Family Connection
07.19.2011
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything…My dear brothers, take note of this; Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.”-James 1:2-4; 19-21
My family and I just got back from vacation last Friday after spending a week in Williams, Arizona. Williams is near Flagstaff, in the mountains, and is beautiful. The weather didn’t get above 80 and we even had thunderstorms. Not only were we in a different climate, but it almost felt like we were in a different world. You may or may not know this but Arizona laws are a bit different from California. For example, you are not required to wear a helmet when you ride a motorcycle, you can ride in the back of a pickup truck and you are allowed to wear a gun in a holster. As a Californian it is a little strange to see a person wearing a firearm in a holster but people in Arizona live under a different set of laws and follow a different set of rules.
I have been thinking that it is the same for those of us who follow Christ. When we decide to ask Jesus to come into our lives and become our savior, we also give Him access to become the Lord of our lives. We ask Him to take charge and we agree to follow His ways, all of His ways (Jesus said-“If you love me, you will obey what I command.”-John 14:15). While this is a lifelong process, as followers of Jesus, we should start to do things differently and live for Him by following God’s Word. I don’t know about you but I don’t always find that easy to do so I am constantly asking for God’s wisdom and help as I strive to live like Jesus.
Each week, this ministry works to show the children who attend how they can learn to live for God now and follow Him for life. As we partner with you, I want to assure you that we are trying to help children understand, at their level, how to follow God and His rules, by teaching them out of the Bible. We are here to partner with you and to help you raise your children to follow God and His ways.
On another note, we are going through a bit of a trial here at church as our Lead Pastor, Bob Thune has resigned. I love Pastor Bob and his wife Ruthie and will miss them. Even though I am sad to see them go, I am excited to see what God has in store for them and this church. Pastor Bob has served with distinction and his ministry legacy will go on. I personally have been ministered to by Pastor Bob and Ruthie and both Jennifer and I, along with our children are forever changed for the better by our knowing them.
I also know that there are those who are questioning the integrity and motives of the Elder Board at this time. I would like to comment on that. These 8 elders are men of godliness and integrity. I know them personally and have ministered alongside all of them for many years. These elders have served this church for many, many years (most of the elders have been on the board for 6 years or more) and before that each of the elders served in other ministry areas. I have served alongside some of these men for the almost 16 years I have served at this church. In all of the years of service alongside these men, none of them have ever given me a reason to doubt their godliness, integrity or love for the Lord and the people of this church. I have utmost confidence, based on years of past experience, that these elders are following God and want nothing but the best for Pastor Bob and Ruthie, this church and the entire Coachella Valley where we are to minister; and I trust them completely.
I apologize for the length of this Family Connection, as most of my others are easy to read in a minute or two, but I felt I should share my heart with you.
It is my honor to serve the children and families of this church; but more importantly it is my honor to serve the Lord.
Walking by your side,
Brett Humphrey
Pastor H
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Family Connection 06.02.2011
Family Connection
06.02.2011
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.”-Ephesians 1:3 (NIV)
Over the past two weeks I have had the opportunity to praise God while I performed a wedding for a wonderful couple, got to praise God as I got away for a few days with my beautiful bride of 22 years, got to praise God as I have watched children and parents come in through our offices to sign up for Summer Spectacular, got to praise God while I have watched a wonderful group of volunteers as they transform our main stage into a set for Summer Spectacular and this Saturday I get to praise God as I stand with some parents on the main stage as they dedicate their child to the Lord in front of their church family. I have also had an opportunity to praise God while I have prayed and cried with people who are struggling with ill spouses, parents who are struggling with children who are turning away from God and causing themselves hurt and pain and I have had an opportunity to comfort a friend who suddenly lost a parent. But believe it or not, this Family Connection isn’t about me.
I love the above verse because we can praise God because of who He is. We can praise Him because He has already blessed us through His Son Jesus. We can praise Him because we have life through His great gifts. I can only share the things above with you because of who God is, what He has done and I have been open to His leading me into circumstances where He could be glorified.
I would like to encourage you to share the above verse with the children in your lives this week and talk about times when God has used you because you were available for Him. Take time to talk through various ways you, as a family and individually, can live out the fact that God has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
I would also ask you for your prayers from myself and the entire Children’s Ministry team of staff and volunteers as we gear up for Summer Spectacular. This is a wonderful, exciting, terrific, life-changing yet stressful time of the year (on a stress scale of 1-10, I think I’m at about an 11 ). Please pray that we can serve the children and families who come into this ministry and that we can do it well to the glory of God our Heavenly Father. But please also pray that we can make sure we are serving our own families and the children in our lives during this time as well.
It is my pleasure to serve you and the children in your lives through this ministry.
Walking by your side,
Brett Humphrey
Pastor H
PS-If you haven’t registered your child for Summer Spectacular yet you can do so online at www.southwestkids.org
06.02.2011
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.”-Ephesians 1:3 (NIV)
Over the past two weeks I have had the opportunity to praise God while I performed a wedding for a wonderful couple, got to praise God as I got away for a few days with my beautiful bride of 22 years, got to praise God as I have watched children and parents come in through our offices to sign up for Summer Spectacular, got to praise God while I have watched a wonderful group of volunteers as they transform our main stage into a set for Summer Spectacular and this Saturday I get to praise God as I stand with some parents on the main stage as they dedicate their child to the Lord in front of their church family. I have also had an opportunity to praise God while I have prayed and cried with people who are struggling with ill spouses, parents who are struggling with children who are turning away from God and causing themselves hurt and pain and I have had an opportunity to comfort a friend who suddenly lost a parent. But believe it or not, this Family Connection isn’t about me.
I love the above verse because we can praise God because of who He is. We can praise Him because He has already blessed us through His Son Jesus. We can praise Him because we have life through His great gifts. I can only share the things above with you because of who God is, what He has done and I have been open to His leading me into circumstances where He could be glorified.
I would like to encourage you to share the above verse with the children in your lives this week and talk about times when God has used you because you were available for Him. Take time to talk through various ways you, as a family and individually, can live out the fact that God has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
I would also ask you for your prayers from myself and the entire Children’s Ministry team of staff and volunteers as we gear up for Summer Spectacular. This is a wonderful, exciting, terrific, life-changing yet stressful time of the year (on a stress scale of 1-10, I think I’m at about an 11 ). Please pray that we can serve the children and families who come into this ministry and that we can do it well to the glory of God our Heavenly Father. But please also pray that we can make sure we are serving our own families and the children in our lives during this time as well.
It is my pleasure to serve you and the children in your lives through this ministry.
Walking by your side,
Brett Humphrey
Pastor H
PS-If you haven’t registered your child for Summer Spectacular yet you can do so online at www.southwestkids.org
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Family Connection 05.11.2011
Family Connection
05.11.2011
“Children, obey your parents as believers in the Lord. Obey them because it’s the right thing to do. Scripture says, ‘Honor your father and mother.’ That is the first commandment that has a promise.”-Ephesians 6:1-2 (NIrV)
This past Sunday was Mother’s Day. And while this day has been set aside to honor and respect mothers and all that they do and have done for us, it is God’s plan for children to honor their mothers (and fathers) daily. One of the best ways children can honor their parents is by obeying them and doing this because God asks us to. Needless to say, children don’t usually like me reminding them of this fact (which I do at least monthly during our weekend services).
One of the reasons this is so important for children, apart from the fact that God expects it of them, is because respect and obedience for earthly parents actually helps children come into a deeper relationship with their Heavenly Father. If we can’t learn to respect and obey the parents we have before us, how can we learn to respect and obey our Heavenly Father whom we can’t see? I believe this is so important for children, I reinforce this as I teach the children (parents, I am your biggest advocate).
I would encourage each of us to gently remind the children in our lives this week about God’s expectations for respect and obedience towards parents. If you are a grandparent, you can also gently remind your grandchildren about this. If our goal is to raise godly children, we can all work together to reinforce this as children learn and grow.
I would especially like to honor all of you moms who read this Family Connection this week. Even though Mother’s Day is officially over your job doesn’t end. Even if you don’t have any children living at home any longer you are still “Mom”! And for those of us who are blessed to have our mothers still living, I would encourage each of us to give our moms a special call and say thank you to them for all the work they have done to help us get where we are today. And if your mom has passed on, take a moment to thank God for the mom He gave you. If you are a parent, you know how difficult that job is (and if you’re like me, at times you made your mom’s job even tougher than it should have been).
It is my prayer that all of us can impact the children in our lives by our words and deeds as we desire to see them grow in a real, dynamic relationship with Jesus.
Walking by your side,
Brett Humphrey
Pastor H
PS-I thank you for praying for me and Josh as we were on our trip to Uganda, your prayers were felt.
05.11.2011
“Children, obey your parents as believers in the Lord. Obey them because it’s the right thing to do. Scripture says, ‘Honor your father and mother.’ That is the first commandment that has a promise.”-Ephesians 6:1-2 (NIrV)
This past Sunday was Mother’s Day. And while this day has been set aside to honor and respect mothers and all that they do and have done for us, it is God’s plan for children to honor their mothers (and fathers) daily. One of the best ways children can honor their parents is by obeying them and doing this because God asks us to. Needless to say, children don’t usually like me reminding them of this fact (which I do at least monthly during our weekend services).
One of the reasons this is so important for children, apart from the fact that God expects it of them, is because respect and obedience for earthly parents actually helps children come into a deeper relationship with their Heavenly Father. If we can’t learn to respect and obey the parents we have before us, how can we learn to respect and obey our Heavenly Father whom we can’t see? I believe this is so important for children, I reinforce this as I teach the children (parents, I am your biggest advocate).
I would encourage each of us to gently remind the children in our lives this week about God’s expectations for respect and obedience towards parents. If you are a grandparent, you can also gently remind your grandchildren about this. If our goal is to raise godly children, we can all work together to reinforce this as children learn and grow.
I would especially like to honor all of you moms who read this Family Connection this week. Even though Mother’s Day is officially over your job doesn’t end. Even if you don’t have any children living at home any longer you are still “Mom”! And for those of us who are blessed to have our mothers still living, I would encourage each of us to give our moms a special call and say thank you to them for all the work they have done to help us get where we are today. And if your mom has passed on, take a moment to thank God for the mom He gave you. If you are a parent, you know how difficult that job is (and if you’re like me, at times you made your mom’s job even tougher than it should have been).
It is my prayer that all of us can impact the children in our lives by our words and deeds as we desire to see them grow in a real, dynamic relationship with Jesus.
Walking by your side,
Brett Humphrey
Pastor H
PS-I thank you for praying for me and Josh as we were on our trip to Uganda, your prayers were felt.
Monday, April 25, 2011
04.19.2011
It's amazing how much can be accomplished in a few short days. Tomorrow Josh and I head to the airport at 5:45 am to begin our trek back home. This has been such an amazing experience; I'm sure I will never be the same.
When Brent and Leah shared that God was calling them to Uganda I thought, "good for them". After spending time with Brent, Leah, Bo, Amy, Luke and Tekle I say, "Good for everyone they come in contact with!" I am sure you have heard the term "lifestyle evangelism" but this isn't just a term for the Phillips, it is a way of life. I have been so amazed that they are very intentional about making the time to love on everyone they come into contact with but especially how they are developing relationships with certain people around them with the purpose of showing them the love of Christ. Although they have only been here 4 months, I already see the impact they are making in the lives of those around them. I had the opportunity to meet 8 different people they are actively loving on and making an eterna difference in their lives. These people aren't even part of the Cherish ministry, these people just live in their neighborhood.
I will share more about Cherish another time but tonight I want to challenge each of us to be more intentional where we live. We don't have to move to Uganda to develop relationships with the people around us but we do have to make a decision to be intentional about showing the love of Jesus wherever we go. This week I challenge each of us to ask one person where we shop, get coffee or order food, their name and take the time to make contact with that person in more than a superficial way.
Josh and I have met some amazing people here. We have seen amazing sights, today we went to the source of the Nile river where it begins it's journey of travel through Africa on its way to Egypt. We have seen amazing ministries, like Cherish Uganda and the ministy goal to give the children in their care hope, love and a chance to live even though they are infected with HIV.
Even though we have seen these things, the biggest question we have now is "what do we do with what we've seen and experienced?" I'm not sure exactly the answer to that, but I do know that God is changing me and with that change I need to be even more intentional in my serving and following Him. I'm not sure what God has in store for the Humphrey family, but as Jen and I talked last night we would say that we are "open" to whatever God has waiting around of the bend as we travel along our own Grand Adventure.
I will try to write again from London tomorrow night.
Thank you for your prayers and support.
Brett and Josh
04.18.2011
When we woke up this morning the power is out. This is a daily occurance here but it did give us an opportunity to watch a beautiful sunrise. As we headed out of Kampala to go to Cherish we heard that there were demonstrations and/or riots possibly going on along our route. The people are upset by the fuel prices, along with the high costs of food and the police treat every demonstration like it could lead to violence. Thankfully we didn't see any evidence of rioting and the roads were actually clearer than usual.
Once we got to Cherish we went to the staff devotion. We got to join in on some singing; it was beautiful. Brent and I led worship (I Like Bananas and Without Faith) and we taught the children these new songs. They enjoyed the songs and participated in all of the motions. Brent played musical waterballoons with the children and then I taught a brief message. It was a fantastic morning.
After that we filmed some interviews for Summer Spectacuar. Brent also gave a tour of Cherish Uganda on video and we even managed to film some segments of our end of the day video, Survival Tips from Tiger Munson.
We went back to the Lake Victoria Hotel where the kids did some more swimming and then came back to Brent and Leah's, where the power once again was out. I took some video of the driving conditions up and down thier road and will try to post it so you can enjoy the experience.
Tomorrow we head out to the Nile River where we will film some more for Summer Spectacualar.
I'm heading to bed after a long, exciting day.
Thank you for your support and prayers.
Brett and Josh
04.17.2011
We had an opportunity to go to a craft market today to check out some local artisans. I can appreciate African art and got a chance to meet some lovely people. Brent and Leah are trying to build relationships wherever they go so we went back to the same place they often go so we could purchase things from these people. I bought quite a few things from Edith and she had remembered that Leah had told her she would bring people back. These are small things that make a huge difference. There are a lot of street children begging in Kampala so on the way home we bought a bunch of bananas and handed these out to the children instead of giving them money. Many of the children have been "hired" for the day and have to give the money to their bosses. The chidren get about $1 a day for this. By giving them the bananas, they get to fill their bellies with nutritious food and don't have to give anything to their boss. One girl ate 3 bananas one after another, she was really hungry.
When we got back to the Phillips house we got to hang out and I cooked dinner. I made marinara sauce and had a great time talking with Brent as I cooked. After dinner the power went off for about an hour so we got to hang out by candlelight.
It was a great day!
Thanks for your prayers and support,
Brett and Josh
PS-After our shopping trip and lunch, Josh and Bo took Boda Bodas back to the house.
Boda Bodas are motorcycle taxis. I would never let Josh ride on the back of a motorcycle if we were at home but somehow it seems completely safe and sane here in Uganda.
04.16.2011
Today was a great day! We started off the day with breakfast at Brent and Leah's house, the pancakes were the bomb! After breakfast we went into a local village to do some grocery shopping. While Leah was working with the shopkeeper on prices and quantities, Josh and I had an opportunity to provide some amuzement for some local children. Our white skin was quite facinating to some of the children and we had a lot of fun holding hands and I received many, many hi-fives from the children. Even though the children and I couldn't communicate with words it was fun to "speak" the language of fun and play with these beautiful children. Josh and Bo took a boda boda ride, motorcycle taxi, back to the house while we finished shopping. It is amazing to see the food prices here. The food is so expensive that many people have to use 1/2 of their weekly salary just to buy enough food to last the week. I will not complain about the price of food at home any longer; it's amazing what a dose of perspective can do for you.
After the shopping trip we got a chance to hang out with Rachael from Cherish Uganda and talk more about the ministry and the things that are happening for these children. The children who live at Cherish Uganda have all been snatched from the jaws of death and are thriving at this ministry. Even though each of the 42 children who were brought to Cherish Uganda were each near death when they were brought in, all of them are living and thriving today. These children aren't considered orpans any longer because now they live in family goups at Chrish and have new lives. It is amazing that for $30,000 US a sustainable home can be build and 8 lives can be saved! What an amazing ministry. I can't wait to share more about it when I get home.
After our time with Rachael, we went to a local hotel for swimming. There were 3 levels of high dives and each of the children, including Brent, went off the highest level; many, many times.
We finished the evening together and I got a chance Skype with Jen, Kenny and Sofie.
Tomorrow we have another full day, including filming at the headwaters of the Nile River. It's pretty awesome that we will be studying Moses for Summer Spectacular and we will get to actually film at the Nile River. What an amazing opportunity.
Good night! Josh and I thank you for your prayers and support. Brent, Leah and the kids also express their appreciation for all the wonderful gifts we brough with us. It's amazing how special a box of cake mix can be when you can't get it.
Brett and Josh
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