* Reflecting back on an amazing year for the glory of Jesus Christ!
- I’m so thankful for the dream team that God has assembled @ Southbrook Church! Never before have we been so united in purpose, passion and vision as a staff! Friends, where that happens expect great things!
- What began as an exploratory trip with me and a few medical folks from our church to Haiti has blown up into one of our main regional outreaches for far into the future! Five of us went and were moved tremendously by Pastor Rene Joseph’s ministry (Loving Hands) to the lost and hurting people of Haiti. When I returned I shared my heart during the missions week (Mark the World) of our yearly Impact Series. What happed next blew us all away! Rather than scraping together 5 or 6 people to go on one more trip—over 175 came forward to sign up for what ended up being 7 total trips to Haiti to do everything from giving shoes and medical care to a full blown Crusade that saw hundreds come to Jesus in a previously dark and unreached area of the city of Port au Prince!
- 2011 saw the Beta group—Mighty Men. What started out with little more than a desire to build into a handful of men a little of what the Lord is teaching me—turned out to be more than 20 guys meeting every month as a larger group, some several times a month in smaller groups, local outreaches, and a trip to Haiti in November or 2011 for the Port au Prince Crusade! We tweaked things along the way and made the decision after the Crusade to make this an ongoing thing! With that said, if you are a man who desires to take your faith to new heights—go to this link and click the “Mighty Men” square on the right side of the page to get the application. And remember to get it in by January 15th. You’ll be glad you did!
- Once again, our marriage series, “Better With You” seemed to come at just the right time for many couples. We saw marriages restored, marriages go from good to great, and great couples give back by helping to mentor other couples. What started out a year ago at our, “Heartbreak Warfare” series as just a few couples mentoring a handful of others for a few weeks has grown into upwards of 20 couples mentoring (or on standby) to mentor couples who need a little help and guidance to take their marriage to the next level.
- 2011 may forever be known as the year of the “Lifegroup explosion!” Our groups (under the leadership of our Lifegroup’s pastor, Kevin Conklin) really took off! They not only grew in number, but more importantly, they grew as relationships deepened and more and more people spent quality time with Jesus reading His Word, praying without ceasing and even having communion in their smaller groups. Legacy Sports even got into the action by joining many of their teams with a seasonal Lifegroup program. This just got started and is already showing great promise in connecting the community with others @ Southbrook. I can’t wait to see what the Lord has for this ministry in 2012!
There’s so much more to talk about—like I said, 2011 was a great year for building His kingdom! And you know what? 2012 shows signs of being even better! Can’t think of any group I’d rather share it with! Thanks Southbrook!