Amazing Video and other EPIC Stuff

This post is for all you EPIC students.  Here are a couple things… FIRST, if you haven’t seen this video of BRIAN WELCH form guitarist of KORN, you need to watch it.  Pay attention to how he first came to turn to Christ (from his realtor).

http://www.iamsecond.com/#/seconds/Brian_Welch/ 

Also, here are the notes from class.  I had to go a little fast at the end, so maybe this will help some of y’all.

Week 6 Evangelism Notes

Lastly, I talked about free bible study software called E-Sword…  Here it is:  http://e-sword.net/ 

That’s it for now!

 

Back from Texas, Glad to be Home

Well, God may have “blessed Texas with His own hands” as the song goes, but I sure am glad to be back home in Michigan.  For those of you who didn’t know, I was in Frisco, Texas these past few days at a conference for my new church job in Kalamazoo.  I was blessed that the leadership team decided to send me down at the last moment.  I learned a lot that I believe will really help me to do the job of assimilation with excellence.

As having to go out of town goes, it was a pretty nice setup.  The conference was held at the Embassy Suites Hotel and Conference Center of Frisco.  We stayed in the hotel as well, and if you have never stayed in an Embassy Suites then you need to try it at least once before you die!  It was also good to get to know some of my fellow laborers in the ministry on a more casual level.  I walked away from the weekend with a renewed understanding of how much the Lord has blessed Amy and I by putting these kinds of people into our lives.  I can already see how the Lord is going to use events like this to mold and grow us into the people he wants us to be.

Well, I sure did miss my family and my friends.  I am glad to be home, and Pat, we’ll definitely catch up this week.

be blessed…
-pastorj

 

So Where Have I Been?

I know that I haven’t been very good at getting my devotional thoughts up for the past few days.  This been, primarily, because I have not been feeling very good.  I have had some form of a cold for almost 5 weeks now.  I thought that I was over it and then 2 days ago, it snuck up and punched me in the stomach again.  Last night I laid down after dinner and ended up falling asleep.  I pretty much slept until 7:30 this morning.  Ugghhh…  I am going to the doctor’s office in about an hour – I have put it off long enough!

 On the up side, I had my first meeting @ KVFC yesterday.  It was very encouraging.  I don’t know exactly how to describe it, but I could tell that I am going to enjoy serving with this group of people.  It was nice to be with a group of people that were ready to actually hit the road running and serve the Lord in whatever way that He is calling us to.  My first official day on the job is today, but I am unsure if my health will permit me to go or not.  Please pray that I would get better fast!

Oh yeah!  There is some other exciting news from the church front right now too…  If you haven’t heard, KVFC recently purchased the Cathedral of Christ the King property which includes this magnificent building and 28 acres in Portage off I-94 and Oakland Drive.  The plan is to build a brand new 80,000 square foot facility next to the Cathedral.  It is very exciting to be involved in this ministry during such a time of growth and God’s blessing!  You can read more about the purchase by clicking here to read the Kalamazoo Gazette article. 
Be Blessed My Friends!!!
-pastorj

 

Big News and a Busy Week

By now many of you have already heard that I have resigned my position as pastor of Four Winds Christian Fellowship in Marshall, MI.  For some time now, Amy and I have felt the Lord leading us elsewhere but did not know where or what the timing would be.  After much prayer and seeking the Lord we believed that we found the right time to move on.  We resigned last Monday and are now earnestly seeking the Lord on our future direction.  There seems to be the possibility of a ministry job opening up in Portage for me, but we are still seeking the face of the Lord on that matter.  Amy and I both are so excited to see what the Lord has planned for our future.  As the song says, “our future is wide open”.  Wherever he leads us, we will go!

 On top of all this happening, it has been a busy week.  Yesterday I met with one of the leaders at the church in Portage to see whether the Lord was opening that door.  I am hoping to hear back from them today or tomorrow.  In the mean time, Amy and I are preparing to lead worship on a missions trip in Gulfport, Mississippi.  I am excited for the opportunity we have to work together on this trip.  After the trip, we are planning on taking a brief retreat of our own in Georgia.  Please pray that the Lord will guide us in some of the big decisions we have to make in the coming weeks.

be blessed
-pastorj

 

A New Site – A new Day!!!

 First of all, welcome to the new www.pastorjustin.com website.  I hope that you like it!  Well, I have been wanting to get back into regular journaling and blogging for some time now, but it has been difficult to maintain a regular schedule.  There are have been so many things that I have wanted to do with my blog, but was unable because I was doing all the programming and setup for each individual component myself.  Finally, I broke down and decided to use an outside blogging service.  I think that I will be very happy.  Please post some comments and let me know what you think about the new site!