If you don’t really know why you exist, eventually you’re going to have problems in life. Let me give you a few examples to explain that point. Eastman Kodak, a historic blue-chip American company, recently filed for bankruptcy because it didn’t adapt to the digital age.

I’m writing this blog as I’m returning from an Evangelism Conference in Alexandria (don’t worry, Craig Ratliff, one of our pastors, is doing the driving). The thrust of the Evangelism Conference has been “Revival and Spiritual Awakening – Praying for God to Supernaturally Visit our State and Transform our Culture.” Some of the speakers at this Conference have been men who have witnessed God bringing spiritual revival and awaking to regions or nations in the past. They are: Bill Stafford – who wa...

On this day we want to spend some time individually, or as we gather in groups, thanking God for Martin Luther King, Jr. and his legacy, and praying that his dream of a prejudice-free land and world would come to fruition in our day and time. As a boy I grew up in the midst of a terrible racist environment, and I hated it.

THIS PAST WEEK AND WEEKEND I SPENT SOME TIME WITH SOME INCREDIBLE “DIFFERENCE-MAKERS” – MEN AND WOMEN WHO ARE STRIVING TO MAKE A POSITIVE IMPACT FOR GOOD AND FOR GOD IN TODAY’S WORLD. Last week I was down in the Dominican Republic training pastors and spending time with some of the key spiritual leaders of that nation. The 1500 pastors and spouses I was training are with the Assemblies of God, the largest protestant denomination in the Dominican Republic.

ON THE FRONT PAGE OF THE TIMES PICAYUNE NEWSPAPER ON NEW YEAR’S DAY THERE WAS AN ARTICLE ACKNOWLEDGING THAT ONCE AGAIN NEW ORLEANS IS THE MURDER CAPITAL OF OUR NATION. Although there were a number of larger cities in the U.S. that had more murders than the 199 that occurred in New Orleans in 2011, percentage wise New Orleans is far and away at the top of the list in this very frightening category.

Years ago a young lady was invited to a Christmas service at an evangelical church by her sister. This young lady attended that service with her sister, and was intrigued by the message that was presented. She later returned and began attending that Church.

THIS PAST WEEKEND LARRY STOCKSTILL TOLD OUR METAIRIE CONGREGATION THAT AT LEAST 4.8 BILLION PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD DO NOT HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS, AND BECAUSE OF THAT THEY ARE MISSING OUT ON THE ABUNDANT AND ETERNAL LIFE HE OFFERS. Pastor Stockstill leads THE SURGE PROJECT, a missions initiative focused on planting churches around the world, particularly in unreached and anti-Christian nations of the world. Prior to assuming leadership of THE SURGE PROJECT, Pastor Larry was the Senior Pa...

This past weekend, as we were concluding our RIPPLES sermon series, I told a story about Oseola McCarty, a woman from Hattiesburg, Mississippi who gave a very significant gift to the University of Southern Mississippi. Ms. McCarty spent a lifetime caring for others, washing clothes, and serving as a maid.

Have you ever surprised and shocked people with your words in an attempt to get them to face up to a great concern you had regarding their life? Yesterday I was preaching to a large gathering of pastors, when I addressed the subject that most churches aren’t intentionally reaching out to minister to people of other races, cultures or economic statuses. At that Pastor’s Conference I was preaching from Acts 1:8 where Jesus said to His followers: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes u...

This past weekend the Celebration Congregation concluded our 40 DAYS OF PURPOSE Spiritual Growth emphasis for the second time (back in 2002 we were one of the first 1500 churches in the world to participate in 40 DAYS OF PURPOSE). I’m confident that this has been a wonderful time of growth for those who read daily from The Purpose Driven Life book (written by Rick Warren), participated weekly in a Life Group, and attended all 7 weekend services during the 40 DAYS OF PURPOSE. One of the greatest ...

“Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our maker, for He is our God. .

I’ve really been challenged in the past week in reading through Rick Warren’s classic book, The Purpose Driven Life. Looking back to last Tuesday I’ve learned or been reminded of the truths that: Life is all about love - loving God and loving others (Day 16) We all need a church family if we’re going to experience God’s best in our life (Day 17) Life is meant to be shared with other Christians (Day 18) It takes commitment to develop “community” with other Christians (Day 19) Relationships are al...

I’m enjoying so much re-reading for the 3rd time Rick Warren’s classic book, The Purpose Driven Life. One of the powerful, life-changing statements from the book that I’ve been reflecting on was found in Chapter 7. In that chapter of The Purpose Driven Life, Warren wrote: "Living the rest of your life for the glory of God will require a change in your priorities, your schedule, your relationships, and everything else.

This past Sunday, the New Orleans Saints (football team) had a great “comeback” victory against the Houston Texans. After initially trailing by a score of 10 to 0, the Saints roared back to take the lead at the beginning of the second half. After trading scores back and forth, the Saints found themselves losing by the score of 33 to 32 with just a few minutes left in the game.

Columnist David Brooks reports that during the summer of 2008, Notre Dame sociologist Christian Smith led a research team that conducted in-depth interviews with 230 young adults across America. The interviews were part of a larger study that Smith and others have been conducting on the state of America’s Youth. Smith and his colleagues asked the young adults they survey about their moral lives, and their answers would distress those who have a Christian perspective.

Early yesterday morning, Monday, September 19, one of our Celebration employees, Hank Terry passed from earth into heaven.  Yesterday and again today our Staff gathered to pray for Hank’s family (his wife Eileen and their adult children Staci and Jack), to rejoice in his promotion into heaven and to reminisce about Hank. I remember when Hank first came into the Celebration family.  Right away you could tell that his life had been radically transformed by the Lord.  Later on, Hank ...

You’ve probably never had anyone invite you to go to prison with them. Now, you may have had people ask you to visit them in prison, or write to them in prison, or you may have even been in a prison at some time in life, but very few people have visited prisons to meet and share with people they didn’t know. But that’s what I’m asking you to consider doing with me.

One acknowledged truth in our world is that we are all sinners by nature and by choice. The Bible states that “there is none righteous, no not one” (Romans 3:10) and that “we’ve all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory and purpose for us” (Romans 3:23). But how does sin affect us?

“The rains came down and the floods came up” was a line in a song that I learned in church as a child. This children’s song is based on the Scripture found in Matthew 7:24-27. In that passage of Scripture, Jesus is concluding His “Sermon on the Mount” and He said: "Anyone who listens to my teaching and obeys Me is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock.

In my last three blogs, I have been reflecting on the sixth anniversary of the monster hurricane that hit New Orleans in 2005. So far, I’ve listed nine lessons I learned from Katrina. Those nine lessons were: “Storms” are a part of life God is all-powerful, and He can circumvent the impact of “storms” in our lives The Lord will be with us through the “storms” of life God speaks to us through the “storms” of life The Lord uses the “storms” of life to make us more like Jesus Faith in God is the ke...

In my last two blogs, I’ve been reflecting on the sixth anniversary of the monster hurricane that hit New Orleans in 2005. So far, I’ve listed seven lessons I learned from Katrina. Those seven lessons are: “Storms” are a part of life God is all-powerful, and He can circumvent the impact of “storms” in our lives The Lord will be with us through the “storms” of life God speaks to us through the “storms” of life The Lord uses the “storms” of life to make us more like Jesus Faith in God is the key t...

In yesterday’s blog, reflecting on the sixth anniversary of the monster hurricane that hit New Orleans in 2005, I listed five lessons I learned from Katrina. Those five lessons were: “Storms” are a part of life God is all-powerful, and He can circumvent the impact of “storms” in our lives The Lord will be with us through the “storms” of life God speaks to us through the “storms” of life The Lord uses the “storms” of life to make us more like Jesus There are some other lessons I’ve learned as a r...

When Hurricane Katrina landed in New Orleans six years ago, it changed my life and the lives of many other people. Covering 108,000 square miles, flooding over 275,000 homes and businesses, and taking the lives of over 1500 people, Katrina threatened to destroy a region. But in response to devastation wrought by the giant storm, people from within the Gulf Coast region and throughout the world responded in incredible ways to help our region overcome this great tragedy.

Criticism is something that all of us have to deal with. Even great leaders in the Bible, like Nehemiah, had to deal with criticism constantly. Nehemiah prayed in Nehemiah 4:4, “Hear us, O our God, for we are being mocked.

This past weekend was a GREAT WIN for the Celebration Congregation. To begin with, many of our people did a remarkable job of bringing friends and family members with them. As a result, we had our highest non-Easter attendance ever – 4323 people - in our weekend services.

The first step to hearing from God is setting a time and place to meet with Him on a daily basis. The second step to hearing from God is having a daily plan for Bible reading. The third step to hearing from God is entering into the Lord’s presence through prayer.

The first step to hearing from God is setting a time and place to meet with God on a daily basis. The second step to hear from God is having a daily plan for Bible reading. The third step to hearing from God is entering into the Lord’s presence through prayer.

We all know that our nation is going through another economic crisis. The debt rating agency Standard & Poor’s has downgraded its U.S. long-term debt assessment from AAA to AA+ with a negative outlook, the first time the U.S.

The first step to hearing from God is setting a time and place to meet with God on a daily basis. The second step to hear from God is having a daily plan for Bible reading. We know that the Bible is the inspired Word of God because of the way that it came together (2 Peter 1:20-21), because it has withstood repeated attempts by kings and kingdoms to discredit or destroy it, and because of the way that it transforms the lives of its readers.

I believe the key to strength and success in the Christian life is developing the ability to hear from the Lord, and then having the faith to do what He instructs us to do. And yet, as I mentioned in the previous blog on August 3, many Christians tell me, ‘I’ve never heard from the Lord,” or “I rarely ever hear from the Lord.” Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice . .

I’m always amazed by the number of Christians who tell me that they rarely (or never) hear from the Lord. Much of the Bible is comprised of stories of people who “heard from the Lord,” then decided to follow His directives and directions for their life. Abraham “heard” from the Lord (Genesis 12:1-8).

Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire is a book I read years ago, written by Jim Cymbala, pastor of Brooklyn Tabernacle Church. In the book Pastor Cymbala wrote about how the Lord had led him to build a great church there in New York City, a church constantly growing spiritually and numerically because it is empowered by the “wind” and “fire” of the Holy Spirit. The key to what that church has experienced has been their ability to hear from the Holy Spirit through prayer.

Feet . . .

Do you remember what your life was like before you became a Christian (presuming you are one). You may have been fairly moral or religious, but undoubtedly your life (and my life) was characterized by sinfulness. We were in bondage to sinful appetites, affections and ambitions, and we probably struggled with various types of hurts, habits and hang-ups.

This past weekend at our Celebration Campuses, we had 80 people publicly demonstrate their commitment to being a Christ-follower through baptism by immersion. And it was an incredible sight to see! Some of those individuals have been Christians for months and others years, while others were very new Christians (surrendering their lives to Jesus just minutes before their baptism).

We oftentimes underestimate how much the Lord affirms and rewards our faith and trust in Him. The Bible says in Hebrews 11:6: “It is impossible to please God without faith” and “God . .

Look at what the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 3. “But now, God has shown us a different way of being right in His sight – not obeying the law but by the way promised in the Scriptures long ago. We are made right in God’s sight when we trust in Jesus Christ to take away our sins.

Throughout July at Celebration Church we are learning together the value of OBEDIENCE to the Lord. That’s why we’re emphasizing Baptism, learning and living by God’s Word, “walking” with Jesus, etc. I learned a long time ago that the “best life” and “blessed life” is a life of “obedience.” One of the Scriptures that really challenged me as a young Christian concerning this theme is Colossians 3:17, where Paul writes: “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lor...

Today my son Dennis and I took my grandson Brandon to see the movie Cars 2 before Brandon returned to Florida. The theme of Cars 2 was friendship. One of the phrases in the movie was, “A good friend is a great treasure.” I agree with that statement, and actually believe that we can determine the “wealth” of our lives not by how much money we have, but by how many real quality friends we have.

Earlier this year I sensed the Lord wanting me to spend some of my annual sabbatical time in the Dominican Republic training pastors, teaching in churches, and leading a Missions team. Vicki and I first arrived in the D.R. on Tuesday, June 28, and we’ve been in a glorious “whirlwind” for the past 10 days.

This week our Dominican Republic Missions Team ministered in two orphanages. The children in the boys and girls orphanages had lost their parents due to tragic circumstances. As I observed our Team ministering in the girl’s orphanage, I reflected on how difficult it is to be a child in today’s world even when you have one or both parents to look up to, learn from and receive provision and protection from.

“Intelligent people are always open to new ideas. In fact, they look for them.” (Proverbs 18:15 NLT) Although we may not say this to others, we all want to be considered intelligent. If we think others consider us to be intelligent it helps our self-esteem and it might help us get better jobs.

Yesterday Pastor Manley Miller and I preached in 2 different churches here in Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic. Both churches are growing and impacting their communities, city and nation with the message and ministry of Jesus. The pastors of both churches are up in age (they are in their mid-60’s), but their congregations are comprised of lots of children, teens and young adults, as well as median-aged adults and senior adults.

To most of us, such a declaration would come as a fearful or discouraging shock to us. Very few people would welcome the news that their life would soon be over. Below is a story of how one man responded, and how the Lord responded to his response.

I’m having a great time training pastors and leaders here in the Dominican Republic. Last evening I trained over 500 pastors and leaders in the northern city of Santiago, a city of 1,200,000 people. It was an incredible seminar, and concluded with a powerful time of impartation and ministry.

Last night in Santo Domingo I taught pastors about leadership. The first session addressed “Developing the Leader Within” (John Maxwell). At the end of this first session, I talked about how every day we must appropriate the power of the Holy Spirit if we are to be successful pastors and Christian leaders.

After a night of rest, Vicki and I went to “Walmart” here in Santo Domingo. Our primary purpose was to buy bottled water for the next several days. While waiting in the check-out line, a conversation was begun with the lady in front of us.

From time to time you may hear people say they’ve experienced a “divine appointment.” What they mean is that they’ve met someone in a providential way, and that meeting has resulted in something great happening. Almost all of us have experienced “divine appointments” in our lives. Some people have had chance encounters with others that have resulted in successful business partnerships.

“I will praise You, my God and King, and bless Your name forever and ever. I will bless You every day, and I will praise Your name forever. Great is the Lord!

The Apostle Paul wrote that the church of Jesus Christ is made up of many members whose talents, gifts and contributions are each essential to the strength and success of the local and world-wide “Body of Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:1-27). Christians are not to just be attendees of worship services. Instead, we are to be constantly utilizing our gifts, talents, abilities and resources in a cooperative effort to serve God by serving others.