daughter-works are having services yet, so the Younkin's have been helping us in our services.

Karla really prepared some great dishes! We enjoyed chili, cheese soup, cornbread, chocolate icebox pie, and grape salad. We had a great time laughing and sharing stories about our lives. We are all just getting to really know each other and have a lot in common. Bro. Shaw left today to teach a Bible class in India for a week. It was interesting talking about his upcoming adventure.

We have family and friends coming in this weekend for a wedding, so we are looking forward to having a lot of fun and fellowship with them! It looks like we will have 6 or so of them in service this weekend and they will be singing. Our church will really enjoy having them. I have announced it and asked them to invite one person per day to come with them Sunday.



The next weekend, December 15th, is our church Christmas Gathering here at the house. The church members are inviting their friends, family.....everybody they can, so that we can get to know them and they can see us as the family of God. I am teaching at 'Wednesday's Word' about being a ministering church. Hospitality is a vital part of making friends, which in turn attracts them to His Kingdom. It is our desire to cultivate that kind of atmosphere in New Life Church of Pflugerville. I feel it in the air already! Our little church is one of the friendliest places you can experience...just like Him. Make room for Him this Christmas and you will want to make room for others. You and they will never be without someone who cares.

Ronald Reagan Presidential Library

Putting up our "memories" tree brought to mind our trip to Los Angeles in January of this year. We had the privilege to spend time with Bro. and Sis. Bernard Elms and take a tour of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, CA.

Ronald Reagan has been a favorite of ours for a long time, but being able to go through the Library, read the quotes of what he believed and see where he came from, has increased our admiration. He was so kind, gentle and yet strong. He truly lived the American dream and created the atmosphere for so many of us to get a chance on the dream as well. The library has so many things to see....

He and Nancy sat in this very booth when he proposed to her.

All of the campaign memorabilia was a sight to behold!

Air Force 1 was flown to Los Angeles, disassembled and trucked in pieces to the Library. Boeing employees then reassembled the plane on pedestals before the glass wall was put in place. It looks as if the plane could just fly out over the valley. You actually get to tour the plane, but cannot take pictures inside. This was a 727 and the current Air Force 1 is a 747.

Marine 1 is also inside the library. Of course, it is not big enough to tour, but is cool to see up-close.

President Reagan's limousine is on display. It is a 1984 Cadillac - state of the art when the Secret Service had it built for presidential transport. President Reagan was the first to use this vehicle beginning with a celebration of his 73rd birthday in his hometown of Dixon, Illinois.

The Oval Office is an exact replica of his office during his presidency.

If you remember all the news coverage of President Reagan's funeral, you will remember them having a ceremony at this Presidential Library as he was laid to rest.

The scenery is spectacular. President Reagan was one who always believed that the future was bright and the view from his final resting place reflects that outlook.

Our 'Memories' Tree

Karla and I started a 'Memories' Christmas tree when we got married. In fact, our very first ornament was purchased in Hawaii on our Honeymoon.

It says, "Happily Maui'ed". That's exactly what we still are!


Each year, when we visit somewhere different, we pick out an ornament to remember that moment. Our boys have been a part of the process as they came along. So, tonight was the night that we pulled all of them out and put them on the tree.










We all gathered around and remembered each trip, each milestone, and the cute Christmas stuff they created throughout their childhood. It even brought to mind the many friends that have given us ornaments through the years.



The ornament on the right is from Monterey, California. We enjoyed going there this August when we attended Danelle Hurst Silveira's wedding (our niece). All four of us got to go! We rented a convertible and drove the 17 Mile Drive. WOW! It was beautiful. We enjoyed the company of Wendell & Linda Elms and Nathan & Ronda Hurst.

The ornament on the left, that you cannot see completely, is from the Gaylord Texas Convention Center in Grapevine, Texas. I had the opportunity to speak at the Thrive College and Career Conference for two years. It was held at this magnificent place. It is really a place to remember. It is much like the Opryland Hotel, but it has the San Antonio Riverwalk recreated in it's atrium. The whole family was able to attend with me!

We drove through Crawford, Texas on one of our many trips to and from Austin this summer before moving. Of course, we wanted to catch a glimpse of the "Western White House" where President Bush lives while in Texas. We didn't get to see much except guards and gates! But it was neat to see where it was. We picked up this ornament to remember the stop.

We made a trip to DisneyWorld and Epcot in 2000. Cameron was 9 and Chad was 6. Cameron's birthday was actually while we were on the trip and so he had a special reserved dinner with the Disney characters! We rented a house for $100 a night that was brand new. It had 4 bedrooms, washer & dryer and a screened-in pool. It was just about 5 minutes from the theme parks. It was great! See-- the memories just keep adding up!

Here are the boy's "First Christmas" ornaments. The top one is Cameron's and the bottom one is Chad's. They have been so much fun at Christmas!

Here are hand-made ornaments that the boys constructed at some point along the way. They look so little! Time has a way of changing them - but they are still great!

I have a special one from this year that I will share in another post. It is from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. We were able to tour it in January of this year.

Oh....one more picture from tonight! Cookie just had to get in on the fun!

Being in HIS presence!

What an awesome day today. This morning, Gene preached about taking time in God's presence. It was an awesome message and God moved in a sweet and powerful way.

Tonight we had the opportunity to take that time in the presence of God. There was such an overwhelming presence in the service at the "mother" church. During the praise and worship time, God moved in as the praise group sang "We worship You in the spirit. We worship You in the truth." Then the song goes on to say, "We worship You, worship You. We worship You, worship You." They sang this over and over as the crowd was lost in His presence. Then they began to sing, "You have turned my mourning into dancing." The crowd began to worship God in the dance as victories were won across the congregation. I looked across the auditorium and noticed our boys jumping and worshipping - there's no feeling like watching your children blessed in His presence.

Just before Bro. Bernard was to preach, Sis. Bernard sang "He looked beyond my fault and saw my need." It was beautiful and again the spirit of God flooded the place and tongues and intrepretation went forth. Bro. Bernard exhorted the crowd during this time, but never actually got to his "message". The altar service progressed and during that time, Bro. Bernard prayed for Gene and I specifically for revival in Pflugerville. It was AWESOME!

After service, a lady who had prayed for me earlier in the altar service confirmed some things that God had spoken to us almost 18 years ago. God is just so awesome to find us wherever we are and let us know we are always in His sight.

A Great Thanksgiving

Here are some pictures of the great time we had with family.

I mentioned earlier those who were here for Thanksgiving Day, but we also had the privilege of visiting with our nephew, Nathaniel, here on Friday evening. He is Ronda and Nathan Hurst's son and the youth pastor at The Pentecostal Church in Hollister, CA. We got to visit for a few hours and enjoyed our time together.

We took everyone to our church and had a jam session! It just always seems to happen with our family!

Everyone is gone now, but we are looking forward to a great service in the morning.

You post me, I'll post you!

If you are interested in watching churches grow, here is a blog where you can track the progress of Don Ryan's congregation, Christian Life Center of Minerva Ohio. He just made a post about us on his blog and I have linked his site on my blog. It is amazing the parallels between his family's journey this past year and ours. It is almost unreal. We met at the Children's Ministry Convention in 2005. At lunch, we discovered that we were both seeking the Will of God for where we were to pastor. He is the Sunday School Director for the Ohio UPCI District. Close to a year after we talked in St. Louis, MO, he was voted in as pastor and just a few weeks later we were selected to come to Austin! It has been exciting to read about the progress they are making in Minerva, Ohio and all the feelings that he and his family faced in the process! I am so happy that they had 3 get the Holy Ghost this past weekend!! It is awesome. Why not go over and keep up with the progress for yourself. I know you will enjoy his updates.

Indulge Me, Please!!

I wasn't going to do this again - but they were awesome today!!! Along with Tony Romo (9), Marion Barber (24) and Roy Williams (31) played some awesome football today!! Just had to give a shout out to da'Boys!!

Thanksgiving Humor

Thought you might enjoy a laugh! The first little guy probably really got in trouble when he got home. Enjoy!