I’m really excited about my upcoming trip to Asia. Journey is partnering with Equip www.iequip.org  to train pastors there. I will be speaking to 2,000 leaders from that region. 
   The Journey Mission Statement is built around a Compass. Reach Up to God. Reach In for Discipleship. Reach Over for Relationships. Reach Out to the World. This upcoming trip to Asia is about Reach Out. I’m recruiting prayer partners today. Would you pray for our conference ? And pray for the churches of the pastors attending the meeting. I believe in the local church. The Church is the hope of the world.

    Can you believe it ? We are closing in on the final days of construction. The new campus is about done and will soon face final inspections. And then we move in. I walked through twice yesterday, once early in the morning and then again late last night. The classroom and office wing is almost done. The floor tile is down in almost all of those rooms and they are starting in the common areas today. The bathrooms are getting the finishing touch while the main lobby gets acoustical clouds. I really like how the main lobby is looking. That area will be the first place most members and guest will enter. We’ve worked real hard to create a warm atmosphere that makes a person feel at home. The cafe is there as well as guest services. There’s lots of space for hanging out and waiting between services. I’m looking for a creative name for the cafe. Something that captures an old New Orleans flavor. We are working on an agreement to serve Community Coffee exclusively in the cafe. Wireless Internet will be available throughout the building. And we are mounting flat screens in nearly every room. The layout offers a large space for an Elementary worship center. There are 6 classrooms for nursery and preschool, as well as a nursing mom’s room. Our staff will share office space in 5 large rooms. We are keeping the high level of interaction and communication by working in a group setting. We are connecting each room by assigning staff space according to their mission. Lead Team. Creative Team. Senior Staff. Support Staff. Business Office. And then the Worship Center…We are waiting for the lighting to arrive any day. That will be installed as soon as it arrives. If all goes according to plan we will start moving in next week. Finally, the parking lot is nearly complete. We will be able to park 200 cars on a beautiful paved and well lit space.
    Even though we are moving in soon, our Grand Opening is scheduled for Palm Sunday. March 16, 2008. Our honored guest on Palm Sunday for the dedication of our campus will be Dr. George Wood. Dr. Wood is the National Leader of our Fellowship of Churches. The Assemblies of God. He’s also a good friend to this church and he was very influential in my Ordination. We are excited to welcome George Wood. www.georgeowood.com
    Beginning Easter weekend we are adding a third worship experience. Our schedule will be Saturday 6PM. Sunday 9AM & 11AM. I will be speaking at all three Easter Experiences. I’m pumped about that. Then on the weekend after Easter, John Lindell from James River in Missouri will close out our celebration. John pastors an awesome church. www.jamesriver.org
    I love The Journey.

   Even though we are moving into our new campus in a few weeks, our Grand Opening will be on Palm Sunday. That’s March 16, 2008. As in 3.16.08. 3:16 as in John 3:16. I know it’s a coincidence and I don’t put a whole bunch of stock in numbers but this fact just caught my attention. I wish I could say we planned it this way. We didn’t. In fact we hoped to be in our building on January 1. But it’s going to be 3.16.
   That will be an easy number to remember 50 years from now. Even 50,000 years from now. Palm Sunday. Grand Opening and dedication of the 140 acre campus. 3.16.08
That’s the beginning of Passion week. When we remember the great cost of our salvation, we will also celebrate these new acres dedicated to His Story.
    John 3.16 is the Good News in twenty-five words. It’s probably the most famous verse of scripture in the entire world. And I love it that 3.16 will forever mark the dedication of our new home. 3.16. Sweet.

    A Missionary came to my church in 1979 when I was sixteen years old. He was a man of God following his calling to the Soviet Union. This was during the height of the Cold War when the USA and the Soviets had enough nuclear weapons pointed at each other to annihilate the planet. Russia (then known as the USSR) was strictly atheist and Christianity was outlawed. And this was the nation the visiting Missionary was called to serve. He seemed like he was 10 feet tall to me. A super-hero right in that little country church. The stories he told were amazing. His main ministry was smuggling Bibles into the country. A smuggler for God. Dude!  He told of cases of Bibles being smuggled right through the airport and somehow escaping the border guards attention. At the close of his message he recruited smugglers” to join him in his ministry. I wanted in. I wanted to be a Bible smuggler. After church I went up to him to enlist. It was all going fine until he asked my age. Sixteen was my reply. ” I’m sorry the minimum age is eighteen “,he said. Rejected. I left the meeting somewhat sad but a flame had been lit that would burn in my soul to this day. I knew that I would devote my life to preaching the gospel and maybe someday I would smuggle Bibles.
    One of my heroes is serving in Sri Lanka. Luke Walters is a modern day apostle. His calling has landed he and Sandy and their children in a war zone. They are preaching Christ in Sri Lanka. Luke and I have been texting each other today. He says to tell you that the Lord is doing some amazing things right in the middle of a civil war. Journey sowed $10,000 into Luke’s ministry this past year. We are helping them plant a church. Pray for the Walters. Heroes.
   Another one of my heroes called this week. Mark Wells is on his way to China. If you were with us during our Road Trip to Trinity’s a few months ago you may remember meeting the Wells. Mark is one of our missionaries. Pray for the Wells. Heroes.
    By the way I did get to fulfill my youthful dream of being a Bible smuggler. Sweet.          My heroes have always been missionaries.
    Good night……

   I have been on the new campus everyday this week. We are making progress ! There are so many people involved in the building process. It’s really amazing to watch dozens of people focusing on different parts of the project. When I’m walking through the building it’s like watching a dream come true. Way too cool. I am well aware of how large a roll you played in this dream. You and God made this happen. I have had a front row seat for eleven years. Watching, waiting, believing. That old saying is true, “you must believe it before you can see it”.
   Vision is a funny thing. Seeing something that doesn’t exist and trying to convince others that it’s real borders on awful. But it’s also a beautiful thing. Vision is an Awful, Beautiful thing. We have been seeing this 100 acre campus for years. Long before we owned the land or hired an architect to draw the plans, this has been real. REAL. The main difference now is we can see it with our eyes.
   After we purchased the land in 2004 we started doing drive by prayer. Since the land is right on Interstate 12 it was easy to remember to do. Many of us committed to pray for the new campus every time we passed by. As we drove by, it became our custom to extend our hand toward the land and pray for the new campus. Treating those things which are not as though they ARE.
   Well here is a brief update. The floor tile is ready to be installed, while the ceiling tiles are being dropped into place. All of the bathrooms are nearly complete. The partitions are being hung. The parking lot is getting close. About 66% of it is poured. Tomorrow we are hanging the television mounts throughout the facility. We are installing about 15 large flat screens. But you’re not going to believe the screen in the worship center it is 21′  feet wide by 24′ tall. SWEET.
   Early February. We are moving in.
Enjoy the pictures.

   On Saturday morning I met with Pastor T and some of our leaders on the new Campus. We were dreaming about the Grand Opening of Journey Northshore. It’s quite a rush to walk through with others who own the vision. This campus is a reality because of the hard work, dedication and sacrifice of so many people. We are closing out our last month at the Northshore Harbor Center. Hard to believe. We are moving in February. Wow ! The next 30 days is going to be a race. We are so close. Can you see it ?

   We installed Pastor Robert and Sherdren Burnside to the Journey staff today. The Burnsides will become our Campus Pastors for Journey Ninth Ward. Their first goal will be to lead the remodeling of the facility we bought last year.  Robert and Sherdren moved back to New Orleans from Oakland only a few days before Katrina. But they stayed in the area after the storm. Pastor Robert is from Ohio originally but he has converted to be an LSU fan. Smart move. Welcome aboard ! (Check out their cool  LSU hats).

   In 2008 I’m going to read the Gospels through—-a few times. In particular I’m drawn to the words in red. The Red Letter edition of the Bible focuses on the words of Christ. They were printed in RED. Email me at pastordoug@jfcemail.com and I will send you a copy of the reading plan.  What Did Jesus Say ?

   My friend Mark Batterson posted a manifesto on his blog at www.markbatterson.com It is on his January 1st post. You can read it for yourself. I did and it was inspiring. It’s called the Lion Chasers Manifesto. Good stuff.

   We had an early morning meeting on the new campus. The place was swarming with craftsmen making Phase 1 come alive. Their day started at 3 AM with the first pour of our new parking area. By 9 AM Rachel and I were meeting with our communications team. Those guys are preparing our building for phones, intercoms, WiFi, as well as data wiring. We covered our last few details with the electrician. We should be getting power in the building on Monday. The tile is installed in the restrooms and the ceiling grid is in place. Our lobby is taking shape. It will serve as the living room for our fellowship. There will be a cafe, guest services station and bistro tables and chairs. It will also be a hot spot for Journey WiFi. The meetings lasted until lunch time. Some dear friends gave us Christmas gift cards to Copeland’s so we had some awesome Cajun food. Here are few pictures. Enjoy.