Michael Harrison's e-devotion

  Proverbs 15:30  NLT   Fear of the Lord teaches wisdom; humility precedes honor. Thank you to everyone who supported and prayed for the past mission trip to Cuba.  Since this is the first e-devotion after I have returned home, I will share with you some of the points of celebration, some of my take aways and what God did. It was such a blessing to have Julie return to Cuba with me.  We served at Ebenezer church in the area of Havana known as Guanabacoa.  It was a great time of ministry and encouraging Pastor Julio and his wife Arelis. I am grateful for the FCA sports ministry team in Cuba.  Roberto Texidor from Missouri leads the US board, and I enjoy traveling with him.  Alex is the Cuban leader for sports ministry.  He and his family are a great blessing.  His team are amazing people.  One of the things that I love is that this team really are pastors in their community who serve athletes and their families.  Sharing Jesus a...

  Over the last week in the e-devotions I have shared memories from the recent mission trip to Cuba, and today will be the last day I share about this trip.  And what I want to focus on today is how God is growing the people of the sports ministry in Cuba. Alex is still in the USA for the next 10 days or so meeting with friends and sharing about the ministry in Cuba.  Alex’s family is special to me as is the entire sports ministry staff and all of their families.  I am grateful for their friendships I enjoy and being able to work with each. During our time together and the teaching we focused on spiritual disciplines, and specifically we focused on some of the book Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster. Isaiah 55:6  NLT   Seek the Lord while you can find him. Call on him now while he is near. The things that we focus on the most will either lead us to be closer to God or further away from Him.  It is important that we learn habits that strengthe...

  There were many challenges on this last trip to Cuba.  Some of these challenges are the day in and day out issues that all our friends in Cuba deal with, and these break my heart.  This is everything from the limited supply of food making it hard for families to have what they need just to feed themselves and their children.  Another challenge is limited transportation as well as the lack of fuel. Being a socialist country that deals with great economic struggles and poverty heightens that problems that almost everyone that lives or travels to Cuba will deal with.  I have only experienced a few of these on my many trips, and it gives me a reason to pray even more for our fiends and their families. Colossians 1:29  NLT   That’s why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ’s mighty power that works within me. The challenges and struggle is worth it all.  The reason that is the case is that there are people who need Jesus.  My call the...

I continue to share from my time in Cuba the last two weeks, but I also want to ask you to pray for something special going on at The Community Fellowship. This Sunday we are hosting a First Responder Appreciation Day for all police, fire, EMS and 911 workers.  Please help us share this opportunity.  Also, we will be starting Cop Church, a Bible study for first responders that will take place the first Monday and third Wednesday of each month.  Pray for the impact on these special people. Back to Cuba.  As I have shared already one of the best parts of the trip was the time I spent with the leaders of the sports ministry.  These are incredible people who have taken the call of God to serve and disciple athletes.  The opportunities in their ministry really are huge and various. What does it take to have a great team?  I am asking from a spiritual point of view.  How would God desire that we act and live toward our team?  During our time togeth...

It is good to be home!  And I would like to share so many great things that happened on my Cuba trip, but I will save those for a little while.  I’d rather use this e-devotion to tell you a couple things that are very important to me.   Proverbs 11:25  NLT The generous will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed. So many people helped make this nine day Cuban excursion with purpose a reality.  I will be reaching out to each person to give a report and say thank you. But what really sticks out is the reality that none of us are ever alone.  We need each other.  Others refresh us.  Others build us up.  Others make us better and stronger.  Others fill in the gaps where we can’t.  Others are vital.  I am so grateful for the others in my life.  And you know who you are! I am reading a book by Pastor Benny Tate, Defy the Odds, and in this book he commends the reader to stop and say thank as well as honor...

  There are so many things that we can be thankful for, but one of the greatest things right now is the outcome of our back2school event.  This last weekend we served hundreds of students and their families.  Each is important, and we are blessed to be able to serve. The stories are so numerous as I shared last week leading up to this event.  I will be sharing some of those, but what I ask for today is that you continue to pray each and every one of these incredible people. I am grateful for the so many partners that gave money and resources to pull the event off.  Some gave more than others, but each one becomes a vital part because they took a step up to serve. I am grateful for the families that showed up with their students. It takes a lot to follow through.  Some people say they will be there but never show.  Some showed up late and still were served. I am grateful for those that served.  Many of the volunteer teams that worked hard with back...

Romans 15:32  NLT Then, by the will of God, I will be able to come to you with a joyful heart, and we will be an   encouragement to each   other. This has been a great week.  We have a mission team in town that is their second trip.  Some of them have been here several times.  What a blessing! In this short and to the point devotion I want to share how encouraging it is to be able to share our heart and work with others.  It is great to build relationships with like-minded people. First, these people love Jesus.  Their purpose for being in town and being part of church is to share their faith with others and to serve. Second, I love to hear the stories people share.  This week has several take a ways from conversations.  Pastor friends shared about life and ministry.  One has vast experience with apartment complexes, and our talks have been awesome.  Others...

1 Timothy 6:18   NLT Tell them   to   use their money   to   do good. They should be rich in good works and generous   to   those in need, always being   ready   to   share   with others. It has literally been an awesome week working with 70 men from several different states and about 15 different churches.   These men are working like well-oiled machines accomplishing various tasks on our new and future campus.   We are blessed. The work the “men on a mission” group is doing totals up to around $100,000 of donation in labor costs.   That is a huge gift to our church and a huge push forward to the completion of buildings for The Community Fellowship and Dream Center. One of the blessings and encouraging things that happens when a mission team is together are the stories and testimonies we hear from those on the team.   Two men from our church and I sat with Dr. Don yesterday for several minutes ...

Hebrews 6:7   NLT When the ground soaks up the falling rain and   be ars a good crop for the farmer, it has God’s   blessing . The first day was good, but it is time for day 2 of the Men On A Mission team work on our new campus.   As always these men work hard and get more done in a work day than we can imagine.   By working together we are so much stronger.   I have known for years that people with skills are important to accomplishing big things, and this group of more than 75 men has displayed that fact.   There is one particular group that I enjoyed watching today. Their leader is a skilled worker.   Seems like he can work with wood or metal or steal or with a rag tag bunch of guys.   He completed a couple projects before mid afternoon and then completed a third.   You could look at the various guys and see they flat worked hard and got it done. We are go grateful that this team has chosen to be a part of our ne...