Journey Cleveland launched today. Pastor Jim and Jennifer Wilkes are the church planters and they are surrounded with an incredible team of leaders. This is an awesome, new, life-giving church in Cleveland Ohio. www.journeycleveland.com  Jim and Jen and their boys lived in the New Orleans area after Katrina and was on our team at Journey Fellowship Church. From all of us in Louisiana…’Journey Cleveland Rocks !’ We love you guys and send our blessings.

    I just got off the phone with Jim. The church launched with 387 in attendance today. That is unbelievable.

Pastor Doug and Rachel

   It appears to me that we’re all searching for the meaning of life. Every man in his own way and in his own time. Some begin looking early in life and some wait until it’s almost too late, but search we do. The biggest questions I’ve ever faced is; Who am I? and Why am I here? The answers are simpler than I’d ever dreamed. I’m a son of the Father and I was created for His pleasure. Everything else is a by-product of that truth. Everything else is a bonus.
   When I was sixteen years old my dad’s oldest brother, Brent came to visit me. We didn’t have a long standing relationship and I barely remembered him. In fact, the only time that I remember seeing him is when I was  about 11 or 12 years old. I went with my dad to visit him out in the country and they walked out into his field to talk. I tagged along like little boys do. Uncle Brent was drinking whiskey out of the bottle and unloading his sorrows on my dad. When they weren’t looking I took a sip of Jack Daniels from his bottle. I’m sure they noticed what I did when I started choking. I tried to cover the best I could, but my first taste of whiskey left me dizzy. They didn’t mention it and neither did I.
    My dad told me stories about him through the years. He looked up to his older brother and shared that with me. According to dad ,Uncle Brent joined the Navy when he was a young man to fight in the war. I’m guessing it must have been World war II. He married and had a large family. He and my aunt divorced and we didn’t see him much after that. I loved to play with my cousins and we visited them occasionally but Uncle Brent wasn’t there.
   And then several years later when I was sixteen he shows up at our house and asks for me.When mom called me to come to the living room to visit with him I was a bit nervous. I couldn’t imagine why he’d want to see me. We made small talk for a few minutes and got reacquainted with each other. Then he asked me to go for a ride in his car. Mom and Dad felt I was old enough to do that so away we went. We drove around the neighborhood for about an hour. We talked.
   He quickly came to the point. My Uncle had heard about my recent conversion to Christianity and my decision to enter the ministry and he wanted to know the details. He wanted to know everything that I knew about God. Unfortunately, I didn’t know that much. My faith was new but I was very zealous about it. So, I poured my heart out to him. He listened intently as if I were a Bible Scholar. When I paused, he would ask a question, which would lead us to a new discussion. I don’t think he learned that much from me during our little visit that day, just the basics. I told him how I opened my heart to Jesus in faith and how profound the change in my life had been. In retrospect, I learned a great deal from him, though. Uncle Brent taught me that it is never too late to ask the great questions. Who am I? Why am I here? 
    Every man is searching for the meaning of life. Aren’t you?

  Roman soldiers arrested Jesus today right before my very eyes. Today’s ‘Portrait’ message was of the traitor and his cohorts sneaking up on Jesus in the dark. The stunning visual of guards dragging Jesus away gripped my heart. The actors did a superb job portraying the scene. The remaining disciples forsook Him and Jesus stood all alone in the garden facing the darkest night of His earthly life. ALL ALONE. I’ve felt that bitter sting, bet you have too. When we bring Jesus our pain and loneliness, He can really say, ‘I know how you feel…I’ve been there too’.
  We took a few pics to share. Check out the videos of the message series on the home page of journeyfellowshipchurch.com

  I was watering the Cypress Trees out by the lake last Friday when two Canadian Geese landed unexpectedly in the water. They were beautiful and wild. I ran into my office to get my camera for some pictures. I wanted to show you a few of them here. We have been busy landscaping the first 14 acres of the Journey campus and these visitors were stopping by to enjoy our progress.

   I spent a pleasant Sunday afternoon eating boiled crawfish with friends. They were loaded with potatoes, onions, garlic, lemons, sausage and FLAVOR. It was my first taste of the season and man were they good. Journey’s very own Elementary Pastors were there too. They have been officially initiated into the culture of South Louisiana. Zatarain Style. Danny and Tonia know how to throw a seafood boil. Oh, there were a few dozen crabs sprinkled in the mix. Danny caught the crabs on his boat. Talk about fresh. Had I known about the crawfish surprise I think I would have skipped lunch and saved more room. I need a nap.

     The new series started this weekend at Journey. It’s called ‘Portraits of the Passion’ and it’s the longest series we have ever produced. 7 weeks. It all culminates Easter weekend with a full stage production and an additional Worship Experience. The schedule for Easter worship is Good Friday 6 PM, Saturday 7 PM, Sunday 9 AM & 11 AM. The ‘Portraits’ conclusion will be staged at each service.
  The premise of ‘Portraits’ is this. Each weekend we capture a single moment of Jesus’ life during passion week. For example in part 1 we focused on the moment the disciples discovered that one of them was a TRAITOR. 13 actors joined me on stage during the message and dramatically portrayed that ‘portrait moment’at the Last Supper. My thanks to the awesome cast who made this weekend special. 13 of Journey’s finest…11 guys and 2 girls.

   Bartholomew………..Curtis Camper
   James the Lesser….Deanna Britton
   Andrew…………………PR Davis
   Judas……………………Brian Thurston
   Peter…………………….Danny Miller
   John……………………..Brian Roussel
   Jesus…………………….Danny Illg
   Thomas…………………Mike Smith
   James the Greater…Jason Fontenot
   Thaddeus………………Beth Illg
   Philip…………………….Jeremiah Maat
   Matthew………………..Jonathan Brooks
   Simon…………………….Ronnie Williams

The Media Crew was outstanding this weekend. They work magic. Thanks to Ryan, Joe, Cade, Brandi, Shane, Mike, Steven and Marc.