Harvest Christian Fellowship

We just recently went to Bulgaria for a National Men's Conference and it was incredible.  There were 60 men (pastors & leaders) representing over 30 churches from the nation of Bulgaria.  To put that in perspective, Sofia, which is the capitol of Bulgaria, has 1.5 million people and only 20 churches!

The first day we were there I met the man in the picture and because we didn't speak the same language we were unable to communicate.  Long story short...I felt the Lord telling me to go pray for him during ministry time at one of the main sessions and I didn't want to because of the language barrier.  Needless to say, I placed my hand on his back and began praying for him in my prayer language and when he turned around and saw it was me he began weeping uncontrollably and we just stood there and hugged.  Amazing how the Holy Spirit breaks ALL the communication barriers we have.

This truly was the highlight of my trip.

- Justen  

The LOVE of God is the most foundational component of basic Christianity, but probably the most misunderstood.  God couldn't love you anymore or any less no matter what you've done...good or bad.  In fact, God wants a relationship with you so much that He's done everything possible to make it happen.  If God is love and loves us so much, what keeps most people from experiencing Him?

The truth is most people have an incorrect view of God's LOVE because many churches (sadly) have preached a works righteousness gospel as opposed to faith righteousness. 

There are two approaches to righteousness:
1) Earn it (works - only Jesus did that) 
2) Receive it (faith - it's a gift of love)

Be perfect or recieve a gift.  We are righteous by simply
believing in what Jesus accomplished at the cross.  That's it.

Sadly, most Christians fear God (not the awe kind of fear) and
are not fully convinced that He loves them.  See 1 John 4:18.
God loves you no matter what you've done.  That will never change. 

Listen to the message LOVE.

- Justen  

Three weeks ago we started a new series entitled 'Destinations' and launched a new 5:00pm Saturday evening service.  Both have been successful and we've seen 10 people over the last 3 weeks commit their lives to Christ! 

During this series we also had our highest attended weekend with 393 people walking through our doors.  Some may ask, "Why do you make a big deal out of numbers?"  The simple answer is because every number represents a person and at the end of the day it's about winning people to Jesus.  It's about intentionally pointing people to Jesus and helping them get on a path they can travel the rest of their lives. The Bible says Jesus saw the multitude and had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd (Mark 6:34).  It also says that He did something about it...He began to teach them many things.

There are over 450 churches in Lubbock, TX and over 150,000 people who don't go to church.  In a city with a population
of 220,000, the church to attendance ratio is considerably out
of whack.  My heart and I hope your heart as a follower of Christ is
to win as many as possible and point them to the Chief Shepherd...
JESUS.

- Justen

Here's the short version: I contacted our congressman Randy Neugebauer Friday morning with an email stating our problem and within twenty mintues a lady named Mary called me from his office.  She wasted no time, got the information she needed and contacted the Passport Agency in Houston regarding our problem.  After talking to Mary I had a glimmer of hope, but still didn't know how this was all going to play out.  Later that afternoon I received another phone call from Mary saying that she hadn't heard anything back from the Passport Agency and that we would need a miracle for something to happen because the offices wouldn't open again until Monday morning.  That night we told Erica that we weren't going to Cancun with the rest of Crystal's family, but that we would go somewhere.  She was disappointed, but probably not near as much as we were.  Fast forward Saturday morning 10:30am.  I'm on the internet about to purchase some tickets to Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels when Crystal's phone rings with a man from the Passport Agency in Houston on the other line.  He said, "I'm terribly sorry about this situation, but I'll be finished with Erica's passport in 40 minutes...how can I get it to you?"  WOW!  Conveniently we were flying through Houston and he arranged to meet us at the Houston airport Sunday morning with Erica's passport.  In a moment all of our plans had changed!  It was a very small thing in comparison to all of the wonderful things our God does, but I stood in complete awe of how God worked in this situation.  Here's what impacted me the most throughout this process: Never forget the 'BUT' God moments.  With God all things are possible...even family vacations.

-Justen

With temperatures ranging in the 100's this summer, we found a way to beat the heat and party with Jesus all at the same time.  Over 150 were in attendance to watch 14 people make a public profession of faith and follow Jesus in water baptism.  Even though our new facility has a baptismal it's more fun to throw a party, so everyone can get wet.

This year has been outstanding as we've seen over 30 people give their lives to Christ!  For me personally, stories of life change make everything worth while.  I love the 'Life' t-shirts that everyone was wearing at the baptism party.  The first thing every person saw as they came up out of the water was the word 'Life' in a bright arrangement of colors.  Here's to keeping church fun and Jesus real!

Click Here to Watch the Baptism Video!

- Justen