• As always, God showed me today that He is in control of The Heights. It was a great day… with all my shortcomings!
• Leading up to worship today, I felt like nothing was coming together like it was supposed to. My confidence was low and I was unsure how the message was going to come together.
• Although you hate that “unsure” feeling as a Pastor, it’s also great to see how His strength is made perfect in my weakness.
• I once heard one of my favorite preachers Dr. Joel Gregory say, “Don’t concern yourself with preaching a ‘good message.’ Preach a helpful message and every now and then one will be ‘good!’” I think today’s message was helpful.
• Today we finished the “Unleashed” series that we began on Easter Sunday. This last message took a look at the construction of the Tabernacle in Exodus and how God blessed them to have “more than enough” people and resources to do work that God had commanded. Now, that’s what I call “Unleashed Favor!”
• The basic premise of today’s message is that I feel part of being “unleashed” is by using your skills and abilities for the Kingdom of God. I dare you to click on this link and see where you can use your gifts in our church!
• Audio from the message is available online. Check it out here.
• Next Sunday we’ll begin a new series on healthy marriage called “What’s LOVE Got to Do with It?” If you’re married, engaged, or want to be married one day, you need these principles in your life!
• This evening, I was blessed to worship with and serve on a panel at Grace Presbyterian Church DC with my buddy from seminary, Russ Whitfield. It’s good to worship freely without a sermon or logistical issues racing through your mind! Sadly, it’s been a while since I’ve done this.
• After worship at Grace, I was blessed to serve on a panel with Russ discussing the African-American Church experience. I appreciated that it was informative and conciliatory rather than apologetic. We had to cut it short and the majority of the folks were begging for a”Part 2.”
• I think I will start spending my Sunday evenings visiting other churches so that I can worship freely like I did tonight. This is such a valuable experience!
• Do you know some good churches in the DMV that have a Sunday evening service? Hit me on Facebook or Twitter and let me know. (Besides the obvious, of course.)
• Last Sunday we prayed for the family of Jasmine Moss, a young-lady  who was murdered in District Heights. We asked God for an opportunity to be a light in our community. God answered that prayer this week when I received a call asking if our church to host the Candlelight Vigil for Jasmine. What an honor to open our church property and our love to Jasmine’s family and friends.
• This Friday we celebrated Reuben’s 1st birthday. What a great day for a daddy as we went for his first haircut and had a Birthday Cupcake party. We had so much fun celebrating my little buddy.
• Saturday was a very busy day. It started at Children’s Hospital because my oldest son Levi had an MRI exam. Please keep him in prayer. Right after that, I hustled over to Kettering Baptist Church to speak to a group of young men at a conference called “Preparation for Kingship.” Had a great time talking to young adult men about Master/Mission/Money/Mate. Things that all men MUST have a grasp of.
• Lady Vera got a new iPhone last week… And got me addicted to Instagram this week. Drug pusher.
• I’m excited about Mothers Day next Sunday and the opportunity to celebrate mothers! Once again, I’ll have a $100 Visa Gift Card for the mother who has the most family members with her. Invite your family for the beginning of “What’s LOVE Got to Do with It?”
• I’m also excited because all my Mother’s Day shopping is already done! Have you finished? 6 days left!

Have a great week!

• Today was one of those “Roller Coaster” days that Pastors often experience. It had some pretty high highs and some pretty low lows.
• Just like a real roller coaster, it’s important to be settled and anchored in God so that when life has drops and loops, we’re safely harnessed.
• Worship at The Heights was AWESOME today. I had such a great time in church today. I’m not just saying that because I’m the Pastor.
• From the time I left the house this morning, I knew God had big things in store for us today.
• As service started, I was pacing around in my office… praying… jumping up & down… I was so excited about the message that God had given me for today.
• Of course, at the beginning of service we had a catastrophic tech malfunction that took out most of our worship time.
• Our kids and volunteers from KIDZone led us in worship today. They always do such an amazing job when they lead us. They share the high energy praise songs that they sing in KIDZone on Sundays. But our sound system messed up, some could see the video but couldn’t hear the music. They just kept right on singing and praising and the congregation sang and praised right along with them.
• The technical difficulties are a confirmation that God has big things in store. Today was no exception.
• Our teenagers sang one of my favorite songs today before my message. “A God like You” by Kirk Franklin. They’ve been working on this for several weeks now and they nailed it! So proud of them.
• I was so hyped after they got done that I gave Antuane a high chest bump on his way off the stage! One of the highlights of our year at The Heights! LOL!!!
• Today, I continued our Unleashed series with the message, “Unleashed Future.” In order to be “unleashed” and move forward in our lives we must overcome the pain of our past.
• The message was from Genesis 45:1-8. Joseph is such a great example of someone who overcomes. There is so much more in this text than I could preach in one sermon. Please read Joseph’s story in your time with the Lord this week.
• Audio from the message is available by clicking here.
• This series has been monumental for our church. So many have shared with me how God is “unleashing” them in various aspects of their lives. Others just walk past me and say “Unleashed!” I’m almost sad that we’re finishing the series up next Sunday with “Unleashed Favor.”
• I say “almost” because the following Sunday (Mother’s Day), I’ll begin a Marriage series. Not exactly sure what I’ll call it yet. Any ideas? Hit me on Twitter or Facebook.
• First Lady LaVera and I received box suite tickets to Pastor Joel Osteen’s Night of Hope held at Nationals Park in DC. I was amazed to see a sea of people worshipping and praising God in a baseball stadium. Joel has a very unique ministry that many people have issues with, but I was very impressed and encouraged by the event.
• After dealing with some drama from one of our members who we have poured alot into, the beautiful weather, the great worship and encouraging message was exactly what I needed!
• I’ve learned that if you’re getting heat from both directions, you’re normally in a good place.
• There have been several tragic deaths in District Heights over the past week. My heart is grieved by the senseless death taking place literally within blocks of our church. Will you pray with me that God will open doors for our church to be a light in our community?
• I have a big week ahead of me. I’ll be locking myself in the library and grinding on my dissertation. I’ve hit a major wall in writing and I’ll spend a couple of days breaking through that wall. Please pray for me. I’m on a quest to be a Doctor of Ministry by 2013.
• I hope y’all have a great week. Stop by the library and say hello if you get a chance!

• Wow! What a great ending to a great week at The Heights!
• Today’s worship was off the charts! There is a great energy that we’re experiencing in our worship recently and it’s been simply fun.
• I continued the “Unleashed” series that I began last week. Today, I preached from Hebrews 12:1-3, encouraging our folks that we can “unleash” ourselves by taking some necessary steps forward! Many of us are stuck where we are by our own choice.
• I began the message with this hilarious video that clearly illustrates how we stay stuck in ridiculous places by our own doing.
• Audio of the message is up. You can listen by clicking here.
• We tried a new software today that will help us streamline our media presentations on Sundays. It seemed to work pretty well for the first shot at it, but we have some tweaking to do. It will work better when we finally get our new flatscreens installed in the church. Hopefully that will be very soon.
• If you’re interested in audio-visual stuff, I’m sure our media ministry would love for you to join them. In fact, there are countless ways that you can get connected and serve the Kingdom at The Heights.
• I got some really disappointing news this week and Satan tried to take the wind out of my sails. It was working for a while, too. God had to really pull me out of a funk.
• No matter how great things are going, I am often reminded of how fragile I am and how much I need God’s grace as a pastor and leader.
• We’re still getting great feedback on our Community Easter Egg Hunt event. PG Suite Magazine posted a video on their site this week recapping the event. Head over to their site and take a look!
• Yes… we’re working on getting them to fix the intro.
• I have some new “special edition/Pastor’s Collection” FBCDH shirts coming in this week. Can’t wait to see them. I have a feeling that our members will be begging me to get their hands on this gear.
• Today after church, First Lady LaVera really wanted to get outside and enjoy this beautiful weather. I couldn’t really argue with that, so our family took a trip downtown to see the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial.
• No matter how many times I see the memorial, it is still breathtaking each time!
• Have you “liked” our Facebook page? If you do, your face will go on the front page of our website!
• I had the privilege of a couple days this week with several Pastors in the denominational association that The Heights is affiliated with. It’s always fun for me for several reasons. One of those reasons is that I represent a significant cross in racial lines for us. I had a blast building with these brothers.
• First Lady LaVera and the boys were sick this week, so of course i feel like I’m coming down with a cold. Please pray for us this week!

• Jesus is alive! What an honor it is to celebrate the resurrection of Christ. Because He defeated death, we also can defeat anything that we face.
• What an incredible weekend at the Heights!
• Today we made an attempt at a two-service model. We switched from the normal 11 o’clock service to a 10 o’clock and 12 o’clock service.
• Preaching two services back-to-back is a skill that I must develop. I’m so tired from exerting so much energy during both messages. If we continue to grow as we have, it won’t be long before we have to do this every Sunday.
• Everything seemed to go well logistically between the two services. If anything went wrong, our awesome staff, leaders and volunteers handled it without me even knowing.
• I’m so grateful for the team of folks that we have serving at the Heights. God has blessed us with some folks who serve faithfully and tirelessly. You know who you are… Thank you!!!
• If you’re looking for a place to serve, there are plenty of unique opportunities for you to use your gifts for the Kingdom. What are you waiting for?
• With the two services, it almost seemed like our numbers were low today… until I got the final count. We had record attendance by far today. Wow!!!
• I’m noticing that with the growth we are seeing, the biggest ratio growth is in KIDZone every Sunday! That’s something I didn’t expect… although I should have!
• This means two things: First, that we’re attracting families with young kids… which is what we identified as our target a year ago. Praise God! Second, that we need more and more volunteers to serve our children. Please pray that the Lord of the Harvest will send laborers!
• I laughed when one of our volunteer staff showed me the stack of contact cards from first time guests today. I love that people are excited about their church and are inviting their friends.
• Today I started a series called “Unleashed.” We’ll spend the next few weeks talking about what is holding you back from what God wants to do in your life. Are you sick of begin stuck and ready to move forward?
• It was a fun, interactive message where I brought several volunteers up on stage. If you missed it, you can listen to the audio of the message here.
• We also had many first time guests from our Community Easter Egg Hunt and Grocery Giveaway on Saturday.
• The turnout for our the Egg Hunt was incredible! The local ABC News affiliate announced the event on the local news about an hour before it started and our phone began ringing off the hook!
• With a major assist from SHABACH! Ministries, we were able to bless hundreds of families with free groceries. We literally were loading people down with stuff to take home. What a blessing it was to see so many people blessed by our church.
• This is the type of thing that excites me. At the end of the day, it’s not about having church… it’s about being the church and making an impact in our community.
• Our church blessed me with a wonderful Birthday gift today. A gift card to my favorite restaurant! First Lady LaVera can’t wait to use it!
• I’m always caught off guard when our church surprises me like that… but it never gets old feeling the love from people that I love so much and go to battle for every week.
• I’m excited about celebrating my birthday all week. Got some fun stuff planned with my family around a few doctors appointments and such.

Have a GREAT week!