I hope and pray that you are having a wonderful day and enjoying this beautiful “Spring” like weather. We are in for a special treat this Sunday as Jarrod Brown from Mission Lazarus will be with us to share an exciting update about the work in Honduras. Jarrod is an excellent communicator and is passionate about sharing the love of Jesus with people around the world. He graduated from Abilene Christian University with degrees in International Business and Spanish and moved to Honduras in 2001. Jarrod and his wife, Allison, started Mission Lazarus in 2004 which has full time operations in both Honduras and Haiti that includes Spiritual, Educational, Medical and Agricultural outreaches and 27 churches have been planted. Mission Lazarus “Glorifies God by advancing his Kingdom through holistic ministry and social enterprise with educational, medical, agricultural, and spiritual outreaches.” Jarrod says that “our holistic approach to ministry seeks to address multiple facets of community development and growth and ultimately is about sharing the love of Jesus around the world. Our comprehensive approach focuses on specific outreach methods in the areas of agriculture, education, medicine, church planting, refuge (orphan care) and addressing social needs of the community.” I know that we will all be blessed this week as we gather as the body of Christ to celebrate what God is doing among us here in West Houston and around the world.

Blessings, Brian

I am excited about the fact that this Sunday will actually be Valentine’s Day. I’m not sure if you realize this or not, but it’s pretty uncommon for Valentine’s Day to fall on a Sunday. In fact, the next Valentine’s Day that actually falls on a Sunday won’t be until the year 2021. With that in mind, we are going to take a break from the “I Am; We Are” series this week and I am going to be speaking about the priority and importance of Marriage. In addition, we are going to be celebrating the LOVE that God has for each and every one of us as his dearly loved children. In other words this Sunday will be a special day for all of us—whether you are married or not. I look forward to celebrating the love of God that we all share together in Christ and digging into the Scriptures about God’s design for love and marriage. See you Sunday!

Blessings, Brian

I am excited about the fact that this Sunday will actually be Valentine’s Day. I’m not sure if you realize this or not, but it’s pretty uncommon for Valentine’s Day to fall on a Sunday. In fact, the next Valentine’s Day that actually falls on a Sunday won’t be until the year 2021. With that in mind, we are going to take a break from the “I Am; We Are” series this week and I am going to be speaking about the priority and importance of Marriage. In addition, we are going to be celebrating the LOVE that God has for each and every one of us as his dearly loved children. In other words this Sunday will be a special day for all of us—whether you are married or not. I look forward to celebrating the love of God that we all share together in Christ and digging into the Scriptures about God’s design for love and marriage. See you Sunday!

Blessings, Brian

I Am The Good Shephard

I Am The Good Shephard

I Am The Gate

I Am The Gate

I hope and pray that you are having a wonderful week and enjoying the favor of God’s grace, love and mercy. Being a disciple of Jesus means that we are called to pick up our cross daily. In Luke 9:23 Jesus says: “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me.” I was spending some time reflecting on this verse yesterday and realized that following Jesus is a daily decision. It’s a decision that we need to make every single day of our lives. I decided to become a Christian (follower, disciple, believer, etc.) when I was fourteen years old. That decision was a one-time event in my life when I decided to be “born again” by placing my belief, faith and trust in the person of Jesus Christ. As a demonstration of my commitment to Christ I was baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, where I received the forgiveness of my sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. That was a critical moment in my life with the Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) and the body of Christ (the church). But, as already stated, it was a one-time event. Deciding to follow Jesus is not a one-time event—rather, it’s a daily decision. Every day we must decide to follow Jesus, take up our cross, and follow Him. It’s what disciples are called to do and it’s who we are called to be—Christ bearers to the world. See you soon!

Blessings, Brian

I hope and pray that you are having a wonderful week and enjoying the favor of God’s grace, love and mercy. Being a disciple of Jesus means that we are called to pick up our cross daily. In Luke 9:23 Jesus says: “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me.” I was spending some time reflecting on this verse yesterday and realized that following Jesus is a daily decision. It’s a decision that we need to make every single day of our lives. I decided to become a Christian (follower, disciple, believer, etc.) when I was fourteen years old. That decision was a one-time event in my life when I decided to be “born again” by placing my belief, faith and trust in the person of Jesus Christ. As a demonstration of my commitment to Christ I was baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, where I received the forgiveness of my sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. That was a critical moment in my life with the Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) and the body of Christ (the church). But, as already stated, it was a one-time event. Deciding to follow Jesus is not a one-time event—rather, it’s a daily decision. Every day we must decide to follow Jesus, take up our cross, and follow Him. It’s what disciples are called to do and it’s who we are called to be—Christ bearers to the world. See you soon!

Blessings, Brian

I hope and pray that you are having a great week and enjoying the beautiful sunshine that God has given us recently. My heart is still full from our time together this past Sunday—wow, what a great way to start the New Year as a church family! Over the next seven weeks we will be exploring the seven different “I Am” statements found in the gospel of John. Obviously, John writes his gospel under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and he does so with intention and purpose. The “I Am” statements reveal something significant to us about who Jesus is—but they also say something about who we are and who we are called to be as Christ followers/disciples of Jesus. For example, in John 8:12 Jesus says: “I am the light of the world.” This is an incredible truth about who Jesus is and also a statement about who we are called to be as we live out the gospel in the world. See you Sunday and I look forward to exploring this truth together and discovering what it means for our lives today! Please let me know if I can be praying for you or your family in any specific way this week.

Blessings, Brian