Awesome Opportunities

I am very excited about an amazing opportunity that the Lord has given us here st Gateway Fellowship. During the 19th Annual Royse City Fun Fest, we were approached by a teacher at the local middle school here in Royse City, Texas. She said that she had a good number of students asking if there was going to be a Bible Study on campus this year. She came to us and asked if we would be willing to put this Bible study together for the middle school students at the school. She also said that she would be more than willing to be the school staff sponsor. (If you are wanting to have such an organization on the campus, you have to have a staff sponsor or you can not do it.) Needless to say, we have jumped all over this opportunity and are looking forward to what the Lord will do through this. Please pray with us that the lives of students will be changed by the love of Christ!

Sunday Reflections

* praying for the sick and hurting in Royse City
* praying for those who become disengaged with Jesus, when things get tough in life
* praying for deeper authenticity when communication takes place
* praying against the 4 letter Christian F-word "fine"
* praying for our families and the things they have shared with me
* I love our church
* I love what the Lord is doing in us
* I love the fact that He is not through with us
* I love the idea that in Ephesians 2:19-22 It says "He is building us into a Holy temple"

Thoughts from The Lead Conference

Below are a few things that were discussed as I watched, via the internet, the live feed from the LEAD conference. A few of the speakers were Bob Thune and Daniel Montgomery and Jonothan McIntosh

* lead a missional team as opposed to pastoring a church

* how does who you are in the Gospel lens reflect how you are in the world

* let your mission dictate your structure!

* we are building consumerism in our churches

* Do you ever use ministry to magnify your name as opposed to magnifying His?

* "always in your heart regard Christ as Holy"

* The only thing that will save me from myself is coming face to face with Christ who is Holy!

Sunday Reflections

* We were down in number a little today but worship was great
* There is a good sense of community taking place
* I love watching all the little kids at church
* We have an awesome opportunity to start a Bible Study on the Middle School Campus
* Praying for the opportunity of the above mentioned ~ will you pray with us
* I have an awesome group of elders
* We are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus
* We will finish Ephesians 2 next week
* I love our church
* I love our people
* I love watching the lives of people being transformed
* It has been a good week!!

Refelctions From Sunday

The worship was great
The feeling of community was awesome
The fellowship and Baptism service last night was another win

I love watching people connect with one another over a meal. I love witnessing the idea of Biblical community taking place in the life of our church. It is the very thing we strive for. I love every chance we get to witness a Baptism as a public affirmation of ones faith in Jesus Christ. I love that we have a staff of committed Christ followers who will do anything and everything possible to speak the love of Jesus into someones life.

Brandon Cade Brown

I spent some time this morning praying for my son. As I watch him grow, I am reminded that I honestly believe that many leaders are born leaders. I can not help but believe that my son, even at the age of seven is leading many of those around him. I have a picture of his baptism on my desk that my wife had framed for me as a present. As I looked at it this morning and began to reflect back on that special time it took me to this blog post that I had made:

Monday, December 04, 2006

*great night!

last night at church we had the Lord's supper. it was an amazing time for us as a body of believers and i truly felt like it drew us closer to one another as a community. the worship and reflection time was beautiful and before we started, my son walked into church and noticed the bread and juice and asked if he could have some. natalie responded by saying that we were fixing to participate in the Lord's supper and that it was a time set aside to remember all of the things that Jesus has done for us and that as a church, we believe that only believers should participate in it. all of this led to me sitting down with cade, in the hallway of our church, and him telling natalie and i that he wanted to be a christian, because he did not want to die and live with the devil. what am amazing statement from a nearly 6 year old boy. we began to talk about what it meant to be a christian and he said he understood that we do bad things and we need Jesus to forgive us of those things and that he wanted to be a part of Jesus' family. after making sure he knew and understood all that we were talking about, i asked him if he wanted to pray to Jesus to forgive him of his sins and become a christian and be a part of Jesus' family. in the hallway of our church, cade brown prayed to receive Jesus christ as his Savior on December 3, 2006 at 6:50 p.m. i failed to mention that we were supposed to begin the Lord's supper at 6:30 but the family of gateway erupted in joy and stood and clapped as i shared with them that my little boy had just accepted Christ - although i am certain they knew what was going on and they were praying for us!
o 5:20 PM



I am praying for my son today. I am praying that he will lead those around him well. I am praying that he will continue to foster his very fragile heart. He has a passion for those who are hurting and are in need. I learn from him daily!

Heaviness

My heart is heavy. Email after email describes the tight financial strain that many in our church are feeling right now with the economy the way that it is. It is a ceaseless reminder that we are to pray at all times. I can not help but wonder, if this is exactly where he want us to be anyway. Is it not true that He desires for us to be in total dependence upon Him? It is times like this that when we make it to the other side of the turmoil, that we look back and understand that it is only the Lord that gets us through these difficult times. It is not of our own volition or strength but it rests on Him, the author and perfecter of our faith. I am reminded in scripture that I am "to come to Him when I am weary and He will give us rest. To take His yoke for His burden is light- He will give us rest" In times like these, where we all struggle to make ends meet financially,I pray that He will be the source of our strength and comfort. will you rest in Him today, knowing that He is the God of our provision~ it may not come in the form or the means in which you think it should- but it will come!

Sunday Reflections

I love our church
I love the people there
I love the community we serve
I love after church lunches with church people
I love the consistent building of community we are seeing take place
I love "Doing Life Together"
I love the laughter of people
I love teaching His word
I love worshiping with His people
I love that we are His body
I love that we love Him
I love first time visitors
I love comments like "I have never heard music like that before in church"
I love that we will have a baptismal service next Sunday evening
I love that even though we had a lot of people out this morning, we still had church
I love that it is not about numbers at Gateway but lives that are being changed