TWIST 08-30-2010

This Week In Short Term

Haiti

We have a team of 2 3 men going to Haiti to finish up the first home in the Homes For Haiti project. They will serve September 1-7.

They will be joining 2 men who are already in Haiti.

Philippines

We have a team of 10 preparing to go to the Philippines on a Dynamic Women team from September 16-27.

picture courtesy of http://mysinglemomlife.files.wordpress.com

Homes for Haiti Update

This past week has flown bye. After graduating from UTA last week, Brie and I went to go see her parents and got away for a couple of days. Now we are back home and hard at work. Brie started school today and I am setting up appointments, working on newsletters, and looking forward to traveling Texas to raise funds. As of today we have raised slightly less than $1000 a month. We have also had numerous one-time donations that help too. In order to move to Indiana we need to raise $3900 a month to pay for our ministry expenses and give me a meager wage. Now that summer is over we hope that people will have more time to meet with us so we could share what God has laid on our hearts.

Recently we posted about One Mission Society's program called "Homes For Haiti." Here is an update.

They have been working for about 6 days now and have the foundation poured, and the team is beginning to lay down blocks to outline the bedroom and load-bearing walls. The team that is down there now has learned a lot, and has made some notes for the future houses. Before most of the team leaves they will lay down the outline for the second house, so the next team that comes in will have a head start.

Here are a few pictures. The first is a picture of the shelter the family of the future house is living in now. The second is a picture of the bucket brigade when they were pouring cement, and finally the third is a picture of the foundation. The house is 20'x21'.

Please continue to pray for good weather for this team and that the project would be completed on time.

Thank you for your support!

Brent and Briyana

TWIST 08-16-2010

This Week In Short Term

Haiti

We have a team of 5 men going into Port with the Homes For Haiti project August 22-September 1.

Much love,

Brent and Briyana

picture courtesy of http://mysinglemomlife.files.wordpress.com

Homes For Haiti

Tuesday January 12, 2010 was a day that changed the lives of many. It was the day of the now famous Haiti Earthquake. An estimated 200,000 people died and over 1 million people became homeless. But God is at work in this small Caribbean country.

Men For Missions is beginning a campaign on August 22, 2010 called "Homes for Haiti." The plan is to go into Haiti and build homes for the needy and homeless. We will start off by building 20 homes in Port Au Prince as a test, and we hope to expand the project even further. Please pray for these teams as the homes are built. Pray that God would use these houses as homes for shelter, but also as places were he can dwell and where people will worship His name.

Briyana and I have had a good week. Yesterday was Briyana's birthday. She is now 24 years old. We baked a cake, had some quality time together, and were able to have a nice dinner with family. Briyana's last day of summer is tomorrow, and I know she is looking forward to having a couple of weeks of rest away from school.

As far as our ministry goes, we are looking forward to sharing our opportunity with a friends small group this Sunday, and we just turned in an application for support from our home church. Please lift up both of these in prayer please. We are also working on finalizing our list of addresses to mail out our first newsletter. You should look forward to receiving this in the next month or so.

Blessings,

Brent and Briyana

Picture courtesy of Le Nouvelliste Haiti via Flickr

Growing Up

Everybody goes through stages of life. When one is conceived they go through numerous changes until in week 39, a baby is born. Then one goes through more changes as an infant. For the first couple of months babies learn to develop a realistic sleep schedule. Then after a couple of months babies move away from milk and begin eating solid food. From there babies acquire language skills. As they move through school they learn skills and fundamentals that will help them later on in life. They begin to date as they get older, they graduate high school. Some go off to college. Eventually they marry and begin their own families.

I was reading Hebrews today and a verse made me think about these things.

"By this time you ought to be teachers yourselves, yet here I find you need someone to sit down with you and go over the basics on God again, starting from square one - baby's milk, when you should have been on solid food long ago! Milk is for beginners, inexperienced in God's ways; solid food is for the mature, who have some practice in telling right from wrong." Hebrews 5:12-14 The Message

I know many people who claim to have become Christians long ago, but still require "baby food." I say claim, because nobody but God knows who is actually saved. By now they should be on "solid food", making a difference in the world for the name of Christ. All to often we as Christians get comfortable in our lives and become content with the status quo. This is when we have to be the most careful. God didn't call us to be comfortable. He called us to be lights to a world full of darkness. It's not going to be comfortable. Often times it's not even going to be politically and socially correct.

Today, we as Christians, need to wean themselves off of "baby food" and begin digesting the solid stuff. Each of us should be living a life worthy of Christ, leading others towards Christ and discipling younger Christians.

What do you think?

This past week has been jam packed with things to do. Last week we gave away our second car to a family member who could use it more. Now we have to find the title for it to change over ownership. We have met with several families and shared a little bit of what our ministry consist of, and have enjoyed getting to catch up with all of them. Brie finishes summer school next week and is looking forward to a couple of weeks off from school. I finish my bachelors degree on the 19th and am increasingly looking forward to that event, 15 days left (not that we're counting down or anything.) I'm in the process of planning a trip around Texas for fundraising with some other people from One Mission Society that will probably take place in September, and yesterday I finished the final touches on our first quarterly newsletter. Now I have to send it in to be edited and mailed out.

We would love your prayers in the coming week for strength to finish our summer school classes strong, pray for safety as I travel to tell people about our ministry, pray that God begins to prepare the hearts of the people we will be sharing with, and that we continue to have a strong and healthy marriage that glorifies our Lord.

We thank and praise God for the friends he's blessed us with everyday!

Brent and Briyana

Picture courtesy of http://www.lifedynamix.com

One Meeting, Two Meetings, Three Meetings, Four

This week, we have had busy weeks. We've both had a lot of school work and have had to find the balance between school, work, fundraising, and finding time to share together. Yesterday we met with the missions pastor from a local church to inquire about them supporting us. It went well and we are now currently in the application process for their support.

We have enjoyed having people over to our house recently. It never ceases to amaze us how much fun it is to share what the Lord has planned for us. We enjoy knowing that even raising support can be a ministry of ours until we get up to headquarters.

Please pray for us for energy to push through the final weeks of school, for encouraging conversations regarding fundraising, and time for us I to share together.

We thank each of you for your prayers and support. Our ministry wouldn't be possible without the help of friends like you!

Blessings!

Brent and Briyana

Amazing Grace

God directs our paths in ways we often don't understand. He dances to a beat that is different than the world's. When we hear his voice, many times we don't understand where he's leading us, but do we have the faith to trust and follow him? Are we willing to trust him and do the unexpected?

God called us into missions. We are leaving our comfort zone, our family, our jobs, and everything that is familiar to us to trust and follow God's path. To some, it doesn't make sense. They ask, "Why would you leave everything to go somewhere you never lived? For a job that doesn't pay you?" The truth is, it doesn't make sense IF you're looking through the world's eyes, BUT if you look through God's eyes and have faith in him it does make sense.

There was a man named John Newton who used to be a slave-ship captain. He grew up with his father who was a slave-ship captain, so John had been around the slave business nearly his whole life. One day he felt God calling him out of the slave-trading business and to work for the church. While there, he wrote one of the most famous pieces of music the world has ever known. "Amazing Grace" has blessed the world because John Newton left what he was doing to follow God's will for his life. He left his profitable slave-trading to work in the church. To many back then it didn't make sense, but God knew what he was doing.

So what is God calling you to? Are you listening?

Here is a link giving you some background on the song "Amazing Grace"

In Him,

Brent and Briyana

Picture courtesy of http://www.amazinggracemovie.com

ODM Syndrome

This past week was a little bit slower than weeks prior. We've contacted people about getting together with them, but schedules did not allow for us to meet this week. We hope that in coming weeks we can meet with them. We are praying that God leads us in the correct direction regarding meeting with people and asking him to show us how to follow-up with people. We would appreciate your prayers lifting us up too.

Yesterday at church was our Mission's Luncheon. We listened to how one of the missionaries our church supports was impacting the Philippines and that area of Asia. We also ran into some friends that support One Mission Society. We enjoyed eating lunch with them and look forward to upcoming conversations and interactions with them.

Our sermon yesterday was by the missionary that spoke at the Mission's Luncheon. He spoke on Luke 12:13-21. It was a great message that challenged people to look on how people perceive money and how God would like us to use it. He talked about how much money does it take for us to be happy? He called it the "One Dollar More (ODM) Syndrome. He showed us in scripture how God keeps us away from money that we want for our own good and how God gives us money to give to others. He emphasized that the saying, "The man that dies with the most toys, wins" is not true. Jesus, in this passage redefined greed as when a man thinks only of himself. So the question is, who controls your money? Does greed control your view on money? Do you say, "just one more dollar... just one more toy?" or do you say, "God the money is yours and I will do with it as you lead me?"

We'll leave you with a story that was shared during our sermon…

I'll never forget Easter 1946. I was 14, my little sister Ocy was 12, and my older sister Darlene 16. We lived at home with our mother, and the four of us knew what it was to do without many things. My dad had died five years before, leaving Mom with seven school kids to raise and no money.

By 1946 my older sisters were married and my brothers had left home. A month before Easter the pastor of our church announced that a special Easter offering would be taken to help a poor family. He asked everyone to save and give sacrificially.

When we got home, we talked about what we could do. We decided to buy 50 pounds of potatoes and live on them for a month. This would allow us to save $20 of our grocery money for the offering. When we thought that if we kept our electric lights turned out as much as possible and didn't listen to the radio, we'd save money on that month's electric bill. Darlene got as many house and yard cleaning jobs as possible, and both of us babysat for everyone we could. For 15 cents we could buy enough cotton loops to make three pot holders to sell for $1.

We made $20 on pot holders. That month was one of the best of our lives.

Every day we counted the money to see how much we had saved. At night we'd sit in the dark and talk about how the poor family was going to enjoy having the money the church would give them. We had about 80 people in church, so figured that whatever amount of money we had to give, the offering would surely be 20 times that much. After all, every Sunday the pastor had reminded everyone to save for the sacrificial offering.

The day before Easter, Ocy and I walked to the grocery store and got the manager to give us three crisp $20 bills and one $10 bill for all our change.

We ran all the way home to show Mom and Darlene. We had never had so much money before.

That night we were so excited we could hardly sleep. We didn't care that we wouldn't have new clothes for Easter; we had $70 for the sacrificial offering.

We could hardly wait to get to church! On Sunday morning, rain was pouring. We didn't own an umbrella, and the church was over a mile from our home, but it didn't seem to matter how wet we got. Darlene had cardboard in her shoes to fill the holes. The cardboard came apart, and her feet got wet.

But we sat in church proudly. I heard some teenagers talking about the Smith girls having on their old dresses. I looked at them in their new clothes, and I felt rich.

When the sacrificial offering was taken, we were sitting on the second row from the front. Mom put in the $10 bill, and each of us kids put in a $20.

As we walked home after church, we sang all the way. At lunch Mom had a surprise for us. She had bought a dozen eggs, and we had boiled Easter eggs with our fried potatoes! Late that afternoon the minister drove up in his car. Mom went to the door, talked with him for a moment, and then came back with an envelope in her hand. We asked what it was, but she didn't say a word. She opened the envelope and out fell a bunch of money. There were three crisp $20 bills, one $10 and seventeen $1 bills.

Mom put the money back in the envelope. We didn't talk, just sat and stared at the floor. We had gone from feeling like millionaires to feeling like poor white trash. We kids had such a happy life that we felt sorry for anyone who didn't have our Mom and Dad for parents and a house full of brothers and sisters and other kids visiting constantly. We thought it was fun to share silverware and see whether we got the spoon or the fork that night.

We had two knifes that we passed around to whoever needed them. I knew we didn't have a lot of things that other people had, but I'd never thought we were poor.

That Easter day I found out we were. The minister had brought us the money for the poor family, so we must be poor. I didn't like being poor. I looked at my dress and worn-out shoes and felt so ashamed--I didn't even want to go back to church. Everyone there probably already knew we were poor!

I thought about school. I was in the ninth grade and at the top of my class of over 100 students. I wondered if the kids at school knew that we were poor. I decided that I could quit school since I had finished the eighth grade. That was all the law required at that time. We sat in silence for a long time. Then it got dark, and we went to bed. All that week, we girls went to school and came home, and no one talked much. Finally on Saturday, Mom asked us what we wanted to do with the money. What did poor people do with money? We didn't know. We'd never known we were poor. We didn't want to go to church on Sunday, but Mom said we had to. Although it was a sunny day, we didn't talk on the way.

Mom started to sing, but no one joined in and she only sang one verse. At church we had a missionary speaker. He talked about how churches in Africa made buildings out of sun dried bricks, but they needed money to buy roofs. He said $100 would put a roof on a church. The minister said, "Can't we all sacrifice to help these poor people?" We looked at each other and smiled for the first time in a week.

Mom reached into her purse and pulled out the envelope. She passed it to Darlene. Darlene gave it to me, and I handed it to Ocy. Ocy put it in the offering.

When the offering was counted, the minister announced that it was a little over $100. The missionary was excited. He hadn't expected such a large offering from our small church. He said, "You must have some rich people in this church."

Suddenly it struck us! We had given $87 of that "little over $100."

We were the rich family in the church! Hadn't the missionary said so? From that day on I've never been poor again. I've always remembered how rich I am because I have Jesus!

God Bless!

Brent and Briyana

Story courtesy of Eddie Ogan--from: Bill Rayborn

TWIST- 07-19-2010

Here is a list of the short-term missions teams we are sending out this week. Please lift these groups up in prayer during your week.

Haiti

We have 2 people in Haiti July 15-20 working on the x-ray equipment.

We have a team of 7 going to Cap to do VBS from July 24-31.

We have a team of 15 going to Cap to do VBS and Radio Distribution 07/28-08/04 (CCG youth/adults led by Tom Wright)

Hungary

We have a team of 9 in Hungary to help with English Camp from July 6-25.

Ukraine

We have a team of 12 people in Ukraine to help with English Camp from July 10-24. (T Fornwalt)

We have a team of 9 people going to Ukraine July 31 - August 14 for English Camp.

Ireland

We have a team of 3 in Ireland to work with Stephen Williamson from July 15-26. (C & L Long, D Thomas)

Colombia

We have a team of 3 going to Medellin to do evangelism/prayer ministry from July 20 - August 7. (S. Leckie)

Thank you for your prayers and support!

Brent and Briyana

picture courtesy of http://mysinglemomlife.files.wordpress.com

Baby Steps

I remember a movie called "What About Bob?", where Bob constantly reminds himself he must take baby steps before taking larger ones. That principle can be used in many aspects of life, including fundraising. So many times we want to be finished with the fundraising aspect of ministry so we can jump to the stuff we want to do. It's then that God reminds Briyana and me that, fundraising is part of our ministry and is preparing us for the future.

This past weekend was a whirlwind. We had 5 meetings with couples over 2 days in Austin, TX. The meetings were very encouraging. It is always fun to catch up with people and share with them our heart for short-term missions and the Great Commission. It wasn't until we arrived back in DFW, laid our heads on our pillows, that we realized how much physical energy the trip took from us. We slept like rocks.

We recently received our support letters and are feverishly addressing and sending those out. We look forward to how God is going to provide through this avenue. In the coming weeks, please pray for Brie and me for energy during the week, a feeling of comfort for us, a continued strengthening of our support and prayer team, and quality time with each other.

Here is a story from Bruce Bennett about what God is doing on the continent of Africa.

"I have just returned from an eventful visit to the Ivory Coast. On January 13, we held our first graduation ceremony for Village Church Planting (VCP) pastors in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Some 750-800 dignitaries and family members attended the joyous graduation of 88 pastors who had met the OMS graduation criteria: successful completion of the Timothy Training Institute and OMEGA programs, planting and pastoring a first generation church, initiating a second generation church and facilitating the training of its leaders.

In just under four years, God has used Pastor Mathieu in the extraordinary expansion of His Kingdom by adding 10,000 villagers to the body of Christ. These believers now meet in 155 first, 96 second, and 9 third generation churches…"

Thanking God for the friends like you,

Brent and Briyana

picture courtesy of http://www.skippypodar.net