Late Nite Live!

What better way to kick off the fall than with free food, lots of games and some slammin' worship?! We are gonna have an awesome time together tomorrow night at Late Nite Live. Meet us at the Highland Campus at 7:30pm and bring your appetite! If you are a college kid or young professional, you will not want to miss this!

With football season startin' up tonight as the Tigers annihilate the Bulldogs, this is going to be one incredible weekend!! Hope to see all of you tomorrow night!!!

30-Hour Airplane Power

Friday morning, after an amazing men's Bible study, I packed up my clothes, gathered my girls, and headed to the New Orleans airport. Our plans had been set: this trip would prove to be an incredible weekend to create some unforgettable father-daughter memories. It felt a little strange without Rachel being with us, but she packed us with enough snacks to feed an entire cafeteria of elementary school kids! "Keep your head on a swivel, don't talk on your cell phone too much, and don't let those girls out of your sight!" she warned. I had my orders to watch Alexa and Mikaela like a hawk.

We had a 4 hour layover in Atlanta, and I was in full military mode--no man (or in this case, daughter) left behind. The favor of God had to be on us because we discovered a kids play area right next to our departing gate! When we finally took our seats on the plane, the pilot informed us that a storm system had moved in and we would experience a slight delay. Two hours later we were still on the runway!!!! We finally were cleared to take off, and I must confess that Alexa and Mikaela were doing much better than I was.

Around midnight, we finally reached our destination. I've never seen so many lights in my life! The streets were packed with people--the city was alive. "We're not in Prairieville anymore kids," I surveyed. "Welcome to Las Vegas!" I know what you're thinking: "Now what's a pastor and his two daughters doing in Sin City for the weekend?" My youngest sister, Rebekah, was getting married--my daughters were flower girls, and I was officiating the wedding.

We only spent a total of 30 hours in Vegas, but during our short stay we saw a couple of interesting people. Ironically, Pete Rose was signing autographs at the shopping mall of Caesar's Palace. Later that night, we ran into Mr.T from the old school show called "A-Team." I knew he was an outspoken believer, so we slung a few scriptures at each other about being salt and light in a dark world, then flexed our biceps.

My sister was a gorgeous bride!! She married an Italian entrepreneur with an awesome name: Mike Mongelluzzo. It was so good to see my parents and family, even though we were in a strange city. The girls and I woke up at 4:30am the next morning to make the long trip home. My little sister is all grown up now. Congratulations to Mike and Rebekah on their new life together!

Hope for Peru

As some of you know, an 8.0 magnitude earthquake shook Peru on August 15, leaving over 400 dead and 1200 injured. In some areas, 80% of all buildings were destroyed. In fact, looking at pictures and video of the aftermath, a lot of memories come rushing back of the devastation we saw after some hurricanes here. The people there need hope, and there is no better time than now for us to be the church!

Not only does Healing Place know what it's like to be in the middle of a natural disaster, but we have always felt responsible to assist others in crisis, as well. HPC was there during Katrina, 9/11, and the Tsunami. Now we have the opportunity to partner with Pastor Robert Barriger and Camino DeVida to bring hope and healing to the beautiful people of Peru. We will be sending a staff team to help Pastor Robert and his church coordinate relief in some of the hardest hit areas.

This is really the church at its best- rolling up our sleeves and getting dirty to help those in need. Pray for team that left today... pray that they would hear God's voice and make a maximum impact. Pray for the Peruvian leaders... that they would make right decisions in rebuilding and helping their people. Pray for the people of Peru... that they would find Jesus in the midst of tragedy.

God has not forgotten them, and I believe that He will show up and show off His love today.

Hearing from Legends...

This morning I had the amazing honor of being part of a landmark staff development meeting at HPC. In our fourteen year history as a church, this was one of the most significant things that has ever taken place. We were able to hear from four legendary men in ministry who have made a huge impact on the Kingdom worldwide: Wayne Austin, Jack Dyer, Jim Rentz, and Dave Ohlerking. These men have a combined total of 156 years of ministry experience, traveled 6 million miles to spread the Gospel, visited over 200 countries, and battled malaria and diabetes. One has even been shot in the head! Altogether they have 30 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren. I have such massive respect for these incredible men and couldn't imagine what life would be like at this church without them. They have done innumerable acts for His glory, and today they ushered in the holiest of moments. It was truly an amazing experience!

Here are some lessons they taught us...
*We all have dark nights. There will come a time in each of our lives when all the words of encouragement that we have spoken over others, we will have to speak to ourselves.
*We must always acknowledge the facts, but hold on to the truth.
*God can take the worst thing that can happen to you and make it the best thing for you.
*The surest way to lose the anointing on your life is to take credit for something that God has done.

When the meeting was over, many of us went down to the altars to be prayed over by these mighty men of God. We need their wisdom and direction in our lives, and it's such a privilege to serve alongside them everyday. Thank God for men of honor to lead the Kingdom, and thank God we get them here with us!

The Heat Is On!

The temperatures have been blistering hot and so are weekend services at HPC! Our focus was on the next generation as we designated this past weekend to be our Back to School Blessing. It was an amazing time to pray over and empower hundreds of students and educators in our city. We are so excited to be embarking on this new ministry season! And speaking of new things, Alexa went back to school this week. Can you believe she is in the fourth grade?! She's growing up way too fast. As I think of all the circumstances she will encounter this year, I meditate on the four things we pray over our kids every day:
1. That they would be a light on their campus.
2. They they would be a leader and not a follower.
3. That they would always do what's right, even when no one's watching.
4. That they would be stro-oh-oh-ong in temptation!
Ask them on any given day and they can recite all of them back to you!

I also had the opportunity this weekend to be part of the Elevate orientation at Pastor Dino's house. We have 26 full-time interns this year, and as I got to spend time with them, I was overwhelmed with the promise and possibility that their futures hold. It is going to be a great year and we are so proud of Michelle and Tiffany for all the hard work they put into the program!

My sister Sarah and her family came in from Houston this weekend. All the cousins had a blast together... we played some intense games of tackle football in the house and did a lot of body slammin'! It was full-on fun...

We are just making preparations for our little linebacker, T-Rev. He is eating like a champ - getting him all fattened up for football season! I have him on a rigorous work-out routine of push-ups, sit-ups, and dumbbell curls, and I'm trying to convince Rachel to add some protein to his diet!

Check out this pic of him in his LSU outfit. So what he's just 3 weeks old- he is ready for game day!!

Staying Alive

I apologize for the extended absence!! No pics, no posts....because I have absolutely NO TIME!!! Little Hamanator has brought a tilt to the adult/child ratio in the house. For the first time in our married life, Rachel and I are outnumbered 3 to 2. We've been forced to make an adjustment to our game plan: we can no longer play man-to-man defense...it's all about zone coverage!

We do life with some of the most amazing people on the planet! Your thoughts, prayers, cards, gifts, visits, meals, kind words--thank you for sharing in our joy! We've celebrated like crazy, but now the work begins. Not much sleep...but a whole lot of joy!!