I was sitting here in my office, trying to figure out what I was going to write this week, when it occurred to me to just share with everyone out there just how awesomely blessed I am!

Psalm 145:5-7 says, "I will speak of the glorious honor of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works.  And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts: and I will declare thy greatness.  They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness."

One effective type of praise and worship service is the testimony service, where you give a person or persons the opportunity to share during the praise and worship service some of the things that God has done for them.  It really encourages people's faith.  I want to have a testimony service right now with you.

It's November, 2000 and I am in a very exciting season in my life.  My wife and I bought our first brand new house this year.  It is a four bedroom, 2 and 1/2 bathroom, two story that backs up to a 3.5 acre wooded reserve.  It has a first floor laundry room, large eat-in kitchen, living room, family room with a fireplace, dining room, and den.  It has a 3/4 basement with a crawl space and a 2-car attached garage.  It is 2450 square feet, not including the basement.  Our former house was 1100 square feet, basement included.  God has richly blessed us with this house.

The reason that we needed a bigger house is the next thing I want to testify about.  Louise gave birth to our first child, a girl named Jessica Lauren Jarvis, on August 28th.  Both Louise and the baby are very healthy.  Jessica is bright and alert, loves music, loves to laugh, has my eyes, loves to dance with her daddy, and is absolutely beautiful!  She has truly brought joy for Louise and myself.  What an awesome experience it has been so far!

Of course, my CD was released in September.  We have had a tremendous response to it.  Hundreds...no, thousands of people have been ministered to through it.  And even though I don't have a record label yet, I feel in my spirit that something very big is right around the corner for HJM.  We are getting radio play for the CD around the entire state of Ohio.  I even have it out in a couple of bookstores.  And I know we've just scratched the surface of its potential!

Speaking of CD's, I am currently in the planning stages for my second one.  We should be starting to record sometime after the first of the year.  Furthermore, we have an almost unbelievable door that has opened for us.  The University of Florida's University Gospel Choir has expressed an interest in singing on my next CD!   What an exciting opportunity that will be, Lord willing.  Please be in prayer over this exciting project, already in the works!

Another exciting door that has opened for me is the opportunity to work with the praise and worship team at Only Believe Ministries in Botkins, Ohio.  This team consists of about 40 or 50 choir members and about a dozen band members.  I will be working with them for the next three months or so, teaching them new music and helping take their ministerial excellence to the next level.  They are a great group to work with!

I am also pleased to announce that last week was our church's 5th anniversary!  Louise and I feel so privileged to be a part of such an exciting body of believers.  Faith-Full Family Fellowship is the greatest church that I have ever had the pleasure to lead worship at!  I am looking forward to the exciting years of growth ahead of us!

As you can see, I have had a great year...and it's not even over yet!  I just thought I would testify of God's goodness to me and this ministry!  Make sure you take the time to share God's goodness with others this week!  That's what praise is all about...testifying of God's goodness in our lives!  Have a great week!