Letter from a Soldier

There are some things that don’t need explanation or introduction. This letter is one of those. I will only preface it by asking you to please pray regularly for the brave men and women who protect our country every day.

Dear Pastor Graham,
My name is Jordan M. Pena, or better known as Private First Class of the United States Army. I received a letter from the church on March 30, 2009, and I wanted to say thank you. Thank you for having the church stand behind me, and my fellow brothers and sisters in service ... as a fellow follower in Christ, member at Prestonwood, at one time as a student, and now a service member of the military. It’s hard to find the right church in North Carolina near Fort Bragg, when I’m used to a great pastor from my home state and city. No one can fill your shoes as a great leader and speaker of God’s Word. I miss not being at Prestonwood on Sundays with my friends, but I get by reading my Soldier's Bible every chance I get, to keep my faith strong.

A little history about me, I graduated from Hebron High School in May of 2007, and went to Basic Training that following July. My 19 weeks of training ended when I earned the title of a United States Army Paratrooper (Red Beret) on Dec. 14, 2007. Shortly after being home and getting to listen to you speak one last time, I left Carrollton for Fort Bragg, where I've been stationed for a year now. I’m going on two years of active duty service and coming on the age of 21 this December. However, I will not be home to celebrate this is year, as I am currently serving in Afghanistan. A 12-month deployment that started on Jan. 26, 2009 will last until my feet touch back home in North Carolina sometime early next February. This August, I have been given the chance to come home on a 2-week mid-tour deployment leave. And I look forward to sitting on a Sunday, listening to you speak the Word of God.

Prestonwood will always be my home church … from accepting Christ into my life as a seventh grader at Prestonwood, to being baptized my sophomore year of high school, to being a senior and standing up in front a crowd telling them that I had joined the Army to protect them and God's Word … I will continue to defend it with honor. I ask for one simple thing, for a prayer so strong that it keeps my family, friends, fellow serviceman and women, and me, out of harm’s way.

Thank you, Pastor Graham, for being a big part of my life. With a cross hanging from my dog tags close to my heart, I feel God around every day, and the prayer of His believers over me and my buddies. We await the day we can come home and be united with our friends and family. God bless, and Godspeed.

Sincerely,
PFC Jordan M. Pena, U.S. Active Army Paratrooper

Aspire Higher with Avery Johnson

I love underdog stories. Don’t you? Especially this time of year ... with March Madness in the air! Whether our favorite team is playing or not, we all seem to gravitate toward the team nobody expected would reach the NCAA Tournament.

Well, I can think of no better underdog story than that of Avery Johnson. Known for his passionate playing style, the “Little General” rose from the housing projects of New Orleans to the pinnacle of the NBA—winning a championship with the San Antonio Spurs and then coaching the Dallas Mavericks to their first-ever finals.

I’m sure you watched him on the court as a player or on the sidelines at American Airlines Center as the Mavs coach or now as a studio analyst for ESPN. But you may not know the rest of the story. Avery is a great friend and a great man of God. If you live in the area, I invite you to join me as we welcome him to PowerLunch tomorrow. And take a moment to meet him afterward. He’ll sign copies of his book Aspire Higher.

You won’t want to miss his inspiring story of dogged perseverance and big dreams.

High Definition Living

For the past 11 weeks, I’ve been teaching a message series called High Definition Living. Everything’s gone HD these days, and it’s amazing how bold the color is and how sharp the picture is. The clarity is incredible. So I decided to take a look at the commandments from God, the moral law of God, the laws that liberate us for real living and how they apply to us right now in real time in high definition.

God has called us, as believers, to be colorful for Him, to be bright, beautiful and bold for Him. We are to magnify and amplify His glory. So how do we do this? By living lives in Hi Def. “I then shall live” is to live in high definition and clarity. We, the people of God, must be willing to step out and step up to the challenge of living for Christ in our generation.

And let’s face it, we live in a world of moral ambiguity where so often many live in a shade of gray, where there’s little black and white or right and wrong. Many people couldn’t tell you what the Ten Commandments are, and given the economic disaster we’re facing, it’s not hard to believe. Sadly, though, it’s also true of the church. So how can we know how to live if we don’t live by the guidelines given to us by God?

Here’s my prayer, that we wouldn’t follow society in the mistaken thinking that the commandments are archaic and irrelevant. They are more relevant than anything our culture has to offer. This weekend I’ll be closing out the series with the message, “The Desire to Acquire.” An appropriate message, don’t you think? Where has all this “acquiring” gotten us? And yet our faith in our God is, was and will always be our foundation.

If you live in the Dallas area, visit our website for service times. We’d love to see you! If you live elsewhere, you can catch the live streaming of the service on Sunday at 11:00 a.m. (CST) on PowerPoint. In the coming weeks, the entire message series will be available for purchase at the Prestonwood Bookstores.

Celebrating Life

There are some ministries that are near and dear to my heart. One of those is Prestonwood Pregnancy Center. Today, I was blessed to attend the “Friends for Life Luncheon” which drew hundreds who wanted to learn more about this “Jesus Ministry.”

When I came to Dallas in 1989, I brought in my heart from my former church in Florida a ministry that serves as a reminder of the preciousness of life itself—from the very beginning. And in February, we celebrated the 18th anniversary of this Prestonwood Baptist Church ministry. Through Prestonwood Pregnancy Center, we celebrate life by praying, giving and standing for the unborn.

Our staff and more than 75 weekly volunteers offer grace, love and hope. Often, the clients we serve are dealing with crises and consequences of sin. I’ve always said that it’s better to light a candle than curse the darkness. This ministry isn’t about bringing condemnation; it’s about hope and overcoming evil with good as Scripture says in Romans 12:21.


Last year, our center served the community through some 2,900 client visits, performing nearly 1,500 pregnancy tests and 630 sonograms. And we witnessed 135 professions of faith! We have also begun using another resource, the Mobile Sonogram Unit, which allows us to go out into the community to reach those in need. Please pray for this ministry and those similar to it in your own area ... and help support them as they continue giving the gift of life.

"Kindling" My Love of Books

I love to read, so one of my favorite recent gadgets has been the Kindle. This thin, lightweight “wireless reading device” lets me download books or magazines or newspapers at anytime, and I can slip it in my briefcase and enjoy it while I’m traveling. Heading home from North Carolina yesterday, I read Joe Torre’s The Yankee Years. (FYI – it’s an entertaining read for any baseball fan.)

Still, I truly enjoy holding a book in my hands and feeling the crispness of the paper while I turn the pages. I have a library with more than 6,000 volumes, most of them, to me, are priceless.

So I’m excited about attending the Christian Book Expo at the Dallas Convention Center tomorrow with Deb and our daughter, Kelly. As you may know, Deb and Kelly do a wonderful job leading our award-winning Prestonwood Bookstores.

While there, I’ll visit with friends and check out the many books and other items on display. And at 10:00 a.m., I’ll sign copies of one of my own books, Are You Fit For Life? We’ll also have information about my newest book, Powering Up, which will be released on Mother’s Day. (I’ll talk more about that at a later date.) If you live in the Dallas area, stop by the Expo. It’d be great to meet you.

Praying for Our Seminaries

Today I am writing to you from beautiful Wake Forest, N.C. It's always a pleasure to visit our great institutions of faith such as Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. I spoke at Chapel this morning, and let me say how pleased I was to meet students and to hear their hearts for the ministry. Led by my friend, Dr. Danny Akin, this great seminary is thriving, with more than 2,000 students who love the Lord and have a passion for His Word.

I recently read a story in USA Today about the financial difficulties that seminaries are facing in our country. The story stated that of 175 institutions (which are not part of a university), nearly 40 percent are "financially stressed." The story says that figure is up 26 percent from last year. Enrollment is also dropping significantly at most institutions.

During this economic struggle our nation is facing, please keep in your prayers our Bible-teaching seminaries. Please pray for leaders like Danny Akin as they look to our Great God for guidance and continually seek innovative ways to train those with a heart for ministry. And please pray for the students—tomorrow's pastors and missionaries and teachers.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Too bad St. Patrick’s Day is identified with drunkenness and debauchery when the namesake was a godly, faithful missionary for Christ and the Gospel. Here is the prayer attributed to St. Patrick which invites the presence and power of Christ in our lives each day:



I arise today
Through God's strength to pilot me;
God's might to uphold me,
God's wisdom to guide me,
God's eye to look before me,
God's ear to hear me,
God's word to speak for me,
God's hand to guard me,
God's way to lie before me,
God's shield to protect me,
God's hosts to save me… Afar and anear,
Alone or in a mulitude.

Christ shield me today against wounding
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye that sees me, Christ in the ear that hears me.

I arise today through the mighty strength…
of the Creator of Creation.

So with that … Happy St. Patrick’s Day!