Happy Birthday Summer

It is the first day of summer and Summer.

(imagine me sining) Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday dear Summer. Happy Birthday to wonderful, marvelous, beautiful you.

Just in case you forgot, sweetie, 27 is far from old.

We are getting ready to head to Six Flags for her birthday. The kids will have childcare and Summer and I can ride all the rides we have been wanting to ride. I'm excited. There is nothing like going to the park on a day that very few people are there and the lines will be relatively small.

Everyone give Summer a happy birthday over on her blog.

Bret

VBS and Sudan

VBS has started. We are doing Group's Serengeti Trek. Our church looks like a jungle, especially in our worship center. Volunteers have spent weeks preparing the decorations on this event. When we decorate for VBS, we decorate. There is no half doing anything. I will try to get a picture and post it.

My fried Stephen is leaving for Sudan today. Please stop and pray right now for him. The Sudan can be a very dangerous place. They are doing some survey work for the mission field. This trip could be crucial in getting missionaries into Sudan where that has not been possible until recently.

Summer and I will be heading to Paducah on July 3rd. We are going to leave the kids with my folks and we are going to get away for a couple of days. I'm so excited. I don't even care where we go. Just to be away for a couple of days will be excellent.

Tomorrow is Summer's birthday. Everyone be sure and wish her a happy 27th birthday. Summer have you thought about it? You are only 27 and you have been married 8 years and have 3 children. You are awesome and I love you.

Blessings,


Bret

Help fight poverty

Did you know that child dies every 3 seconds from poverty? In the time that you have taken to read to read my blog today, several children will have died. What can we do about it? There is something that we can do. Rick Warren has done something that we can all do. Instead of tell you about it, I will just post a link that will tell you all about it. Mike Cope also talks about it on his blog as well. Please join the effort help those who are in poverty.

Fight Poverty

A few days ago I found out that my vocal coach has 2 tumors on his liver. They did a biopsy yesterday and he will know results in a couple of days. Please pray for him. Generally, the liver doesn't just get tumors, they generally come from somewhere else. He has been jaundas and has lost quite a bit of weight in a short period of time. His name is Jim. Keep him in your prayers.

Also pray for Ed. He passed out while driving to work on Saturday and had a wreck. He fractured a vertebre and will have to wear a back brace for 3-6 months.

Won by One came and performed at our church on Sunday night. They were awesome. I've had the privalige of hearing many of the college groups and even singing in one when I was at Lipscomb, but Won by One has the best sound out of all of them. Their arrangements are top notch and the singers, especially the girls, are some of the best. If you haven't heard them, you need to. They are awesome.

Won By One

One of the girl's dad is a barbershopper and a really good one. He has been in the top ten quartets in the world. I thought that was really neat. John, Crysty, and I took them to lunch yesterday. They are really a neat group of people.

I went to half price books for the first time yesterday. It it huge. They have tons of books at half price. I picked up a couple of commentaries and a couple of magazines for my hobby. If you haven't been there, it is a great place to find books at a cheaper price.

That's all for now. Have a great day.

Bret

My wife took all my stories

Now that my sweet wife is blogging, I have no more family stories to tell. She tells them all much better than I ever could on her blog. If you want to know about what is going on in my family, read her blog.

We got our couch in which means that we have to do something with the old couch. It is now in my office. When I finally got it in there under the florescent lights, it looked terrible from all the abuse my kids gave it. I took the fabric off of the cusions last night and washed them. It faded the color a little, but it got most of the nasty stuff off so in all it does look beter. It still may be the best bet to get a slip cover though I really don't like the way they look.

Because our couch is so big, we are going to have to move the toys. There are only a certain number of places that they can go, but unfortunately for me the best place is where I have my hobby set up which means my hobby goes to a closet. Isn't it funny how things happen? I used to have a room for my recording studio and hobby stuff. When we had Rebekah, Micah moved into my old room, my hobby stuff took a little cubby hole in the living room and my studio came to the church. Now that we have this toy problem I get a small space in a closet. From a whole room to a little closet. Gotta love it. When we run out of space in that closet I'm sure the next place for my hobby stuff will be the out building. A family of 5 sure can fill up a 3 bedroom house in a hurry. Especially when you have kids toys that you don't want to put in their rooms, but in a central location so Summer can keep an eye on them when they are playing.

Well, enough of that for now. Have a blessed day.

We couched

We bought a couch. It will be delivered next Wed. I'm excited about it. It is probably the nicest piece of furniture we have ever owned. What is cool is that we got it so cheap. The greatest things in life you get on sale. (I feel a sermon coming on)

New Leather Couch... Retail: $3200
Sale: $810

New Kawai Keyboard... Retail: $2000
Sale: $1250

New Clothes... Retail: $too much
Sale: 66% off at Dillard's

Perfect Wife... Retail: Way more than the richest person can afford
Sale: A poor worship minister got a perfect wife.

Sin.... Retail: Death
Sale: Forgiven


Though we can get almost everything on sale, God paid full retail price for our sin, the death of His Son. Don't take for granted the things we recieve on sale. Some of the spiritual bargains we recieve in life were paid at retail price so that we might have life.

Have a blessed day.

Allie's Surgery

Allie's surgery went well. She will be in the hospital until about Friday and then have about 3 weeks at home recovering. They say that the 3 weeks of home recovery are the most crucial. Remember her in your prayer for the next month or so. I know the family would appreciate it.

Bret

To couch or not to couch....

That is the question.

This weekend, Summer and I found a great deal on a leather sectional couch. It is at Dillard's. It is a retail $3200 couch, but because it is missing the middle cusion conncecting the two sections, which we can order by the way, it is marked down to $900. It is the nicest leather couch that Summer and I have seen. Here is the catch. It is possible that the leather won't match exactly because each couch seems to have slightly different shades of the leahter, so it is possible to have a lightly off colored middle cusion. Is is still worth getting? Is leather a good thing to have with kids around? I do know that the couch and chair that we have has been abused by our children. The upside to leather is that it is easy to clean up and should hold up better with couch abuse from the children. I'm open to suggestions before we buy this thing.

Pray for a girl named Allie that goes to our church. She is one of our children in our children's ministry. She is having surgery this morning that seems to be fairly complicated. It seems that her ribs have grown in and they have to open her up to fix the problem. Please pause and pray for her as you read this today.

I hope everyone had a great Memorial day weekend. It is always good to relax over a holiday. Notice that my wife's blog is linked over to the right in my links section. Go check it out. She might have a good blog, but at least I capitalize my letters when I'm supposed to. hehe. Have a great day.

Bret

It's Hot in Texas

Who would think that it would be 95-100 degrees in May? It has been record setting days as far as temp. is concerned. Summer, the kids, and I went to the park on Saturday morning and the temp. in the shade was 92. Though the offical high was only 99, my van was reading 103 at times. When it gets that hot though it doesn't matter whether it is 99 or 103 it is just torture to be outside for very long. I don't guess I can complain though, Ryan my friend just got back from Kuwait and when he got there it was 130 during the day. I thought 100 is bad.

Congrats to Kacey Reynolds in being hired on as 4th Ave. C of C youth intern for the summer in Franklin, TN. I feel sorry for the kids. (just kidding or maybe not) Seriously, I know you will do a great job Kacey. I'm proud of you, though I'm a little nervous for the kids you will be influencing. Just remember, "You know what your problem is..." :)

I have all three proposals in for the sound at PRCC. Now I have to put a fine tooth comb through them and make a decision on what company to go with. This could prove to be a difficult job because no matter what, I want the sound to be top notch. I'm tired of mediocore sound systems that don't perform well no matter who is running the sound. I hope to remedy that problem. This is big job so pray that I am wise as I choose the company.

Congratulations to Scott Sager our minister in recieving his Doctorate of Ministry. What a great honor. I'm proud of you Scott. It seems that everyone has a higher degree than I do. Our office administrator Fran has a Masters of Theology. (very similar to an M. Div.) I do plan on starting back this Fall though, most likely at ACU. I'm kind of excited about finishing my Masters work. I already have 18 hours under my belt.

Good luck to two of my friends Phyllis and Stephen. Phyllis is spending the summer in South America, maybe Mexico, I can't remember for a mission camp and my friend Stephen is spending the summer in Sudan. This will be a dangerous place for Stephen to be so please pray for him as they scout out mission points in Sudan. Who knows, Stephen may actually blend in over there. (ok, that was extremely wishful thinking) Unfortunately I don't think that blend is in his nature. I can already picutre the tall toothpick of a man with sandals, long soccer socks with green stripes, long shorts and a bright green shirt that has something about cows on it. Nope, he won't ever blend in. Good luck in your mission. Godspeed to both of you.

Well, that's about it for today. Blessings to you all.

Bret

Where are we?

Pepperdine Lecutures were awesome. There was one session that impacted me the most. It was Rick Atchley and David Stone teaching about "Vital Signs of the Church." I posted the synopsis of it on www.worshipforum.com if you want to see what the session was about. here is a link: My synopsis is at the bottom of the page.

I have started doing vocal sessions with all of my praise team. So far they are going well. This gives me an opportunity to know the members better vocally and spiritually.

Rebekah is growing like a weed. It seemed like she grew so much while Summer and the kids were gone.

Tomorrow Star Wars Episode III comes out. Summer and I have watched all of the Star Wars in preparation. I think we will end up going for a Friday Matinee. When you have 3 children, it makes it difficult to stand in line for the midnight showing tonight, but I'll be there in spirit.

Well, it is back to work time. I find it harder and harder to post on a regular basis. How many of you still occasionally visit my blog? Just wondering?

Have a blessed day!!!!

Bret

Rebekah is the cutest baby alive. I'm biased you know. 

I'm at Pepperdine Lectures

Hello from Malibu!!!! My condo is overlooking the ocean. Pepperdine is an awesome place. I wish I had a digital cameral to take pictures with, but Summer has that on her trip. I will have to post the cutest picture of Rebekah yet. She is getting more beautiful and precious every day. Well, lots to do. I hope to post some during the week.

First Plane Ride

Well, I took Summer and the kids to the airport this morning. They wouldn't let me through to help get the kids through security. It was kind of sad. I can't wait to hear how my kids' first airplane ride is. I didn't fly until I was a teenager, but my kids are flying when they are 3 months, 2, and 3. The world has changed.

It is Administrative Professional's day. Thank God for Administrative Assistants. Lesli is my assistant and she keeps me in shape. A minister can only be as good as his assistant enables him to be.

Think of some great ministers. Mike Cope, Jeff Walling, Lynn Anderson, Chris Siedman, Rubel Shelley, or Rick Atchley? I guaruntee that they aren't capable of doing what they do with out a great assistant. Many thanks for all those in supportive roles in churches, especially to Lesli, Fran, and Maria who work at Preston Road.

Blessings,

Bret

Pray for Summer!!!

Well, Wednesday, Summer is flying with our 3 children to Nashville. Our children have never flown before. Pray for her patience and our children. The only people in our family to see Rebekah besides photographs is my mom and Summer's mom. Summer is going to spend a week with my family and a week with hers to show our new little one off. In the meantime, I will be going to Six Flags with the Praise Team and flying to Pepperdine for the lectures.

How about this for a Praise Team name: "One Voice" One of our praise team members came up with this and I like it. It communicates well and has a nice ring to it. I can see lots of potential as well for logo design as well. Let me know what you think. There are other suggestions, but this one seems to have risen to the top so far.

I love my new keyboard. It is a Kawai ES3. It rocks. It has one of the best piano sounds and String/Piano combo I've heard. It also has a USB cable that I can hook into my computer. I haven't tried that yet, but plan on doing that soon.

That is what is on my mind at the moment. Have a blessed Day.

Bret

Family at Easter 

I finally posted again! Yeah!

Sorry it has been so long. Things have been unsually busy the past several weeks. Everything from contests to Easter, to computer problems to lots of meetings, but all is good.

Easter was excellent. We had one of our best worship times then. There were two baptisms which is awesome.

The coolest thing is that the elders have approved me to get the sound system updated. I've already met with one company yesterday and plan on meeting with another today and another next week. It is exciting because I know what we need and I can prioritize what these guys propose and sift out all of the fluff they may want to sell us.

Rebeckah is doing great. She is now on a schedule where she goes to bed at 10:30 wakes up at 4:00 to eat and then sleeps till around 7:00-7:30. That is much better than waking up 3 times a night to feed her.

Micah has started speech therapy. He goes to school on Tuesday and Thursday. Hopefully they can work with his stuttering and get it under control by the time he starts kindegarden.

Anna has started potty training. She only had one accident yesterday and that was during a nap. This morning she was dry and got up and used the potty. Yeah. It looks like less diapers to buy. That is always a good thing. She has also given her pacifier to Rebekah, "so she things" so the past two days she has been without a pacifier. She is growing up.

My administrative assistant's husband has recently arrived back home from Kuwait. Ryan is doing well and adjusting to normal life again. Thanks Ryan for what you did for your country.

Well, that's about it for now. Hopefully I can post more often in the future.

Bret

Shawn balancing himself on top of a telephone pole. 

Worship Team Retreat

Wow! This past weekend we had our worship team retreat at Sky Ranch in Van, TX. It was a total blast. The food was great, it was beautiful outside, and they have ropes courses. It was so neat seeing many of our worship team climbing a telephone pole and jumping onto a trapeeze. I'll post a picture after this post.

We had 21 people to show up which was pretty good considering it was Spring Break. I set up a prayer walk that went over really well. We stayed up till 2:30am around the campfire telling funny stories.

Congrats to Becky San Juan for claiming the best belcher contest. I came in at a distant 2nd place, but her belches were too powerful and frequent for me to overcome. Also it was a three way tie between Shawn, Becky, and David for the most wood gathered trying to keep the fire alive. They would dissapear into the night and come back lugging arms full of branches. And the best story of the weekend has to go to Randy for his wonderful telling of when he got up to pray in church as a kid and passed gas out loud. I don't know how you beat that story.

I finally got my new digital camera yesterday. My old camera broke the day that Rebekah was born. The warranty just now paid for it so it has taken that long to figure out what I needed to do about a new camera.

Rebekah is starting to smile. She has officially smiled for me 4 times and only once for Summer. I guess Rebekah laughes at my silly looking face and then looks at Summer and thinks...."mmmmm...Lunch"

I hope all is going well with all of you. Sorry it has been a while since I posted. It is tough keeping this thing up to date. Have a blessed day.

Bret

Rebekah with her eyes open 

Taking Charge

Sunday night was a nightmare for Summer. Rebekah kept waking up. We've figured out that she doesn't like to not be held. If she is by herslef in her bed she screams like you've never heard a baby scream. Because of this Summer was never able to get more than an hour of sleep at a time. Yesterday she was a zombie. So last night I took charge and was on a mission... (It is appropriate to hear the Mission:Impossible theme about now) ...A mission to get Summer some sleep but more importantly for Rebekah to like her bed and sleep in it. Ok, maybe just sleep in it. She doesn't have to like it.

I got home from the elder's meeting about 6:30 or so. I immediately sent Summer to bed to get rest. I put Anna in bed with Micah cause I new the mission was going to require a possibly noisy baby through the night. I fed her at 7:30 and she ate well. Step one of my mission was to put her in her baby bed while she was awake so that she could get the picture that she doesn't have to be held while she is awake. There was lots of screaming, but she eventually calmed down. She cried off and on until about 10:00 when she started wailing again. I went and got her at about 10:15 and as soon as I picked her up she stopped crying. She wasn't hungry yet and she didn't need a diaper change. She just wanted to be held. I fed her a bottle at 10:45 or so and she downed it. I then put her in her bed and hoped for the best. She slept from 11:00pm-4am which is a first. Yeah. I don't know if it had anything to do with my mission tactics for the night. Either way my mission was successful. Summer got some good sleep and Rebekah slept in her bed for 5 hours which at her age is great. We'll see if that continues as the days pass.

Have a blessed day,

Bret

Thought for the day

Things are going great. Rebekah is doing great and gaining weight like she should. Our house sold over the weekend. Praise God. It seems that there may be a calm in the storm for now.

I've been reading through the Bible chronologically this year. I just started Numbers yesterday. I just wanted to share some thoughts from my reading so far.

One of the greatest things I've finally connceted is that God has always come to us within the confines of our culture. I know that we say God transcends culture and He does, but we don't. God has always revealed Himself within our view of things so that we might understand Him better. Example? The story of Abraham. Many events that occured between God and Abraham relate to the culture. The first is the covenant that God made with Abraham. As a seal of this covenant God came as a fire pot and passed through the halves of animals that Abram had prepared. This covenant is very much like the treaty's back then. Abraham would have been very familiar with that kind of covenant. A second example in Abraham's life was the sacrifice of Issac. In that culture, is was the custom of many pagan god worshippers to sacrifice their children to these pagan God's. God asks Abraham to sacrifice Issac. The difference is that God provided the sacrifice after Abraham showed his faithfulness. Why does God do things within the confines of the culture of Abraham? Because that is way that Abraham will be able to understand who God is. God has never changed in nature, but He has always met us within our culture.

The other thing is that God uses ordinary people to do His extraordinary things. Issac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Gideon, David, and countless others were ordinary people that God used. None of them were the firstborn children. In the Old Testament the firstborn child was special. God intentionally didn't use the firstborn children to carry out his plan. Why? When you use extraordinary poeople to do extraordinary things, the poeple get the credit. When you use ordinary broken people to do extraordinary things, the only explanation is God's power. If you look at all of these men I've mentioned, they were all faithful but extremely flawed. It didn't stop there though. God sent His son as an ordinary child. He used the most ordinary men to spread the gospel in Acts. And He continues to use ordinary poeple in ordinary churches to do extraordinary things. Isn't God great? What is He doing extraordinary in your life today?