I have always loved announcements - I don’t know what it is. I guess it’s that good old ADD kicking in. I just like new stuff. I love anticipation of newness.

Well, here’s one of my most-looked-forward-to, long-time-coming announcements…

Healing Place Church’s
Live the Dream Women’s Conference
October 25 - 27, 2007

This will be our first national conference. There are other connecting points that we have, like HPC Experience, Submerge Camp and the hosting of various ministry networks, but onsite hosting of our very first conference.

We are just thrilled. I am so praying our great God will be pleased and will just touch the effort of DeLynn and the amazing team around her to help girls from all over to live the dream God has placed in their hearts. It will be a kicking time with some top-notch speakers and a five-star experience provided by hundreds of volunteers - whose buzz it is to serve you.

Set your calendar, ladies - It will be a “don’t miss” moment. You can register online - limited space like always at HPC. (But not for much longer - the new HPC Arena is going up!) In fact, we already have over 100 signed up just from the last couple weekends at HPC.

So yay DeLynn, yay team - but mostly and more importantly, yay God! Live the Dream is just 86 days away. We are all living it here.

I so love Psalm 148:11-13. Check it out:

He is the Lord - the King - the Ruler of the world from Battambang to Bangkok to Baton Rouge to Brusly to Broussard to Bayou Manchac to Boutte and all the other metropolises of our globe - hahaha - makes me laugh to see all those names together. God loves, cares, sings over all the billions who woke up to this new day in every time zone. I have definitely been through a few different time zones lately. But none do I love like this time zone: CST - that’s Cajun Standard Time, baby.

So, yeah, we are home to a healthy family, a healthy church and a harvest in our region that I believe is so ripe this season. We saw an amazing thing happen while we were in Cambodia - we were there on behalf of the wonderful people of Healing Place Church and as we touched people there that God cares so much for, the entire HPC family was touching them through us. It was a real honor to be a part of.

We were also humbled to be partnered with so many amazing people there with Hope:Cambodia. But today it is also Hope:Baker, Hope:Bogalusa, Hope:Bunkie, Hope:Breaux Bridge, Hope: Berwick… Gosh, I love our state and I’m hung up on the B’s.

Thanks for all your prayers - couldn’t do life without them. So enjoy the God of Belle Chasse today…

Did I miss any?

Today in church at the Highland Campus of Healing Place Church, DeLynn and I talked on the phone - her at Highland, and me in Battambang, Cambodia:

DeLynn:

Me:

DeLynn:

Me:

DeLynn:

Me:

DeLynn:

Me:

DeLynn:

Me:

DeLynn:

DeLynn (to the church):

Check out the gallery of pictures we’ve collected so far:
[zp]hope-cambodia[/zp]

What comes to mind when you hear VBS? I know… a red brick church with a banner out front with hand written letters announcing it’s “Rodeo Revival Time.”

Well, first off, I like red brick and banners. Get some for yourself. Not all old school is out of touch with a need in a community.

We just finished a very unorthodox VBS in our city. Would you believe 1,400 kids and volunteers having a crazy flow plus still having a couple more campuses to re-run their own version of it. This was by far our smoothest, credit to Sherrie May and the Kids In Action team. And a big “yay” to the five-star volunteers, and a thank you to a church that offers the whole thing for one low price of…FREE. We kept to HPC tradition… go get the ones no one else wants and give them Jesus. So we bussed them, brought them and even compelled them and they came.

And the cherry on top… those little radicals gave over $5,000 to our kids team headed out to Africa!

Soooo, old school or new school, it is just plain old Vacation Bible School and it rocked.

Cowboy Drew and Heather the kids worship team got me and DeLynn to join them for a close-out song Friday (yeah, i’m in there - on the far right).

Our VBS was awesome this year. Check out what some other bloggers are posting about it.

Amanda Graeser
Becky Perkins
Josh Ferrara
Dan Ohlerking

I’ve got more to say about it, but I just wanted to get this out there first.

Stay tuned for part 2….

Meanwhile, if you’ve got a post up about HPC VBS this year, leave a comment and lemme know.

Hope:Cambodia began today. Thirty days (July 14 - August 12) of some incredible ministry in a country that is hurting. Learn more about Hope:Cambodia at Joyce Meyer Ministries’ site and at the Go Global site.

In the last sixteen years of my first-hand exposure to what we would call missions, there have been certain countries that have gripped my heart. I know that every soul, every city, every nation is of supreme value but there is the “touch” that God does for them all to our hearts.

Healing Place_Mozambique

My first experience with that was for Africa as a whole, then on my second trip there it was defined and clarified further for me that a lot of the Africa touch for us would be Mozambique. Wow - 225 in a Healing Place Church campus in Mozambique this past Sunday!

This photo was taken by David Song during a recent HPC project in Peru.

The second place was Peru - largely due to Robert Barriger and a near-death awakening that was more about the harvest than a sickness.

Oddly enough the next place was then Donaldsonville. Not a nation or a region but a river community in our back yard. The rest is history (much thanks to Mark Stermer and all the great people investing so much work into the community there).

Now I feel a stirring for a place I’ve never been: Cambodia. I don’t know much but I know that I’m excited that Healing Place Church gets to be a part of Hope:Cambodia. What a feeling of hope in my own heart. Pray for our teams going out there and for this whole event - big time. Marc Cleary is already there - check out the update he sent us that Dan Ohlerking posted on his blog.

Please remember to pray for this incredible thing God is doing. Pray for a nation to find Hope in Jesus.