Church Managment Software

If you are aware of good church management software, please let me know. There are so many options out there. I would like to hear from people that are using a product they really like.

Do Not Give Up

At 10 AM on Tuesday mornings we have a prayer meeting at the church. Over the years it has been mostly ladies and the senior pastor. For the most part, the ladies have been the "grandma's of our church". I can't tell you how my life has been impacted by these "saints". One lady was in her upper 90's and still faithful to pray every week. I'll never forget when I became the lead pastor and began to attend this time of prayer. When these ladies pray, they pray! They have been a great source of strength for me and for Living Hope. We will never truly know the full impact of their investment in prayer. Throughout the thirteen years as pastor I have lost some of my prayer warriors. My loss has been heavens gain. There is still one lady who comes on Tuesday's who has been a part of this group since it started years ago. Marion has been so faithful to pray. I know there are many moments that she misses her long time friends and yet she keeps on pressing on. When I think of Marion, this verse from Galatians 6:9 come to mind. " Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up". (NIV)

I pray that God will richly bless Marion for her faithfulness and will spread the desire for prayer to some more men and women of the church I pastor.

No prayer, no power!

"REACH"
the current series at LIVING HOPE

aug. 26 Reach Up (Our relationship with God)
sept. 2 Reach In (What's in your Heart?)
sept. 9 Reach Over (Your relationship to others in the church)
sept 16 Reach Out (Missions)

I'm Back

Sorry I haven't written for a while. I just returned home from being gone for two weeks. The first week I attended the Assemblies of God General Council in Indianapolis. The second week my family enjoyed in Branson. When we returned to the Twin Cities we were able to attend a Minnesota Twins game. Santana pitched a record setting game. 17 strike outs. Cuddyer hit a home run that was one row ahead of us and six seats over. That was pretty exciting.

It's always good to have a little time away, but it's equally as good to get home and back into the saddle. There are a lot of things coming up at Living Hope. Over the next few days I will try and highlight a number of them.

Contagious Joy!

Last night I had the privilege of baptizing 5 people from our Alcoholics Victorious ministry. Wow was that exciting. At 6 PM I met with them to explain the meaning of water baptism. After we spent some time at their meeting place we headed over to the Mississippi River. It was so much fun to be around brand new believers in Jesus. They had great questions, high expectations and contagious joy.

There is nothing like a brand new believer in Jesus. To think that God would send His only son to die on the cross for our sins and instead of punishing us He forgives us and gives us a brand new start. Wow! God is so awesome. I was personally challenged last night to make sure that I am in a constant attitude of appreciation and wonder in regards to the grace and mercy of God.

Something else that brought me joy was to watch a man from our church, Mike Neyssen, lead this ministry. He is a pastor to these wonderful people. He encourages them, pushes them, teaches them, prays for them and loves them. Mike is a former bar owner and alcoholic who has experienced an incredible transformation through Jesus Christ. It was a privilege to have him along side me as together, we baptized these wonderful people.

If you are struggling with an addiction and would like some help, contact Mike Neyssen at 632-5022 or mikeneyssen@hotmail.com. Alcoholics Victorious meets every Wednesday, 6 PM at the AA building in Little Falls. (Corner of 5th & 5th NW)

AG General Superintendent

Thomas Trask, the Assembly of God General Superintendent announced last week that he was stepping down. He is currently completing his second year of a four year term. Rev. Trask grew up in Brainerd, Mn, a half an hour from where I live.

With this surprising announcement, this years general council meeting in August will prove to be very interesting. I would ask that everyone be in prayer as the council votes in our next leader. I personally think that my Minnesota superintendent would do an outstanding job, but I am selfish and want to keep him here.

There is a blog sight set up to encourage discussion regarding this vote. You can check it out at futureag.blogspot.com

Corner Coffee Grand Opening

I want to brag about a former teen who attended Living Hope. Scott Woller is now Married (Amber) and has two beautiful girls. He group up in the small town of Upsala where he was greatly influenced by his high school football coach, Jim Drill. Jim attends Living Hope and that is how Scott connected with us. After attending Evangel University and then becoming a Youth Pastor in Lubbock, Texas, the Lord has led him to downtown Minneapolis. From Upsala to Minneapolis, God works in mysterious ways.

Scott and Amber have a dream to have a church on several corners of downtown Minneapolis and beyond. Thus their church is called CornerChurch. Their goal is to share the love of Jesus to the residents of Minneapolis through a coffee ministry. This week they are holding the grand opening of Corner Coffee, located at 514 N 3rd Street, Mpls. Scott has already spent several hours in this building sharing his faith. Corner Coffee is meeting in the former Montana Coffeehouse. The place where Corner Church was holding their services. They were provided an opportunity to purchase this company and lease the building.

For more information regarding CornerChurch and Corner Coffee, go to www.cornerchurch.tv