Archbishop Gregory Holley

Over 8000 Meals Fed by Partner Sites in 6 Days!

 I am on my way to the 10 am service at New Life in La Porte, Texas.  Our partner sites at The Fellowship in Texas city has been operated by Mark Roy and Mike Lynch of Blood N Fire Ministries. These fantastic men are helping Pastor Kevin Herrin and Bishop Delbert Herrin to focus on the communities. On Saturday they prepared and served over 1300 meals!

On Galveston Island, Dr. Ron Patterson of the Christian Disaster Response is serving The Church of the Living God.  Pastors Dowdy and Ware are thrilled to be meeting the needs of the West End.  Over 400 meals a day and a capacity of up to 3000 meals a  day in reserve!  As the residents come home to shattered lives our partner sites are there! 

Download Ike5.ppt

The Work Continues With Hurricane Ike

The work continues. We will have more pictures of the Galveston effort.   Yesterday Blood and Fire delivered from our site at Christ Church Fellowship in Texas City. Bishop Delbert Herrin and Pastor Kevin Herrin are hosting Mark Roy and Mike Lynch of  Blood and Fire Ministries.  Yesterday the effort sent over 900 meals out to area residents including over 500 meals taken onto Galveston Island. Tomorrow the numbers will rise and God is faithful!

Take time to look at the pictures below and pray for the victims and the relief workers bringing hope and a hot meal!

Download hurricane_ike_pics.pps

The Aftermath of Hurricane Ike

The days and nights have been endless.  The coffers are squeaking out ounces of energy for the work. The cries for help are without ceasing. The oblivious nation returns to golf and politics. But the missionaries of care, the apostles of rebuilding the human spirit, the cooks, the volunteer with water and ice stand in the hot Texas sun without fail.

As for our house we have been through the mill. Church building torn, members scattered, the hungry being fed undergirded by the abiding presence of God.  The tarps are covering angry holes and gashes. The sign flickers on. We are ready to move forward. 

Tomorrow will be church time across the Gulf Coast. New Life will be loudly proclaiming the benefits of our Savior. The testimonies are incredible.  The victories endless. Yet the pall of grief for the countless dead hangs in the air like stench of a rotting carcass.

For years I have rushed into the storm to help while the brethren ran and vacationed with anxious anxiety in undisclosed locations. These wait to appear after the storm has passed and plans are made to secure their holdings. We have done the opposite.

Yet the reward is in the Father's bosom and this day is a day of waiting. Waiting on the death toll. Waiting on the insurance adjustors.  Arranging distribution of the goods received. Waiting.

Thanks to Operation Compassion, Troy Dugan, Mike Lynch and Mark Roy who among others have held my arms up as close on  to two (2) million pounds of relief has come across our church driveways, doing what Jesus would do. Below is a link. Please take time to look at the pictures and send financial help so we may continue. Blessings to all who have helped and the difference it has made!

http://www.tpicks.com/pictures%20people%20have%20sent%20me.html

Hurricane Ike

Hurricane Ike continues to impact our lives with recovery efforts day by day.  As for now, please refer to my wife's online magazine for details, pictures and more.

Just click here....

www.gaylasmagazine.com

Ike Pounds La Porte!

This will be short on words but  the pictures tell a story of a long night.                

The First Sortie into Hurricane Ike

A quick drive down to Texas City to ck out some cooking and distribution sites brought a few pictures. We are back in the Community Center where our Command post is.  These were taken about 4 pm. Please pray for safety and wisdom in taking care of thousands who did not evacuate and will be in need when the sun comes up tomorrow morning.

             

Hurricane Ike Comes To My Doorstep!

Greetings to all! While working in  Baton Rouge on Sunday I felt an urgent need to return to our home base in La Porte, Texas. Through partners and associates thousands upon thousands of meals and provisions have been provided in Gustav. On Tuesday we were blessed with the arrival of Bishop Malcolm Wilson, OCE of Fleet Hampshire, England. Recently appointed Co-Adjutor to myself as Arch Bishop Exarch Plenipontentirary Administrator by Metropolitan John Stanley.He will base in the United States for the next 5 years. We have given him a grand reception of wind and wave placing him in charge of Communications to our Foreign bretheren.

We have recieved pledges from various sources of truckloads of relief. You can help by placing the fuel in the trucks as the travel great distances to this need. A blessing of $800 will bring approximately $50,000.00 of reief product. Please pray about your involvement.  We are 24 Miles from the pictures of Galveston you are seeing on your News and will be ready with multiple cooking teams to go into the need. You may participate by pressing the Donate button on the sidebar and using your credit or Debit card through Pay Pal to give the tax deductible gift. We are in the worst of times and we need your help.

As always, Operation Compassion, Blood N Fire Minneapolis, Troy Dugan and Bridge to Hope Missions will be full swing and the enormous expenditures will be met by those who can and will help to fuel the relief. Thanks to Generations Church and my Brother in law Alan Latta for sending the first of the much needed help.  Blessings!

             

The Indigenous Christianity of Governor Sarah Palin

The indigenous manifestation of the religious lives of those desiring political office quite often comes under scrutiny. The careful watchdogs of those who make their living qualifying for public consumption the lifestyles of the many retreat to the domicile and root raising of the candidate's beginnings. With eyes of uncertainty and ears of questioning discernment the thread that destroys the fabric is searched for. And it is in our indigenous roots that we seem to have the uniqueness of structure that is most misunderstood.

With great interest the channel surf was halted while mingling the hurricane reports of Ike and the electoral process.  The interviewer was speaking with Governor Sarah Palin's former Pastor. A young man, unschooled in the art of political debate, enraptured with the opportunity to tell his story of inclusion, sat in a darkened room fielding questions with one of the great lawyer-reporters of our day. And the language of the indigenous Christian was verbose.

No one had readied him.  No one had warned him of the need to see the line of questioning before the entering in of the motives. It was his chance to tell his story of how he had come to Alaska and the visions dwelling within his spiritual nature that is indigenous to the Christian.

Wikipedia offers this description of the indigenous culture.  They are those who have maintained at least in part their distinct linguistic, cultural and social  characteristics, and in doing so remain differentiated in some degree from the surrounding populations and dominant culture of the nation-state. In short those who are not within are without.

Questions of languages, origins, cultures and disputes flowed from the interviewer as the young Pastor sought asylum in the words of his fathers. Misunderstandings are sure to follow as sound bytes make their way through the air waves.  The initial excitement of having been asked to speak of an important acquaintance who has crossed into public popularity has given way to now the self questioning of the indigenous Christian community that surrounds those who understood what the young Pastor was speaking.  It is known that the language of the indigenous Christian community  could not communicate to the those in political quandary. The searching questions of her departure from his pastorate troubled him as he offered excuses of his own inadequacies. Drawn out, shown in low camera light, a sleepless night was ahead of him as he replayed the day's battle.

How Governor Sarah Palin's political future will play out is in the hope of the Christian indigenous community an opportunity for a positive Christian display. Yet she is schooled in the words of the worldly wise. Just as the Apostle Paul, she has escaped the colloquial expressions of our raising and is ready to contend with the best without losing her identity in Jesus Christ. She has traveled beyond the world of her father, her Sunday School teachers, her youth pastor, her coaches. She now stands on a national stage, a product of a very rich indigenous Christian heritage, ready to face the world!

Yes, Jesus Loves the Little Children of the World!

Brother-in-Law Allan Sent This As I Prayed For Resources For Gustav

The Dallas Morning News August 15, 1992 Marine official attributes gulf war "miracle' in desert to prayer Author: Carey Kinsolving; Religious News Service Edition: HOME FINAL Section: NEWS Page: 51A Dateline: WASHINGTON -- Moses and the children of  Israel are not the only ones who have reported witnessing miracles in the desert. Desert Storm's most incredible story, says Marine Maj. Gen. Charles Krulak, was the "miracle well' that seemed to appear out of nowhere to supply 100,000 gallons of water a day for U.S. soldiers. One of Gen. Krulak's fellow officers provides a bit more of an explanation for the discovery of the well, contending that it was put there by the Saudis. But Gen. Krulak prefers to attribute its appearance to divine intervention on behalf of American troops who led the attack on Iraqduring the 1991 war in the Persian Gulf region.  Speaking in Washingtonrecently at a luncheon sponsored by the Public Service Fellowship, Gen. Krulak said he initially had been assigned to prepare supplies for the frontal assault by allied forces against Iraqi troops. As the threat of chemical warfare loomed, the need for ample water bec! ame more apparent. Decontamination procedures demand large amounts of water. Gen. Krulak had water wells ready to supply 100,000 of gallons a day for the ground offensive. But as the Iraqis dug in, Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf's strategy changed. Gen. Krulak received orders to move his operation to a flat area called the "gravel plains,' 74 miles to the northwest. Repeated attempts to dig for water produced nothing but desert dust. Gen. Krulak said he consulted oil company engineers and Saudi bedouins familiar with the area. Still dry holes. He said he had exhausted all resources except one he consults every morning. Since 1977, Gen. Krulak has made a habit of praying with any staff members who wish to join him at 7:15 a.m. "I was on my knees every day praying for water,' Gen. Krulak said. On one Sunday before church, with only a few days remaining before the ground attack, a colonel interrupted the early morning prayer with a request for Gen. ! Krulak to accompany him. When Gen. Krulak asked what it was th! e office r wanted him to see, the colonel said, "I don't want to tell you, I want to show you.' As the two traveled down a road built by the Marine Corps, they came upon a sight that could have been lifted from a script for the Twilight Zone. They saw what looked like a pipe rising out of the ground about 30 to 50 yards off the road. "As it came up, a cross was formed by crossbar protruding from the pipe,' Gen. Krulak said. What they saw next left one general and one colonel incredulous: a brightly painted red pump at the base of the pipe, a green diesel generator, four new batteries still wrapped in plastic and 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel stored in a tank above the ground. Gen. Krulak noted that American forces did not use diesel fuel. All the equipment was new, and everything seemed ready to go except for one minor detail: no key to start the generator. Gen. Krulak looked at his officer and said, "God did not put this here to be defeated for lack of a key.' Gen. Krulak pushed the start button and the new German-made generator turned over and water started to flow. The well flowed within 10 gallons of the 100,000 a day needed for the assault. Gen. Krulak can't even recall how many times he had traveled down the road that ran by the pipe. And he wasn't the only one. A division of men, 20,000 troops, had also traveled it. Col. John Woodhead, Gen. Krulak's chief of staff during Desert Storm, said the well could have been put there by Saudis. It was not unusual, he said, for the Saudis to equip a well and then abandon it. Nevertheless, Col. Woodhead said he supported Gen. Krulak's interpretation of events. "Even if the well had already been there, its discovery came at exactly the right time,' he said. "One has to either accept the blind roll of the dice or believe that things happen for a reason.' Copyright 1992 The Dallas Morning News Company Record Number: DAL1280759