Special Speaker at our Sunday Morning Gathering
Mina Raulston
Home Should Be Safe:
Hope and Help for Domestic Violence Victims
Posted in Just Life | Tagged domestic, hope, Mina Raulston, victim, violence | Leave a Comment »
OK, please give me some grace here and hopefully this will make sense rather or not you agree with it….
I get a lot of status updates and tweets from church leaders all over the nation. Great people, great ministries, and doing great work. Sometimes I get a note that I really partner with where God has done something really great or the Spirit moved in a fresh way and that church was rocked by a moment. It is so exciting to hear of how God is moving and it naturally beings a humbleness and passion with it.
However, I have noticed another trend as well. There are those who put out this level of communication out almost every day with big claims inviting others to their church that week. The following are made up but in the spirit of what I get…
Posted in Just Life, Uncategorized | Tagged church | 1 Comment »
I woke up this morning to this head line “Interracial Couple Denied Marriage License in La.“
Well, that grabbed my attention! How in the world could this happen in the U.S.? And I’m not alone…. It doesn’t take much to find many buzzing their disgust on this racist act and the oppression of the couple desiring to start their life together as husband and wife.
As I read the article, while the disgust was still there at the ignorant views of this gentleman, it did seem to me that the headline was doctored to get our emotional response more than to reflect the truth. It appears (and I could be wrong) that they were not denied a marriage license in the way that they could not get married in that county…the justice of the peace said he would not do the officiating himself due to his belief but any other pastor or justice could.
Now, I know that doesn’t make any of us less outraged by racism but I do think the point needs to be part of the discussion (if my understanding is correct)….
Posted in Just Life | Tagged discrimination, interracial, keith bardwell, marriage | 3 Comments »
While at Catalyst, Dave Ramsey shared a thought that I wanted to pass on (no pun intended) ….
A clip was shown of a NFL football player going up for an important and what appeared to be an easy catch. At the last minute, he turned his head to look at the approaching defensive player, dropped the ball, and then took a bone crunching hit. When he was asked later why he dropped the ball, he said he was thrown when he heard the footsteps of his opponent.
Posted in Messages and Thoughts | Tagged dave ramsey, faith, faith step, football, spiritual warfare | Leave a Comment »
A couple more stories from the day at Catalyst….
First, we got in town and settled into the hotel (which we all agree is awesome especially for the price). We decided to utilize our time by stopping by the conference center to see if we could register early to beat the lines tommorow as 12.000 people head in for Catalyst. Thankfully, they said yes and we are good to go!
Well, during our visit, we had our first “brush with greatness” when we bumped into Worship Leader Aaron Key. Josh and I first experienced his gift in the area of music last year and have been listening to his CDs all year. As we approached Mr. Key, we quickly got Steve up to speed so we were all on level ground in case we talked to him. As we came into a 6 foot radius of him and the young, attractive woman he was speaking with… their conversation ended and Mr. Key turned to head the other way. Actually, not just head out but to do so in a very hurried way. There was extra speed in his step as we bounced down the escalator before us.
Posted in Just Life, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
We just left Cleveland, TN on a pit stop for lunch. This was the scene of my dumb move of the day…
Once in the resturant, I realized that it was quite chili sitting under the AC vent at Chili’s (ironic) so I borrowed Josh’s keys to go out to the car to get my fleece.
At the car, I realized I was not so skilled at his car clicker as I thought since it was not unlocking the back door. However, when I tried the driver’s door, it opened so I just leaned in and unlocked the doors manualy. Success, the back door finaly submitted and opened up.
As I leaned in to grab my fleece, a sight surprised me… What is Josh doing with all this police riot gear in his back seat?
Yep, I broke into the wrong car! A unmarked police car!
I quickly shut the door and walked briskly to the correct vehicle. I grabbed the fleece and headed back in to see if any of my coherts saw my mistake. As I moved along, I passed two larger built men with police badges on lanyards on thier way out to their car.
If I was just a minute behind, they would have come out while I was leaning in their car. Yikes!
I told the guys, it could have been worse. It could have been a k9 unit vehicle. Open door…growling dog….. Scared Tom
Posted in Just Life | Tagged Catalyst | 1 Comment »
Hi all! Steve, Josh and I are on the road! We’re heading to Catalyst in Atlanta, GA but we haven’t gotten too far yet. We are about 3 1/2 hours into our trip with about another 7 hours of drive time to go. We have gotten just far enough to start making lists of all the things we forgot to pack.
However, that doesn’t mean we don’t have some highlights yet….
- Steve got his first visit ever to Capotle. He was please and we were all stuffed!
- I found that I can’t pass Jeffersonville Outlet Stores without stopping in the Nautica store. Don’t worry honey, I didn’t buy ….. much!
- We found it funny that our hotel (see pic above) felt the need to advertise that you get free local calls AFTER they advertised that all long distance calls were free. OK, maybe you had to be there.
Anyways, we have started out and got more miles to attack today. Update at the destination……
Blessings!
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Our eldership team is heading to Atlanta on Tuesday to attend the Catalyst convention. This is my second year heading down to this 2 day gathering of over 11,000 church leaders and I am getting more and more pumped.
Most blogs will tell you about the great speakers, worship, and fun that is available there and they are right. The line up of speakers is (again) impressive: Andy Stanley, Chuck Swindoll, Louie Guglio, Tony Dungy, Matt Chandler, Dave Ramsey, Francis Chan, Josh Hamilton, and many others. There are so many great ideas, instruction, and encouragement and I continue to be challenged while watching the teachings on DVD from last year and even the year before. The worship is incredible as well! The Worship leading of Aaron Keyes and Fee were instant classics for Josh and I last year. Not to mention the intensity of worshiping the living God of all creation with so many church leaders from around the country! As for the fun, there’s plenty to be had through the creativity and hospitality of our hosts.
I have decided to blog my way through Catalyst this year with what little internet time I will get. One added feature for this event will include video blogging as well as text. This is thanks to flip video camera that I won from Catalyst this year. Thanks guys! (Also, you can get more info by following me on Twitter at @tsfGodguy)
However, this blog will be a tad different from many of the other blogs. While I will surely cover some of these same details as the experience rolls on, there is something even more exciting to me that I want to document and share.
Posted in Messages and Thoughts | Tagged andy stanley, Catalyst, Holy Spirit, the shepherd's fellowship, tom hypes | Leave a Comment »
Our church has a 24 hours of prayer and fasting about once or twice a year when we feel we are being called to draw close to God. Sometimes this is due to a challenge we are going though but this most recent time, we were drawing close in a season when we feel God is about to bring a breakthrough! Not only in the life of the church but in the lives of those within the community as well. This 24 hour period of time has just come to a completion.
I want to thank everyone who came on board and fasted and prayed over our church! I am very much looking forward to any personal testimonies, thoughts and impressions as the Holy Spirit moved. I have had several comments though Facebook about the event and others joining in. I believe more than anything else, God was having us toiling the field for what is soon to come but I am aware that He has other things to reveal about Himself along the way.
Posted in Just Life, Uncategorized | Tagged 24 hour, fasting, prayer, the shepherd's fellowship | Leave a Comment »
Hi guys, I wanted to send up an update on the upcoming 24 hours of prayer and fasting over Ths Shepherd’s Fellowship (this weekend)! A huge thank you to all who have signed up to help us so far as I think this is going to be a great event! For the updated schedule, just go to www.theshepherdsfellowship.org and click of the Prayer Day Info link!
If you would like to be a part of this event, please just email me or leave it in the commenst below and tell us what 15 minutes block or blocks you are willing to pray for our church and the participants of the church. Even if you do not attend our church but are interested in being an intercessor for us, we appreciate all of our brothers and sisters in Christ jumping in.
You do not have to pray at the church….you can pray from wherever you are!
Thank you for standing with us! Again, any blocks of time not signed up for, Pastor Tom will cover in prayer but it is our hope to have as many in prayer and fasting over our church!
Blessings and Thanks!
Thomas
Posted in Just Life | Tagged prayer | Leave a Comment »
Welcome
Archives
The Shepherd's Fellowship Podcast- Elijah November 1, 2009
- Barnabas October 25, 2009
- True Judgment October 18, 2009
- A Halftime Speech October 11, 2009
- Worship: Through Resources October 4, 2009
- Bible Gateway's Verse of the Day
- Joshua 24:15Verse of the day
- Joshua 24:15
My Twitter Updates
- Lunch + old friend + Spirit = renewed spirit of vision. Thanks for your time Jerry.... 3 days ago
- @tjhypes I never like bill Cosby :) 3 days ago
- Dinner with my brother tonight. Can't wait? 4 days ago
- Had a great time with matt, Mindy, and megan tonight. Nothing like an evening with old friends. 6 days ago
- What do you have to give up to be an encouraged? 1 week ago
Catalyst
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