8th Wonder of the World - Cowboy's Stadium

Earlier this week, a group of our Beech Street Sr. Adults took a day trip to Arlington, TX to tour the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium. We had a couple of vans of these great folks who made the 3 hr drive to the FW/D metroplex along with my car filled with Sean, Rob, and Emily. After a lunch at Black-Eyed Pea near the stadium, we headed over to see for ourselves the 8th wonder of the world!

This place was incredible! We had a private tour that lasted over an hour and a half! The stadium is over 3 million sg/ft and cost over $1 billion. Jerry Jones payed for over $700 million of that! As you can see, on the day we went, the turf had been rolled up and stored away. They were setting up for a moto-cross event later in the week. The screen that dominates the room cost $40 million and has 30 million LED lights! If you stand it on end, it is a 7-story building. We got to visit one of the luxury suites. They have to be leased, not purchased for 30 years. They come with quite a view. After seeing the place from many angles up high, we headed down below to the lower levels. We got to spend time visiting the Cowboy's locker room, as well as the locker room of the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders. I had to snap pics of lockers in both rooms that had players with a famous last name. That would be "Jenkins" of course. We got to see the door the Cowboy's run out onto the field. Their first step is on an old piece of turf from Texas Stadium. My being a true-blue Cowboy fan for years...this was a great experience! I'd love to have a chance to go to a game and experience the place with over 100,000 Cowboy fans.

After the tour, I took Sean, Rob, and Emily westward to the "promised land" of Fort Worth. Rightfully so, I always brag on the great food in my hometown to the staff. Since we were so close, we visited the best BBQ place around - Angelo's! They serve up some of the best beef ribs you have ever tasted...just fall off the bone. Dad and Megan (Rob's significant other who is a student at TX Woman's University) joined the crew for some tasty food and fun. This was a day that I and our staff needed. We have been working lots of extra hours and days on various projects and we needed to get away and have some fun. Mission accomplished on both fronts. I love and am blessed to serve with my staff. This will be a day I'll remember for a while!

Beast Feast 2010 @ Beech Street

We had our second Beast Feast tonight and it was a great and powerful night. This is one of our "Believe" events at Beech St that is very community focused and evangelistic. We open this event up to families, not just men and boys. We had some incredible food from catfish to deer steak to smoked wild hog to some goood gumbo! Trust me, if you left hungry it was not our fault! Once again, my team of men were absolutely incredible. This group of men have made this ministry a labor of love and they give it their all. I love these men and God used them greatly once again this year. We had several individuals and businesses help us with the event by sponsoring a table. A huge thanks to all our sponsors!! All the funds generated from tables and ticket sales goes right back into Beast Feast to buy prizes to give away and food to eat. We had a great crowd of over 400 at our event this year, with several folks coming for the first time after hearing about last year's event.

We gave away some really nice door prizes for kids and adults. Each adult prize was valued at around $100! We had a "People's Choice" mount contest again this year with 2 categories to judge - antlers and non-antlers. We gave a prize for the winner of each category. We had some really impressive mounts entered! At the end of the evening, each person completes a special card to enter the grand prize drawing for a $500 gift card to Gander Mountain. We give that away right before we go, so nobody leaves early. Trust me, they are staying to win that!

A huge key to these events is getting great speaker. We had a one-of-a-kind man and ministry this year in Hank Hough and Kingdom Dog Ministries (www.kingdomdog.com) Hank brought 2 of his dogs - Monk (chocolate lab) and Bandaro (black lab) with him to our event. He shares spiritual truth and a clear gospel message using the dogs and their training/obedience as an object lesson. Folks are glued to Hank, but especially glued to the dogs! Their obedience to his commands is amazing and fun to watch. They really steal the show! God is using Hank's ministry in a great way all across the country. His very "down-to-earth" demeanor and message connects with folks. We invited Hank to stay over Saturday night and speak in our Sunday morning service. I'll really be anxious to see if some of the folks who attended Sat night will come back to see more of Hank and the dogs in the morning. By the looks of the standing ovation they gave him after he spoke, I'm pretty sure that several will be at our service for more!

We have prayed and worked on this event for months. I trust that each person present was there for a purpose. As we are still sifting through the response cards, we have had several indicate making a decision to trust/follow Jesus in a new relationship. We will follow-up on these people right away to develop what God started at Beast Feast. This is a great "touch" event for our church and I'm looking forward to seeing how God continues to develop it as a tool He can use to impact lives. I'm already thinking about 2011...I'm thinking about a fishing theme. Start praying now for some bites and God's blessings!

My Week @ Angels Way

Tonight is the final night of revival services at Angels Way Baptist Church (www.angelswaybaptistchurch.lifewaylink.com) in Marion. My good friend Loren Strickland has been their pastor for 8 years. Loren and I became close while serving together in LA - "Lower Arkansas" in Warren and Hermitage. We traveled together on a mission trip to Brazil with a group of other pastors. Loren is doing a great job at Angels Way. He has led this church to relocate and refocus from West Memphis to the city of Marion. Their new location and facilities are incredible and God has positioned them to make a big impact here. The people of Angels Way have been so responsive to the Lord and encouraging/kind to me. The church is filled with warm, friendly, inviting folks. God has blessed them with a lot of growth and as Marion is growing, I believe Angels Way will continue also.

Sunday morning I preached on God's love. From 1 John we looked at one thing that God does not know how to do...love you anymore than He already does. Sunday night we focused on reaching the coming generations of students and kid's. It was moving to see many come to altar to pray that Angels Way would be a place for the next generation to learn about and follow Jesus. Monday night I preached on the parable of the lost sheep out of Luke 15 and our need to make room for "one more". Tuesday night I felt led to challenge the people to be more missional...like the church at Antioch in Acts 11. Loren is challenging the church to be more on mission locally and abroad and I sensed a need to reinforce that work. Tonight I am going to challenge folks to give lavishly like Mary when she annointed Jesus' feet at Bethany. I'm praying that we all will be willing to give our all to the One who did that for us!

A side-treat during the week has been hanging out a little bit with my friend Clay Hallmark, the pastor at First Baptist Church in Marion (www.fbcmarionark.org). Clay is our current President of the AR Baptist State Convention. He is a great leader and pastor. 4 years ago this spring, Clay shared with me an opportunity to minister in Texarkana at Beech Street. At the time, I was not looking to leave Warren...little did I understand at the time that God was already working a new work for me at Beech Street. I'm very thankful for Clay's friendship...plus I got a free lunch today from the president!

I've had a wonderful week in eastern AR. Reminded me of the good times we had on this side of the state while serving as pastor of First Baptist Marked Tree. I'm so blessed and thankful for God's call on my life...at the same time feel so undeserving! My only prayer is that God has used His word and His servant to advance His causes this week. After a trustee mtg tomorrow at Ouachita, I'll head home to see Mel and the boys. I've missed them big time and so ready to see them!

Sharing Life @ Death

Tomorrow morning I will be preaching my third funeral in 6 days. I've noticed as a pastor that these events seem to come in "3's". While that may be randomly true some of the time, the reality is that death is a daily part of life. I have never found the obituary page of the local newspaper blank due to nothing to print. Ecclesiastes 3.2 reminds us that there is "a time to be born, and a time to die" and that happens everyday! Hebrews 9.27 says, "It is appointed once for a man to die and after that to face the judgment."

I always count it an honor to preach at a funeral. When I meet with a family to discuss/plan the service, I share with them my three aims of a funeral. First, is to bring honor and glory to God. Second, to honor the life of the deceased person in some manner. And last, to being comfort and hope to those who gather for the occasion. In a crazy way, I really love to preach at a funeral. It is a prime moment to "be" Christ to people and share his glorious gospel of hope. For the most part, I find that at a funeral, folks are actually still enough to at least consider the subject of death...especially since they are most of the time starring at a casket place in front of them. I think that people genuinely listen better because they are considering what is being talked about. I always talk clearly about the gospel and its availability to all. It's just too ripe of an opportunity to miss out on that.

At about 11 in the morning, my seemingly usual pattern of "3's" will be complete, or at least I hope so. If it changes to "4's", I'll be ready to share life at another death!