Dry spell, Have you ever been in a dry spell?

Sorry for the dry spell. I haven't been keeping up with all the great blogs from John Bishop and Seth McRae, They are just a hard act to follow. You should know that they have a team of experts that help them with all of those great features.

I was asked this weekend about what has been happening in Longview and I thought I would take a minute and show you some of our recent sets and invite you to come and join us Sunday at 11:00 am.


So lets dive into some photo's and I will tell you a little bit about it. The first photo is from our Ark series with the Tiger. We weren't able to book the tiger so we had a surprise visit from the Living Hope Rhino and the Gorilla, Now in keeping with my fellow campuses if you can tell me who you think was in these suits I will award a small price to any non-staff members.

The Rhino was a big hit with the kids.

If you are a Living Hope attendee you know that we are currently in a series that has gotten a lot of publicity and big push back from the community. Must of the objection is centered around the use of the word sex in our sign. I personally am amazed at how the community can see the word every where in our society and think that the church should not talk about what God has to say about a subject that he authored.

Our worship team is one of the best, EACH and every week they get better and better. Come check it out this last week we had a Pan Cake feed serenaded by worship practice. Come join us this week for biscuits and gravy. Ricky and Penny have teamed up to provide some really great food. Breakfast starts at 10:15 with worship to follow. Sean Batterberry and the team will, I am sure bring glory to the heart of God and bless you besides.

We have been meeting in Longview since February and I have seen God do so much in the lives of many many people we will be having another baptism on the 4th of November. I wanted to return to the Cowlitz river, but with the cooler weather thought it better to Invite all of the Longview campus down to Brush Prairie for a 11th year anniversary and Baptism if you have never been to one of our spontaneous Baptisms you must come and experience what God can and will do in your heart.

Until the next time, keep the faith and remember Jesus Loves lost people.

Prayer Breakfast of Clark County

Today I arose early to attend the Sixth Annual Mayors' and Community Leaders Prayer Breakfast. I have to say having attended these events in the past I expected the same old same old thing, But I was surprised by three high quality spirit filled people who said some things that moved me to tears. Yes to tears!

Testimonial Speaker (Rick Campfield) COO -US Digital - Rick is just an ordinary guy who has put God first through out his carrier. What I loved about his presentation was right there in front of almost 400 business leaders he had the courage to address the issue of the politically correct bunch who have taken over the business world so much that we can no longer share our faith with those who work for us. I was exited to hear that the leaders of US Digital still pray for Gods intervention in their day to day business. Rick was real clear about who he serves and invited anyone who wanted to know more about Jesus to come-up and speak with him afterward. Guys like Rick are my hero's.

Keynote Speaker (Karen Kingsbury) Novelist- Usually people who wright well don't speak well,

But Karen had a very classy smooth presentation. Her message was a Gospel presentation using the pages from her life (she was real) to teach people about how Jesus has impacted her life and to pave the way for others to follow. I really liked the way she used the story about her children to let us know that we need to choose, are we going to Heaven of Hell, and to drive home the point that we don't have a lot of time left to make up our mind, followed by the clincher to the pushy Cristian that pushes the undecided toward Disneyland not Jesus. Good job Karen!!

National Anthem (Rey Reynolds) of the Vancouver police Department- This guy can sing!!

what impressed me more was that he caught the mood and the sweet spirit of Jesus when he started out by blessing us with the opening verse to Amazing Grace how sweet the Sound. As I looked around the room it looked like One of those moments at Living Hope Church, People every where were wiping the tears from their eyes.

I want to personally thank Scott and Sam Mikel for inviting me and the other pastors to this very special event. Their investment in the community is making a big difference. I pray for more of these kind of people to step up and out for Jesus. We need help to develope big tigers from little cubs.

Do you have a Tiger by the Tail

Wow what a weekend, Lions and Tigers and bears Oh my!

This last weekend was very exciting because we had a 350 lb tiger giving kisses to our senior pastor John Bishop. At one point John failed to remember, don't take your eye off the tiger, and as he always says remember to expect the unexpected. Please note the size of those paws.

And that there is no trainer holding this cat back. Is that the look of surprise on John's face or what? How was he able to keep his balance and his wits about him?

What would you do under these circumstances?

Can you say nice kitty. Maybe this is pay back for all those cat jokes that John has told over the years.

I know that I am glad that the wildest thing we had at our campus was Zack Gibson in a gorilla suit, and i am good with that.

Upon returning to the church on Sunday afternoon, Kathryn, M-G, Anna and I were treated to the opportunity of a life time. Getting our picture taken with a Bengal tiger. The process was wonderful to watch and experience. The tiger had this whole ritual that we went through for every picture. First they gave him a big ball of ground meat then he would eat it, lick the stage clean walk around in a circle and lay down. That was our Que to walk behind him and crouch down for the picture. I'm telling you that was a rush! How do you keep your eye on the tiger and smile for the camera? I have to say I was so proud of Kathryn she had to take a risk that was way out of her comfort zone. We learned from the group ahead of us to walk normal not sneak behind the tiger and definitely don't tickle the tiger.

The wonderful thing about all of the commotion was that out of the almost 3,000 extra people that came because they were curious, God got their attention just long enough to tell them how much he loves them, nearly 800 crossed over that line of faith to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Glory to God in the highest.

We had a similar experience at our campus with many of our people coming forward for re-dedication and prayer. God is so good.

Please plan to join us this week-end as we start a new series about sex-ed.

Give back, Invest in the young, It's worth it!

A couple of weeks ago we were fortunate to be able to support our daughter as she was selected to play in " The First Tee Open at Pebble Beach". We had the opportunity to watch and be a part of the Champions tour up close and personal. It was a wonderful outing and one that all young golfers should strive to be a part of. It gives them all some thing to look forward too and work hard with a goal.

Anna my 17 year old daughter was paired up with Peter Jacobson for a three day tournament.you could not ask for a better role model for your child, he was great and so unselfish with his time, talent, and attention. I was very amazed that after two long days of competition, Peter took the time to give Anna a two hour lesson. He didn't have to do that, he still had another long day of tournament golf ahead of him, his back was hurting and he hadn't had dinner but he took the time to encourage and give a lesson. That's called giving back to your sport.

My goal and pray is that God will give me the strength and insight to do a better job of investing in those who like me have chosen to go into full time ministry. To give selflessly to better the kingdom of God.

Changing Places Changing Faces

Wow, things can change fast, Just when we were getting settled into our new location at Kelso High School, They come back from summer and let us know that we will not be able to use the auditorium on September 9th or for two months after that.

So we are working on a new location for the 9th of September, one option is the building once used by Goodwill, this building would work well for our needs, but we are being told by the city planners that we will have to sprinkle the building prior to using it. We have a cost estimate for about $30,000. Our hope and prayer is that the building owner will see this as an up grade that will benefit them as much or more than us and agree to complete the work. With required permits and construction schedule we will not be able to get in by the 9th. So I have asked the owner if we can possibly use the cafeteria to meet in until our space is ready. Pray that this all works out.

God has been good and many lives have been and continue to be touched. Pray also that we know and see clearly the things he has for our church.

Only God!

xxx week end

Well I just heard the message on porn in America today. I have to admit that I wasn't aware that the problem is as big as it is. The thing that really shocked me is that because it is such a private thing and that is so accessible on the Internet . You really don't know how many are hooked on it. You don't know who they are and for lots of them they just pass it off as no big deal and they consider it very acceptable especially the teens. The speaker said more money is spent on the porn industry than on all of the professional sports combined.



I was shocked at how many of these young people are hungry and open to hear about Jesus Christ. They have this hole in their life that they are trying to fill with porn, we have the antidote, only Jesus can really fill that hole. We need to share and do it meekly with the love of God. I was so impressed years ago when I first heard the definition of meekness. The speaker said a good illustration of meekness is a horse that has been trained to turn when you lay the reins on the neck. The best (meek) horse is the one that turns quickly and agilely transferring the riders wishes to the horse. This a true measure of the horses meekness, jerking the reins or yelling at the horse only confuses the horse and frustrates the rider. Share the love of Jesus with meekness and draw people to him more effectively. They need to hear, we have the opportunity to speak, and God gets the glory. Don't be afraid to talk to people, we have answer that will bring them freedom.

July 4th

This year was my second year at the Matson family 4th of July celebration. The thought that we can no longer find the family values and patriotism in America is truly false. We had a great time, BBQ, swimming, basketball, volleyball, fire works, fellowship, friends, and family. Hope you had a great celebration to. The Matsons are doing a great job of holding up the values that made America the great place that it is, to live, and love God.

Change in the Summer

How is your summer going? Drop me a blog and let me know what God is doing in your life.