The old me is dead!

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold the new has come." - 2 Corinthians 5:17

The old me is dead.

What a statement! In those five words is a  whole new outlook and purpose for life. This week at Crosspointe Church in Ada, OK Pastor Shawn Wiebers helped to shed some new light on this simple but profound statement. 

Change of Plans

When things don't go my way I have a tendency to get depressed about it. I don't know if that's just the way I'm wired, but it is definitely something that I'm working on. When God doesn't open a door, He always has something else lined up. Isn't that what we've always been taught? But the truth is that we have to be ready and willing to accept that the door He opens may not be what we expected.

When God says, "Wait"

Over the last couple of weeks God has begun to really work into my heart...or is it that I've finally opened up enough to hear what he's been saying all along? Either way, I've been really thinking a lot about what to do when God tells you to wait.

Defining our Missional Community

We're about a week away from launching our MC here in Ada. Our church has a great resource that we use to organize and communicate with each other called Church Community Builder. I used this tool to put up a description of our MC and when & where we get together each week.

Our church's vision is to move people in four direction: Upward, Outward, Inward, & Forward. I've integrated this vision into our vision for our MC.

Below is the description of our MC. check it out and let me know what you think.

Winter Weather and Living Missionally

So I am now officially tired of the snow. Besides the fact that it has had a huge impact on sales at our local RadioShack where I am the store manager, it has kept us inside for nearly a week. Yesterday I went out and shoveled ours and our neighbor's sidewalk of about 3 feet of snow drift. That got me thinking about something. What does missional life look like during winter storms like we've had the last few days?

Here are a few ideas:

Called to Mission

I don't know how many if any readers I've got out there, but you may have noticed that I just changed the name of the blog from Beyond the Walls to Called to Mission. Let me explain why...

Over the last few months Amy (my wife) and I have been discussing and praying about what it really means to be a Christ follower and what that looks like in our own lives and in our own communities. A few comments from a new book that I've been reading really started to make us think about this. [You can check out the book on my Currently Reading section on the right]. Here's a few things that we are working through together and that might spark your thoughts as well:

Weekend Update

+ Well it wasn't really this weekend, but last week I met with Pastor Shawn to hang out at Crosspointe Church. I had a great time of planning, dreaming, and visioneering. God has some great things planned for Amy and I and for Crosspointe Church in the future.

+ Had a great Saturday. I got to hang out with my two favorite girls, my wife Amy and our daughter Jadyn. We went rental house hunting in Ada.

+ Sunday was great. The morning gathering was great and Pastor Scott Oltmans brought a challenging message about how our words affect our relationships.

+ Hero Headquarters VBS set production is underway. This is going to be an awesome event. We are building a whole city scape in the church's foyer, turning the sanctuary in the Hall of Justice, the kitchen area into a Recharge Station, and the crafts area into a mad scientist's lab.

+Pastor Shawn and Jenniffer had their baby boy this morning. Carter Blaise Wiebers is such a cutey!

Super Summer

Super Summer

I'm really excited about this summer. There are some awesome things coming up at Crosspointe. During June we are going to be meeting outside of the church building in different locations around our community for some connection time. We are going to be going to Wintersmith Park, the City pool, Star Skate, and having a barbecue on the grounds at the church. It is going to be great. I really look forward to connecting with everyone here at our church and making some connections with people outside of the church.

VBS

This year we are kicking off an incredible VBS with a bang. Hero Headquarters is coming to Crosspointe providing a place where kids join forces with God. VBS will be July 19-22 but we are going to be having a registration day on July 17th. We are hoping to have this at Glenwood park with free hotdogs, the new church bus, and other great things. I'll have more info as we get closer.

I'm really excited about all that God is doing and going to do here in Ada. I hope to see you there!

Update...

Okay so its been forever since I last updated my blog and that is totally my fault.

Currently Amy and I are both now working. I'm at RadioShack as the Assistant Manager and Amy is working at Quizno's which just opened here in Ada, OK.

We are still looking for a church to open up for us to go and be their youth pastors. I've put out several resumes in Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. But as of yet we haven't heard anything back. We're just taking this time to reach the people that we work with and get involved with Crosspointe Church here. I'll be on their worship team here in a few weeks and just can't wait.

Jadyn is doing great. She's now three months old and she went swimming for the first time last Friday. She loved it and could already fit a 12month old sized rash gaurd shirt. Wow! She's getting big.

I'm currently letting my hair grow out and am looking at getting it cut and highlighted like this.

yep, that's Jeremy Camp rockin' it out.

Update...

+ Had a great (if long) day Saturday. Went to Norman with the in-laws and then celebrated my grandparents 57th wedding anniversary at my cousins.

+ Church at Crosspointe was great Sunday. I'm totally loving the live worship band. The worship was awesome and the message was great.

+Connection groups at Crosspointe was great. It was nice to hang out with people our own age.

+ Met with the owner of Radio Shack here in Ada. Hopefully I'll have a job there this week. It looks really promising.

50 Million Pound Challenge

Amy and I just started the 50 Million Pound Challenge. It is a weight loss challenge where you can track your weight loss, journal your progress, create and join teams, and meet your goals with tips and support from others. We are going to get Amy's mom involved and maybe even some other members of our family.

I'm really looking forward to buckling down and losing some weight. I currently weigh 235 lbs. and I'm hoping to get down to 170 lbs. That would totally change my life. I know it'll take lots of work and discipline but the benefits outweigh anything else.

"No sacrifice, no victory!"

I'll be keeping you informed of how things are going.

If you want to find out more about The Challenge go to www.50millionpoundchallenge.com

Randomness...and Testimonies

+Had a great time tonight in cell groups! This could really be awesome!

+Getting a lot of encouragement from Jordan and Mary Lake (youth staff)! We have big dreams for NSM.

+Mazzio's Pizza was good tonight. Their Honey BBQ wings rock.

+Gearing up for Thanksgiving. I'm so ready to see my mom and dad without evacuating for a hurricane.

+God is doing awesome stuff in our lives and in Magnolia Church. Amy was healed of extreme nausia (that kept her from church this morning) when Brittany, one of our students prayed for her.

+Amy and I prayed for a gentleman in our church and his backpain and Kidney trouble was instantly healed! God is so good to lavish His love on us.

An Update

We got back home on Saturday afternoon after spending a little more than a week with my grandparents in Irving due to evacuating away from the path of Hurricane Ike. When we got back we were astonished at the amount of damage that some areas got and how other areas had hardly been touched. Our neighbors in the apartment across the hall from us had their whole roof blown off and everything in their house was ruined. However, our apartment didn't take any damage. Our electricity came on Saturday night as soon as I finished lighting the last of 20 some odd candles around the house. LOL I'm glad God has a since of humor. :) The only thing that we are waiting on is for our hot water to be turned back on.

Our church on the other hand took a little bit of a bigger hit than our home. The shingles on the back of the sanctuary roof were blown off, so when the rain came it flooded out our sanctuary peeling the paint from the wall in a couple of places. The back section of our gym, by one of the goals, was peeled back by the wind and the rain came and soaked one of the walls. But God did the amazing again. The Restoration Team that came and fixed our church after Hurricane Rita in '05 were on the scene the day after Ike and were able to dry out the whole church. They got 50 gallons of water out of our Fireside Room alone 0.0!

It will take a bit of work, and we won't be back in the sanctuary for a few months, but we still have the gym that we are going to be having our worship gatherings in. The Youth Hall was untouched but we are either going to have to move to the Children's Sanctuary on Wednesday nights (b/c we'd be too loud for the adult bible study in the gym) or move to another night. We're just going to have to see what we need to do. The key word right now is...Flexibility!

God has kept his hand on us this week and He has provided much more than we could ever deserve!

Ordained Appointment

It is just amazing how God can set things up. We had to evacuate Port Arthur, TX because of Hurricane Ike. We drove up to my Grandma's house in Irving,TX.

We hadn't planned on doing anything but lounging around 'till we could go home. But my Grandma set me up to play worship and speak at their "Overcomers" (50 year. Old +) Group. I really didn't know what I was going to talk about because I didn't have any time to put anything together. But I went praying God would give me something.

What transpired is one of the best church gatherings I had ever been a part of...

I spoke from a verse that God had put on my heart this last week.

Luke 9:1-2

God just dropped something into my heart. I gave a few testimonies of healing and preached on being a child of God and having access to everything of the Almighty King, God.

God moved, we prayed for several people and are already hearing reports of healing. We prayed for my Grandma's worn out foot heels. She got in the car with us to leave and she said ALL the pain was already gone.

WOW! I tell ya if Ike wipes my apartment off the planet, it will all be worth it to see God move like he did tonight.

Let the momentum continue!

People thinking they found a short cut around the I-10 Shutdown @ the Trinity River. Hint: they'll just have to turn around

Uploaded by www.cellspin.net

The 1 Hour Wait for the Galveston Ferry

Uploaded by www.cellspin.net

Out of School Blowout '08

Tonight was great. We had 21 here at The Network for our Out of School Blowout. We had an awesome time of voleyball, basketball, video games, and a washerboard tourney.

My thanks go out to my amazing wife, Amy, and our wonderful sponsor, Audrey, for putting together sodas and chili cheese nachos forus to eat tonight. That coupled with a giant cookie cake made our stomachs full and put smiles on our faces.

What topped off the night was that we had several visitors come and have a good time along side us. It was good to see that our students are bringing their friends. Hopefully this will be the first step toward seeing lives changed.

Memorial Day Weekend Update

+Went to my brother's wedding up in Davenport, OK. It was definately a trip! It took us nearly 11 hours total to drive up there from Port Neches.

+Made it home Sunday afternoon. Rested for about an hour and then headed to church.

+Took my wife, Amy, to go eat at Olive Garden on Monday. It was great to just have time to hang out with the love of my life. We took some time to slow down and just enjoy eachother's company. It was really nice.

A Quick Update

Moving into our new home and getting settled in here at Magnolia has drained more of my time than I had first anticipated. We've had to hit the ground running gathering up fundraiser ideas for our summer activities: Youth Camp, 220 Conference, Mexico Outreach 08, and Fine Arts. With that in mind, I realized that I had forgotten to blog for nearly a week. So back by popular demand...

Last Wednesday

This last Wednesday in The Network we had a wonderful time of connection, worship, and growth. Worship was amazing, with Amy Lisenby and Victoria Williams leading us into the presence of God. We surrendered ourselves to worshipping our King. Then, I preached the first part of our AMP'd series entitled "01 : Devotion". It was all about how we have to be completely and radically sold out to living for Jesus. Several students came down to be prayed for so that things that they would be freed from either things had ahold of them or that they just hadn't surrendered to God. We spent nearly a half hour in the altars, and I am certain that this is only the first step that God has for this awesome group of students.

A Whole New Look (...well, sorta)

I've been here in the office talking with a couple of my youth sponsors, Pastor Brent, and several others for input in this new project I've taken on. Though we all love the t-shirt logo below:

It is just too busy for letterhead and other smaller application. Because of that, and the fact that no one cares for our "cingular" buildings logo any longer, I've been cooking up an additional logo that can be used for our letterhead, business cards, ect. It is below:

And with it we are going to be having a cool new graphic to replace the "12" Sign up on our wall. We are looking at getting it to be 3 or 4 ft. square. Here it is:

Stuff That's Coming Up

Just wanted to let you know about the plans that we currently have for the summer. If you want to get involved in anything, please contact me by emailing: pattajames@gmail.com or by calling my office: 409-722-2082.

Convoy of Hope

The Rock church in Port Arthur is cooridinating a group of churches to bring in Convoy of Hope to minister to the Port Arthur area. Last weekend was amazing as we went and helped them pass out flyers and ivite people to come out and enjoy the event at Barbara Jacket Park.

+May 10 - Canvasing the Neighborhood w/ flyers (Meet at church @12:30pm)

+May 15 - Bagging Groceries at The Rock @ 4pm

+May 16 - Set Up at the Park @ 9am

+May 17 - Convoy of Hope @ 10am

Youth Camp

Welcome to the BEST WEEK of your life. If you’re looking for a place to have fun, build relationships and be challenged spiritually this summer, look no further than CAMP 08. This camp is unlike any other. With its water slides, hill country lake, swimming, the mt. slide, outdoor sports, sand volleyball, group competition, indoor games, and high-energy evening services full of video, excitement, authentic worship and incredible teaching, Camp 08 promises to be a life-changing experience.

June 16-20 we are going to be heading to youth camp. The cost is $155 per student, but the church is graciously paying the $70 deposit for each student, leaving you to have to pay only the $85 balance. We will be doing some fundraisers to help you pay your balance. If you are interested, you need to see me by this Wednesday!!!

220 Conference

If you could only go to one event this summer, this would be it!

Hear the sound of thousands of students and youth leaders worshipping together. The presence of God in the atmosphere is as electric as lightning in the midst of a mighty wind storm. In an instant, lives are changed as the touch of heaven descends like showers rain. Suddenly a roar begins. It is coming from an army of young people charging forward with thunderous momentum. They are bursting forth from the flood gates with the hurricane force of the Holy Spirit.

Find yourself here. It is the 220 conference taking place this summer in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 220 is the revolutionary youth ministry of Bethany World Prayer Center that has grown to over 6,500 young people in weekly cell attendance. This conference will be an opportunity for you to join thousands of other young people and youth leaders to be challenged, trained, and transformed. Cost is: Registration $25 + hotel + meals

Check it out at http://www.220conference.com/!

Mexico Outreach

Palm Valley Church has been hosting teams from all across the United States for over 20yrs, providing students the opportunity to bring hope to those in need and change lives with the message of Jesus in Reynosa and Rio Bravo, Mexico.

Along with communicating the message of hope through songs, skits, and dramas, your team will also be apart of special service times that have been set in place for you and your team to be ministered to.

Make a difference for eternity. Love…because Jesus did. Serve…because you can.
Space is limited. Sign up today!

Cost is $275/person with a $100 deposit due by June 18th.