Today we have been participating in a fast from sun-up to sun-down to pray specifically for our Missions Teams on the ground in Honduras and in Swaziland, Africa.  Here’s a portion of the post from Pastor Dino about this call to prayer.

“Right now, HPC has three full-scale missions teams overseas: one in Honduras working with Martin and Wendi Williams and their great ministry there, one in Swaziland at our HPC campus there, and another on the plane right now headed for Swaziland. (Plus, we just had one team return from our campus in Mozambique.)…

So, a sun-up to sun-down fast for the purpose of praying for servolution in Africa and Honduras. Who’s ready to miss some food for the cause?”

Our Serve Team and Refuge High School crew arrived safely in Johannesburg, South Africa early this morning and they are on their way to meet up with our HPSM interns and others who are fully engaged in creating a servolution at the Go Global South African Campus at HPC_Swaziland.

Our Honduras Team has been divinely appointed as first responders after the 7.1 Earthquake just off the coast of Honduras early this morning.  Here’s a post from Rob Gros (one of the team leaders) reporting on their work there.

“To not hold in suspense, everyone is safe!

Now for the context. Early this morning at 2:36am there was a 7.1 earthquake off the coast of La Ceiba, Honduras – 95km from where we are. For over 1 minute the earth shook, some interns snored while we all were figuring what was happening. The medical and dental brigade were off site in the mountains of Las Minas (4 hours away) in tents when it struck. The commotion woke the whole village and the line of 578 patients began at 3:30am instead of 7am as scheduled. Please pray for strength of our crew has little sleep and an earthquake can’t stop what God is going to do.

The whole group was under a tsunami watch for a while but since the earthquake was only 10km deep, the watch faded quickly. Not bad for an early morning quickly followed up by a local praise and worship parade from the village church at 3:30am singing praises to God for His hand of protection. What a morning. God’s hand is close, His Spirit is thick, and our hearts are filled with joy, thankfulness, and expectancy of what God has in store for the day.

Please keep our team in prayer (especially physical strength for the medical brigade) and for continued safety for the people of Honduras.”

I am so amazed that God chooses to use some Cajuns in South Louisiana to travel the globe and serve His people.  What a great privilege.  Use us up Lord, and let us never forget that our call is to reach this world by serving ONE! Servolution GLOBAL!!

Our Summer Internship Program for junior high and high school students, Navigate and Saturate, got kicked off  with a bang!  They had a weekend retreat packed with awesome worship and teaching sessions, dress-up nights, crazy prizes and a luau.

What an amazing thought…the 120 kids enrolled are committing their entire summer to the cause of Christ…not a lazy oversleeping, TV-watching, all-about-me summer.  Instead, they are putting themselves in position for learning, growing, serving, and having way too much fun!  It is awesome seeing the students loving Jesus and living life to the fullest.  This will be a fantastic summer!!

Last Night at our College and 20-Somethings gathering, The Hub, we had Redneck Dress-Up Night.  You are looking at a picture of the #1 Redneck, Matt Bourgeois, our Donaldsonville Campus Youth Pastor.  We have some serious Rednecks in the mix and some individuals that are just plain Redneck to the bone!!  No matter how old I get or how many years I have been out of youth ministry I still love a dress-up night.  They are the best!

In the midst of all of the craziness, the team at the Hub started a series called, “Just Text Me”, where a panel of leaders takes various questions from the crowd on some hard-hitting issues.  The team did an amazing job answering the questions with the heart of Chirst.  I believe it brought freedom to a lot of people.

I am so proud of the team lead by Jason Laird.  They do an incredible job to reach out to this generation.  I am so excited about all that God will do with this group of young people!!

You never know what you will get when it comes to a leadership environment at Healing Place Church.  We had so much fun with the Leadership Communities and MVPs at our Spring Leadership Retreat in New Oreleans this past weekend.   We have some of the best of the best…All-Star leaders!!

We shared in strong teaching, intimate worshp, and powerful prayer.  We enjoyed being together, and learning a lot about one another…Paul Berry’s pranks, Chad Dinkel’s cheesy jokes, Melissa Gremillion’s walk-a-thon and Johnny Green’s wardrobe…it was definitely unforgettable.  Their passion for the lost inspries me and thier competitive spirit scares me.

A big thank you to all those who worked so hard to make this weekend happen.  After being with these key leaders, I sense a bright future for our church.  Check this feedback from two of our leaders:

“SO RELEVANT!  We just need to have that renewing, that confirmation that we’re doing what God has called us to do. My spirit has certainly been renewed and I’m ready to fight the good fight again!

“The facility was excellent.
The goodie basket a surprise!
The speakers were the BEST.
The attention to detail was meticulous.
The laughter was plentiful and a medicine to our soul.
The WORD was STRONG.
The fellowship was encouraging and sweet.
The contagious desire to SERVE more….PRICELESS!”

It is hard to believe that the year for Healing Place School of Ministry is coming to a close.  Their official graduation is this weekend.  These students have poured their hearts into serving this house over the past nine months…and now is the time to CELEBRATE!  This is a short word of encouragement for these amazing next generation leaders:

Thank you for all of your hard work and for the investment you have made into Healing Place Church.  Thank you for the opportunity you have given us, as a staff, to sow into your lives over the past nine months.  As this season comes to a close, I want to challenge you in several areas:  Throw a party, have a good time, and celebrate.  All of you made a commitment back  in August and now have finished what you started…that is a great accomplishment which deserves to be celebrated.  Do not forget to look back and reflect on lessons you have learned.  Life happens so fast, if we fail to reflect we miss the power of each moment.  Most importantly, make a transition.  Take the lessons you have learned and continue to move forward, because your best days are ahead of you.  Trust God at every turn and He will continue to carry you through.