I had a vacation in North Carolina the week before last. It consisted of laying on the beach, reading, swimming, getting sunburned, shaving my head again, reading, going out to eat, getting more sunburned, running, biking, driving and reading. Best of all, I had some of the most intense times of prayer I have ever experienced. It was some much needed time of refreshing. God is good. Amen.

My very good friends Tom & Dave just returned from Brazil, where they’ve been working with the mission group PAZ for the summer. The stories they have been telling me are just unbelievable! People being healed. Demons being cast out. Lives being forever changed. Gang leaders coming to Christ.

PAZ is a mission started by an American family in the early ’70’s. They began planting churches in the Amazon Basin among river villages and the local people. To date, they have planted over 450 churches! The main church in Santarem has weekly attendance at over 9,000! And they have over 12,000 people in cell groups! They are the only church I have ever heard of with 130% of their attendees actively involved in cell groups. To top it off, we have the honor of hosting the founders of PAZ at our church while they are home for some medical procedures during the next month or so. I can honestly say without any hesitation that God is getting ready to move within Twelve Oaks. It’s like the stars are aligning… Melvin, Tim & Angela Huber are in town and are teaching us and our leadership team their model of cell groups and discipleship, Tom & Dave just got back and are contagiously excited about setting a vision for reaching our city, everyone is ready to explode… I am practically bursting to see what happens in the upcoming weeks. This church ain’t gonna be the same.

On top of wanting to dedicate all of my time and energy to leading worship, evangelism and the church…I still have the nine-to-five day-job. [insert life-sucking sound here]

But instead of getting frustrated and bitter like I’ve done in the past, I have given over my position at my job to God. I just said, “God, I can’t handle having a mind for serving You, and a mind for work. I am doing everything as an act of worship.” Now, when I organize my day, I am praising God in a tangible way for giving me time on this earth and for opening my eyes to spend it wisely. When I call customers for a sale, I don’t have to worry about whether or not I should tell them every bit of negative info to make the sale–I can be completely honest without reservation. This week ended up being one of the best I have had! I didn’t break any sales records… but I was focused. And I realized that I had regained something I thought I had lost …JOY.