Element R3 House

Yesterday we spent the day working on the Element R3 House. The R3 house is a project that God laid on the heart of Element Church. It stands for Rebuild, Restore and Redeem. They are going to be using the house to provide short term affordable housing for families in need. This is going to be a great project that will keep giving back to the community here in Cheyenne. Read more about it here.

We spent the day working on paiting and lots of it. You can see the before pictures at the link above. We also did some minor landscape touchups, cleaned up the inside of all the trash and took the trash to the dump and built a playground setup for the future residents. Everyone did a phenomenal job working on the house. We had a great time and are excited to hear about everything that comes about through this home.

Great Sunday

Yesterday was a great time for our group to prepare for this coming week of work. It is going to be an awesome time of serving and we aren't stuck to a schedule so we will be watching for other opportunities to serve that we would normally pass by because of having to be somewhere in particular. We are asking God to open our eyes to the needs of the people as we are serving. Please pray that we are open to and listening for the leading of the Holy Spirit as we are serving here in Cheyenne.

We attended Element Church yesterday and enjoyed a great service. Their current sermon series is called "The Frayed," and I wanted to give you some highlights of what was preached during the sermon I think you'll love it. The Sermon series is on prayer, so here are some highlights.

"Prayer is more communion and less coercion. It is not getting God to move, it's allowing Him to move me."

We have to learn to pray through something until there is an answer.

• We must learn to be persistent in prayer. Jesus showed persistence and desperation in his prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane
• Pray until something Happens- God will change the circumstance or God will change me.
• Too many of us are praying for God's presents and not His presence.
• Why is God not answering my prayers?” may be the wrong question, though a popular one. A better question is “Why am I not submitting to His response?” Seeking God is the key to persistent prayer, not getting an answer.

It was a great service and message especially with all the prayer we must be doing in our lives on a daily basis.

After Church we took everyone out to Vedawoo to climb some mountains and they had a blast. I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

Here in Cheyenne!

We arrived in Cheyenne last night July 10 and hit the ground running. We got everything set up here in my parents house. Speaking of which be praying for them, they have 25 house guests for the week and have been really accomodating. We will be working with Element Church here in Cheyenne doing various service projects around Cheyenne. It is going to be a great week here serving in the town I grew up in.

The kids are all doing great and resting well. The boys are sleeping outside in tents, and we have already heard that a few of them got cold last night. The temperature drops into the low 50's here at night. We will make sure and get them all taken care of. It's a little different than Missouri. I will post pictures later today. We will be going to a place called Vedawoo (pronounced Veda Voo) to climb rocks and ride 4 wheelers and then coming back to prayer walk the community around the church. We appreciate your prayers and look forward to keeping ya'll informed.

Brian

Following the Leading of the Holy Spirit

Every summer we do camp and our mission trip and every summer God teaches me more about being prepared to go even when you don't know the outcome and the location. We have had some things come up over the last week that will drastically change the summer trip to Denver. This could be viewed as a bad thing, a horrible outcome or whatever you want to call it. I believe it is an exciting thing that God can use to further His kingdom and His impact in another way, and He can truly teach us what it means to follow the Holy Spirit's leading.

I want to encourage you to read James 4:13-15, Romans 1:8-13 and Acts 18:21 about what it means to follow the guidance and leadership of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes we rush blindly into an event with the expectation that God will show up and work. What we should be doing is preparing for the event and then waiting on God's leadership to take us where He is working. Paul learned this early on and I think we can learn alot about following God's leadership in our lives when certain circumstances come up.

I have read James 4:13-15 many times, and never had it come to life like it has over the past few days. I believe that what is taking place this summer is no accident and is an exciting thing because we will see how God uses willing and obedient people to accomplish His purpose of drawing people into His Kingdom.

I will fill you in on this more on sunday at our Mission training at 3:30. I ask that you be praying and asking God to help you understand his will and direction as we go on this journey with Him.

Memorial Day

Memorial day for many has turned into a time to have a 3 day weekend, to spend time with family having a picnic in the park, a BBQ in the backyard or a day on the lake. But Memorial Day is a time to reflect on, remember and thank God for the men and women who so bravely, selflessly and courageously gave their lives for our freedoms here in the United States as well as for the freedoms of other in numerous countries around the world.

Here is a video that we played in our services on sunday, I hope you enjoy it. I think it will challenge us all to examine what it means to be a Christ follower and what it means to be an American. They can both go hand in hand. As a matter of fact one of the mottos that used to be spken throughout the military was always God and country. So with the thought I hope you enjoyed a great weekend and took a moment to pause and remember so many great lives that ended so quickly for the great cause of freedom.

Graduate Recognition

Wow! This year has gone by so fast. I can hardly believe that everyone who graduated yesterday was going into 8th grade when Sarah and I moved to Springfield. These five years have gone by at light speed. I want to congratulate you all and thought I would post a picture fro before our graduate recognition.

Great Rhyme

I've been down and out the last few weeks recovering from my Tonsil surgery. I thought you guys would enjoy this.