God is Faithful

Have you ever just taken a step back from your daily life and seen just how faithful God really is. I got up this morning to start with. What a blessing that is. Just to get up in the morning breathing and alive. My wife is with child, and he is healthy, growing, and moving in the womb. I have a job, house and computer. I have books and a bookshelf to put them on so the do not pile up around the house.
I have the Bible. I have Salvation that comes from the Lord. I have hope. I have peace and grace.
Did I do anything to receive such things as I have listed? No! I could never do anything to deserve the faithfulness of my God, but he is faithful to provide all of those things for me. I have been on a journey of testing the faithfulness of God. Not exactly purposefully but with excitement on what God is doing with me right now. God is in complete control. He is my pilot. He is my Father, my Coach, my Encourager, and Strength. I am helpless and hopeless without His guidance and love.
If you have been keeping up with me I am working on revitalizing a church with the wisdom and help that comes from God. He alone has lead me to do one of the most difficult and daunting tasks of the Church today. Church revitalization is exciting. I am delighting in the day that I step back and see all the miraculous things that God has done and will continue to do in New Orleans and the Local Church here.
I met with the intended people that I set out to meet with about a month ago. These people told me they would pray and encourage me. They have been faithful to me also.

I recently met with a leader of the local congregation that God has placed in my path. He agreed with all the proposals that I laid on the table. I thought that there was going to be some resistance or questioning of my motives or something of that nature. Nothing. I truly believe that this was because of God's faithfulness to the desires that he has placed in my heart and the prayers of the faithful that have been lifted up in the past month.

Please everyone that has prayed, continue to pray. If you are reading this and have not prayed, pray now that God would continue to prepare the avenues and people for the great work that he is doing in me and through me. I am truly blessed to be able to be the hands and feet of God, my Lord and Savior. Please let me know that you are praying for me. It is a great encouragement to my wife and I to know those saints who are supporting us daily through prayer and supplication. Keep up the great work of prayer in your lives because great works are truly be done in this city because God hears the prayers of the righteous. Not that we deserve to be heard but because he loves his children and B. Manning once said, He loves it when his children climb into his lap and talk to him and pray to him even if they do fall asleep doing it.
I cannot thank all of you enough for the prayer that you have yielded on our behalf. Thank You on holy ones who continually pray. And let us thank God for his faithfulness to hear our prayers.
Until next time: PRAY!!

"Well, there is no doubt about it."

No doubt about what you may ask? Well the doc. said that there is no doubt about me having a son. My wife and I saw the making of a great man yesterday.
I am so excited. For all of those who prayed for me to have a son, THANK YOU!! God is amazing in blessing my wife and I with the child we wanted. That is right, I wanted a son. Yes, I wanted the baby to be healthy and have 10 fingers and 10 toes but I also really, and I mean really, wanted a son.
His name will be John Thomas Hudson, III. We will call him J.T. He will be a boy but my hope and prayers are that he becomes a man of God. Please continue to pray as I am a father to a child who needs to meet Jesus. God has blessed us with a child and now I have to be a godly example to a son. I did not have a modle for this in my life, but with the help of God the Father, I may be able to pull it off from here on out. Thanks again for all that prayed and supported us until this day. Please continue to do so, so that the faithfulness of God will avail through you. Stay posted for all updates.

Living by the Grace of God

I know that this is a lot for my first post but here goes if you are wondering about what God is doing in my life for his Glory through the spreading of the Gospel in New Orleans and the nations.

Here is the desire that God has put in my heart.

I love the idea of church revitalization (CR for here on out). Here are some reasons why. I desire to commit to a church for several years. I believe that God has placed this desire in my heart and through CR I can fulfill this desire. I desire to see the local community of a church come to know Christ through a pure teaching of the Scriptures. God has given me a great passion for his Word and the power that lies in it to change men's hearts. Only through expository preaching, will people truly come to an understanding of the Word and an understanding of their condition before a Great God whether they are saved or not. I also desire to learn from established members the history of the church and the desire of the people to see the church grow and in turn help them accomplish this goal. Committing time to a church will allow both of these things to happen. I will get to hear the people out and I will be able to help them with the Power of the Holy Spirit to see the most effective way their church can grow. I also have a great desire to see a dead church living again for the Glory of God. I have no power to do this on my own but I do pray that I am before the cross daily praying that God would work through me to bring back to life that which is dead. Luke says in Ch. 16 if the people do not have the Word of God an rise from the dead they will not convince people of repentance. The walking dead have no life to give. But the dead made alive again through the Word of God will bring people to their God so those people can live also. I pray I am in the business of putting life back into dead, hard, stubborn, people of God who want the Glory of God back in New Orleans through the Power of the Gospel.

What is CR?

It is basically going into churches that are declining and dying or almost dead and turning them around again. It is similar to a church plant but the church already has an existing body, bylaws, and mission in the city. CR plans to equip the body with the Word, infuse the bylaws with the missional aspects of God's Word, and invigorate the people to be mission minded to New Orleans , the USA , and the Nations. CR plans strategically to develop people’s mindset to the point that their efforts are no longer solely for themselves but those efforts are effectively used to maximize the potential of people coming to Christ in the local community, the greater region of that community, and the nations.

The plan that I believe that God has given me in CR?

First, to commit a season of my life and my family's life to a city. In this case, my wife and I love New Orleans . We believe that God has called us here. We will stay as long as he allows us to. We have said that we will commit 10-15yrs to the city. This is up in the air because God could radically change that at any moment.

Second, to commit to expository preaching. I plan to speak only the Word of God. I do not want to be topical. I will commit 1-2yrs to preaching on the over arching theme of Who is the Church? In addition, Why are we here? I will do this primarily through Acts and other scriptures that tie directly into this theme. In some way or another, I believe that the church has lost its focus on these two things. We must return to the basics of who is the church and why does the church exist if we truly desire to spread the gospel for the Glory of God.

Third, to commit to have everything that we (family and friends who support us in New Orleans) be covered in prayer. You are getting this email because you are the tip of the prayer chain. We are unable to do anything with out the unceasing prayers of those who believe that God IS doing something great in New Orleans and the nations. We believe that he is. I believe that he is. My friends believe that He Is. I have always said that I believe that God has me on the edge of something great. CR may be it. Revitalizing churches in the USA may be the greatest thing that God does through my life for his Glory. I pray that he does. Please pray and do not cease praying that God would allow all these things to happen for his glory and his recognition not mine or any of our supports.

Fourth, to commit to having a staff that reflects the community of the church. Right now in my life, there is a fear of joining a single cultural staff or calling a mono-cultural staff to do the work of God in New Orleans or any city God calls my family to in the future. I believe that churches today have lost site of the community that surrounds them. Most dead and declining church have not figured out how to minister to the community that directly surrounds their church. God has given me the desire to change this mindset of the church slowly. Let me emphasized slowly. I know that these kinds of barriers and changes are not going to happen overnight. This will take years. I committed to a lifetime of service when I answered the call of God into FULLtime ministry. I do not plan to retire and I do not plan to forsake my God. I plan to engage students on our campus of NOBTS on this issue to gain wisdom and help in forming a multicultural staff. This will most likely involve making diversity a key point in church policy and bylaws. Please pray for the hearts of those who oppose such changes. God can and will transform the hardest of hearts through an emphasis from his Word on the diversity of his kingdom. We must see this point as essential to truly making any church effective in its community.

A final note. God is not just doing this in my life. Another friend of mine and supporter of what I am doing began the same process about three months ago. He thought that the process of even getting into the church was going to take 1yr. He spent many hours in prayer over the church and engaging the community surrounding the church. Two months later he got to share his heart and passion with the pastor. A month later the pastor admits to praying for something like this. A week later, the pastor gives my friend the keys to the church and the church constitution. There are no time constraints on what God is doing in New Orleans . The thing that does constrain us is our willingness to seek his help in what he is doing where we are. If we are willing to do whatever he leads us to do through prayer we are not constrained. If we do not pray, we are constrained. I want to be a man of prayer of every area of my life right now.

This is a link to what my friend above is doing http://robwilton.blogspot.com/2007/09/relevant-emergent-emerging.html

Some good news about prayer: My wife was in a great deal of pain about two weeks ago because of the changes that come with having a baby inside of her. I committed to praying for her. From the prayers lifted up until this day there has been no pain. I prayed over a friend of mine who was speaking a week ago and a student gave his life to Christ. I do not claim to have any special power in prayer. But I do know that God hears the prayers of the faithful. I will continue to pray. I hope you do the same. I am truly excited about these passions that God has given me and plan to follow Him until he takes me to another season in life. Please do not take these things lightly because God is doing a mighty work in New Orleans . Thank you for your time to read this and your time to pray.