Monday, February 28, 2011

Prayer is SO cool!

This past weekend Briyana and I went on a marriage retreat.  It was amazing.  It provided us permission to relax, bond, and develop a closer relationship during a stressful semester for us.  On Sunday, the retreat had us do a really cool devotional on prayer and it got me to thinking how cool prayer really is.

Too many times we forget how powerful prayer actually is, and it seems that all to often Christians forget how to pray.  In James 5:13-16, James gives us a great outline of how to pray.  We are to pray for our troubles and concerns, praise the Lord for our Joys and praises, ask for help and healing for illness and pain, ask forgiveness for our sins and offenses, and ask for help for anything else that bothers us.

As a missionaries who relies on the Lord and the support of others, we take great joy at the beginning of every month praying for our supporters.  How can we best pray for you as you support us in our ministry? 

You can contact us by leaving a comment or by emailing us at bmorrell@onemissionsociety.org.

God Bless,

Brent & Briyana

Monday, February 21, 2011

One Weekend

We've posted about this event a couple of weeks ago, but wanted to remind those of you that were interested in it still that it's not to late.  Here is a blurb about the event from our head of Mobilization, Paul Cox.

It's not too late to send someone to this weekend's OneWeekend event!  Our prayer is that the retreat will deepen their relationship with Jesus and help them explore what it's like to be a missionary.   

Here are some of the subjects that will be covered in the general sessions, small groups and one-on-one time with the missionaries:

•    What does it mean to have God's calling? 
•    I feel a tug to the nations.  What should I do next?
•    I have gifts and interests that I could use in another culture.  What are some ways to plug in?
•    What do I do about a mountain of school loans? 
•    The ministry of raising support.  What does it look like? 

The retreat schedule includes worship, training sessions, small group discussions at tables, prayer, and Q&A with missionaries.  For more information and/or registration information, contact Paul Cox at pcox@onemissionsociety.org.

TWIST

This Week In Short Term

Haiti
We have a guy from Portland working in Cap Haitian doing A/C work until Feb. 21

We have a team of 6 in Cap working until Sunday, then they fly to Port to work with Homes For haiti until Feb. 24

We have a guy in Cap Haitian to help get Resounding Hope set up. He's there Feb. 16-23

Saturday, February 5, 2011

The End Is Near

Our church recently completed a series that included teachings about the end times.  It was amazing and thought provoking.  Out of the teachings and my personal readings I've learned a lot.  God has really been poking my heart and teaching me that as Christians we should live like what the guy in the picture thinks.  We should "live expectantly because Christ is coming.  Our possessions, status, and power will mean nothing in God's kingdom."  Instead of investing all our money and possessions in getting the newer, better, thinner phone or T.V., we should invest our time and talents where they will make an eternal difference.  We need to invest our time and possessions in people. 

This idea has been big in my head over the past several weeks.  I'm reading the book Radical by David Platt and just finished reading 1 Peter.  The real idea that God is coming back and we are wasting our time with stuff that we can't take to Heaven has been a big idea that I've been wrestling with and wanted to share with you. 

This seems like a simple concept, but as I fund-raise and talk with people, it's becoming more and more apparent that this mindset is often absent in the majority of the American population and, sadly, the Christian American population too.  In today's society, we are taught that you aren't successful without being a home owner, without having a newer car, without having the newest and best technology. 

David Platt put it this way, "Today more than a billion people in the world live and die in desperate poverty.  They attempt to survive on less than $1 a day.  Close to two billion others live on less than $2 a day.  That's nearly half the world struggling today to find food, water, shelter with the same amount of money I spend on french fries for lunch."

Are these people failures?  Does God not love them?  Does God not want them to hear of his wonderful gift of salvation?  I would argue no.  God has given us Americans a tremendous responsibility.  With the wealth and possessions God has given us, we have a duty to use EVERYTHING at our disposal to further the Kingdom of God and share the love God has shown us to others around the world. 

Pray for Briyana and I as we continue to ask God how we can be more focused on His coming return and how we can best use the time and possessions He's given us to further the Kingdom of God.

If you would like to see some opportunities Men for Missions has to go overseas and share please click here to view upcoming trips.

If you would like to hear sermons recently completed at my church on this topic, click here.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

TWIST


This Week In Short Term


Haiti

We have a team of 2 in Haiti to teach at EBS from Jan. 22 - Feb. 6

We have a guy going to Haiti to work with Starfish Kids from Jan. 25 - Feb. 1 (Bramley)

On January 21 the a family flew into Port to begin their year of service with the Homes For Haiti project.

A team of 6 from Waco First UMC is going to Port 01/29-02/05 to work with the Homes For Haiti project

We have a work team of 5 going into Cap Haitian February 3-12.

A crazy week!

This week has been very interesting and crazy!  Take a look:

For those of you that don't watch the news or are not interested in the NFL, the Super Bowl is in North Texas this year.  Not only does that mean that lots of money rolling into town, but it also means more people and traffic.  ESPN has taken over nearly 2 blocks of Downtown Fort Worth.  Steelers fans are everywhere!  Fortunately, Briyana works on the far end of Downtown and driving there hasn't been impacted too much.

On Saturday, a couple of my friends and I enjoyed a round of disc golf in the morning.  It was a blast and the weather was amazing (mid 70's and not a cloud in the sky.)  As I sit and write this blog post, at least an inch of ice is stuck to the roads, snow flurries are falling and the wind chill is below 0!  You can't get that much crazier, but one must remember that this is Texas weather for you.

It's only Tuesday so far, I can't wait to see what is in store for the rest of the week.

Brie and I find out if June Bug is a boy or girl tomorrow (weather permitting.)  We can't wait!  We are enjoying this time of life and learning as much as we can while the Lord has us in this position of fund-raising. 

God Bless & STAY WARM!

Brent and Briyana