There are at least two important days in the life of every person.
1. The day he is born.
2. The day he discovers WHY.

    Journey is reaching out to New Orleans in 2008. With our new campus so near completion we feel compelled to serve others still reeling from Hurricane Katrina. One of the hardest hit areas by the storm was the Ninth Ward of New Orleans. That section of the city is filled with unique culture and old world charm. But the real assets of the Ninth Ward is the people. Many of whom are returning home to rebuild. Schools are reopening and shopping centers are being reborn. It is critical that the community of faith rise again.
    It is precisely there that we want to serve. We recently purchased an historic old church right off St. Claude Avenue. The former Redeemer Lutheran Church will be transformed into Journey-Ninth Ward. There are two buildings sitting on 4 lots. The first building is a World War II era church with an amazing bell tower and incredible stained glass windows. Each window recounts stories from the life of the Savior. Redeemer. What an appropriate theme for pitching in the recovery effort. The second building is an all purpose one that will serve as an outreach center as well as double as a children’s ministry facility.
    There was some damage done during Katrina. About 2 feet of water stood in the buildings in the days following the hurricane. We will begin repairs and reconstruction soon. This project has been burning in our hearts for about a year now. Through a series of events during the last 12 months I know that the Lord wants our church to focus on help hurting people. In fact that will become the mission statement of our New Orleans outreach. Help Hurting People. It seems to me that is what Jesus did in his ministry.
    After Thanksgiving we will begin working on our new location. I will give you more details in the days to come about the launch of our second campus. It’s going to be a great year. I love this church.

   Jesse Duplantis spoke at Journey on Sunday night. It has become an annual Thanksgiving tradition to host he and Mrs Cathy Duplantis here at our church. Rachel and I have grown so much in faith over the years sitting under their teaching. We are still amazed that they come to our church every year. As you know the Duplantis’ have an international television ministry, broadcasting on over 2700 television stations to a potential audience of 2.7 billion people. And yet they are as genuine as they ever were. Jesse and Cathy are the real deal. When they came and spoke to our church in 2005, only months after Katrina destroyed our shopping center, they brought Journey an offering ! A very large one at that. I called Brother Jesse the week before he came in 2005 to tell him our congregation was wiped out and that I wasn’t sure we would have a place to meet or anyone attending, he shrugged it off and said ” I will preach to 5 people just like I preach to 5,000. And he did.
    Rachel and I count Jesse and Cathy as mentors in our life. We are grateful for the influence they have had on our faith. It was an awesome night. Jesse preached on the topic “Favor will bring you things money cannot buy”. What a message. For more of Jesses’ preaching you can visit www.jdm.org . What a weekend at Journey. I love this church.

   Do you remember the old television announcement that came on the screen when there was technical difficulty ? ‘Please Standby’ > Well I could have used that old announcement this morning in the 9AM service. We had a ton of technical problems. The light board was out and we had to control them manually. The sound blinked out DURING the message. My Spongebob song had a glitch. (That’s right Spongebob Squarepants). And also I had to switch over to a handheld mic and revert to the monitor system. The Journey family stayed with me through it all. I did deliver the message, but I wasn’t happy with it though. Thank God the 11AM service was almost flawless. Our media team and staff fixed the problems between services. I love smart people.

    This week has been filled with some amazing action. It started off in Alexandria at a state-wide meeting on church planting. The church is the greatest hope for this hurting world and I’m fortunate to spend my life in that pursuit. I can’t believe I get to do this for a living. It’s our goal to plant 5 new churches in Louisiana next year.
    On Wednesday Rachel and I spent most of our day visiting the new Journey campus in New Orleans. We recently closed on the property right off St. Claude in the Lower Ninth Ward. We spent some time planning this new ministry with some of the team. Every time I walk through that neighborhood I can sense destiny. Good things are going to happen in 2008 at Journey- Ninth Ward.
    Thursday we received visitors from Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge. Pastor Dino loaned us two of his staff members for the day.  Claudia and Yvonne came over to Journey to train us on strategic planning and serving hurting people. Most of the Journey pastors along with our guest ate at a nice little French restaurant in Marigny.
   On Friday morning we were preparing to receive a special guest. Mark Batterson came to town to speak to our staff. Mark is the pastor of National Community Church in Washington DC. They host 8 weekend services in 4 different locations. Mark also wrote a best-seller called “In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day”. On Friday night we hosted a staff banquet and Mark spoke to our team. It was a great night.
    Then on Saturday we were up early as we brought Mark to speak to some of the coolest pastors in Louisiana. Some of my friends from all over the state met at The Freedom Church in Livingston to hang out with Mark. We ate breakfast and then spent most of the morning talking shop with Mark. On the way home from Livingston, Rachel and I stopped by the new campus to film an update video on the progress made this week. That video will be shown on Sunday at Journey.
   I made it home just in time to change clothes and leave for a funeral in New Orleans. I officiated the service for Captain Paul Dupre of the NOPD.(Retired). Capt. Dupre was the father of a Journey member and it was an honor to be a part of that service.
   I’m up early this morning working on my message that I will deliver in a few hours. Today is part 2 of BFF. Best Friends Forever. I’m using a story about Jonathan from 1 Samuel 14. Can’t wait.
   And to top it all off, I just watched a SportsCenter rerun and heard that the LSU Tigers will be named the new Number 1 team in the nation. What a week.

  Do you know what a pulpwood truck looks like ? In my childhood memories the pulpwood truck was the least of all in the brotherhood of big trucks. It was amazing to me that those old beat up trucks could even crank in the morning much less move logs to the mill. The cab was usually dented beyond repair and sitting a little off center of the chasis. Its load of logs seemed to be perched rather precariously on its back. It was probably some small miracle that the pulpwood made it to market at all. But make it they did. I don’t see many of those trucks on the road anymore. Most of the trucks on the road today look newer and much safer than the ones that I remember.
   As a young man, my dad worked as a pulpwoodsman. That’s a fancy word that I just made up. Pulpwoodsman. He cut and loaded trees onto those old trucks. He didn’t like being in the pulpwood industry and soon moved on to other things. But he told us stories of his days as a woodsman. Now every time I see a load of pulpwood I think about those stories.
   Trees are a renewable resource. Not only are trees beautiful they can transform bad air into good breathable oxygen. Then they can be harvested for lumber and paper. And then replanted for the cycle to continue. Wood products are an important part of our life. God certainly came up with a good idea when he created trees. I wonder if He gave the tree some special attention because he knew one day He would die on one. God died on a tree . That was probably a tough job for the tree to do. The pain inflicted upon the Savior came from the hands of men. But the tree held onto him during his suffering, lifting Him away from his accusers. It held onto Him until he exhaled for the last time.
  The best trees are used for lumber. Houses are built from the best trees and fine furniture too. The inferior trees are used for paper products. That’s where the term “pulpwood” comes from. Pulpwood is the Inferior brother in the tree family. Inferior indeed. Can you imagine your life without paper products ? I cannot. Paper is the stuff books are written into. That alone qualifies pulpwood as hall of fame material. But what about paper towels, paper plates, toilet-paper, newspapers, letters, wedding invitations, birth announcements, confetti, streamers, party hats, board games, I could go on and on. Isn’t it amazing all the good things that can come from an inferior product.
   The Lord does that same thing with me and you. He takes an inferior product and creates something worthwhile to serve creation. To benefit mankind. I don’t know how He does it. Or why. But He does. He uses the weak things in this world to do His mighty work. I guess you could say God drives a pulpwood truck. Hmmm.