the pursuit

I'VE MOVED

2007-07-08T23:44:00.000-05:00

no more posts here.

i've moved to:

www.danohlerking.com

and so danohlerking.com was born

2007-06-19T13:46:00.000-05:00

today's the day it became official. i've had the domain danohlerking.com for a couple years, but today it went live, coinciding with my move to wordpress for my blog. i've been on blogger (danohlerking.blogspot.com) for almost two years - july 8, 2005 was my first post. but now, 400+ posts and nearly 700 comments and over 30,000 hits later, it is time.

it's like usually what happens in life, after a while you discover a newer, better way. it happened with my computer preference. i was a diehard pc dude until one day i actually opened my eyes to the world of mac. i've never turned back.

and so the story enters a new chapter. hope you enjoy the read.

p.s. - you'll notice i'm a big fan of sharing link love. please take a minute to update my link on your site to http://www.danohlerking.com. if you link to my blog and i don't have you listed, let me know and i'll get you added right away. thanks!

also - i want to give david russell a huge thanks for opening my eyes to wordpress a long time ago but i was too chicken to jump in till now. and a gargantuan thanks for fazha for patiently dealing with my pestersome instant messages during the switchover seeking his counsel and expertise.

kids worshipping

2007-06-18T23:26:00.001-05:00

my seven-year-old son just joined the worship team at kids church at hpc. yeah, i'm proud. proud enough that despite lincoln's insistence that i not come in and shoot a picture of him, i obtained one via the stealthy services of jeff king. (if you want real photography done, get his wife to help you out. lorri is great at it. jeff is good at the stealthy blur, though.) thanks, jeff, for the pic - it speaks volumes to me.

he's smiling. he's loving it. he's the short one in the middle. he's seven and he's on stage singing praise to God.

yeah.

thanks amanda, for doing what you do along with the rest of the kids church crew. this picture tells me you're doing a lot of things right for my boy and for hundreds of others who we as parents entrust with our kids a couple hours each weekend (plus some).

why we do a webcast on sundays

2007-06-18T22:27:00.000-05:00

check out this thank you note we got yesterday from an online viewer:

Just a thank you to HPC for providing this resource so that we can still attend church on those occasions when we can't be there physically. I chose to stay home and prepare a special meal for my father so that he can enjoy something at his regular meal time of 12:30pm that he rarely gets at his assisted living apartment complex. Was relieved when I recalled that I could join church via the webcast and be able to do both things today in honor of both of my fathers.

it's just a cool reminder why we do a webcast from healing place church on sundays. it's worth it.

thanks ty, david, robert, rob, toby, adam, jarred, chris, wendell, dan, brad, josh and whoever else has a hand in gettin' 'r done every sunday.

she's why i'm a dad

2007-06-18T01:44:00.000-05:00

our five kids are the greatest kids in the world. i post about them all the time - possibly to the point where i should be concerned you're getting sick of reading about them.

so, here's a rare deal - a picture i found of my wife that i think actually touches on giving you an idea how beautiful she is. i love you, vicki.

kid post ahead...

2007-06-15T11:34:00.000-05:00

video of my kids trying to run at jump-n-jive the other night:

india

2007-06-15T10:44:00.000-05:00

cool update form a friend of mine in india:

It was good to meet you at the Church last month. Thank you for allowing me to share with you. How is Pastor Dino doing?

I do hope that everything is well with you. I had a safe trip back to home by the grace of God. It was good to see my family and to be in the Church after few weeks.

I thank God for His provision and protection while I was in America. In the ministry we see challenges always. But we also see the hand of God moving on behalf of His people. Here is a miracle that just happened last week. One of the ladies in our church, who is a strong believer and a Sunday school teacher. Her husband has been an alcoholic for many years. He spends all the money for alcohol with out taking care of the family. She has been praying and fasting for him for many years. Last month he stopped drinking alcohol. Last week he was climbing a tree. Somehow he fell down. It was a 40 feet tall tree. And there was no one. Nobody knows how long he was lying in the ground. Some how he was able to get into his house and his wife saw mud in his face. He didn't say a word. He lost his conscious. Then they toook him to the hospital. I went to the hospital and prayed for him. After one day he was recovered. None of his bones were broken. Every one was astonished. But we knew that the enemy wanted to destroy his life. But our God wanted to spare his life. Now he comes to the church. His wife and two kids are very happy that he is coming to church.

Schools were opened after summer vacation. Many of our Church kids were in need of school supplies. Last Wednesday, I was getting ready for the meeting. Immediately I sensed that God is speaking to buy some books for the children in our church. Sushan also felt the same way. We bought some books that night. After the service one of the ladies came and told she was in need of some books for her son. But she did not have any money. She prayed to meet her need. But God heard her prayers. God helped us to bless more children with school supplies.

At our Children's Home we have 20 girls now. They all are going to the school now. God helped us to buy new uniform clothing, books and other supplies for them. Two weeks ago we were able to put the roof for their dormitory building. Now plumbing and electrical works are going on. After that we will have to do wall plastering, floring work and rest rooms, etc.

In this place between our property and the street, there is a canal. Most of the time it has waters and difficult for the girls to cross it when it has more waters and also difficult for the vehicles to get in to our property. We have been praying for a bridge for many years. God answered our prayers and after much difficulties we got the permission from the authorities to built a bridge. We started the initial works. We have to finish it soon.

This Sunday we will be starting a new church in Nagercoil. Last few months we were having a prayer meeting in that place. Now the people wanted Sunday Service.

Please continue to pray for us. May God bless you. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Blessings

Tom

God's doing stuff all over the place.

a glimpse of God's perspective on the poor

2007-06-13T10:45:00.000-05:00

my brother-in-law ben showed me this verse while i was in africa with him a few weeks ago. i can't seem to shake it. i know it's scripture, so why should i even try to shake it? probably because it's a tough one to accept.

ezekiel 16:49 tells what God sees as the ultimate sin of sodom. you know, the city that we all remember for its debauchery and vulgarity and all? well, here's what ezekiel 16:49 says:

"Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy."

ooof.

nathan keller's pics from africa

2007-06-12T15:50:00.000-05:00

check out this page on sugarland family church's site with pics from nathan keller's trip to africa with us a few weeks ago. cool stuff.

nathan's a really awesome dude. he has more to do with hpc being what it is today than most people know. and he's making a tremendous impact on africa - not to mention sugarland texas. if he ever gets a blog i'll be sure to post about it. he's a guy with a heart worth connecting with.

love ya, nate.

my life

2007-06-11T22:26:00.000-05:00

ok. i'm seriously adrenalized about this. i'm working on a trip to swaziland this august with the express purpose of capturing the stories of some of the children and workers that are involved at the children's cup carepoints in swaziland.

we are calling the project "my life." what we have realized over the past several months is just how many stories there are to be told and how little we've been able to really communicate those stories so far.

we are doing this project to give voice to the real-life, everyday human story of those who live in the world of an AIDS infection rate of 42%, extreme poverty, overworn resiliency and downright impossible odds.

we're hoping to have a crew of three of us to go and spend time shooting video, interviewing kids, going to the places they live, learning what they call life. the my life project will connect you in a fresh way to the real world of africa.

we still need to raise about $8000 more by july 1st to make this project work. if you are able and willing to help, just send me an email here or give online here and be sure to designate your gift to "the my life project."

thanks.

added a few new blogs to my sidebar

2007-06-11T22:06:00.000-05:00

like there aren't enough there already...

i found a few new ones that are very worth tracking. interestingly, three of my new links are to blogs by ladies):

kerri weems (from celebration church in jacksonville, florida) check out this post in particular.

gina witcher (from catalyst france - she and her husband ken are heading to paris to plant a church) check out this post in particular.

sandra chesterman (from oasis church - she's a new missionary with children's cup in swaziland) she just started this blog - should be an interesting journey to watch.

and lad chapman - another new missionary with children's cup in africa - he and his family are headed out in january.

happy reading. let 'em know you're reading - encourage them by leaving a comment or two.

this pic just really means a lot to me

2007-06-11T10:13:00.000-05:00

those of you who know her know why. one day i'll post some more about her, but for now, i guess this post is more for me than for anyone.

levi

2007-06-10T22:30:00.001-05:00

my favorite seven-year-old nephew (i'm safe - vaughn's still six for a few more weeks - then i'll have to have a tie)

levi is someone that i believe God has been bragging about up in heaven. he's one cool dude. he's my sister's boy - and has lived in africa most of his life now.

love ya, levi.

jay miller - never quit dreaming

2007-06-10T11:45:00.000-05:00

jay miller and my son lincoln

there's an awesome story developing you should read on jay miller's blog. in short, this friend of mine who pastors a slammin' church in lafayette, louisiana - he's 38 - and he's playing in his first year of organized tackle football on a semi-pro team that is two games from getting championship rings from the southwest football association.

yeah, he's nuts.

but for every single one of us who are in that late-thirties early-forties age range that ever wondered if we could do something we're too old to do, jay is a huge inspiration. if you ever dreamed of doing something but you think it's too late to go for it, you gotta read his blog. it'll fire you up.

i took my boy jd and reggie (one of his friends) and lincoln and ty van rensburg to their playoff game last night and watched them trounce the new orleans bulldogs. my 7-year-old asked jay for an autograph (lincoln is quite the autograph collector) and jay signed it and put "never quit dreaming" at the bottom.

what a great message to give my kid. what a great message for all of us.

jay - thanks for the message your life is giving me and my family.

two games to ring time.

fear the chicken

2007-06-10T11:38:00.000-05:00

greg surratt (pastor of a really awesome church over in the carolinas, seacoast church) speaking to healing place church this morning: "on september 22, get ready. fear the chicken. south carolina gamecocks are coming here to baton rouge."

oooh i'm afraid. very afraid. i guess when your team mascot is non-flying corn-eating poultry, you have to talk big.

geaux tigers.

love ya greg. wish you coulda been here geoff. sorry you had to go to hawaii instead to do some "consulting." yeah, right.

great reminder as we head towards father's day...

2007-06-10T00:28:00.000-05:00

i pulled this from a post over at richardexley.typepad.com - a really great writer - not just a blogger, but a real-deal writer. you should read the whole post, but if you're too lazy to click the link, here's the part that really made me think:

It is said of James Boswell, the famous biographer of Samuel Johnson, that he often referred to a special day in his childhood when his father took him fishing. The day was fixed in his mind, and he often reflected upon many of the things his father had taught him in the course of their fishing experience together.

After having heard of that particular excursion so often, it occurred to someone much later to check the journal that Boswell's father kept to see what he had said about the fishing trip. Turning to that date, the reader found only one sentence: "Gone fishing today with my son; a day wasted."

For the elder Boswell, it seemed a day wasted. For his son, it was a day to be remembered, one that shaped him for the rest of his life!

The younger Boswell's experience reminds us that life's most valuable lessons are seldom learned in the times of formal training. Rather, they are passed from one generation to the next during a shared experience, a mutual project, or a special camping trip. At the time we are seldom aware that anything rare or lasting has happened. It is only later, when we look back, that we realize that something of real significance has occurred.

In light of that, let me encourage you to take time to do fun things with your children. Remember many of life's most profound experiences are unplanned. They are simply the product of time spent together in an atmosphere of love and trust.

oof. that's so true - not just for parenting (as terrifically applicable as it is) - it works for relationships of all kinds i believe. whether in at home, at church, at work, at school - how you relate to your work, to your responsibilities, to your walk with God - all of it. much more is learned and taught in the day-to-day than in the classroom.

they said it can't be done

2007-06-08T12:58:00.000-05:00

i actually watched a pot of water come to a boil today.

new childrenscup.org is live

2007-06-08T00:18:00.000-05:00

The new home of Children's Cup on the web just went live a couple hours ago. We've tried to make the information on our site more accessible by moving to this new format. Much of the information has been updated for you, and one of the benefits of the new format is that we'll be able to keep things up-to-date much more easily than ever before.

Be sure to check out the media gallery. We're uploading pictures into our picture gallery like crazy right now. We've also added a ton of information about our CarePoints - with updates on them going live as soon as they are available.

We also want to welcome some new members to the team. Christy Merrill is just about a month away from joining the team in Swaziland, and Sandra Chesterman will be heading out in September. Then Lad and Crystal Chapman and their boys will be joining us in January.

Praise God for the new great things He is doing. We've been praying for an increase in our capacity on the ground in Africa and God has provided these fantastic people to help carry the load.

Please help us spread the word about the new CHILDRENSCUP.ORG. If you're willing to post a banner on your blog or website or in your emails, here is a link to a graphic you can use. Email us at info@childrenscup.org if you have questions.

Be sure to stay tuned to this site for frequent updates about Children's Cup.

A special huge thank you goes out to David Song for his hard work creating the new site for us - thanks, David!

wanna get close to Jesus?

2007-06-06T00:54:00.000-05:00

you may have already seen this, but i just saw it again tonight. worth reading again and again.

The poor are where God lives.

God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house.

God is where the opportunity is lost and lives are shattered.

God is with the mother who has infected her child with the virus that will take both their lives.

God is under the rubble and the cries we hear during war time.

God, my friends, is with the poor.

And God is with us, if we are with them.

-Bono

Wanna get close to Jesus? Go help the poor and hurting.

children's cup t-shirts are finally in

2007-06-05T14:49:00.000-05:00

$20 gets you looking like me. (okay, you'll need to eat a lot more food a lot more often and carry a diet coke or coke zero everywhere you go, too, but the shirt is part of the look, too.)

here's how to order yours: we are working on getting set up to take orders online, but for now, just email us here and let us know you want one and we'll take care of getting you squared away by email.

plus, you'll be happy to know you're helping a very worthwhile cause - children's cup. (duh)

here's the children's cup website post about the shirts - click here.

tweez got a nose job

2007-06-03T10:56:00.001-05:00

i love this dude.

tori is going to L.A.

2007-05-30T09:39:00.000-05:00

dino rizzo sent me this pic he took of my daughter tori serving at a memorial day weekend block bbq outreach near the baton rouge dreamcenter she loves to go to. yeah, i'm proud of her.

as if that's not enough reason to be proud, she's also part of a team from here at hpc that is going to the l.a. dreamcenter this summer. then as soon as she gets back from there, she'll be going right into being a part of elevate (hpc's internship program). yeah. check out her letter explaining it all:

hey people,

it’s tori. i want to let you guys know about a few amazing things that God is letting me be a part of this year…

first, refuge (the high school ministry of healing place church), will be taking a missions trip to the dream center in los angeles. (july 16-24) on this trip we will be given many opportunities to reach out to the lost, the hurting, and the forgotten. we will be participating in a number of outreaches and serving opportunities. i know that God wants to do incredible things in us and through us on this trip… and i’m believing that through this experience, our eyes we will be opened even more to the reality of what goes on in this world and even in our own country. and i believe that what we encounter on this trip will not only affect the people there, but it will change us and push us to take more action to bring people into the love of Jesus…

next, God is allowing me to be a part of an internship at healing place called elevate.(begins in august and lasts until may) this program provides several classes and a lot of hands on experience in ministry. i know that God has called me to give my life to Him through ministry, and i believe that this is the perfect opportunity for me to learn how to do that. i want to do all that i can to reach the lost. they are the only reason that this earth is still spinning. i want to dedicate my life to leading them to Jesus…and i believe that elevate will equip me to do that.

i am truly amazed at all that God is allowing me to participate in this year. please support me through your prayers. i need them more than anything.

and i also need a lot of financial support…
the cost of the missions trip to los angeles in $1,000.
and the fees for elevate are approximately $700

so if you can help with finances that is much appreciated, but either way… please support me through your prayer.

thank you all so much.

-tori

yeah, i'm excited about what God is doing in my daughter's life (that's about gotta be the understatement of the century).

cheri leblanc in leadnet.org podcast

2007-05-29T15:13:00.000-05:00

the mobile medical and dental units and the team (orange unit is medical, blue unit is dental)

i got this from dr. cheri leblanc a few days ago (about the medical and dental units) - thought it was pretty cool. check it out.

Hi Everybody,

You may not know that we were given the opportunity at Leadership Network to
record a podcast about the mobile clinics and Healing Place Church. Gayle Parker and I were able to talk about the importance of prayer both as a group and with our patients.

It is on the Leadership Network website at www.leadnet.org, click on Healthcare Initiative Churches, then resources, then find the podcast.

Or you can just click this link:
http://media.leadnet.org/Healthcare/Mobilizing_Medical_Ministries.mp3

Blessings,
Cheri

on my way to losing weight

2007-05-29T12:20:00.001-05:00

check out today's lunch... officially, it is sushi. the way i'm thinking, though, it is cooked shrimp and sticky rice. not bad.

today's look

2007-05-29T12:04:00.001-05:00

sitting here about to start a meeting with pastor dino and angie and marc. feeling about like i look in this pic. a little wild-haired, like i need a beard trim, and like i need to lose about 150 pounds. but happy nonetheless.

meeting's starting...

thank you, vets

2007-05-27T09:02:00.000-05:00

this memorial day weekend, i just wanna say a big ol' thank you to everyone who either serves or has served in the u.s. military or has family members doing so. i have lived with a determination to remember our military for several years now (check out this post from way back when i first started blogging.)

you should know that all the stuff i write about africa and other places around the world i write because they are special to me, but none of them are special to me like the u.s.a. God has blessed our country to be a blessing - and because of the sacrifice of so many of you in our military, we have a place to live where we are free to worship God and to serve him. say what you want to about whatever adversity our nation is facing from those who hate the Gospel, we still are by far the easiest place in the world to live, and the free-est place to worship. that comes with a big "to whom much is given much will be required" message, for sure.

i just wanna say thanks. y'all are very much appreciated.

zimbabwe

2007-05-27T08:36:00.000-05:00

there's no way i can express how this picture impacts me. these are kids in zimbabwe - kids ben and charles just visited. long story, more to come on the children's cup website about it soon. i just wanted to get this picture up because it means a ton to me. i promise - i'll tell more about it asap.

ok so... where y'all been?

2007-05-25T22:10:00.000-05:00

i've been blog-free for over a month now. however, the addiction persists. it's really a crazy thing how it feels not to post for so long. weird. it's not a principle thing or anything that's a big deal, simply a matter of having too much to talk about but so much catching up to do with work at the same time.

africa was really great. i so wanna do a big ol' post telling everyone everything that happened. here's some highlights at least:

average number of hours of sleep each night i got while in africa: 4.37

number of pairs of jeans i tore a hole in on the upper inseam while attempting to play soccer with children's cup carepoint kids at nkobe: 1.00

percentage of elevate guys that can dig a ditch faster and better than me: 100%

number of elevate girls who barfed on this trip: 2.00

number of fish eyes katie can eat at a time: 1.00

percentage of departures that jarred was first in the car for: 93.47%

number of times i heard jarred remind me what he didn't want to have happen to him: 4.6 per day

number of paper tickets disposed of early: 2.00

number of life-saving acrobatic water tower dives barton executed successfully: 1.00

number of times i laughed watching the elevate team playing with the nkobe carepoint kids: 1,043

number of times i thanked God for being able to be on this trip: 1,043

number of times i had to say "we need more taxis" to the one taxi driver who showed up at our hotel in johannesburg to pick up all 14 of us with our 32 bags to take us to the airport at 4:30am: 53 (i think)

number of texts i received from vicki while going down the runway taking off in washington d.c. on our way to africa - informing me about the progress of my oldest son jd's first time pitching a baseball game and winding up with a no-hitter: 4.00 (yay jd)

number of takes it took isaac and charles to shoot their video without laughing: 5.00

number of people attending the launch service at hpc's new campus at nkobe meeting in the terry melancon chapel: 612+

number of those people who were children: 400+

number of chickens katherine and blake successfully pieced in the same time span as the african ladies cut 25: 1.25

number of cloves of garlic natalie ate while we peeled garlic the night before the launch service: 11.00 (totalling 44.31 antioxidants)

number of kids brandon can pick up at the same time: 23 per arm

number of bottles of water drank during the workdays at nkobe: 250+

number of kids chasing our vehicles down the road by the carepoint as we left who were wearing oversized purple and orange hpc vbs shirts: i couldn't count - it was too much fun just hollering and waving

number of photographs taken on jarred's digital camera: over 2,000

percentage of our missionaries and elevate students on this trip i was totally proud of: 100%

percentage of those of you who prayed and helped to send the team and who pray for and support these missionaries who should feel proud of what God allowed you to be a part of: 100%

ok. now can you see why i can't possibly actually try to catch up the whole story?

it's good to be back, though. back in the USA and back on the blog.

but this picture makes me really wanna do all i can to help keep the work going in africa. ben posted it on his blog after our trip.

the little boy from nkobe i'm sitting next to has the most contagious laugh when you tickle him...

we are in africa!

2007-04-22T13:42:00.000-05:00

i posted this over on the elevate team blog:

here's a shot from the plane.

we made it safely. uneventful, nice ride. no stop-over in senegal like last time i went.

did have an interesting "event" barton got to see on the way to the hotel, though. a lady across the intersection from the shuttle he was on got broken into. a dude tapped on her window then just punched it in, borke the glass, then dove into the car. she of course freaked otu and started honking the horn and floored it and he fell out and ran away as she drove off with a broken window but sparing her life possibly.

tia.

we went to kfc for supper (1/2 of us) and the rest went to a little grill place. both took forEVER to bring the food but it was great food once we got it. we actually made the grill's owner pretty upset by trying to eat the kfc in the grill dining area. what was i thinking? i apologized and actually ended up joking around with the guy, but we still didn't eat the kfc until we left.

tomorrow starts early. 4am shuttle back to the airport for the flight to maputo. then it all begins. we get to see charles and kristen and ben and isaac and carol - and mahlahlela and celeste and the rest of the moz team. and hopefully the changaras and beano (and maybe sharon?)

wish ty were with us. big time. glad jarred's with us. he's totally a cool guy. glad he's getting the experience. it just would have been cool to have ty with us as well even. alas - next time maybe.

ok. i'm going to bed now. thanks to everyone who helped put us here. rob and michelle, tiffany, pastor dino, dr. cheri, kari smith, brandi lambert, the musso's, shane comeaux and the tons of you who gave and are praying for us. we need it daily if not hourly.

thanks for the honor of representing you here in africa!

elevate mozambique

2007-04-20T10:44:00.000-05:00

the team blog is open for all now. this is one place you'll be able to track what is going on (given that we actually have internet access while in africa as planned - TIA).

elevatemozambique.blogspot.com

stay tuned! we head out tomorrow!

rhett IS blake

2007-04-19T16:47:00.000-05:00

this is my boy rhett. he watches way too much american idol. what you can't hear in this picture is him saying, "look dad, i bake..." (which, being translated from the aramaic, is "look dad, i'm blake.")

wanna know how i'm feeling today?

2007-04-19T15:39:00.000-05:00

sanjaya's going home

2007-04-18T20:56:00.000-05:00

it's about time.

va tech - new life in the midst of tragedy

2007-04-18T09:48:00.000-05:00

i got this update from lindsay koch - one of hpc's missionaries to university campuses:

I hope you are well. I don't know about yall but my heart has been hurting the last two days for the students, community and people of VA Tech...but I do know that God is receiving glory from this tragedy all over the world. A girl on my team got this email yesterday from a girl here in NYC...

Mollie accepted Christ today!!!

After everything that happened at Virginia Tech today, it has just been really hard today for me and her. (about half my high school goes to va tech). It’s devastating and I’ve been praying all day for their families. But she came into my room tonight "and said: "I have something to tell you...I went to the church on campus today and prayed to Christ and accepted him into my life because I was so overwhelmed by everything today."

I cannot wait to tell you more about it. We talked a long time and are going to start reading the gospels. I thought we may start with John because I was reading that but would you suggest something else? We can talk more about it Wednesday but I wanted to tell you because you've been there from the beginning.

what the devil meant for distruction and evil, God is using to awaken people to their need of His love.

yay God. prayer works.

hpc_bridge campus

2007-04-17T17:34:00.000-05:00

check out this really cool post (actually, if you read further in his blog, there's quite a few along the same lines) from jason laird about what we half-jokingly refer to as the hpc_bridge campus.

"the homeless come home"

whatever you call it, what tweez and the guys are doing down there is such a right thing. and it's making a difference - slowly but truly.

check out this quote from the post:

"5 days ago there supposedly was 7500 homeless people in B.R. well, as of today there must be 7497.....may not seem like a big difference but ask marc, chief, and alex....its a big difference to them..."

yay tweez. more significantly, yay God!

the mozambique team

2007-04-17T15:53:00.000-05:00

the mozambique team - headed out saturday.

this is pretty close anyway.

on the left is michelle gros - the pregnant one. she's the leader of elevate, and i'm going at least in part due to the fact that she's pregnant and travel wasn't advisable at this point.

then on the right is michael baaaaaamonde - better known as "Jesus" - he's not going. well, Jesus is, but michael isn't.

and of course you'd have to add in there jay-red ray and me to round the whole team out.

pray for us.

why i'm going to africa

2007-04-17T14:51:00.000-05:00

(click the pic for a bigger view)

noc - converge

2007-04-17T11:54:00.000-05:00

making plans now to be in san diego in november. dino rizzo's gonna speak, as are a bunch of other cool friends (geoff surratt, greg surratt, craig groeschel, nelson searcy, bobby gruenewald, dave ferguson, and the inimitable mark batterson just to name a few).

last year's convention was pretty cool - great to meet the great folks from outreach magazine (lindy, heather, jeannie, andrea, lynne - and the rest - a GREAT team there), and certainly had a cool time with johnny green and jp brumfield from here at healing place church. can't wait for this one - it's looking to be an even better time.

so... you going?

jumpin'

2007-04-17T11:51:00.000-05:00

lincoln - my 7-year-old

just found this pic from our time up in franklin, tn with kevin and tracy. made me smile. i love that kid.

displace me

2007-04-16T13:35:00.000-05:00

got this info from carole turner - excerpt from an email she got from the folks at invisible children about the upcoming event in new orleans.

"Displace Me is being held to raise awareness about the plight of 1.5 million Northern Ugandans living in Internal Displacement Camps. These people have been uprooted from their homes and relocated in the IDP camps. The conditions in the camps are crowded and unsanitary, posing health issues and diminishing work opportunities. Most of these people are dependent on aid allotments from outside organizations as their only source of food. The events of the night will raise awareness about many of these issues while providing participants a tangible way to get involved and make a difference. Different segments of the night will focus on a particular problem faced in the IDP camps. The issue will be introduced with a media clip presentation educated about the issue and then followed with an opportunity to get involved. We will also be doing some filming on that night."

i'll be in africa during this event, but i certainly encourage everyone to go if you're in the southern louisiana area - or to check out invisible children's website for other cities and schedules so you can get involved in your own area.

va tech

2007-04-16T13:12:00.000-05:00

Virginia Tech Shooting Kills at Least 22

i'm stunned. memories of columbine. cannot imagine going thru something like the people are going thru up in virginia.

pray.

it's not a "last resort" - it's powerful and effective.

a few of my favorite things

2007-04-15T15:48:00.000-05:00

(the twins, church, hpac, diet coke, invisible children, children of africa, mozambique, life - just to name a few)

i had to take the twins out of church this morning - we were sitting in the balcony and as three-year-olds are prone to do (especially these two), they started getting anxious and did so rather loudly.

so i walked them back to the back of the property where we had parked by the playground at the hpac. i guess technically this wound up being like a reward for acting up in church, but it was too nice a day to just go sit in the car.

they played and played. they got me in the little "train" playground thing and we took this picture together.

we went inside the office for a few minutes to handle a couple of poopies (i'll spare you the pictures), then we came back out and they played some more.

i sat on the side and drank my diet coke. in the picture above i'm sporting my new invisible children bracelet (serving to bring attention to the children of africa).

and then last night, the team that i'm taking out to mozambique got to be prayed for in church. 6 days to go.

life is good.

new blog to check out

2007-04-15T15:41:00.000-05:00

aimee poche just told me about the new blog for "his heart for orphans" - the adoption ministry of healing place church.

even if you've never thought seriously about adopting, this site is worth reading. some amazing accounts of God answering prayer - it will encourage you to believe God means what He says.

check it out here:

hisheartfororphans.blogspot.com

up and running

2007-04-15T00:45:00.000-05:00

what's one of the first things you do when you get a new macbook pro? smile for the built-in (not duct-taped to the top of the monitor) camera, of course!

it's almost 1 a.m. and i've got all my data moved over from the old mac using the migration assistant. pretty smooth deal when it's all said and done.

so now it's just time to start working on it using all my apps and stuff just to be sure i have all i wanted to keep, then nuke the old one so shaun can start making sports ministry videos...

needless to say, i'm pretty happy.

sleepy and still have a ton of work to do, but i'm happy.

man, it's bright

2007-04-14T11:24:00.000-05:00

twins again!

three guesses which one is the macbook pro....

rain and baseball don't mix

2007-04-14T10:41:00.000-05:00

my two oldest sons: jd and lincoln after today's games were called

do these faces say "second rain-out in a row" or what?

still unopened

2007-04-14T01:29:00.000-05:00

new macbook pro next to my old powerbook

three and a half years i have worked on my current mac. that's longer than any other computer i've ever owned - counting desktops and all...

so now i was able to get a new one (yeah, shaun - got a powerbook heading your way - too bad you're in canada and can't be here for the celebration) - and i went out and picked it up tonight.

i'm not one to hold off on opening something new. when i buy new clothes, i wear 'em. sometimes out the store. so anyway - i picked up the new 17" macbook pro around 8 tonight. it is now more than 5 hours later and i still haven't even broken the seal on the box.

proof that the seal's still unbroken

why, do you ask? good question. and the answer is a four-letter word.

time

got way too much to work on to stop and get a new computer going tonight. i'll have to savor the event tomorrow. sigh.

i know you're thinking maybe if i didn't post about it i'd have more time to just do it. all i can say to that is that if i did that, you'd never know it, cuz i'd never post anything. some things you just have to stop and do sometimes - and blogging is like therapy for me in moments like these.

tomorrow we mac.

children's cup t-shirt

2007-04-13T22:32:00.000-05:00

front

back (small, up between the shoulders)

children's cup t-shirt coming soon. $15. don't even think about not getting one.

eight days to africa

2007-04-13T09:30:00.000-05:00

in the words of the great william wonka, "...so little to do, so much time... wait, strike that... reverse it...."

this is my life.

displace me

2007-04-12T23:15:00.000-05:00

my daughter tori has a great post (read it here) explaining this whole thing.

i won't try to elaborate except to say this: please pray for this event - that God will touch tons of lives thru it - and that future missionaries will be born.

check it out. go if you can. if you can't, go, then pray. (i can't go but you can bet i'll be praying from all the way up at hpc_mozambique.) i'm pretty sure carole turner is going and will have some others with her...

check out www.invisiblechildren.com, too when you get a few mins. have you seen their video yet?

"bad idea" is STILL funny to me

2007-04-12T22:11:00.000-05:00

ok, so i really just wanted to post this so that i could say i posted something today.

that's it. love ya, eddie.

congrats on the wedding!

if you're going on a missions trip soon READ THIS

2007-04-11T20:45:00.000-05:00

john lambert posted this on his blog....

mission blues - beware of re-entry stress

really great stuff to consider. in the midst of preparing to go overseas, you should also prepare yourself for re-entry.

huge stuff in this post. thanks, john. you rock.

ok. yeah, God's REALLY cool.

2007-04-11T11:06:00.000-05:00

check out this post from natalie - a girl on the mozambique team i'm heading out with in a few days:

"AFRICA"

amazing.

i heard God speak to me today

2007-04-11T08:31:00.000-05:00

He just said, "I love you, son."

just what i needed.

pray for ellie

2007-04-10T19:48:00.000-05:00

i heard about ellie from my friends in papua new guinea - some friends/coworkers of theirs. this little girl had an uncle taken hostage in asia and killed, and her family has faced stuff most of us never even dream of. now she's battling the fury of cancer.

please - take a quick tour thru her blog - i did and it grabbed me - i felt a strong urgency to pray for her and to ask y'all to pray, too.

excerpts from a note from pastor dino to the hpc staff last week

2007-04-10T12:32:00.000-05:00

i wanted (and got permission) to share this staff email pastor dino rizzo sent out last week before easter.

Dear Staff,

I wanted to sit and write something to each of you that I didn’t think could wait until our staff meeting. I felt the Lord download on me the last eighteen hours. Here’s the backdrop first. Over the last two months I’ve talked to some pastors in the body of Christ who have been fighting some unusual battles. These brothers are from different parts of the world. Some are discouraged, and some are dealing with disunity and rogue church members stirring up strife –even physical battles. Just in the last three days I’ve had one-half dozen conversations with buddies who are on various trials. I prayed last night - “God what’s happening?”, and He reminded me, “Son, you’re in a war”. I don’t know why He has to keep reminding me of this, but He does. It is a real war with real casualties and fatalities. We know it’s spiritual because the ground we take for the Kingdom and eternity are in the balance.

Here are three things to remember in this Holy war.

We’ve got to keep the objective crystal clear.
If you sway on the why we do what we do, our cause -the souls of men- can get so confusing.

Watch for friendly fire.
Remember who the enemy is and don’t shoot each other. This is the saddest tragedy of war. The other person reading this email at the same time as you – they are your body. If they are hit, they bleed. If they bleed, we all bleed. Make sure to bandage one another with Holy Ghost speech.

Guard your heart.
This shield is maintained through flow in the Holy Ghost and fervent prayer. If we lack there, we lack everywhere.

....Lastly, keep yourself healthy and pray for one another. This stuff is and will always be in the enemy’s crossfire. I’m never surprised by the stuff that happens against this team. God is our shield. Run to Him asap.

Much love,

Pastor Dino

great truth about fear

2007-04-10T09:15:00.000-05:00

just got this from a friend of mine - andy piper - in texas...

"Fear God, and no other fear will trouble you."

--Joseph Parker

my view of easter

2007-04-08T12:13:00.000-05:00

easter at hpc was amazing - pastor dino rizzo preached a clear, simple, and strong message - laid out the gospel message in a way that anyone could understand. and at this point, nearly a hundred people have crossed the line of faith as a result.

my personal view of this easter was pretty much through my mac. watching the webcast trying to help ensure that web viewers got the best experience we could offer. i can't wait til we get the new setup in a couple weeks with the bigger better bandwidth....

but me and my friend mac had a great easter. sitting up in the balcony by jd in front of josh and shannon (my little bro and his wife).

my life ees goood. eet's the behst.

now it's on to the family fish fry.

thank God for family. thank God for Jesus. thank God we get to celebrate forgiveness and freedom today.

happy easter everyone.

speaking of world-changers, i love this picture

2007-04-07T14:26:00.000-05:00

one of my favorite world-changers.

thinking how grateful i am for the environment i was in i sent tweeze a txt with this pic during the worship after the showing of the passion movie a couple nights ago, and told him thanks for all he and jennifer do for the ohlerking family.

his answer pushed me over the edge:

"how good has God been to you.... can you put a price tag on that? soak it up."

i sat for the next few minutes overwhelmed with gratefulness for how blessed i am.

jp brumfield - changing baton rouge

2007-04-06T12:28:00.000-05:00

new site and address from a veteran blogger who is busting it changing the world of baton rouge through legit no-holds-barred outreach.

jp brumfield

also check out the blog from the team he leads...

serve.healingplacechurch.org

another couple world-changers - kevin and tracy mawae

2007-04-06T11:35:00.000-05:00

lincoln, kevin, me, rhett, jd in front of mo's
(somehow, kevin's 6'4" 285 lbs comes across differently than mine)

i mentioned in my last post that we were able to go to tennessee earlier this week - the seven ohlerkings went to franklin to visit kevin and tracy mawae and their kids (kirkland and abigail) for a couple nights and the day between.

it was well worth the 10-hour drive. we chilled, we played volleyball, rode a four-wheeler and a go-cart, ate grilled chicken and brisket, slept in, stayed up late talking, played with goats and basically just had a break. it was really cool. thanks for the invite, tracy.

i got to go with kevin to an fca meeting he spoke at on monday night - it was really cool to see him doing what he loves to do - help give others a shot to know Jesus like he does. also got to hang out with his friend david hood, the special teams football coach at vanderbilt, a really cool guy - left his coaching job in minnesota to allow his wife to take a role with nancy alcorn's mercy ministries in nashville.

the night we got to their house, kevin and tracy's neighbors - doug and lisa durr - were there with a couple friends of theirs - william and braley - who are from rwanda and actually were there during the 100 days genocide a decade ago. their story of how they were hidden and able to flee is an amazing account of God's mercy. he now works for africa leadership - more amazing stories of how he's been involved in ministry with them.

needless to say, it was a rush getting to connect with all of them. doug and lisa are totally cool people, william and braley, kevin and tracy - it was a crazy rush of "wow, God's got a lot of cool people on His side."

ahhhh, franklin

me with lincoln and "abigirl" (what he called her when they were younger)

kevin & tracy - thanks for all you're doing to change the world from franklin, tennessee. and thanks for changing our family's world this week - we needed it.

someone else who will change the world... jd ohlerking

2007-04-06T11:28:00.000-05:00

me (with four-wheeler hair) and jd (about to have helmet hair)

my oldest son, jd, and i got to ride a four-wheeler all around this field - out in the open in tennessee earlier this week. not being much in the way of outdoorsmen, this was a pretty cool experience for both of us. ("outdoors" to us usually means playing catch with a baseball or football or shooting some basketball in the driveway.)

i truly believe that God has His hand on jd to be a part of a movement in his generation that changes this world. i'm very proud he is my son and can't wait to see what God has in store for him in the next few years.

and another dude making a difference EVERYWHERE - chad daniel

2007-04-05T23:25:00.000-05:00

chad daniel and me (with more bad hair.)

chad daniel - he's legit. he's just a little off-center compared to most. and he's one guy i believe would do anything for the cause of Christ.

check out chad's website: www.globalexpeditors.com

yeah - there are MEN doing great stuff in africa, too

2007-04-05T23:15:00.000-05:00

don matheny and me

terrible picture. bad hair for me. blurry shot.

but lemme tell you, this is a man i count it a huge honor to know and to have been able to spend a few minutes with last month (before my last haircut).

don matheny pastors a slammin' church in nairobi, kenya called nairobi lighthouse. he's a modern-day missionary hero. he's legit. if you're ever in kenya....

another lady making a difference for africa

2007-04-05T22:46:00.000-05:00

(left to right) dino rizzo, vickie melancon, me

vickie melancon - the mother of terry melancon, the police detective that was killed in the line of duty in baton rouge on august 10, 2005 - vickie has just finished writing a book entitled "end of watch" - about her son and about her own battle with cancer.

i'll post about it as soon as the book is released, but you can already pre-order it on the book's website, www.endofwatch.org.

how does this connect to africa? in our easter service at the river center last year, pastor dino rizzo announced that the facility being built for the new healing place church campus in mozambique would be named "the terry melancon chapel" in honor of terry and his heart to help hurting people.

the nearly-complete terry melancon chapel in nkobe, mozambique

vickie and her family have decided to commit all the proceeds from this book project to help the work there in mozambique - a partnership of children's cup, mission of mercy, the family church of lafayette, and healing place church. vickie and her family have already given so much of their time and resources to helping the project in mozambique - it's an incredible blessing to see how God is using their lives.

it is in this facility that we'll launch the new church while i'm there with the team of elevate interns in just a couple weeks. please be in prayer for our trip. and ask God to bless the book project and to bless many lives through both the book and the work in mozambique.

walkin'

2007-04-05T22:17:00.000-05:00

there is so much to say about this picture. first of all, it is i think only the second time i've actually been able to post a photograph of my wife on my blog (she's on the right with the cool shades).

but the really cool thing is what was going on where the picture was taken. lita (the lady on the left) is part of household of faith in gonzales (just south of baton rouge) where scott bledsoe pastors. she has an intense passion to do something to make a difference in zimbabwe with the children - particularly those orphaned by aids. (it's a strong story i'll share in another post soon hopefully.)

she and some friends from household put together a walk-a-thon and in this one event they raised over $20,000 for their project in zimbabwe with children's cup.

praise God for lita. praise God for a clear call and intense passion in her life to make a difference. she's living proof that what God starts with one person can grow to something huge when people pull together.

check out pat conti's post about the event (and a couple more pics there).

welcome home mom and dad...

2007-04-05T22:10:00.000-05:00

monet, monroe, (meemaw), vaughn, rhett, (vicki), rhodes, and lincoln

ok, i know it's been a week since you got home from africa, but i just thought i'd post the pic we took with your little baton rouge grandkids at the airport while dad was getting the lost suitcase situation sorted out.

glad you're back!

tonight - the underground event

2007-04-05T13:16:00.000-05:00

9:30 tonight at the annex. come on, a little late night worship-and-a-movie might do you some good.

in the words of the great ignacio, "you can do eeeht."

hpc "gets it" - according to my boy todd rhoades

2007-04-04T16:22:00.000-05:00

cool post over at monday morning insight by todd rhoades about some churches he's visited over the last few weeks.

actually there are two posts. the original post lists some observations - very cool list - from the churches, then the follow-up post which includes a list of six churches he is referring to.

here's the observations (you really need to go read his post to get the full flavor, but for those of you too lazy to click and read over there....):

Each church has a pastor with a vision.

ok, we've certainly got that at healing place.

Each church hires almost exclusively from within.

and nepotism is our friend

Speaking of staff, the staff of these churches ‘get it’ too.

well, yeah. i should say we do. that's why i'm posting about this. :-)

A larger percentage of their staff (or staff wives) are pregnant.

or have lots of kids - come on, stermer!

Since they don’t have it all figured out, these pastors all shared with me their desire to connect with other leaders who can help mentor them.

why i love leadership network and the other churches in this list and a dozen or so more that todd would have included had he visited them.

These churches are not shy about sharing resources.

this is the one i think that hits hpc in the heart. if we stop being this, we stop being hpc.

Most all of these pastors are bloggers.

yeah, baby - dinorizzo.com

These churches are not afraid to make tough calls.

got it. i love todd's explanation about this one... you need to read his post - really

Numbers are important to them.

and ONE is the most important number - reaching the world by serving ONE.

thanks todd - great post. and thanks, matt for the heads up.

shhh... but spread the word...

2007-04-04T10:21:00.000-05:00

tomoorrow night

9:30 p.m. till about 1 a.m. (or whenever)

at the annex

an otherwise-unannounced underground gathering with a showing of the passion movie followed by a binge of worship of our Savior in preparation for easter

for the fierce, for the free, for the intense, for the strong, for the broken, for those who are full-on serious about being madly in love with Jesus

lion chasing - big & tall style, PART 2

2007-03-30T14:45:00.000-05:00

we finally found someone here at hpc who can wear the batterson lion chaser shirt. (check out PART 1 here.)

man, i wish today was yesterday

2007-03-30T11:07:00.000-05:00

this is the team i'm taking to mozambique

2007-03-28T14:14:00.001-05:00

pray for me.

lion chasing - big & tall style

2007-03-27T15:45:00.000-05:00

mark batterson sent us a few really cool t-shirts with this slammin' lion-chaser logo on them with a very batterson-esque a/f gap feel and look. too bad they were L and XL (just a size or two too small.)

me and a pastor from hpc who chose to remain anonymous modeling our new attire

mark - i'm wearing mine to the buzz conference, dude.

tweezerblog

2007-03-26T16:41:00.000-05:00

the doctor is blogging. check him out at jasonlaird.blogspot.com.

yeah baby.

i love this dude.

children's cup video

2007-03-26T13:37:00.000-05:00

here's that video i tried posting a few days ago - this should be a little easier for you to see - last time it was just a huge download. this should work better.

a few pics from my "others"

2007-03-26T10:13:00.000-05:00

rhett lookin' hip

pyjama wii boxing twins

more pyjama wii boxing twins

justice project #1 (tori's in there - first one on the left)

rhodes sleeping by me in church saturday night

my four sons - jd is in the front - tough to get a pic of him lately - but check out the twins on the couch together (vicki was in australia and tori was at amplified)

check out dino rizzo's post about "others" and you'll get the point.

update from luke walters

2007-03-26T09:06:00.000-05:00

my boy luke walters and his son luke are in sri lanka right now - doing what they do - reaching the lost in "the window" as he refers to it (the 1040 window).

check out this email i just got from him.

here's a news article on the airport bombing from radio australia.

please keep the two lukes in your prayers - for their safety and for open doors for the gospel.

hpc experience #1

2007-03-26T08:27:00.000-05:00

check out this post from nathan martin after his time here at healing place church earlier this month during the hpc experience:

read the whole post here.

One of the things that came out of this conference was a deeper understanding of our vision with regard to the community. I had a clear understanding of how we were to relate to one another within our four walls, but I wasn't clear on what Christian Challenge was supposed to look like to the larger community. The HPC Experience helped me gain a clear perspective of how we are to relate to our neighbors. And it can be summed up in one word: CARE. Christian Challenge Cares. We want to reach out to our community with an open hand, seeking to serve without expecting anything in return.

Christian Challenge CARE Team Out of this is coming an exciting outreach philosphy. We are forming the "Christian Challenge CARE Team". Whenever we have an opportunity to touch our community with the love of Jesus, we want to do that as part of the Christian Challenge CARE Team. We've ordered yellow t-shirts with that phrase on the back, with the word "CARE" being the largest. We want to demonstrate with our actions that Jesus cares for those around us. He cares for the thirsty, the hungry, the poor, the hurting. We desire to be a tangible demonstration of that very real care that He has towards all people. The Lord said it best through the prophet Ezekiel when He said, "As a shepherd cares for his herd in the day when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will care for My sheep and will deliver them from all the places to which they were scattered..." (Ezek 34:12 NASB)

I'm excited about what the Lord has for Christian Challenge. I look forward to demonstrating the love of care of Jesus. I thank God for Jeff Murphy who went with me. He has really caught the vision and is providing valuable leadership to our efforts. I appreciate my friend Joel Dyke for telling me about the HPC Experience and for being a friend who always believed in me. I thank God for Dino Rizzo for inspiring me to believe that we really can touch our community. Fasten your seatbelts, Christian Challenge! It's about to get exciting!!!

thanks for posting about it nathan! and thanks to all of you who came - it was great to meet each of you and see what God is doing in your comunities.

oh, wow.

2007-03-25T02:52:00.000-05:00

lifechurch.tv is even cooler than i thought (and i've had them pretty much at the top of the "cool churches that aren't healing place" list).

ok, so it's not really about their cool factor, it's about their insanely genius, anointed creativity, redeem-the-culture, milk the technology mindset of getting the Word out.

check out this post about their new virtual campus coming online in a couple weeks.

sheesh.

robbed at church

2007-03-25T00:50:00.000-05:00

check out this billboard that the creative geniuses at lifechurch.tv came up with.

i love it.

thanks, david turner, for the heads up.

another video u gotta watch - much smaller filesize

2007-03-24T23:55:00.000-05:00

this is another video - the latest from ty van rensburg for children's cup.

this one is much smaller, so if you had trouble viewing the video in my last post, don't give up and not try this one out.

click here to watch

you gotta watch this video

2007-03-23T16:13:00.000-05:00

i've had this children's cup video for quite a while - ty van resnburg and i made it a while back - just finally got the smarts to post it.

"it's about the children" - click here to watch and brace yourself.

i need to put it on you-tube someday.

more on africa from rob ketterling

2007-03-22T20:31:00.000-05:00

here's a pic pastor rob ketterling posted on his blog of him and his team at the new healing place church campus in mozambique. they've just returned home from a trip to work there with children's cup. if you haven't checked out his posts from the trip you need to.

and you really oughtta think about going this summer yourself. check out go global to see when and how. it's your turn.

rob ketterling - posting from africa

2007-03-20T15:43:00.000-05:00

check out these three posts (and more to come) over at rob ketterling's site - posting during his trip to africa - he just spoke at the first church service ever held at healing place church_mozambique - an unofficial "launch" in preparation for the official launch we'll do in april when i'll be there with the elevate team from hpc.

254 in attendance - plus 25 americans. but get this: about 200 of those were children.

Care Points
Back To Swaziland
Mozambique

and his post about the visit to the children's cup carepoints in swaziland... phew. so true...

amplified baptism pics

2007-03-20T13:02:00.000-05:00

got these pics from robert conti - from the baptism in the hpc lake after chad daniel spoke at amplified saturday night. i love that we have a lake for Holy Ghost dunkfests.

a few battersonisms

2007-03-20T12:07:00.000-05:00

found these notes i texted to myself during the hpc staff meeting mark batterson spoke at. (i know i'm pathetic - texting notes to myself rather than writing with a pen. but honestly, i loathe writing by hand anymore...)

don't accumulate possessions. accumulate experiences

r u living a life that is worth telling a story about?

i wana live life not like "the best i can do is the best i can do," but like "the best can do is the best that God can do."

pray ridiclous prayers.

it's easy to act like Jesus. harder to react like Jesus.

perfect love will not make u sentimental, it will make u fearless.

guilt will paralyze u. God is bigger than ur biggest failure.

dude's got some serious truth running around in that head of his. to all of you up there at ebenezer's and ncc - thank God daily for the pastor he's blessed you with. and happy first anniversary.

in a warehouse with 200 rats on a sweaty day

2007-03-16T15:08:00.000-05:00

from left to right: derek smith, mark batterson, mark stermer

this week (wednesday and thursday) i got to spend a bunch of time with a couple pastors i really respect.

one was troy shaw - pastoring a slammin' church - the oasis church up in loganville, georgia. troy's got a huge vision and from what i'm hearing, the people in loganville are catching it. troy's working on putting a team on the ground in africa with children's cup for a couple weeks this fall, working toward a bigger project there - it's an understatement that i'm excited about that.

i get to go up to the grand opening weekend for their new worship facility in may. can't wait to see the church - not just the building - but the amazing people that have chosen to do life at oasis.

the other pastor i got to hang with this week is mark batterson from national community church. we figured out that we've known each other about a year and a half (we agreed it feels more like 15 years), and in that year and a half i've really seen a lot i respect in him. what got my attention was the cool factor and the innovation he thrives in. but what i've learned since is that he's more than just cool factor. he's got substance to deliver. the cool, the innovation, the technology - for him they are not an end in and of themselves. they are simply a means to the end. the end is the Gospel.

there's so much truth in what he taught at our wednesday night service at healing place church - much of it from his new "you-have-to-read-this-book" book, in a pit with a lion on a snowy day. he said so much i wanna relate here, but i'll give it to you this way. buy the book. read his blog. and check this one point out - he said this in our staff meeting yesterday:

"sometimes we can let the momentum we gain from yesterday's anointing cause us to relax - but we need today's anointing today."

and this:

"i don't want to be someone who is known for being on the cutting edge of yesterday's movement."

ok, so i paraphrased it - he was dishing out truths faster than i could type.

get the book. read his blog. track this guy if you aren't already. i'm gonna try to find my notes from staff meeting and see if i can clean 'em up enough to make a sensible post from. it's great stuff.

so what's the scoop with the title of this post, you ask? ahhh.... well, on the way to the airport in new orleans, we stopped by donaldsonville to check out the dream center (and the new donaldsonville dream center west facility - the elementary school we were given by the city). mark stermer and derek smith (two of the coolest, hardest-working, God-fearing, Jesus-loving, i'm-glad-they're-on-my-team cajun men of God i know) showed mark batterson around and it was really cool.

well, while we were in the warehouse at the east dream center, mark stermer started telling mark batterson about the days following the hurricane, and how rats had invaded the warehouse. literally took over the joint. derek said they got into some vitamins and stuff and apparently bulked themselves up or something because he tried hitting them on the head with a shovel and he said they just looked at him and ran off.

they had to get a three-pronged hoe and stab/gouge/cut the rats. and they were everywhere. he said they were swinging, sweating, like men fighting bees. crazy scene. adrenaline pumping, slashing rats left and right. derek said they counted and piled up 200 dead rats outside and took a picture with 'em. oh, yeah... you know i'm asking for that picture...

that's the kind of man derek is. and mark stermer. sure, the rats weren't lions on a snowy day, but the rats were certainly standing in the way of what God wanted done, and derek and mark chased 'em down in the warehouse on a sweaty day and killed all 200 of them.

maybe we'll start a website called www.chasetherats.com.... hahaha

troy shaw, mark batterson - it was great to see y'all this week. thanks for coming.

good stuff from perry noble (via tony morgan)

2007-03-16T14:42:00.000-05:00

check out the notes tony posted from some of the sessions perry noble is teaching to a bunch of church leaders at the unleash conference up in south carolina:

The myth behind growing churches is this: It's all about style. It's not about style.

Churches don't grow without Godly leadership.

How can you get a vision for your church without time with God?

In the Bible, God never gave the vision to a committee. "The personnel committee, they're of Satan."

"God didn't ordain deacons to tell the pastor what to do."

"If you've never been scared, you've never heard from God."

If you're not the senior pastor, you have to trust that he's hearing from God.

"As a pastor, I can't please everyone." I'd rather offend the people in the church seats than God who gave us our vision.

People will leave. And that's OK.

Most of the people on NewSpring's staff team come from NewSpring Church.

"God has never called us to do anything that's safe."

"It insults God when we dream small dreams."

Ask God for big things.

"If you can sleep, it's not a vision. If you can do it, it's not a vision."

great stuff - and that's just a portion of the whole - check the whole post out here.

thanks, tony, for posting it for all of us non-attenders.

ready for elevate:mozambique

2007-03-16T01:11:00.000-05:00

check out this story on charles and kristen young's blog about this man that last year's elevate team to africa prayed for.

Jesus is moving

amazing. i'm so ready to go to africa with this year's elevate squad.

please remember to pray for us. let us know you'll be praying - just leave a comment here (or email me at: dan dot ohlerking at healingplacechurch.org)

wii sports tournament

2007-03-16T00:55:00.000-05:00

wii tourney - it's on, boys

what do you do when mom's away in australia, big sister is at a meeting at church? you twist dad's arm to do a wii sports tournament with you. jd and lincoln and i had a mini tournament at home tonight - i think jd won... certainly wasn't me. lincoln and jd are tough competition for me in the boxing, but they kicked my tail in bowling and baseball and golf.

chad daniel and dr. tweeze

2007-03-16T00:04:00.000-05:00

(from left to right: chad daniel and jason laird)

jason laird (our high school student ministries pastor here at healing place church) and chad daniel (global expeditors missionary wildman) at a meeting tonight my daughter tori was at. i have always seen similarities between chad and tweeze, but this pic that tori sent me really highlights more similarities.

i really really love both these dudes - an amazing love and passion for God.

prayer need from swaziland

2007-03-14T11:35:00.000-05:00

just got this from ben with children's cup over in swaziland:

We have a doctor team here right now and the head doctor is having some problems with kidney stones. We are rushing him to the hospital now!! Please be in prayer with us.

please take a minute to pray for this situation.

thanks!

UPDATE: ben just sent word to us here via patrick conti that dr. beyda is doing much better. THANK YOU to all who prayed with us for this great man.

elevate '07 - mozambique

2007-03-13T11:09:00.000-05:00

team members - click here for the elevate mozambique team blog

i get the honor of leading the team of full-time interns (elevate) from hpc to help launch our new campus in mozambique. i'm soooo excited about not just going back to africa, but to be able to participate in the development of this incredible bunch of young men and women of God. they represent the future - no doubt - but they are also the present. they serve like crazy here at hpc and i'm excited to get to share with them the opportunity to experience missions in africa.

here's the team:

brandon bourgeois
barton pickens
blake prudhomme
kaycee smith
gabi leblanc
katie fontenot
katherine sharkey
angela musso
natalie spera
brooke anderson
colleen thorp
lauren best
(in just a few short days, they'll each have their own blog - a team assignment - and i'll be sure to post links to each of them for you.)

and as an added bonus, jarred ray from the hpc video team will be coming with us to shoot video and stills, and pastor mark stermer from hpc is going to join us a couple days into the trip along with a couple of great pastors - nathan keller, from sugarland texas and chuck colgrove from humble texas. it's gonna be an awesome trip.

pray
please pray for us. we need support in two huge ways. we need people who will commit to pray for us - starting now and thru the duration of the trip (we get back may 2). that is our first priority. we are totally convinced that this mission needs to be a partnership - those of us going partnering with those who stay here but invest prayer and finances to help make it possible.

if you want to commit to pray, either leave a comment here or shoot me an email at dan.ohlerking at healingplacechurch dot org.

give
obviously, trips like this cost quite a bit to pull together. we're doing all we can to keep the cost down but it's still well over $3000 per person. if you want to give to help send this team, just click here to give through the children's cup online giving system. 100% of your gift will go toward the elevate missions trip - so long as you select the designation "Elevate 2007 - Mozambique."

anything that is accomplished for God on this trip will be the result of those who went and those who sent. (ha - some unintentional poetry there - sorry.)

go global missions workshop

2007-03-13T10:30:00.000-05:00

ok, i'm still learning the nuances of using this new phone's camera, so the pic is terrible, but as far as i know, it's the only pic we took at the missions workshop this past weekend.

saturday was a great day for healing place church. it was a great day for a lot of people in a lot of places all over the world. it was great because nearly 200 people joined together for our first-ever go global missions workshop, and by being there, they were showing their intent to go on the mission field sometime during 2007. get that - nearly 200 missionaries being sent out on short-term missions trips in the next six or seven months. how cool is that?

we're sending people on missions trips to places like italy, canada and los angeles, and others to places like cambodia, mozambique, swaziland, peru and mexico. what may be the most exciting part of it all for me, though, is that when we start 2008, there will be a couple hundred more people who have missions even more deeply entrenched in their hearts and lives.

to all of you who came out at 8am on your saturday morning, thanks and congratulations - you're on your way to becoming a missionary.

vicki's off to colour

2007-03-13T00:25:00.000-05:00

wow. i did something today that i don't ever wanna do again. i drove my family down to the new orleans airport and dropped my wife and the mother of my five kids off so that she could hop on a plane and go to l.a. then on to sydney. by herself. one of the hardest things i've had to do in a while. i think it was harder, too, because it caught me off guard. i've been encouraging vicki to go - to enjoy the time - to take it all in... but when it got down to the moment of seeing her walk out of view into the airport...

i texted her a few minutes later and told her "i just sat back down in the car, couldn't breathe, couldn't talk, kids asking me a million qpm (questions per minute) and i couldn't muster any words." it wasn't a frog in my throat. it was a fully-grown hippo jammed in there where i couldn't swallow.

but.... we will make it. we'll be better for it. i'm actually looking forward to the time with the kids.

but dang it, it'd sure be nicer to have made it all happen with her around rather than having to deal with her being gone. she alwasy tells me when i go out of town that it's harder for the one being left at home. i agree today. (she did bring that up today, but she said at least today she's wondering if it's true or not.)

pray for her if you get a chance. pray that she connects with everyone God has prepared for her to connect with and that all that God has in store to show her and do through her is done - completely - during this experience.

it's obvious that i'll be needing your prayers, too.

that your drink dad?

2007-03-13T00:15:00.000-05:00

today at lunch, rhodes looked at his menu and pointed to the diet coke logo and said, "that your drink, dad?"

tell me coke isn't a master of marketing. 36 months on this planet and my son has already figured out what dad drinks.

then again, maybe it's the sheer volume of diet coke logo stuff that comes thru my house. happy now, dean?

awwww...

2007-03-10T22:58:00.000-06:00

the now-three-year-old rhodes and rhett taking turns driving this afternoon (lincoln had their other jeep - the sharing went well for a while anyway).

i love being a dad.

Healing Place Church Missions Update

2007-03-09T12:54:00.000-06:00

this year is already shaping up to be a tremendous thrust forward for hpc in our involvement in global missions. we have reshaped our structure of support so that we can be better stewards of the missions resources God has entrusted to us.

that does not at all mean that we are cutting back. quite the opposite – in fact, this year, we plan to invest more resources, put more people on the mission field, provide more support, and have an even deeper connection with the people and the projects on the ground.

we’ll have more information on the hpc go global website very soon that will provide the details of this new thrust to "go global." for now, please pray that God will continue to show us favor, and to bless and guide our efforts to serve His purpose globally to reach out to the poor and hurting and give hope in Jesus everywhere we go.

maybe pepsi isn't so bad after all

2007-03-09T09:08:00.000-06:00

i coached my son jd's upward basketball team at this past season (to an undefeated record 10-0... yay). the team was primarily 5th and 6th graders but there was this one kid - peyton palma - who is in 4th grade, but was deservedly "playing up" with the big boys.

he's got a great game, great shot, good speed, huge heart to learn... a great kid....

so anyway, after the season, his parents brought me this folder with a free vacation for my wife and me to go to a hotel from just about anywhere in the usa. something to do with his work at pepsi allowed him to get the deal at a discount, but still... thanks palma family. thanks pepsi.

it made me think the other day at the store... maybe i've been too hard-nosed about diet coke. it may be another life-changing epiphane like i had three years ago when i went mac.

i know this sounds like sacrilege to the likes of geoff surratt and dean turner... my apologies....

we shall see.