Another Great Night...

WOW! God is just really blessing my socks off with how He is blessing our Student Ministries at Christ Church of Orlando. The Identity Students have really been grabbing hold of the evangelism concept we preach so much at Identity Youth. Our students are becoming some of the BIGGEST witnesses at our church. For example, just last weekend one of my youth, Morgan, was at the mall and she saw these girls walking down the sidewalk. She just went up to them to start a conversation and found out that they were waiting on the bus to get a ride home and she offered to take them home. While riding home she got to talk with them about God and church and one thing led to another...Well, all 4 of them came to Wednesday night's Identity Youth service and they loved it. They all said they plan on coming back next week. We have had such an influx of newcomers and they aren't just visiting. They are all coming back the following weeks. Last night we had 67 in the service and for a church of around 450 people....I think that is outstanding.

This weeks service was not only jammed packed with students, causing us to add more and more seats, but it was jammed packed with great stuff. We started off the night with a Crowd Control Game called "Road Race" and the kids loved it. It's a voice activated game that is controlled by the loudness of the crowd. It had me on the floor rolling and laughing. Then we moved into a time of worship. Our piano player wasn't there this week and so I was stuck playing keys during half the set but there just seemed to be such an atmosphere of praise to our God during our worship. We started off with "Break Free" (United) and then moved into "I Am Free" (Desperation Band). Then one of our students came to the stage and encouraged our youth to really press into God's presence and man, did they ever. We finished the PW set off with "Oh How He Loves Us" (John Mark McMillan) and "Saviour King" (United). God's presence was so evident. After worship our drama team performed "The Ledge Skit." It's a spoken skit on temptation and peer pressure. Then we continued the 2nd part of our new series on temptation called "Hooks" and used "The Select Fit" video clip from Mosaic Films. I used it to illustrate the dangers of taking scripture out of context to validate our sin.

Our church and youth has really been going through a change of seasons. A few months ago we had a lot of changes take place in our attendance and as a staff and church we all began to fast and pray during the Advent and Christmas Holidays. During that time our senior adults pastor gave a word of knowledge to our pastor. She said, "Pastor, I feel that God is taking us through a pruning process and when He is done pruning it will make way for great growth. It will be a [Healthier] growth that will produce an abundant harvest." I believe we are seeing the fruits of that today. I am so amazed with God. Aren't you?

2 weeks....Come and Gone!

Well, it's been two weeks since Judah has been born and we are still alive. Today was the first Julie and Judah's first day to the church. Everyone couldn't wait to see him and we felt so loved. Our church has been great during this whole transition. Ironically, Judah fits right in at church....He seems to just be so chill when he is there. Another funny fact is.....whenever he is in the car and he starts to get really fussy...all we have to do is turn up some David Crowder really loud and it just seems to put him to sleep. That's my boy! He's just like his daddy. You can't go wrong with some good ole' Crowder.

To mark his 2 weeks on this amazing earth we took some photographs of Judah the other for his birth announcements and I thought I would share them with you. So here they are...Tell us what your vote is for his birth announcement photograph. For more of our photos you can click here.

This Wednesday...

I just thought I would just thank God publicly for the amazing youth service we had last night at Identity Student Ministries. God is really doing something amazing in our church and our youth ministry. He's pruning and growing us at the same time. Our people seem to really want to connect with God and they seem to want to know Him in a deeper and more authentic way. Our students and stepping out into leadership roles and leading others in the direction God is calling us as a whole. I can't wait to see what this year holds for us. 2008 was amazing in itself (see video post below) and we as a church and as a youth ministry did some things that we had never done before but I feel and our Pastor has already challenged us to EXTRAORDINARY things this year. I can't wait to see the fruits of 2009.

Settling for Mediocrity

I thought I would share an experience I had over the Christmas Holidays. Every year Jules and I do our annual Christmas Greeting card and at times we have also given our Grandparents updated photos of us to display in there homes. As usual, once we have taken our photos and collected all the images we would like to print we send them via The Internet to Walgreens and we have them printed. Well, this year I sent the photos to the Walgreens in my parents home town so that I could pick them up when we arrived at their house. As I approached the counter of the photo center the clerk withheld my prints and called for the manager. I asked what the problem was and the clerk replied, "Please wait for the manager to talk with you." As the manager approached he proceeded to tell me that he had the photos printed but would not sell me the prints. Infuriated I asked, "WHY?" He continued to tell me that photos were too professional looking. I insisted that these were my personal images and that they were taken with my camera. I also told him that I would show him the camera that I took the images with and I would also show him the SD card that the images were still on. He still proceeded to tell me that he would not sell me the prints. My response to the manager was, "So what are you telling me? I have to shoot crappy photos in order to get my photos printed? Why is it so hard to believe that someone can take professional quality pictures?" He continued to deny me the purchase of my prints.

It aggravates me when people set a standard of mediocrity. I can understand if I brought pictures in that had a photographers logo on the back of the paper but these were images pulled straight from my SD card that came out of my camera. Needless, to say...we will no longer use Walgreens to print our photos. We now use Wal-Mart Photo Center and we have been VERY pleased with the service and the quality.

Who's Got The Looks!

The family is still in debate to as where Judah gets His looks and so I thought I would poll the readers to see what you think. Here are the baby pictures of Judah, Julie and myself. Tell us what you think and maybe the debate of who's got the looks will come to an end.

Indescribable Experience

Well, today was the day and man was it a long and hard day but so worth the process. Today Judah Avery Johnson came into the world at 5:34 pm on Thursday January 8th 2009 weighing 7 lbs 9.5 Oz. and measuring 20 inches in length. He has BIG beautiful blue eyes and the coolest peach-fuzz brown hair. Julie tried her best to push through the entire day and make it through to a NATURAL birth but her body just wasn't responding to the induction and so we went forward with a C-section. It was not our preference but we just wanted to do what was best for Judah. After being wheeled into the operating room and going through with the surgery, Julies epidural slipped out and her medication began to slip towards the end. Needless to say...she is feeling the affects of giving birth and she is in considerable pain. She is doing great but just keep her in your prayers as we continue to help her heal and get better so that she can take care of our new HEALTHY (Praise the Lord) baby boy. I am posting some pics of him because I am already giddy with pride. You can click on any of these photos and they should enlarge but you can also go to my personal MySpace by clicking HERE and it will take you to his LARGER photo gallery. Thank you for all your prayers and amazing encouragement. We appreciate each and everyone of our friends and family. We love you and can't wait to show Judah off!

IT'S B-DAY!

Well, I am just a few hours away from having my life change forever and holding my new baby boy in my arms. That's right Julie and I are both going at 3 o'clock in the morning on Thursday January 8th to be induced. Hopefully by this time tomorrow I will be able to post pictures of little Judah Avery Johnson and glow as I hold one of God's amazing creations in my own two hands. This year could not be starting any better than it is. I just got home from an AMAZING youth service where I got to minister to the teens in our church and the lives that were there were truly changed tonight. Kids filled the altars and I got to witness countless lives be touched by the power of the Holy Spirit. I know that I just posted a 2008 recap video below but I also put one together for our youth ministry to show what great things God did through us in 2008. Here is the video I showed tonight. I can't wait to see what He does through us in 2009. Until my next post....keep us in your prayers as we embark on a life-changing experience.

2008 RECAP!

I've been up late working on a video for this week's Sunday morning services. We are taking a look back at 2008 and seeing all the accomplishments we have made. We at Christ Church call these the "BIG WINS!" Anyways, here is the video I put together to show our church. Tell me what you think.