Hillcrest Church - Pastor Mark's Blog

A Call to Prayer and Fasting...

2012-01-01T09:28:00.001-06:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR…!

Dear Hillcrest Church Family,

Here we are on the cusp of a brand new year and as I heardone person put it many years ago, “Ourfuture is as bright as the promises of God!” The Lord has planted a verysimple yet powerful promise from His Word deep in my heart,

“Drawnear to God, and he will draw near to you.” (James 4:8 ESV)

As we begin our annual 21Days of Prayer and Fasting today, I call upon you to ask God how He wouldhave you to participate in this time. Through prayer and fasting, we are layinga foundation for our future as individuals and as a congregation.

In our service this morning, I am going to be sharing somekey principles concerning fasting from the life of Jesus. If you would likefurther information on this subject, I encourage you to check out two of myblog posts from a few years back by clicking hereand here.

Blessings!

Pastor Mark

Happy Thanksgiving...!

2011-11-24T18:35:00.001-06:00

Thanksgiving Day 2011

Dear Hillcrest Church Family,

Teresa and I want to send you our heartfelt prayer for you and all of yours to experience God's richest blessings on this Thanksgiving Day and throughout this holiday season! As we spent today in Oklahoma with her family, our hearts are filled with gratitude for the health God has brought to her sister and Mother following their bouts with cancer.

As I type this email, my heart is also filled with gratitude for many other things...For the way God's faithfulness has been so evident over these past two years as we have cared for my Mom. Every time her condition has deteriorated to the next level and we did not know how we could continue caring for her in our home, God has provided the answers and help we needed at just the right time...For the incredible wealth of friends and relationships He has given to us across the country and around the world, both old and new. The longer I live the more I wish I had time to sit down with each and every one more frequently and catch up on the latest unfolding developments in God's plan for their lives. Ever since my Dad died two years ago this January, heaven has been more real to me than ever before and the prospect of "renewing old and glad acquaintance there" more precious...For the two wonderful children God gave us in answer to prayer after thirteen years of infertility and the heartache of repeated miscarriage. it is such a joy, especially, to see God at work in their lives and to begin to get glimpses of their destinies and to sense the heart God has given them to help the hurting and touch the world...For the wonderful people of Hillcrest Church, both past and present, who have so enriched our lives...For the way God so suddenly and supernaturally delivered our church from such crushing, debilitating debt and for the incredible, unparalleled opportunity we have to plant a church in the heart of our city that will touch our city and look like our city...And for the deep conviction I have in my heart that the very, very best is yet to come...!

Teresa and I love you and thank God for the privilege of serving you...!

Happy Thanksgiving...!

Pastor Mark

Sent to the City - Thriving Wherever God Places You, Sunday, November 14, 2011

2011-11-14T11:51:00.001-06:00

God Has Brought Overwhelming Confirmation...!

2011-11-11T12:26:00.001-06:00

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Dear Hillcrest Church Family,

We have finished counting the response forms fromCommitment Sunday and I have some wonderful news to share with you. Our congregation has overwhelmingly confirmed God’s will for our church…!

92% of thosewho responded to my call to commitment said, “Yes, Pastor Mark, I believe we should follow the vision the Holy Spirithas given you to rebirth our church downtown!” Only 7% said, “No.” In spite of all we have beenthrough these last several years, the God who supernaturally delivered us fromdebt has now brought us to incredible, Spirit-inspired unity and crystalclarity regarding our future.

A very highpercentage of our constitutency participated in this process and a very largemajority made the one-year commitment going forward. Our ministry team and I will soon be contacting youwho made this commitment so that we can begin exploring new ways to involve youin our ministry outreaches. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your stepof faith! I believe with every fiber of my being that we are on the verge ofgreat things. The very best is yet to come for our church family and you aregoing to be a part of it…!

Several precious people who have life-stage or otherissues that will make it impossible for them to regularly attend our servicesin our new, downtown location communicated their own personal conviction thatGod is nevertheless calling us to take this dramatic step. I am so verygrateful for those of you who did this. Thank you for responding to theprompting of the Spirit and acting in such a selfless way for the good of thislocal body of believers and God’s greater Kingdom agenda. Your blessing meansmore to Teresa and me than you could ever know. Your continued prayer supportwill be a great source of strength to us. God will surely allow you to share inthe victories we win for His glory alone. I encourage you to walk with us downthis path forward as far as you can. Know that we will bless you from the bottomof our hearts when the moment comes that God leads you to another local churchand that we will always consider you a part of our “extended family.” You willalways be welcome to come back for a visit or to stay!

I want to speak a word in closing to those of you whodo not yet know what the Lord is calling you to do personally. We would love tohave you be a part of what God is going to do in this city through our churchin this new season. You have unique gifts and there is thus a uniquecontribution that only you can make to the fulfillment of this vision. Iencourage you to continue prayerfully seeking His face for direction. Please besure to feel free to ask me or any of our ministry leaders any questions youmay have. We respect your right and ability to hear from God concerning yourown future and we want to be as available to help you in your decision-makingprocess as you would like and to provide you with whatever further informationyou may need.

If the Lord has already made it clear to you that yourseason at Hillcrest Church will come to and end when we relocate, I want tothank you for all you have done in the past to help us minister to people in themidst of the storms we have weathered. You helped make it happen! I pray God’sblessings be with you always!

In closing, let me speak a word to every one of you. Nomatter what your response was on Commitment Sunday, Teresa and I love you! We willalways be willing to serve you in any way that we can in the future regardlessof whether or not you are a formal member of this church.

Let’s Take the City…!

Pastor Mark Brand

The Antioch Church - A Call to Commitment, (Commitment Sunday), November 6, 2011

2011-11-07T10:25:00.002-06:00

Video streaming by Ustream
During our Commitment Sunday service yesterday, immediately before I preached, Brandon, a young artist in our church and the son of Pastor David Estrada, along with Aaron and Ashley from our worship team, presented me with a painting illustrating the word David Yeghnazar gave our congregation while preaching on September 18th: "Hillcrest, If you as a church and as a people are willing to suffer and walk the narrow road, God will give you the city." This was a very special moment that took me totally by surprise...! Click on the image below to see it what happened:

Video streaming by Ustream

This Sunday is Commitment Sunday…!

2011-11-04T16:50:00.001-05:00

Friday, November 4, 2011

Dear Hillcrest Church Family,

This weekend, we are going to make one of the most significant decisions in the history of our congregation. On Vision Sunday, I shared my conviction with you that God is calling us to rebirth our church downtown and I asked you to join me in 90 Days of Prayer leading up to Commitment Sunday. As each member of our church body shares their response to this vision, I believe God is going to speak clearly and decisively through the corporate voice of His people. By uniting around the direction He brings, we will be positioned to move forward into our destiny.

As we have sought the face of the Lord together about this matter over the past weeks, I have thought a lot about the following question: "Why is it so important that we relocate our ministry downtown?"

Four specific convictions have settled in my own heart as answers:

First…We will be following the express leading of the Holy Spirit.

The single most important factor in the spiritual health and fruitfulness of any church family is the degree to which they discern and do God's will together. Strong, godly local churches are not built through human wisdom or ability, but through the power of the Holy Spirit. Human personality and gifting can draw a crowd, but only the Lord can grow a New Testament congregation.

God works most powerfully in and through those church families that allow Him to guide their ministries. Sometimes His instructions seem counter-intuitive to our human reasoning, but He alone knows which hearts are most prepared to hear the Gospel and which places are about to experience unusual outpourings of His power and grace. Following His leading is the path to fruitfulness.

The Apostle Peter discovered this principle after fishing all night and catching nothing in Luke chapter five. Jesus then told him to cast his nets in a different direction. When Peter obeyed, they were suddenly filled with fish. The Apostle Paul failed twice in his efforts to take the Gospel to new places in Acts chapter sixteen. God then spoke to him through a vision in the night, telling him to reorient his ministry toward Macedonia. When Paul obeyed, he was able to plant one of the greatest churches in the New Testament in the city of Philippi in spite of fierce opposition. We have never needed God's guidance at Hillcrest Church more than we do right now. Our destiny will be changed forever by the decision we are about to make.

The Lord could have chosen to simply eliminate our debt without providing us any cash from our equity. Given the economy and the circumstances we faced not many months ago, from a human point of view that would have been a miracle in itself. Instead, God has deliberately entrusted us with an unusually large amount of money to use in replanting our church.

By loosing us from the entanglements and problems of the past, He has given us an incredible opportunity to completely reposition and reorient our ministry so that we are able to reach the greatest possible number of people here at home and around the world. This particular doorway will never open to us again. We must not allow our own personal preferences, comfort level, desire for stability, or anything else to keep us from stewarding this moment in such a way that the Kingdom of God reaps the greatest possible benefit. We must courageously rise up in faith, seize this moment, and do whatever He says.

Second…We will be able to raise up a racially, ethnically, and socially blended congregation.

This is at the very heart of what Jesus Christ is calling us to be and to do at Hillcrest Church. It is not enough for us to simply be a ministry that welcomes people of every skin color, culture, language, economic circumstance, and social constituency. God is calling us to target every sector of the population of Dallas equally. Simply put, unless our Sunday morning congregation comes to look like our city, we will have failed in our assignment, no matter how beautiful a building we might construct or how large our church might become. In order to fulfill our destiny and reach all people equally, we must be accessible to all people equally.

While the Lord is not calling us to plant an inner-city church, He is calling us to plant a city-reaching church…a church that looks like our city…a church that looks like heaven…! A downtown Dallas location will make this possible in a way that simply cannot be achieved from North Dallas. In the genius of the Holy Spirit, He is prompting us to move in the direction of major societal change so that we can reap the greatest possible harvest for many decades to come. A fully blended congregation may not symbolize what America has been, but it is at the very heart of what America is becoming.

Third…We will be able to reach people living in the heart of our city.

With the explosive growth of the entire DFW Metroplex, our city has reached the point that many people are beginning to view downtown living as an attractive alternative to long daily commutes. The number of residents in the central part of our city has begun to grow rapidly over the last decade. New condos and other types of housing are springing up throughout the area. Civic and business leaders have been tracking this very closely and are taking steps to encourage and capitalize on this trend. Last April, for instance, the Dallas City Council unanimously adopted the comprehensive Downtown Dallas 360 Plan calling for massive investment and re-development in seven central-city neighborhoods. Integral to the overall plan are many specific steps designed to greatly enhance the residential appeal of each of these districts. (Visit http://www.downtowndallas360.com online for more information).

As is the case with every part of our Metroplex, there are existing churches downtown, but none have our specific Word and Spirit, multi-racial, highly missionary DNA. The ever-increasing number of people who live in the central part of our city need our unique ministry. Most of our nation's greatest and fastest growing churches were planted in areas which were experiencing significant population growth. By moving us downtown at this time, the Holy Spirit is proactively positioning us to reap an unusual harvest.

Fourth…We will be able to leverage our new location and the city's existing transportation infrastructures to offer Christ-centered answers to some of our city's most pressing needs.

We are not called to be a rescue mission, but the Lord does want us to be His hands extended to people from every part of our city who are dealing with significant life challenges, whether educational, relational, financial, or some other pressing need. Many of these precious people regularly use public transportation to move about the Metroplex. Establishing our congregation's ministries close to a DART stop will make it possible for them, as well as for those who own vehicles, to easily benefit from the outreaches we birth.

When we purchase property close to a major expressway, our city's highly developed network of highways and thoroughfares, coupled with typically light Sunday morning traffic patterns, will allow most anyone living within the city limits or close suburbs to reach our new campus in less than twenty minutes. For those of us who already call Hillcrest Church home, this relocation may require a change of paradigm and a bit more effort, but the sacrifices we make will result in many more changed lives…spiritual fruit that will bring God glory and will be well worth whatever it costs us.

Once we unite together this Sunday in strong consensus around the vision God has given, we will immediately begin a multi-faceted process which includes the following key elements:

RE-TOOL – We will begin readying ourselves and our ministries for this new venture by taking part in some of the excellent, innovative, highly specific, and proven training programs available for church planters today. Our ministry leaders and team will work with individuals experienced in church re-birthing and planting to clearly identify any changes we need to make in our ministry paradigms in order to reach and disciple the greatest number of people from our new location and target demographic.
RE-ALIGN – We will examine every aspect of how we currently operate including ministry structures, staffing solutions, governmental functions, financial procedures, and legal parameters to ensure that we are completely focused on fulfilling our destiny as a downtown Antioch church with lasting fruitfulness in the Kingdom of God.
RE-ALLOCATE – We will set aside a small percentage of the sale proceeds from our past property to "prime the pump" of both outreach and church growth in view of short-term increase and long-term sustainability. Our policy is to function on the income we receive from our tithes and offerings each week without dipping into our cash reserves, but we will make whatever strategic ministry investments from our capital funds are necessary to build a great church in this city and remain debt-free forever. Our goal will be very simple – to use the funds God has entrusted to us to reach and disciple as many people in our city from all ethnicities and backgrounds as we possibly can while continuing to touch the world through extensive missionary involvement.
RE-IMAGE – We will do whatever it takes to effectively communicate our Antioch vision, values, and ministries to a broad cross-section of our city's residents. As part of our communications strategy, everything will be "on the table" for discussion, including our church name; the "look and feel" of our Sunday morning worship experience; our approach to advertising; involvement in media ministry; etc.
RE-LOCATE – We will search for and secure a medium-term meeting location downtown while also moving forward with the process of purchasing and developing permanent facilities. Our parameters for the property searches will be the following: a downtown location; very easy access from DART rail and a major traffic artery; high visibility; room to accommodate future ministry growth; and debt-free acquisition/development. We will be very active and aggressive in this search, but we realize that the most important thing for us as a church right now is not buying property, but re-launching ministry. The momentum this brings will help clarify exactly which properties we should or should not consider for our long-term campus. We will take whatever amount of time is necessary to be sure we are making the right purchase.
RE-LAUNCH – After moving our church downtown to our medium-term meeting location and having successfully ministered there for a period of several weeks, we will hold an official "re-launch" of our ministry. This will be designed to draw the largest possible crowd to our first official worship service in our new identity and to build maximum momentum in order to achieve rapid church growth. The input I have already received from people highly skilled and experienced in church planting has convinced me that with God's help, the significant resources available to us, lots of hard work, and strategic planning, we can launch "big" instead of "small."

Our positive decision this Sunday to embrace the vision God has given us will be the first of many steps forward toward our new identity and destiny. There will be many other important decisions to make along the way, but everything hinges on what we say to the Lord on this Commitment Sunday.

In this letter, I have shared a few more of my thoughts with you. Now I need you to share your prayerful convictions with me concerning the following two questions:

Do you believe we should follow the vision the Holy Spirit has given me?
Are you willing to make a one-year commitment to support this vision by attending our services, investing your finances, and exploring ways that you can serve as a volunteer in our church's ministries?

What I have outlined on Vision Sunday and in the two letters I have sent you is not for the faint of heart. Anyone content with spiritual complacency or comfortable with a merely cultural Christianity will not want to have any part in this endeavor! It is too bold, too far out of the mainstream, too different from what others have done, too impossible without God's supernatural help, for anyone to attempt it…and yet, God in His sovereign, inscrutable, and unpredictable way has brought me to the place where I am personally ready to risk everything I have and everything I am to see this vision become reality.

I realize that I am an unlikely candidate for such a call. The past several years here at Hillcrest Church have been by far the most difficult and painful of my entire life and ministry. On a natural plane, nothing we have experienced together during this season would lead us to believe that our future will be drastically, wonderfully, even gloriously different than our past…and yet, deep inside my heart I sense the Spirit saying,

"Nothing is too difficult for me. I have brought you and this church through this long, fiery trial in order to purify, refine, and prepare you for this moment, so that the things I do in and through you all to shake this city will be for my glory and my glory alone. Dare to believe me! Dare to follow me! Dare to lay down your lives in service to me and I will be able to use you in ways your eyes have never seen and your ears have never heard, in ways that you would never have dared to imagine."

As I typed those sentences, I remembered the prophetic word Dr. R.T. Kendall gave our church several years ago at the end of his sermon in our Sunday morning worship service as he quoted verses from a passage in Haggai chapter two,

6 "This is what the Lord Almighty says: 'In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. 7 I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,' says the Lord Almighty. 8 'The silver is mine and the gold is mine,' declares the Lord Almighty. 9 'The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,' says the Lord Almighty. 'And in this place I will grant peace,' declares the Lord Almighty."

That is what I sense the Holy Spirit saying to me. Now, I need to know what the Holy Spirit is saying to you.

At the end of our worship service this Sunday, I am going to ask everyone present to fill out a response device bearing these two questions. If you are unable to be with us in service, please download a copy from our church website (www.hillcrestchurch.org) and return it to our church office within the next few days.

The most important thing I need you to do is to be sure you respond exactly as the Holy Spirit has impressed upon your own heart, not as you think I or anyone else will respond. At every point in church history, whenever God has called a people to step out in faith to do something new, there have always been naysayers, gossipers, slanderers, doubters, and finger-pointers. Do not listen to them. Listen to Him. Listen to the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit and then use this response device to communicate your own deepest convictions to me as we trust God together to overshadow the outcome.

I realize your answer to question number one may be different from your answer to question number two. Perhaps your heart resonates with this vision but your life stage or other constraints cause you to hesitate about committing to attend services downtown for a full year. That is not at a problem. It in no way affects my opinion of you or my love for you. Answering "yes" to question number one lets me know that I have your personal blessing to move forward with this vision. That is the most important thing I need to know.

Teresa and I love you very much. Our commitment to you goes far beyond the decisions as I have talked about in this letter. Whatever your answers are to the two questions I am asking, we want you to know that we will always be willing to serve you in any way that we can. We thank God for the privilege of walking together with you on this journey and we are convinced the very, very best is yet to come for us all.

You are important to us at Hillcrest Church. As we build our congregation through reaching unchurched people, we are committed to continuing to provide you with the highest level of ministry possible.

I look forward to hearing from you and to seeing you in service this Sunday…!

Pastor Mark

P.S. If you did not hear my message on Vision Sunday last August, I urge you to take a few moments and view it online by clicking on the following link: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/16499137/highlight/192963.

If for any reason you did not receive the letter I sent to you at the beginning of our 90 Days of Prayer, please be sure and do so before you respond. If you do not have a copy, you can read its contents online by clicking on the following link: http://hillcrestchurch.blogspot.com/2011/09/lets-take-our-city.html.

Greetings from Maracaibo...!

2011-10-28T11:38:00.001-05:00

DearHillcrest Church Family,

Greetingsfrom Maracaibo, Venezuela!

PastorKyle and I have arrived here in preparation for the Global Advance Pastor'sConference where we be ministering through the end of this week. Prior to ourdeparture from Dallas, the last word we had from the team who was already inthe ground was that we could expect 1,500+ in attendance in each session. Wehave just learned that more than 3,000 have formally registered and that numberwill undoubtedly grow before the meetings begin early Thursday morning.

We covetyour earnest prayers for us and for our families back home while we are away.Pastor Kyle and I are keenly aware of the incredible opportunity God is givingus to touch this nation by touching so many of its spiritual leaders. Pleasejoin with us in believing God for razor-sharp, specific messages every time wespeak and for the power of the Lord to be very much in evidence as we pray forthose in attendance.

Pleasepray as well for God to orchestrate every logistical detail.

Theadvance team has experienced very clear supernatural opposition as they haveput together this event. That fact, along with the deep conviction I amcarrying in my own heart and spirit, causes me to believe that the Lord hassome very special things in store for our time here. As part of our HillcrestChurch family, we are YOUR hands extended to God's servants from across thiscountry. You have sent us and you will share in any victories we win orspiritual fruit that we bear. This is the Antioch church in action - a localcongregation that loves its city but that also loves the world...and YOU are animportant part of it...!

While Iam away this next Sunday, my dear friend Rabbi Marty Waldeman from BaruchHa'Shem will be preaching in my place. I encourage you to do whatever it takesto be present in service. I am so very thankful for the spiritual partnershipthat God has orchestrated between our two congregations and I expect the Lordwill use Rabbi Marty to bring a specific word for us during this season. Yourpresence is also a way of honoring him and the spiritual family he serves fortheir very gracious hospitality to us during this season.

I am alsohappy to report that we have elected four new Hillcrest Church

Trustees:Eric Bullard, Linda Greer, Tony Lovio, and Charlie Pollinzi. They will servealongside Darrell Fletcher, Harry Gresham, and myself. All of the eightcandidates that stood for election are wonderful people and I appreciate eachof them allowing us to put their name forward. Please be sure and keep both ourElders and our Trustees in your prayers as we move forward. Our church is onthe cusp of a wonderful new beginning and we need God's supernatural wisdom inorder to fully take advantage of the incredible opportunity He is giving us forthe furthering of His kingdom and for His glory alone.

Teresaand I love you and thank God for the privilege of serving you. We believe thebest is yet to come…!

PastorMark Brand

Latest Iranian Pastor Updates

2011-10-01T15:52:00.000-05:00

URGENT Prayer Request for Iranian Pastor...!

2011-09-28T14:00:00.000-05:00

Just received this email from my friend David Yeghnazar calling for prayer for an Iranian pastor who could be executed today or tomorrow.

Please pray...!

Begin forwarded message:
From: David Yeghnazar
Date: September 28, 2011 12:13:23 PM CDT

Subject: Urgent prayer needed

Dear friends,

Urgent prayer is needed for Yousef Naderkhani, who could be executed soon for his faith in Iran. Please see this link which just appeared as the main story on foxnews.com. Let's praise God for this kind of exposure and pray that the Holy Spirit will intervene.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/09/28/iranian-pastor-faces-execution-for-refusing-to-recant-christian-faith/

Please share this with others.

David

David Yeghnazar
Twitter (@DYeghnazar)
Elam Ministries
Office: 770 664 8800 | Mobile: 770 634 3994 | www.elam.com | www.iran30.org
Follow Iran 30 on facebook and twitter.

90 Days of Prayer - Favor

2011-09-27T15:16:00.001-05:00

90 Days of Prayer - Favor
http://www.vimeo.com/29398420

SPECIAL PRAYER FOR MUSLIMS TONIGHT AT 7PM...!

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Dear Hillcrest Church Family,

In our Prayer Service tonight at Baruch Ha'Shem at 7pm, a precious couple from our church who live in Sudan are going to be teaching us how to pray for Muslims and then leading us in a time of intercession for people in that part of the world. This promises to be a very, very special prayer meeting, one you don't want to miss.

I also encourage you to click on the picture above or on this link and watch a brief video of me sharing thoughts on how important it is to pray for God's supernatural favor throughout the real estate search process. Thank you for your participation in these 90 Days of Prayer leading up to Commitment Sunday on November 6th...!

Teresa and I love you and thank God for the privilege of serving you! We believe the very best is yet to come!

Pastor Mark Brand

www.markbrand.org

www.wordandspirittv.com

www.twitter.com/mwbrand

Zacchaeus - Helping People Find Jesus, September 25, 2011

2011-09-25T19:01:00.002-05:00

Video streaming by Ustream

90 Days of Prayer - The Right Location

2011-09-17T11:23:00.000-05:00

90 Days of Prayer - Inviting

2011-09-03T12:48:00.001-05:00

90 Days of Prayer - Inviting from Hillcrest Church Media on Vimeo.

Let's Take Our City...!

2011-09-01T15:49:00.001-05:00

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Dear Hillcrest Church Family,

As we walk through these 90 Days of Prayer leading up to Commitment Sunday on November 6^th, my heart is overflowing with anticipation at what God wants to do in and through our congregation. By supernaturally delivering us from debt, He has set us free to impact our city and the world more effectively for generations to come. As we seek His face together, listen to His voice, and obey His promptings, He will position us to bring many more lost and hurting people into a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ.

In the Old Testament, God instructed the prophet Habakkuk to, “Write down the vision; write it clearly…so whoever reads it can run to tell others...(Hab. 2:2 NCV).” That is what I have done in this letter. I encourage you to read it slowly, thoughtfully, and prayerfully, asking the Lord to speak to your heart through the power of the Holy Spirit about His purposes for our congregation.

On Vision Sunday (Aug. 7^th), I shared my conviction with you that the Holy Spirit is calling us to replant our church downtown. The location I have in my heart is very strategic, with easy access from a major highway. Re-establishing our ministry in such a centralized, prominent place will better position us to build a congregation comprised of individuals from a wide variety of economic circumstances, religious backgrounds, and ethnic identities…a church like the one at Antioch in the New Testament! It will also enable us to birth new forms of ministry targeting some of our city’s greatest needs, whether spiritual, social, or educational. As we reach many new people from throughout our community, neighborhood-based ministries such as LifeGroups will help us disciple them while caring for everyone who already calls Hillcrest Church their spiritual home.

Our calling is not dependent upon any single piece of property. Whether God immediately gives us the particular piece of real estate I have long carried in my heart or whether He gives us some other location - perhaps as a “stepping-stone” to move us in that direction - it is vital for us to put our ministry where our destiny is. Although I do not sense the Holy Spirit leading us to plant an inner-city church, I do sense Him leading us to plant a downtown church… a church in the heart of the city that has the entire city at heart…! Moving downtown will propel us toward our destiny.

On Commitment Sunday (Nov. 6^th), I will ask you to tell me what the Holy Spirit is saying to you. This is an extremely important step in our process of discerning His will together. As much as I want to see us rebirth our church downtown, I am firmly convinced this decision is far too important for me or any other single individual to make. We must do it together, as the Body of Christ, through wisdom and unity imparted by the Holy Spirit. If this is God’s appointed time for this vision, I believe He will bring powerful and vital confirmation of that fact by establishing a strong consensus in our congregation, not as the result of a political process, but through the supernatural work of His Spirit as we prayerfully seek His face together.

I need to make the following very, very, very clear…the long-term vision God has given me has many wonderful, far-reaching implications for our church, our city, and our world, but it is utterly impossible for us to achieve without a miracle.

In this moment we are very much like the children of Israel standing outside the walls of Jericho. God had just supernaturally parted the Jordan River so they could cross over to the other side. It took a second miracle of equal magnitude for the city’s walls to fall down flat. At Hillcrest Church, we have just seen the Lord supernaturally deliver us from debt. We will need His miraculous help a second time to acquire property and build ministry facilities downtown debt-free. Here is the good news…the God of the Jordan is the God of Jericho…! As the Lord brings confirmation through the collective voice of our people and we move forward in faith and obedience, He will help us take our city. NOTHING is too hard for Him…!

During our 90 Days of Prayer, I want to encourage you to do the following:

1. Prayerfully reflect on my testimony how God dealt with me about moving downtown. If you did not hear it on Vision Sunday, please take the time to watch it online at: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/16499137/highlight/192963. If you do not have access to the Internet and would like a video copy on DVD or an audio copy on CD, please contact our office so we can furnish you one free of charge.

2. Join the rest of our church family in special prayer every Tuesday night. Attend as many of our prayer meetings at Baruch Ha’Shem from 7:00-8:00pm as your schedule permits or pray wherever you are. Consider fasting all or part of these Tuesdays. Fasting helps bring greater spiritual clarity by weakening the influence of our flesh in our decision-making processes. Here are some specific points for prayer:

· Ask the Lord to let you feel His heart for our city while driving “the loop” around downtown or while looking at a map of Dallas.

· Ask Him to give you creative ideas on how we can more effectively reach its inhabitants.

· Ask God to let you know His dreams for our church.

· Ask Him to help us move in His perfect timing.

· Pray for the Holy Spirit to bring us into unity concerning His will. When a congregation is poised to take a significant step forward, it arouses Satanic opposition. Rebuke the spirits of dissension, slander, division, greed, materialism, bitterness, and fear!

· Pray for the peace of God to rule in our hearts and for our “steps” (our decisions) to be firmly established in the center of His will.

3. Ask me, our Elders, or our Trustees whatever questions you may have. Encourage others to do the same. Don’t rely on hearsay or second-hand information. It may be inaccurate or incomplete. We will be more than happy to share the insights God has given us into the specifics of His plan. We also value your input. We want to hear what God is speaking to you. He rarely reveals all the details of His plan in a single moment or to a single individual. Some things will only become clear to us as we move forward into His purposes together.

On Commitment Sunday (Nov. 6^th) I am going to ask you two very important questions:

1. Do you agree with me that the Holy Spirit is calling us to rebirth our church downtown?

2. Are you willing to make a one-year commitment to help make this happen? (By continuing to attend our worship services, give of your finances, and serve as a volunteer in some area of our church’s ministry.)

Your answers to these two questions will be very helpful to me as I serve our congregation as Senior Pastor. Relocating our church’s ministry downtown is a huge step. I need God’s help and guidance as I lead our people during this time. Hearing from you will help me hear from Him.

According to 1 Corinthians 2:9, God has a wonderful future in store for us, filled with things that are beyond anything we have ever seen, heard, or even imagined. He wants to help us bring many lost and hurting people into a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ. As we seek His face together, listen to His voice, and do His will, He will position us to do just that.

From the heart of our community we will be able to serve people from every part of our city through such ministries as ESL (English As A Second Language) classes, GED high school equivalency programs, after-school academic tutoring for at-risk students, crisis pregnancy intervention, Bible-based financial counseling, vocational coaching, and a Christian day school like the Coram Deo Academy…along with other creative outreaches based on ideas God is going to give people like you. Close proximity downtown to public transportation including DART rail stops will make it possible for precious individuals who need such ministry free of charge to easily come to our campus. On a spiritual level, establishing a venue downtown for activities including noon-time prayer meetings, Bible studies, and ongoing intercession 24/7 for our city and our world will have a significant impact far beyond the parameters of our single congregation.

To see these things happen and much, much more, we must do three things:

First, we must collectively embrace this vision on Commitment Sunday (Nov. 6^th). In order to move forward, we need the Holy Spirit to bring about a clear consensus in our hearts as we pray.

Second, we must begin birthing new ministries out of our initial downtown meeting location. We have already begun scouting out possible venues and have turned up some promising leads. Like seeds that are planted in fertile soil, our first steps will be small compared to our long-term impact, but we will take them with the conviction expressed by Jesus,

The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree…(Matthew 13:31–32 ESV)”

Third, we must purchase and develop our new, permanent church campus. God wants to help us do this debt-free…! This may mean that it takes longer or that we start smaller than we would do otherwise. It will certainly require humility, faith, and patience, but it will yield huge benefits. Here is the most important…more money will be able to go to into ministry! As we demonstrate to God that we value people over property, He will graciously give us everything we need. In fact, we have already seen signs that we may be able to buy a spectacular piece of real estate downtown for a price far below the market rate. Whether that turns out to be the case or not, this much is sure, as George Mueller of Bristol put it so many years ago: “God’s work done God’s way never lacks God’s supply…!”

We are in a wonderful new season here at Hillcrest Church, filled with promise and new possibilities. We have learned a lot from our experiences over the last several years. God has brought us new resources, including relationships with pastors from some of the greatest churches in America, to help us re-think and re-tool our ministries for greater effectiveness. The Holy Spirit is prompting us to reposition our church downtown at the very time our city’s growth is bringing waves of new residents into the same area.

Once our collective decision is made on Commitment Sunday, we will need to restructure and realign everything we do so that our focus is razor sharp. As we unite around God’s plan for our church family, we are releasing our past and embracing our future. We are no longer trying to resurrect a corpse, we are birthing a baby. A lot of hard work lies ahead, but excitement is beginning to fill the air…!

Teresa and I are grateful to the Lord for the privilege of serving you. We look forward to continuing to care for you. We are glad you are going on this journey with us. You are a valued part of our church family. Hillcrest Church would not be where it is today, poised on the verge of this tremendous opportunity, without your steadfast faithfulness. God is going to open new doors for you to use your gifts in helping our congregation reap a tremendous harvest of souls for His glory alone. Our future together is as bright as the promises of God. As the Apostle Paul put it, “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion…The one who calls you is faithful and He will do it. (Phil. 1:6; 1 Thess. 5:24 NIV)”

Thank you for keeping us in your prayers. We love you very much.

The best is yet to come…!

In Jesus,

Pastor Mark Brand

Foundation for Living (Ten Commandments): No Slander, Hillcrest Church, Sunday, August 28, 2011

2011-08-28T18:09:00.000-05:00

90 Days of Prayer - Hearing

2011-08-23T15:01:00.001-05:00

Foundation for Living (Ten Commandments): No Stealing, Sunday, August 21, 2011

2011-08-22T11:39:00.002-05:00

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90 Days of Prayer - Unity

2011-08-19T11:39:00.000-05:00

Let's Take Our City...! Vision Sunday 2011

2011-08-08T20:17:00.001-05:00

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Vision Sunday 2011 is August 7th...!

2011-07-28T16:14:00.006-05:00

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Dear Hillcrest Church Family,

Thank you in advance for taking the time to read this unusually long letter and to watch the video clip I have inserted above! We are approaching a very significant crossroads in the life of our church family and I have some very important things I need to share with you for your prayerful consideration...

I am so thankful for the wonderful things that God has been doing in our congregation these past several weeks: We experienced sudden, supernatural debt cancellation. We have moved into our temporary meeting location at the Baruch Ha’Shem Messianic Synagogue and our church ministries are functioning well in their new facilities. Many of our teenagers spent four days and nights in prayer and worship at IHOP Kansas City and returned with a fresh deep new touch of God on their lives. Like the Israelites at Gilgal in the Book of Joshua chapter five, our congregation has been experiencing an important time of healing and preparation for the next season of God’s unfolding plan for us as a people.

Now, the Lord is calling us to rise up and take the city like the Israelites did at Jericho in Joshua chapter six. Like them, we are called to conquer territory that can only be taken with God’s supernatural help. The walls of Jericho were thick and high. The Israelite army was far too small and unequipped to successfully assail them. No human strategy or calculation was sufficient to bring them the victory. Joshua, their leader, was utterly lacking in prior experience at besieging such massive military fortifications. Their only hope was a word from the Lord giving them divine instructions they could follow. As they moved forward in faith and obedience to what God then commanded, marching around the walls each day, refusing to allow the taunts and jeers of the enemy soldiers on top of the walls to penetrate their hearts or sway their spirits, they saw the Lord again do what only He could do. Their God had parted the waters of Jordan, now He caused the walls to fall down flat!

On Vision Sunday, August 7^th, I am going to be sharing my testimony of how God has dealt with my own heart and given me a crystal-clear conviction of what He is calling us to do and where He is calling us to go. I want to encourage you to do whatever it takes to be present in this service. After I have shared the vision God has given me, I am going to call upon you to seek the Lord in prayer about these things over the following weeks. Then, on Commitment Sunday, I will give you the opportunity to tell me what you believe the Lord has told you. Together, through this process of my sharing my heart with you and you sharing your heart with me, God will enable us to discern His will. The destiny of our church is far too important a matter to be decided by any single individual, including me. I believe the Lord is going to speak through our collective voice, showing us very clearly whether this is the right path forward for our congregation. On Vision Sunday, I will also be sharing an update on our church finances.

As the leadership of our church and I have been walking through the process of considering these and other matters, I am especially grateful for the input and help we have received from the leadership of Gateway Church and other apostolic leaders in the broader body of Christ. As the book of Proverbs puts it,

11:14 (KJV) — Where no counsel is, the people fall: But in the multitude of counselors there is safety.

Gateway Church’s Connect ministry, for example, led by Pastor Ed Funderburk, focuses on coaching, consulting with, and mentoring pastors and local churches who desire to glean from that outstanding congregation’s experience and expertise as they re-invent and re-position their own local churches for maximum fruitfulness in the Kingdom of God. The ongoing input he has given us has been extremely helpful to me personally as well as to the rest of our ministry team. The strongest and most important recommendations I have received from these sources include the need for me to lead every member of our church ministry team to prayerfully seek the Lord for a fresh, specific sense of calling to our church for this next season as we implement the vision God has given me; the need to restructure our church ministry staff so that it is appropriately sized and configured; and the need to revise our church constitution and bylaws to ensure that we are building upon a foundation of strong, stable, and healthy biblical church government.

During our recent vacation, Teresa and I personally made seeking the Lord for a fresh confirmation of His calling to Hillcrest Church a very high priority, knowing that a multi-year process of property acquisition, architectural design, and facilities construction lies before us. We both made a renewed commitment to Jesus to do whatever it takes to lead our church family forward into our destiny. Upon my return, I called our church leadership to join me in seeking the Lord for a fresh sense of calling to the ministry of this specific congregation. The commitment I made to them was that we would do everything we could to make it financially possible for them to remain a part of our team going forwarded provided they felt the Lord calling them to “re-enlist” for continued ministry here at Hillcrest Church. They all responded with deep sincerity and spirituality and the Holy Spirit has been speaking to their hearts, giving them individualized direction.

Through this process, Pastor Paul Kerr has sensed the Lord leading him to transition off our Hillcrest Church pastoral team and into a new and different venue of ministry. We are very thankful for his hard work during the time He has served the Lord in our midst and we are convinced that God has something wonderful in store for him and Anita as they move forward into their future together. This Sunday, July 31^st, the Abundant Life class will be holding a reception in their honor at 9:00am; we will be praying a prayer of blessing over them in our 10:30 worship service; and we will be receiving a love-offering for them to use in celebrating their upcoming 10^th Wedding Anniversary.

In closing, I also want to address something that happened in the context of our Sunday morning ministry time this last week. A couple in our church who are grieving the loss in membership we have experienced over the past several years, began circulating a petition on Baruch Ha’Shem’s campus in an effort to collect signatures in support of their desire to have me removed as Senior Pastor. When I became aware of this, I offered to meet with them personally so I could hear their hearts and I also encouraged them to meet directly with our collective church leadership. Thus far, they have declined to do so. If you have any interaction with them about these matters, I want to encourage you to lovingly, straightforwardly, graciously, and kindly point them to the biblical pattern of conflict resolution found in Matthew chapter eighteen and also to the very clearly defined process for raising such issues as described in our historic Hillcrest Church Constitution and Bylaws. Both Scripture and the documents which have long governed the legal affairs of our church family set forth processes by which any issue or concern of this type held by any member of our congregation may be given full and prayerful consideration by our leaders in a peaceful manner that does not disturb or divide our flock or negatively impact the unbelievers or baby Christians who attend our classes and worship services. As we move forward into our future, I believe the Lord would have us all heed the appeal of the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Ephesian Christians,

4:1 (NIV) As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

If you would like to hear more of my heart concerning the various things I have written about in this email, I encourage you to watch the video I have inserted at the beginning of this message. It is about eight minutes in length.

Teresa and I love you and thank God for the privilege of serving you. We believe with all our hearts that the very best is yet to come for Hillcrest Church and we are glad you have chosen to be a part of it…!

I look forward to seeing you on Sunday as I continue my ongoing sermon series on the Ten Commandments entitled, “Foundation for Living.” This week’s topic is, “You shall not murder.”

Blessings!

Pastor Mark Brand

Our Hillcrest Youth Group Needs Your Help...!

2011-06-25T09:58:00.002-05:00

Friday, June 24, 2011

Dear Hillcrest Church Family,

This Sunday, I begin my new series of messages concerning the Ten Commandments entitled,"Foundation for Living." This is a great opportunity to invite someone new to our services and then bring them to our church picnic at 4:30pm at Campbell Green Park at Campbell and Hillcrest.

Our young people are planning a special trip next month to one of the premier youth conferences in America. They have worked hard raising money to cover their expenses, but need are still short of what they need for this trip.

When you receive this email, please take a moment to watch the video clip I have attached by clicking on the picture above or on the following weblink: http://vimeo.com/25574884.

I encourage you to bring an extra offering this Sunday toward this project...!

Teresa and I love you and thank God for the privilege of serving you. We believe the best is yet to come...!

Pastor Mark Brand

www.markbrand.org

www.wordandspirittv.com

www.twitter.com/mwbrand

Free at Last! Free at Last! Thank God Almighty We're Debt-Free at Last!

2011-05-22T15:58:00.003-05:00

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Debt-Free At Last...!

2011-05-20T07:57:00.001-05:00

If God Had Asked These Mothers...

2011-05-08T15:29:00.001-05:00

Rebecca would have wanted Jacob to become a prince and a patriarch...but not to be cheated at Laban's house and to walk with a life-long limp after being crippled by an angel...

Rachel would have wanted Joseph to become Prime Minister...but not to be sold into slavery and be falsely imprisoned...

Jochebed would have wanted Moses to become the deliverer...but not to be raised by pagan Egyptians and spend forty years on the backside of the desert...

Hannah would have wanted Samuel to become a prophet...but not to be exposed to backslidden priests at a tender young age...

Eunice would have wanted Timothy to become the Apostle Paul's protoge...but not to be circumcised as a grown man and be criticized for his youth...

Mary would have wanted Jesus to become the Messiah...but not to have gone through Gethsemane and the cross...

Mothers cannot protect their children from all pain or hold on to them forever. Jochebed "...hid Moses as long as she could...(Exodus 2:3)," then put him in a basket and released him into his destiny.

Every mother must do the same...!

(from Teresa's Mother's Day sermon)

When Death Brings Life, Resurrection Sunday, April 24, 2011

2011-04-24T18:31:00.000-05:00

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Countdown to Baruch Ha'Shem

2011-04-07T18:45:00.008-05:00

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Dear Hillcrest Church Family,

I can hardly believe we just have two more Sundays at our Hillcrest Road campus before we move to our new, temporary home at the Baruch Ha’Shem Messianic Synagogue…! God is truly doing a quick and great work in delivering us from the stranglehold of debt and setting before us a open door of opportunity to pursue our Antioch destiny…!

Earlier today, I took a moment to record a video clip with some of my thoughts about where we are and about what is coming over the next few weeks. When you receive this email, I encourage you to take a few moments and view it online by clicking the picture above or on this weblink.

Teresa and I love you and thank God for the privilege of serving you…! We believe more strongly than ever before that the very best is yet to come…!

See you on Sunday…!

Pastor Mark

mbrand@hillcrestchurch.org
http://www.markbrand.org/
www.twitter.com/mwbrand

P.S. In case you did not receive Pastor Susan Rutledge’s recent email sharing her heart about the new season of life and ministry she believes the Lord is calling her to, I have inserted it and the end of this message. We love and appreciate her very much here at Hillcrest Church and we will be honoring her in a special way at the end of the month of May. We will send you more details later. We are also very excited about the way God has raised up Rolanda Green to serve our congregation and our children as we move forward into our future. She and her husband, Terry, and wonderful people and we are blessed of God to have them as part of our team!

From: Susan Rutledge

Subject: Personal Update From Pastor Susan

Dear Hillcrest Friends,

I had hoped to talk in person this week with the people I've worked alongside and been closest to at Hillcrest Church, but I've realized it's just not possible. I'm sending you this email, because I value you as a friend. You've had an impact on me in my years of service at Hillcrest, and I want to share with you some important news.

In the past months, I've sensed God preparing me for a change. While I've had open conversations with Pastor Mark about retiring "in a few years", I expected to stay through our transition to a new location. But in recent weeks, God has shown me that the decisions to be made regarding Hillcrest's children's ministry should be made by the person who is called to lead it long-term in its new season.

Two weeks ago, God spoke to me as clearly as He did when I accepted my position nearly 18 years ago…and told me my assignment at Hillcrest was complete. I knew if I was going to walk in obedience to the Lord, I had to turn in my resignation that day - and I did. I told Pastor Mark I felt incredibly guilty leaving at such a pivotal time in the church. But as I've had time to process my decision, I realize how wise God is. It is the absolute perfect time. As Hillcrest is about to experience a new birth, He is putting in place the team that will establish a new, strong foundation and build up on it. I leave with peace in my heart, knowing God's hand has orchestrated a special plan for Children's Ministry.

While He has been preparing me for a transition out, God has been working in the heart and life of Rolanda Green to bring her in. Rolanda has both experience, training and a call on her life for ministering to children. As a volunteer, she accepted major responsibilities while covering for me while I was on sabbatical, and continued with those even after my return. We have talked of her succeeding me one day, and I'm thrilled to tell you she will be officially coming on board May 1 to lead our Children's Ministry into a wonderful future!

I will remain on staff through the end of May. I don't know what God has in store for me - that is a walk of faith as Grant and I wait to see. I would love to be able to devote full time to writing and video work - two of my passions. I also will enjoy the freedom to spend time with my eight (soon to be nine) grandchildren.

My years at Hillcrest have been blessed by the people I've known. I will treasure my precious memories and forever count each of you as my friend. I know you will love and support Rolanda as she moves into this new role, in the same way I've felt your love and support for me.

God bless you!

Susan Rutledge

Pastor of Children & Family Ministries

Hillcrest Church
Dallas, TX

972.392.3992, ext. 148

Follow My Blog:
http://web.me.com/susanrutledge

2011-03-09T21:57:00.000-06:00

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Dear Hillcrest Church Family,

I HAVE SOME VERY EXCITING NEWS…!

Our Hillcrest Church Elders and Trustees have received, accepted, and unanimously authorized me to sign a contract for the sale of our church campus “as is” to a great, historic church in our Metroplex for $18 million cash with a rapid timetable for closing and full payment…!

In accordance with our Hillcrest Church Constitution and By-Laws and the terms of the contract, this letter serves as formal notice that our Hillcrest Church members will be voting on this matter two weeks from today on Wednesday, March 23rd at 7pm. Our Constitution and By-Laws require congregational approval by majority vote of our active members for any sale of property. Absentee ballots will be available upon request for all members who cannot be present to vote in person and who wish to vote in advance.

We will have a Hillcrest Church “Family Meeting” immediately following our 10:30am service this Sunday, March 13th, where we will present complete details concerning this transaction.

We will also have a Q&A time in our Performing Arts Center on Wednesday, March 16^th at 7pm.

Our Hillcrest Church Elders and Trustees are unanimously recommending that the members of our congregation approve this sale.

Teresa and I love you and thank God for the privilege of serving you as God uses us all to build this “Antioch” Church.

The best is yet to come…!

Blessings…!

Pastor Mark Brand

Hallelujah! Praise Report

2011-02-16T13:52:00.000-06:00

A Special Appeal From Pastor Mark...

2011-02-11T15:21:00.003-06:00

Dear Hillcrest Church Family,

Thank you for taking the time to read this very important email and to prayerfully reflect on what I have to say. I encourage you to also watch the video recording I have inserted above. It is less than twenty minutes long and will give you more detailed information concerning the latest developments in the sale of our church campus and the specific challenge that lies before us.

Spiritually, we are in a wonderful new season here at Hillcrest Church, but WE NEED YOUR HELP in meeting A VERY SIGNIFICANT NEED. Since you love our church, I want you to know exactly where things stand.

God is doing an exciting, new thing among our people…!

A true revival spirit spontaneously broke out among us two weeks ago, resulting in six nights of unplanned but very powerful services. Many people testified to divine healing through the sudden disappearance of physical symptoms; others were baptized in the Holy Spirit; and a wonderful new measure of God’s manifest presence filled our “house” and our hearts. This has given fresh momentum to our various ministries. I have personally sensed a strong new anointing as I have been preaching my series entitled, “What Is An Antioch Church?” My heart is filled with excitement about the wonderful future God has in store for us as a people.

As our Elders, Trustees, and I lead you forward into our destiny, while believing God for deliverance from the very high level of church debt incurred on our facility many years ago, we face TWO DISTINCT FINANCIAL CHALLENGES:

1. The approximately $10 million dollar “balloon payment” on our church mortgage that will come due in September. In an effort to sell our campus and use our considerable equity to purchase new facilities, we have retained the leading real estate agency in North Texas specializing in marketing church properties. They seem confident they will be able to sell our building if they are given enough time. Between their efforts and our own contacts in the church community, at the moment there are three different potential buyers that appear interested in further discussions.

2. The large monthly expenses we must meet in order to make the mortgage payments and cover the heavy costs of operating such a large facility. We have trimmed our discretionary expenses every way that we can. While our church income is more than sufficient to fund our ministries, meet our payroll, and provide for us to rent a temporary meeting place such as at Baruch Ha’Shem, it is far less than we would need to stay in our current building long-term given our indebtedness.

Earlier this week, we received some stunningly good news from our lender when they unexpectedly agreed to allow us to make interest-only payments from now until the balloon note comes due in September…! That is a significant short-term step toward finding an answer to the first challenge because it gives us more time to find a buyer for our campus and also cuts our monthly expenses by more than $42,000. (It does not, of course, solve the long-term issue of the balloon payment next September.)

Here is the CRITICAL problem we are facing today…

Every year, our church income drops substantially in January and February before rebounding to more normal levels in the month of March. Even though our January and February giving has never been enough in past years to cover our expenses during those two months, we have always had enough cash left over from the preceding December to meet our obligations in January and February. As a result of the weak national economy and the loss our congregation suffered last fall when we processed the vote to sell our facility when we were approached by the NDCBF, our giving so far this year has been VERY GOOD but NOT ENOUGH for us to make it until March.

Here is “THE BOTTOM-LINE”…

WE NEED AN EXTRA $60,000 above our projected giving levels in order to have any hope of meeting our expenses through the next several weeks. A total of $100,000 would raise our bank balances enough to allow us to manage our cash flow in a more normal fashion into the summer, provided our giving strengthens in the same percentage as it has in past years beginning with the month of March.

We need half of that IMMEDIATELY or we will be unable to make our interest-only payment to the bank and pay our church ministry team at the end of February.

Here is WHAT I AM ASKING YOU TO DO…

Prayerfully consider giving as large an extra offering as you can THIS SUNDAY.

Here is what your offering will do…

It will help meet this immediate financial need.
It will provide our leadership the time that we need to walk out a thorough, thoughtful, and wise process of finding God’s answer to the mortgage challenge we are facing.
It will give God time to work a miracle to keep us on this campus if that is His will. He is still able to that. We just need to make sure that we do whatever He wants and that we do not “short-circuit” His work in our hearts.

All of our pastors and I are passionately committed to partnering with you in the vision God has given us to build an “Antioch kind of church” here in Dallas.Your generous offering this Sunday will be a clear vote of confidence from you in our destiny as a church family.

Whether God keeps us on this campus or settles us somewhere else, this I know for sure - Our future is as good as His character and as bright as His promises…!

Teresa and I love you and thank God for the privilege of serving you. We believe the very best is yet to come for Hillcrest Church…!

We look forward to seeing you on Sunday…!

Pastor Mark Brand

www.markbrand.org

www.wordandspirittv.com

www.twitter.com/mwbrand

God is giving us a special opportunity at Hillcrest Church...!

2011-01-28T15:35:00.000-06:00

Dear Hillcrest Church Family,

Through the special Revival Services we have had all this week, I believe God is giving us a very unusual spiritual opportunity. A little earlier this afternoon, I shared my heart about all of this in a short video clip. When you receive this email, please take a moment and watch it.

I look forward to seeing you tonight (Friday) in our special service at 7:30pm...! The best is yet to come...!

Pastor Mark

Three More Nights of Revival Services (Wed-Thu)...!

2011-01-26T10:21:00.002-06:00

Dear Hillcrest Church Family,

The presence of the Lord settled in our Worship Center during the service last night in such a precious and powerful way that we found ourselves on our faces before Him during an extended time of worship and prayer. Such a spirit of revival is gripping the heart of our people that Evangelist Dale Everett and I feel led to have three more nights of special services starting tonight (Wednesday) and going through Friday. Please note that these meetings will start each night (including tonight - Wednesday) at 7:30pm.

We do not know how long these meetings will continue. As I wrote to you yesterday, I URGE you to NOT MISS YOUR MOMENT of deliverance, healing, Holy Spirit baptism, salvation for your family (Be sure and bring them to the meeting!), or fresh anointing for ministry…! Tonight could be the night God changes you and the circumstances around you forever.

I encourage you to invite others to these meetings, especially those who are sick and who desire healing from the Lord; those who need a fresh touch from the Holy Spirit; those who need deliverance from bondage; and those who need to come to know Jesus personally. Jesus, our Savior, Healer, Baptizer, and Deliverer will honor your faith and work powerfully in their lives through the person of the Holy Spirit.

Teresa and I love you and thank God for the privilege of serving you. We believe the best is yet to come for Hillcrest Church.

See you tonight at 7:30…!

Pastor Mark Brand
http://www.markbrand.org/
http://www.wordandspirittv.com/
www.twitter.com/mwbrand

From My Heart to Yours...What I Believe God Is Doing At Hillcrest Church

2011-01-25T16:06:00.000-06:00

Miracle Service Tonight (Tuesday) at 7:30pm...!

2011-01-25T07:15:00.000-06:00

Dear Hillcrest Church,

God has been doing something fresh, new, and remarkable in our spiritual family since Sunday morning’s service. Last night (Monday), several more people testified to receiving healing from the Lord through the sudden disappearance of symptoms, including a more than year-long rotor-cup like pain in my own left shoulder.

Evangelist Dale Everett and his precious wife, Debbie, have agreed to come back tonight (Tuesday) for another miracle service. In order to make it easier for people to reach our church campus (12123 Hillcrest Road in Dallas) through the city’s traffic, we are going to start tonight (Tuesday) at exactly 7:30pm.

Dale is going to be preaching the second part of the message he started last night entitled, “How to Walk on Water.” There will be prayer for the sickand I am sure the Spirit of the Lord will again minister healing to those in attendance. I also believe God has given me a specific word that He wants to deliver people from all sorts of addictions in the service this evening.

We do not know how long these meetings will continue. I URGE you to NOT MISS YOUR MOMENT of deliverance, healing, Holy Spirit baptism, salvation for your family (Be sure and bring them to the meeting!), or fresh anointing for ministry…! Tonight could be the night God changes you and the circumstances around you forever.

I encourage you to invite others to these meetings, especially those who are sick and who desire healing from the Lord; those who need a fresh touch from the Holy Spirit; those who need deliverance from bondage; and those who need to come to know Jesus personally. Jesus, our Savior, Healer, Baptizer, and Deliverer will honor your faith and work powerfully in their lives through the person of the Holy Spirit.

Teresa and I love you and thank God for the privilege of serving you. We believe the best is yet to come for Hillcrest Church.

See you tonight at 7:30…!

Pastor Mark Brand

www.markbrand.org

www.wordandspirittv.com

www.twitter.com/mwbrand

Laying On Of Hands Service Tonight (Monday, January 24th) at 7pm!

2011-01-24T07:18:00.006-06:00

Don't forget our special Laying on of Hands service tonight (Monday, January 24th) with prayer for the sick at 7pm! This is a great opportunity to invite your unsaved friends to a service where they will see the reality of God's love for people manifested in a very tangible way.

If you have not been reading the One Year Bible devotions written by our pastors, I encourage you to check them out online by clicking here. If you would like to receive them free via email every morning, click here.

See you tonight at 7pm...!

Pastor Mark
=========
mbrand@hillcrestchurch.org
www.markbrand.org
www.twitter.com/mwbrand

Special Holy Spirit Anointing Service with Dale and Debbie Everett tonight at 6pm...!

2011-01-23T15:33:00.005-06:00

Jesus the Healer worked many miracles in people's bodies this morning through the ministry of Evangelist Dale Everett in our 10:30am worship service. So many individuals gave specific testimony to healing that we lost count. Jesus Christ is truly the same yesterday, today, and forever...!

Tonight Dale is going to minister concerning 'How to Flow in the Anointing.' If you have never received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit or have never prayed in the language of the Spirit or ministered in the gifts of the Holy Spirit or if you simply want to go to another level in your walk in the Spirit...This service is for you!

The Lord put specific faith in my heart this morning to believe Him for our children to be filled with the Holy Spirit in this service tonight. I encourage you to bring your entire family, whether young or old.

When you receive this email, I want to ask you to do something very specific: Please contact three people immediately whether by phone or in person, tell them what God did in our service this morning, and then invite them to join you tonight.

Several days ago, I received this word from the Lord, 'According to your faith, so be it unto you!' Tonight, dress is casual so you can come 'as you are' but above all, come expecting God to impact the lives of your friends and your family in a profound way.

Deep in my spirit, I sense that this is truly a time of 'New Beginning' for Hillcrest Church. You won't want to miss it!

Teresa and I love you and thank God for the privilege of serving you. We believe the best is yet to come!

See you at 6pm...!

Pastor Mark
=========
mbrand@hillcrestchurch.org
www.markbrand.org
www.twitter.com/mwbrand

100 Days to A New Beginning Update - 12/2/2010

2010-12-02T23:53:00.003-06:00

A Joshua Generation - CFNI Spring Graduation 2010

2010-11-26T21:02:00.000-06:00

Sorting through some files on my computer today, I came across this video recording of the message I preached at the Christ for the Nations Institute Spring Graduation Ceremony earlier this year entitled, "A Joshua Generation." I am so thankful for the opportunities God has given me to minister there. Nothing gets my "juices" going like a chance to share my heart with a bunch of young "leaders in the making...!" I attended CFNI myself in 1978 and my life was profoundly impacted, particularly in the areas of worship and missions. Experiencing the manifest presence of God day after day in chapel service and sitting in classes taught by John Garlock, the World Missions teacher, changed me forever...!

Happy Thanksgiving...!

2010-11-25T12:30:00.000-06:00

From My Study - Seeking God With All Your Heart, November 17, 2010

2010-11-17T18:01:00.002-06:00

Word and Spirit - Expanded Broadcast Schedule

2010-11-12T06:52:00.005-06:00

Our Word and Spirit telecast has recently moved from cable to satellite. We are also broadcasting over-the-air in Dallas, Columbus, Miami/Fort Lauderdale, Phoenix, Houston, San Antonio, and Midland. (We expect to be on the air in Fresno, Sacramento, Orlando, and Los Angeles in the near future.)

CHANNEL AND STATION INFO:
(NOTE: All showings are listed in CST / Central Standard Time)

Monday - Friday
2:00-2:30am
7:00-7:30am
2:30-3:00pm

Saturday
7:00-7:30am
12:00-12:30pm (noon)
10:30-11:00pm

Sunday
7:00-7:30am
12:00-12:30pm (noon)
10:00-10:30pm

CITY / STATION INFO:

Satellite:

All of North America - Channel 103 (Glorystar satellite network - www.glorystar.tv)

All of North America - Galaxy 19 at 97.0°W Non-encrypted (TP Freq = 12060 H; TP = 20; Band = Ku; EIRP = 46.5-48.5)

Over-the-Air:

Dallas, TX - Channel 38.2

Columbus, OH - Channel 32.1

Miami / Fort Lauderdale, FL - Channel 38.1

Phoenix, AZ - Channel 50.3

Houston, TX - Channel 21.3

San Antonio, TX - Channel 10.2

Midland, TX - Channel

INTERNET:

Live - www.mikesimons.com

On Demand - www.wordandspirittv.com

We are grateful to the Lord and to our friends, Mike and Hazel Simons, for making this ministry outreach possible. Please join us in prayer that God will use us to bless many people!

From My Desk - Hurry Across

2010-10-29T21:09:00.001-05:00

I’ve been thinking about the Joshua narrative a lot lately. Here is one verse that captured my attention a few days ago,

“Now the priests who carried the ark remained standing in the middle of the Jordan until everything the Lord had commanded Joshua was done by the people, just as Moses had directed Joshua. The people hurried over, and as soon as all of them had crossed, the ark of the Lord and the priests came to the other side while the people watched. ” (Joshua 4:10–11, NIV)

As each of us walks with God, seeking to know and do His will, we must strike the right balance between haste and caution.

Rushing headlong into major decisions is often a recipe for disaster. Familiar folk proverbs warn us away from that extreme.

Haste makes waste...Marry in haste, repent at leisure...Look before you leap...

Those statements are very good advice - unless God has suddenly parted the Jordan in front of you. When His deliverance instantly appears, you must respond quickly or you will miss your miracle.

Standing on the banks of the Jordan River at flood season, the people of God were facing an enormous obstacle. Perhaps they intended to search for a better location upstream or to wait for the river to go down. God suddenly showed up with His own ideas and the muddy waters rolled back.

When that happened, the Israelites did not call a committee meeting or a consultant; they did not speculate or hesitate; they did not casually saunter over to the other side. Instead, they ran across an eerily dry riverbed and into their destiny.

Most of the time, we should make major decisions slowly and carefully. When God suddenly points the way forward, delayed obedience becomes disobedience.

Do you need God to show up in your circumstances? Are you prepared for Him to do so in the way of His choosing? Are you willing to walk through whatever door He opens? Answering “Yes” to those questions helps position you for a miracle.

When you get this email, I encourage you to pause for a moment and pray these words,

Heavenly Father, I thank you for promising you will never leave me or forsake me. I know you are wise beyond anything I can imagine. Intervene in my life in whatever way you choose. Solve my problems in whatever way you know is best. Help me recognize when your hand is at work in my circumstances. Give me the strength, the faith, and the courage I need to run through whatever door you open into my destiny. Help me encourage others to do the same. In the name of Jesus, Amen!

He who knows and he who knows not...

2010-10-22T11:57:00.001-05:00

I came across this Persian proverb today, while reading Joel Rosenberg's, "The Twelfth Imam,"

He who knows not and knows not that he knows not is a fool - shun him.
He who knows not and knows that he knows not is a child - teach him.
He who knows and knows not that he knows is asleep - awake him.
He who knows and knows that he knows is wise - follow him.

HC Family Conversation - Day 5

2010-09-17T18:03:00.001-05:00

Do you believe in Providence? That God’s unseen hand can guide human events?

According to the New Testament, the early church did to an astonishing degree. Consider this description of the process they used to choose an apostle to replace Judas,

"Then they prayed, ‘Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen to take over this apostolic ministry…Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles. ” (Acts 1:23–26, NIV)

They followed an ancient Jewish practice similar to throwing dice or drawing straws. The Lord had directed Joshua to divide the land of Canaan among the tribes of Israel in this manner. (Josh. 13:6; Ezek. 45:1; Mic. 2:5; etc.)

The book of Proverbs promises God hand can overshadow such an approach,

“The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD. ” (Prov. 16:33)

It also gives a very practical reason why this is sometimes healing and helpful,

“Casting the lot settles disputes and keeps strong opponents apart. ” (Prov. 18:18)

Why do Spirit-filled people need to reflect on such passages?

Because even on our best and most spiritual days we only, “…know in part and prophesy in part.” (1 Cor. 13:9, 12) None of us is able to perfectly discern the mind or will of God. Neither will we always agree concerning His will.

As you contemplate the decision that is before us, perhaps you feel a bit like the Apostle Paul when he wrote, “Who has known the mind of the Lord?” (Rom. 11:34)

I have some good news for you…

God has promised to keep His providential hand upon our faulty, frail, utterly imperfect human processes if we call upon Him.

As one country preacher put it, “I believe God is so great that He can draw a straight line with a crooked stick!”

Are you willing to join your faith with the rest of our church family for God to guide us this way? Will you accept the outcome of our congregational vote as ordained by Him?

Are you willing to pray these words?

“Heavenly Father, Thank you for promising to help our weakness. Thank you for promising to overshadow our process. Please settle my heart and calm my fears. Help me think your thoughts today. I trust you to lead us by your Providence into your perfect will. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen!”

HC Family Conversation - Day 4

2010-09-16T23:56:00.002-05:00

Here is a verse that is on my heart tonight,

“Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.” (Ephesians 4:2–3, NLT)

Unity is never an accident. It requires purpose and very hard work. The more important an issue is, the harder we have to work to keep legitimate disagreement from resulting in disunity.

Disagreements are like sparks; our words are either like water or gasoline. Right words extinguish the fires of controversy; wrong words can cause explosions.

One measure of our spirituality is the way we disagree with others. Division is a sign of carnality (I Cor. 3:3) and God hates every person who sows it. (Proverbs 6:19)

You recognize a divisive person by the impact of their words and actions. Run away from them like they have the plague! (Romans 16:17) This can be hard if they are people you love, admire, or appreciate, but that verse is in the Bible for a reason.

Division is like an infection. It spreads through personal contact. We can pick up a spirit of division without even knowing it, just like we would some other germ.

When you receive this email, please pause for a moment and pray these words,

“Heavenly Father, Help me to walk in unity with my brothers and sisters at Hillcrest Church. Give me grace to listen as well as speak. Help me see things from other people’s point of view. Give me the courage to walk away from conversations that are divisive. Help me speak words that bring unity in the Spirit. Show us your will. Guide our decision. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”

HC Family Conversation - Day 3

2010-09-15T17:48:00.000-05:00

Emotions are squishy things, hard to wrap your thoughts around sometimes, yet very real and very powerful.

Confusion… Anger… Fear… Sadness… Joy… Faith… Love…

Feelings like these have shaped the flow of human history. Armies have marched, kingdoms have fallen, and continents have been explored all because of ideas...and because of feelings.

Important decisions sometimes provoke intense emotions. Those feelings are real and they are not wrong. As I have contemplated the prospect of selling our church campus over the past several weeks, I have often felt like I was riding an emotional roller coaster!

Through it all, here is what I have come to realize in a new way,

As people of the Spirit, God does not want us to deny our feelings. Neither does He want our lives to be governed by them. He calls us to be Spirit-filled and Spirit-controlled so we can make decisions that are Spirit-led.

The Apostle Paul put it this way,

“…those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. ” (Romans 8:14, NIV)

When you receive this email, please pause for a moment and join me in praying these words,

“Heavenly Father, I thank you for the precious gift of your Holy Spirit. May He come and settle my heart by filling me today with His thoughts, His wisdom, His power, and His strength. Lead us your people as we make this decision. Help us to know your will. May your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, for yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever! Amen!”

HC Family Conversation - Day 2

2010-09-14T17:44:00.010-05:00

Here is a verse that is on my heart today,

“If the LORD delights in a man’s way, he makes his steps firm… ” (Psalm 37:23, NIV)

Here is the way it is rendered in a another translation,

“The LORD directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.” (Psalm 37:23, NLT)

I recently noticed again how many verses in Scripture promise God will guide our steps. That gives me great comfort because when I think of steps I also think of decisions. God has promised to guide our steps so that means He has also promised to guide our decisions! If that is true for us individually, then it is also for us true corporately.

Let’s believe God together that He will guide our church through the decision we face. When you receive this email, please pause for a moment and join me in praying the following prayer:

“Lord, I thank you for promising to guide us through every moment of our lives. Please keep your hand upon us, your people, as we confront this vital decision regarding our church property. May your will be done so that your Kingdom may come on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.”

God has opened up a possibility for us to be debt-free...!

2010-09-14T00:57:00.001-05:00

What Does Water Baptism Mean? (Family Day Sermon, September 5, 2010)

2010-09-06T10:49:00.000-05:00

We are now streaming live video from our Sunday morning services

2010-07-18T21:44:00.000-05:00

We have now started testing live streaming video from our Sunday 10:30am and Wednesday 7pm services. This is hosted by a free, ad-supported company so occasionally you will see some kind of ad pop up, some of which may not be totally in line with our values! To see a sample of what we are doing, please click on the image above. Today we made a change in the settings which seems to have greatly improved the video and audio quality. Please give us your feedback.

Hymn Lovers - It's Your Turn...!

2010-05-23T11:18:00.000-05:00

An old farmer went to the city one weekend and attended a big city church. He came home, and his wife asked him how it was.

“Well,” said the farmer, “It was good. They did something different, however. They sang praise choruses instead of hymns.”

“Praise choruses?” asked the wife. “What are those?”

“Oh, they’re OK. They’re sort of like hymns, only different,” said the farmer.

“Well, what’s the difference?” asked the wife.

The farmer said, “Well, it’s like this: If I were to say to you, ‘Martha, the cows are in the corn,’ well, that would be a hymn. If, on the other hand, I were to say to you, ‘Martha, Martha, Martha, Oh Martha, Martha, Martha, the cows, the big cows, the brown cows, the black cows, the white cows, the black and white cows, the cows, cows, cows are in the corn, are in the corn are in the corn, are in the corn, the corn, corn, corn’ – well, that would be a praise chorus.”

Meanwhile, a young Christian went to the country one weekend and attended a small rural church. He came home, and his wife asked him how it was.

“Well,” said the young man, “it was good. They did something different, however. They sang hymns instead of regular songs.”

“Hymns?” asked his wife. “What are those?”

“Oh, they’re OK. They’re sort of like regular songs, only different,” said the young man.

“Well what’s the difference?” asked his wife.

The young man said, “Well, it’s like this: If I were to say to you, ‘Martha, the cows are in the corn, well, that would be a regular song. If, on the other hand, I were to say to you:

‘O, Martha, dear Martha, hear thou my cry
Inclinest thine ear to the words of my mouth.
Turn thou thy whole wondrous ear by and by
To the righteous, inimitable, glorious truth.

For the way of the animals who can explain
There in their heads is no shadow of sense,
Hearkenest they in God’s sun or His rain
Unless from the mild, tempting corn they are fenced.

‘Yea, those cows in glad bovine, rebellious delight,
Have broke free their shackles, their warm pens eschewed.
Then goaded by minions of darkness and night
They all my mild Chilliwack sweet corn have chewed.

‘So look to that bright shining day by and by,
Where all foul corruptions of earth are reborn,
Where no vicious animal makes my soul cry
And I no longer see those foul cows in the corn.’

“Then, if I were to sing only verses one, three and four and do a key change on the last verse, well, that would be a hymn.”

Author unknown.

(Courtesy of Moishe Rosen's blog at http://moisherosen.org/2009/09/08/hymn-lovers-its-your-turn)

City Plan Commission Denies Our Request for An SUP for Coram Deo Academy

2010-05-06T21:05:00.004-05:00

I am sorry to report that this afternoon the Dallas City Plan Commission (CPC) denied "without prejudice" our application for the Special Use Permit (SUP) that we need in order to host the Coram Deo Academy Christian school (CDA) here at Hillcrest Church. This action was taken by the CPC in spite of the fact that the CPC staff had recommended our SUP be approved.

CDA is currently located a mere 600 yards or so up the street on Hillcrest Road on the premises of the Trinity Hillcrest Episcopal Church. CDA would like to move onto our facility in order to be able to grow from their current enrollment of approximately 90 students in grades K-6 to a maximum daily presence of 250 students in grades K-12. Their unique scholastic approach blends traditional classroom education with home-schooling, yielding outstanding results both academically and in the formation of the students' character. They have been a great neighbor and an asset to our community since they have been at Trinity Hillcrest and we would be thrilled to partner with them in the Christian education of children from our congregation and beyond.

Please pray that God would give us wisdom regarding any steps we should now take and that He would bless our neighbors and the members of the CPC.

Watch Real-Time Decisions for Christ from Around the World...!

2010-04-23T19:56:00.001-05:00

My friend, Eric Celier, and his team over at Jesus.net have put together this real-time display of people who have just given their heart to the Lord Jesus somewhere around the world via one of their websites in various languages. If you have the free Google-Earth software installed, the second window below will display an even cooler 3-D version...!

Why Jews Hate Palin - Jennifer Rubin in Commentary magazine

2010-02-20T15:12:00.000-06:00

Teresa and I have a special love and appreciation in our hearts for the Jewish people, but I found this article in Commentary magazine fascinating. It's entitled, "Why Jews Hate Palin." Author Jennifer Rubin details several ways in which Sarah Palin is the antithesis of much of what modern, secularized American Jewish women hold dear. Whatever one's views of Sarah Palin, Rubin's analysis is worth thinking about. I would love to hear your comments!

CLARIFICATION - How Sweet Is the Victory

2010-01-08T07:43:00.000-06:00

A sweet friend just emailed me saying that she thinks that the words I have given are to a song that is already in circulation. I am SO thankful for that clarification...! Apparently, Dad heard them and wrote them down and was learning the song so he could sing it. Either way, it certainly expresses his heart and causes me to think that he sensed he was soon to go...

Celebrating the Life of Kenneth Brand

2010-01-07T11:12:00.006-06:00

My Father, Rev. Kenneth F. Brand, went to be with the Lord last Monday afternoon. We are having the visitation this afternoon, Thursday, January 7th from 5-6pm and his funeral service tomorrow morning, Friday, January 8th at 11:00am in the auditorium of the first church he and Mom pastored, the Full Gospel Tabernacle at 1801 Guthrie Avenue in Paducah, Kentucky.

Dad will be interned on Saturday, January 9th in Edwardsville, Illinois. Due to the inclement weather and the size of the cemetary chapel, this ceremony will be private but our our family will host a reception for our friends in the greater Saint Louis area who would like to express their condolences to Mom immediately following from 2:30-4:30pm at Calvary Life Church at 4650 Maryville Road in Granite City, Illinois, thanks to the kindness of their Senior Pastor, Mark Maynard.

We request that in lieu of flowers consideration be given in his memory to the Hillcrest Church World Missions Fund, 12123 Hillcrest Road, Dallas, Texas 75230 for world outreach or directly to Mom for her ongoing care.

If you would like to stay in touch with Mom you can do so via the email address we have set for her at: VeraMaeBrand@gmail.com or by postal mail c/o Hillcrest Church, 12123 Hillcrest Road, Dallas, TX 75230.

Oh How Sweet Is The Victory

2010-01-07T10:03:00.004-06:00

This afternoon, we have the visitation and tomorrow the funeral for my father, Rev. Kenneth F. Brand. He often wrote songs and always dated them when they were finished.

We found the following, handwritten words on his piano's music holder after he died. The paper was undated, which means it was still a work in progress. My brother, Jason, was in their home in the days leading up to Dad's heart attack, but he had never noticed the paper on the piano, even though it sits in a very prominent and visibile place in the living room. That makes us think that he had written it in the last day or so before he died. He was a very early riser and may even have penned the words early Christmas morning. Late that evening he was taken to the hopsital.

Unfortunately, we do not have any idea of the melody...

Oh How Sweet Is The Victory!

Oh the storm has come and passed,

I can see the sunshine at last.

There's a rainbow appearing just for me,

Sure, I've suffered for a while,

But, He gave me a brand new smile,

And oh how sweet is the victory!

Chorus

Oh how sweet is the victory,
After the battle has been won,
Well, I've got the valley far behind,
Living on the mountain, walking in the sunshine,

Oh how sweet is the victory!

II.

Well the ole river was dark and wide,
But He was waiting on the other side,
Jesus has set me safely across the rolling tide.
There were many times I thought I'd drown,
But He was standing on solid ground,
And Oh how sweet is the victory!

(repeat chorus 2 times)

It's something...as I was just typing those words in on the computer, I had a melody come to mind that fits perfectly. It's as if I can hear him playing the piano and singing this song in my head...One thing's for sure, if he could speak to us now, this song expresses some of what I think he'd say.

"...thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1Corinthians 15:57 NIV)

The Dusty Messiah

2009-12-31T21:28:00.003-06:00

This...is what most compels us to follow the Man from Nazareth...We don't recognize him as Lord because he's the bearer of timeless, practical truths, or the beautiful lynchpin on which our complex theologies rest, or the mystical Divine who perplexes everyone but us. We call Jesus Lord because only the true God would stoop low enough to wander dusty Nazarene farms, eat broiled fish by the Sea of Galilee, and ascend the Temple Mount as one Jewish pilgrim among many—all to raise us up higher than the top of Mount Zion.

- Katelyn Beaty in "The Dusty Messiah."

On String Theory and Heaven - Dinesh D'Souza

2009-12-18T06:00:00.001-06:00

In an interview over at Christianity Today's website, Dinesh D'Souza makes some very interesting statements about the connection between theoretical physics and the reality of life after death: Here's an excerpt:

The Christian view is that when we die, our souls are reunited to incorruptible, resurrected bodies, and that we live forever in another realm, heaven or hell. It's a pretty incredible assertion, because if the Christian view of the afterlife is viable, there must be other matter and other realms.

If we lived 200 years ago in Newton's time, all of this would seem impossible because space and time stretch indefinitely backward and forward, so what it meant to be outside of time was very hard to articulate. Also, it was hard to posit any other kind of matter.

But revolutionary discoveries in the past 25 years suggest that there is dark matter and dark energy that make up 95 percent of all the matter in the universe. All materialist generalizations about matter are immediately rendered partial, because how can you claim to know something if you've seen only 5 percent of it?

...Scientists now posit through string theory the presence of multiple realms, multiple dimensions. One of the implications of the big bang is that space and time had a beginning, and that space and time are properties of our universe. If that's true, then outside our universe or beyond our universe, there would be different laws of space and time, or no space and no time.

His words bring to mind what I often heard my Dad say when I was a teenager, "Son, true science and the Bible always walk hand in hand."

CBN Videos About Oral Roberts

2009-12-17T11:35:00.001-06:00

Summary of his life and ministry:

2009 Interview with Scott Ross concerning how to hear the voice of God:

Life and Legacy of Oral Roberts, including 2002 interview with Michael Little:

Part II of Michael Little's 2002 interview:

Hope - Gay Thurman

2009-12-09T22:22:00.000-06:00

While taping a "Word and Spirit" telecast today, my special guest, Gay Thurman, said, "Hope is like a beautifully wrapped package under the tree. I have not opened it yet, but because I know who it is from, I know it will be something good."

Her statement reminds me of what the Apostle Paul said in Romans 5:5, "...and hope does not disappoint us because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom He has given us..."

God is moving in Iran...!

2009-10-10T19:42:00.006-05:00

This past Thursday, I was privileged to host Sam Yeghnazar from Elam Ministries on the Word and Spirit telecast. Elam is dedicated to sharing the love of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the Iranian people.

Click on the window below to hear Sam share several powerful testimonies from Iran.

Richard Hilton - 25th Hillcrest Anniversary Communion Testimony

2009-09-26T19:32:00.002-05:00

We recently celebrated the 25th Anniversary of Hillcrest Church. During that special service, we played the following videotaped testimony of how God used communion to redeem our church property. Richard Hilton, one of our charter members who is very involved in our prayer ministry tells the story...

There Is Hope For Prodigals

2009-09-19T13:46:00.010-05:00

Raised in a Christian family with the most famous preacher of the 20th Century as his grandfather, Tullian Tchividjian ran from God as a young man. His lifestyle caused such serious problems in his family that his father actually had the police remove him from the family home at the age of nineteen and tell him he was on his own. A couple of years later, he came to know Jesus personally, enrolled in seminary, and succeeded Dr. James Kennedy as the Senior Pastor of the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in south Florida.

Click on the image below to watch a short video version of his testimony as shown on the 700 Club. To watch Tullian and his wife's recent interview with James Robinson on Life Today click here.

Former Palestinian Terrorist Encounters Jesus and Begins Loving Jews

2009-09-18T17:29:00.002-05:00

Former Palestinian terrorist Tass Saada encountered Jesus and began loving Jews. Here is a clip of his testimony on CBN.

Dominic and Lindsay Russo Nicaragua Update

2009-08-17T14:21:00.004-05:00

I had a great time hosting young missionary evangelists Dominic and Lindsay Russo on TV last Friday. Teresa and I have known Lindsay and her family for many, many years. It is wonderful to see young people totally sold out to Jesus! He is 25 years old, she is 22.

The two-hour TV interview will air in a few days and we look forward to having them minister soon at Hillcrest Church. In the meantime, check out this YouTube video to see what God did through them in Nicaragua just a few days ago...

MARYAM AND MARZIEH: “We will not deny our faith” (Iranian trial update)

2009-08-10T11:19:00.000-05:00

Here is the latest update from Elam Ministries concerning the two young Iranian Christian women who were arrested five months ago for their faith and who were summoned before the judge yesterday at 7am....

MARYAM AND MARZIEH: “We will not deny our faith”

In a dramatic session before the revolutionary court today in Tehran, Maryam Rustampoor (27) and Marzieh Amirizadeh (30) were told to recant their faith in Christ. Though great pressure was put on them, both women declared that they would not deny their faith. Maryam and Marzieh were originally arrested on March 5, 2009 and have suffered greatly while in prison, suffering ill health, solitary confinement and interrogations for many hours while blindfolded.

On Saturday August 8, Maryam and Marzieh were summoned to appear in court on Sunday August 9 in order to hear a verdict on their case. The chief interrogator had recommended a verdict of ‘apostasy.’ However, when they arrived, no verdict was actually given. Instead, the court session focussed on the deputy prosecutor, Mr Haddad, questioning Maryam and Marzieh about their faith and telling them that they had to recant in both verbal and written form. This made it clear that in the eyes of the court, Maryam and Marzieh’s only crime is that they have converted to Christianity.

Mr. Haddad, asked the two women if they were Christians. “We love Jesus,” they replied. He repeated his question and they said, “Yes, we are Christians.”

Mr. Haddad then said, “You were Muslims and now you have become Christians.”

“We were born in Muslim families, but we were not Muslims,” was their reply.

Mr. Haddad’s questioning continued and he asked them if they regretted becoming Christians, to which they replied, “We have no regrets.”

Then he stated emphatically, “You should renounce your faith verbally and in written form.” They stood firm and replied, “We will not deny our faith.”

During one tense moment in the questioning, Maryam and Marzieh made reference to their belief that God had convicted them through the Holy Spirit. Mr. Haddad told them, “It is impossible for God to speak with humans.”

Marzieh asked him in return, “Are you questioning whether God is Almighty?”

Mr. Haddad then replied, “You are not worthy for God to speak to you.”

Marzieh said, “It is God, and not you, who determines if I am worthy.”

Mr. Haddad told the women to return to prison and think about the options they were given and come back to him when they are ready (to comply). Maryam and Marzieh said, “We have already done our thinking.”

At the end of the session, Mr. Haddad told them that a judge will give them his verdict, though it is not clear who will be the judge in their case now. He also allowed Maryam and Marzieh to have a lawyer represent them in the case for the first time since their arrest.

Both women are back in Evin prison tonight. During their five-month ordeal, both have been unwell and have lost much weight. Marzieh is in pain due to an on-going problem with her spine, as well as an infected tooth and intense headaches.She desperately needs medical attention. Two months ago the prison officials told her the prison had proper medical equipment and that they will attend to her, but so far no proper treatment has been given.

Despite the concentrated effort of officials to pressure them into recanting their faith, Maryam and Marzieh love Jesus and they are determined to stand firm to the very end no matter whatever happens. They have demonstrated their love for Jesus and would offer their lives for Him if they were called to do so. After today’s court session they said, “If we come out of prison we want to do so with honor.”

Maryam and Marzieh’s case is a clear and harsh violation of human rights and religious liberty by Iran’s authorities. They deserve the support of all those who respect human rights and to be released without charges so they can pursue a life of freedom.

ELAM Ministries - http://www.elam.com/

Please pray for these two Iranian sisters!

2009-08-08T20:36:00.031-05:00

I have just received the following email with a very urgent prayer request from our dear friends at Elam Ministries...

Two young Iranian Christian women, Maryam and Marzieh, were arrested by the authorities there five months ago for converting from Islam to Christianity. They have been summoned to appear in court tomorrow (Sunday) to hear the verdict in their case.

One judge has already told them that he was personally going to see to it that they will be put to death. Even if they are released, they will still be in tremendous danger since in the past Christians have been martyred in the streets after being set from from prison.

Please take a moment to pray for these two precious sisters in the Lord, asking God to supernaturally intervene on their behalf and that His comforting, protecting angels will be with them…!

===============================

Dear friends, After five months of being detained in Evin Prison in Tehran for their conversion to Christianity, Maryam and Marzieh have been told to be ready. Tomorrow (Sunday 9th August) at 7am they will be taken to the court where they will hear of the court's decision. Hopefully their lawyer will be allowed to be present. Marzieh is in pain due to her spine, her tooth and searing headaches. She desperately needs to see a specialist but she has not been allowed.

Let us urgently go to the Lord in believing prayer for Maryam and Marzieh in this most sensitive time.

Let us thank Him For preserving, sustaining and strengthening them in prison.
For giving them the grace to be steadfast in their faith.
For the witness they have been in prison.
For the love, concern and prayer of many believers around the world.

Pray for their court hearing tomorrow morning.

Pray that the court will set them free.
Pray that the presence and the anointing of the Holy Spirit will be with them.
That they will receive healing from all illness.
That the peace of God will cover their minds and their hearts, and will keep them safe in Jesus and refresh them tonight.
That in all this the Lord will be greatly glorified and His perfect will be done.

Thank you so much for praying.

The Elam team

Questions Men Should Ask Their Wives

2009-07-23T15:07:00.001-05:00

Sitting here in the Starbucks in Paducah, Kentucky on vacation while waiting for the mechanics at the Honda dealership to repair Teresa's van, I came across as great blog post by Pastor Perry Noble entitled, "Five Questions Men Should Ask their Wives." I am going to take this list back with me to my parents' house where we are staying and ask Teresa each of these over the next few days. My bet is that I will be surprised by some of her answers and that your wife will surprise you with some of hers, too…! (Hint: Teresa says that scientific studies have shown that the most arousing sound a woman can hear is noise coming from the kitchen when her husband is doing the dishes and that the most arousing aroma any woman can smell is her husband's sweat when he is working on her "honey-do" list…!)
J!

Here is Pastor Perry's list:

What is the most romantic thing I have ever done for you?
What is something fun we can do together?
What is one thing I can do for you this week that relieve stress from your life?
How can I pray for you?
If you could change one thing about our marriage, what would it be?

Here are two I urge every pastor to add:

Knowing what you know about me, if you were not my wife, would you want me to be your pastor? Would you want to come to my church?

Teresa's Interview with Rebecca Bauer

2009-06-26T14:44:00.003-05:00

Teresa recently had the privilege of interviewing Rebecca Bauer on our Word and Spirit telecast. After growing up at the Church on the Way where her father, Jack Hayford, was the Founding Pastor, Rebecca served alongside her husband, Scott Bauer, who was the Senior Pastor until he went to be with Jesus very unexpectedly in his late forties. During this interview, Rebecca shares her thoughts on being a preacher's kid and a pastor's wife, before suddenly finding herself an single adult.

Iran Crying for Freedom - Elam Ministries Report

2009-06-19T19:59:00.003-05:00

At Hillcrest Church, we have been privileged to partner with the premier ministry to Iran, “Elam,” since their inception many years ago. I know their leaders well and esteem them very highly for their character and commitment to the Lord. They just sent me this excellent update on what is happening right now in Iran that I want to pass it on to you. It is truly a “must-read.” Please feel free to pass it on to others...

Iran Crying For Freedom

As hundreds of thousands continue to pour out onto the streets of Tehran and all Iran’s major cities demanding fair elections, Iranian Christians are crying out to God for freedom and are asking the global church to stand with them in prayer.

For nearly thirty years the church has struggled against severe restrictions and outright persecution which has driven many Christians underground. Church services are infiltrated, pastors are regularly called for questioning, phones are tapped, outreach illegal, and Christians cannot even publish the Bible or Christian literature in Iran’s national language, Persian. Those who have evangelized and campaigned for religious freedom have paid a heavy price. Eight prominent Christians have been killed since 1979 and there are reports that many others have been arrested, imprisoned, and even further deaths.

While the early years of the revolution were relatively trouble free, intimidation of the church increased after the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini died in 1989 and was succeeded by Ali Khamanei. Under Khamanei the Iranian regime took a very harsh stance against the church. There was some easing of pressure under the reformist President Mohammad Khatami (1997 – 2005), but under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (2005 - ?), who vowed ‘to stop’ Christianity, there has been severe intimidation.

In 2008 over 50 ordinary Christians were arrested, some being held for weeks in solitary confinement. In 2009 this has continued. On March 5th Marzieh Amirizadeh (30) and Maryam Rustampoor (27), two active Christians, were taken from their home in Tehran to Evin prison where they are still being held. These two young women have both spent time in a two by two meter cell in solitary confinement, which one of them described as being ‘like a grave’.

For Maryam and Marzieh and the thousands of other Christians who were formerly Muslim, the outcome of the present political turmoil could crucially impact the level of suffering they have to face. If the position of hard-liners is strengthened there is a real danger they could unleash more persecution against the church. There is a law making its way through the legislative bodies making the death sentence for male apostates mandatory, and life imprisonment for women. If the moderates are strengthened, then, as happened under Khatami, there is a hope that the intimidation and arrests will come to an end as the regime signals it is willing to tolerate more diversity.

While the outcome of the political turmoil might impact the level of suffering the church faces, it should not affect the church’s remarkable recent history of growth. This will continue. If the moderates gain the upper hand there will be more freedom for Christians to share with the most open people to the Gospel in the Middle East. If the hard-liners are strengthened and there is more suffering, as the last thirty years has shown, this will only increase Christians’ determination to witness to Jesus.

“Iranian Christians are pleading for believers around the world to pray that God will touch the nation of Iran at this time,” says Sam Yeghnazar, Founder and Director of Elam Ministries, who are publishing a new prayer guide, next month called ‘IRAN 30’ to help Christians discover what is happening behind the headlines and to know how to pray effectively.

IRAN 30 is endorsed by George Verwer, Ravi Zaharias, and other influential Christian leaders. Click here to view a sample of the book and pre-order copies of ‘Iran 30’.

For more information on Iran and Christians order ‘Iran: Open Hearts in A Closed Land’ by Mark Bradley, published by Authentic Media from here.

Bombed in Baghdad

2009-05-16T18:42:00.001-05:00

This precious pastor and his wife, standing between David Shibley, Pastor Chady, and myself have had the windows of their apartment blown out seven different times because of car bombs near their building, but they keep sharing the love of Jesus with everyone around them...!

Jordanian Friends

2009-05-16T18:33:00.001-05:00

It was great to see Pastor Dikran Salbashian and his wife, Ani, from Jordan again. I had the privilege of ministering at a leader's conference at their church in Amman three years ago and was deeply impressed by their ministry.

This precious brother is an elder in Pastor Dikran's church. He has a very effective ministry to Iraqi refugees in Jordan, many of whom live in very, very difficult circumstances.

Pastor Chady El-Aouad, Abundant Life Church, Beirut, Lebanon

2009-05-16T15:01:00.001-05:00

One of the great blessings from my trip to Lebanon getting to know the host pastor of the Frontline Shepherd's Conference, Chady El-Aouad from Abundant Life Church in Beirut. He is a powerful man of God who has raised up a thriving congegration there and who is planting churches throughout the region. We are already working on a date for him to minister at Hillcrest Church! It was also great to spend time with my dear friend, Dr. David Shibley of Global Advance. It was thanks to his invitation that I had the privilege of ministering to some two hundred delegates from throughout the Middle East.

Bound for Beirut

2009-05-09T23:39:00.001-05:00

Tomorrow night, Sunday, May 10th, I leave for three days of ministry in Lebanon to pastors from across the Middle East. I do not know if I will be able to update my blog while I am gone via my laptop and the internet, but I know I will be able to update my twitter page from my cell phone. I have twitter configured so that it also automatically updates my facebook page every hour or so. If you would like to follow my missions updates and have not already signed up for my facebook page, then I suggest you check via twitter since I may not be able to access my facebook page via the internet and approve you for access while I am gone.

Thanks in advance for holding my family and me up in your prayers during this time...!

Babylon Revisited...New York Times

2009-05-02T20:32:00.003-05:00

Click here to read an article from the New York Times describing the rebuilding and re-opening of the ancient city of Babylon. Click here to watch the accompanying slide show with audio commentary.

Lisa Luby Ryan's Testimony on 700 Club

2009-04-18T13:05:00.005-05:00

Earlier this week, Hillcrest Church member Lisa Luby Ryan (http://www.lisalubyryan.com/) shared her very moving testimony to God's healing grace at work in her life on the 700 Club. If you missed the broadcast, you can watch it online by clicking the window below or here.

God Answers Prayer - Kenneth and Vera Brand Update

2009-01-31T10:39:00.015-06:00

Thanks for praying for my parents, Kenneth and Vera Brand.

I received word last night that they had made it as far as Memphis, Tennessee. Dad's voice sounded so tired and weak when he called me over the phone from a hotel lobby in Memphis. I was really concerned about his his physical state, given his history of five heart attacks, knowing that he had been living in the cold for three days, and that he had been informed that all the hotels in Memphis were completely full with no vacancies available anywhere before Little Rock. Suddenly, though, the hotel front desk where he and Mom just "happened" to be standing received a call with word of an unexpected cancellation. Minutes later, he and Mom were checked into a warm, comfortable room for the night! Isn't God good?! Praise the Lord and thanks again for partnering with me and my family in prayer! They are scheduled to arrive in Dallas late today.

Although there has not been much mention given to this situation today in the national media, it continues to be very serious. So far, twelve deaths have been reported in Kentucky alone, including some people found frozen in their beds. There are still many people in rural areas that authorities have not been able to make contact with. Over 600,000 are still without power and over 200,000 without water in that state alone. Here are a couple of excerpts from the Associated Press:

Dozens of deaths have been reported and many people are pleading for a faster response to the power outages. Some in rural Kentucky ran short of food and bottled water, and resorted to dipping buckets in a creek...the uncertainty of when power might be restored had many appealing for help. Officials urged those in dark homes to leave. "We're asking people to pack a suitcase and head south and find a motel if they have the means, because we can't service everybody in our shelter," said Crittenden County Judge-Executive Fred Brown...Local officials grew angrier at what they said was a lack of help from the state and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In Kentucky's Grayson County, about 80 miles southwest of Louisville, Emergency Management Director Randell Smith said the 25 National Guardsmen who have responded have no chain saws to clear fallen trees. He said roads are littered with fallen trees and people shivering in bone-chilling cold are in need. "We've got people out in some areas we haven't even visited yet," Smith said. "We don't even know that they're alive." Smith said FEMA was still a no-show days after the storm...FEMA spokeswoman Mary Hudak said some agency workers had begun working Friday in Kentucky and more help was on the way. Hudak said FEMA also has shipped 50 to 100 generators to the state to supply electricity to such facilities as hospitals, nursing homes and water treatment plants. "We have plenty of folks ready to go, but there are some limitations with roads closed and icy conditions," she noted...Doris Hemingway, 78, spent three days bundled in blankets to ward off the cold in her Leitchfield mobile home. News that it could take up to six weeks for power to be restored sent Hemingway and his husband, Bill, into a shelter at a local high school. "I'd pray awhile and I'd cry awhile," Doris Hemingway said. "It's the worst I've ever seen."

It is great to know that God is always near even when it seems we are all alone!

Special Prayer Request - Rev. Kenneth and Vera Brand

2009-01-30T15:14:00.008-06:00

When you read this, would you please take a moment and pray for my parents, Rev. Kenneth and Vera Brand? They are in their seventies and are retired in rural western Kentucky, the area hardest hit by the recent ice-storm. I was finally able to make contact with them by phone late last night and learned they have been three days without electricity or water. Their only heat has come from a propane-fired gas log in their fireplace and their only water from boiling snow over a propane camp stove on their back patio. The electricity outage has shut down the water treatment plant in the small town where they live and their propane tank is on the verge of running out. The latest word for their immediate region is that it could take up to thirty days for power to be restored. Dad’s concern for their home has kept them from leaving until now but they are finally en-route at this moment from Kentucky to Texas by car. Please pray that God’s hand will be upon them as they drive the first part of the journey on icy roads and that they will be able to find gasoline, etc.

Please pray as well for the more than 600,000 people in Kentucky that are without power in freezing weather. Pray that loss of life will be kept to a minimum and that emergency rescue teams will be given wisdom as they tackle the enormous damage that region’s infrastructure has suffered and that they will be kept safe as they work. This situation has the potential to become very serious for a very great number of people if power is not quickly restored and freezing temperatures continue.

If you are interested in seeing the circumstances my parents and others are dealing with, click on the window below to watch a very brief video on CNN’s website.

Thanks for praying. I'll keep you posted.

Pat Robertson's Perspective on 2009

2009-01-07T07:18:00.007-06:00

Pat Robertson has been regularly maligned in the mainstream media and has been marginalized in the minds of many. I believe he is a man who loves and walks with God. I received this video clip in my inbox this morning of him sharing what he believes the Lord has shown him about this new year and I wanted to share it with you. Like all prophetic utterance, it should be prayerfully and carefully weighed, i.e., "judged" in light of Scripture and the inner witness of the Holy Spirit in our own hearts. "29 Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said." (1 Corinthians 14:29 NIV)

Time Magazine Article - Finding Jesus In London

2008-12-21T07:54:00.005-06:00

There is a great article on Time magazine's website today about the impact of the Alpha course on London, England. It is entitled, "Finding Jesus in London." When Teresa and I lived in France, we saw the ripples of what was happening at Holy Trinity Brompton Church in the neighborhood we were living in. I would love to see someone start this as a ministry of Hillcrest Church...! Alpha exists in several languages, including Spanish. Any takers?

Rabbi Marty Waldman - Hanukkah

2008-12-09T10:53:00.003-06:00

While I was at breakfast this morning with my dear friend, Rabbi Marty Waldman, from Baruch Ha'Shem Messianic Synagogue here in Dallas, he agreed to appear as my guest on our Word and Spirit telecast next Wednesday, December 17th at 9:30am. Marty will be sharing concerning the significance of Hanukkah and what it means to him as a follower of Yeshua.

You won't want to miss this program...!

Paul & Carol Alexander Healing Testimony, Promiseland Television Network, 10-31-08

2008-11-20T20:12:00.000-06:00

Click on the image above to view the incredible healing testimony Paul and Carol Alexander gave recently concerning their son during the Promiseland Live! telecast I hosted for Mike and Hazel Simons. It will inspire your faith and be well worth your time. It originally aired on 10-31-08

Thirteen at the Table Testimony

2008-10-12T11:56:00.000-05:00

Here are the web links to the full version of the testimony I used during my sermon this morning. Once the file is displayed on your screen scroll down to pages 8-10:

In Adobe pdf format (easiest to read, but you need to install the free, Adobe Reader program if you have not already done so): PDF format.

In html format (harder to read): HTML Format.

God's Economy Holds Steady In Uncertain Times!

2008-10-04T16:53:00.000-05:00

Palin the Pentecostal: Journey From Obscurity to Ubiquity

2008-09-15T12:56:00.096-05:00

In his interesting piece in the Washington Post last Friday, September 12th, 2008 entitled, "Faith Based Condescension," columnist Michael Gerson takes issue with recent media coverage of Governor Sarah Palin's Pentecostal roots. Early in his article Gerson writes,

"...liberals have been drawn, helpless and mesmerized -- like beetles to the vivid, blue paradise of the bug zapper -- toward criticizing Sarah Palin's religion. Palin's former Pentecostal church is called a "shout-and-holler tabernacle." Reporters press Palin's former pastor to reveal if she has ever spoken in tongues, the way it was once asked if candidates had ever used drugs...Palin sounds most like President Franklin Roosevelt, who prayed on D-Day that, "by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph."

He continues,

"The media treatment of Pentecostalism (Palin's main religious background) and Bible church evangelicalism (her current affiliation) has had the quality of a National Geographic special on a newly discovered Amazon tribe. You might not suspect that Pentecostalism -- grown from the admirable, racially integrated roots of the Los Angeles Azusa Street Revival of 1906 -- is one of the fastest-growing and most influential forms of mainstream Christianity. There are now between 250 million and 500 million Pentecostals in places from Latin America to sub-Saharan Africa to rural Alaska....While most religious people in America don't speak in tongues, many pray for healing in times of sickness and trouble, and most are offended when sneering elites attack the religious practices of their friends and neighbors. "

Then he concludes with a trenchant observation,

During the first Pentecost -- the one recorded in Acts -- Christians spoke strange languages in public. Many observers dismissed them as drunk. The critics of religion, as is often the case, did not get the last word.

Statistically speaking, Gerson is quite right. In its press release in October 2006 announcing the publication of the results from its ten country public opinion survey on Pentecostalism entitled,"Spirit and Power," the highly respected and very mainstream Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life noted that at least one quarter of the world's two billion Christians consider themselves Pentecostal or Charismatic, as do 23% of the inhabitants of the United States. The preface to the report points out that Pentecostals/Charismatics rank second only to Roman Catholics in the number of global Christian followers.

I think the actual numbers may be higher. Many Roman Catholics testify to profound Holy Spirit experiences but their numbers are not always included in such summaries. Many U.S. pastors of ostensibly non-Pentecostal/Charismatic churches come from Pentecostal/Charismatic roots but have intentionally "re-branded" themselves and the churches they serve in an effort to sidestep the social stigma and religious prejudice they encountered earlier in their lives. Very often, these leaders continue to lead Spirit-filled lives in private without being publicly identifiable by research methodologies like those used by the Pew Forum.

In any event, even if one accepts the Forum's statistics, it is clear that over the last century Governor Palin's stream of Christian faith has moved from obscurity to ubiquity. Both the Pew Forum and the Religion News Service have recently pointed out that Barak Obama has integrated two openly Pentecostal members into the highest levels of his own campaign: Joshua DuBois as his Religious Outreach Director and Leah Daughtry, CEO of the Democratic National Convention Committee. So far, the same members of the media who have publicly scorned Governor Palin's spirituality have been silent about Senator Obama's affiliations. I suspect their attacks are more political in motivation than philosophical, sociological, or theological.

Be that as it may, Governor Palin's recent nomination has not only affected the political debate in our country but has also raised doctrinal issues for certain non-Pentecostal/Charismatic Evangelicals. As David Gushee, Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics at Mercer University asks in his article entitled, "The Palin Predicament," in today's online edition of USA Today,

The GOP’s evangelical base rejoiced when the Alaska governor joined the McCain ticket. But how can the theological vision that women are subservient to men jibe with a Palin vice presidency?

He continues,

It is an uncomfortable fact that many of the theologically conservative Christians who have endorsed Palin's nomination would not be willing to endorse her or any other woman for service as pastor of their church. Women cannot serve as pastors in groups such as the Churches of Christ, the Southern Baptist Convention, the Presbyterian Church in America, most non-denominational Bible churches, and an influential advocacy group called the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood(CBMW)...at the local church level many congregations would not accept Palin or any other woman even as associate pastor, or deacon, or youth minister or Sunday school teacher in a gender-mixed classroom. The most conservative would not consider it appropriate for her to stand behind a pulpit and preach a sermon, or teach from the Bible, or lead a praise chorus, or offer a prayer, unless her audience consisted entirely of women or children.

In my view, Dr. Gushee paints with too broad a brush when he asserts elsewhere in his article that only more modern elements within evangelicalism have permitted women to function in leadership positions. From the earliest days of both the classical Pentecostal revival a century ago and the more recent Charismatic renewal, women have been allowed to exercise whatever gifts God granted them within their faith communities. I do agree, however, that the Sarah Palin phenomenon is giving rise to fresh and ardent discussions of many topics theological as well as social and political.

As late as yesterday evening, Sunday, September 15th, the ABC World News broadcast contained a video report entitled, "What Does Palin's Faith Mean for U.S.?" It opened yet another window that people around the nation can look through for a glimpse into one genre of Spirit-filled worship. During that piece, University of Rochester religion professor Anthea Butler notes the connection between a deep, personal work of the Holy Spirit and a greater role for women in all areas of life,

"Sarah Palin, if she was just a plain Evangelical woman, would have a tough time thinking that she could be VP," said University of Rochester religion professor Anthea Butler. "An evangelical woman might have issues with submission. What's gonna happen with my kids? But a Pentecostal woman is saying God is calling me, I'm gonna answer this call."

All of us who exult in genuine moves of God's Spirit and who long to lead other people into such fullness should make it a point to pray during this season that these journalistic forays, however imperfect or polemical they may be, will result in many more people coming into a personal encounter with the Creator who longs to be their Redeemer. I think the Apostle Paul would agree. He wrote to the Corinthian Christians,

"...if an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while everybody is prophesying, he will be convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be judged by all, and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!” (1 Corinthians 14:24-25
NIV)

Let it be, Lord...!
For more online information regarding Pentecostals, including links to many other websites, check out the Pew Forum's page on Pentecostalism.

Washington Post Cartoon Mocks Speaking In Tongues

2008-09-13T12:56:00.001-05:00

In case you have any question concerning the religious bias of certain, mainstream media outlets concerning the present-day work of the Holy Spirit, take a look at this cartoon which appeared on the Washington Post website... (To view it online, click here.)

On Sarah Palin and Religious Prejudice

2008-09-02T23:55:00.000-05:00

In the midst of all of the current controversy regarding John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate in the upcoming Presidential election, one specific development has caught my attention more than any other. Yesterday I noticed that the media "feeding frenzy" began to take a new turn as articles began popping up which highlight the churches she has attended and the shepherds who lead them. These include popular blogs like the Huffington Post and the Daily Kos and historic print publications like Harper's Magazine. News items surfaced which cast both pastors and congregants in a very negative light, asking whether or not someone from a "Pentecostal" or "Charismatic" background is fit to serve our country in such a high office.

Certain of the articles I have read portray attitudes reminiscient of those I encountered toward Christian churches in Eastern Europe before the fall of the Iron Curtain when Pentecostals were considered to be in need of psychiatric treatment. Newsweek's article about Sarah Palin's church was much more irenic in tone, but ended by saying, "Sarah Palin may not call herself a Pentecostal, but she has deep and long experience in Pentecostal churches. And as the race wears on, this biographical fact will likely become another religious Rorschach test--pleasing to some, discomfiting to others."

This is the second time in this election that a candidate's choice of a church home has sparked controversy. Barak Obama's long-term friendship with Pastor Jeremiah Wright turned out to be such a flashpoint that the candidate publically disassociated himself from both the man and his message (Read more about this here). What strikes me as very different this time around is that criticism has moved from controversy surrounding specific, issue-related comments by Rev. Wright to a visceral rejection of such foundational Christian doctrines as eternal punishment for those who reject Christ as Saviour or certain facets of New Testament spirituality clearly depicted in the New Testament Book of Acts as normative for members of the Christian faith.

I suppose none of this should surprise me. The flurry of speculation and observation surrounding Sarah Palin's particular flavor of Christian spirituality appears to be emanating from the same segments of American intelligentsia that have gleefully stooped to holding up a seventeen year old girl's pregnancy as an object for intense public scrutiny, sometimes tinged with ridicule. This is being done while that same young woman is walking through a very difficult time in her life, simply in order to score what the journalists mistakenly believe to be political "points." I for one wholeheartedly commend Governor Palin's daughter for courageously welcoming another precious life into the world instead of killing it for the sake of convenience.

Politics has always been a rough and tumble business and our civic history may be replete with examples of journalistic excess, but in my opinion we have just reached an all-time low. I believe these latest jouralistic extremes bode ill for what lies before us as Christian believers in our nation unless God graciously sends our country a deep spiritual and moral renewal. I also believe it shows the extent to which spiritual forces are at work on many different levels and in many different quarters during this election.

Whatever your political persuasion, I urge you to join me in prayer for the Palin family and for the pastors and churches cited in the aforementioned articles. While I have never met Governor Palin, I have known one of the ministers referenced, Pastor David Pepper from the Church on the Rock in Wasilla, and his family for over thirty-five years. Pastor David and his wife, LaRae, are two of the finest people I have ever met and form a very effective ministry team. I would be honored to call them pastor and consider their flock privileged to have them serve them in that capacity. David and LaRae certainly do not deserve the treatment they are getting in the press.

As all of you who attend Hillcrest Church know well, I do not take public positions regarding political candidates or openly share my personal political opinions or intentions about what I will do when I enter the ballot box. My appeal to you as your pastor is very simple:

Be sure to vote! This is an historic election. Be a part of it.
Find out all that you can about the candidates and their policies. Focus on reputable sources and ignore the gossip and innuendo you hear from others, whatever their political persuasion.
Prayerfully ask God to help you make the right choice in light of His Word, His character, and His purposes in the earth. Vote your deepest convictions. Pray in faith for His hand to be upon the process, assuring its outcome will be according to whatever He knows is best for our nation.
Intercede before the Lord on behalf of all the candidates and their families. Pray God's protection upon them, that they will speak truthfully in all things, and that anything hidden in their hearts or lives that might disqualify them from public office will be known before Election Day.

Let's believe God together for a better future!

Eric Liddle - A True Champion

2008-08-23T16:11:00.000-05:00

Thanks to one of my favorite theological bloggers and authors, Ben Witherington, for a great post this afternoon about missionary Eric Liddle, entitled, "A Christian for the Ages." Eric Liddle was the Scottish Olympic runner whose life inspired one of my all-time favorite movies, "Chariots of Fire." Ben says NBC ran a piece during their Olympic coverage with Mary Carillo today on Eric. I wish I had seen it. If you find it anywhere online, please email me...!

The movie has some great lines and scenes, including Eric Liddle's famous statement, "God made me fast and when I run I feel His pleasure." My favorite scene is probably the one near the end of the movie where Eric runs and wins a race clutching a piece of paper with a particular verse of Scripture written on it (at least that is the way I remember it...I haven't viewed it in quite a while...!)

If you have never watched the movie, by the way and you live in Dallas, you can check it out for free from the Dallas Library system. Click here to see the movie's record in their online card catalog or here to see it on Amazon.com. I highly recommend it...!

Moving TV video files to new Word and Spirit Blog

2008-08-16T13:18:00.000-05:00

In order to keep this blog as a means of sharing my thoughts with you in written and VLog format, in the future, I will be posting the video streaming files from our "Word and Spirit" television program to a seperate blog at: wordandspirittv.blogspot.com.

Word & Spirit Telecast - Gifts of the Spirit - August 14, 2008

2008-08-16T09:07:00.001-05:00

Word & Spirit Telecast - Gifts of the Spirit - August 13, 2008

2008-08-16T09:05:00.000-05:00

Word & Spirit Telecast - Gifts of the Spirit, August 12, 2008

2008-08-16T09:03:00.000-05:00

Word & Spirit Telecast - Gifts of the Spirit - July 28, 2008

2008-07-31T10:54:00.000-05:00

I continue my new series of telecasts dealing with the person and work of the Holy Spirit.

Word & Spirit Telecast - Gifts of the Spirit - July 18, 2008

2008-07-21T19:15:00.000-05:00

On this "Word and Spirit" telecast, I began a new series dealing with the person and work of the Holy Spirit. Originally aired on July 18, 2008.

Teresa - Dealing with Doubt, Part Two

2008-07-20T17:00:00.000-05:00

Teresa hosts "Word and Spirit" dealing with the theme, "Dealing With Doubt in Difficult Times." Part II of III. Originally aired on July 16, 2008.

Teresa - Dealing with Doubt, Part Three (Gideon)

2008-07-19T09:34:00.000-05:00

Teresa hosts "Word and Spirit" and shares part three of a three part series on "Dealing with Doubt." In this live broadcast, she shares from the Old Testament account of the life of Gideon and a personal testimony of a supernatural phone call during an hour of deep need. Originally aired on Thursday, July 17, 2008.

Teresa - Dealing with Doubt, Part One

2008-07-18T15:49:00.000-05:00

Teresa hosts "Word and Spirit" and shares part one of a three part series on "Dealing with Doubt." In this live broadcast, she shares from the New Testament account of the life of John the Baptist. Originally aired on Tuesday, July 15, 2008.

Word & Spirit Telecast - July 4, 2008

2008-07-06T20:46:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday, America...!

2008-07-04T13:37:00.000-05:00

After having lived on three different continents and having visted many, many countries around the world, as much as Teresa and I love cultural and linguistic diversity, we still have a deep love for the U.S.A. and a deep gratitude in our hearts toward the Lord for the privilege of being born here. America is not a perfect nation, but I believe it has been a blessed nation, in spite of our sins and our shortcomings. On this July 4th, I encourage you to pause for a moment and thank God for the U.S.A., asking God for His blessing upon it. Happy Birthday, America, and may God's favor continue to rest upon you!

P.S. Pastor Mike and Hazel Simons from the Promiseland Television Network have called for 31 Days of Prayer and Fasting through the month of July. They are televising a live prayer meeting from their studios on our Hillcrest Church campus each night this month from 8-10pm. Be sure to prayerfully consider what the Lord would have you to do to join in this intercessory effort on behalf of the Metroplex, the nation, and the world...! (Click here to watch live via the internet from anywhere in the world.)

Teresa hosts "Word and Spirit" Live...!

2008-06-29T15:23:00.000-05:00

On Friday, June 27, 2008, Teresa hosted our "Word and Spirit" telecast live from our campus at Hillcrest Church.