http://me.christybroxton.com

It’s just a continuation of the thoughts started here. See ya in the new space.

Our school year is winding down and we’re gearing up for a great summer.

In fact, we’re using one of my favorite tools time-wasters to plan our list of things to do — Pinterest. You can see our 2012 Summer Bucket List and follow along on this blog as we accomplish our plans.

Our list is long and our time is short – less than 80 days! Someone else mentioned making an Instagram photo book with shots from their summer adventures. I think I’ll follow suit. See that cutie up there — consider that they cover shot for the Instagram photo book.

King Hezekiah orders the idols removed

“Hezekiah encouraged them with this address: “Be strong and courageous! Don’t be afraid of the king of Assyria or his mighty army, for there is a power far greater on our side!  He may have a great army, but they are just men. We have the LORD our God to help us and to fight our battles for us!” These words greatly encouraged the people.
2 Chronicles 32:6b-8

These words have also greatly encouraged people for centuries. Yes, we do have a power far greater on our side but I believe that King Hezekiah had confidence in uttering these words because of the action he and his people took in the chapters prior.

These great words were uttered as the Assyrian king, Sennacherib, began to lay siege to the towns of Judah and as King Hezekiah was fortifying Jerusalem to ready it for an attack by this same invading force.

This chapter in 2 Chronicles opens with these key words: “After Hezekiah had faithfully carried out this work …”

What work?

The previous chapters recount Hezekiah’s religious reforms:

1. Reopening the Temple in Jerusalem
2. Restoring the true and proper worship there
3. Taking care of the Levites and priests as prescribed by the law
4. Celebrating the Passover as God intended (even following the rule to celebrate one month later if needed due to sanctification reasons)
5. Sacrificing the sin and peace offerings for the entire nation of Israel
6. Tearing down all pagan shrines and temples.

It was as a result of clearing out the false gods that had stolen their hearts and returning to the One True God, that King Hezekiah was confident in proclaiming that God – the God who King Sennacherib mocks openly in chapter 32 – would come to their rescue and not allow their enemies to prevail against them.

I love that King Hezekiah sets about these religious reforms long before there was a threat on his land by the king of Assyria. Sometimes it takes a threat to move people to action, but King Hezekiah’s changes were a direct result of his love for God. Verse three of chapter 29 states that “in the very first month of the first year of his reign, Hezekiah reopened the doors of the Temple of the Lord and repaired them.” (emphasis added)

He didn’t wait!

He combined his faith in God’s ability with prayer (2 Chronicles 32:20) and God answered in a big way. They didn’t even have to leave the safety of Jerusalem’s walls to defeat the invading Assyrian force.

“And the Lord sent an angel who destroyed the Assyrian army with all its commanders and officers. So Sennacherib was forced to return home in disgrace to his own land.” ~ 2 Chronicles 32:21

Furthermore, when he returned to his home, some of his sons killed him with a sword in the temple of his own god.

It’s time to return to the worship of our God – the one true God – and to do right by Him in how we live our lives. It’s time to clear out the idols we hold dear and toss them into the wastelands. To rejoice in His feasts and enjoy the fact that He will pass over our iniquities because of the Blood of the Lamb that covers us. To sing again the Psalms of David, to build up our faith and to cry out for His deliverance in our lives.

There’s a precedent here … one that God honors every time it’s carried out in sincerity of heart: He has a way of escape for you. Perhaps an angel, perhaps confusion in the enemy’s camp, or maybe he will strengthen you to fight. Either way, He is sure to bring victory over what assails you, if you will turn fully to Him.

Spotify:

First up is this handy music streaming program, Spotify. I LOVE IT!!! I can listen to whole tracks (as much as I want), make playlists, share them, and if I want I can upgrade so that I can download them as well. Literally, every genre is available and includes all the new and vintage songs my heart would ever need.

Oh, did I mention the basic program is FREE?!!!

Right now it is by invitation only and I, unfortunately, never got invites to send out. But  check the site and see if you can score an invite. It’s worth the effort.

Pinterest:

This fun site lets you create online visual ‘pinboards’ to store all the cool stuff you find around the web. It’s an endless source of ideas and fun stuff. You can follow what your friends ‘pin’ and share things with one another. It all links back to the original content. So, you’ll never forget where you found that cool tutorial or perfect item for your living room.

I do have invites for this one. So, if you’re interested just let me know and I’ll get you hooked up.

Google +

I know, I know, but it is cool and less crazy than FB right now. I also love the photo albums there much better. I have a ton of invites here too. So, hit me up and I’ll send you one. Even if you wind up not liking it/using it, at least you can say you tried. Right?

Got any new things you are diggin’ lately?

As previously stated, I am back to blogging. Honestly, for a while there, we just didn’t have too much to report outside of the mundane. So, updates of any nature seemed pointless  for a bit. Looking back I guess I was learning how to deal with a lot of the things in my life at the time and blogging was the last thing I wanted to do.

Church Update:

The last church update was nearly a year and 4 months ago — just prior to Easter 2010. In the 16 months since that update, the Lord has been at work. For the better part of 12 of those months, it was within us and the two faithful families that attended each and every service with us. The fourteen (yes, 14) of us met in the building God had blessed us with and believed with all our hearts doors would open and people would visit. (Believe me when I say this was truly not a “build it and they will come” sort of thing.)

In each of our families a war was raging ~ would we make it or would we pack up and head toward something easier and more familiar? In the midst of some of our hardest times, Fran Murphy came for a visit and shared with us some things God had impressed upon her heart. Words like, “You’re about to enter the toughest test of your lives” and “You won’t grow until you get this right” weren’t exactly music to our ears and certainly didn’t help to brighten the mood at the time.

Things did seem to go from bad to worse – for all fourteen of us – after she left, but something was happening. God was knitting us together as a family ~ one great, big extended family! The fourteen of us fought for each other in prayer, helped each other as best we could, and leaned into God probably harder than we ever had.

Around Easter of 2011 – nearly a year had passed with the fourteen of us still faithfully meeting in that building (Yes, we occasionally had a visitor or two and God did send a precious lady during that time that has faithfully attended ever since.) it was as if God flipped a heavenly switch!

If I had to hazard a guess, I would estimate that not more than a week or so passed from when we felt that we had “gotten things right” that a family was added to our mix. This is a faithful family that we all dearly love and are glad God has allowed us to partner together.

We were now 20 strong and I am pleased to tell you that the next three months passed and the church doubled in size. Now  … when you talk about ‘doubling’ and your numbers are still less than 50 some folks may not be impressed. Let me tell you … what GOD has done is nothing less than a miracle. Each Sunday we are seeing new faces and enjoying developing new friendships. Our church is a family and it is so humbling to realize it is nothing (repeat NOTHING) we have done to bring us to this point.

I promise to introduce you to as many of these new faces as possible and to pass along our stories when appropriate, but for now, here is a short synopsis:

A fair majority of those who are regularly attending are between 18 and 30. We have several young families and a good smattering of 40s and up as well.  A large majority of those in attendance are new believers. In fact, we’ve had the privilege of presenting THREE of them with their first Bibles … ever in their adult life. On Memorial Day weekend there were five baptisms and another young man accepted Jesus two weeks ago. This past Sunday, James and I had the extreme privilege of the first baby dedication as a church (I can’t wait to tell you that whole story) and we’ll be firing up a College and Career group this coming Sunday.

The last week of July we finally broke over the 50 mark. 53 to be exact – and we were missing 6 of our regulars.

I know this post is getting long so let me leave you with this story ….

About six weeks ago this idea of having folks actually attend church with us was still pretty new to us. We got a kick out of seeing more than our few cars in the parking lot, so we were standing on the porch of the church admiring the parking lot (it’s really nothing more than a grassy patch of lawn that serves as a parking area) and the cars in it.

I started counting cars and it turned out there were 14 vehicles in the parking lot in all. Out loud I noted that we now had as many cars in the parking lot as we had people in the church at that time last year!

You see … even the small things are big things when God is moving and blessing.

This past year + has been full of exciting ups and downs but God is SO faithful and I’m glad He is in charge of things in my life.

I’ll be updating things as they come to me and highlighting stuff in general ~ same blog format, just with a year’s hiatus.

As an aside … I’ve also setup a professional website for my WordPress site design work. You can find it at http://christybroxton.com 

I must confess (again) that I am a logical individual the majority of the time. When presented with a challenge I tend to gravitate toward the “strategize and plan” method of conquering it. I lay out action plans to arrive at my goal and worry when things don’t line up the way I think they should.

God has once again shown me how that method of ‘controlling’ and doing things in my own strength is not His way.

You see, I believe that God is inherently a show-off (in a good way) … mostly just because He can and because He likes to remind us He is the one in control – not us. This whole church-plant thing is certainly more under His control than ours. And for that I am grateful.

So … back to the good news!

We recently (by an act of God) acquired a building in which to meet. {See previous post} Randy graciously allowed us to meet while Pastors were in town and extended that offer into the month of March. At the end of March, James was scheduled to meet with him to negotiate monthly payment, etc. for the building.

We looked over what little bit of finances are coming in on a monthly basis – needless to say it didn’t take long and determined what we could do at this point toward the mortgage. Mind you it was pitifully shy of the full $1700 per month and James admitted he felt embarrassed to even make the offer. (Let me put into perspective for you how HUGE a step of faith this is to even pursue this. In ALL of last year, our church offerings totaled $3400 (yes, for the YEAR!). Ummmm … that’s only 2 months at $1700 – LOL — but I digress.)

Naturally we will be putting insurance on the content of the building and taking over the utilities, but beyond that we were woefully inadequate in what we could pay. But he offered to Randy what we could with a promise to revisit it in 6 months. God-willing we could increase it at that point.

Randy told James that he felt our offer was too high. WHAT??? Too high? Did he really just say that?  Wasn’t it supposed to be the other way around?

As it shakes out, Randy wants to allow us time to build finances toward a down payment on the property so that it can be transferred into our name as soon as possible. So … he wants us to take care of utilities, upkeep and improvements, insurance as planned, and begin to sock cash away for the down payment on the property.

WHAT A BLESSING!!

So many emotions are running through us right now and so many thoughts – which I’m sure will be blogged about, but one overriding desire is for God to bless Randy with more than he can hope, think, or imagine! (Eph 3:20)

God has used Randy and Acts III to bless us and our prayer is that as he sows that mortgage payment into Brookstone, that God will pour back to him and Acts III in such huge amounts that they can’t even calculate the exponential ROI that comes from this act of generosity.

Please join with James, myself, and the members of Brookstone in praying for Randy and Acts III. Pray Luke 6:38 over them. Pray that God will bless him.

“A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

Now … isn’t God good?

Typically we don’t give to large organizations even if they present a good reason to do so. Case in point – Compassion International.

I’ve known about Compassion, in some form or another, since my early Christian days. I’ve always been moved by their compelling imagery and heart-wrenching stories of need, but never enough to sponsor. That’s where my cynicism kicked in. I didn’t trust that my money would actually get where they said it would. That my hard-earned cash would not benefit some needy child in a faraway land but would instead pad the pockets of some well-to-do corporate fat cats.

I felt certain that the stories were elaborated on or contrived altogether in an attempt to prey upon the inherent generosity of Americans. I hoped that it was not the case but never was able to prove it one way or the other so I refrained from giving.

(Now, before you go sending hate mail, please keep reading)

I must commend Compassion on their latest series of PR genius! Have you heard of the Compassion Bloggers? If not, let me introduce you to what I believe is the most brilliant and strategic move on behalf of Compassion.

Compassion Bloggers

The concept is simple: take normal, everyday Christian bloggers and place them in the middle of Compassion projects around the globe. Provide internet access and let them blog, tweet, and twitpic their way through foreign lands. All the while presenting doubting Thomases like myself with a real face on the needs while reinforcing the authenticity of Compassion’s programs. Now … I still can’t say for sure because I’ve not personally seen Compassion in action, but I will confess this has stripped me of my cynicism where this organization is concerned.

My favorite part of this?? The fact that I already ‘knew’ some of these bloggers because I already followed their blog. They aren’t, from what I can tell, on Compassion’s payroll and aren’t benefiting from these trips – except to help spread the word about what Compassion is doing.

So … are you ready to see them in action?

I first learned of the Compassion Bloggers prior to their India trip. Pastor Pete Wilson and Anne Jackson, both from Nashville, went along on this trip. I followed their adventure closely and learned that Compassion was more than fancy celebrities hawking hope-deprived faces on the TV screen. It was folks, real folks, folks I ‘knew’, seeing for themselves the work of one company and then allowing us to peer over their collective shoulders as they tagged along with Compassion.

Since then, there have been other teams that ventured to El Salvador and most recently to Kenya.

Some of the posts that caught my attention are listed below. Most deal with the Mathare Slum – a huge slum in Kenya where Compassion ministers to children. I urge you to read through them and then further explore the blogs linked at the bottom of this post. I should warn you though, before you proceed, please grab some tissues or at least read this where free-flowing tears won’t get you fired.

Read about Eliud and the Mathare Slum in Kenya. Posted by Brad Ruggles
You can see the rest of his Kenya posts here: http://www.bradruggles.com/category/kenya-trip/

Next is a post from We are THAT Family. I’ve been following her blog for awhile for other reasons, but was thrilled that she was part of Compassion Bloggers for the Kenya trip as well.

Read her post about Mathare here and then the rest of her Kenya posts here, but please, please read about Makena and Ephantus –her sponsored children – and the day she spent with them.

The other bloggers are new to me. Here are some highlights:

• Great pictures of a Masai village were on MckMama’s blog (look through all her posts about Kenya – the images are amazingly beautiful)
• Her husband’s post about Mathare Slum
• More amazing photography at This is Reverb. Read all his Kenya posts here: http://www.thisisreverb.com/category/compassion-kenya-2010
• Kent Shaffer writes for Church Relevance and has some great videos, photos, etc. Check them all out here: http://churchrelevance.com/tag/compassion-international/

Last but not least, look at the photos from Keely Marie Scott – the official photographer for the group. Here is her set from the Mathare Slum:

http://www.keelymariescott.com/2010/03/08/this-world-is-not-our-home/

Here are all her shots for Compassion: http://www.keelymariescott.com/category/compassion-international/

To Recap:

I’m moved by these stories and pictures of a place I may never see and people I may never know. God knows them and walks among them daily. Compassion is making a difference, of this I am certain.

First, within a week of that Cloud 9 moment, James was in a pretty severe accident on I-95 just over the state line in South Carolina. Because he was also towing his War Eagle fishing boat, there wasn’t a panel of that truck that was unscathed. Mercifully, he walked away from a near head-on collision with a semi.

And financially, thanks to God, fantastic friends, and insurance policies, we came out better than seemed possible.

He still cringes when we drive into Jasper County, but for the most part that incident in our lives is behind us!

So, we went from that extreme high to an extreme low within seven days!

From there, things returned to normal and we set about to working with the church that had opened up their hearts (and doors) to us.

Back to the Home:

Around the first of this year, things changed and we once again began to meet in our home for services. Just a few short weeks later, we learned that the church building where we had been meeting was no longer used for services.

To shorten a REALLY long story, when our Pastors and several of the church members from Nashville came to town for Josh’s Marine Corp Graduation, we knew there would not be enough room to meet in our home for church services. James approached the men who owned the now vacant church building and they agreed to let us use the building for those two services.

Just prior to Pastors arrival, James met with them again and they offered for us to meet in the building for the month of March as well.

Let me pause right here for an aside. These men – Randy McEwen and Michael Dant – have been such a tremendous blessing to us. They are in charge of Acts III Global Ministries. They operate several successful thrift stores in the South Georgia area as the mainstay of their domestic ministry. The international missions portion of Acts III ministers extensively in Malawi and includes an orphanage that they founded, built, and administer. God blessed them on a recent trip to Malawi and has cleared the way for even more ministry abroad. There truly is no way for us to repay them in the natural for all they have done for us. So, I will ask you to please remember them in your prayers!

Latest Developments:

The story doesn’t end there! When Pastors were here we discussed the building at length with them and are now pursuing a contract on renting the building long-term. The rent alone is $1700 per month and with a fledgling ministry that was going to be a stretch – to say the least. James met with them yet again to discuss terms. As James began to explain our situation, Randy stopped him mid-stream. He told James that his landlord recently renewed his contract on the thrift store and that his rent typically went up each renewal, plus he had common fees to pay. Randy went on to say that God had blessed him because the rent went down instead of up. Come to find out – it went down by $1700 per month!!

Randy then told James for us to let him know what we could pay and that because God had blessed him so, he wanted to pass that along to us. We will be meeting with him soon to sign papers and solidify the lease. We still know that we are dependent on God to grow the church and meet the financial obligations, but Brookstone Community Church now has a place to meet (that isn’t residential).

We praise God for His blessings and the generosity of Acts III. Please be in prayer as we take these next steps toward what God has here for us.