The weather has been beautiful this week, so I went to the site of the new campus to take some pictures. The corners have been located for the slab and the clearing of the next 7 acres has begun. This week we are scheduled to complete the clearing phase of our contract and move into the construction phase. These pictures were taken on June 28, 2007 at 6.30 PM. I love this church….

   Today was ‘Find Your Place’ Sunday. I closed out the final message in our series-The Network. The lobby was buzzing with people getting connected to the mission of the Church. Pastor T and her team did an outstanding job preparing Guest Services for the event. It was a great day at Journey. I love you all. 150 people signed up today for Find Your Place. Welcome friends…

   Rachel and I celebrated 26 amazing years together this past week. I told her even though she’s been my wife for 26 years I will always refer to her as ‘my girlfriend’. I love hanging out with my girlfriend. Years ago we started affirming the marriages at Journey by inviting all the married couples at church to dance with us during Sunday services. We turn the lights down  a little, put on some romantic music and spend a few minutes dancing with our spouse. During Church! Today we danced to Rod Stewart’s “Have I Told You Lately That I Love You?” That’s our song. Actually my favorite is “When A Man Loves A Woman” by Percy Sledge but I’ve worn it out over the years. So we picked a new one last year.
   This Sunday was time for The Dance. To all of you who are married, this dance is in honor of you. You are committed to each other for life. Through good times and bad times. You make the world go around. Here’s some pictures from today’s services. I love this church.
  

    The dirt work on the foundation of Phase 1 is nearly done. The summer showers have slowed down the dump trucks but the crew continues to work during the dry spells. I took some pictures to mark the progress we’ve made this week. The last 7 acres of this Phase will be cleared soon. That will bring the total cleared to 14 acres, with 125  acres left for future development. The General Contractor informed us Friday that the slab is scheduled to be poured in mid-July and the building should be delivered in mid-August.
    The subsurface drains for the parking lot have been delivered and will be installed soon. And the Washington-St. Tammany Electric Coop is installing the underground power. I parked my Suburban on the red clay pad that will soon be our coffee shop. Then I took some pictures using my Suburban as a reference point.
   Pic.#1  I was standing in the children’s theater facing North toward the worship center.
   Pic.#2  I was standing in the east entrance of the nursery/preschool facing west.
   Pic.#3  I was standing on the main stage in the worship center facing south.
   Pic.#4-5 WST Underground work
   Pic.#6  The 7 acres that will be cleared next

   We ate dinner today with Mark and Mary Orfila. They are church planters in Decan, Kosovo. I am always amazed by people like Mark and Mary because they carry on the work of the apostles. Church planting is the highest call on the planet. It was a pleasure eating with them. They told us many stories about how God is moving in that war-torn area of the world. On their next assignment they may be sent to Macedonia. The same Macedonia of the New Testament. Wow. Pray for the Orfilas and their work.

   We are sending teams out this summer to several nations. At Journey we are committed to tell the Good News to the nations beginning right here on the Northshore. We prayed for the team going to Brazil today. They will be taking a Canoe trip down the Amazon. How cool is that ? I am so proud of Pastor Shawn and the team he is leading. We are also sending teams to Mexico, Jamacia and Sri Lanka. Journey also has some of its family serving in Thailand, China and Uganda on summer intern trips. Please pray for all of these men and women who are serving the Lord on the Mission field. We are proud of you all. I can’t wait to hear the stories of your adventures. Godspeed Journey.

   Journey held the second annual ‘Dad-Fest’ today. For Father’s Day we pulled out all the stops. Pastor Ken brought the message with a take off on the Price Is Right gameshow. As you know Bob Barker retired from the show last Friday so we played the game with the Dads at Journey. It was so cool. Thanks to all the dads who worshipped at Journey today. And congratulations to the winners of the ShowCase Showdown. Happy Fathers Day yall….

  Marc is on our team here at Journey. He is the Sound Engineer for our services. And he is a dear friend. Rach and I love Marc and Laurie. They are good people. Marc turned fifty last month and his family threw a surprise party to celebrate. It was held way out in the country. The invitation said ” go three miles past the Sonic Drive Inn until you come to a red barn with a chicken mounted on the roof…” I LOVE THAT.  Only in the South !  Well we went to celebrate Marc. Happy birthday friend.

   Rachel named our womens ministry Girlfriends by Design. GBD for short. Cool name that expresses our vision for the females at Journey. Girls doing life together. Well the Girlfriends got together last Saturday at David and Olgas home. Friendship Dipped in Chocolate was the theme. Rach said it was an awesome morning. She took some pictures. Enjoy….

   My Father started treating me like one of his friends not long after I finished high school. Although we always had a solid relationship as father and son, the last 25 years as friends were sweet. In our family he was known as ‘Pop’. He and Mom had 5 children and 20 grandchildren. Yet Pop was always the same – kind, patient, and soft-spoken.
   Last year for Fathers Day, I convinced him to come to our church for Dad-Fest. He lived in another city and was committed to his church, but we made plans to pick him up, attend services together and eat a late Fathers Day lunch. I intended to honor him at Dad Fest last year. It was a secret that I didn’t tell him because he didn’t like too much attention and would’ve found a way to get out of it.
   Well, Pop suddenly got sick last spring and died on June 9, 2006. It was about two weeks before Fathers Day. We buried him on a beautiful spring morning and I told my good friend Pop good-bye. I have no regrets because we shared so many good times together. He and I would sit on his front porch or chat on the phone about life, church, the past or whatever was on his mind that day. I miss that old man and I hope I can be the dad to my five children that he was to his.
   Here’s a salute to all you dads! Thank you for loving your kids. We don’t remember your mistakes. Really! We only remember the good stuff.  Happy Fathers Day ….