healing place church - #16

just caught this in the new issue of outreach mag. hpc is listed in their top 25 innovative churches in america (at #16). tony and lindy and jeannie put together a cool piece on innovative churches and it's quite an honor to be included in the list this year.

some of the other churches on the list are ones we've been able to connect with already and i think whatever innovation we do have here is at least in part due to the relationship with them. when it's all said and done, what counts is the one life that is changed because of an encounter with Jesus - if being innovative can help make that happen, then, let's get innovative.

here's the list:

1. lifechurch.tv (edmond, ok) - craig groeschel


2. granger community church (granger, in) - mark beeson


3. northpoint community church (alpharetta, ga) - andy stanley


4. fellowship church (grapevine, tx) - ed young, jr


5. mosaic church (city of industry, ca) - erwin mcmanus


6. seacoast church (mt. pleasant, sc) - greg surratt


7. community christian church (naperville, il) - dave ferguson


8. national community church (wasington, dc) - mark batterson


9. mars hill church (seattle, wa) - mark driscoll


10. new hope christian fellowship (oahu, hi) - wayne cordero


11. mark hill bible church (grandville, mi) - rob bell


12. the potter's house (dallas, tx) - t.d. jakes


13. crossover church (tampa, fl) - tommy kyllonen


14. church of the open door (maple grove, mn) - david johnson


15. redeemer presbyterian church (new york, ny) - timothy keller


16. healing place church (baton rouge, la) - dino rizzo


17. the journey church (new york, ny) - nelson searcy


18. saddleback church (lake forest, ca) - rick warren


19. north coast church (vista, ca) - larry osborn


20. willow creek community church (south barrington, il) - bill hybels


21. imago dei community (portland, or) - rick mckinley


22. christ the king community church (mt. vernon, wa) - dave browning


23. radiant church (surprise, az) - lee mcfarland


24. living word christian center (forest park, il) - william winston


25. the sanctuary (santa clarita, ca) - marty walker

i've actually already heard of all of these churches. i've been to eight of them.
i have personally been blessed by the innovative approach of 18 of them and all the others i'm planning to check out online soon.

congrats to all of them - and congrats to the people of hpc who make innovation such a natural thing around here.

in the spirit of the holidays...

back by popular demand...

O HOLY NIGHT

like you've never heard it before.

hpc foreheads

ever wonder if the kids in swaziland know about healing place church? check out this pic:


some of the kids at the 2006 children's cup christmas at the carepoints parties (check the foreheads)

I love those kids.

Thanks again to those of you who helped make these parties a reality.

cool story from hpc toy drive

"Making A List"
by Donna Frank

Last Saturday was the culmination of our Healing Place Church Toy Drive, the delivery of Christmas toys to over 200 families in Baton Rouge. That doesn’t include the toys sent out at Donaldsonville, St. Francisville or our Spanish campus, all of which totaled about 2000 toys.

The Toy Drive started a couple months ago when HPCers started buying toys for needy families. Over the next eight weeks the toys were collected, sorted and packed for various groups and families. By Saturday morning the Annex parking lot was covered with toys, maps and Christmas cards. Dozens of volunteers showed up to deliver gifts to families across the city.

The goal of the Toy Drive, like most of our outreaches, is twofold: to meet the physical needs of people who need help, and to demonstrate the unconditional love of Jesus Christ. Our volunteers not only put gifts into their hands, they had the opportunity to talk with them, pray for them and remind them that they’re not forgotten.

One of our volunteers knocked on a door and found an eight year-old babysitting her infant sister. They were waiting for dad to come home, but nobody knew for sure when that would be. During their visit, the volunteers delivered the toys and then led the 8 year-old in a prayer of salvation. Praise God. An interesting side-note of this story is that the volunteer almost didn’t come that day to help out. Her sister is battling cancer, and the volunteer wasn’t in the Christmas spirit. She decided to show up only because HPC had been delivering meals to her sister; she thought that since HPC had stepped up, she would too. Because of that decision, there’s now one more name in the Book of Life. What a gift.

It’s easy to get tangled up in the materialism of Christmas, but what it all comes down to is salvation. Jesus’ entire purpose, from His birth to His death, was to make a way for sinners (you and me) to be reconciled to God. I can’t think of a better way to honor His birth than by bringing the gift of salvation to others.

Merry Christmas and all glory to God!

amen, donna. amen.

if you're a reader, here's a new blog to track...

books.leadnet.org

when you get a chance you oughtta start tracking this one every now and then.

the folks over at leadership network are awesome and i've gotten to meet a bunch of them and i am thoroughly impressed with each of them. i'm looking forward to seeing how this blog develops.

six months' worth of pics

i've got a new photo gallery on picasa with some pics from my last six months - check it out here.

i just unloaded my sd card from my phone and some from our family camera. lots of the pics were stuff i intended to blog about but just never got around to. so i've just put together a gallery of pics and captions instead of trying to go back and do full posts about each.

man, i love what blogging and photo-galleries do for me.

hail hath fury

check out this crazy post from my momma's blog about a hailstorm they went thru yesterday in swaziland.

here's a couple excerpts:

"...for 20-30 minutes we were battered and beat with hail stones ranging in size from golfball to baseball. Crashing onto the roof and smashing into a zillion little ice chunks. Destroying everything in its path...."

"....I'm sure there are dazed cows everywhere--still wondering what happened."

and this is one of the small ones...

thanks, Lord, for protecting my family out there.

rhett's a baller

here's a video of rhett (the youngest ohlerking by a few minutes) shooting some b-ball at the house.

dang he's cute.

leadership network article on hpc

i admit it, i'm proud of my church. i think there's a right type of pride to be had. maybe it's more of a "wow, i love getting to be a part of something that's doing so much right" type of "pride" - regardless, i confess.

leadership network (a great bunch of folks based in dallas - including greg ligon, julia burke, and yes, even my boyee geoff surratt although he's not technically in dallas) has helped us with some of our strategic planning on being a multi-site church, and now on our medical outreach ministry. they've got a story about hpc on their website. check this out:

"From those looking for a warm welcome to those facing hard times emotionally, physically or financially, Healing Place Church offers a welcoming space to experience God’s love. This church is acting out that love at home and abroad in some inspiring ways." here's the full article:

leadership network article on healing place church

Christmas at the CarePoints

Here's a report from Kristen Young after last Saturday's Christmas at the CarePoints in Swaziland.

This year I started out my Christmas a little differently. Usually, that start of Christmas for me includes the big shopping day - the day after Thanksgiving - (a great tradition by the way).

But this year was different. This year, I started out by being reminded what Christmas is really all about. It's not about the tree, the lights, the food or the presents. It's about birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's about doing His will and loving the sick, the poor, the hungry. Thank you, Lord for reminding me of that this year.

On Saturday, December 2nd, that is what the whole day was about. (It was the day of Children's Cup's Christmas at the CarePoints.( We started bussing in children at around 7:00AM, until we had about 2500 kids there. A local high school facilitated the event.

The property was absolutely beautiful. A huge green field overlooking the mountains. The children played tug of war, had sack races, got their faces painted, sang Christmas songs and ate the best meal of their lives. These kids felt important. They felt loved. They understood, most likely for the first time, what Christmas is and who Christmas is about. I'm sure for that one day, they felt like a million dollars.

You see, I enjoy all the things that go with Christmas, but I never want to lose the focus. After seeing these sick, dirty, starving little children laugh and play and actually feel completely safe where they were, I hope that this year, I will keep the focus where it belongs, on Jesus Christ.

Thank you to everyone who helped to sponsor the event.

You gave these kids the best day of their lives.

i'll ditto what she said - THANKS to all of you who gave and prayed for the day to make it what it was. Please if you think of it this saturday, pray again for the mozambique version of the party. won't be as big, but the kids at our one carepoint there are gonna have the time of their lives and learn about Jesus and the real reason for Christmas.