Tiffany Harper

Don't Be Something You're Not

Madi is my tenderhearted angel.   She truly wears her heart on her sleeve.  She is loud, happy, talkative, inquisitive, emotional, dramatic and loving. She can win you over with her charming smile and big and beautiful blue eyes.  She doesn't try to be anything else. 

She doesn't know how to be anyone else other than the way God designed her.  She is just Madison. How my heart breaks just thinking of how this world will try to change or mold her into something she isn't.   Or worse, how I or Dan might try to change her, even if we feel it is for her own good. My prayer is that she grows to be confident in who she is. And while she should always strive to improve on her weaknesses, I pray she won't allow others to tell her that the way she was designed is not good enough.

Just thinking of Madi and her personality got me thinking really hard about ministry.  More specifically, about our group Illuminate.  Dan and I have prayed and sweat blood and tears trying to figure out something.  

"Why aren't we reaching people?"

We have a great group of young adults that come every single week.  They come to experience fellowship and develop a level of intimacy with us and with others.  They come to worship. They come to pray and be prayed over.  They come to hear God's word.  Yet, we aren't growing in a sense.  People are encouraged and challenged no doubt.  We hear it everyday.  But why weren't visitors coming back?

It's really simple now that we look at it.

We were trying to be something we are not.

We were comparing ourselves to other churches who were trendier, cooler, had better music and tons of guest speakers people actually have heard of.  We were trying to be like them.

That isn't necessarily a bad thing.  We gleaned a lot from these groups. They were reaching people. We wanted that too. We were just doing it opposite of how God wanted it.

But God has a different plan for Illuminate. And He hit us on the head when He started directing our hearts toward Him.  We had no choice but to look and to obey. 

I am excited.  I am elated.  My prayers for Illuminate are being answered.  Not necessarily in the way I desired them to be answered. But praise be to God they are being answered.  At Knott Avenue we have a huge community of people outside our walls, literally walking distance, who don't know the Lord.  They don't come to church on Sunday.  They don't hear God's word, about His Grace, about His Son Jesus.  They possibly don't even know Him. 

And we haven't done a very good job of ministering to them.  Because we were caught up in trying to be something else.  Something cool.  Something different.  Something.....that wasn't us.  And will never be. 

And when Dan and I were able to see part of the picture clearly.....we were excited. And humbled. Tears overflowed. 

And we say Yes Lord!

While I can't share too much (although I will soon)...will you pray for us in the next coming weeks.  God is moving and instructing. We don't have all the pieces yet.  But we have faith He will continually instruct us.  

If you are in a leadership position...listen to God's leading.  Look at your surroundings. At what is in front of you. And don't be something you're not.

Blessings,

Tiff~

Where My Heart Is At

Lately, I have been feeling extremely burdened.  Like having a very heavy heart.  But I am not sure I can completely verbalize why.  But I thought I would try.

You see Dan and I, together, lead a group of Young Adults.  Our ministry is called Illuminate and we absolutely love our group. We love what God has allowed us to do and we are humbled that we get to serve side by side in ministry and share about Jesus. 

My heart is aching because I want to see Him move.  Let me explain.  Yesterday during our Illuminate leadership meeting Dan revealed his heart to the team and read from Acts 2.  When the Holy Spirit was poured out among the believers and the gospel spread like wildfire and churches grew.  People came to Christ DAILY.  Churches were seeing new believers ALL THE TIME.

"Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved." Acts 2: 46-47 NAS

My question is this...why isn't this happening at churches all over the country.  I mean why is it happening at only a select few?  Why not every church who teaches that Christ is Lord and Savior.  When we are commanded to take the Gospel into the most remote places of the earth and to be a neighbor to those around us....why aren't we seeing more of this type of church here.  Why?

I am going to be honest and say this. I want to see people coming to Christ every Sunday, being baptized, shouting praises to Him, dropping to their knees before Him, being challenged to tell others about Him. 

I hear a lot of people say that it shouldn't be about numbers, but discipleship.  While I can understand what they mean the truth is this...every "number" that walks in through our church doors is a soul.  A soul that possibly does not know Christ. A soul that will go to hell if he/she dies before they make that choice.  Harsh? Maybe, but it is the truth.  If they leave your service and they do not understand that their own soul is at stake, about the reality of hell and about the grace that God offers us so freely through the blood of His Son, then you have missed the boat.

I also hear a lot of people say "evangelism is not my strength."  "I am not good at it."   "That's the pastor's job."  My friends no.  It is your command as well as the Pastor's.  Doesn't the Great Commission command all of us to go? If we are heartbroken over those who don't know Jesus then what are we heartbroken for?  Why do we come to church if all we are going to do is just warm the bench?  Get up! Get out!  Who do you love? Tell them about Grace.

God's

Riches

At

Christ's

Expense

He died for us. A horrible, painful, ugly death. A death that WE should have.  Instead He took our sins upon Himself. And because of that we have eternal life.  I am so grateful for this.

I just want to see God move everywhere, not at just a few churches, but at all of the Bible believing churches.  I want to hear that across the country people are coming to Christ.  Being baptized. Celebrating a new life. 

Don't you?

Tiff~

Graceland part 1

Tonight is the night. At 6:00pm our series launches. Dan is speaking about Amazing Grace. My deepest desire is that people's heart will be opened and that God will whisper into the deepest longings of their soul. That tonight if they have been searching for anything of meaning, they would realize it in Christ.

I will update tonight on the launch. I cannot wait to see how God moves. Even if only 20 people show up tonight...may God move and be glorified.

To Him who is worthy of our praise.

Tiff

2 Days

2 days until Illuminate's Gracelamd series officially launches. Praying for the auditorium to be filled...filled with those who both love Him and for those who do not yet know Him. That God would move mightily and that He would speak through Dan. That God would receive all the glory and praise.

Please keep all of our leaders and staff in your prayers as they get ready for a busy Sunday night. We hope to see you there!

Tiff

A New Blog

I wanted to share with you all a little something.

I have really felt on my heart that ministry and my love for Christ gets lost here on the family blog. I tried to lump everything into one place but it really was too hard to do.  It ended up making me sound very spastic and unfocused.

So I have started another blog. 

This blog will be focused more on my spiritual life. On my journey as a woman in ministry with her husband and with her Savior. 

I hope you will join me. 

It is still under construction as I have many plans for the space.  So please pardon my dust. =)

I love each and everyone of you.  You can find my other blog here: It's a Brand New Day

Blessings,

Tiff~

6 Days

6 days until the launch of Graceland. I am praying every single day. I am praying for God to move. For people to bring their friends. For folks who do not know Christ as Lord and Savior to make a committment to Him. For 10,000 acts of Grace that we will be challenging our group to do. For the life groups and the relationships that will be formed.

For my husband, who is working tirelessly for our group. For the folks we have both grown to love so much as if they were are own family. In fact, Illuminate is our family. We are so humbled and blessed that God would allow us to work with such an amazing group of people.

If you are still praying for us, please continue to do so.

6 days.

Tiff

http://www.kacc.com

Just Playing Catch Up

Right now as I type this post, S is sleeping in my arms.  I have pretty much mastered typing and holding babies since I had a ton of practice with Madi.  You kind of figure out how to use one arm, feet and any other part of your body when you are carrying around a squirmy and snuggly little one.  I am pretty positive that is why God made women so capable of multitasking.  We have to do it EVERYDAY!

Life has not exactly been busy lately.  Many of us are preparing to go back to work, school and other committments for the fall.  I am going to try and register Madi for dance class this fall.  I am absolutely sure my little diva will love it.  She definitely got her love of theatrics from me.  Dancing, singing, play acting.....my little gal has such a vivid and colorful imagination.....it is such an awesome thing to see her mind at work and how she creates her own little stories and characters.  I love having a little girl.

A couple of weeks ago, my dear friend Michelle came over to the house to take pictures of Baby Sean.  We wanted to catch some newborn photos of him sleeping..but it just wasn't really meant to be.  Last resort, I had to hold him while he was wrapped in a blanket.  We were able to catch a few:

He is such a beautiful baby.  I was worried at first how I would react or even possibly love this son of mine.  I mean, I was so accustomed to a little girl and everything pink.  Now I find myself checking out the stores for sports memoraphilia and anything else boyish.  Dan and I are banking on him being a football or baseball player since Dan played both in high school and excelled at them. 

Please pray for Dan today and tomorrow as he is speaking at all main services this weekend atKnott Avenue Christian Church.  You can listen to the message live tonight at 5pm.  I hope you will join in and that God will speak to your heart directly as Dan talks about discipline in the church. 

Love you all! Have a great weekend!

Tiff~

P.S. I lost my camera and I cannot find it anywhere. Let's hope I find it soon because that camera had Sean's birth pics on there. =(

Time for me

Now that I am a mommy of two, I am starting to realize just how proactive I am going to have to be in carving out time for myself. I have been able to escape for tiny bits of time so that I can read my bible (or heck go to the bathroom) but I know that eventually I will need to take some more time to take care of myself and nurture my spirit creatively, spiritually and physically.

One thing that I really want to start doing again is scrapbooking. I haven't completed any layouts in nearly a year and I really am itching to play with paper and photos again. It was something that made me inexplicably happy and once we settle into our new place I will make sure to create a little space for me to play in.

I also want to get back into shape. My husband and I will be celebrating our fifth wedding anniversary in October and I want to go on a hot date with my man. We both are starting to feel the effects of aging and bearing children and we believe that taking care of ourselves physically will help us with the energy we need to do ministry and take care of our young children. I want to be around for a long time, Lord willing, to see my children grow up and have babies and families of their own.

Ministry is another thing that I really want to involve myself more in. Right now I am slightly limited in how much I can serve within the church due to having a young family. However, I want to participate more alongside Dan and really get down in the trenches with him. I know he really misses my active participation in a lot of the things he does for Illuminate, so I will need to work out a system where someone can watch the babies so that I can be available to serve.

Those are just a couple of goals I have for myself during this time. Life is so busy that I needed to type these out so that I can visually see where I want to go and what I want to achieve.

As mommies what are some ways you refresh? Or what goals have you set up for yourself?

Blessings,

Tiff

When someone hurts you...pray.

I am going to be very honest here.  I have had this on my heart for awhile now and yesterday, the reality of it all came to a sudden crashing halt as I realized just the kind of woman I tend to become when I am hurt. 

I don't pray for my enemies. Or really for those who I feel have wronged me or my family.

In fact, I seek to find revenge, list all the things that they do wrong when they dare to point out my indescretions and write them off as someone who is unworthy of prayer or encouragement.  I found myself thinking this way about someone in particular yesterday and it startled me.  I literally felt as if the Lord grabbed my heart out of my chest and thrust it in front of the mirror so that I could see the ugliness that was trapped and buried inside there.  It wasn't a pretty sight.  I was disgusted and abhorred by the fact that I, a pastor's wife, could be capable of feeling such animosity towards someone and not think twice of it. 

Praise Him that He revealed it to me. 

It all started when Dan called me this morning about an important duty that we had been neglecting.  Really, I am glad he called because it needed to be addressed but I felt bad for him since he was the one who had to deal with it and bear the brunt of the consequences.  I didn't like the fact that my husband felt irresponsible and like a failure in a certain area.  My husband works hard. He works very hard and I take it so personally when someone doesn't realize just how hard he works and yet he is criticized.  Of course criticism and correction come with the territory and that I should ready to accept it when it comes as long as it lines up with God's word. 

But for some reason that doesn't keep me from thinking ugly thoughts about the person who says them. 

So last night I had to submit those thoughts to the Lord in prayer and ask for His forgiveness.  And then I did something I hadn't done in a long time for this person.  I prayed for them. Even though I was hurt, even though I was angry and I didn't really feel like bringing this person to the Lord....I had to do it.  It was the Lord directing my words and my heart to pray for this person.

This isn't always the easy thing to do. Who am I kidding. This is the HARDEST thing a person can do sometimes. 

This verse really reminds me that in order to have peace with self and often with others...we must kneel before our Father and leave it all at His feet:

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." (Phil 4:6)

This verse is often applied to the worries of our life and struggles and this is very true. But I feel that this verse can also apply to when we feel any anxiousness, weariness or animosity towards individuals.  Lay it all at His feet.

How can my mouth confess to know and love the Lord yet I harbor angry feelings towards someone in my heart and on my lips? 

James 3:9

"With it (the tongue) we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God."

Does that send shivers down your spine? How easily we can be influenced by our feelings towards an individual...we praise our heavenly Father one minute and yet speak evil about someone in another minute. 

As James says...This cannot be. 

So I am working on my tongue. And my heart.  It isn't an easy thing to do, but I know that God will be honored and I want to obey Him and enjoy fellowship with Him.  I do not want this sin in my life to keep me from a deep, loving and passionate relationship with the One who saved my soul from certain death.  I hope and pray that for those who struggle with the same thing, this is your prayer as well. 

Blessings,

Tiff~

Women's Bible Study

 

Last night I attended my very first women's bible study session.  I have been a christian now for nearly 9 years and I have yet to attend a bible study for women.  I enjoyed it so much last night that I am literally kicking myself and asking "Why didn't you do this sooner?"

Our women's director is a wonderful woman named Phyllis Womack, whom I have to say I greatly respect and admire.  She is witty, loud, funny and real.  Yet completely gracious and gentle as she teaches God's word to the women in attendance.  We whipped through the book of Acts; highlighting the moments when God used women in order to spread the message of Jesus Christ and the growth of His church.  Tomorrow I think I will post a few of the stories as there were quite a few! 

After study we broke off into our small groups and went over some discussion questions.  My group was so much fun and lively and hilarious. It was nice to meet some new women in the church and see where their hearts were and how they were using their gifts to further His Kingdom. 

So why hadn't I done this before?  I have to be honest and say that I felt I was just too busy to add another item on my schedule.  I mean after all, I do work full time and then come home and have to take care of the house, husband and toddler.  Make dinner, get everyone ready for the next day and then off to bed to start all over.  I was placing my growth as a christian woman as a priority and I believe that by not fellowshipping with other women, who more than likely are more busy than I am, really hurt me. 

And I totally fought the idea of going too!  I mean I grunted and tried to think of an excuse to get out of it.  But after I told myself to just go, I had a really good time.  And I am finding that when I protest about something, when I tell myself I really don't want to do something.....that very thing I did not want to do turned out to be a blessing and an enjoyment.  Do you ever experience that?  It is the story of my life.  *smile*

So I encourage all women to at least try to attend a women's bible study.  It is so important to have girlfriends in your life.  I have a couple of gals that I can call at a moment's notice when I need prayer, encouragement or just some old fashion girl talk. (oh and a shopping trip. Sorry it's what most of us do. lol) If you live in the Orange County area and you don't have a group but are interested, email me.  We would love to have you.  You can be a newbie like me!  *smile*

Blessings,

Tiff~