HHBC Sunday School Retreat

This past weekend several from Happy Hill got away to Latham Springs Baptist Camp for our SS retreat. The camp and weather was incredible and we had a fantastic time. We were almost all up until 2:00 Friday morning playing games and getting to know each other better.

We introduced the group to the 3D Sunday School concept which we are adopting at HHBC. A Sunday School class should have three health dimensions working together. They should invite others to come to class and be excited about the class and there meetings, they shold discover God's word together, and they should connect to each other developing close relationships.

Pray with us that as we implament this strategy God will bless our efforts and blow our mind with how he uses us to reach people with his love.










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It is good to have fun.

With our endless todo lists, long days, lack of vacation time, and overpowering stress we often forget that we are intended to have full and abundant lives.

Having fun is a good thing. As Darren pointed out in our Men's Abassadors for Christ (MAC) meeting tonight, God created us for relationship. Relationship with Him first and second with our fellow man. One of the natural ways that we build relationship is through having good times together.

If I were completely honest much of the reason I am serving Christ today is because at many times in my life the most fun thing for me to do was at church. Our youth group was fun and we had wild times together.

I wonder how many more people would be a part of the church, or allow Christ into thier lives if they didn't think being a Christian was going to be boring. God is not here to take your fun away. He just wants to be a part of the fun in your life.

For your viewing pleasure here are a couple of clips from our MAC meeting. And no we don't restrict ourselves to only gospel songs.

Sorry if this is sideways. I am still trying to figure it all out. Thanks for being patient.


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To My Pastor Friends: Where the message comes from.

"We are not saved to be "channels only," but to be sons and daughters of God. We are not turned into spiritual mediums, but into spiritual messengers; the message must be part of ourselves." -- Oswald Chambers.

As a pastor it is more than vital that we stay in the word of God. Sermon preparation is never an acceptable substitute for personal devotional time and bible study. If you are finding that it is dificult develop sermons and a direction for your sermons, or if you always have to look outside of yourself for sermon ideas and direction; it is because you are not allowing God to work his will in you. Your sermons and what you preach should come from an outpouring of your soul.

"The natural heart will do any amount of serving, but it takes the heart broken by conviction of sin, and baptized by the Holy Ghost, and crumpled into the purpose of God before the life becomes the sacrament of its message." -- Oswald Chambers

If you are having a dry time in sermon preparation. If you are not deeply convicted about where to go next. You must get alone and get into the word. Find out what God wants in you, and from that your soul will cry out to your congregation through the Holy Spirit. Then your life and message will be a sacramtent to God.

Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. 2 Timothy 2:4 (NIV)

I'm praying this for us all my brothers.

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Location:Vistaview Dr,Burleson,United States

Failures and Triumphs: They are all a part of life.

I have not done so well on my commitment to blog three times a week. Sure there are always valid reasons. There has been a great deal of work for me lately and I have been putting in longer hours than I should, but still these are excuses.

I have learned that life is full of successes and failures. They will come for us all however, what we do with them is what matters.

For instance I could give up. I blogged three times the first week of my commitment and now I have gone two full weeks without touching my blog. So I could say, "The commitment was wrong I underestimated how much was going on in ministry and life and I shouldn't make commitments to blog when there are so many more tangible ministries I am in." Then I could allow my failure to cause me to give up on the commitment I made.

Or, I could stay the course. Even though I have missed my goal and I am seemingly behind, I could pick up where I left off and keep on going.

It's like being in a race and being behind but still doing your best to finish. A few weeks back I was watching the winter Olympics and the cross country skiing was on. They were showing the finish of the race and talking about the dramatic battle for the gold. The discussion continued long after the medals had been decided. As we continued to watch the goal line stretch a racer came around the corner and with a dramatic burst of adrenaline he pushed hard to overtake the racer in front of him. He battled down the stretch to edge him out of 32cd place.

As he collapsed from exhaustion I laughed and thought, "32cd place or 33rd place, does it really matter." But now I realize it does. It was his personal best that counted, his time to shine, his defining moment.

In life we aren't always in a race but Paul says we should always be racing, striving for the prize.  The only competition is against yourself, it doesn't matter if you fall behind as long as you keep going and finish strong.

So if you experience failure remember when I am weak, then I am strong, and keep on running.

A New Year a New Direction (Part Three: The Church)

A new direction in the church.

Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of
three strands is not quickly broken. Ecc 4:12

This year we are also planning some changes in the Sunday School
department. I am personally stoked about the upcomming SS retreat
march 12-13. Were we are doing training in the 3Dimentional Sunday
School. A healthy SS should invite, connect, and discover. It should
be both fun and inspiring.

God is amazing and has been doing amazing things at Happy Hill. I look
forward to see what comes next.

Ps. I'm also already getting excited about vacation bible school. And
yes I do plan to ride a horse.

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A New Year A New Direction (Part Two: My Personal Life)

New direction for my personal life.

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Ephesians 5:15-16.

I am currently preaching a sermon series on being intentional in life, living by decision instead of default. To be perfectly honest I came up with the idea for this sermon series more than a year ago, but for a couple of reasons I didn't start until this year. The main reason is because I have never been comfortable preaching about something that I have failed to get grasp of in my own life. The other reason is that I wanted to do more research on the topic.  However, in the interim I have gained at least a moderate grasp on being intentional in life. Layney and I started with our finances, that was a tough one for me but it has been a real blessing. We have also focused on being intentional in our relationships, work, joy, spiritual growth, and health. Some have needed more work than others, but all have been a blessing in our lives. (for example I've lost over 60 lbs.)

For more information on being intentional join us on Sunday morning or
check out http://www.theintentionallife.com/
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A New Year and a New Direction (Part One: This Blog)

1 God is our refuge and strength,

an ever-present help in trouble.

2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way

and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

3 though its waters roar and foam

and the mountains quake with their surging.

7 The LORD Almighty is with us;

the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Psalms 46:1-3, 7

2010  has been a hard year already for many people that I know.  In the last four weeks at Happy Hill we have lost two dearly loved church members.  While we know they are sharing eternity now with our Lord our hearts are still aching.  Yet still there are many more losses that our members have elt on a personal level.  I admit even Layney and I have experienced several deep personal losses in the past couple of months.  But even when times are hard and it seems the world is falling down around you, God is your refuge and strenth.  By leaning on Him you can get through any challenge. 

A new direction for this blog.

This year I planned several changes for this blog, however the hardships I mentioned above got in the way.  but now it is time to get started. 

While evaluating this blog and where I should take it this year I thought about all of the blogs I like to read.  Usually they are leadership blogs focused on encourageing and helping pastor's.  As a young pastor I need as much help as I can get.  So I thought about my own audience and asked what is the best thing I can share with you. 

God has instilled in me a desire to lead people to have a better life, by the practical application of God's word, helping them draw closer to God, and by sharing the wisdom God has given me through my experinces and by listening to His voice.  That is parially why I am a pastor, and the fact that I am called. 

With that desire in mind I thought it would be good to adjust slightly how I think about this blog.  So here are some changes you can look forward to. 

• I Plan to post more frequently.  My initial goal will be three times a week; sometimes they will be long sometimes short, sometimes they will be in a devotional style like I have done before and sometimes they will just be informative of what is going on for me. 
• I am going to be more candid in my posts.  Previously because I allways want to put my best foot forward I would not post a blog unless I had worked on it for a long time, reviewed it twice, and usually had my wife read it for grammer and spelling.  But since I am planning to post more often I will have to just post thoughts.
• I am going to do my best to share my passions, God's word, any wisdom I have, and lead us all (me included) to living better lives through Christ. 
• I want his blog to be relevant to where you are, and what you want to hear about, so for that reason I am listing my email address in my profile description.  I also get an email from every comment on here so please feel free to ask questions and make comments. 

My sincere hope is that you will enjoy and get a lot out of my blog this year.  I look forward to hearing your feedback.