The Highs and Lows of the NFL

I can't even tell you how furious I am with the NFL and their idiotic decision to suspend Sean Payton for an entire season over his knowledge of what's become known as the "Bounty Scandal." Excuse me, but Roger Goodell's hypocrisy knows no end! We need to investigate and see if he has ever given a bonus to anyone on his staff who has performed well. If so he should be fired immediately! I know many of you will argue, "This is about paying people to purposefully hurt other players." The NFL is entirely made up of people paid to hurt each other. It's a violent sport! I'm not here to endorse or criticize it as such. I'm just saying it's pathetic to pretend that it's a not a violent sport, pocket billions of dollars off of all of the violent hits associated with that violent sport and then penalize a team for simply giving their players a bonus when they performed well! EVERY team does it - one way or another.

Before you're too quick to criticize this post simply because the Saints aren't your team and you won't have to lose to them again this season - Just remember that next season, every time you cheer when one of your favorite players lays a member of the opposing team out with a huge hit, you are celebrating what the Saints just got penalized for. Your favorite player was paid to hit that guy like that - and you LOVED it! 

On a more cheerful note - While my favorite team is being robbed of the opportunity to continue the winning seasons we've enjoyed as of late, my second favorite team just got a little closer to the Super Bowl. Welcome to Denver, Mr. Manning!

The Things We Love Bring Us Together

This past February, Donna and I enjoyed skiing with some really good friends. Fellow pastors Scott and Kara Holmes and Paul and Cindy Burke joined us as well as two wonderful young couples from Crossroads, Mike and Jaclyn Reale and Daniel and Joanna Bergeron. Every  year, because we share a common passion, we are joined by different friends and family members as we ski in beautiful Steamboat Springs, CO.  Isn't it interesting how things we love bring us together? 

Those things are not always as pleasant as a ski trip. Many times it is the death of a loved one that brings together those who haven't seen each other in years. It's as if the final achievement of that one we cherished was putting is all back in touch with one another. Let me say again, it's the things we love that bring us together. 

That's what I love about the church. When we come together on the weekend to sing our songs of worship and learn from God's Word, it is our love for Christ that has brought us together. He is the ultimate common denominator and whether it's a funeral, a worship service or a ski trip, it's always best when we come together and celebrate our love for for Him! 

So what brings you together with the ones you love?

Making the Connection!

This past week we've had the pleasure of hosting Shawn and Amy Reine and their boys here in Lafayette. The Reines will be serving as our Campus Pastors at our Church Plant in Highland's Ranch, CO in the greater Denver area. We plan to start the church in September as our very first Crossroads Connection Church. In addition to the Denver connection, we plan to plant in New Orleans in January 2013 with Jason and Amanda Rhoades and in Atlanta, GA in September 2013 with Adam and Jamie Farley. 

Highland's Ranch is one of the fastest growing areas in the Denver metroplex. Over 100,000 people live in the 21 square mile area that makes up the community which is just south of Aurora - A town of over 300,000! There are more than 3 million people in the greater-Denver area with less than 10% of the population attending church anywhere on Sunday morning. We can't wait to reach this city! 

We had a great time with the Reines as we spent time casting vision with our church, our Crossroads Lead Team, our Board of Directors, the Louisiana Assemblies of God District Officials and our Master's Commission students.  

Africa

On the morning of my fiftieth birthday, my family and I, along with seven other team members from Crossroads Church left for a missions trip to Kenya. It was my first visit to Africa and the most authentic mission experience I've ever had.

We stayed at a base camp, miles from civilization in the bush of the Maasai Mara. We were surrounded by African wild life - Zebra, Giraffe, Elephants, Gazelle, Wildebeest, you name it! We slept and dined in house tents, spent our mornings and evenings around a blazing campfire and used the bathroom in a cho (My least favorite part of the trip!)

Every morning we packed into our vans and traveled across the Savanna to visit the Maasai in their bomas (several dung huts in a circle where the families live). We spoke with people who have never heard the Name of Jesus or been presented the Gospel before. We met children who had never seen white people before and they tried to wipe the color off our arms! We would share the gospel with them through the most simple presentation and they received it with gladness. Dozens were saved!

We visited an outreach in Nairobi where every day, our tithe dollars from Crossroads Church feeds children and give them an education. Many live in the orphanages because they have been left on the trash heaps to die in the slums of Nairobi. The children are beautiful and I can't get their faces out my mind!

We did an open-air crusade in the slums, setting up a stage and a sound system, preaching the gospel in one of the poorest places on the earth. Many responded, some literally hanging out of the window of the block they lived in to pray with me.

We were allowed to share the gospel with hundreds of children in the schools. Every child who could read was given a New Testament! They were so excited to receive those Bibles!

In addition to all the incredible outreach, we got to visit one of the largest game reserves in existence. God gave us favor and we stayed in the hotel where US Presidents stay when they visit the reserve! He also blessed us with the opportunity to see what the Africans call the big five: Elephants, Cape Buffalo, Rhinos (which are endangered and rarely seen) a leopard (again - rarely seen because they are nocturnal) and lions! Going on safari was such a wonderful treat!

The scheduling of this trip was totally out of our hands and arranged by our missionaries, Mike and Marigold Cheshier. It just so happened that they booked us to leave on a Tuesday (I've never left on a Tuesday for a missions trip before) and that Tuesday was my birthday. The Sunday before our trip the Lord reminded me we were leaving on my birthday and He told me He arranged that. He said, "I wanted you to spend the first few days of your fiftieth year in one of the most exotic places on earth so you would know that this next era of your life will be a great adventure!"

How exciting!