Uganda

Last week I took my first trip to Uganda. You may recall that our family visited the neighboring African country of Kenya a little over a year ago which turned out to be one of the highlights of my life! That experience set the bar high for Uganda, but this wonderful African nation did not disappoint! What a warm, welcoming group of people I came in contact with!

My friend Scott Holmes has an orphanage in Uganda. Crossroads has contributed to assist in the expansion of their facilities. I got the chance to see the work in progress and visit the existing home as well. I was delighted to see what God is doing in the lives of these precious Ugandan children and the adults that care for them. Grace Home has 50 children that they are currently taking care of. They house, feed and educate them and provide them with healthcare. In addition to these children, the home also provides an education for another 350 children who would have no access to school otherwise. Simply amazing! The new facility will house 150 children and introduce Christ to a village that is primarily Muslim!

My primary purpose in visiting Uganda was to tour the Watoto Children's Home that my daughter Robin will be working at starting from June - November of this year. Watoto is an incredible ministry rescuing and caring for children who had been sold into human trafficking. Robin will be working in their nursery. Dad was thrilled to find a home that is run with complete excellence, taking every precaution to ensure the safety of those that volunteer with the ministry. I've got to be honest, I wanted to gather up all 48 of those precious babies in the home and bring them back to Louisiana with me!

Full Circle Moment!

We just had the privilege of hosting the National Masters Commission Conference at Crossroads last week! Hundreds of young people from all over America traveled to Lafayette for two days of incredible ministry featuring Jeanne Mayo, Denny Duron and Lloyd Zeigler. These three people have been so influential in my life through the years. What a joy it was to see all these young people get the opportunity to be impacted by the ministry of these World Changers! 

The Conference was such a full-circle experience for me. In 1989 Donna and I traveled to Phoenix, AZ and met Lloyd for the first time. He introduced us to a new program at their church called Master's Commission and told me they were interested in seeing other churches start the program in their cities. In 1991 we launched the first Master's Commission program outside of Phoenix and today there are hundreds of programs around the world! 

Job Security

So after 14 years (this coming Easter) serving as the Lead Pastor of Crossroads Church, the members have voted to elect me as their pastor in an indefinite tenure, which means I won't be voted on again and as long as I do what I'm supposed to I will serve as the Lead Pastor of Crossroads Church until I retire, resign, go home to be with Jesus... You get the picture. Up until now I've been up for reelection every three years. It was a unanimous vote and a huge confidence boost that I am very thankful for. I've never felt insecure about it, but with the things that we are taking on, like planting additional campuses across America, I felt it was important to have this kind of certainty about my role as the leader of our church. 

We are so thankful that God brought us back to Lafayette to serve the most wonderful people in the most incredible community on earth and we can't wait to see what God has in store in the days to come! 

Honored to Serve

Today I was elected to serve as the Presbyter for the Lafayette Section within the Louisiana District of the Assemblies of God. I am honored to be selected and I look forward to serving the churches of our area through this leadership role.

My dad was an Assemblies of God pastor, it is my heritage. My children both feel called to the ministry, so it is their future. I feel such a strong burden to be a good steward of what I've been given and help posture the movement for a positive tomorrow. This sense of responsibility was the motive in allowing my name to be considered for the Presbytery. I pray that God will help me and those I will work alongside to make the decisions and shape the policies that will lead to the greatest spiritual harvest we have ever known!