the matts…

I know that there are millions of prayer needs out there right now, but I have a few I would love for you to join in with me for:

1. Bob Engram: God pulled him through his 12 hour surgery yesterday and He gets all the glory. Mr. Engram had a huge tumor in his throat and during surgery they had to remove some vital things, leaving him to speak with a voice box the rest of his life. His family is at his bedside and fighting over who gets to spend the most time with him. He is surrounded by love and knows that God is with him, but let’s pray that the Lord’s peace would just penetrate his hospital room and the hearts of those who love him!

2. The family of Melanie Moore: She passed away over the weekend from a brain aneurism. She was only in her 40s! She had been married and divorced twice when her daughter was killed in an awful car accident last year. She and her first husband (the child’s father) reunited after her death and were remarried in August of last year. She was a teacher who impacted the lives of over 500 students. She was also our neighbor at my mom’s home before she got married, and she blessed my mom’s life tremendously. Her children and husband are devastated, so I pray that God’s supernatural peace and comfort surround them. They have now lost two family members in just one year!

3. DeeDee Wilbert: Her only son, Drew, passed away this weekend at the age of 21. Mrs. Wilbert taught special-ed for many years, and she and my mom have been friends for ages. I had the privilege to teach with her at Broadmoor, and I know Drew had her heart. Please just join with me for her to have embrace the grace given to her by God so she can get through this terrible ordeal.

4. Tom Bell: He is a co-worker of my dad’s and he fell down some stairs a couple hours ago and has slipped into a coma. Please pray for healing and restoration of his body and for his family to embrace God during this traumatic time.

Interesting how all of these prayer requests are for God’s peace, comfort and grace. Isn’t it good to know that He always offers them to us, but it’s up to us to reach up and take hold of His promises for our lives?

Just wanted to give a shout-out to my friend Lauren Best, AKA “LB”. She has a great blog that you should totally check out here. She’s one of those really amazing Christians that just make you wanna be better, and I love her for that!!! I think she’s really one of the greatest people I have ever known, and she’s definitely one of my very bestest friends. She doesn’t judge me in my most obvious times of imperfection, she’d drop what she’s doing if I needed her, and she’s 100% completely committed to making Jesus famous worldwide. I love her!!!!!!!!!!!!

Check out her man’s blog here. He’s pretty great, too.

Please join me in congratulating Ms. Katie Fontenot for achieving the extraordinary award of becoming Elevate of the Month.
Katie is a true example of “the goal is more important than the role.” She has a heart for outreach and a gift of making people feel included, valuable, and encouraged. You can always count on her to be happy and positive about any decision made. Katie serves with Michelle and Tiffany helping make Elevate possible and she works so hard at all that she does. Katie has a contagious heart for the Lord and passion for his people to find what she has- and she will do whatever it takes to make His name famous. If you see or talk with Katie make sure you congratulate her on this awesome achievement. Congratulations, Katie! We love you!

Got a few words about a few things….

Weekend was awesome. I can’t believe I get paid to do what I LOVE!!!

Check out JP’s new blog. It’s pretty cool, and he’s a great friend, so check it out here.

Don’t forget to watch American Idol tonight at 7 on Fox. Sanjaya will stink it up as always and make the whole competition look stupid, but hopefully he will be gone soon.

Chris and I are beginning to fundraise for our mission trip to Italy. Please pray for favor and finances!! (and contact me if you feel the need to give!

First of all, if you’re a dude, you need to be at HPC tomorrow at 8am. I know it’s early, but we are having an awesome Men’s Gathering with two great speakers… Plus you get two free meals. You’ll be done by 12, but your world will probably never be the same. I mean, seems like a no-brainer to me.

Also, Zhenya Kasevich will be speaking at all the services this weekend. He is the pastor at Hillsong in Kiev, Ukraine and he is great! You may remember his message from the last time he was here:”Oh my gosh!” attitude (pronounced ah-tee-tood). His wife, Vera, is also a dynamic speaker, and their son, Roma, is the youth worship leader at their church (think Ukranian Joel Houston). They are such an incredible family and we are so excited to have them with us.

Also, Sunday morning we will have Reuben Morgan leading worship at all three services. That is definitely something you do NOT want to miss. He is absolutely amazing! His music has had a huge impact on my life and the lives of so many of my loved ones. Some of the songs we sing most here at HPC were written and/or recorded by him originally (like “Mighty to Save”).

Sunday night I get to be a part of a women’s leadership roundtable. I will get to hear from Vera Kasevich and Delynn, plus get to hang out with girls who love ministry as much as me. This is going to be such a cool weekend and I am pumped!!!

It’s really hard to pick a favorite blog in the huge blogisphere we live in… but I have to highlight one of my favorites. Dan Ohlerking has an amazing blog full of great info. Dan also helps about 150 other people with their blogs, and is a big part of our blog’s meek success. Besides being a computer genius, he is also an all around great guy and wonderful dad to all 587 of his children (just kidding- he has 5)! He has some great content as well as links to other great bloggers. It’s definitely worth checking out.

Of course, I always recommend reading the websites of Mike Haman, Pastor Dino, and Late Nite. I am honored to get to be a part of so many great things happening around here!

If you watch American Idol, know anyone who watches American Idol, or live on planet Earth, you have probably heard about the worst singer/performer to grace the stage since William Hung… his name is Sanjaya Malakar.

Yes, he seemed halfway decent at auditions, and it was sweet that he cried more than his sister when she got cut and he made it, but he has been terrible ever since. Week after week, his performances literally make me cringe. I usually have to change the channel after mere seconds because I cannot stand to watch or listen anymore. What makes me sick is that so many great people have been sent home, and this Michael Jackson wannabe stays week after week. Last week he honestly looked like a little girl- curly hair, two earrings, tight clothes… if he could sing or perform like Mr. Jackson I could forgive him, but he’s worse than the most horrendous karaoke.

What’s worse is that there are websites out there promoting him so that he will win and American Idol producers will look like idiots. The voters are the ones who will look like idiots- we are the ones who got rid of Jennifer Hudson and Chris Daughtry so soon. Moral of the story: tune in tonight to see who goes home (because it won’t be him, even though he is far worst). Watch next Tuesday so you can see my point. Feel free to disagree, but I will always have my humble, yet correct opinion!

Now everyone say, “God bless, Sanjaya.” Jesus does love him and did die for him, but the top ten of American Idol is not his home!

Chris and I had an awesome weekend! We got to hang out with his family in from out of town, got in a Holy Ghost throw-down for a few hours at Late Nite Saturday night, had the opportunity to eat dinner with an awesome couple, Gered and Brandi Lambert, and celebrated my best friend’s birthday. Plus last night I got to stage direct at HP Women and got a great Word from Pastor Mike Haman (yes, he did preach at HP Women and it was incredible!)

For the past month or so, Chris and I have really been blissfully happy without a care in the world, and I knew that would make the devil mad. Boy, was I right! Within the past 24 hours I have dealt with three separate attacks. Poor ole’ Satan… he tries so hard. Too bad for him that we are victorious in Christ and no weapon formed against us shall prosper. Even his best effort is useless against us when we have Jesus by our side. I know saying this will make him even more mad and he will just keep attacking- which isn’t really so much fun- but I count it an honor to be persecuted because of Christ.

P.S. Gotta give a shout-out to my TERRIFIC friend, Stacey. She reads my blog and is just an amazing person in general.

We are SO excited that Chris’ family is in town!!! We get to go hang out with them tonight in Slaughter, LA and then Lauren and Chase are coming over to spend the night with us! Tomorrow the parentals are coming to meet us and we are going shooting and hanging out most of the day. The trip will be MUCH too short, but I miss them A LOT and can’t wait to spend as much time together as possible in the next 24 hours.


I had the opportunity yesterday afternoon to be part of the after-school program at the BR Dream Center and it was awesome. I had the pleasure of hanging out with an amazing 8 (going on 30) year old girl. She was sweet, well spoken, articulate, and has seen way too much violence at a young age. Her dad is in jail for killing two people, her brother is dead- victim of a shooting in the back as he tried to help a friend. Despite all this, she has big dreams for her life. I pray that God blesses me with the opportunity to positively affect her life and the lives of many other girls whose futures hang in the balance. Keep the BRDC in your prayers- God is doing huge things there and I am so honored to play even a tiny role.

Yesterday Apryl Brignac challenged me with an awesome Word. We were discussing my improvement in the area of friendliness and overall good attitude, and she reminded me of a great scripture in Proverbs. The Bible says in Proverbs 11:25b (NIV) “…he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.” This really encouraged me. It’s not that we should be nice to people just so that others will be nice to us- that’s not our motivation. It is just great that God rewards us with kind words when we freely give them to others. Want to be refreshed? Encourage other people… if His Word is true- which it MOST DEFINITELY IS!- then He will bring people to you to lift you up as well!

Speaking of encouragement, please keep my dad in your prayers. He began a new job last week and the devil has been discouraging him. I am believing that this is a total God thing and that when my daddy displays patience and trust in the Lord, He will flood him with the blessings he has deserved for a long time.

Have an awesome day! I get to go hang out at the BR Dreamcenter later and I am PUMPED!