Before I hit the sack though I’m praying that this video encourages you like it did me…No matter what you’re going through, what you’ve been through, where you’ve messed up, where you’ve chose wrong, where you’ve doubted, where you’ve struggled…He is by your side, and His Grace is still AMAZING!

God bless, and good night!

The theme that the group is running with this semester is “Super Heroes”, and the aspect they want me to focus on is the fact that a true hero is driven by humility.

Of course that reminds me of the model we have in what Christ did for us so I’m going to open up the time by looking at the incredible selfless attitude that Jesus had in Philippians 2  and then ask the question “so what does this mean to us?”

The rest of the time we’re going to look at one of my favorite stories in the Bible found  Luke 5. It’s a great picture of what kinds of things we’re capable when we have a selfless attitude.

The angle I’ll go with in the text was the fact that the friends of the paralyzed guy were so moved by the love of their friend (I think humility and a selfless attitude can be interpreted here) that they did whatever it took to get him to Jesus (whose reputation of miracles, power, love, humility and selflessness had preceded him at this point)…so they were driven by the desire for physical healing of their friend but Jesus saw the deeper need first (He forgave his sins) then healed him physically.

Some of the things that I plan to bring out is that a hero…

• Is moved to take action when he/she is selfless
• Will do whatever it takes (go through any barrier) to meet others needs (physical and spiritual)
• Will begin to develop a reputation of selflessness and those acts begin to spread, become contagious to others and warrant questions which give them the right to be heard
• Has an incredible model to follow in Jesus Christ

So, I’d appreciate your prayers everyone, and would love to hear your thoughts about this topic…

How has Jesus shown Himself powerful in your life? How does the fact that Jesus showed incredible humility even though He had the ability to exercise extreme power over his  enemies apply to you?

I don’t know about you but I’m so thankful for things like…Grace, Mercy, Forgiveness and the Everlasting nature of my Creator!

Anyway, in the message I referred to the word “daily” by its original Greek name “Epiousious”. I found it very interesting that the word “Epiousious” was found at the top of a grocery list for perishable items when the dead sea scrolls were discovered in 1945.

God is interested in the big things of our lives and the “Epousious” things of our lives.

So, what are you going through today, this week, this month, this year? God cares, and He is ready to intervene. I want to encourage you to make contact with him daily through prayer and Bible study. The Creator of all things, knows us and wants to have a relationship with us…to me that’s pretty AMAZING!

The two articles…”Anything Broken?” and “Amplify” remind me of where I personally was when the 9/11 took place and what God did in people’s lives. I would love to have you read, re-read and contemplate on the greatness of our God today as we remember 9/11.

Anything Broken?

Amplify

Here it is…”Anything Broken?” Remembering 9/11…

This morning (9/11/07) was kind of surreal for me, as I join the rest of the world in remembering the 6th anniversary of 9/11. It really hit me kind of hard as I recalled what happened that fateful day, and how I found out…I was sitting in my office getting ready for one of the four bands that we had booked to do a concert on 9/14 to arrive.
We were hosting a huge concert that upcoming Friday with Five Iron Frenzy and Relient K head lining the show.

I was up to my neck in details that needed to be finalized before they arrived. We were the first stop on their fall tour and made a deal with them to give them all access to our facilities for 3 days to set up their lights, sound, and staging, and there was a ton of stuff my team and I had to do to make that happen.

As I was getting my plan together, the phone rang, it was my wife. She said in a panic filled voice “A plane just ran into the World Trade Center!” I said “what did you say?” and she repeated it.

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Now you need to understand something, we lived about an hour north of NYC, and many of the students who were in our ministry had parents, aunts, uncles, and extended family members who worked in NYC and some at the WTC in particular.

My mind immediately went from detail mode to “what now Lord?” I hung up the phone with my wife and just sat their in stunned silence, when the phone rang again, this time it was one of my youth leaders who said “did you hear about the planes hitting the towers?” I said what do you mean planes?” She said “a second plane just flew into the other tower, we’re under attack!”

I was even more stunned and scared and bewildered than just a few minutes earlier. Many questions were flying through my mind…What was happening in our world? What was happening in our city? What was happening in our church? What were we going to do about it with our students? To list a few.

As I was talking with her, another call came in so I put her on hold. It was a call from the manager of Five Iron Frenzy, the headlining band that we were expecting to arrive later that day. They were getting ready to leave Denver and were sent back because all the flights in the US were canceled due to the attack.

In a matter of about 30 minutes my day went from bad to worse as I sat there wondering what we were going to do. The manager said, hey don’t worry about the show, the guys and I talked and we want to be there with you guys and minister to the kids…we’re going to rent a bus and drive straight through – we’ll see you tomorrow!”

I remember hanging up the phone and thinking “now there is a band who is in it for the right reasons.” As soon as I hung up with him I heard a scream from down the hall, it was our secretary who had just heard that the first tower had just collapsed!

The rest of the day was a blur, as I fielded calls from parents, students, bands, concert ticket holders, and newspaper reporters.

I was hit head on with a decision that was the furthest from my mind when I first got the news of the attacks…The decision of “should we cancel the concert or not?”

It seemed like the more I fielded calls, the more irate people got when I answered their question with an honest “of course were going to have the concert.”

If you recall there was a period of time shortly after the attacks where everyone was canceling everything.

I mean the Yankees, Mets, Giants & Jets all canceled games (in fact the Super bowl used to be the last Sunday in January but is now in February because they canceled football games).

I was finding out how big of a deal it was for us to go forward with the concert. I got nasty calls, e-mails & conversations from people who couldn’t believe that we were still going forward with the show in light of the tragic events that had just taken place.

Over the next two days the bands, roadies, and equipment all arrived by bus (not tour bus, not the Madden Cruiser…Yellow Cheese school bus!).

I couldn’t believe it…as soon as the crew arrived I told them about all of the hate filled input we were getting. The guys couldn’t believe it either.

Then Reese (the lead singer of FIF) asked “do you think there will be kids in the audience who were directly affected by the attacks?”

We were expecting about 1100 kids at the concert and based on the connections in my own ministry and the feedback I’d gotten from our network of Youth Pastors I knew there would be a large portion of the attendees who either had a relative, friend, or neighbor that was directly affected by the attacks.

So I said “yep, they’ll be out in force!”

What he said next totally ramped my respect for him and the other bands through the roof…He said “well then, lets turn this rock show into a church service and minister to the needs of these hurting kids!”.

That is exactly what they did. A normal concert usually lasts about 3 hours and consists of some ear piercing music, some cool technology, and you go home. This particular concert saw each band play their hearts out for sure, but also share their hurts with the kids and share the solutions they’ve found in Jesus with them as well.

Now you might be saying, isn’t that what they are supposed to do? That is a good question, and in my observation many Christian rock musicians don’t share verbally any more, they let their music do the talking…ok, I can usually buy that but on this fateful night the kids needed more than music to meet their needs.

They needed real life examples of faith and victory from their “heroes”, and that’s exactly what they got.

It was so awesome to see how each band member was so vulnerable in their testimonies that the real HERO of Jesus Christ came through loud and clear!

Matt Thiessen from Relient K shared his personal faith story and some tough stuff he’d gone through, and each band member did the same.

Their new album had just come out that week and they played a song from it that really spoke volumes to the kids. The chorus says…

“never underestimate my Jesus, you’re telling me that there’s no hope, I’m telling you you’re wrong. Never underestimate my Jesus, when the world around you crumbles, He will be strong, He will be strong!”

After that various members from FIF shared how God had been there for them and how He was going to see them trough this as well.

Then for the next hour and a half, Reese had all the bands come out on stage, put down their instruments, turn down the lights and the fog machine and just sit down among the students as he proceeded to tell his story of faith, and trust and ups and downs with the Lord. It was incredible!

I have seen these bands in concert many times over the years, but never have I witnessed such an out pouring of love and truth from these guys to an audience filled with hurting kids who had just 3 days earlier experienced a life rocking, potentially faith shattering experience of losing a loved one in a terrorist attack!

The concert started at 7pm and by the time I finally locked the building and went home and laid my head on the pillow it was 4:30am!

The band members hung out, prayed, cried, hugged and ministered Christ’s love to over 1100 kids who had recently found out what it meant to know pain, hurt, questions and doubts.

Because a group of pesky Christian rockers weighed the priority of canceling a show because every thing in the entire country (airlines, Broadway, football and baseball) was canceling, or taking the heat so they could minister the love of Jesus to some hurting kids, we were able to see hundreds and hundreds of lives changed that night through the ministry of the Word, prayer, life change and a few songs.

The next morning as I walked into the church building I was asked THE question that usually faced me the day after any huge event we did in our ministry “was anything broken?”

This time I was able to give an answer that to this day is one of my favorites.

I said “YES, all kinds of things were broken…but because we had the concert many of them were fixed before they got home.”

As I remember the 6th anniversary of the terror attacks on 9/11, and every anniversary that is to come…I choose to focus on the truth that God is in control and He calls on each of us to share with others how He has been faithful to us in our lives. He’s in the business of fixing broken lives, and nothing is going to stop that!

Lesson Learned.

On behalf of my family I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your continued love and prayerful support for us. You have all been such a huge blessing to us time and time again!

As you know it’s been a very interesting journey that we have been on the last few years, and even though I haven’t always understood what God was doing and how He was leading I have constantly been assured that my friends and family have been there backing us up in prayer every step of the way!

I know you have been in prayer with us for God’s clear leading regarding our future ministry involvement, so I wanted to let you know that on 6/27 The Mid-Hudson Chinese Christian Church in Wappingers Falls, NY voted to call me as their Pastor of English Ministries. We prayed some more about it and we believe that this is what God would have me do, so we accepted the call to begin serving as The Pastor of English Ministries.

 We’re excited to be back in the Hudson Valley, and want to thank each of you for your involvement in our lives over the years.

 I’m really looking at this new ministry as a new chapter in the same book that God has been writing in my life over these many years of ministry. It’s going to be a challenge, it’s going to be a learning experience and above all it’s going to be amazing to watch what God does as He uses us in alignment with His will.

 I’ll be writing more about everything that God did in bringing this transition about but for now I just wanted to make sure I let everyone know what we’re doing, and how God has been at work in answering our prayers.

Thanks again, you are all such a blessing!

God bless,

Brent

In the class I asked the attendees to reflect on an aspect of God’s character that really resonates with them, and then share why that aspect means so much to them.

Each member of the class went around and shared and it was so cool to hear How God is so multi-dimensional in His approach to each of us.

Then one of the ladies shared that the aspect of God’s grace and forgiveness is what she will never get over. She began to get emotional as she recounted her salvation experience and shared with us how her life was so far from God when He found her.

She was openly crying as she shared about the time when she dropped to her knees and cried out to God to save her! It was so awesome to see her passionate recollection of God’s life changing grace and free gift in her life, we were all moved and encouraged to not forget and not take our stories for granted.

So, I thought I would post my salvation story for those of you who have never heard it, and I encourage you to reflect and be blown away again with what God has done in your life.

Here it is…My Story…

My name is Brent Carl, and I have been a believer in Jesus for 29 years. I attended a Christian school, and was always in church from as far back as I can remember. My mother and my grandmother made many sacrifices to see that my brother and I were surrounded with positive, Godly input and mentors.

At the age of 5 I’ve been told that I accepted Jesus as my savior, and became a Christian. That is when some would say I began my journey with Christ; the only problem is that I don’t remember that at all. So for years I would tell people that I became a Christian at age 5, but deep down inside I wasn’t really sure if it was true, because I couldn’t remember it.

The school I attended was a Christian school whose focus was on building up and training Christian kids in the faith. I guess I must have signed something or verbalized that I was a Christian in Kindergarten but again, I don’t remember.

So, with that backdrop in mind, the day I became a true believer is even more of a miraculous event. You see, every week our school brought in various speakers to share the Word at an all school chapel service.

They brought in Pastors, Missionaries, Teachers and anyone who had a passion for God and a heart to challenge young people with God’s word.

I remember the chapel services always being informative and challenging, but usually coming from the assumption that the entire audience was already saved, and needed training and building up in their faith. I don’t recall ever hearing a salvation message in chapel during my younger days in school.

All of that changed one day when I was in 7th grade. I filed into the chapel like I had done every week and took my seat, took out my Bible, notebook and pen and prepared myself to listen and take notes on the sermon, because we always got graded and quizzed later in Bible class.

The speaker was introduced and he stepped up to the podium and started out like all the others had done before him…”Good morning students, I would like you take out your Bible, Notebooks and pens, and prepare to listen to what the Lord has given me to share this morning.”

He said, “first of all I’d like you to draw a dot on the left hand side of your paper, then another dot on the right hand side of your paper.” He went on to say “the left hand dot represents the day you were born, and the right hand dot represents the day you will die, or Christ comes back, whichever comes first.”

Now I would like you to connect the dots with a line, which represents the days you have on this earth. The two dots represent things that we have no control over. The line represents something you can choose to live for yourself or live for God…it’s up to you.

Now I want you to close your notebooks because that is all the note taking you will have to do today, for the next few minutes I want you to know that I know that you always get challenged to grow in your faith in chapels because the assumption is that you are all believers in Jesus. Well, today I’m not going to operate from that assumption because only God knows the heart.”

At this point, I was riveted on what he was saying, I couldn’t recall a speaker in chapel coming at a message with this approach, and for the next 40 minutes or so he clearly explained the gospel, why it was needed, and why I needed to make a personal decision to follow Christ, and not rely on what others have said or think or whatever.

It was amazing, and as he spoke the Spirit really challenged my heart to make a personal decision to ask Jesus to forgive me of my sins, to become Lord of my life, and save me from the direction that my life was heading without him. I asked Jesus to be my Savior that day in the middle of a Christian school at the age of 13.

At the end of the message he gave an invitation to come forward and pray to anyone who had received Christ as their Savior. I thought about it, I looked around, and thought about it some more, then decided to step out and proclaim that this day, I choose to follow God for myself, in essence I was saying, “I now own my belief in Jesus.”

I thought I would be the only one, but as it turned out many others joined me as well…God was working in our lives, and in our school, it was an incredible day!

That decision began my journey with Jesus, that has included many ups and downs over the years, but I can honestly say with full assurance that Jesus is my Lord and Savior, not because of anything I have done, but because of His amazing sacrifice and totally FREE gift of salvation. Praise Jesus!

What’s your story? How has He been alive and active in your life? Do you own your belief in Jesus?
His Grace is Amazing and His gift is Free!

“My chains are gone, I’ve been set free, my God my Savior ransomed me and like a flood His mercy rains unending love Amazing Grace.”

That’s my story…and I’m sticking to it!

In the class I asked the attendees to reflect on an aspect of God’s character that really resonates with them, and then share why that aspect means so much to them.

Each member of the class went around and shared and it was so cool to hear How God is so multi-dimensional in His approach to each of us.

Then one of the ladies shared that the aspect of God’s grace and forgiveness is what she will never get over. She began to get emotional as she recounted her salvation experience and shared with us how her life was so far from God when He found her.

She was openly crying as she shared about the time when she dropped to her knees and cried out to God to save her! It was so awesome to see her passionate recollection of God’s life changing grace and free gift in her life, we were all moved and encouraged to not forget and not take our stories for granted.

So, I thought I would post my salvation story for those of you who have never heard it, and I encourage you to reflect and be blown away again with what God has done in your life.

Here it is…My Story…

My name is Brent Carl, and I have been a believer in Jesus for 29 years. I attended a Christian school, and was always in church from as far back as I can remember. My mother and my grandmother made many sacrifices to see that my brother and I were surrounded with positive, Godly input and mentors.

At the age of 5 I’ve been told that I accepted Jesus as my savior, and became a Christian. That is when some would say I began my journey with Christ; the only problem is that I don’t remember that at all. So for years I would tell people that I became a Christian at age 5, but deep down inside I wasn’t really sure if it was true, because I couldn’t remember it.

The school I attended was a Christian school whose focus was on building up and training Christian kids in the faith. I guess I must have signed something or verbalized that I was a Christian in Kindergarten but again, I don’t remember.

So, with that backdrop in mind, the day I became a true believer is even more of a miraculous event. You see, every week our school brought in various speakers to share the Word at an all school chapel service.

They brought in Pastors, Missionaries, Teachers and anyone who had a passion for God and a heart to challenge young people with God’s word.

I remember the chapel services always being informative and challenging, but usually coming from the assumption that the entire audience was already saved, and needed training and building up in their faith. I don’t recall ever hearing a salvation message in chapel during my younger days in school.

All of that changed one day when I was in 7th grade. I filed into the chapel like I had done every week and took my seat, took out my Bible, notebook and pen and prepared myself to listen and take notes on the sermon, because we always got graded and quizzed later in Bible class.

The speaker was introduced and he stepped up to the podium and started out like all the others had done before him…”Good morning students, I would like you take out your Bible, Notebooks and pens, and prepare to listen to what the Lord has given me to share this morning.”

He said, “first of all I’d like you to draw a dot on the left hand side of your paper, then another dot on the right hand side of your paper.” He went on to say “the left hand dot represents the day you were born, and the right hand dot represents the day you will die, or Christ comes back, whichever comes first.”

Now I would like you to connect the dots with a line, which represents the days you have on this earth. The two dots represent things that we have no control over. The line represents something you can choose to live for yourself or live for God…it’s up to you.

Now I want you to close your notebooks because that is all the note taking you will have to do today, for the next few minutes I want you to know that I know that you always get challenged to grow in your faith in chapels because the assumption is that you are all believers in Jesus. Well, today I’m not going to operate from that assumption because only God knows the heart.”

At this point, I was riveted on what he was saying, I couldn’t recall a speaker in chapel coming at a message with this approach, and for the next 40 minutes or so he clearly explained the gospel, why it was needed, and why I needed to make a personal decision to follow Christ, and not rely on what others have said or think or whatever.

It was amazing, and as he spoke the Spirit really challenged my heart to make a personal decision to ask Jesus to forgive me of my sins, to become Lord of my life, and save me from the direction that my life was heading without him. I asked Jesus to be my Savior that day in the middle of a Christian school at the age of 13.

At the end of the message he gave an invitation to come forward and pray to anyone who had received Christ as their Savior. I thought about it, I looked around, and thought about it some more, then decided to step out and proclaim that this day, I choose to follow God for myself, in essence I was saying, “I now own my belief in Jesus.”

I thought I would be the only one, but as it turned out many others joined me as well…God was working in our lives, and in our school, it was an incredible day!

That decision began my journey with Jesus, that has included many ups and downs over the years, but I can honestly say with full assurance that Jesus is my Lord and Savior, not because of anything I have done, but because of His amazing sacrifice and totally FREE gift of salvation. Praise Jesus!

What’s your story? How has He been alive and active in your life? Do you own your belief in Jesus?
His Grace is Amazing and His gift is Free!

“My chains are gone, I’ve been set free, my God my Savior ransomed me and like a flood His mercy rains unending love Amazing Grace.”

That’s my story…and I’m sticking to it!

“Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! It is amazing to think about. Your workmanship is marvelous … You were there while I was being formed … You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe.” Psalm 139:14-16 (LB)

Ah yes, Psalm 139. I’ve often said “if I had a dollar for every time I “prescribed” that passage to a teenager in my ministry over the years, I’d be a very rich Youth Pastor.”

This passage has been very influential in my life because it conveys the truth that each of us is unique according to God’s plan and purpose. He doesn’t make junk, and He has a customized plan for all of us.

In this day and age of comparison to others and a skewed view of what success really is, I love this passage even more.

I wrote an article a couple of years back that deals with the importance of discerning right and wrong in the midst of the confusing messages we get hit with every day, it’s called Discernment and as I was thinking on Psalm 139 this morning driving to the office I heard a song that brought this whole concept of uniqueness to mind in a very vivid way.

The song is called “More Beautiful You” by Johnny Diaz, and as it was playing the combination of this passage, many conversations from the past and my own personal struggles over the years were just bombarding my mind as I drove.

I kept thinking of students who “got it” and made Biblically based decisions to discern God’s voice over the world’s, and others who chose to go their own way and are having a rough time in life because of it.

Then, all of a sudden I thought of my daughter, and I wondered if I’m doing all I can do to show her that she is God’s special masterpiece, created uniquely in His image, and what about my son? Am I doing all I can do to model what a Godly man of character is all about, because his “heroes” in life don’t even begin to do that Justice.

The more I thought and contemplated the more I realized how vital my role as a Father really is.

I’m not saying I’m perfect or that I need to have all the answers, but in this world that is really good at making lies look like truth and packaging temptations in a way that are so inviting, I was challenged even more to make sure I’m leading in a way that is constantly communicating that God has uniquely designed my kids for a purpose!

Maybe it’s because I’m getting older, maybe it’s because I’ve seen so many “success” as well as “horror” stories over the years, or maybe it’s just that my kids are growing up right before my eyes. Whatever it is, I’m just really getting blasted these days with the desire to lead my family in the way God would have me to lead them.

I’m sick of the world’s lies and I’m sick of the enemy’s schemes! The truth is you and I are made in God’s image, and we’ve been designed uniquely as His original masterpiece. The question I’m processing is “How do I continually express, convey, emphasize and get it across to my family?”

How are you doing with this today? Have you bought the lie of the enemy? You know what I’m talking about, right?

“You’re not good enough, you’re too old, you’re too young, you’re too fat, you’re too skinny, you don’t have any skills, what you’ve done in your past has disqualified you from God’s love and forgiveness”…and on and on it goes.

Well, I want to encourage you to read Psalm 139, and then listen to this song, and especially focus on the part that hammers home the truth that no matter what you’ve done or where you are you can change your path and be restored in Christ. I don’t know about you, but I love that!!

Whether you’re young or old, male or female it doesn’t matter, you are uniquely designed by the Creator Himself. Designed for a Purpose!

My prayer is that we believe that, begin to live that way and model that kind of mindset and lifestyle for our kids and whomever else we have the opportunity to influence.

Psalm 139…I’m Unique as God’s original masterpiece and so are You…SO, there could never be a more beautiful you!

Lesson Learned