Southland Blog

When I think of the time I spend serving with a great group of woman and men several times a month, the word that comes to mind is simply LOVE. Everything Jesus does comes from his heart. He died on a cross for YOU and for ME and For EVERYONE who graces this Earth. The unfortunate truth is that some of our brothers and sisters have never heard of Jesus; some have strayed; and some feel they are not worthy of his love or his light.

For me, the realization that there are people who truly feel unworthy and unimportant is what led me to step out of my comfort zone and listen to the voice that kept telling me, “This is what you need to do.” I told myself I couldn’t possibly take on one more commitment. That worked until God simply opened more doors and I realized some of the things filling my time actually didn’t need me as much as I thought. There’s a huge difference in being busy and actually spending time with someone and truly being the only light they see that day.

We are all sinners. We all make mistakes. We all fail. We were all created beautifully for God’s purpose and most importantly we’re all deserving of love and capable of giving love to others. When I think of a woman having little hope, little money, kids to feed, no one looking her in the eye, and no one hugging her without expecting something in return — my heart aches and my eyes are no longer dry.

The only difference between me and those I serve is the fact that I have found Jesus and I know he loves me! God gave to me so I could give to others. I am blessed he gave me the voice, the strength, the heart, and the compassion to go to these women I would probably never cross paths with otherwise — to simply LOVE them.

I began in this ministry believing I would be able to bless and help another mother find her way. Through serving, I have also gained spirit-based friendships, and a true realization that until you meet someone where they are it is impossible and unfair to assume making any choice is simple. I have witnessed the love of Jesus all around me. Serving is not something I do. Serving is giving Jesus praise for all he has given me.

Carolyn, Bruised Reed Team Member

Psalm 96:1-2 says Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth. Sing to the LORD, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day.

Lately, I’ve been trying to understand the concept of a new song. It’s mentioned in Scripture in Psalm 40:2-3 where it says, He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD. In Psalm 149:1 the command reads, Praise the LORD. Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise in the assembly of the saints. And finally, in Revelation 5, we read a description of a scene where a new song is composed by the creatures and elders before the throne of heaven. Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders…He came and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb…And they sang a new song: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation (verses 6-10).

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Amanda Carter
Worship Leader
Harrodsburg Road Campus

“Let me be singing when the evening comes…”

Psalm 113:3 (NIV) says, “From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the LORD is to be praised.” The Message version proclaims, “Hallelujah! You who serve God, praise God! Just to speak his name is praise! Just to remember God is a blessing-now and tomorrow and always. From east to west, from dawn to dusk,keep lifting all your praises to God! The song “10,000 Reasons” puts it this way, “The sun comes up, it’s a new day dawning. It’s time to sing your song again. Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me. Let me be singing when the evening comes.”

Did you catch who’s song we’re singing everyday? God’s song. I feel deeply moved by this song, because something in my own soul deeply agrees with every lyric. The song we sing every day belongs to God. The prayer that regardless of what the day entails, please let me still be singing YOUR song when the day is coming to an end! What a great reminder that God is still God, no matter what happens. And as God, He is always worthy of our attention and affection.

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Amanda Carter
Worship Leader
Harrodsburg Road Campus

Ever been overwhelmed?  I know have!  Whether it's a tough season in life, or merely trying to take a 4 year old and a two year old to the grocery, there are times in life....even daily that make you wonder if you've got enough in the tank to make it through.  Even great seasons and situations can be overwhelming.  Even when you know you are working within His plan for His purposes.  

Derrick Breaux
Creative Director
Harrodsburg Road Campus

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Jonathan McKeown
Harrodsburg Rd. Music
Harrodsburg Road Campus

Things are continually changing with the tornado relief efforts and there are ways you can help right now:

UPDATED 7, MAY A committee is now in place in Menifee County to evaluate long-term recovery efforts. Two new homes have been constructed, and several other projects are now complete including decking, porches and foundations to shore up several mobile homes. The next phase will include construction of several Habitat homes. If you are interested in working on those homes, please contact the dispatch center at 606-768-6452 - 6757 for more information.

UPDATED 20, APRIL The warehouse in Menifee County is in great need of bedding – single and double mattresses, box springs and frames in good to new condition.

Volunteer
There is still clean up to do so you can help in that way on the weekends, but now they're looking specifically for:

• builders
• plumbers
• electricians
• building supplies
• use of heavy equipment

If you would like to volunteer through the week or on the weekend, please CALL THE DISPATCH CENTER at (606)768-6452.

Donated Items
A warehouse is now available to store donated items, so they're accepting gently used furniture, household goods, and appliances, (no clothing, food, or water needed!). Items must be in GOOD WORKING CONDITION. This means items are not damaged, broken, stained or torn. If you have donations, please call first for directions and times. Items should be taken to the Menifee County warehouse–not Helping Through Him. 

If you would like to donate items, please CALL THE DISPATCH CENTER at (606)768-6452 for drop off times and locations.

Financial Donations 
Checks should be made out to Menifee County Board of Education and sent to:

Menifee County Relief Fund
PO Box 110
Frenchburg, KY 40322

All donations will be tax-deductible and will be used to assist with travel, heating, building supplies and general living expenses for those most in need.

Gift Cards
Cards to Wal-Mart and Lowe's (no others, please!) are needed. Cards can be placed in the offering next weekend, dropped off at the main office during business hours or mailed to:

Southland Christian Church
ATTN: Tornado Relief Team
PO Box 23338
Lexington, KY 40523

Thanks for helping out in the four ways mentioned above! Please remember that NO food, water or clothing is needed at this time.

Watch the website and future weekend programs for updates and information on plans to assist in Menifee County. If you need further clarity, please contact the Local Outreach Team.

The following set will be played for worship this weekend.

These songs can be downloaded on iTunes.

Amaris Blevins
Worship Leader
Harrodsburg Road Campus

There's no way we would cancel a party like this one!  

Dispite the rain, we'll be having the annual Spring Family Picnic tonight in Building F, the Atrium. Same time, food and games – just a whole lot less mud. See you tonight in the Atrium!

Jason Byerly
Children's Pastor
Harrodsburg Road Campus

There are times where I watch a video as a creative and think, “How did they do that?” I'll search and search for behind the scenes footage and every once in a while it’ll pop up. Victory! Unfortunately these BTS videos can be promotions in themselves. You see maybe some cool equipment and nice light rigs that can get you excited about the project but you get no actual info. So, rather than putting together some cool, riveting, breathtaking Behind the scenes video (Because in reality, all of our cameras were being used in the shoot and couldn’t have created a BTS video even if we wanted to) I'll explain the what and the why, and even some of the how we created “Who We Are”.

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Neil Gregory
Video Production
Harrodsburg Road Campus

I don’t know if anything warms my heart as much as a middle schooler giving up an entire day to be the hands and feet of Jesus in his or her community. And that is exactly what happened this past weekend.

This past Saturday, thirty middle schoolers and nineteen adults came together to serve the city of Lexington for our annual event called GO: A Day of Serving. And what a day it was! Students spread out at six different sites such as the Hope Lodge, East End, St. Joseph’s Hospital, and even a person’s house to do simple acts of love.

It was incredible to watch how every student gave 100% to their service without any complaints. Whether it was mowing a lawn, digging up soil, dusting a bookshelf, moving furniture, or talking to hospital patients, the middle schoolers jumped right in and shared the love of Jesus in very practical ways.

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David Hausknecht
Middle School Pastor
Harrodsburg Road Campus

Abused as a child — both mentally and physically — at the age of 12 I began a life filled with drugs and alcohol. I always held a full-time job and lived on my own but lived a hidden lifestyle. God knew I needed help, and answered my prayers: I was arrested and convicted of three felony crimes. The secret lifestyle was uncovered and my life radically changed for the better.

I attended worship services regularly, and raised my son in the church. About a year after I joined the church, I began having serious health issues and was unable to provide for my family. I prayed daily for guidance and was led to Southland’s financial assistance program where I received not only financial help, but budgeting and financial counseling. Again God had answered my prayers – leading me to a church and ministry where volunteers who cared were serving others.

Not long ago, my sister told me the Bruised Reed ministry didn’t have enough men for the security team. After discussing it with my wife, and praying about it, I became one of the “Sheep Dogs,” as the team is called.

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Have you ever been stopped at a red light with the windows down, radio up, singing your heart out? Then out of nowhere comes that awkward moment when someone pulls up beside you and has clearly seen and heard you belting out the chorus of “Careless Whisper?” There is nothing left for you to do but quietly deny that you were singing at all, so you stare blankly ahead through the entire second verse just hoping that the light turns green before that chorus comes back around? Don’t lie, I know you’ve been there with me!

I love to sing. Always have. I remember going fishing with an old man who was my back door neighbor when I was about 5 years old. He told me that if I sang, “The Old Rugged Cross,” to the fish, the fish would start biting. It worked too! I kept singing my little heart out and the fish kept biting. There are some Bluegill somewhere in Mercer County that I’m convinced I’ll see in heaven someday thanks to the Gospel message they received that day from me and Mr. Barnett!

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Derrick Breaux
Creative Director
Harrodsburg Road Campus

During the Shaped series, Jon challenged us with this simple statement: The only mistake is to not risk making one.

Several months back, a group of Christians in Pikeville approached us about starting a service at the University of Pikeville.

• They didn’t have a Leader, let alone any staff.
• They didn’t have a location.
• They didn’t have a band.
• They didn’t have any money.
• They didn’t have any…… you fill in the blank.

But here’s what they did have…

• A heart and a passion to reach Pikeville for Jesus.
• They desperately wanted to transform a community with the love of God.
• They had faith.

We agreed to give them 6 weeks of our weekend teaching on video to explore the possibility. You could say it was a “leap of faith.”

Here’s the outcome…

Six weeks after the launch, life change is happening in Pikeville. Seven people have accepted Christ and are being baptized Sunday, May 6. God’s presence and power is in the 737 Service held at the University of Pikeville.

Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 11:1 - Cast your bread upon the waters for after many days you will find it again.

Solomon is saying, life involves risk and opportunity and we must seize them - not merely play it safe. We need a spirit of trust and adventure with God directed towards enthusiasm and faith.

Where is God calling you to take a risk - to unleash a revolution of love?

For more information on the 737 Service at Pikeville contact Gordon.

If you are interested in using your “Shape” to help out, contact Stephanie.

Gordon Walls
Executive Director of Outreach
Harrodsburg Road Campus

Our friend John, a fellow Southlander, took this picture last week as he was walking down the street in New York City. “Truth and Advertising” was the tag he added with it. The truth he’s referencing is a sad truth; people are hurting. I once had a mentor tell me, “Pain is the universal language. We’ve all spoken it at one time or another in our lives. Some people are fluent in the language of pain.” 

That line kept ringing in my ears this weekend as I heard Jon preach. My thumbs raced as I typed his words on the keys of my iPhone screen... “Direction determines destination and no matter where you go, people are people and they all respond to love. We are talking about your everyday life being leveraged for the good of others and the glory of God and I don’t know if you realize this, but your every day life can change in a split second.”

People are people and they all respond to love. Now read that sentence again while looking at that photo above. How would you respond? How has God made you you-niquely in a way to respond in love? How could your split-second decision of sharing love change the direction of someone else’s life?

If you’re not sure what God could do with your life, check out this upcoming Shaped event. We want to make sure that everyone has an opportunity to allow God to move. God’s already given you what you need to respond. Come check us out and we’ll see if you’re prepared the next time you see a scene like the one pictured above. People are people and they all respond to love.

Brandon Schaefer
Discipleship Pastor
Harrodsburg Road Campus

The presence of God has long been something that has created controversy within the church. We talk about God always being present with us as believers, but also refer to Him as present everywhere, all the time, but then also talk about Him “filling this place” as we worship. So, which is it? Well, in the same way that God isn’t limited to being just one personality (meaning, we consider Him to be the Triune God made up of three different persons in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, yet all the while comprising one God), I don’t think He needs to be limited to just one form of “presence.” So I want to take a few minutes and walk through how God’s presence can take on different forms. I’m going to give you three dimensions of His presence, which are by no means exhaustive, but rather can help us to understand the meaning and benefit of living a life in God’s presence. So as we look at these, you can see how they may relate to the different parts of your life.

The word presence means, “being present or existing now.” To me, God’s presence is proof that He exists and is always with us. One form of His presence is His Omnipresence, which means that God is present in all places at all times. Psalm 139 says, “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? If I go up to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in the depths, You are there.” This speaks of the fact that God is everywhere at all times, and we have to remember that, whether we have a relationship with Him or not. Even if we don’t acknowledge God, that doesn’t negate His presence.

The second way to think of God’s presence is His abiding presence in believers, evidenced by His loving, understanding, and intimate relationship with those who have accepted Jesus as Lord. In John 14:21, Jesus says that, “Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.” God’s presence is an abiding, which means a lasting and enduring, constant presence in the life of a believer that displays itself through that believer’s lifestyle. Jesus made it very clear in John 15 that we will produce much fruit and prove that we are His disciples if we abide in Him and He abides in us.

The third dimension of God’s presence is the almost tangible presence of God, sometimes called the “manifest” presence. This was the physical presence of God that was present in the Old Testament all over the place, often referred to as the Shekinah Glory - we see it in the cloud that was present at the dedication of the temple in 2 Chronicles 5. We also see the manifest presence of God inside the innermost room of the temple - the Holy of Holies (Leviticus 16). This is Raiders of the Lost Ark stuff. My favorite example of this is in Exodus 33, where Moses goes up the mountain into the presence of God to meet with Him and when He returns to the people, his face is literally glowing with the radiance of God’s glory. Because Moses spent so much time in the very presence of God, it was obvious to those around him, so much so, that he had to wear a veil to hide his face from scaring everyone. One of the key ways that we can come into the direct presence of God is through our worship. The manifest presence of God is God’s response to His followers when they call out to Him. And as we worship Him, we can expect Him to respond to us. God always delights in the praises of His people, so we have every reason to expect God to respond as we worship.

For whatever reason, it’s made it easier for me to think of the Omnipresence of God as His Spirit, the abiding presence of God as Jesus the Son and the manifest presence of God as the presence of the Father. As you think through the presence of God and how each form applies to different aspects of your life, the true goal is to spend time there, as much time as we can. What if we could do the same thing that Moses did? Wouldn’t that be cool, and scary at the same time? If we lived our lives in the presence of God, so much that our faces radiated His glory? A.W. Tozer said, “God wills that we should push on into His presence and live our whole life there.” May you seek to live every single day in the presence of our God.

Kelly Jennings
10:10/608 Producer
Harrodsburg Road Campus