Busy Week!

Last week was one of the more busy weeks I have had all year. As some of you guys know the week started off with a trip to Carowinds with my youth group! Twenty-five of us braved the 100 degree heat and managed to have a blast while we rode almost every ride possible. After Carowinds on Monday my focus shifted towards the weekend. I was given the opportunity to preach on Sunday so I had to get everything ready for that. Before Sunday rolled around I had to embrace Saturday, a very long Saturday. I woke up early Saturday morning to get ready for an outdoor World Changers project from 9am-12pm. While getting everything ready for this project kept me busy Tuesday through Wednesday; I still felt like I was always two steps behind! We had an awesome time at the project and got so much done for a fellow sister in Christ! After the project I had to make my may to a wedding. After the weeding we went to the reception, and stayed there for an hour or two! The wedding was beautiful and I could not be happier for the newly wed couple as they are in Cancun right now as I write this! After the reception I went back home to great some friends we had come in from out of town. I could only stay for a little while because I then went back to the church office to greet the youth group that was coming in from out of town! After that it was back to the house for me to spend some more time with the other friends who were from out of town as well. Are you confused yet? With all this going on, I still needed to study more for the next day when I was going to be preaching for the first time in my life. When the week was over I was so happy how everything turned out, I was amazed how much energy God gave me to get through everything. I was so amazed at how much my wife helped me organize everything, and her patience as I live a life that is constantly on the go. Thank you Reena, I love you. I am back at work today gearing up for my vacation coming up in a few days! See ya at C-Group tonight if you’re going to be there!

August 1st please get here!

well guys I have decided to go without soft drinks of any kind until August 1st. I have made it through for two weeks and two days. I must confess, I am ready for August 1st to be here! I am doing this as a personal challenge to myself, and hopefully I will gain some health benifit from it, but mostly to test my self will! I will keep you updated as to if I make it the whole time or not!

I am not boasting but.....

So how cool is my job! I am so thankful that Christ called me to do His work with youth here in Anderson South Carolina. Capstone Community Church is such a blessing to my family and I. God has given me such a special youth group that my family and I have just fallen in love with in such a deep way. God gives allows me to challenge these students as well as share in their joys and heartaches! We get to travel and see Gods beauty and creation all over this nation. In a few weeks we will be going to Virginia to participate in a mission project called World Changers! I see kids grow in their relationship with Christ and take new steps in maturing in their faith. How many of you have a job that allows you to be real and honest about past mistakes that you have made, in hopes that you might be able to stop the same mistake from being made in the future of someone else’s life. In a few days, I even get to have a fun day with the youth and spend the whole day at Carowinds. I don’t know where you are in your life, but I hope you find the same enjoyment and pleasure out of your job as I do mine. I know most jobs don’t involve you planning out eventful things for a group of kids to do, but I can’t think of anything else I would want to do. The days are long, the pay will not make me rich, I put up with a lot of teenage drama, and I cannot get enough! I love my Job. It makes it all the differences in the world to see one youth grow closer to God!

THIS SPOKE TO ME!

I thought someone might need to here this, I know I did.

Psalm 27

Of David.

1 The LORD is my light and my salvation—
whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life—
of whom shall I be afraid?
2 When evil men advance against me
to devour my flesh, [a]
when my enemies and my foes attack me,
they will stumble and fall.

3 Though an army besiege me,
my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me,
even then will I be confident.

4 One thing I ask of the LORD,
this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to seek him in his temple.

5 For in the day of trouble
he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle
and set me high upon a rock.

6 Then my head will be exalted
above the enemies who surround me;
at his tabernacle will I sacrifice with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make music to the LORD.

7 Hear my voice when I call, O LORD;
be merciful to me and answer me.

8 My heart says of you, "Seek his [b] face!"
Your face, LORD, I will seek.

9 Do not hide your face from me,
do not turn your servant away in anger;
you have been my helper.
Do not reject me or forsake me,
O God my Savior.

10 Though my father and mother forsake me,
the LORD will receive me.

11 Teach me your way, O LORD;
lead me in a straight path
because of my oppressors.

12 Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes,
for false witnesses rise up against me,
breathing out violence.

13 I am still confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.

14 Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD.

So So So Busy!

Wow, it seems like the weeks keep getting more packed with things to do! I know that only 24 hours are in a day, but it seems like those 24 hours are fleeing very quickly these days. The month of May has been so much fun, challenging , and rewarding! We have had some type of event every Saturday of the month, from the give it away day, to a youth trip to the Mall of Georgia, to World Changers meetings, so much fun and excitement! With Carowinds and World Changers right aroound the corner, things will be hetic with C-Group and my family over the next few summer months.Keep my family in all of your prayers as we approach many more exciting events comming up!Man I love my family and my job, thanks God for giving me them both!

So Proud!!!!!!!!

The response from Capstone Community Church on the day of our “Free Give Away” was amazing! So many of you stepped up and gave your morning away to be a blessing to people that you did not even know! Do you realize in a single day we clothed, fed, and loved hundreds of people in the name of Christ! I can imagine that our Father in Heaven was smiling down at us while saying well done my good and faithful servants. Thank you to all who participated, you guys are the arms and feet that are reaching the community.

Now, let me share with you why these events matter in case you’re still struggling with the importance of them. If we reached just one person in a way that allowed them to understand the love Christ has for them, it is more than worth it. Mrs. Pearl was an elderly lady that we met through this event last Saturday. Mrs. Pearl was so blown away by the amount of love she was given, that she had to know more. Guess what, Mrs. Pearl was at church Sunday morning wanting to know more about this church Capstone Community Church that seeks to serve rather than to be served. Praise God! You guys heard the challenge and met it head on, I could not be more proud to be a part of this body of believers called Capstone Community Church.

Giving like Christ does!

Does giving something away for free come easy to you? It is not something that I am always comfortable with. This idea came into my head a few weeks ago when our church was challenged to give money away to someone just to bless a life! We were challenged to pray to God that He would reveal a person in our life that could use the money, give it to that person, and tell them that Christ wants to bless their life through this gift. It sounded so easy when our pastor was talking about it that Sunday morning. Here is the problem, giving something away means giving away control to someone else. I found myself wanting to know what exactly that person was going to do with the gift that I had given them. It was a strange feeling that I had to deal with, was this person going to use the money in a proper way? Would this person use the money the best way I felt they should use it? If you haven’t picked up on what I am going to talk about yet, let me help you. When you give something away, you haven’t truly given it away until you can release yourself from the worry that follows the action of passing hands! I know it will be hard for you to understand this because I am so wise and all “sarcasm”, but God knows more than I do. God knows the future and can see past worries and anxieties. The money we were challenged to give away did not belong to us in the first place, Gods money will be used how God chooses for it to be used.

May 3rd Capstone Community church will participate in a Giveaway Day for its community. Everyone is encouraged to bring things from their homes to give away to needy people in the community. Once again this idea of freely giving will be put to the test. As people come and take things that are to be given away, what will our reaction be? To truly give is to give with a cheerful heart, not to wonder how many things this certain person has already taken. Remember God is in control, items will go where they need to go, one way or another! To end this blog, I want to share this scripture passage with you.

2 CORINTHIANS 9: 7 “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

God has revealed to me that a cheerful giver is one that can give freely, without fear or anxiety of what will happen or been done with that gift. God desires a cheerful giver, so I challenge Capstone Community Church to rise up and meet this desire of God!

I MUST SAY THANK YOU !

I must say thank you to all of my adult leaders who help me with the youth group at Capstone Community Church. This past Sunday our church had an event called “Youth Sunday Fun Day.” This event was so much fun because of our willing leaders to put it all on the line for these youth.

Our leaders had to drive youth all around Anderson, completing various task that had points based on difficulty of the task at hand! Some of the task put everyone in very funny circumstances, such as singing in public to a stranger, climbing in a random person’s bath tub, and going around town hugging police officers. Did you have fun watching the youth witness to a horse, or give their testimony to a huge statue? I hope you guys realize how much of an impact you’re having on these youths lives.

25 youth participated in this event as well as 6 adults. I would love to keep seeing that number grow in the months ahead. God will continue to bless c-group, as we continually seek His wisdom. I can’t wait until we all get to hang out together again; God is so good to us on a daily basis.

Erin Pickel, Benjamin Beaver, Scott Canup, Reena Thomason, Todd Wood. Thank you!
You guys continue to blow me away with your support for this ministry!

Brent

New House!

If you have been anywhere around me the last few weeks you know that my wife Reena and I are buying a new house. As of Thursday, March 7th we are the proud new owners of 98 Road Haven DR. Also if you have been around me any the past few weeks you know that we had several difficult times going through the house selling process. Thank you Jesus, it is over and I give Him all the glory for it.

Reena and I are so excited about this gift God has given us and we can barley take it anymore. Now that the process is over, I take a second to reflect over all that happend. Several times the selling was stalled through various unforseen reasons. Through strong work from our realitor (Josh Webber) and many prayers sent to God by Reena and I, it's finnally sold and bought.

Psalm 25:5 "Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long." At times Reena and I could only hang on to scripture like this. As much as we thought we knew what would be better for us, I am glad it worked out like God wanted it to work. Daily I continue to learn that the best we can give to God is simply say, Guide Me!

If we really understand the love that Christ has for us, we can find peace in the midst of uncertanity. When our hope moves from God to man or earthly things, this is when stress takes over. When we ask God to guide our lives, what stressful situation is to big for him? NONE!

Yes I am so very excited because of our new house, but I am also excited that God helped guide Reena and I through the process. Thank you to all the people who prayed over my family durring this time. (Don't be supprised if I call you to help me move too)

Brent

Clean fun is still available!

On March 9th our youth group here at Capstone Community Church will enjoy an afternoon of pure, clean, wholesome fun! This may sound strange at first thought, but reality tells us that we live in a society that acts differently. The lives our youth live today are so much harder than the generations that went before it. I know what most of you are thinking; when I was younger I had to deal with drugs, alcohol, and purity issues as well. What makes what they go through any different?

What I am talking about with teens today is much deeper. Kids today face belonging issues like never before. Its funny, you ask most kids to talk about the pressures of drug use and alcohol use, and they say it’s no big deal to turn it away. You talk to them about what they are willing to do to fit into a certain group, and the tone of the conversation changes. The average youth today in high school still has morals; it’s just easier to manipulate that moral because of peer pressure.

Parents need to understand that all youth face pressure from some angle. It might be the relationship that they are in or the friend that wants them to go out with them every weekend. It may be as simple as what they are willing to do to put someone else down to build there own reputation up. We all need to take a real interest in our children’s lives because they are going through trials that they may think they can’t talk to you about. This one is for the parents to think about, did you guys grow up in a day and age when school shootings were almost daily because of fitting in was so hard?

So let’s get back to the original issue of why I wanted to write this blog. Fun can be had by today’s youth. This is what the ministry team and I are working to create for C-Group. C-Group has an event coming up called Sunday Fun Day! If your child wants to have some fun with kids who love Christ come be a part of it. Contact Erin, Benjamin, Reena, Scott, or myself for details. O yeah C-Group is just the name of out youth group here at Capstone Community Church!

I guess I will join the blogging world!

Here we go, almost every person I know has a blog or talks about blogs all the time. I figured it is time for brent to join the game. I love reading my pastor Jerry's blog, it makes me feel like I am connected to his life in a more personal way. with inspiration from him and others at our church Capstone, I am stepping into the modern world. In less than 25 days I will be leaving the United States to help with a mission trip to Cuba! Capstone has 17 volunteers that will make this trip in less than a month. I am so excited to see what God is going to do while we are in this country. I expect big things to happen because I serve a big God! Untill next time, Everyone have a good one.
Brent