toddcullendotcom

To Sum It Up

• Cynthia, Debbie & Daniel Cort and the rest of the production/band team did an amazing job leading worship.  It was one of my all-time favorite Sundays!
• The only think that I like better is when Debbie & Daniel happen to sit behind me in the service and sing in our congregation.  God has gifted us with a multitude of talented vocalists and musicians!
• My takeaway from yesterday is that Jesus is truly the ONLY way to everlasting salvation.
• I love Palm Sunday.  I love the fact that Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey, an indication that He was coming in peace.  But the people of Jerusalem responded by laying down their robes and palm branches in His path, an indication of royalty!  He came to this earth to bring peace and those who followed Him made Him King of their lives.  I LOVE THAT!
• We can do that same thing in our own personal lives.  He comes to being peace and we should respond by making Him King of our personal lives.

I've been praying specifically for people to make lasting commitments to Christ at HHICC.  These past few weeks, during our message series I AM, I've been offering an invitation for first time salvations, recommitments, and assurance of salvation commitments.  Two weeks ago, we had two people make first time commitments, last week another two and yesterday at least seven.  God is moving in the life of HHICC and our Island!  He is hearing our prayers.! Would you join me in praying for our Easter services this coming Sunday?

• Pray for good weather for Saturday set-up and  for Sunday worship services.
• Pray that many people come prepared to have Jesus radically changes their lives.
• Pray that there are many brand new lives who answer "YES" to the question, "Do you believe?"

I hope you can join me on Thursday for our Maundy Thursday service as we reflect on Christ's death for us through communion, prayer, and worship. If you are a Christ follower, this service will be an amazing opportunity for you to express your love and gratitude toward Christ and his sacrifice for you.

So...it's Easter Week! I look forward to seeing you Thursday and then Sunday, 9:30 or 11:00 AM under the "covered environment." (it's a tent, Cynthia...)

memorial places

OK, I love Genesis 35:13-15:  

"13 Then God went up from him at the place where he had talked with him.  14 Jacob set up a stone pillar at the place where God had talked with him, and he poured out a drink offering on it; he also poured oil on it.  15 Jacob called the place where God had talked with him Bethel." What great imagery.  I can just picture Jacob overcome with a sense of Jehovah Jireh, the God who provides.  It's interesting to note that the place that he went back to, that was so special and meaningful to him, was the place where God was most personal to him!  In Jacob's case it was the place where God audibly spoke to him.  Then Jacob poured out a drink offering and oil on the stone pillar that he set up as a memorial of what God had done.  Those stones with the drink and oil dripping from them was a place for Jacob to remember God working in his life.

Do you have memories of God speaking to you or moving in your life in a particular way?  Do remember the place and circumstance surrounding that time? I recall when God was leading me into full-time Christian ministry as a 16 year old kid at Awanita Valley in South Carolina.  I remember God working through some serious spiritual issues in my freshman dorm room in Lynchburg, VA.  I remember the tree that I sat under on the Appalachian Trail when He told me that I was supposed to ask Cynthia to marry me (so glad she said 'yes').  I can recall the bed that I was sitting on, one sleepless night, when God began to renew his call on my life in our apartment in Kennesaw, Ga.  These are very vivid memories.  It's too bad that I can't build and altar at these places, like Jacob did; but my memory will have to be my memorial. So where is your memorial?  Where did you accept Him as your Savior?  Where did he call you to live a better life than the year before?  Where was it that He told you to finally rid yourself of that nasty habit?  Do you have that memorial place where God spoke to you or moved significantly in your life?  I'd love to hear about your memorial place.  Leave a short comment and let me know about that place where God took care of business with you, just like He did with Jacob.

cleaning up

I had minor surgery earlier this week and used today to recover and also do some clean up work on my pc, specifically the "My Documents" portion of my pc.  I haven't done this in well over 5 years.  Not only did it feel good to get my pc all cleaned up but I found important documents that I had been looking for for years. 

However, the more important result of this little, pain in the butt, exercise was that it caused me to pause and reflect on all that God has done in our lives this past half decade. Georgia, New York, South Carolina; the birth of a girl, the birth of a boy; three different churches; four residences; hundred's of friend and perhaps thousands of lives changed! 

Although I've had my days over the last 5 years today trying to figure out what God was doing, today I was thankful for the crazy life that God has give us these past years.  I wouldn't want it any other way.  I've had my moments of doubt, but today I was reminded about the promise that Paul gives to Philippians and to all of us who call ourselves followers of Jesus: Philippians 1:6 "6being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

prayer pillar #1

Any church worth its weight is a praying church. What would happen if we did this thing called church without the power of God's Spirit and without us actually, you know, asking Him to help? NOTHING. That is exactly right. We would stay right where we are. Now, we would still have a cool engaging Sunday worship service and we would probably be pretty comfortable asking our friends to come to church. However, there would be limits....many limits.

So let's ask a different question. What would happen if we really intentionally commit ourselves to praying for LCC and for the people who don't have a church home who live on our Island? The answer, ANYTHING. You see, we are limited people serving a limitless God! If we really committed ourselves to prayer, the sky is the limit and we will be amazed at what God WILL do in and through LCC-HHI. Jeremiah 29:12b says: "...call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you."

Over the next few weeks I'll be introducing five prayer pillars that I'd like us as a church campus to be committed to. If just a handful of us do just half of what I'll introduce, God WILL bless our efforts. If we all do everything that I introduce, well then just look out!

The first prayer pillar I'd like for us to be committed to is Regular Prayer Gatherings: We will offer weekly and regular prayer gatherings at LCC-HHI and often will do this combined with both campuses. Here are a few examples: * Every Thursday from about 11:30 - 11:50 AM we pray in my office on the HHI campus. ANYONE is invited to join us. We pray about anything from the most personal to the most far reaching. * Evey Sunday we pray over our Worship Service and Promiseland at 10:00AM. Come on in and join us for a few minutes praying for God to bless our Sunday! * This coming Sunday (9/21) at 6pm our two campuses will come together for a prayer event called Face Down. It will be held on the Bluffton campus and Cynthia will be leading worship. For directions and childcare information check our main website. Join me by committing to be a part of as many of these gatherings as possible. See you on Sunday morning.