Living Hope Church

High Octane Ministry

Hello Everyone.

This is my first time on a “blog.”  I’ve instant messaged with family and have posted messages on a car club site but have never “blogged,” so this is kinda big for meJ!!   I think I will use this as a kind of introduction blog.

I am Dave Webb and I have the privilege of ministering to families as Principal and a teacher at New Generation Christian School.  It is a complete blast for me to be involved in the lives of kids this way; to see them growing in so many ways from their faith to relationship skills to progress in academics and the ability to think and question critically. 

I also get to work with the most dedicated and hardworking staff.  The teachers I work with make so many sacrifices to teach at this Christian school and mentor kids in a Christ-centered setting.  They could be working in the public world with bigger budgets for just about everything and making 2-3 times more money doing it. 

Along with the teaching staff, I am so blessed to be a part of the Living Hope management team.  What a rush it is to keep up with the pace in what John calls a “High Octane Ministry.”  I love the way Living Hope is passionate about being a Matthew 25 church and doing so many purposeful things to reach beyond the four walls and property boundaries of our campus.  It is so invigorating to see this part of the body of Christ doing the things He instructed us to do and keeping the main things the main things!!

I have been attending Living Hope for 2 years and attended Prairie Community Church

for 20 years before Living Hope.  My amazing wife Sandy and I have four children:  Amanda (18), Heidi (16), Benjamin (15) and Tyler (12).  We are all involved in various Living Hope ministries, we love nearly every minute of it and sometimes can’t believe that God wants to use us.  But, He does, He loves us and we feel we can do no less for the God who gives everything for us.

Talk at you later.  Sorry this is so long. I'll do better later.  Then again, maybe not.

Dave

Jared's Tuesday

Today is Tuesday and I am so excited for what God is doing from LSM, to Living Hope, and my heart. I am reading this book right now "Shame Off You" by Alan D. Wright. Through this book God has been showing me so many things in my heart that He wants. It is very difficult for me to grasp, fully, the topic of God's grace. I feel a lot of guilt from day to day. From my past, from whatever... and what God is showing me over and over again is that I don't have to try to "DO" more for Him to try to earn more of His love. He loves me for just me. Nothing more, Nothing less. I found this verse... its Genesis 1:28 " God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it...." Sounds like just  a simple verse.. but look at the sequence. God blessed them and THEN told them to be fruitful... (this is something that I learned out of the book that I am currently reading) See we don't have to try to be fruitful so that we can be blessed!! We are blessed SO THAT we can be fruitful! That concept has helped me so much to see things a little bit more from God's perspective than my own.

Please keep me and the rest of the staff in your prayers. Change is so exciting, but it can be a little bit scary sometimes.

Jared Crouch

Cup of Coffee anyone??

Hey, Teri Owens here.  I am the Women’s Pastor @ Living Hope and I thought you may be interested in knowing a bit about me.  Usually when I meet women for the first time they always say, “I didn’t know we even had a women’s pastor”. Well, we do and here I am. Like some of the other pastors here at Living Hope I have never written in a blog before.  In fact, I never even turned on a computer until in my mid 20”s when I had to for a job I had at an insurance company.  Which is really funny because I married a guy who owns his own computer company and now I wouldn’t know how to live without e-mail.  Communication would completely shut down for me without my computer and cell phone, sad.  Now I am blogging and have instant messaging to look forward to.  WOW!  Ok, you who are in your 20”s don’t you be laughing at me.  Let’s see, I have four teenagers who are all adopted and I’m married to Jim Owens for 24 years, who is the most wonderful man in the world. I have been in Women’s Ministry for over 20 years and am passionate about encouraging women to serve out of how God has gifted them and His purpose in their lives.  Women are amazing and I love to hear their stories.  Everyone Has a Story you know.  I’m not big on standing up in front of large crowds but I would love to sit and have coffee or tea with you and hear you share about what God is doing in your life.  I just discovered something this past week as I was taking a few moments to listen to God.  If you want to enjoy your life you have to enjoy the moments that make up your life.  Think about that for a moment.  Right now the moment you are in are you enjoying it?  If we don’t think about all the stuff that is maybe even days away, cause we may not have those moments to enjoy,  but enjoyed each moment by itself we could really find peace.  Just tell yourself, I am going to enjoy this moment.  Settle in and have fun with it.  For me that’s revolutionary.  Have a great week and give me a call, we can go have coffee J

Random thoughts on Soccer and Inversion Beds

My name is Missy and it sounds cliche' to say I feel blessed, but I really do.  I have an amazing husband and three great kids, an 11 year old daughter, a seven year old son (who is ALL boy), and a five year old little girl full of personality.  More people know my five year old than know me!  Currently I am looking for an inspiring book on parenting, so if there are any recommendations out there, I'll take them! 

The most asked question is what is it like to work at Living Hope?  Awesome!  I enjoy projects and research and there's never a monotonous day working with John:)  I'm extremely excited about satelliting. My most favorite thing is attending service and being able to see all the amazing people that call Living Hope their home.

As an intro to myself, I really enjoy relaxing and spending time with my family.  I spend most Saturdays hopping between three soccer games and catching up on laundry. Hobbies?  None (seriously).  I love those moms who can craft but I'm allergic to glue guns and ribbon. That keeps me happily married, he's not a big foo-foo kind of guy.  If I could, I would spend most days travelling with my husband and teaching my children something new every day. 

Have any of you tried those inversion beds?  I've had a herniated disk in my back for months now and some days are worse than others.  My husband (ok..who's wiser than I am) tried to talk me into one of these months ago, but the prospect of hanging upside down and the vision of my husband/kids laughing at the thought of leaving me upside down wasn't helping, added to the fact that I'm really cheap and hate to buy anything for myself.  I finally gave in on Saturday and it's really beginning to help.  I guess I should've listened to him sooner.  A public apology to my husband :)

Enough of me!  Please email privately if you have questions you'd like answered and we'll work on getting those answered on the blog over the next few months.  We'll also be introducing different staff members during the week and let you get the chance to hear their passions in life.