Have a great week!

• I really love my job! It almost doesn’t feel right that I get paid to do this!
• That being said, I’m not complaining. Gotta pay the bills. LOL.
• Continued the STRONG series today with a message on True Worship. Preached one of my favorite passages, Luke 17:11-19, where Jesus heals 10 lepers.
• True Worship naturally separates us from everyone else. if you want to stand out and make history, start with learning what it really means to worship God!
• I’ve preached a couple different sermons from this same text several times and there’s still so much in that text that I haven’t scratched the surface on.
• I had so much fun preaching this sermon. Did I say that I love my job?
• You can listen to the audio of the message here.
• Another great Black History Month presentation today by our teenagers. This time, Surona spoke about the contributions of Alvin Ailey.
• It’s just as much fun to listen to our band “jam” before service as it is to hear them perform with the Praise Team during service.
• We had an amazing Baptism Celebration this Wednesday where we had the honor of dunking 11 people. I think that’s the most that our church has ever baptized at once. Wow!
• I always get jazzed up hearing the testimonies of the people we baptize and hearing about how God is using our church in their lives. It’s one of my favorite moments as a Pastor.
• Did I mention how much I love my job?
• Our friends Enduring Praise just released their first single “Renew Me” on iTunes. Please support them.
• If you want to hear their ministry live, meet us Wednesday for Bible Study as they lead us in Worship.
• I was devastated to hear of the passing of Whitney Houston this weekend. Her voice and grace is unparalleled in the music industry. She had so many priceless moments and performances in her career. Praying for her family.
• Her life also teaches us many lessons about love, pain, recovery, redemption, and how worldly success does not equate to personal fulfillment and happiness.
• I kind of went off on a series of Twitter tributes to Whitney Saturday night. Glad I had gotten plenty of work done on my sermon earlier in the week, because I really couldn’t concentrate much on work.
• I tweeted about how Whitney never had to take her clothes off. She sold 170 million records fully clothed. I don’t think I’ve ever been retweeted this much since I’ve been on Twitter.
• If you’re not following me on Twitter, you might want to do that immediately! Click here.
• While you’re at it, you might as well follow our church’s Twitter feed. Click here.
• I’m 30 days into P90X. I’m feeling great! Becoming a strong Christian as I become a STRONG Christian. The 2nd month is the hardest, but most rewarding. Time to bring it!!!
• Finishing the night watching The Grammy’s with the family. Of course that means I’m watching and they’re sleeping!

Have a STRONG week!

(Feb. 12)

Did you know that responding to Jesus’ miraculous healing with TRUE Worship will cause you to stand out from everyone else?. Find out what TRUE Worship really is.

• Great day at The Heights despite some hiccups along the way and me being under the weather. Our family has been battling a horrible cold for the last 3 days.
• Today was a rough day for me. I felt very weak physically and very unprepared to preach.
• That pretty much assured that God would do something great. His strength is made perfect in our weakness!!!
• First Lady and the boys stayed home today to get better, part of me wishes I could have done that! Another part of me wouldn’t have missed what happened today for all the Robitussin in the world!
• I was so excited to see several people respond to the salvation call. We didn’t have enough altar counselors at first! Had to pull some guys from KIDZone to come up and talk to some brothers about the gospel.
• What makes it more special is that this wasn’t a purely “evangelistic” message. I believe that anytime the Scriptures are taught is an opportunity for someone to say yes to Christ. An altar call is ALWAYS appropriate.
• This STRONG series has been great for our church as we’ve been talking about our spiritual “core muscles.” Today’s message was “Something You Didn’t Know About Yourself” from Mark 1:14-20.
• God is actively recruiting you to use your unique talents and gifts to advance His kingdom. Have you responded to his call to “follow Him?”
• You can listen to the audio from the message here. Sorry for how my voice sounds. I couldn’t breathe through my nose.
• If you want to get a head start on next week’s message, read Luke 17:11-19 in your time with the Lord this week.
• I enjoy the relaxed dress of our church. Most Sundays you’ll find me  in jeans. But I also love playing dress up on 1st Sundays when we have Communion.
• We’re beginning to capture video of our services. I’m looking forward to seeing what the footage looks like and getting it online for you guys.
• We’re experiencing some leadership turnover in our church. Some happening faster than I thought it would… And some happening slower than I hoped it would. Either way, I’m blessed to have the leaders that I get the honor of serving beside.
• For Black History Month our teenagers are giving presentations during service. Today we remembered Dr. Carter G. Woodson, the father of Black History. Antuane did a great job pulling that together.
• I hate that I had to miss the Super Bowl Party that our Men’s Ministry hosted tonight, but I had to stay home to rest. Watched the Super Bowl on my couch under a huge blanket.
• Big win for the Giants tonight. Now we’ll never get Pastor Tyrone Stevenson to shut up! LOL.
• So excited about our Baptism celebration this Wednesday. Really can’t wait to get in the water and celebrate so many decisions to follow Christ.
• Before we all got sick, we were outside enjoying the non-winter weather we’ve had lately. Those moments with First Lady and the boys are priceless.
• Please keep Levi and his health in your prayers. Sickness hits him harder than most kids.

Love y’all. Have a GREAT week!

Mark 1:14-20. Pastor Bobby tells us that Jesus is actively recruiting us to use our unique gifts and talents to advance the kingdom.

(January 29)

Acts 17:22-34. In this third installment of the STRONG Series, Pastor Bobby Manning encourages you to prepare yourself to be used by God. The Apostle Paul serves as an example of someone who was “Prepared for a Platform” and taken to great levels of blessing in order to be a light for Christ. Are you prepared for what God is about to do?