The Day After

It wasn't the right size, the right color. It just wasn't what I wanted. It was a duplicate gift. All these are reasons why people are returning Christmas gifts. Tis the Season...

We've been told for years that "Black Friday" (the day after Thanksgiving) is the busiest and most prolific shopping day of the year.. But while "Black Friday" holds that reputation, data in this decade indicates that the days immediately prior to Christmas hold the distinction of most prolific shopping days (the days when retail sales spike for the holiday season).

And of course we've heard that the day after Christmas is the busiest day for returns of many Christmas gifts. Which begs the question: What really happens the day after Christmas?

Now that we've remembered and observed Jesus, do we exchange Him for a different life and perspective for the rest of our year? Is baby Jesus neatly packed away with the nativity scene, to be reinstated in the home decor next holiday? Do we take down the "light of the world" with the Christmas lights? In short, now that we've celebrated and commemorated the Advent, do we add events back into our lives more suitable to our taste and decor?

Or, maybe, just maybe, Christmas stirred something inside us...something of a more eternal nature. Maybe somewhere amid the presents, we discovered the Gift, and it changed us. And when we did, the words jumped off the page and their truth transformed our hearts.

If so, you're in very good company. That happened the first Christmas: And the shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them. (Luke 2:20 nas)

Here's a gift that need not be returned the day after.

HIStory

One of the great surprises of life is to find out that God is pursuing a relationship with you. Too often we read the pages of scripture and their accounts of Bible heroes and mark it down as really good ancient literature or as an exciting story to read our children. And then, we remember that the same God that worked in them, works in us. In fact that is exactly what God tells us:

we also constantly thank God that when you received from us the word of God's message, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.
1 Thessalonians 2:13 nas

And what we find is this: Their Story is also OUR story, but ultimately it is HIStory...the tale of an eternal, loving God working in the lives of men. Join us as we make HIStory at The Heights Fellowship.

A Postcard from the Edge

Have you heard all the pundits attempting to pick this year's football winners...in August and September! A lot can happen between now and the season's end. The best any of these "experts" can do is to look at talent and schedule and guess. But one thing we all know for sure is that whatever teams keep their edge are probably going to come out ahead at the end of the season.

Through the Fall, we're using the theme "GameDay" as our direction at The Heights. One of the greatest coaches of all time once said, "Make game day your best day." I believe that's true. And I believe that for the believer, "GameDay" is today...right now...this moment. In the ordinary of the day to day or in he extremity of trying circumstances, we as a church are called to shine, because we as individuals who have been saved, set free, set apart, and set up for victory by Jesus are called to shine (Matt 5:16)

Since our earthly future is tenuous and uncertain, we who know the One who holds eternity are called to pack everything into the moment. A large part of victorious living is winning this moment. God calls that faithfulness, and it's a very, very edgy thing.

Like a championship team, we need to learn how to keep our winning edge. Join us in the moments ahead as we discover what that means. How do we stay in the game? How do we stay useful and available in God's hand? How do we win the moments?

Let's make this game day our best day. Make it your goal this fall to be a part of an awesome community at The Heights Fellowship.

Communion

Undoubtedly, the word communion conjures up visual images of priests and robes and high church ceremony. I supposed that is one application. However, at its heart, the word has a more familiar texture. In fact, the source of communion falls nearer a more familiar, used word: community. Both have an old English word for sharing as their root. Both represent something that we share...something that we have in common.

This Sunday, THF will celebrate communion, what a lot of us refer to as The Lord's Supper, as a part of our worship expression. We will rejoice in that - better said, HIM that we have in common. It will be a poignant, meaningful time of reflection, remembrance, and celebration. Hope you'll be there.

We will celebrate twice - 9:01 and again at 10:46 am.

See you here!

GAMEDAY THF

It's almost as eagerly awaited as the holiday season. It's an American phenomenon - the start of football season. And no wonder... after the long hot summer, it signals the coming of crisp Friday nights and Indian Summer Saturday afternoons. It's the gridiron and cleats. It's marching bands and pep rallies... concession stands and tailgating. It's a new semester...a new day...a new opportunity. Time to focus again.

Join us for a special Sunday Celebration and experience at The Heights Fellowship on August 23rd. It will be a great time to reconnect or to even start a new and exciting season. It's GAMEDAY THF.

It will be "wear your team's jersey day." There will be tailgating and concessions. And you never know who might show up. One thing is for sure, it won't be your normal Sunday.

Join us for the 9:01 am kickoff or for the start of the "second half" at 10:46 am. Load up your whole team and plan on being a part of GAMEDAY THF!

Summer Time

It's amazing how our culture paints itself into summer. Of course, the summer break from school prompts much of the sentiment directed at summer. But even if you don't have kids - or specifically, school-aged kids - chances are that you merge into the summer haze with vacation or other time off. Summer is vacation. It is holiday - 4th of July, Memorial Day, Labor Day. It's trips to the lake, the beach, and the mountains.

Most of the time, we view summer in terms of leisure. But the fact is, around the family of God, it seems that as Summer heats up, so do our calendars. The THF Youth Outfitters just finished their Summer Youth Camp. They still have Super Summer (leadership camp), mission trip, and a whole slate of weekly events coming up. The THF Children's Ministry has Vacation Bible School and XTreme Kids Kamp still to come, in addition to an already busy summer calendar. We have Men's Ministry Golf Challenge and Women's Ministry events ongoing this summer. And we haven't even talked all church fellowships, and LIFE group ministry events...

Point is, there's a lot to be a part of. There are plenty of places to explore, fit in, plant yourself, and invest. If you're already at The Heights, you know what a special place it is. If you're just introducing to The Heights, jump right in. I know there's a fit for you.

Pastor Mike

God and Fossils

There are a couple of recurrent questions I've received throughout our current series on Creation v. Evolution. They are similar in kind. 1) If creation happened as the Bible says - 6 literal days from nothing, then how do you account for the vast fossil record? and, 2) How do creationists account for the coal and oil deposits?

For a century and a half, both questions have stumped many people of faith and given evolutionists great fodder to perpetuate the message of uniformitarianistic evolution. (By the way, they're GREAT questions.)

We're looking forward to the conclusion of our series, Origin and Destiny this Sunday as we look at these and similar questions in light of the truth of the Bible. You won't want to miss it.

Hope you're there.

Pastor Mike

Take a Powder

A century ago, it was predicted that advances in technology would radically affect the time of the workforce. It was predicted that a 20-30 hour work week would be the norm, instead of the standard forty! (Oh for those kinder, gentler days of a 40 hour work week, huh!) Well, the predictions were partially right - the technology came. It just wasn't followed by increase in personal and recreational hours. We are, as a race of beings, more universally harried, harassed, hurried, and hassled than at any point in history. One wonders where it all went wrong....

Have you ever asked yourself where the division of seven days we call a week comes from? Think about it. 365 days (solar year) don't divide evenly by seven. A lunar month (30 days) doesn't divide out evenly either. There seems to be no logical or mathematical reason why - nearly universally - mankind's calendars invoke some usage of the 7-day period. It transcends times and cultures and races and religions.

Oh how well our Creator God knows us! Turns out that little seven day idiosyncracy is a great ratio of effort to rest...and from the very beginning of the existence of the universe, God wrote it into mankind's mind and heart. Be a part of celebration this Sunday as we go back to the beginning to get a grip on the day God rested.

Just This Week...

Origin and Destiny...it couldn't be more current. Just this week in the news, we've seen our planet celebrate Earth Day. The discovery of a new, earth-like planet in another solar system has been announced, and we've all seen the promo for the intact baby wooly mammoth fossil documentary that premieres on Sunday evening.

Where do we find meaning and application for all these things? Our relationship with our Creator, of course. I hope you'll be a part of the next installment of our Origin and Destiny series this Sunday morning as we explore the creation of man, take a stroll through the fossil record, and take home truth that can change our lives.

See you there - 9:01 and 10:46

Mike

Happy Anniversary

It came and went quietly, overshadowed by a truly remarkable Easter Celebration. This past Sunday marked the 2 year anniversary of THF in its current location. It doesn't seem that long at all...I think several of us are still tired from all those late nights.

I remain breathless as I see and hear the amazing grace of our God in action in the lives of all the attendership at THF. I revel in the new ministries that He is beginning and of the health and growth of existing ministries. Men and woment and students are awakening to a new awareness of our Creator Savior. But more than that, they are joining Him in the work that He's doing in His world. I so grateful to be a part.

Hope we get to celebrate together this weekend at THF. See you there.

Mike

iHope

It's not that Easter gets a bad rap...it really gets no rap! It's very overlooked, except by the candy makers and floral industry and maybe a few clothing manufacturers. It's sort of viewed as the "other" Christian holiday. I would argue that as great as Christmas is, it pales in comparison to Easter. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to diminish Christmas - and the celebration of the incarnation - in any way. Neither do I want to let Easter be overlooked.

Easter is about fulfillment. It is all about overcoming. Sin was defeated on Friday...death on Sunday. And so it signals to us the possibility, the "what-if" stuff of life. It's all about HOPE.

We have heard much in the news, of late, about businesses and economic down turns and recession. Internationally, there are threats all around us. It's really enough to make you want to quit...unless there is something else there. There is that inkling of HOPE - the stuff of "what-if." And it's rooted and grounded in Easter. We call it iHope.

Because God overcame...I - HOPE.

Let us celebrate together the UP RISING, the OVERCOMING, the VICTORY of God - iHope Weekend - this Easter Sunday. THF will amp it up with additional worship times: Thursday Night 7 pm - and Sunday Morning three times - 8:01, 9:31, and 11:01 am. iHope to see you there too.

Jazz

In case you didn't know, I PASSIONATELY love jazz music. From traditional jazz standards to new age, I love it. As a sax player, I enjoy that you don't have to do a song the same way every time. You can follow a basic pattern and then build an improvisation on that basic theme that is all yours. It's new every time, even though the basic pattern is the same.

I was reading this morning, and a friend reminded me that "Love God, Love your neighbor" is one of the themes, or basic patterns, of the "songs" of Scripture. His question to me is mine to you: how will you improvise on that theme today and make it your own.

Jase

God Stories and Men's Fellowship

We talk a lot around these parts about The Heights being "Deliberately Different." We've made no secret about the fact that THF was begun to reach the "unchurched, dechurched, and poorly churched" of our community. That point was illustrated to me once again on Thursday morning as I met with our THF Men's Fellowship (6:30 am Thursday mornings in the THF Mall, gentlemen!).

One of our elders was leading a discussion of our morning text - Acts 22, and he asked the group to share their God stories with one another. Of the six men who shared, none of them had the same story...only two of them even had the same origin for their spiritual journey. And nearly everyone came from an "unchurched, dechurched, or poorly churched" background too.

As I looked around that room of fellow pilgrims, I was left to ponder the wonder of my God, and His continued work in the lives of those like myself, who are so undeserving. And I remembered that scripture an old fisherman, turned pastor wrote:

Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not
received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 1 Peter 2:10 niv

And I was grateful all over again for the message of mercy!

So I Ran Into This Ten Year Old Boy Today...

Today marks a milestone. [No, not Texas Independence Day...that is a great cause for revelry all its own.] On March 2, 1973, I knelt in prayer in my parent's living room and prayed to receive Jesus into my heart. I was ten years old - a fifth grader at Gene Howe Elementary in Amarillo. To be honest, I don't know that I fully realized what I was getting myself into, but I do remember that I was utterly convinced it was right and true, and I chased my conviction into a relationship with the risen Savior.

Today, it's thirty-six years later. A lot has changed...I'm older, heavier, starting to gray on top (although I remain grateful that I have anything on top to gray). Like anyone, I bear the marks of being bumped around some by life. This morning, as I pondered the fact that over three quarters of my life has been spent following the Savior, I ran into that wide-eyed, altruistic, idealistic, ten year old boy again. Spiritually, there is much in three dozen years that is forgettable - jr. high, high school, and a couple of years in college come to mind - I rather often reflect on them as germination time...my time in the ground. But when I ran into him this morning, I ran into HIM again. And I was reminded why my heart has always preferred to celebrate this day over another one where I'll blow out 47 candles, come June.

Seems like with birthdays we celebrate the passing of time. We reach milestones and go "over the hill." Over years we move from expectation as we anticipate the big day to exasperation as we see another year gone. We become 30-something, then 40-something, then AARP members... Age begins to claim us. As we count up, we realize we're ultimately counting down.

Not so in the faith. We just count up. You can never be too old or too young in eternity. On March 2, 1973 I really began to live. I'm sure I didn't understand it all then...and I'm certain that I don't get it all even now. But this one thing I know: I am more certain, more convinced, more convicted, and more compelled to live that life now than at any other time in my existence. I am absolutely sure of my Savior and His truth and His way. And you know what, even though I've much to regret and repent for in my life, I've not had a moment's regret about my Jesus.

So light a candle with me. We're just getting started...

Amazing Sunday in the XtremeKids Class

What a joy it is to see children pray to receive Christ! This past Sunday the XtremeKids, 1st, 2nd and 3rd graders learned that they can look forward to heaven because Jesus forgives. Each class talked about the steps needed to become a Christian. After praying there were at least eight children that acknowledged that they had prayed for salvation. How cool is that? God is so good!

If your child has begun asking questions about salvation you can click here to download a copy of the ABC's that we used to explain the steps of becoming a Christian.

Mika McDaniel
Children's Minister
THF

Origins and Destiny

It's one of the great statements of belief in all the Bible -

By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible. Hebrews 11:3 nas

One of the great conundrums of our time (for those who claim to believe in Jesus) is reconciling Biblical Faith and Science. It leaves most wondering if it's possible at all. What are we supposed to think? How are we supposed to believe? Are believers supposed to "check their brains at the door of the church?" Or, are we left to deny the foundations of our faith?

These are questions we will answer in our new series: Origins and Destiny, which will launch on January 25th. You may be surprised what we uncover. You'll be even more amazed as we find just how much the hunt for our beginnings affects our awareness and understanding of our ultimate destination.