Making Disciples of All Nations

Pray for our Mid-Termers (Summer 2013) – Day 2

May 10, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Each year The Church at Brook Hills sends individuals and families called Mid-Termers to serve in different parts of the world.  Mid-Termers are those who serve anywhere from 2 months – 2 years.  It is a key element to the Global strategy at The Church at Brook Hills.  These individuals and families serve with strategic partners to strengthen the Long-Term Disciple-Making efforts of the church around the world.  Below are a few of those we are sending out this summer.  Join us as we pray for them this week.

 

 Jordan M. – Jordan grew up in Birmingham Alabama and has been a member of The Church at Brook Hills his whole life.  He and his family have been a vital part of this faith family since the beginning.  Jordan will graduate this month from Mississippi College with a degree in journalism and will leave at the beginning of June to serve a year in Haiti.  Jordan has served at the New Life Children’s Home in Port-Au-Prince for a week at a time for the past few years.  But an opportunity to serve for longer came about this past year.  Jordan will be living and serving at the Children’s Home taking care of the everyday needs of the children and the staff.

 Ways to Pray

-  Pray for Jordan to be fully content in Christ.  Pray for God to sustain him in times of hardship.

-  Pray for God to open up windows of opportunities for Jordan to share the gospel while he serves the people he is ministering to.

-  Pray for boldness.  Pray for Jordan to have the boldness to share the Gospel no matter the circumstance.

 

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Pray for our Mid-Termers (Summer 2013) – Day 1

May 5, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Each year The Church at Brook Hills sends individuals and families called Mid-Termers to serve in different parts of the world.  Mid-Termers are those who serve anywhere from 2 months – 2 years.  It is a key element to the Global strategy at The Church at Brook Hills.  These individuals and families serve with strategic partners to strengthen the Long-Term Disciple-Making efforts of the church around the world.  Below are a few of those we are sending out this summer.  Join us as we pray for them this week.

 

Amanda G. – Amanda grew up in Birmingham, Alabama.  She is currently an 8th grade language arts teacher at a local Middle School.  She has been a member of the Brook Hills faith family for almost two years.  Last year she began to pray about going Mid-Term and using her skills in language arts in a Spanish speaking area.  After talking to her small group community, her leader put her in touch with the Director of Mid-Term at Brook Hills who pointed her in the direction of an opportunity in Ecuador.  Amanda will leave in June and be serving at a local school at the Davis Foundation in Ecuador.  There she will be supporting the full-time teachers at the school by teaching English to their classes.  Amanda will also have the opportunity to build relationships and engage both students and teachers with the gospel.  Amanda praises God for this opportunity and is excited to be spending her summer serving in this way.

  Ways to Pray

- Pray for a smooth transition into the culture and school.  Pray for God to allow Amanda to be totally immersed in language and be able to communicate easily.

- Pray for the Davis Foundation where Amanda will be serving.  Pray for the students who are not Christ followers to believe and trust in Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

- Pray that for Amanda to develop relationships and show that Jesus is the Lord of her life in all her  interactions with her students.

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The Time is Now

March 29, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Tonight we gather at Secret Church.  Tonight as we opened the service we prayed.  We prayed for a people group that not many know about.

The Hui.

A people of over 13 million living in China.  They are Muslim.  They are unreached.  And up until a few years ago there was no church established among them.

We pray tonight that as we gather at Secret Church that believers living in China and throughout East Asia would be emboldened by the Spirit and have their eyes opened to the Hui that live in their neighborhoods and own the noodle shops they eat at.

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What am I really afraid of?

March 26, 2013 by Leave a Comment


 

When I was in college, I heard about a girl who had decided to follow the Way. I knew that her family was Hui, and it must have been hard for them to accept her choice. I couldn’t help but wonder, what must her family have thought when they heard? Were the consequences as serious as other people said? But I was so excited for her! She was so brave! To follow what she believed to be true no matter what the consequences — that was truly courageous!

Wait, she hasn’t told them? How could that be? I thought she was so confident. How, after all this time, has she never told her family?

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The Man Of My Dream

March 25, 2013 by Leave a Comment


 

As a child I had the most wonderful dreams — dreams of sweet-smelling flowers and grassy fields, of heaven and angels and the laughter of children. I knew that Allah sent these sweet dreams because he was pleased with me. After all, my mom and I prayed faithfully toward Mecca five times a day.

But when I went away to college, life was full of new things to experience. Before long, I began to feel so guilty because of the things I had done. My heart grieved because Allah had not sent me one of his sweet dreams in a long time. I knew that he wasn’t pleased with me anymore, and as each day passed, the shame of who I had become grew deeper and deeper.

One night I had a new dream. I saw a man — a man I had never met before, but my heart knew His name. Jesus. I watched as He picked up a nail and hammered it into the middle of the wood floor. He glanced at me, but I couldn’t figure out what He was doing. When I awoke, I was afraid and confused.

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The Legend of the Salar

March 22, 2013 by Leave a Comment


 

How did the Salar people get from their homeland in present-day Uzbekistan to China? Every Salar knows that story — it’s passed down from generation to generation. Here are the basics:

During the Ming dynasty in 1370, one of two brothers followed a camel, searching for a new homeland. The brothers carried a bag of their native soil, a bottle of native water, and a copy of the Qur’an with them.  They stopped only when the camel drank from a certain pool — the current location of the village of Jiezi in Xunhua County. Today, there is a park at the exact spot and a stone camel next to the famous pool.

But as for the details, that’s where the stories differ.

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Countdown to Secret Church

March 1, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Today is March 1st.  Before I started working on staff at The Church at Brook Hills, this date was just another marker for the beginning of a new month.  I might give March 1st a nod to the changing season and get excited about it not being dark outside when I left work.  But never did it bring about such anticipation as it does now.  You see today marks the 4 week countdown to the next Secret Church event on March 29th.  As a staff member this means that the calendar and “to do” lists are consumed with final preparations, and admittedly, anxiety to accomplish everything for this night where thousands will gather on our campus and even more (50k +) will simulcast in from around the world for 6 hours of biblical teaching and focused prayer time for the persecuted church.  As a Global team member, I have the privilege of helping create the Prayer Highlight for the night of Secret Church.  And I have never been more excited for the potential Kingdom impact that this year’s highlight could have. [Read more...]

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Radical Intensive

January 30, 2013 by Leave a Comment

The Church at Brook Hills in partnership with Radical (Radical.net) is excited to announce that we will be hosting the first ever Radical Intensive:  The Local Church and Global Disciple-Making.  This is a gathering designed to serve pastors and church leaders who are interested in discussing how to infuse global disciple-making into the heart of their local church.

For years now, by God’s grace, we have been on a journey where we have begun to discover what God has intended for us as a local church.  We are pursuaded by God’s Word that the church is the primary means in which the Great Commission will be accomplished (Eph 1:22-23, Acts 1:8, 1 Cor 12).  As we have tried to align our lives to this, we have had to make hard decisions that have caused us to redefine our priorities and develop new practices and processes.

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Meet the Mid-Termers – Day 2

December 30, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Twice each year at The Church at Brook Hills we send out a group of individuals and families that are dedicating up to 2 years of their life to serve in another context around the world.  Around Brook Hills, we call these folks Mid-Termers.  Each group we send out is unique and diverse in their own right, but the common vein running through each person is the desire to share the gospel and make disciples in areas where the gospel has never been shared.  Last Sunday we prayed for and sent out eleven Mid-Termers who have been preparing and training to go to East Asia, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, Ecuador, Botswana and Uganda.  We are blessed at Brook Hills to be able to introduce you to these Mid-Termers in hopes that you will join us in praying for the individuals and families who will spend their lives for the advancement of God’s Kingdom.

 

 

Mallory P. grew up in Hayden, AL and has been attending The Church at Brook Hills for 2 years.  She currently works as an auditor for financial institutions and recently graduated with her MBA from UAB last week.  After serving for three summers in Guatemala with the same local church, God began to open her eyes to the global church and how she could participate in advancing the kingdom by going Mid-Term.  After starting the process of praying and seeking out opportunities with our Global Team, Mallory will leave for Central Asia in January.  She will be working in a community center for the poor.  Mallory’s team will be leading English clubs, working with volunteer teams from the U.S. providing cultural exchange programs, and leading sports camps.  Mallory says, “I am so excited for this opportunity to share my faith and serve the long-term members of our team”.  Mallory will be in Central Asia for 5 months serving with her partner Lucinda, another Brook Hills Mid-Termer.  Mallory and Lucinda both led a Brook Hills small group together and now will be serving together in Central Asia.

Mallory would describe her perfect Saturday as spending a day at the lake with her family.

Ways to Pray for Mallory:

- Pray for wisdom and discernment as Mallory shares her faith.

- Pray the hearts of the people Mallory comes into contact with will be open to the gospel.

- Pray that Mallory and her teammate Lucinda will be able to start a small group with young women and easily build relationships in the city.

 

 

Jeremy and Amanda H. have been married for a few years and will be moving as a couple to Southeast Asia at the end of February.  Jeremy grew up in Ecuador where his parents were missionaries and Amanda hails from the great state of Tennessee.  They have both been members at The Church at Brook Hills for almost 2 years and Jeremy has been serving on staff with the Hispanic Church during that time.  They are extremely excited about serving in Southeast Asia teaching English to students at a local university.  This will allow them the opportunity to engage unreached people groups with the gospel and build relationships with those they are teaching.  They will be serving in Southeast Asia for at least 2 years and are praying about what it might look like to be there Long-Term.  They are anticipating being able to see what God will do through their family as they are obedient to what He has called them to do.

A perfect Saturday for Jeremy and Amanda is to rest and spend time with their families.

Ways to Pray for Jeremy and Amanda:

- Pray for God to continue to provide the financial support that is required to be in Southeast Asia for 2 years.

- Pray for God to unify the team Jeremy and Amanda will be serving with and for success as they share the gospel with others.

- Pray for God’s grace as Jeremy and Amanda learn a new language and adjust to a new culture.

 

 

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Thank You!

November 18, 2012 by 1 Comment

 

As we approach Thanksgiving this week, and as we consider the boundless blessing of God in our lives and across this church, today I want to pause and express gratitude to God for His grace expressed in the generosity of this faith family. Around this time last year, you as a church affirmed a budget that freed up one million dollars above and beyond our normal local and global disciple-making ministries to go specifically toward urgent spiritual and physical needs in Birmingham and among the nations. As a result, on behalf of many people here and around the world, I want to thank you.

On behalf of church planting teams on the ground in North Africa and East Asia, and on behalf of church planting teams about to be sent to Central Asia and the Middle East, thank you for enabling the unreached to be reached with the gospel. On behalf of millions of people who have never heard the gospel, thank you for making recordings of the New Testament available in their language for the first time. On behalf of hundreds of extremely impoverished families with newborn children across India and Ethiopia, thank you for making it possible for them to thrive physically, emotionally, and most important of all, spiritually. On behalf of communities across northern India, thank you for providing access not only to clean water for the first time, but also to living water for all time.

On behalf of urban churches in Birmingham, thank you for benevolence support, renovated facilities, and funding for outreach to their communities. On behalf of schools, centers, camps, and clinics in East Lake and Gate City, thank you for uniforms, supplies, equipment, and resources that have been used in discipleship processes through local churches. On behalf of foster and adoptive families and children all across our city, thank you for demonstrating the love of the Father to the fatherless. On behalf of men and women in prisons, transitional homes, homeless ministries, and counseling ministries, thank you for gifts that have been used to redeem lives, reconcile families, and restore hope.

This list of thank yous could go far beyond this front page, but I hope this short summary serves as a representative sample of the literally millions of lives that have been (and will be) affected through your million dollars in radical giving during 2012. Thank you, church. Thank you for the way you give out of love for Christ and compassion for people. Thank you for giving toward the spread of the gospel. Thank you for not only hearing the Word, but also obeying it. And thank you for the way I know you receive even this expression of gratitude with humble hearts that ultimately resound to the glory of God.

I love you, church.

Pastor David

 

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