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Lakeland Outpouring

Many people have been asking me about the revival that is currently taking place in Lakeland, Florida. I know little to nothing about it simply because I haven't been there.

However, a friend of mine has a blog set up in which he has compiled a good amount of information about the happenings.

Please remember, to allow mercy and grace to supersede our thoughts and judgments. A great quote that I heard a numerous amount of times from the former president of Central Bible College (my alma mater) is, "You will either worship God, or be critical of those who do." Something to keep in mind as you watch and read the info on this blog.

Pleasant Hill United Methodist Church - New Freeport, PA

One of the unique opportunities we have as evangelists is to be guests at many different types of churches. Katie and I have been in A/G, Presbyterian, Methodist, Free Methodist, Baptist, and non-denominational churches just to name a few. Our view is simple, if a church preaches Jesus is the only way for the salvation of mankind, then I'm all for it! Obviously, I'm sure there are extreme exceptions, however, we have found that guideline to stand true over our travels.

We were blessed to be with the people of Pleasant Hill UMC this past weekend. This is actually the church where this happened to us last year. You may want to visit my post from last year, it's fairly humorous.

Needless to say, I kept my eye open for that flea infested bag of feathers!

Two20 Youth - Mt. Morris, PA

We had a tremendous service last night with the students of Two20 youth. Several hands were raised as we made an appeal to follow Christ.

There will be 9 students from this group plus Pastor Carl & Andrea Redding along with my wife and me that will be heading to Managua, Nicaragua to work with Eric Ferguson of Metanoia Missions Intl. at the end of July. I'm looking forward to power packed trip!

John Challis - Amazingly Inspiring Story - Courage + Believe = Life

Here's a story about a young man overcoming the odds as he not only fights the disease of cancer, but lives life to the fullest.

You can go to ESPN's site to watch it here, or you can go to Youtube and watch it here, or you can just scroll down and watch it on my blog site.

It is well worth the watch. Oh, here's a unique perspective from John on why God allowed him to have cancer..., short interesting video from a local news source.

Calvary A/G - Connellsville, PA

The best word I can come up with to describe the ministry we had at Calvary A/G in Connellsville, PA was refreshing. I sensed the church needed to just "come up for air." There was such a sweet Spirit of God there around the altars.

Praise God for always knowing what and when we need!

GospelFest '08 - Mt. Morris, PA

We had a great time singing and hosting GospelFest '08, a first ever outdoor Christian concert to happen in Mount Morris, PA this past Saturday night. The weather scared off some people, but we still had a good crowd out and we were able to raise a good amount of money for our Nicaragua missions team.

There were several local musicians that graciously performed as well as gospel recording artist, Jonathan White. Pastors, let me tell you something, if your church likes gospel music at all, then you need to have Jonathan come to your church. Wow, what an incredible voice this guy has, and his testimony and ministry are definitely anointed of the Lord. He probably has the best live vocals I have ever heard.

Thank you to all the businesses (about 30 local businesses...I think that's pretty cool!) that chipped in to make the night a huge success. And thank you to all the volunteers that came early and stayed late. I'm proud of all of you!

Christian Assembly - Bentleyville, PA

Katie and I enjoyed our time ministering at Christian Assemblyin Bentleyville, PA over the last few weeks. Here's a few things I thought were worth mentioning...

Last week I prayed for a young boy who has been having some medical problems that were causing him to basically lose his focus. In previous years he was an exceptional baseball player, but now he virtually has gone hitless over the entire season this year due to his medical issues. Needless to say this week he went 3 for 6 and had the biggest smile on his face!!!

Sunday morning I spoke on the love of a heavenly Father. I started my message with how God freely wants to give us His undivided love. So I gave out a free pair of tickets to a Washington Wildthings game to illustrate how God just wants to freely bless us. I randomly walked up to a man during my introduction and handed him the free tickets. Come to find out, the day before, he had just taken a tour of the Wildthings' stadium and mentioned to his friend how he wished he had a pair of tickets to the Sunday evening game because we weren't having church because of Father's Day. Needless to say, the man and his father went to the game.... I think that's cool.

Last, but certainly not least, 6 people gave their lives to Christ Sunday morning!!!

Tunesday - "Cinderella"

I'm sure most of you have heard about the tragedy that occured in the family of Christian recording artist, Steven Curtis Chapman. I found it approriate to make his recent hit song, Cinderella, as this week's song since Father's Day is this Sunday.

If you have the time I recommend watching a few videos before you watch the featured video below. First, watch this clip of the original music video for Cinderella along with Steven Curtis Chapmans own commentary on how and why he wrote the song. Next watch this clip that will give you a look at a local news clip that gives some background behind the Chapman family. This next clip is a local news clip of the memorial service for his daughter. And last but not least..., here's the main clip I want you to see this week.

Tunesday - Penguins Fever

Needless to say, I'm struggling through today after staying up late last night to watch the "never give up" Pittsburgh Penguins come back to beat the Detroit Red Wings in game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

I started Tunesday to share with you songs that have impacted my life. Well, if staying up into the wee hours of the morning to watch a triple overtime hockey game doesn't impact me..., then why does it take all I have in me to stay awake now in the middle of the day.

Here's the Pen's theme song. For all you Pen's fans out there enjoy the video below. One last thing, how about perseverance of the Pens after losing a 2-0 lead to tie up the game after only being 30 seconds away from the end of the season. Oh yeah, Max Talbot the guy that scored hadn't been on the ice in a situation like that all season long! And then for Ryan Malone, who had his nose broken a few games ago to take a 100 mph slap shot to the face essentially causing his nose to explode in a bloody mess, to be out on the ice for the game winning goal with another guy, Sergei Gonchar, that didn't play in any of the overtime periods because he went flying head first into the boards making a key defensive play, and another guy, Evgeni Malkin, who hasn't done anything in recent history get the game winning assist. Oh and one more thing, how about Petr Sykora, went over to one of the announcers and say he was going to score the game winning goal, and then actually do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not bad for a team that is too young to be there!!! :-) Anyway, I almost forgot, here's the video...

Unreached Peoples

Here's an interesting article for all the eschatology buffs out there...

Apparently a Brazilian unreached people group in the deep of the Amazon jungle near the Peruvian border has been spotted and photographed. (I wonder how long it will take for a missionary to reach them?)

According to the article there are only about 100 unreached people groups left in the world, most of which are in Brazil and Peru.

So how does this article correspond with this verse...?

Matthew 24:14 (NIV) - And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.