Loving People

As a pastor, I meet a lot of people every single week. I meet happy people, sad people, nice people, mean people, loving people and hateful people. My favorite people to encounter are controlling and manipulative people. They are so fun to interact with :). One thing the Lord has taught me, or should I say is continually teaching me, in my almost 5 years of being a Senior Pastor is how to love people (5 years in May). I really love people and want the best for them. I even love people who don't like me or People's Church. I really love people who disagree with me and my approach and philosophy of ministry. I've come to the conclusion that not everybody will like me. No matter what I do, not everybody will agree with me. Some people will even talk negatively about me, and they really don't even know me. The awesome news is that I still have the choice and power to respond in love to every person, no matter what. I want to encourage you to be a lover not a fighter. Be a peace maker not a trouble maker. Be the solution not the problem. Be a friend not an enemy. Be a fire fighter not a fire lighter. No matter what happens to you, respond in love. Our mandate as Christians is to LOVE GOD AND LOVE PEOPLE. As you well know, that's easier said than done. Let's do it!

Exciting Day

I've been off and running today. I've already been to the gym. I've had my devotions at Starbucks with a great cup of coffee. Now I'm getting ready for my Executive Team Meeting with our Director of Operations and our Program Director. After this hour to hour and a half meeting, I'll be meeting with our entire staff.

I really enjoy Tuesdays. It's one of my favorite days of the week. I get to hang out with our staff and develop and encourage them. I guess it pays to have a staff that you really like and get along with. I'm a big believer that ministry flows best out of relationships. Our staff is very tight-knit. We all get along very well. We all share the same vision. We are a very unified team, just like our church family! Well, I better keep this short and get ready for my meeting in about 10 minutes. I hope your day is as exciting as mine!

Weekend Update

We had a phenomenal weekend at People's Church. We had 1645 people in attendance. The most exciting news is that we had 45 people who made a decision to follow Jesus Christ. Church family, you never cease to amaze me. You are so passionate about bringing your friends and family to People's Church to connect with God. Be sure to follow up with your friends and family this week to see if they enjoyed their experience at People's Church and to see if you can answer any questions about their relationship with Christ or the church. Let's stay passionate about reaching people for Christ.

I trust that you left the weekend's service fired up about conquering your insecurities, fears and inadequacies and fulfilling your God given purpose. You have what it takes to be the great spouse, friend, Christ-follower, parent, employee, supervisor... that God has called you to be. I want to encourage you to go for it! Shoot for the stars! You are more than a conqueror! You have what it takes to do great things for God in your family, church and career and with your life. I believe in you, but more importantly GOD BELIEVES IN YOU!

I'm really excited to see what God is going to do in our lives this next weekend as we close out or series Go Mo Go with a message titled, The Comeback Kid. Have a super Monday!

The Weekend

As you know by now, I really love Fridays. It's our family date night. Last night was even more special and fun - I took my wife on a date without the kids. I really love that lady. She's so special!

I'm excited about this weekend. It's Friend's Day, and you all are always so eager to invite your friends and family to experience God at People's Church. I've been working really hard on the message. It was actually a difficult message for me to put together. I'm not sure why it was so difficult, but it took me a couple of extra hours to get this message finished. Normally, I have my message done and to the office for powerpoint and the bulletin by Thursday in the early afternoon. But last night after I got home from my date with Tiffany, I spent over an hour working on the message, and I still didn't feel like it was where it needed to be. So this morning when I got up, I spent another hour or so on the message and finally got it to the office. It's going to really be an encouraging message. My title is "Use What Yo Momma Gave You!" You, your friends and your family will leave this weekend encouraged and equipped to fulfill your destinies. God is going to do a great work!

I can't wait to see all of you this weekend!

Staff & Volunteers

I finished up Andy Stanley's book titled 7 Practices Of Effective Ministry. Once again, it was a great read, and I highly recommend it. Yesterday, I started a book titled First Break All The Rules. WOW, I love what I've read so far. The first chapter talked about how great companies attract and retain great employees. It made me think about our incredible staff at People's Church. I just want to go on record and say that we have a great staff at People's Church. One of the reasons the church has been able to sustain incredible growth and reach so many people for Christ is because of the excellent staff the Lord has blessed us with. I feel so blessed to work with such godly, faithful, high quality, loyal, committed and visionary people on a daily basis.

Not only do we have a great staff, but we have the finest volunteers in the world. You all have such servants' hearts. Each week hundreds of you serve in so many different areas and meet so many needs at People's Church and in the community. I commend you for your faithfulness and passion to see people know and grow in Christ. I guess the best way I can sum this up is: WE HAVE A GREAT CHURCH BECAUSE WE HAVE GREAT PEOPLE. I'm humbled and honored to be your pastor!

BE SURE TO INVITE YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY THIS WEEKEND FOR FRIEND'S DAY!

Baby Girl

Please be praying for my daughter, Caris. She's been sick, and as a result, she's not sleeping well at night. Tiffany took her to the doctor on Monday, and we found out she had an ear infection and a fever along with one or two other small issues.

I'm really enjoying having a daughter around the house. It's totally a different feeling than my spit fire sons. My boys are awesome, and I love them so much, but my daughter just has daddy's heart in a different way. I don't think she'll be able to date until she's 18. I really mean 21 :).

I want to encourage you not to get so busy doing life that you neglect your family. Be sure to make your family a top priority. Your greatest ministry is in your home.

Make it a great Wednesday!

Loving Jesus

My personal relationship with Jesus has been incredible. The last few months have been a great time of spiritual growth. I've been reading through the Book of Acts in my daily devotionals. I'm amazed at how radical the early church Christians were. It's easy to take for granted how the early church was running for their life but still boldly proclaimed Christ wherever they went. They really understood that the real purpose of life is to share the love of Christ with as many people as possible. My prayer is that God would use the Cooper family as an incredible light no matter where we are.

As I'm talking about being a light for Christ, it reminds me of what two of our first time guests said to me this past Sunday. I went over to talk to this gentlemen and lady, and they told me the reason that they came to People's Church was that they saw my family in a restaurant and just knew that there was something different about us (I sure hope I wasn't picking my nose while they were watching me and my family). They told me that they almost came up to talk to us because we just seemed so different - I didn't ask them, but I don't think they thought we were weird different :). At the time, they didn't know that I was the Senior Pastor of People's Church. They ended up seeing a billboard and put two and two together.

There are two very important lessons we learn from this:

1. We are called to be light for Christ no matter where we are.

2. Don't pick your nose in public because you don't know whose watching you :).

Weekend Update

We had a great weekend at People's Church. We had 1450 in attendance and somewhere around 40 to 50 people who committed their life to Christ. I will get the total number of people who committed their life to Christ from the office this morning. We had people make a commitment to Christ in EVERY service. You all have such a passion to see people connect with a loving Savior. Thank you for inviting your friends and family to experience God's grace and mercy. You're making an eternal difference.

I am so proud of you all. You have made our Saturday night services a huge success. Thank you so much for your faithfulness to attend and serve on Saturdays. Not only have we started two more services for people to surrender their life to Christ, you all have freed up seats in the auditorium and kid's areas on Sundays for more people to connect with God. YOU ALL ARE AWESOME! If your schedule allows, would you commit to attending the Saturday night services? It will tremendously help us as we gear up to reach many, many people for Christ throughout the spring. I think you will really love attending Saturday nights and sleeping in on Sunday mornings. I love being your pastor!!!!

Books

I'm very much into reading books. I'm always growing and learning. Right now I'm reading The Seven Practices Of Effective Ministry by Andy Stanley and The Difference Maker by John Maxwell. Both are great reads. I wish I would have read Andy Stanley's book before I planted People's Church. It would have kept me from a lot of headaches. At least I'm learning some things that our team can implement into our ministries to take us to the next level.

I finished up my weekend message yesterday. I really think it's going to help a lot of people. Waiting is one of the most difficult issues we deal with in life. Think about all the things you are or have had to wait for (job, promotion, degree, spouse, car, house, salvation of a loved one, friend, and the list goes on and on). This weekend we're going to learn how to properly wait on and also receive all that God has for us. You don't want to miss this weekend because WE ARE ALL WAITING ON SOMETHING!

Today is my family day and family date night! I'm PUMPED UP TO HANG WITH THE FAMILY! SEE YOU THIS WEEKEND!

Worry

Yesterday, Channel 9 News came to People's Church to interview me about the subject of worry. They are airing a story on Monday, February 19th, on worry. They asked me to talk about the subject of worry from a Christ follower's/pastor's point-of-view. The interview got me thinking about why we worry. Jesus addresses the cause and the cure of worry in Matthew Chapter 6. The primary cause of worry is not trusting God. We worry because we try to be self-reliant instead of God-reliant. Humanity was not designed to operate independently from God. God created us to be dependent on Him; so when we try to deal with the problems and pressures of life on our own, worry starts to creep in. The thing that we often times forget is that Matthew 6:27 reminds us that worry is useless. Worrying can't add a single hour to our lives. Worrying can't change our circumstances. Worrying can't change people. Worrying doesn't accomplish anything positive in our lives. Let's commit together not to worry, and instead, let's trust God. God is always faithful to meet all of our needs when we put Him first.

Study Day

Yesterday, I forgot to blog. My Tuesdays are spent with my staff. I have an executive meeting first thing in the morning, and then, a staff meeting with my directors following my executive meeting. Then, our directors have a staff lunch. My Tuesdays are dedicated to encouraging, correcting and equipping my staff.

Today is a study day for me. I have a brief outline of what I'm going to talk about this weekend. I will begin to develop my thoughts and do some research to enhance my message. Hopefully by the end of the day I'm 80 percent done with my message. My title this weekend is "Are We There Yet?"

Don't forget that it's Valentine's Day. Be sure to do something special for the one you love!

Monday Morning Blues

I'm tired this morning. Last week was an exceptionally busy week, plus I had an exceptionally busy weekend. I also didn't sleep well on Saturday night, and that is definitely a factor of why I feel tired this morning. I also spoke last night for a pastor friend of mine in the Oklahoma City metro area to help his church raise funds to pay off their land and to move forward with building their new facility. It's always an honor to partner with other churches to help them accomplish the great commission.

This morning I'm spending some time with my family. My boys love for me to do what they call "The Claw" to them (this means grab their belly and tickle them with one hand). They learned this from their grandpa, and now, it's their favorite game with their daddy.

Well, I better get back to playing with my boys and get ready to head to the gym and then to a lunch appointment.

Herbert

Wow, another Friday is here.

My wife and I were talking last night about how quick the year is already flying by. Today, I have to attend a meeting with several other pastors. I'm looking forward to fellowship and gleaning things from them that will help me be a more effective pastor.

Tonight, we are going on our family date. My boys, especially my oldest son, love Friday family dates. I have to admit, I think I love family date night more than he does. I love my family so much. They are the wind beneath my wings. Have a great Friday!

Hello Bloggers!

I'm finally blogging because my pastor friends are trying to get me up-to-date. I'm one of the most computer and technologically illiterate persons on the planet earth, but thanks to the help of some great people on our staff, I'm blogging. I know some of you can't believe it, but here I go.

On my blog you will hear me talk about a variety of issues. I will basically be sharing what's on my heart. It may be about my wife, kids, church, leadership, hobbies, friendships or my personal relationship with Christ.

Thursday is a fun but busy day for me. It's the day I finish up my weekend message and email it to the office. This weekend is going to be a fun, kick-off weekend for my brand new series called Go Mo Go. Throughout this series, we're going to be learning and applying lessons from the life of Moses. Moses was an incredible leader, but was just like us; he faced fears, inadequacies, made mistakes and was mightily used by God. This weekend I'm going to be talking about "Mo's Anatomy." Grey's Anatomy can't touch Mr. Mo!

The main reason my Thursday is going to be so fun is because it's my date night with my lovely wife, Tiffany. I can't wait to take her on a date and leave the kids at home with a babysitter.

I hope my first blogging experience was as enjoyable for you as it was for me :)