Hope Website Honored Globally

The Hope Christian City Church website was given a very special honor in the secular press this past month...  the website - www.hopechurch.tv - created by Assoc. Pastor Brandon Cole was honored by the major web designer site 'cssmania.com' as one of the top designs on the entire global internet!

Very cool to be mentioned alongside Microsoft, Apple, Slate and other giants of the internet...

congrats Brandon and the team at Hope!

The internet is a tool for the Kingdom - let's use it - boldly.

grace/peace

paul

Outreach to SingleMoms-AWESOME!

Past Monday night over 40 single moms, 70 of their kids and over 80 community and church volunteers packed out the Hope Church facilities for the Fifth Annual "Hair by Hope" event for single moms - in the midst of a freak Dallas snowstorm!  It was a spectacular success!
                 The entire building was converted into a fabulous spa look, with the top hair stylists in the area giving free haircuts to single moms, makeovers for all, massages and gift-bags full of goodies - along with an amazing plush pink bathrobe - There were few dry eyes in the place -
One mom said 'for the first time, in a long time. she felt like a lady' - wow - another just stood with her gift bag of stuff and cried, overwhelmed with love - another hugged everyone...it was beautiful -
and... the men that walked the ladies with their children to and from their cars - in the driving snow - that was impressive!
                My wife Judi had this idea a few years ago as a way to express the love of God to single moms - and now it is a highly anticipated community event in this area every year!

This is what church is all about! Let's take Jesus to the culture!
grace/peace
paul

A Hero Died

Larry Norman left this earth on Sunday morning - you may not know who he is, but he was one of my heroes...
One of the early pioneers of Christian rock music in the 60's, he was a revolutionary - wrote great songs, but more than that deeply impacted a generation of writers and leaders with his life and music...

See more on Larry at www.larrynorman.com

I hope that someday, when I leave this planet, someone will write something close to what people from around the world are writing on his page... that's a worthy goal... it's not about fame, it's about footprints.

He never really fit into any easily defined box - he never quit being a rebel for God - through huge ups and downs of life, he finished fully engulfed in the flames of passionate love for Christ - and that others would know Him. Hebrews 11.

They don't need to know your name, they just need to meet your Jesus.

pc

HugeWin!

Robert Barriger said the events just completed in Trujillo were an "unexpected and spectacular success" - it was awesome! Eddy Leo, Ed Preston, Robert and myself...over 100 pastors at Monday gathering - then 3 nights of 'standing room only' events(1500), and 2 days of teaching - it is the second most important city in Peru - and many universities - this was a huge win... They will do larger 'Corazon' event next year - (Barriger's are doing amazing work in creating models for Latin churches, and it's getting traction!)
Now, strategic followup - Marcos, Pedro, Jorge and other key men are doing Sr. Pastors training next month, then followup with their key leaders...all to implement the Majoring in Men curriculum - BECAUSE IT WORKS!
- got sick wed. in trujillo-food poisoning -tough trip home - total 10 hrs. of delays - took 23 hrs. to get home...feeling better now - but tough way to lose weight -
Many connections made in Peru - Ed Preston met top pastor from Ecuador - Eddy Leo is ministering now in Brazil...Colombia opens up strong in November...so-
Strategic Plan to saturate South America by 2010 is still on track - but, need more guys going more places... business guys, pastors, men's leaders... let me know - place for you.
grace/peace
paul

Peru - 'Synergize'

Amazing event last week in Lima with Robert Barriger - leaders from all over South America, over 7,000 attendees, many salvations and talked to hundreds of leaders about the men's movement - Eddy Leo from jakarta was also there, and now we're up the coast in Trujillo, Peru - over 100 pastors in meeting yesterday - Eddy Leo, Ed Preston (leading businessman from Portland) with Barriger - awesome... then after pastor's meeting filled large auditorium in downtown - tremendous new breakthrough for ministry! Barriger is amazing... networking men's movement all over western hemisphere... Pastor Pronesti from Buena Aires, was in Lima - as was Jimmy Cornejo from Ecuador, Pastor Sergio from Chile, Guy Henry from Honduras, and many other great leaders... it's happening!
SYNERGIZE! conference in Atlanta with Sunday Adelaja and James Davis was Jan 29-31 - tremendous favor with leaders from all over world - they want us to bring CMN and Ed Cole teaching to their nations... Alex Mitala from Uganda was there, Suliasi from Fiji - we received invitations from India, Malaysia, Philippines, and more... also - many leaders from U.S. denominations - inviting us to bring the men's movement to their regions!! That's huge breakthrough - some were places that never received Dad, but now seeing the wisdom...

so tired last night, I got back from event, put computer on my lap, still dressed from service, started to type email to my wife Judi, woke up this morning at 6:30am still sitting in that position...hands on the keyboard, head tilted forward...must have fallen asleep in 10 seconds, slept like that for 8 hours... happy about the sleep, but the sore neck is a bummer...
Hey... it's happening all over the world...I'm pumped!
more soon... stay hot!
grace/peace
pc

It's "PRE" not "POST"!

Just reading an article explaining worldviews in some social-critical psuedo-hip terminology as "POST-modern"...it's the sense that the world is leaving the 'moorings' of modern thought, (as though 'modernity' was a splendid philosophy to build our lives on!) - the fragmentation of authority and so on...

WELL - here's the rub... it now creeps into the emerging church language as a worldview that we live in a "POST-Christian" culture... that our culture (viewed from my bias as a U.S. citizen) has lost the moorings of its God-based foundation - in a strange twist of reflection that pines the 'good old days' were really the "Godly days" - well sin has always been a corrupting agent, and ever deadly - whether it was the friend who drowned on a drug trip in '68, kids in a drunken wreck in '38 or a shooting in poly in '07...

So - let's agree that perhaps, it wasn't MORE Godly in '42 than it is now...just somewhat less uncovered...
NOW - stay with me... let's see if maybe, in the sovereignty of God - It's "PRE" not "POST"!

God always took His people 'out' in order to take them 'in' - out of Egypt to go in to the Promised Land...
He is always a God of the "future and a hope" - so he is forward thinking... it is not about your past, but about your future that He is busy about right now...it may be about healing of the past, but the healing is for your future...

Job is misquoted as saying "the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away" - he didnt say that... read first chap. again - but that's another time - there is in context though, a concept that was understood by Job and the ancient philosophers...in fact in the NT Hebrews, the writer states that 'God took away the first, to establish the second" - OK, here's the BIG DEAL - It is a circle - (eccl. the way of the righteous winds ever upward) God takes so He can give...He is ever after EXPANDING YOUR CAPACITY! And, it is always about leading you toward your future! ...circular - He gives, takes away, expands, gives, takes away, expands, gives...

God changed Abram's name to Abraham not reflecting what had already happened (though it had in the spiritual realm) but so he would be focused on HIS FUTURE... everytime Abraham said his name, he was speaking faith into his future!

SO - in the redemption of the Cross...YOU ARE NOT DEFINED BY YOUR PAST, BUT YOUR FUTURE!
now, let's look at reality of our world...
are we really a 'Post-Christian' culture? Did we have so much in the past, that it could never be better, stronger, larger?
NO!! Listen... here it is...finally... just another second!! -

WE are living in a "Post-Religion" culture...a century full of traditions, myths and divisive doctrines... and we are headed FROM a religious/institutional era INTO the greatest days of the church... out of - into...

catch this...get the perspective...listen openly...

THIS is the "PRE-CHRISTIAN" ERA! Now, doesn't that get you pumped!? The greatest expansion of theKingdom is just ahead of us... not behind us... we are focusing on the future, defined by our dreams, fueled by hope and lifted by faith...it's just ahead of us... The Christian Revolution... and today is the "Pre-Christian" era, setting the foundations in order...

WE are on the cusp, looking forward, not back...moving forward, not static... cranking into a brilliant "PRE-CHRISTIAN" era of spectacular victories...C'mon brothers-let's do this thing!!


think.live.grow.

grace/peace-paul

OK... it's all good...

Hectic but totally wonderful Christmas season - Christmas productions, wonderful family times, special services at church, relational coffee times, and such like (KingJames) - but, OK, many of you have busted me on not blogging-keeping up with stuff...so, I started this blog to be a very ministerial sort of report on the men's movement as we travel around the world - no travel, no blog - but, perhaps as my son Brandon, nephew Seth and son-in-law Niles work on our new website, I'll make this decision -
we'll do reports on this blog and on the website, but I will also use this blog for updates on all things men's movement related - connecting to guys like team from Mozambique a few weeks ago, on phone today with leader in Grenada, NewMan magazine going all digital, working on details for the Feb trip to Peru and So. America..etc.
got it... it's all good - it's all God!
- talk soon...
grace/peace
paul