My boy, JP Brumfield did a fantastic job closing out Life University for 2008 in his message about putting our faith in action through serving! He is one of the great young leaders in this house who has a contagious passion for the poor and hurting of our community. It brings me such joy and great pride to see the next generation stepping into their callings and flourishing! Great job JP! [check out the pic..Brad Dup putting the mic on JP before speaking…great moment]

What a win Life U has been this year. Thank you to all who tracked along with us through this year. We started out with Pastor Johnny’s series about making 2008 the best year of your life…and finished up talking about taking our lives from, “Me to We”. I couldn’t think of a better way to end a great year. We will truly experience joy and satisfaction in life when we live focused on others!

A great way to experience this joy through the Holiday Season is to take part in our Holiday Outreaches. This Thanksgiving, as a church, we are helping families provide a great meal for the ones they love, and you can be a part! Check out this link to Pastor Dino’s blog for three simple ways you can make this Thanksgiving special for someone else. Also, stay connected to HPC on the web to find out about opportunities to serve during Christmas.

As I am preparing my heart for the Miracle Offering, I read over Psalm 112: 5-9. It tells us of the great promises God gives to the generous! Check it out. It is always exciting to see what God does when people believe the unbelievable and expect the best. This is going to be an amazing weekend!

⁵ All goes well for those who are generous,
who lend freely and conduct their business fairly.

⁶ Such people will not be overcome by evil circumstances.
Those who are righteous will be long remembered.

⁷ They do not fear bad news;
they confidently trust the LORD to care for them.

⁸ They are confident and fearless
and can face their foes triumphantly.

⁹ They give generously to those in need.
Their good deeds will never be forgotten.
They will have influence and honor.

Yesterday, I had the honor to marry a great couple, Shane Comeaux and his precious bride, Mimi.  I have had a great friendship with Shane for the past 15 years. He was one of the 1st guys I met in the early days of the church, and he faithfully served in the original Crosswalk movement for nearly a decade. He was the Mike the Tiger mascot at LSU, and now lives in DC making a difference on Capitol Hill. Mimi is a precious girl with such a sincere heart.  Shane definitely married way out of his league! I am so proud of him and Mimi!!!

What a great services we had at our Highland Campus this past weekend as Pastor Chris Hodges challenged us to, “Prepare for a Miracle”. I love that HPC has always been a church that believes in the Supernatural touching our lives today. We believe that God hasn’t lost His recipe for miracles, and this is so evident as are continuing to pray, plan, and prepare for our Miracle Offering Weekend this Saturday and Sunday! We believe that as families, single moms, high school students, college students, and so many more give they are a part of a God’s miraculous work in our community and around the world.

This weekend is an opportunity for God’s people to give what is temporary to build what is eternal. You see, people who understand eternity have no problem giving…because, in the end we will not be taking anything with us…I Timothy 6:7, “For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either.”

Many will give this weekend because they believe as they give to God, He will use it to touch and change lives for eternity. There is nothing in all of this world that can compare to the value placed on one eternal soul making a commitment for Christ. Miracle Offering Weekend is our chance to give our temporary possessions to make an impact on eternity!

This is going to be an amazing weekend!

Book of Hope experience has been amazing here in Ft. Lauderdale, FL! What a privilege to spend time with Founder, Bob Hoskins, and hear the wonderful and miraculous story of Book of Hope. He’s mega…after listening to him I feel like a Smurf. He is 74 years old and started preaching at age 7, and was speaking in international crusades by 16 years old. Book of Hope has provided nearly 530,000,000 copies of it’s relevant gospel presentation in 155 countries around the globe, and this year alone they will distribute 470 million copies.

Here are some fun pictures of deep sea fishing excursion planned for us during the experience…we had a blast; it was a beautiful day on the water. I caught a big fish but it got away as we were getting it off the hook. The picture below is of and 65 lbs-81 inch sail fish–Huge! A pastor from South Africa caught this bad boy!