Elevate 2007 is coming to a close tonight. It culminated at the NorthShore Harbor Center with See You After the Pole. I’m writing this during the event. Justin just finished preaching and the response to the altar call was great. 250 students made eternal decisions during Elevate. That was the point of this week. Students coming to Christ. What else really matters ?
   I want to applaud Journey’s student ministries team. They have put in 50 hours in the last four days. Pastor Ryan and Nicole, Pastor Sidney, Beth and Danny, the adult leaders and student leaders too. You guys represented us well. I’m so proud of you. Thanks also to Jeff Deyo and his band, as well as Justin Lookadoo. And my love goes out to all the great teachers and administrators on the NorthShore and in Picayune. Thanks.
    I wonder what Elevate is going to be like next year when we have our own Campus ? Can’t wait to find out.

   One of my sons and I went to the Monday Night Football game at the Dome. The Saints were spanked hard and put to bed without supper. It was a tough game to endure. Agony. And on top of it all Deuce is out for the season. Man that stinks. But the night was not a total loss. We had Club seats. Wow. We left the game and went into the Club Room. Sofas, flat screens everywhere and some fine Louisiana food. We forgot about the agony of defeat and enjoyed the thrill of the Club. I love Louisiana. And I still love the Saints. Especially when I have Club seats.

   Elevate weekend is an annual event at Journey where the students are in command. They planned the services and participated along side our adult leaders in many areas of ministry. I’m proud of you all. Jeff Deyo and his band led worship in both services and Justin Lookadoo brought the message. We will be going with Justin to area public schools as he conducts assemblies all over the North Shore. It all culminates on Wednesday night at the Harbor Center as Journey hosts “See You After the Pole”. We are preparing for hundreds of students from this area to fill the arena. Parents are coming too. Jeff Deyo will be in concert and you will hear from the tall Texan Justin Lookadoo. It’s going to be fun. This Wednesday at 7pm.

   There wasn’t a cloud in the sky at 7.30 this morning. In fact the entire week has been amazingly clear. Lots of sunshine and blue skies has meant progress on Phase 1 of the new campus. Most of the steel is erected and much of the framing is up for the outside walls. On Tuesday of this week I sat in on the contractors meeting to get an update on what’s next. We are a couple of weeks behind,but catching up quickly. The weather looks pretty bleak for Saturday but we are praying for favor. I took a few pictures of the work today. These photos were taken on Friday September 22, 2007. At 7.30am.

   Journey was on the road again today. A multi-day event bumped us out of the North Shore Harbor Center. Again. But we love road trips. Thanks to so many of you who continue to make the trip. You guys amaze us. We were at the Trinity Banquet Hall today in the old Outlet Mall. And the place was packed. There was such a sweet spirit in the building this morning. Sweet. I love this church. We took some pictures. I have posted some below. To celebrate the road trip we made root-beer floats for everyone. A&W Root Beer floats . Ummmm.
    Next week we will be back at the Harbor Center. It’s Elevate weekend. Jeff Deyo will be leading worship and Justin Luckadoo will bring the message aimed at parents. And our very own Momentum Leaders will be serving right along side our adult leaders. Gonna be good. Two services, 9am and 11am.

  The steel crew was working Saturday morning. I know because I drove out to the 138 early this morning to spend some time with God.  I did that and I spent some time watching the hard hat guys build our campus. Beautiful day at Journey.  The framing crew began the build-out in the worship center. You can see the stud walls in the pictures below. The steel is scheduled to be completed by Friday September 21. Then the subs go to work on the interior. The parking lots are under construction and the lake (retention pond) is almost finished.

   It was so quiet this morning as I sat there watching the men working in the distance. It was a special time with the Lord. You know living with a dream for eleven years will cause you to develop patience. I sat in the future parking lot breathing and watching. Breathing in fresh air. Watching a dream take shape. Breath. Watch. Believe….

   We filmed a video on the 138 today. It will be shown this Sunday at the weekend experience. I wanted to give you an update and show you the progress on Phase 1. We also threw in a little twist for fun. I did take some pictures as I said I would. But I left the memory card at the office. So a description of the progress will have to suffice. Here it goes…

   The entire slab is poured. Concrete is so cute…
   The beams are up all the way past the Cafe/Lobby.
   The second parking lot is shaping up nicely.
   The rain last week filled up Lake Journey to the half way point.

   We will be on the road again this Sunday. Trinity Banquet Hall at 10 am ONLY. You must see this video we worked on today. And we will have Children’s ministry in full force. This is our tenth different location since Katrina. Our name is Journey you know. Not Stationery. ( it sounded funnier in my head ). On the road again. I love this church.

   We’ve been getting connected the last two Sundays. Here at Journey it’s time for a new semester of small groups. And hundreds of our Journey family members signed up for the semester. Pastor T and our Connection Team did a phenomenal job.

The Harbor Center bumped us out of the Main Hall today. Our church crammed into 1/3 of our normal space. But we made it work. Connection sign-up took place in the student ministries hallway. It was good to be so close together. Rachel and the journey band had to shrink to a small ensemble of four vocals and 4 musicians. Worship rocked the house as usual.

Pastor Shawn Glendenning was back in town from leading our latest outreach. We welcomed home our Mexico team. A job well done team. We will be sending out 6 teams next year to the nations. Sign up for those trips starts on September 30.

Here are some pictures of Journey in action….

   Are you as sick about last nights Saints game as I am ? In the scope of world affairs it probably doesn’t matter that much, however the agony of defeat lingers. The headlines this morning on the USA Today were a sorry reminder of last nights misery. A bunch of my friends went to Indy to see the game in person. Tough trip home for those guys. Ken and I watched the game in our hotel room in Baton Rouge. We skipped dinner with some other pastors to see the loss. I turned the game off in the third quarter, couldn’t take it anymore. But all is not lost Saints fans. There is always next week. I’ve been saying that for a few decades. And the TIGERS play Saturday night. LSU is favored to beat VA.
   Black and Gold. Purple and Gold.
   Always tomorrow.
   I think I’m going to drive out to the new campus this afternoon, to cheer myself up.

   We are making progress everyday. The steel skeleton is shaping up at the new campus. And the final pour is planned for tomorrow morning. Our metal sheeting was delivered Wednesday morning. It’s kind of muddy from the rain but we’re still working. Here’s a look at the progress. These pictures were taken Wednesday morning September 4, 2007.