The Litany of Penitence from The Book of Common Prayer

Most holy and merciful Father: We confess to you and to one another, and to the whole communion of saints in heaven and on earth, that we have sinned by our own fault in thought, word, and deed; by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart, and mind, and strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We have not forgiven others, as we have been forgiven. Have mercy on us, Lord. We have been deaf to your call to serve, as Christ served us. We have not been true to the mind of Christ. We have grieved your Holy Spirit. Have mercy on us, Lord. We confess to you, Lord, all our past unfaithfulness: the pride, hypocrisy, and impatience of our lives, We confess to you, Lord. Our self-indulgent appetites and ways, and our exploitation of other people, We confess to you, Lord. Our anger at our own frustration, and our envy of those more fortunate than ourselves, We confess to you, Lord. Our intemperate love of worldly goods and comforts, and our dishonesty in daily life and work, We confess to you, Lord. Our negligence in prayer and worship, and our failure to commend the faith that is in us, We confess to you, Lord. Accept our repentance, Lord, for the wrongs we have done: for our blindness to human need and suffering, and our indifference to injustice and cruelty, Accept our repentance, Lord. For all false judgments, for uncharitable thoughts toward our neighbors, and for our prejudice and contempt toward those who differ from us, Accept our repentance, Lord. For our waste and pollution of your creation, and our lack of concern for those who come after us, Accept our repentance, Lord. Restore usthose who differ from us, Accept our repentance, Lord. For our waste and pollution of your creation, and our lack of concern for those who come after us, Accept our repentance, Lord. Restore us, good Lord, and let your anger depart from us; Favorably hear us, for your mercy is great. Accomplish in us the work of your salvation, That we may show forth your glory in the world. By the cross and passion of your Son our Lord, Bring us with all your saints to the joy of his resurrection. Almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who desires not the death of sinners, but rather that they may turn from their wickedness and live, has given power and commandment to his ministers to declare and pronounce to his people, being penitent, the absolution and remission of their sins. He pardons and absolves all those who truly repent, and with sincere hearts believe his holy Gospel. Therefore we beseech him to grant us true repentance and his Holy Spirit, that those things may please him which we do on this day, and that the rest of our life hereafter may be pure and holy, so that at the last we may come to his eternal joy; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Contentment- A Puritan Prayer

Heavenly Father, if I should suffer need, and go unclothed, and be in poverty, make my heart prize Your love, know it, be constrained by it, though I be denied all blessings. It is Your mercy to afflict and try me with wants, for by these trials I see my sins, and desire severance from them. Let me willingly accept misery, sorrows, temptations, if I can thereby feel sin as the greatest evil, and be delivered from it with gratitude to You, acknowledging this as the highest testimony of Your love.

When Your Son, Jesus, came into my soul instead of sin He became more dear to me than sin had formerly been; His kindly rule replaced sin's tyranny. Teach me to believe that if ever I would have any sin subdued I must not only labour to overcome it, but must invite Christ to abide in the place of it, and He must become to me more than vile lust had been; that His sweetness, power, life may be there. Thus I must seek a grace from Him contrary to sin, but must not claim it apart from Himself.

When I am afraid of evils to come, comfort me by showing me that in myself I am a dying, condemned wretch, but in Christ I am reconciled and live; that in myself I find insufficiency and no rest, but in Christ there is satisfaction and peace; that in myself I am feeble and unable to do good, but in Christ I have ability to do all things. Though now I have His graces in part, I shall shortly have them perfectly in that state where You will show Yourself fully reconciled, and alone sufficient, efficient, loving me completely, with sin abolished. O Lord, hasten that day.

Gateway Fellowship / Cornerstone Fellowship - One Family

Gateway Fellowship, the church that I have been serving as the Lead Pastor for over 7 years, began to pray just a few short months ago that The Lord would do something special in us. You see, as a church plant, we have met in many different buildings but never really had one to call our own. We have met in store fronts, and day care centers, and have prayed specifically that one day God would give us a permanent home to meet in. Often times, we haven't been able to do some of the things that we felt The Lord leading us to simply because we didn't have the resources for it. We were in need of a great children's program, a place for youth, and some more people who had a deep passion for the Gospel. Little did we know, He already had a plan in mind.

Cornerstone Fellowship, a church in Caddo Mills, had begun praying almost the same prayer for their church about 4 months ago. They too were praying God would do something special in them. They were looking and praying for some new faces to help serve in ministry alongside them.

Cornerstone has a building and property and an established presence in Caddo Mills, which is exactly half the distance between Royse City and Greenville, where the majority of our church family resides.

The Lord put together a chance meeting between two pastors of two different churches, who in reality where praying basically the same prayer. Over the past month we have met and prayed together and talked about the possibility of our two churches coming together and becoming one church. I can't begin to tell you the "strength" I see with the possibility of us joining forces.

There were some things that needed to be discussed and prayed over. After many weeks of prayer and meeting with key leadership from both churches, Cornerstone Fellowship decided that they would vote on a pastoral shift in their church that would put me in the Lead Pastor role and their current pastor would function as the Executive Pastor. 

This morning, Cornerstone Fellowship, by unanimous decision, voted that I would become the Lead Pastor. Gateway Fellowship, will merge with into the fellowship at Cornerstone, and we will begin meeting together as one body of believers next week.

If you don't have a church home, I would like to invite you to worship with us at Cornerstone Fellowship in Caddo Mills. God is up to something and we are very excited about the future of the church. 

Devotion- a Puritan prayer

God of my end,

It is my greatest, noblest pleasure
to be acquainted with thee
and with my rational, immortal soul;

It is sweet and entertaining
to look into my being
when all my powers and passions
are united and engaged in pursuit of thee,
when my soul longs and passionately breathes
after conformity to thee
and the full enjoyment of thee;

No hours pass away with so much pleasure
as those spent in communion with thee
and with my heart.

O how desirable, how profitable to the Christian life
is a spirit of holy watchfulness
and godly jealousy over myself,
when my soul is afraid of nothing
except grieving and offending thee,
the blessed God, my Father and friend,
whom I then love and long to please,
rather than be happy in myself!

Knowing, as I do, that this is the pious temper,
worthy of the highest ambition, and closest
pursuit of intelligent creatures
and holy Christians,
may my joy derive from glorifying and
delighting thee.

I long to fill all my time for thee,
whether at home or in the way;
to place all my concerns in thy hands;
to be entirely at thy disposal,
having no will or interest of my own.

Help me to live to thee for ever,
to make thee my last and only end,
so that I may never more in one instance
love my sinful self.

Amen

Worship without theology

John Stott writes that...

"All true worship is a response to the self-revelation of God in Christ and Scripture, and arises from our reflection on Who He is and what He has done. The worship of God is evoked, informed and inspired by the vision of God. Worship without theology is bound to degenerate into idolatry. Hence the indispensable place of Scripture in both public and private devotion. It is the Word of God which calls forth the worship of God. On the other hand, there should be no theology without doxology. There is something fundamentally flawed about a purely academic interest in God. God is not an appropriate object for cool, critical, detached, scientific observation and evaluation. No, the true knowledge of God will always lead us to worship, as it did Paul. Our place is on our faces before him in adoration....Bishop Handley Moule said at the end of the last [19th] century, we must "beware equally of an undevotional theology and of an untheological devotion."

Dominican Recap

This morning as I sat and read The Word, while sipping on fresh brewed Dominican Coffee, I was thankful again for my most recent trip to the Dominican Republic. This trip was another reminder of the fact that He is in control, and He does what He says He will do. While walking through Santa Alicia, feeding the children in school, and chatting with Pastor Bona, I was once again brought to tears about His handiwork. This trip was not only beautiful, but it served as a confirmation and visual reminder of all the many things we have been praying about for years.

Through @25projectorg's NameChanger program, these children are being educated daily, have been given a school uniform, are being taught the Word of God, and are given breakfast daily, which might be the only meal they eat that day. All of this is possible because of people, like you, who have sacrificed in order to sponsor a child in the Dominican Republic. These children are Haitian immigrants who are living on sugarcane plantations, which are called bateys. We are so thankful for how The Lord has opened doors for us to minister there.

For the last several years, I have spent time in Santa Alicia and El Cea praying about all the things that He might have us do there. I am so thankful for @25projectorg and how The Lord has put together and orchestrated all of these things. Once again, an amazing confirmation of all that He is.

If you would like to get involved with the work that @25projectorg is doing in the Dominican Republic, I would love to talk about it with you. Would you consider coming alongside 25projectorg in order to help change the lives of children living in these bateys.

Not only is there an ongoing sponsorship program, called NameChangers, in Santa Alicia but we are also starting a breakfast program and sponsorship in El Cea. Why don't you pray about becoming a NameChanger and help us make an impact on the lives of these children. Pray with us for the people in Santa Alicia and El Cea, for Pastor Bona and Pastor Chile', and for our ministry partners there.

This is Mariyerlin, she is the little girl that my family sponsors. We pray for her daily and my children are so excited about the opportunity we have to invest in her life.

El Cea- Dominican Republic

Today was another amazing day of dreaming and praying about what all HE has in store for @25projectorg here in the Dominican Republic.

We went to El Cea today, which is another batey that Haitian immigrants live in. You have to get an understanding of the history between the Haitians and the Dominican to get a proper perspective on the culture here in the DR.

All I that to say, God has birthed and orchestrated some very beautiful ministry opportunities we have here in the DR through @25projectorg.

25projectorg will begin a sponsorship program and breakfast program very soon in El Cea. For me, this is yet another answer to prayers that I've been praying for years. So thankful for His plan, His timing, and the fact that HE is in control.

It was good to see the El Cea community again today, as well as Pastor Chile'. Would you join me in praying for Pastor Chile' and the ministry partners and their work here in El Cea.

If you want to know how you can get involved with the work here in theDominican Republic through @25projectorg , contact me. I would love to share the vision with you and how you can get involved. 

-Here are a few pics from today:

One of my buddies, Carlos

- my favorite picture of the day