The budding trees and the smells of flowers signal the arrival of spring. It is a new season and the plants which had been silently gaining strength over the winter months spring forth with new vigor and life. It’s a beautiful time of the year.

I love the rhythm of life God has so beautifully designed in the world. It lets us know things are moving forward, change is happening, and yet there is still order.

In much the same way organizations also have “seasons.  For the past seven years we have had an amazing woman at the helm of our Women’s Ministry, D’Ann Davis.  She has served selflessly and faithfully (You can read more about my thoughts about her here).  As this ministry is both intense and emotionally taxing, she has felt the need to step away from ministry to pursue other interest and a time of refreshing and personal renewal.  I and this ministry will certainly miss her and we are indebted to her for the deep contributions she has made to LHM and all those who were touched by her powerful service among us.

Welcome Bonnie Scasta!

This past week, we have named Bonnie Scasta as our new Women’s Ministry Director. She is no stranger to our ministry.  She has been a part of LHM since 2009 and has served as the Assistant to D’Ann in the women’s ministry for theist two years. She brings a wealth of gifts, talents, integrity, commitment and a deep sense of calling, to this position.

Bonnie has an undergraduate degree from Texas A&M in psychology and a Masters of Arts in Christian Counseling  from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.  She has worked for the past three years for the Tarrant County Women’s Center as a Community Educator Specialists for abuse prevention in children and teens.  In addition to serving on LHM staff as assistant to the Women’s Ministry Director, she also served LHM as a women’s small group leader and assisted as an administrator on our online support forums.  Her contagious sense of joy, her deep commitment to Christ, His Church, and His people, and her sincere sense of calling make her perfectly suited for this position.  Bonnie also has a very personal connection to this ministry as the daughter of a father who is gay-identified (you can read Bonnie’s story here).   Her personal struggles in coming to terms with her father’s choices, have uniquely shaped and impacted her life.  Her experience has given her incredible passion, love, empathy and care for both those who are journeying with family members and loved ones, and for those who are experiencing struggles personally.   She is actively involved in CityView Church in Fort Worth, serves in their children’s ministry, and helps volunteers get connected to serving opportunities.  She is originally from Huntsville, TX, but has been living in the Metroplex for the past seven years.

We are excited to have Bonnie as a part of our team and anticipate the amazing ways in which God will use her to proclaim His grace and truth.  Please join me in welcoming  and praying for Bonnie as she enters this new season.

by Ricky Chelette, Executive Director

What would it be like to have every sin forgiven and every bad deed forgotten? What would it be like to come home – not to a house, but to a place of grace and truth and lavish love?

The story of the prodigal son is that very story – a story of truth, grace and coming home.  It has captured the hearts and imaginations of man for centuries. It appears in chapter 15 of Luke’s Gospel.  It is a beautiful story of prodigals and a good, loving, and gracious father.

Though written  centuries ago, it is really the story of all of our lives. It is a picture of the character of God, the sinfulness of man, the power of repentance, and the power of lavish grace and forgiveness. It is a story almost too good to be true, but it is, and it’s a story I see lived out week after week.

It often begins with a simple text message, email or call that says, “can you help me?” The conversations that follow are often complex and filled with emotions, uncertainties, and confusion.  The paths back home are different, the circumstances unique, but each has a resolve that always points to one truth – a longing to come home!  In much the same way, Luke puts it in these words, “But when he came to himself” (vs 17). There is something in the heart of man that wants to be right with God our Father, that longs for peace and congruity.  Our heart wants to invest itself in something more than passing pleasures and temporal joy. At the core of every human cry for help is a desire for God. He has placed it there and most will spend our lives either enjoying it, or trying to fill it with cheap counterfeits.

What I love about Luke’s story is he is not as concerned about the son’s bad choices and rebellion as he is about the Father’s response when the son comes home.  Verse 20 states, “But while he was still a long way off his father saw him and felt compassion…”  In a world where Christianity and religious beliefs are more often associated with hate and vitriol than love and grace, the Bible is quick to remind us that the heart of God is a father who loves his children, is ever-watching for them, and is moved with compassion when they turn towards home.

Not only was the father filled with compassion, Luke goes on to say, “[the father] ran and embraced him and kissed him.”  The father “ran” to the son.   We have no idea how old this son was, but he was old enough to live on his own, take his inheritance, and engage in all manner of adult activities.  That makes his father more than likely a middle-aged man, maybe even older.  The father is not the age of a man you normally associate with running uncontrollably in public.  But when the father sees the son moving towards home, he “ran.”  Why?  Because good dads are moved with great joy and overflowing emotion when they see their son or daughter coming home. Like the father, God not only moves towards us, but He is filled with compassion and love.  Luke says that after running to the son the father “embraced him and kissed him.”  God not only wants us to know forgiveness and love, He really wants us to feel and experience it.  There is no condemnation.  No judgment.  No lecture or chiding.  Just compassion and overflowing love.  I’m sure there were conversations and discussion about all that had taken place, lessons learned, etc., but that was for another time. On this day it was a call to celebration!

The father’s response is to free the son from his slavery to lesser things and restore his connection as son.  He places a robe upon his back, a ring of sonship on his finger and calls for a feast to celebrate his son who once was lost, but now has been found. This is a picture of the God we serve, the God who gave His only son for our redemption. This is The God who loves us enough to leave heaven and join us on earth to demonstrate His love to us by giving His life on a cross for our sins.  This is true Father’s love and it cost Jesus His very life. This is our prodigal journey.  This is our prodigal, homecoming feast!

As we contemplated what the theme of this year’s banquet/celebration would be I was drawn to this story in Luke.  Despite a culture that has completely embraced homosexuality as normative, God continues to call men and women out of the far country and back to their home with Him.

On October 17^th we will celebrate these powerful, real life stories – stories of prodigals who have returned home.  We hope you will join us for an unforgettable encounter with the grace and truth of a redeeming God who runs to meet us when we turn towards Him and seeks to restore us.

Maybe you need to come home, be forgiven, find that peace that passes all understanding, and be reunited with author and creator of your soul?  Our Father offers forgiveness and grace. He is filled with compassion and love.  He is waiting for you, watching and eagerly anticipating your return.  Won’t you join us as we come home and celebrate a prodigal feast!

Tickets are on sale now and limited to 500.  Tables are $400 and individual tickets are $45 and can be purchased here.  Deadline to purchase tickets is October 9^th, midnight.  Come to the prodigal feast and be blessed!

by Ricky Chelette, Executive Director

No one likes to admit their faults or their weaknesses.  In fact, most of us spend inordinate amounts of time trying to hide anything we perceive as less than the perceived standard we, or our culture, create in our minds.  But experiential reality would quickly correct our thinking.  Simple observation of humanity and its plight throughout history would indicate we are indeed flawed. We are captivated by personal advancement and innate selfishness that, by its very object, diminishes the advancement and flourishing of others. Observing little children at play will quickly show we are not altruistic creatures, but self-seekers and power-grabbers, positioning to advance ourselves at the expense of others.  We seek our own glory and eagerly displace the glory of others and God.  In simple terms, we are sinners.

We don’t like to admit that we sin.  In fact, it seems our modern world goes to great lengths to justify our sin and our personal responsibility for it with ingenious and often psychologically reasoned blame-shifting.  We cite early childhood depravations, woundings, abuse, lack of attachments, bullying, marginalization, and the list goes on and on.  No doubt such things cause hurts, wounds, and hang-ups in our lives, but the core of our problem is not the wounds of others or even ourselves. Our problem is SIN.

The mere mention of the word brings disdain to the face of many moderns.  We don’t like its archaic moorings, its ties to religion, or its insistence that we are less than we were created to be.  We are troubled we can’t seem to prevent its allure and ultimately its seduction.  We somehow believe if we say we are okay long enough and loud enough, we will be.  But we are not.  We are sinners.

According to Scripture, our sinfulness began soon after we did, in the garden – in that utopian environment created for human flourishing (Gen 3).  Romans 5:12 puts it this way, “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” And in 3:23 it says, “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” The Bible seems to be clear about the sinfulness of humanity.  It agrees with what we can readily observe.

This is why Christmas is so important.  You see without a deep sense of our own sinfulness, Christmas has no real meaning.  We  should celebrate Christmas not because of presents and eggnog, or beautifully decorations and brightly lit trees, but because God provided for mankind what we could not provide for ourselves – a Savior, Christ Jesus our Lord!  

Therefore, the Gospel writers herald good news when they write, “She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (Matt 1:21).  Luke tells us that the One born was a fulfillment of the One promised in Isaiah 53, “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11).  And John reports in 4:42, “we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.” A Savior indicates the innate need to be saved from something and that something is the grip of sin.  We are sinners in need of a Savior.

This Christmas we need to embrace the reality of our sinfulness for in owning our sin, we realize our desperate need for a Savior. “For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous” (Rom 5:19).  Jesus has entered the human predicament to be what humans could not be, sinless, and therefore qualify to take on our sin so we might be made right with God (2 Cor 5:21).

As we gather around the tree, the presents, and the family meals, my prayer is that we will thank God that He did not leave us in our sin, but provided a Savior.  I pray that we will embrace the reality of our sinfulness and know that our only hope is in Him.  I pray we will fully understand that sin needs Christmas because we need a Savior.

“Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Tim 1:10).