Recently, Tina and I hosted an evening with our core group of people that have believed and supported this vision to reach the Perry community.  It was a great evening to see our family and friends, as well as to share the unique and wonderful things that God has been revealing to us the past few months.  The purpose of this blog is to share with all of you that have supported us from a distance and/or simply were not able to come to our vision meeting.  This is going to be challenging to put into written words... as I can barely even conceptualize and vocalize it!  But, here goes...

About 3-4 months ago as we neared the initial opening of HeBrews, I began to have a lot of unrest and conflicting emotions about what we had planned to do in Phase 2 of this vision.  We were planning to move ...
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Welcome back to the periodic blog!  It has been an amazing and busy time for us the past few months as we opened up HeBrews on April 15th.  With its opening, our schedules dramatically changed and we have been working just about 7 days a week since then.  We get up each day around 4-4:30am and arrive in Perry around 6am to prepare for the day.  HeBrews is open 8am-4pm, and we usually get home around 6:30pm.  Eventually, we will have trained staff/volunteers to assist us each day, but this is a season of immersion in running a business and a church at the same time so it involves long hours and happy faces!  Honestly, we are so blessed that God has invited us to join Him in this work in Perry!  We would have it no other way...

As of this writing, our A/C installation is scheduled to be completed ...
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Well, today, I was so honored and humbled to be able to teach and spend about 30 minutes with some very awesome and dedicated people at H2Ochurch.tv!  It was the first time I have taught a message "live" at the campus... well, actually, I realized earlier today that it was the first time I have ever taught a sermon at a church.  That humbles me even more... Added to that, it was the first time that I have ever spoken to a group of people on a scaffold!  That's right.  I sat/stood on a scaffold during the teaching so that everyone could see and hear me in the seating area.  It will be a time to remember for sure!

Today was BYOFB Sunday - Bring Your Own Fuzzy Blanket!  We have had Arctic-like temperatures the past week or so here in Oklahoma and we still don't have our heating unit installed ...
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Before I dive into my first "official" thoughts for 2010, let me preface everything with this - I generally don't believe in New Year's resolutions.  If you don't know much about my background, I have a Clinical Psychology degree so a lot of my thoughts/philosophies are built around that foundation.  In fact, I was a part-time "Behavior Specialist" at Stillwater Medical Center for over 5 years, primarily working with people that wanted and/or needed to lose weight, change their lifestyle patterns, and so on.  I learned a lot about behaviors, people, and myself during that tenure, some of which I will share below. 

Not surprising, gym memberships, weight loss systems (Nutri-System, Weight Watchers, etc.), DVD fitness programs, and athletic apparel all reach a peak in the month of December.  You got it - many of these people are setting New Year's Resolutions to lose weight, work-out more, and to eat ...
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About 3 weeks ago, I listened to a podcast of Francis Chan that truly convicted my heart.  He was teaching and discussing the apostle Peter's reminder to all believers of the core values and qualities that are instilled in each of us when we accept Christ into our lives.  Depending on the Bible version you select, here are a few of those values:

• Faith
• Virtue
• Knowledge
• Self-Control
• Steadfastness
• Godliness
• Brotherly Affection
• Love

Peter says that we should make "every effort" to exhibit these qualities in our day-to-day lives.  By doing so, we will never be blind, near-sighted, or fail.  Instead, we will be richly provided an entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

Literally, I have not been able to get those verses off my mind or heart.  We, as Christians, have such a huge responsibility to live out our faith in actions... not simply by words.  If we truly want others around us ...
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