Do you love to eat? Man, who doesn’t? Scarfff is just for those of us at Journey who love food and fellowship together. Scarfff stands for Supporting our Community Around Fun, Food, and Fellowship. This group, led by Pastor Mike Montana, meets the first Friday of each month at a local restaurant – nothing pricey and everyone pays their own way. This month, on October 3, we are meeting at Italian Pie on Gause Blvd. beside the Slidell Athletic Club. We will gather at 11:00 to break some Italian Pie together. Jesus loves that, breaking bread together. Bring a friend and join us. Scarfff on with Journey.

    This weekend I’m teaching Part 2 of our Series, “Who’s Your Daddy?” The focus will be on The Heavenly Father. Do you know Him well enough to call him ‘daddy’ ? Can you really call the Creator of the Universe ‘daddy’ ? That’s a term that children can call their father. It’s a term that carries lots of intimacy. It’s loaded with hidden meaning, that speaks of a depth of relationship between the two. We are going to explore WHO the Father is and HOW to know Him intimately.
   That’s the kind of relationship that all of us want with God. Close. Personal. Intimate. Daddy. Romans 8.15…

   Jeff Deyo and his band will lead worship at Journey on September 20th and 21st at ALL THREE weekend Experiences. Saturday 6 PM and Sunday at 9 & 11 AM. Then on Sunday night Jeff Deyo will be in concert with us at 6 PM. This concert is FREE. It’s going to be an awesome weekend at Journey. Check out Jeff’s MySpace page at www.myspace.com/jeffdeyo . Or find him on the web at www.jeffdeyo.com
   He has had an amazing career already, from starting the group Sonicflood and having their self titled album reach Gold status to seeing many of his songs reach #1. But we’re high on Jeff not because of his stellar talent but because of his authentic humanity. He’s the real deal. Jeff has an amazing voice AND an amazing heart. Welcome back Jeff.

    We met real early on Monday morning to head south to Houma. We were heading to Bayou Blue to help with the relief effort in Terrebonne Parish. Thousands of families are still reeling from Hurricane Gustav. Power is still out in most of the parish and families still cannot drink the water. Ten of us (Bob, Lester, Lou, Trish, Pastor Ken, Lisa, Pastor Allen Hestel, Pastor Ryan and me) from Journey spent the day dispensing water, ice, and food to a long line of hurting people. About 1750 cars and trucks pulled thru the parking lot of the church to receive the goods. It was quite exhausting but very rewarding to be a part of the Convoy of Hope efforts. Thanks to all the Journey folks who came out to serve. I love this church. Journey’s very own Elementary Pastor Allen Borgen spent his birthday with us in the heat. People like him make this church great.

    My friend Packy Thompson who pastors Bayou Blue Assembly in Houma is leading the relief efforts in Southeast Louisiana. Convoy of Hope is stationed in the parking lot of his church, providing essentials to that community. Journey is recruiting teams to head down there to help with the work. I will be going down there this week to volunteer. Many pastors and churches came to our aid in 2005 in the aftermath of Katrina, so we know how vital outside help can be. If you want to join the relief efforts you can sign up this weekend at Journey. If you do not live in our area but want to help Packy you can visit their web site for directions and information. www.bayoublueassembly.com . Lots of ministry to do this week. How long before hurricane season ends ?

   We hope you’re all home safely from the evacuation. Can’t wait to see you this weekend at Journey. We are resuming our NORMAL WEEKEND SCHEDULE. Sat. 6 PM and Sun. 9 & 11 AM.
Our office phones are working again. Incoming and Outgoing. If you need to speak with a pastor or require assistance please call us. 985.882.4124. The church office is OPEN.
   The Ninth Ward Campus took a hit from Gustav. Pastor Robert is assessing that today. We were nearly finished with the construction there so we will have to backtrack a bit to repair those damages. The Compassion Building at J9 looks great. We should still be able to open that campus on schedule in November.
   Journey is partnering with Convoy of Hope to bring relief supplies to our sister churches in Southeast Louisiana. If you want to volunteer to serve on one of those teams you can sign up on your Comm. Card this weekend or email us. We will be working with Bayou Blue Assembly in Houma. Pastor Packy Thompson leads that awesome church. I spoke with him today.
    Reach Deep Classes resume on Thursday September 11 at 7 PM. Full children’s ministry is in action too on Thursday night. We will add one week to the fall semester to make up for the one we lost to Gustav.
  Rachel and I are looking forward to seeing you all this weekend. We will celebrate  Communion at all three Experiences. That should be a sweet time of worship together. 
                             I love this church,
                                                         Pastor Doug 

    Most families who evacuated from Gustav’s path are beginning to return, including us. Rachel and I returned on Wednesday from Pensacola. We spent the first two nights in the RV and the last two nights in a hotel. It’s so great to be home again so soon. The damage to the Northshore is severe in some places and many of our Journey family is still without power. We are grateful that our new campus seems to be in good shape in Lacombe. Our sign at the entrance was blown away though. We hope to inspect the Ninth Ward Campus tomorrow. Our staff will meet today and plan for the weekend and what aid we can offer to those affected by the storm. The phone system is down at the church offices. We CAN call out but we CANNOT receive calls. AT&T is telling us it may be next week before they can repair our phone lines. If you need to reach a pastor please email us. Or you can leave a comment here. For now it’s GREAT to be home. I love guys.
 
                       Pastor Doug & Rachel

    Good morning Journey family,

   We hope you are all well today. Most of 2 million people from Southeast Louisiana are still evacuated, I’m sure most of you are to. Thanks for emailing us your locations and status of your well-being. As far as I know everyone from Journey is safe. That is pleasant news in the face of our current challenge. We survived Katrina and we WILL overcome this hurricane also. My family is in Pensacola today and waiting for the opportunity to return home. We slept in the RV on Saturday and Sunday night. On Monday we checked into a hotel in Pensacola, FL. It’s nice to have room to stretch out. The wind is pretty strong here and the surf is dangerous. The beaches are closed due to Gustav. We plan on heading home on Wednesday morning. We have heard reports that the power is out on most of the Northshore. Once we survey the damage to our community we will post Journeys response to the relief efforts and our Weekend Worship Schedule. Keep the faith. 
    We are very concerned about our New Orleans Campus. It is located in the Ninth Ward and some of the Levees there were overtopped by the tidal surge. We will go down there as soon as the city reopens. Be encouraged today, God is still in control. We are going to have many opportunities in the coming weeks to serve our Community and do the work of Christ. We will turn our misery into ministry. You are in our prayers today. See you soon.

                                             Pastor Doug & Rachel