My Meeting with the Mayor

I didn't get a chance last week to share how my meeting with Mayor Mantini went. So I thought I would take time today to let you all know. It went well. I was able to listen to him and encourage him in all that he goes through as a mayor. As he spoke, I couldn't help but think how he faced many of the same challenges that a pastor does and this because we both are dealing with people. I asked him my main question for the day, "What we could do to help him in building and blessing our community." His answer wasn't what I expected but one that I through prayer we all can accomplish. "We all" referring to everyone that makes up the NLC and the whole body of Christ in this county. He told me whatever ideas I could come up with to aid the community he would try and support. So there you have it. What do you think we can do to help build and bless this community for Jesus? If you have any ideas, leave a comment. I look forward to what God will speak to us as we seek Him. This community needs you to let God work through you. Amen.

On another note, I gave him a brochure for our Buy-A Biosand Filter to help bring clean water to the people of Africa. I am praying that this is something that the community can back to bless the nations. Pray with me that we see money come in to bring clean drinking water to Africa. I know we face a lot of price increases with oil going up, but we must always be faithful to bring the tithe and offerings into the storehouse. Remember, God is in control of oil not OPEC or any other company. Jesus will take care of you as you keep first things first.

Be Praying

I have a meeting with Mayor Mantini this Thursday. Pray that I can encourage him as mayor of Ford City and let him know that we are here to serve this community. I want to see what we might be able to do to reach this community. And pray also for favor. That a relationship might be built.

The Victory Report

I wanted to share the Victory Report from Thursday night, our annual Easter Egg Hunt. We had 42 kids show up with numerous parents in attendance as well. There were only like 5-10 kids that actually come here in attendance, the rest were from the community. We showed a movie and Tara Stevens gave an altar call. Nine kids came forward to ask Jesus into their heart. Praise the Lord. We were able to give them all Bibles and even gave a couple of Bibles away to some other kids who needed one. It was a great evening. A BIG THANK YOU goes to Tara Stevens for all that she does with Kingdom Bound Kids and Children's Church on Sunday. To Patty Stivason for all of her help. To Al Harriger for all the time that he put into getting stuff ready. To the ladies of our church who stuffed easter eggs. To those who donated candy and eggs. You are all a blessing and I pray that God blesses you all for your kindness in wanting to reach out to this community. Ford City is never going to be the same because of all of you.

I also wanted to say it was wonderful seeing all of the people in church yesterday for Easter. What a blessed time that we had together. Another BIG THANK YOU goes to Tina Cholak, Curt Sirwell, Mark Trimarchi, and Gary Baum as they have shared their testimonies. What a powerful time hearing what Christ has done in each of their lives. To Stan Heffner for a great special. You got to love the God given ability and creativity.

Here is the video that I showed yesterday for those who might want to see it again.

Turning Point

Last night, something was said and it stirred in my spirit. I had to take time to confess and repent this morning to the Lord for not being faithful in prayer. You see, in our bulletin is a list of prayer requests each week. I have gone up and down with remembering to pray and then forgetting to pray for those requests months at a time. Last night I was stirred in my spirit because that is a simple task that I can do as a brother in Christ that could open the doors to greater possibilities. I have been a hypocrite for wanting us to all pray and then not praying myself. I confess this and ask for your forgiveness.

I believe that today is a turning point for me in this. I really felt the love of God explode into my heart this morning as I repented for my laziness and hypocrisy. When I took time to pray for the list today, I just felt great zeal as I went through the list. It was a wonderful time.

I had been seeking the Lord because I felt like something wasn't right in my life. He showed me that priorities had gotten all out of whack. Today, He is leading me in reestablishing what is important in life, family, and church family. It's always Jesus first, others second, and me third.

Another thought that came out of last night was that there are so many things that the Bible mentions for Christians to do to be more like Jesus, that if we were busying our selves in doing them, we wouldn't have time to hate, gossip, slander, etc. Powerful thought.

Happy 2nd Birthday

I just wanted to say that my son, Isaiah, turns 2 today. What an exciting age. I know about the "Terrible Two's" and we are experiencing some of those things. But he is just trying to spread his wings. Mom and Dad are trying, best we can, to keep those wings clipped to a point. We do not want to hinder him from flying, we just want him to learn how to obey the rules of flying in this world. That it's all about Jesus!

Observations

Since Bethany had the baby, I thought I would share some thoughts from the process. We were believing that the birth of this baby was prophetic for the church as we enter a new season. As I began to think through this, the Lord gave me some thoughts. One was that though we were ready, we were not really ready. I guess you could say we were ready to a point but there was still things to be done when she woke me up at 2:30 Monday morning telling me we needed to get ready to go. I was not prepared for her to say that to me at 2:30 in the morning. I was in a deep sleep and was startled by the announcement. But never the less, I jumped into action to get ready to leave. So as a church, we can be ready, but we will never be completely ready for what God wants to do. Try and try as we might, when He decides to move, we will only be able to react with what we have prepared and then we'll just have to move forward.

Another thing was that when it was time to have the baby, it only took an hour. This, to me, symbolized that when God is ready, it will happen and it will be quick.

Let's not diminish the small beginnings but embrace every step of the way as God prepares us to give birth to new ministry in this area. I don't believe there will be enough time to blog all of the things God will do here in the NLC and the community. Let's continue to seek Him and if there are any thoughts that God gives you as we continue to look toward Him in giving birth to spiritual things, send me a message. I want to hear from you.

Check This Out...

This is a video by the Christian parody band Apologetix. It goes along with this series "The Reason I Live." The guys mentioned knew why they lived and because of that, were willing to die. Tell me what you think.

Here he is...

Here is a picture of the tough little trooper. He is doing well and doesn't even remember falling off of a chair because he is still climbing. That is good for him but bad for mommy. I'm a boy so I understand a little better that mommy but that is why you have mommy's. They are filled with tender love and compassion.

Looking forward to celebrating with you all tomorrow.

Another First...

I've had an interesting week. As you all know, Bethany had our first baby girl Monday morning. Tuesday night we had another first. Isaiah crawled up on one of our dining room chairs to put dada's phone back and fell off of the chair, gashing his nose open on a board that was sticking our from the wall. After taking him to the ER at Armstrong Hospital, they thought it best to send him to Children's Hospital for a plastic surgeon to stitch it. My dad was able to go with me and we were there from about 10:00pm till 3:00am. It was a long night. So now he has a big gash on his nose that looks better than it did when it happened. Thank the Lord that His hand has been upon us this week. Isaiah is back to his normal self and Chloe is enjoying being a part of the family and getting to know her brother. Her personality is way more calm than Isaiah's was at her age and dad and mom are enjoying getting to cuddle her for long periods of time. Isaiah even enjoys getting in a quick cuddle every now and then. But only real quick because he has things to accomplish. Praise the Lord.

It has been a long week. I still can't believe that it is already Thursday. But thank the Lord that we are slowly getting back into a routine schedule in the morning. I look forward to seeing and celebrating with everyone this Sunday.

By Herself...

Here is another picture of Chloe Renee. I forgot to add yesterday that she was 8 pounds and 21 inches long. She is a sleeper. Well, after 4 in the morning she went to sleep till about 8:30. Bethany is continuing to do great. And I'm trying to get things done at home and at work. It's going to be a quick week with so much to get done. The Lord will lead us through. It will just take some time to get used to how to get everybody ready in the morning.

Family...

Isn't family wonderful? Yesterday, I got to celebrate being on this earth for 30 years with my family. Today I get to celebrate the birth of our daughter, Chloe Renee. She was born March 10 at 5:25 am. Here is the scoop. Bethany wakes up around 1ish and is having some big contractions about 15 - 20 minutes apart. She decides to walk around the house to see if they will stick and not go away like they had been doing. That was a wonderful thing for her to do, because after walking around, her contractions were strong and every 2 - 5 minutes. That didn't give us a lot of time. My mom made it to the house around 3:30 am and we headed down 28 to the midwife center that is located on Penn Ave. near 29th Street in Pittsburgh. After arriving there around 4:15 am, her water broke. It was a close call. Bethany later told me that on the way down 28 she felt the urge to push but didn't want to tell me because we were already going slightly over the speed limit. But thank the Lord we made there. After only being in labor after her water broke for an hour, she had the baby. She couldn't believe that it had only been an hour. When finding this out, she let out a great big PRAISE THE LORD! He had answered her prayers for a quick birthing process that went fairly easy, well as easy as the birthing process can go. She did have some tearing again but nothing near as bad as she had the last time. Mom and baby are at home now, yes at home, that is the beauty of going to a midwife. Once you are able to go and want to go, you can go. Isaiah is enjoying being a big brother so far. This is a picture of him and her. Sorry it's side ways. Enjoy! And thanks for all of your prayers.

Who is Closer to God?

I heard a quote the other day and I thought it was interesting. So here goes...

If there is a hypocrite between you and God, who is closer to God?

Something to think about with so many people in the church finding fault with people in the church. We must always remember that we all are beggars telling other beggars where to find a piece of bread.

May we all find ourselves at the feet of Jesus and not standing there looking at others at the feet of Jesus thinking to ourselves, "Lord, if You only knew who was touching You."

* On another note, Bethany had a good check up today and the midwife did some things to hopefully help stimulate the labor process. Since then, she has had some strong contractions. So, I may be looking into my daughters eyes very soon.

ALABASTER...

I enjoyed the beginning of our "The Reason I Live" series. Gary Baum shared a powerful testimony of what God did in his life. I look forward to hearing other testimonies as the weeks go on of what God did in peoples lives.

Thinking back to Luke 7:36-50, I want to encourage us to be people who come to the Lord's feet with alabaster jars. Not that we really have to have a jar, but coming to His feet in humility with the earthen vessels that we are. Laying at His feet every morning and knowing that He will be with us throughout the day.

Let us be people who passionately pursue Jesus. And that everything we do screams that Jesus is truly the reason that I live.

I share a testimony from today to encourage you all. I was going to a meeting earlier today and on the way across the Kittanning Bridge there was a man who ran out of gas right as you get on the bridge near Applewald. He was backing up traffic and no body was helping him get his car off the bridge. I pulled over and helped him push his car off the bridge and then took him to get a can of gas. He only had a few cents on him and was heading to the scrap yard to make some money. I bought him a gallon of gas and then took him back. He thanked me and I just let him know that I wanted to be a servant like Jesus and that was what it's all about. What a beautiful moment. I pray for him that he was truly touched to the heart and that one day I will see him serving the Lord.

Be blessed!