Impossible?

Most likely you have never heard the name Clarence Brazier. Clarence is not a celebrity, a politician, a war hero, or an internationally known figure. Clarence is an ordinary man who accomplished an extraordinary thing. Clarence grew up and lived his life in Canada. Because of his background and upbringing Clarence never learned to read. He struggled through life job after job finding work that didn’t require him to read. His wife of over fifty years, Angela, read him every single piece of mail, tax forms, magazines and all other print materials that came to their home. Sadly, Angela passed away leaving a now 93 year old Clarence alone. That is when Clarence decided to do the impossible. At age 93, with the help of his daughter, a school teacher, Clarence set out to learn to read. By age 95 Clarence was reading. By age 100 Clarence received an award from the Canada Post for his unbelievable accomplishment.

This morning I was reading in Ezra. Ezra is a book in the Bible all about God’s people Israel returning from being exiled for years in a foreign country. The book tells the story of how when they returned home God led them to rebuild their most sacred place of worship, God’s temple. The weird thing is who kicked this whole project off. It wasn’t Moses, Joshua, David, or one of the Old Testament all stars we’ve heard about. It was a guy named Cyrus. Cyrus was as Persian King. Did you get that? He was not even a Jew. But in the first chapter of Ezra God says this about Cyrus. “that the word of the Lord…might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus King of Persia.” God took this man who would be the last person on the planet to build a temple for the God of the Jews and “stirred up” his spirit to do as Jerry Reed says “what they say can’t be done.”

Sometimes planting a church in a “foreign land” (a place where we know hardly anyone) seems impossible to us. But, “With God, all things are possible.” If you are staring down the barrel of an impossible situation in your life right now there is something you and I would do well to remember. When God has something he wants done he can make the impossible happen to get it done. He can stir hearts that you and I would never think could be stirred. If you feel like the road in front of you is impossible then pick up your foot and take that first step of faith. Soon you will be walking that road and realize that nothing is impossible. If you don’t believe me, just ask Clarence Braizer.

Holding Pattern

Don't you love when you're on one of those flights where the pilot comes over the intercom and says something like "I'm sorry for the delay folks but we are in a holding pattern over the city. We are going to be a little late in reaching our final destination." You get that sinking feeling that you are stuck, flying in circles for who knows how long. We are currently in one of life's holding patterns. Thank God we finished the work on our house, have it listed in the paper and have the signs up in the yard and in our neighborhood. We even put out flyer's in an info. tube complete with pictures and a web site to visit, www.2408home.blogspot.com, for any of you who know someone who's in the market for a home.

But now we have come to the waiting; the holding pattern. We have had several walk throughs and one legitimate offer that ended up not working out. We are waiting. I hate typing those three words. Waiting is hard, it's annoying, uncomfortable, emotionally draining. But, waiting is where God does some of His best work on us. While we are waiting, He is working. Sometimes I need to be reminded of that. Please pray for us while we wait. And if you are waiting let us know so we can pray for you. If you are currently stuck in a holding pattern try and remember that while you are waiting He is working.

Church Planting News

I just have to say a huge thank you to all of our church planting partners. God is using your prayers and will soon be using your financial support to do great things in planting churches in Wisconsin. I wanted to give you all a quick update on what has been going on with our move to Port Washington, Wisconsin to plant a church.

As of this week our house is officially on the market and up for sale. That in itself is huge load off of our shoulders. We now are waiting for it to sale. So all your prayers for God's timing on that are greatly appreciated.

Our original goal was to move to Port sometime in August or September. Things have gone a little slower than we hoped but God works on His schedule not ours. Our re-adjusted target date is now hopefully to be moved no later than the end of October.

For those of you who are partnering with us financially in this church plant I can't thank you enough for your already generous and faithful giving. The money you have invested is accumulating in an account and will be put to great use in the 1st year of our church getting off the ground. There will be lots of initial expenses that a new church like this one will incur. We will have to purchase things like sound equipment, a trailer to transport the sound equipment, building rental, and advertising, all in our first year as a new church. Therefore, if you began your giving commitment period in August or before we are so thankful and your gifts will soon be having kingdom impact.

We will send out another newsletter with some specific prayer concerns soon. We love you all and thank you for your investment in our lives and others spiritual future.

You're My Best Friend

It’s been a while since my last post, sorry. We have been busy getting our house ready to sell. Last night I had a sobering thought come to my mind. We did a huge youth event at our church. Many of our friends were involved in either the planning or the worship band that played. As I prayed with the band before we got underway the reality that this would be some of my last days with these guys began to set in. These guys have become like a band of brothers to me. The two Justins, Jon and Melissa, Will, and others will no longer be people I see week to week.

We are so pumped about starting this new church in Wisconsin and all that God has in store for us. But starting in the next couple of months my longstanding support network of passionate Christ followers is going to go from a mass of guys we have gotten close to over the years to a handful of guys I’m just now getting to know. And the cool new friends we’ve made already in Wisconsin all live in other cities. Our first year could be tough on our encouragement level. I don’t usually ask you guys to do STUFF for me but this is some STUFF I really, really need from you.

What I really need you guys to do for us is shoot me emails or call me up. When God says something to you about us in prayer or a scripture comes to mind, PLEASE send it along to us. We will need the encouragement, I’m sure. I’m really going to miss all of our friends here. But God has great things in store. For those of you who don’t have it our email address that will remain the same is danellandjim@yahoo.com. My cell is (870) 718-5314. Text me, Call me, or email me a word from God any time you feel He is leading you to do so. I’m sure we will need it just when you send it. Thanks for such great friendships guys. We really love you all.

Is this thing on?

Hey church planting partners. I'm checking to make sure you receive an email every time I update the blog. I thought this would be yet another way to keep you informed of what is going on with the church plant we will be doing in Port Washington, Wisconsin. So if you received an email notifying you of this post would you click the "comments" link below and let me know you were invited to the blog via-email. Thank you guys for your continuing prayer and support. We will keep you posted as things progress.

Movin on Up

I thought I would let you guys know where we are in the process of "moving on up" to Port Washington. We are attacking the finishing touches on getting our house ready to go on the market. We have been laying carpet, painting, cleaning, and boxing up all of our junk to store in my parents shop. In the midst of all this we are going to go to Centi-Kid for a week as chaperons. So we realistically hope to have our house on the market no later than the 1st of August. This is where you come in. Please pray for God's timing and blessing in the sell of our home. Thank you guys for all your prayers and encouragement. If people were energy drinks our friends would all be..."Rock Stars." I know thats lame, but seriously, you guys rock!

Building Materials

I haven’t posted in a while. We have been working on our house with every available moment. The push is on to try and get it ready to go on the market. The sooner we sell the sooner we will be able to make the move to Port Washington. We have spent the last week painting over all the brightly colored rooms that we have enjoyed for the last few years. Our old floors are now covered with either laminate wood flooring or carpet. Pretty much every room in the house is now a somewhat neutral color. The thing the “experts” say when trying to sell a home is that you want people to be able to picture themselves living there. For that to happen you have to strip out all the clutter and put up only the basics. Your home needs to be a neutral shell, housing only what you need to function day to day.

All this home un-improvement has caused me to think back over the basics in my own life. We all have what many call core values. Core values are more than just things you believe in or claim to believe in. Core values are those principles that guide your life. You are so passionate about them that you are willing to live and die by them. They are who you really are. We have been putting some of our core values on paper over the past year as we are forging a mold of what our new church needs to look like. I thought I might share a few with you and would love to hear some of yours if you care to comment.

The church we are starting will have etched in its D.N.A. certain values of key importance.

We believe in creating an environment where people are genuinely loved and accepted no matter where they are currently on their spiritual journey.

Church should be a safe place to connect with God and make new friends without being judged or manipulated.

God has created us to do things that are beyond the scope of our wildest dreams. We only need to plug into a relationship with Him to begin to see those dreams take shape.

Authenticity is central to a church. We believe in being real, being ourselves. No pretending to be more religious than we really are.

Relevance is a relative term (ha.ha.) We will always adapt to remain relevant to our culture and the people in our community.

The fun factor is huge here. Church should be fun. It should be encouraging, inspiring, challenging, and a myriad of other things but if it isn’t fun we’ve missed something.

Dream big or go home. We will dare to do things that seem impossible. God constantly challenges us to do things big enough that we can’t possibly do them without Him.

Well, there are a few of our core values, let me hear a few of yours.