Access To Great Truth

This week, Donna and I and our executive team attended the ARC All Access Conference at Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge. The ARC (Association of related churches) is a wonderful church planting network and they put on an incredible conference with a stellar line-up of speakers. Following the lead of a fellow-blogger and one of the members of that executive team that enjoyed the conference with us (Daphne Gaspard) I thought I'd share a few of my favorite speakers' quotes.

Priscilla Shirer

John 11:55 says that people were leaving the countryside of Bethany going to Jerusalem at Passover looking for Jesus. John 12:1 says that at the same time Jesus was leaving Jerusalem for Bethany. We need to make sure we're not going the opposite direction of Jesus! They assumed He'd be in Jerusalem where the crowds were. He was more interested in the three people waiting in Bethany - Lazarus, Martha and Mary - one who would fellowship with Him, One who would wait on Him and one who would worship Him!

Robert Morris

Mammon is a spirit. All money has the spirit of Mammon on it and the only thing that can take it off is the tithe! The spirit of Mammon talks. It makes false promises about things only God can really provide. Mammon is the spirit of anti-Christ. That's why in the book of Revelations, the Bible says those without the Mark of the Beast will not be able to buy and sell. Tithing is actually a type of Jesus. The tithe is our first fruits and Jesus was God's first fruits!

Stovall Weems

The apron and handkerchiefs that Paul wore that were taken and placed on the sick to heal them in Acts 19 were items Paul wore when working as a tent maker to support his ministry. This is the kind of Kingdom sweat that produces miracles. If we want God to work we've got to be willing to work! Sweat is also generated by the heat of God's fire, provided by the Holy Spirit. In Luke 22, Jesus prayed until His sweat became like great drops of blood. The blood of Jesus was being shed before He ever reached the cross because of Kingdom sweat! Kingdom sweat has a redemptive nature!

Good stuff, huh? Just a little sample of some of the wonderful truth we had access to this week. We are so thankful we got to attend and soak it up!

New York, NY

Our family loves a good vacation. God has really blessed us through the years and we've been able to take some really great trips. This past week was no exception. My daughter Robin chose New York City as the destination for her graduation trip. Since the selection was made, my wife Donna - who we lovingly refer to as the Vacation Nazi - has been planning every minute of the six day trip to the Big Apple. God gave us favor throughout the entire trip! First of all, we get to New Orleans to fly out and they put us on a direct flight to New York instead of our original itinerary which had us flying through Memphis with a lay over. This put us in New York much earlier than we planned so we got to go down to Time Square and have a look around. When we got ready to leave on Friday, our Taxi service was upgraded to a limo ride to the airport for no extra charge!

Sunday morning, we visited China Town and Little Italy, we walked over the Brooklyn Bridge and visited Trinity Church. That afternoon we had tickets to the Yankee's game and watched the Yankees beat the Texas Rangers 5-2. We had excellent seats along the third base line and had a blast observing New Yorkers heckle the Rangers' left fielder, David Murphy. Our favorite line of the day was, "Hey Murphy did you bat yet? Do they let you bat, Murphy? No, Murphy barely made the team!" After the game we checked out Trump Tower, The Plaza Hotel, Tiffany's, Prada and Rockefeller Center. Man! Did my feet hurt by the time we got back to the hotel! (I was feeling the effect of visiting New York with the Vacation Nazi right away!)

Day two began at The American Museum of Natural History, from which one of our favorite family movies, Night At The Museum, got its inspiration for most of its characters. It was so cool seeing all that history - despite the prevailing evolution propaganda and political correctness. (Don't get me started!) One of the most fascinating things that happened was when (in a city of over nine million people) we were standing in line at the museum and heard someone call, "Hey Pastor Jeff!" (A lady from our church who is a teacher was visiting the city with her class. It truly is a small world!) After the museum we had dinner at Babbo (Iron Chef Mario Batali's restaurant.) It was an incredible experience! Then we went to The Empire State Building and looked out over the city at night - something everyone needs to do before they die.

On day three we enjoyed visiting The Statute of Liberty and Ellis Island. What an Iconic, inspirational experience! We spent most of the day there but got a quick visit to the New York Library in before heading down to Broadway and taking in the musical Wicked. I wouldn't want to live in New York, but it would be awesome to have regular access to the theater. We enjoyed it so much!

Day four began at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. From there we headed out to Central Park on an absolutely beautiful day! This is the perfect time of the year to visit the city. The weather was perfect. Springtime in New York is cool, but not cold with the trees and flowers in full bloom. (I will say, I am more allergic to something blooming there than I am anything here and the allergies were kicking in big time!) We ended the day in Greenwich Village enjoying the musical Stomp. Incredible!

We slept in on day five (thank you Vacation Nazi!) and then visited The Tribute Center at Ground Zero. It was an inspiring memorial to those who lost their lives on 09/11/01 in the terrorist attack. The memorial includes pictures of all the victims and testimonies from survivors. The events of 09/11 are indelibly imprinted on the souls of Americans and to be there was surreal if not haunting. Twenty years ago, while visiting New York City, Donna and I enjoyed a spectacular view of the city from the top of The World Trade Center. Looking at the place where those towers once stood was a reminder that there are many in this fallen world who hate freedom and everything this nation stands for!

The last thing we did was to visit The American Girl store on 5th Avenue. Robin grew up collecting American Girl dolls and our visit to this three story wonderland for little girls was very special for her. It was a fitting ending for a trip that was mostly hers but enjoyed by us all!

Excellence in ministry - A real smash!

One of our core values at Crossroads Church is to do what we do with excellence. The idea is - If it's worth doing for God, it's worth doing right! We try to practice that week in and week out with every service, activity, outreach, etc.

This week, our Women's Ministry personified this core value with their second annual Joie de Vivre conference. This year's theme, Ever After reminded women they are princesses in God's sight! Everything about the conference: The decor, the banquet, the entertainment, the speaker selection (Nicole Johnson), everything was done with absolute excellence and I am SO proud of Daphne Gaspard and her team of hard working women who provided such an EXCELLENT weekend of ministry for the ladies of our church!

Here's a picture of Daphne (in her fancy princess dress) smashing the negative mirror images so many women have of themselves so they can see themselves through God's eyes!

Reconnected

One of the greatest influences on my life and ministry through the years has been a great man named Denny Duron. As a youth pastor, I used to have Denny in from time to time to speak at youth rallies I hosted here in the Lafayette area. I'd love to tell you my main motive was to expose those young people to one of the greatest preachers I've ever heard, but the truth is I just wanted to get to spend some time with Denny. He is one of the most authentic and inspiring Christians I've ever been around. I almost went to work for him in 1993. One of the most disappointing moments of my life was when I felt I heard God tell me to let Denny know I couldn't accept the position. I moved away not long after that and lost the connection with this great man of God. After returning to Louisiana in 1999, I called a couple of times to invite him to preach for me at Crossroads, but we weren't able to make it happen. A couple of months ago, I had the opportunity to reconnect with Denny through an organization he is helping to coordinate called RAN (Relational Assemblies Network). He asked my help in organizing the Louisiana network and I was more than glad to oblige. (Once again my main motive was getting to spend some time with Denny!) I just went up for a couple of days at his "Vision For A City" conference and it was awesome! The presence of God is all over everything this guy does and I am SO blessed to be reconnected to this great friend and mentor!