Servolution

Over 600 volunteers at the 1st ever servolution! I had an amazing time serving at the car wash and talking with the people we were able to bless. It was funny how many people couldn't believe we were doing this for free, just to be nice!
Part of the Serve Team and Alma (on the right) who's CRV looked brand new when we were finished with it!

It was awesome to see this many Serve Shirts!
We almost got to wash this Limo! The kids were so excited but the driver didn't have time to wait for the wash!
Totally Free Car Wash! No Donations. We won't take your money so just keep it!

Family

I miss my family!

A New Lesson on Humility

I learned a new lesson in Humility today...I forgot to do something that I was responsible for and it cost a 13 people an hour of their time. I don't like wasting people's time and I felt really bad today. The more important thing is that's this lesson isn't about me, it's about what God is trying to teach me through my mistakes...to be humble. So after a bit of groveling and telling a few jokes to pass the time God did an amazing thing. He used me to teach a mini lesson on humility.

I was already at the front of the room. I was in the position to be used because I was humble for a minute or two. I told a story that someone told me about the cloak of humility...

A man was praying and captivated in worship. He was seeking God and praying for true humility before the Lord. God placed him in His throne room. The man stood in the full presence and glory or God! He was captivated by His awesome beauty and love. The the man looked down at himself and noticed that he was wearing a garment made of burlap. He saw himself as nothing without God, but then underneath that burlap he saw something shining. He began to pull the burlap away to reveal stunning armor made studded with jewels. He continued to remove the cloak to look at the glorious armor underneath. As he did, the presence of God shrank away from him and when the man felt God's glory leave he let the cloak fall over himself again and returned his gaze to God. As the cloak of humility fell over him he was able to bask in God's glory and not his own.

When I get distracted with myself I miss out on the full and glorious presence of God. Today I learned another lesson in humility, the hard way...by being humbled. Painful but fruitful.

Servolution

Servolution is THIS Saturday!!!!

The mission of this outreach is to change the world by serving one person! We believe that we will be showing the tangible love of Jesus by giving random acts of kindness to the entire city! Please check out the servolution website by clicking on the link on the right side of this page!

We have over 500 volunteers that will be going out into Baton Rouge to do the biggest 1 day outreach in HPC history!

I am so honored that I will be responsible for one of the 5 free car washes around the city! This is a big responsibility and I am so excited!!!

Please be praying for me and the rest of the volunteers. We will need the character of Jesus if we are going to try and show his love to the city. We will need to remove our selves so God can work though us and that is so difficult to do without prayer.

Thank you all so much for your continued support! I am having the most challenging experience of my life and I am loving every second of it! This could not happen if you weren't behind me lifting me up in prayer and supporting me financially. I love you all!

More Pictures!!!!

Me and Jill Ellis! Jill is my punk rock friend...she's single, look out!
Me and Charis, she is awesome! She and her brother helped me move in to the elevate apartment!
From the Left: Stephanie Durbin, Joy Parker, Mary Beth Guedry, and Kristina Blount
The first prank of the year. Brandon's car got covered with post-it notes.

Rewind

Because I have been such a bad blogger lately I thought I'd give a bit of a photo recap for you guys! I hope you enjoy these pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them!!!Elevate Initiation: The 2nd year interns kidnapped us in the middle of the night during our first week in Elevate. The brought us to the church and we cleaned the sanctuary for the Sunday services! It was so much fun...at least for those of us who weren't blind folded!
Me wearing one of the many backpack vacuum cleaners...yeah it reminds me of The Ghost Busters too!
Some of the Full Time Elevate girls! From Back: Kelly Finegan, Hannah Dyke, Stephanie Durbin, Shana Byers, Mary Beth Guedry, Kristina Blount, Stephanie Bain.

Our Elevate class gets announced to the church! There are 26 Full Time Interns and 53 going to the Evening School!!

PICTURES

Hey Y'all there are some pictures of the Orientation day at Pastor Dino's house, the LSU ropes course and the Elevate retreat at the Elevate Blog.... Check em out!

Conflicts

We have chapel every Tuesday where we get to have worship and hear from a great speaker. This week Pastor Mike Haman came and spoke to us about dealing with conflicts. I thought this was so good, and so convicting, that I'd share it with you guys!

7 Steps to Deal with Conflict: Based on Matt 18:15
"If another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the offense. If the other person listens and confesses then you have won that person back." NLT

1) If there is a conflict: Acknowledge the problem
unresolved = unhealthy = unfruitful = unacceptable by God

2) You: We have to be the ones to dress the problem...none of this, it's not my fault so he should apologize to me.

3) Go: Approach the issue don't avoid it or skirt around the issue. Be proactive; anger is the smoke detector which signals there is a change that needs to be made.

4) To the person: Go directly to the person and do NOT involve third parties because you will plant bitterness and contempt in their hearts toward the person.

5) In Private: Don't call people out in public because it will only embarrass them and frustrate the situation. Make sure your motive is love and wait for the right timing to address the issue, not while you are angry.

6) Discuss the problem: Use direct communication and address the issue at hand, don't beat around the bush. Talk about the core issues and not the peripheral issues.

7) The purpose of the discussion is reconciliation: NOT to win the argument. If you win the argument but lose the relationship what have you really won? If you aren't ready to reconcile the relationship don't begin the process.

I hope this helps you as much as it helped me! No matter where we work, live or who are friends are we will have conflicts.

Happy Birthday Katie

I just wanted to give a shout out to my friend Katie! It was her birthday yesterday, so Happy Birthday Katie.

Picture: Hannah and I being silly in the office.

Solitude Retreat

So we went to Prayer Lake this past weekend and it was amazing! It was great to get away and have some quite time! Living in an apartment with 5 other girls doesn't lend itself to much peace and quiet!

It's funny though, I went into this weekend trying to have this great "God" experience. I spent most of the time trying to force this exceptional moment, but what I learned is that it doesn't have to be this deep, complex metaphor; Jesus is simple!

I would get so stressed out because I didn't feel like I was connecting with God on the right level or doing the right things but God just wants me to enjoy His presence. I am reminded of the story of Mary and Martha. So the ladies throw a party for Jesus and after the party happens there is tons of clean up to do, but Mary is just hanging out with Jesus. Meanwhile Martha is in the kitchen doing all of the dishes; she gets so busy with clean up that she missed the best part of the party.

I don't want to be Martha!

Live for God or shut up!

This is an excerpt from the Elevate blog I wanted to share with you guys!

Posted on September 5th, 2007

This was sent to me via e-mail from Donna Frank (she helps Alliece Cole with outreach and is an amazing servant and awesome woman of God) and I thought that I would share it with everyone. It is really good, so check it out. - Tiffany Dupree

“Elevate (internship program at HPC) has started up again for their Fall semester. We’ve been blessed by getting to work with several of their students, some first-year and some second. These young people are laying down their lives for the cause of Jesus. They spend their time between classes, assignments, work, prayer and serving in various capacities with the church. The crew that we have are fantastic; great attitudes, hard working and dedicated. I’m sure you’ll hear more about them in future posts.

Wednesday afternoon we went into the community to do Widow’s Outreach. We got to visit with some incredible people and share their lives. Miss Agnes wasn’t home. Miss Agnes is always home, so when she didn’t answer the door we went to ask the neighbor if she was okay. As it turns out she was in hospital. We promptly loaded up the van and headed to Baton Rouge General to find Miss Agnes. She’s a very special lady whom I’ve had the privilege of getting to know a little bit over the past several months. She’s 91 years old and was a preacher for 32 years. She always has a sermon ready and it’s always a word for the moment. Wednesday afternoon was no different. As she was propped up in her chair, breathing oxygen through a tube, I asked her what she wanted to say to our Elevate interns. She looked directly at them and said, “Live for God or shut up. If you’re not going to live right than don’t you even be talkin bout Him.”

Talk about a word that will preach.
That has stuck with me all week. Through Ladies Thrive on Friday, street outreach on Saturday and Pastor Dino’s weeekend message. Live for God or shut up. A strong word from an awesome lady.

All glory to God!”

-Donna Frank

Prayer Lake

This week we are going on a solitude retreat! 2 whole days of time alone with God! I'm excited, can you tell? I have been around so many people and been doing so many things that I am ready for some time alone. Just me and the Lord.

We will also be doing a little fasting! I used to hate fasting. Maybe because I am a nutritionist and I know what your body is going though when you fast. But now I really enjoy being able to silence the world around me and really focus on God. That's what fasting helps me do...clear my head. So get ready!

Another Trip to Peru

HPC is sending another 20-30 guys down to Peru to continue the construction projects they have began. Please keep the volunteers in your prayers as well as the Peruvian people and the government. Thank you!

Time is Flying

OK, so I can't believe it's been so long since my last post! It feels like all I did was blink and 5 days flew past! Things are going great in the Elevate World!

Friday night we kicked off a new school year with Late Night Live! We had a bunch of college kids playing games and eating food over at the Highland Campus. Then we had an awesome encounter with the Lord during worship and a great message from Pastor Mike Haman.

This weekend we had a "Random Fund Raiser Weekend" where we broke out into teams of 2-3 people and raised funds for out mission trip next year! We had to raise at least $200 per team but we went over and above. We raised over $3000 for the trip!!!

This week at HPC we are hosting a big workshop where a bunch of churches around the states are coming to see what goes on behind the scenes at HPC. God has blessed this church with a great anointing and the staff want to share what God is doing with churches all over the country! So Elevate is getting to play a big part in serving those who come in to learn!

We are also having a One Way service tonight!!! I am so excited. One Way is a service that is nothing but great worship, but the best part is we have all of our campuses represented under one roof! We worship as a family, united together like the body of Christ was intended to be! I can't wait!

Well I have a bunch of pictures from over the past few days so I will get them up here ASAP!
Love you! and God bless!