Hey Journey
      I have been praying for each of you today. Rachel and I evacuated on Saturday night with our 5 children. We are in a RV park near Pensecola watching the weather channel. Bob Breck(my favorite weatherman) thinks this COULD be a Category 4 sometimes today. He is a voice of reason and always looks for the positive. www.bobbreck.blogspot.com . If Gustav causes us to be separated for any length of time please let me know where you’re family is staying. You can email me at pastordoug@jfcemail.com . I can access it on my mobile phone. I will post on this blog as often as necessary. And we will post updates on our response to the storm. If the aftermath of Gustav calls for relief efforts we will be ready. Also look for our worship schedule on the main page of www.journeyfellowshipchurch.com . It’s possible our worship times will change in response to the post storm conditions. I want you to know we are praying for you all. I’ve been in touch with all of the pastors from Journey. At this time they are all well.
   
                                   with much love,
                                                       Pastor Doug and Rachel

   Journey Family

    Our team has been monitoring the progress of the hurricane and the possible need for evacuation. We have determined it would be in our church family’s best intrest to suspend this weekend worship schedule at Journey Fellowship Church. The storm may not be a direct hit on the Northshore like Katrina was, however we will be on the western side of Gustav. It may be a Category 4 hurricane and as you know the west side is usually the worst. If you leave town you can get updates on this blog or our website. You are in our prayers and thoughts. I love this church.
       
                                                   Pastor Doug

In the middle of hurricane tracking here in Louisiana big news comes out of Alaska. Alaska? I’m still a little shocked by John McCains announcement of Sarah Palin as his running mate. She is a sitting Governor, former mayor and City Council member. She has been married to her husband for 20 years and they have 5 children. Gov. Palin is a committed follower of Jesus and a strong ProLife advocate. I believe she is authentic in a way Washington hasn’t seen in decades. Bold move Senator McCain. This is great news for America. Congratulations Governor Palin.

   We sent out an email blast to everyone on our mailing list about this weekend’s worship schedule. I have received several responses from the Journey family saying they plan on coming to Saturday Worship at 6 PM. As of this writing we will follow our regular Sunday schedule too. I’m hearing that the evacuation may be called for Sunday, IF the storm remains on its current track. We shall see.
   Do not worry and do not be afraid. God is greater than the storm.

    If you are planning on evacuating this weekend to beat the rush why don’t you also plan on coming to the Saturday Night Experience at Journey? We are operating our regular weekend schedule. Saturday 6pm and Sunday 9am and 11am. We will have worship and Communion at all the weekend Experiences. We can also pray together for the Hurricane to miss the Northshore and New Orleans. Hope to see you soon. I will update the blog as the weather develops.

    There is storm brewing in the Caribbean tonight. Some of the models have him in the Gulf by Sunday. He’s going to make landfall sometimes next week. (Monday or Tuesday). I don’t wish him on anyone but we DO NOT want him in Louisiana. Gustav go away. We are gearing up for our three weekend Experiences, hurricane notwithstanding. Pray for those in Haiti  and Cuba who are already feeling his wrath.

    All of our outreach teams have returned home safely from their adventures. Journey went to the nations this summer. We sent people to Mexico, Brazil, Jamaica, The Philippines and China. In Brazil we brought water filters to villages along the Amazon River. We reached out to hurting people in Jamaica and we built a church in the Philippines. We conducted clinics in Mexico as well as led Vacation Bible School. We trained thousands of pastors in conferences in Cagayan De Oro. And I visited China to bring encouragement to the Church there. All around it was a great year in missions at Journey.
    We are preparing for our outreaches in 2009. Got some great trips on the drawing board. Mexico.Brazil.Jamaica.Kenya.Macedonia.India. It’s going to be an awesome year. This weekend we will be offering sign-up opportunities for these trips in all three Weekend Experiences. Wanna go ?

     The Assemblies of God World Missions reports that all of our missionaries in Georgia are safe and have been temporarily evacuated. They are waiting for the opportunity to return to their assignment. Remember to pray for them and for Georgia also. The President of Georgia is a Christian who was educated in the USA. President Saakashvili sent an email to Rick Warren asking for American Christians to pray for his country. Russia has not withdrawn their forces yet. Georgia is one of the oldest Christian nations in the world, tracing their conversion back to the ministry of the Apostle Andrew during the !st Century. Some of the Church buildings date back to the 3rd Century. The Church in Georgia has suffered greatly in the last 100 years. The Communist ruled Georgia for most of the Twentieth century but the Believers overcame. Through most of 2000 years the Christians in Georgia have remained faithful. Continue to pray for the Church in Georgia and for our missionaries there.

A friend of mine gave me a copy of ‘The Shack’ recently. I took it on my last trip to Asia and read it on the flight from Las Angeles to Guam. It’s an allegory of sorts though it’s told as a -based a real events story. I found it quite remarkable in it’s dealing with human pain and suffering. Even more I thought the authors insight on how God responds to human suffering even more compelling. Can’t tell you more without spoiling the plot, but if you’ve read it I’d love to hear from you.

   I send out a monthly newsletter via email. In it we update you on what we’ve been doing here at Journey and focus on where we’re going next, If you would like to receive it please send me an email requesting yours. My address is pastordoug@jfcemail.com.