All this past weekend, Mike Haman kept reminding me of what I believe is happening at Healing Place Church right now:

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled.
-Matthew 5:6

Witnessing this firsthand during this weekend’s services was one of the most memorable moments I have shared serving here at HPC. I believe it is about 900+ weeks that we have been a church. After watching well-over 500 people come forward to be filled with the Holy Spirit’s power I know that this was one weekend I will never forget. Here are a few take-aways from all of it:

• People are facing tough days. There is a pressure I see on people that only the peace of Jesus can address. And I see that peace happening around the altars at church.
• Teaching and speaking on the baptism of the Holy Spirit is needed but it doesn’t have to be done under an awkward, spooky, dividing shadow of “we have it and you don’t.”
• Tradition has tried to divide the Church on the flows and results of a Holy Spirit encounter. I believe the Holy Spirit unites rather than fragments.
• Everybody at every age, every place in life, and of every background – I saw them all responding, wanting all God has for them. I love watching the diversity in the seekers at church.
• I am glad we unpacked these thoughts together (Bro. Jim Rentz, Mike Haman, and me), all sharing in a conversation about the precious power of the Holy Spirit. I’ve never seen it communicated that way before.

So, being so encouraged by what I believe was one of the most amazing two days I have experienced in church, I want to encourage you to go for all of God – all that He has to give you so you can live a life that lifts up Jesus, empowered by the Holy Spirit. We need it all today.

QUESTION: What’s been your experience lately with the Holy Spirit’s work? I would love to hear a comment on what the Lord is doing in your life.

NOTE: If you missed hearing this message this weekend (or if you just want to hear it again), you can catch it all again tonight online at 6:30pm CST and 8:00pm CST and again this Friday at 11:00am CST. Just go to online.healingplacechurch.org and join in for church online.

I’m so excited to get to post the timeline for the next several weeks as we transition into the new Healing Place Church Arena! Here is a look at what’s coming up:

24 hours of prayer in the Healing Place Church Arena
March 24 7pm thru March 25 7pm

Vision Night in the Healing Place Church Arena
March 25 7pm

Servolution 2010 read more about this…
March 26 thru April 4

First Services in the New Healing Place Church Arena
March 28 at 9am & 11:15am (a 3rd service will be added – time TBA)

Midweek Services move back to Wednesday Nights
Epic Student Ministries begin meeting at the “Annex” (what we’re going to call the auditorium we’re in right now at the Highland campus)
March 31

Easter
April 3 (Saturday) 4pm & 6:15pm
April 4 (Sunday) 9am & 11:15am

Healing Place Church Arena Dedication Services
April 25

ARC’s All Access 2010 Conference read more about this…
April 27-29 in the Healing Place Church Arena

There’s so much excitement around here about moving in to the new Healing Place Church Arena! We’ve trusted God and He has been faithful to bring us this far – we know we can trust Him to carry us into the future, too!

Thank you to all of you who have already made a commitment to Kingdom Builders 2010! If you haven’t made yours yet, you can do that online by clicking here any time.

This is all for His glory and for His purpose of reaching people with the message of hope and grace and forgiveness in Jesus Christ. Thanks for being a part of helping to build God’s Kingdom together here at Healing Place Church!

I’d like to encourage you that if you missed this past weekend’s message on Total Trust in a Total God, you can come check it out at HPC Online tonight at 8pm CST. I believe it was a message we all need to hear and let God use to build our faith and trust in Him for the days and months ahead.

DeLynn and I are so excited about the upcoming weeks for us as a church. We have prayed, we have sacrificed, we have given, and now the time to move into the new Healing Place Arena is almost here! As we have thought about moving into the new building, the one thing we anticipate the most is seeing all the new lives that will be healed and changed forever. That is what it is all about–changing lives and impacting eternity.

This weekend we’ll begin making and giving towards our 2010 Kingdom Builder Commitments. We want to encourage you to prayerfully consider the part God has for you in this journey. Even though the world we live in today is uncertain and we are facing new challenges that may make it seem difficult to make a commitment, we know that God is faithful. And when we put our TOTAL dependence and TOTAL trust in a TOTAL God, He will never fail us. The Bible says in Psalm 68:19, “Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.” All we have to do is surrender our lives TOTALLY to Him–physically, emotionally, financially–and He takes care of the rest. There’s a little more on this thought in this video we posted on the HPC facebook page (click here to watch the video).

As you pray about your commitment this week, remember God’s faithfulness to you and that He is your source.

YOU CAN MAKE YOUR COMMITMENT ONLINE
For your convenience, we’ve set up a Kingdom Builder Commitment Form online. If you’ve prayed and are ready to make a commitment now, you can make a commitment here. That link is always available, so anytime you would like to make a commitment you can go to the form.

HIGHLAND ROAD CLOSURE
This coming weekend, there will be a road closure at the railroad tracks on Highland Road near I-10. So if you’re planning to be with us at the Highland Campus and are coming from that direction, you will be re-routed down Old Perkins Road to Airline Highway. You’ll probably want to allow a little extra time for that detour. If you’d like more information, we have maps available on our website at http://healingplacechurch.org.

HUGE HPC ARENA ANNOUNCEMENT
Another exciting thing about this week is that during our services we’ll be announcing our timeline for moving into the new HPC Arena! We’re looking forward to celebrating that with you!

Thank you for doing your part so that more people can enjoy the hope and joy that we’ve found in the love of Jesus. We’ll see you this week!

I want to pass on a “heads up” about this Saturday’s HPC Global Workshop. It starts at 9am and will be wrapped up by 12pm in the Highland Campus sanctuary. If you’re planning, hoping, praying about, considering, or just curious about going on a mission trip this year with Healing Place Church Global, this is for you. In fact, if you want to be included in any of our missions teams this year you must attend, including especially our missions trips to Haiti.

For more information you can contact Kim Braud at 225.753-2273 x 239 or kim.braud@healingplacechurch.org.

A verse hit me this morning that really encouraged me that God has not forgotten those in Haiti and other parts of the world that are just so smothered with suffering.

He will rescue them from oppression and violence, for precious is their blood in his sight.
-Psalm 72:14 NIV

What a promise! God sees them, He counts them as precious, and He will rescue them. Our God is an awesome God. Our Savior is a compassionate Savior.

I want to encourage you to keep praying for Haiti. There’s still so much need there – in fact our response to the need is just beginning. We’re in this for the long haul, just like we have been and continue to be committed to southern Africa and those suffering there, and our poverty-stricken areas right here close to home in Baton Rouge and Donaldsonville.

God’s promise here isn’t just for Caucasians or African-Americans or Asians or Latin Americans. It isn’t just for Baton Rouge. And it isn’t just for Haiti or Mozambique. It’s not just for the rich, and it’s not just for the poor. God’s love and His promise is for people. ALL people. All kinds of people. That’s what HPC Global is striving to do – help people everywhere find hope and healing in the love and grace of Jesus Christ.

I hope you’ll join in at the HPC Global Workshop Saturday morning and ask God to show you your part in the effort for God’s glory.

Some things you do because you need to do them. But then there are some things you need to do that you just really want to do, too, whether you really need to or not. Well this is one of those weekends. We need some family time. We need to get together and celebrate how awesome God has been to us and how He has been there for us as a church through this journey of being Kingdom Builders. We need to do this – it is important for us. But wow do we ever want to, too!

So, this weekend, following all the weekend services at the Highland Campus we’re gonna do just that. We’re going to celebrate around the lake with each other, with our kids, with plenty of BBQ, with a whole lot of fun. It’s time for some family time togetherness!

Also this weekend, I get to kick off a new series of messages at HPC called “Total Trust in a Total God” – a series I think is going to be really strong. God is our TOTAL God – and we can put our TOTAL trust in Him.

So get the family together, invite a friend to come to church with you, and let’s have a blast getting our grub on together!