We will  be back in our temporary home this Sunday. 9 AM and 11 AM at the North Shore Harbor Center. After a three week road trip to start December then 4 services for Christmas last weekend, we will return to our regular schedule this Sunday.
   I walked through the new campus today. We are making good progress. Our scheduled moving date is February 3, 2008. That’s only 5 weeks away. 5 WEEKS. Can you believe it ? The count down is on. 35 days…..

   I spent Christmas Eve afternoon in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans. Journey is planting a new church there in 2008 so we reached out to our neighbors on Alvar Street. We adopted 15 families who live on our street. We bought the old Redeemer Lutheran Church in the Ninth Ward. We will begin renovations in January. But today we went from house to house sharing God’s love with Christmas gifts. About 25 people from Journey Northshore joined me. There is nothing in the world like the feeling you get when you give to others, especially to hurting people. My 10 year old son was with me. Wow. It was a special time. I took a few pictures to show you. Enjoy.

     The weekend is over. For the second consecutive year we staged our original musical, The Wonder of Christmas. The cast and crew did an amazing job. Jaimee directed with the skill of a surgeon. Great job girl. All of the Journey leaders were in top form. I’m proud of you all. During the pre-show Rachel, Lisa, Dominique and Meagan sang ,”Do you hear what I hear ?”. It brought down the house. The train was running, Santa was there for pictures, Trig worked his magic, we had a balloon artist and a face-painter. And kids decorated 750 cookies in Granny’s kitchen. That was just in the lobby during the pre-show. The show was magic. We already have an idea brewing for next year….can’t wait to get started on that one. Enjoy the pictures..

   We ran through the production last night for four hours. It was a marathon. But it’s coming together. We did rewrite part of the script to make it flow better. And we added some new transition videos to tie the story together. The Wonder of Christmas tells the story of Victoria, a young girl who begins life full of hope and joy but along the way loses the Wonder. She flashes back to remember scenes from her life when she was happy. And magically rediscovers the Wonder of Christmas. Here are some pictures from Dress Rehearsal.  We have two shows tonight (Saturday) 5 and 7 PM. Two shows tomorrow (Sunday) 9 and 11am.

  Today is “load in day” at the Harbor Center.  We are busy getting ready for our weekend production of “The Wonder Christmas”. We are setting the stage, sound and lights. We are also creating a special place for kids to decorate Christmas cookies. Santa will be here as well as a group of old fashioned Carolers. Lots of pre show activities and the Christmas train ride too. Busy day.  Tomorrow is dress rehearsal. The cast and crew will work until we have it just right. Then on Saturday and Sunday we will have FOUR shows. Saturday at 5 & 7 PM. Sunday at 9 & 11 AM. I hope you can make it to one of the shows. All seats are free.
   The Wonder of Christmas is an original production of Journey Fellowship Church with some of the seasons best loved songs. It has a cast of 50 telling an intriguing story of a little girl who loses the wonder of Christmas. And her search to rediscover it. You will leave feeling the joy of the season. I took a few pictures this morning of our team preparing for the weekend. I will be taking more over the next three days. Merry Christmas.

    For the last 28 months we have been a mobile church. That is more than 100 weekends of consecutive road trips in 10 different venues.On most Sundays we have held  multiple services. At least 2 services on a normal weekend , three services for Easter and four services for Christmas. That’s a grand total of more than 200 worship events. Wow. I really appreciate the Journey team that has set up and torn down the equipment each weekend. Thank you all for your faithful service to the Lord. Our team moves enough equipment each weekend to fill four storage trailers 8′x8′x40′ feet long. Amazing.
   For the last three weekends we have been meeting at a banquet hall in the old Outlet Mall. Next week we will return to the North Shore harbor Center for our Christmas production. We are presenting “The Wonder of Christmas” in all 4 services. Saturday at 5 and 7 PM, then Sunday at 9 and 11 AM. All seats are FREE. You’ve got to come see the new seating arrangements for the show. It’s gonna be great.
   This may be our last weekend out of the Harbor Center until we open our new campus . So I took a few pictures of our worship services over the last three Sundays. I can’t wait for the new campus. I love this church.

    The East St. Tammany Chamber of Commerce held their Christmas luncheon yesterday at the Northshore Harbor Center. They invited me to say the invocation and some of our Journey vocals sang Christmas carols in the lobby. Rachel, Lisa, Jaimee, Dominique and Dianna were in rare form. Also we performed one scene from the upcoming “The Wonder of Christmas”. Dianna sang “My Grownup Christmas List”. We are so pumped about Christmas this year. There will be 4 services on Christmas weekend. Saturday December 22 at 5pm and 7pm. Sunday December 23 at 9am and 11am. We will perform the original stage production – The Wonder of Christmas. Thanks to Kerry Painter and the staff of the Harbor Center for including us in the Chamber luncheon yesterday. 12 days til Christmas. Wow.

   We held our first workday at the new campus in the Ninth Ward on Saturday December 8, 2007. Thanks to so many of the Journey family who showed up in force to serve at the workday. Also West Monroe First Assembly of God sent a team to help us too. They brought a giant bar b que pit and enough food to feed 300 people. After the workday was done we invited our neighbors on Alvar to come eat lunch with us. It was an amazing day. I took a few pictures which I posted below.

   Each day brings us a little closer to moving into the campus. Our projected completion date has been moved into January. So we will probably remain in the Northshore Harbor Center through January 2008.  We are still on target for our Grand Opening on Easter Sunday 2008. We have planned three weeks of special events with some world class guest guest speakers and a few other surprises for our Grand Opening. I took some pictures today Saturday- December 1, 2007.