Bridge 365

Bridge 365 is a phrase you will soon be hearing around HDBC. It represents a developing strategy for reaching our local area. Bridge 365 will seek to engage HDBC members in serving a specific geographic area of our city for one year. We will find creative and effective ways to communicate the love of Jesus to the people in the designated area and therefore build a bridge of love. So, be looking for Bridge 365. It's coming soon.

Joy's Graduation

Jan, Julie, Hutch and I traveled to Fayetteville over the weekend to celebrate Joy's graduation from the University of Arkansas. Thankfully the weather was great and everyone made it to the place they needed to be on time. It was such a joy to hear her name called and to see her walk across that stage.

I'm also thankful that so many of our relatives came to celebrate with us. Thanks to Jim and Lanelle Hutchison (my parents), Jim and Bess Nichols (Jan's parents), Julie and Hutch Bristow (my daughter and grandson), Bob, Nancy and Drew Hutchison (my brother, sister-in-law, and nephew), Randy, Julie, Tavie, Tessie, Trey, Trulie and Torie Nichols (Jans brother, sister-in-law, nieces and nephew).

All nineteen of us then enjoyed a great meal at Red Lobster. In case you are wondering, I was tempted to take care of the bill for all of us . . . but I resisted. It was also good to be able to visit with my mom during Mother's Day weekend. I have not often been able to do this.

Joy will be staying in Fayetteville where she will work in two ministry positions. She will be working at the BCM on the University of Arkansas campus as well as working in the Leadership Training Program at the University Baptist Church. Thanks for continuing to pray for her as she enters this new phase of her life.

Graduation

Jan and I are looking forward to celebrating graduation this Saturday afternoon in Fayetteville. Our daughter, Joy, will be graduating from the University of Arkansas. We are extremely proud of Joy (as we are of all our daughters) for this achievement.

I well remember the emotions that Jan and I felt as we drove out of the parking lot located at the north end of Razorback Stadium and looked back to see Joy standing there all alone. She had chosen to enter a brave new world and courageously embraced the unknown. It was a great leap of faith for her and for us.

We were extremely grateful for the ministry of the BCM there and for the Christian sorority that Joy was privileged to join. Both of these organizations provided ample opportunities not only for friendships but also for ministry. Now, four years later, as Joy is wrapping up her academic degree, her desire for ministry is even stronger. She will remain in Fayetteville working on staff of the BCM in an intern position and working on staff at University Baptist Church.

Great job Joy. God has some great plans for you. Your mom and I look forward to seeing all the ways that God is going to work in and through your life. We love you.

Prayer and Fasting

During the week of May 11-15 HDBC members and regular attenders are encouraged to pick a day for prayer and fasting as we approach Awakening 09. For many people the thought of fasting might be a little scary. But it does not have to be.

Fasting is simply the voluntary abstinence from food for spiritual purposes. It is the denial of something in the physical realm, in order to achieve something in the spiritual realm. It is asking the body to wait, so that spiritual needs can be met.

I am simply asking each of us to give up a day or at least a meal of eating in order to focus on the special work that God desires to do in our church through Awakening 09. You can still do all the things that you would normally do (work, school, activities, etc). However, in place of eating, you would spend time in prayer for revival.

I hope you will join us for this important spiritual discipline. Read what Bill Bright once wrote about fasting.

I believe the power of fasting as it relates to prayer is the spiritual atomic bomb that our Lord has given us to destroy the strongholds of evil and usher in a great revival and spiritual harvest around the world. Bill Bright

Revival Praying

There is no power like that of prevailing prayer . . . of Abraham pleading for Sodom, Jacob wrestling in the stillness of the night, Moses standing in the breach, Hannah intoxicated with sorrow, David heartbroken with remorse and grief, Jesus in sweat of blood. Add to this list from the records of the church your personal observation and experience, and always there is the cost of passion unto blood. Such prayer prevails. It turns ordinary mortals into men (and women) of power. It brings power. It brings fire. It brings rain. It brings life. It brings God.

So wrote Samuel Chadwick of the need for revival praying. We are rapidly moving toward Awakening 09. Pray persistently, passionately and purposefully for revival.

Malawi Bound

HDBC has the world on its heart. This morning a team of prayer-walkers left Jonesboro for Malawi, Africa. They will be working with John and Claudia Brown and will be praying for villages that do not have a church. Join me in praying for safety as they are traveling.

Flip Flop

Flip Flop is a phrase often used to describe a politician who radically changes sides on a position. This morning I'm using it to describe what has happened to the moral landscape of the American culture. Things that once were taboo are now considered perfectly acceptable. Things that once were discussed only by those considerd loose and vulgar are now common topics of discussion even among grade school children. According to the court of popular opinion, right has become wrong and wrong has become right.

Need an example? The firestorm over the answer given to a question in the recent Miss USA pageant. Let me quote from http://www.foxnews.com/.

When asked by judge Perez Hilton, an openly gay gossip blogger, whether she believed in gay marriage, Prejean said "We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite. And you know what, I think in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that's how I was raised."

There are several problems with the firestorm that has erupted over her answer. First, she was asked what she "believed" about an issue. And she declared her "belief." One of the founding principles of freedom in this nation is freedom of belief and of the right to express that belief. She expressed her belief, her opinion. Nothing more.

Second, she went out of her way to indicate that she was not casting judgment or condemnation on anyone whose belief was different from hers. She openly stated her belief that others had a right to a different perspective.

Third, she was immediately attacked by the left-wing establishment.

Now, here is where the flip flop is seen. Only a few decades ago her answer not only would not have made headlines, but would have been the expected answer. Her current belief was held by a majority of Americans and reflected the moral atmosphere of our culture. If she had followed the liberal and now culturally accepted position on this question no one would have noticed.

This is just another example of how far we have drifted away from the high road of moral purity and convictions in this nation. I do not know Miss Prejean and will never have an opportunity to personally commend her for sticking to her convictions. But all of us who continue to hold to Biblical and traditional standard of marriage owe her a debt of gratitude.