My thoughts and prayers go out to our El Paso Missions Team which is made up of 16 of our next generation students and leaders.  They have been serving their hearts out in Juarez, Mexico with our HPC Campus in El Paso, Texas.  The team will spend a week there with Pastors Buck and Esther Zengerle serving many families in need of the hope and love of our Savior.  Check out this update I received from Pastor Buck:

Thanks for praying for the mission’s trip to Juarez.  We have had a wonderful and fruitful trip so far.  We have been at an orphanage in Juarez doing work projects, vacation bible school, and community outreach.  Although so many things have been done, two stand out.  1) We have been able to really bond with the children.  Being able to be there for them, play, and cheer them on has been a blessing to them and for us.  So many beautiful children that just want love.  2) We had an outdoor church service tonight where we had incredible worship, really cool ballet and dramas, and a great word from my new friend Matt Bourgeois.  We feed about 350 people good ol’ American hotdogs and chips.  Many responded to the altar call and we prayed over dozens of people who needed prayer.

We finish at the orphanage tomorrow and then serve at our new HPC Campus in Downtown Juarez on Friday with another evangelistic church service for our brothers and sisters across the border.  Please continue to pray for us as we live out our mission, “to be a healing place for a hurting world”.

What a great weekend we had celebrating Father’s Day at HPC!  I love honoring dads and adding value to the men of the house.  We had great services at all of our campuses and we gave away a grill one deserving dad in every service!!  Dads were taken care of really well!!

On Father’s Day, I had two reflections.  One, I have been blessed with amazing kids!  What did I ever do to deserve them…God is so good to me!  In fact, to celebrate our Father’s Day we had a wild afternoon in TJ Maxx.  We almost got kicked out because we caused such a ruckus!!

Two, I have been blessed to have such great investment from spiritual Father’s that have spoken and invested into my life.  I would not be the man/husband/father I am today without their example.

I had the privilege of spending last weekend with some great friends of ours, Joel & Angel Dyke, pastors of Life Church West Monroe. They are some of the most authentic, real-deal, down-to-earth people you will ever meet. Missionaries at heart, they have taken an older, inward-focused, more traditional gathering & transitioned it into a passionate, progressive, outreach-driven church.

Filled with potential & fully committed to their mission, they are already bringing much needed life to north Louisiana. Their heartbeat matches HPC in so many different ways. I was excited to invest in their key leaders Saturday night & continue their One Prayer series “God Is…” on Sunday morning. We had a blast using the parable of the “Prodigal Son” & discovering how God is a loving Father.

God bless all the belt buckles & cowboy boots of Ouchita Parish! Thanks Joel & Angel-can’t wait to see you again!!

About 2 months ago, I spoke with a guy I didn’t know (Al Aucoin) just before service on a Sunday morning.  He was really upset because his brother, Rudy, had been in a serious car accident, where he wrapped his car around a tree on the driver’s side.  The doctor’s said he was brain dead, he was on life support for 18 days, and in a coma for 6 weeks.  We prayed for him from stage during service.  That week we heard reports that he began to make significant progress.  The doctors were amazed, Al was excited, and Rudy was ready.  Once Rudy was released from the hospital, a team from HPC went to his home for a visit, and prayed with him to receive Jesus!!

People who knew Rudy said, “If Rudy comes to Jesus, it’s truly a miracle!”  God speared his life and touched his heart.  He’s a walking miracle with a new lease on life!  He attended HPC last weekend and heard a message about God’s love.  He responded to the message and God sealed the work in his heart.  He has experienced genuine life change!!  It is truly all about serving ONE!!

Confession time:  when I get sick, I totally wimp out!  Last weekend, a sinus infection hit me so hard I felt like I had been in a head-on collision with a dump truck.  What bothers me most is not the pain that sickness brings…it’s the time-out I have to call in order to get better.  Have you ever found out about a party that was taking place and you weren’t invited? I’m an adrenalin junkie and can’t stand the thought of missing out on so much life.  Rachel thinks it’s funny and says God is trying to slow me down.  Something about the word “slow” just makes me cringe inside. With three kids at the house who are pumped about the summer, I don’t think “slow” will be in any of our vocabularies for at least the next two months.

After speaking the promises of God concerning health and taking plenty of sinus allergy medicine, I’m starting to feel much better.  Just in time to send Alexa off to Kids Camp this weekend…

Our theme for the Kids this year is – “VAULT: Unlocking the Gifts Inside You”.  Camp will be June 12th-14th at Camp Istrouma in Greenwell Springs, LA. We have some awesome activities in store for the kids; things like canoeing, a 100 ft water slide, a blob, zip-line, rock wall and of course tons of swimming. Camp is a great chance for students to make life long friendships, get to know our leaders, and have a personal experience with Jesus!  Your kids will not want to miss out on this amazing, life changing experience.  If you or someone you know is interested, call Kari Smith at HPC for more details (225)753-2273 ext: 293.