Some of My Favorite Things........

Bicycles. The smell of rain. Polaroid Pictures. Hebrew. Pens over

Pencils (I've never been good at rough drafts). Arial Font. Purple. Cold mornings in warm jackets. Coffee. Chai Tea. Coltrane. Eric Dolphy & Eric Clapton. subliminal messages. Documentaries. Baby Grand Pianos. Salsa Dancing?

Saxahones. Violins. Being Whimsical. Clouds. Running through random towns. Christmas trees in Jewish homes. Thai Food. Gin. (not in that particular order). October and big, bright Orange Leaves. Maple Trees.

Centered Text.

Mocassins. Old Man Rivers. Solitude. Postcards. Attention. Spitzenberg

Apples. Catholic Churches. Used Book Stores. Gospel Music. Brussel Sprouts.

Lentil Soup. Train Rides. love. Sleeping In. Failing Miserably. Waking

up to the sun rising. Staying awake until the sun rises. 80's Dance

parties. Typewriters. Dustin Hoffman. Raping my thesaurus to sound

more intelligent. Spicy Foods. Cuba. Conversations with people in person. Running barefoot. Pretending. Whispering in the dark.

My Life (At least the way I see it!)

I have driven a quarter mile in under 10secs

I have broke the sound barrier, backwards

I can run a mile in under 4 minutes if I wanted to

I've run with scissors

I have eaten raw eggs, cookie dough & potatoes & raw meat left out on a counter(mix with beef & chicken)

I have run on wet, slippery surfaces when the sign has said walk

I've talked and texted on my phone during a movie

I have golfed in a lightening storm

I have gone swimming right after I ate

I have eaten standing up & in in bed

I have pretended to be someone else

I acted like I was crazy walking down the streets of new york

I have brought a knife to a gun fight and I have also brought my guns to town

I have gotten out of a helicopter without ducking

I like Michael Bolton

I have driven in a presidential “arcade”

I don’t think outside the box, I don’t even know what a box is.

I don’t chew gum and walk at the same time.

I never read license agreements before clicking I have

I mostly do not read instructions

I have written the great American novel although it is not published or written on paper

The songs I sing in my head are Grammy worthy

I can moon walk

I've fried eggs on a sidewalk on a hot day 

I did not drink plenty of water when it was too hot or I was high up in elevation

I have loved deeply

The door has hit me in the butt on the way out.

I’ve stepped on many cracks and as far as I know, my mom has never had a broken back

I have blinked and missed it but have also not blinked and been amazed

I have been to the highest point in most cities I have visted while sometimes being at my lowest

I believe that if it is broke, it can be fixed, but I also believe just because it’s not broke that it shouldn’t be.

I have out run a packs of wolves, gazelle, & Hussein Bolt

I have sat and talked with presidents dignitaries & important historical figures

I fought the law and I won

I have danced in the rain and all the other elements

I have danced when no one was looking

I know somebody who meet chuck Norris

I have danced with devil in the pale moonlight, and I now regret it.

I have invented some of the greatest things on earth, but not the internet.

I have hung out with Rob Lowe, Laurie Singer, some country singer & Michael Dukais at the same time

I have sung on the stage of the grand ol’ Opry & got a standing ovation

I have traveled by plane, train & Automobile on one road trip

I married my girlfriend

I often forget when to hold em, fold em, when walk away or when to run

I have not walked away or run when I should have

When somebody has said don't go outside or go in the dark basement because they've heard a noise, I have.

I want to live long and prosper.

I won’t back down

I believe 8 tracks will make a comeback.

I am a pro at two truths and a lie

I have slept during church

I have clapped when the signs or announcers has said not to

I've cheated death on more than one occasion

I have taken the road less traveled

I have helped an elderly lady across the street and fix a tire

I have taken the road of destruction

I almost took the highway to hell but go off at the last exit

I have jumped on many beds

I do know what I’m talking about

I have bumped my head and not wet my bed

I cried at a chic-flick

I have stood on the front of a ship and yelled, “I AM king of the world”

I've been in over my head and in too deep

I have tread water for 15 minutes

I played in a band in front of a crowd of thousands

I've played with fire and not got burned

I have been once bitten, twice shy.

I like to pump up the jam

I’ve won some and lost some, but have won more than lost

I counted the cost and it was high

I have climbed the highest mountain

I have scaled these city walls

I have found what I’m looking for

I have touched and I have seen

I was blind but now I see

I was lost and now I’m found

 

Welcome to My Journey

First of all welcome! 

I hope you like this and me! Who am I kidding, I really don't care (that's the old in my talking.) I'm doing this for me. It's been a really tough year, lots of changes in and around my life, family, occupation, friends, view of God, everything, and this is going to be a way for me to clear some space out of my head. If you want to peak in on my journey and get a glimpse fine. Comment fine. Don't fine. I am choosing to write for me and in the process, figure out who I am as I am approaching fifty. I thought I use to live for an audience of One, then my wife, then my kids, I even preached it! I found out, I WAS living for an audience of one, it was me. I was 1st, 2nd, 3rd and on down the list in my life. I was wrong. 

I have had a tremendous season of loss. Loss of many things: the person I thought I was, the person who I thought I was becoming, relationships, churches, possessions, money, family, spiritualness, self worth and identity, just to name a few.

Let me tell you a little bit about what you will experience if you chose to journey with me (and as with any good journey, the destination will remain the same, but the route may change!) 

I think I am a pretty smart person but my grammar and my structure aren't always pretty. I was a lazy student growing up in this formative years of learning such things. Now I regret it. But this is going to be my raw download. My "english major" wife, I'm sure will fringe (by the way, I'm glad she is still by my side after all these years.)

This blog is going to be honest and raw. After all, I'm getting older and I guess when you get older you have wisdom and can just say it the way you see it! Here are the some of things & topics you may see in future post. Some serious stuff and some funny stuff but some stuff I just wonder about and even wrestle with on this journey:

My approaching mid-century age:

     Hair growing in places i don't want,

     I already went through puberty, while am I still getting pimples?

     The truth about cats.

     Why didn't I like myself earlier in life? I was much better looking, in better health,        could do more things, was friendlier and more free.

Thoughts on Society

Some thoughts I felt I couldn't share before because of my position: politics, gay marriage & gay rights, abortion, sin, the Church, Christianity, guns and gun ownership, legalization of cannabis or as all the young people call it, marijuana and many other topics.

Hobbies (may even include some recipes!)

These writing will be meandering. Not of a "preacherboy," but of a person trying to figure it out, trying to make sense of himself as he approaches 50. I always thought I wanted to be a spiritual sherpa, but I don't know what the start of that journey is--I will have to look at that apprenticing model! I feel I have learned some lesson in life and carry those life lessons with me in order to share my experience with others, much like a caddy. 

I hope you will join me.

Brett

ORA Provides Cutting-Edge Technology For The New Way to Pray

 Introducing "ORA" a disruptive technology to promote the oldest form of recognized religious expression in the Christian and Jewish faiths--prayer. The ORA system creates a personal mobile experience for the individual and an enterprise-quality community management platform for any organization to invite, connect, share, respond and interact with one another in intercessory prayer.

“That’s a lot of words to describe it, but ORA’s technology gives us the ability to do so much more to leverage existing social networks and mobile devices to connect individuals in the most meaningful relationship they can have with others and with God,” said Jeff Bone, Chief Marketing Officer for ORA.

“ORA collects, organizes, tracks, reminds, connects and securely shares prayer requests and answers with anyone you choose. ORA does this at a personal and intimate level with your friends and family through the mobile platform or ‘app’ on your smartphone. ” Stated Dusty Gulleson, ORA Chief Executive Officer.

“We're looking forward to integrating ORA into the life of both our physical and online church congregations. What an incredible tool to engage communities of believers around the power of prayer!” stated Nils Smith, Web Pastor at Community Bible Church of San Antonio.

Social networks are typically inappropriate “high noise” areas that are not private enough for many sensitive postings like prayer requests. ORA offers an environment where prayer is the most important thing. ORA not only makes prayer available on your smartphone, but it makes comments, reminders and prayer partners always available too. ORA offers immediate feedback to requests, questions and comments from prayer partners and helps to track and remind the user of how prayers are answered immediately or over time. ORA helps you get a glimpse of the eternal that can be missed when we’re caught up in the stress of everyday life.

ORA is a free download for iPhone (and is coming soon for Android). The ORA smartphone app integrates into the ORA Community system. The ORA Community system is a software as a service (SaaS) solution designed with many more management features that allows an organization to administer community-wide prayer communication and easily integrate with existing email, church management or relationship management software from leading providers. For a limited time, ORA is offering a no-cost trial of the ORA Community system for an organization.

Visit the ORA website for more information: http://ora.net

Download ORA for the iPhone in the App Store! http://appstore.com/ora

Enter ORA’s Apple iPad Mini Giveaway this week! http://bit.ly/orapromo

David Platt via Verge Network:The Key to Radical Living

Let's Get Biblical! Biblical!

At Whipple, we're just finishing up a series talking about the Bible, it's reliablity, it's origin and how to study it. One of our staff created this real cool read through the New Testament in 90 days plan. We are challengeing our church (actually double-dog daring our church) to do it. So I'd thought I'd share it with you. If you want, there is also a bookmark pdf coming! As we read together, we'll grow together! The reading begins July16th and ends on October 13th. Please comment on here if you will take the challenge, I triple-dog dare you!

In His Grip

Brett

New_Testament_Challenge1.pdf Download this file

Suffering Outside the City Gates

Challenging and inspiring the way only Francis Chan can bring it! "If you're not suffering, you shouldn't be at peace." What? Yea, watch this video.

I Love the Missional Community!

Another great video shown at the Verge Conference. My dream is we (the Big C Church) would have thousands of baptisms happening daily my missional communities! Yes we are all called as belivers in Christ to GO and baptize. 

Do you have a story like this? I would love to hear it!

Michael Frost on Loving Our Neighbors!

I Love THIS! Enough said, watch it HERE!

 

Michael Frost on Loving Our Neighbors!

I Love THIS! Enough said, watch it HERE!

Battle Cry

p174.mov Watch on Posterous

Today, a group of 20 of us made our way up to Larch Mountain to pray over our city & county. We had awesome time of worship and prayer. We ended our time by yelling the battle cry & blowing the shofar. It was awesome!

What Does the Bible Have to Say About Effective Leadership (Part 5)

In the 5th installment we are going to look at " An Effective Leader Confronts with Authority."

I hate confrontation. I used to do anything to get out of it, but I have learned, if I want to be an effective leader, especially leading a Church movement, I have to be willing to confront. Hopefully, this will help you as well. These leadership principles are taken out of our manuals we use for our leadership development classes called NorthwestPassage.

The Effective Leader Confronts with Authority

Whenever God encourages His people to do something to expand the Kingdom, it seems like the potential for conflict follows behind. The leader is responsible for helping to maintain the unity and connectedness of those being led, and so chaos, conflict and evil must be confronted in the authority of the Spirit.

In Titus 2:15, Paul challenges the young pastor to "Declare these things; exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one look down on you."

Paul wanted Titus to be bold in confronting sin. And we are called to do that, if we are called to leadership. But to clairify, this does not mean that you as a leader have the right to equate, "opposition to the vision" with "evil." We need to be appropriately humble about the vision we believe God has given us, to be open to guidance from those who are wise, to make appropriate amount of room for those who might disagree with us. 

Does this mean that we should doubt the direction we believe we are receiving from God every time someone disagrees with us? Of course not. But we must realize that disagreement is not the same thing as sin. That being said, once people move from simply disagreeing to gossiping, quareling, and causing great pain to others in their quest to "be heard," we will need to be ready to confront and, in doing so, properly care for those whom God has given us responsibility.

NEXT UP: Part 6: The Effective Leader Pays Attention.

For more information, check out NW Passage or VantagePoint3 or send me an email.

 

Missional Layed Out

You want build build missional people? Want to build missional communities? Want to build a missional church? Do you want to be missional yourself? You don't know what missional is?

Them check out these books by Alan Hirsch! It is laid out in such a clear way in his books. Also, the books themselves layout a plan to move you into mot only a missional, but a missional mentality.

Coming Together for Clark County

Pastors, Poets, Preachers, Prayer Warriors, Priest & God's People of Clark County, WA

As someone I have a relationship, or connected with somewhere along the line, I know you care about this county(Clark County, WA).
So, I didn't know if you knew or not but the Clark County Commissioners have again proclaimed a weekend of prayer and service for the county. We will be reading the proclamation this Sunday at our church as well as praying over the areas the commissioners see as critical. I invite you to be a part of this on Sunday at your church. In conjunction with this, you can join 3,000 other people in Clark County for intercessory prayer for our county for 40 days. Intercessory guides are available for $1.25 or you can download from Android store or App Store for .99. The guide is called Seek God for the City. This is an incredible tool for us to use as we make Hell less crowded & make it hard for people to get there from Clark County! I also want to invite you to go with me to a county-wide gathering Wednesday night at the Water Resource Center. The event will take place from 7-9pm. This will be a gathering of people from all over the county as well as elected officials. This will be a time of worship & intercessory prayer for our county. I really believe if we are about Christ being famous here, we need to join our voices and prayers with others in our community. I would love to see you there! If you want hard copies of Seek God for the City, let me know. I will get you the hook up! Also, look for an email in the next couple weeks, if you live in Clark County, WA, as I would like to host a breakfast to bring churches & pastors together for unity and prayer in the county. I believe like you, we are better together than we are apart!

In His Grip,
Brett Aljets
Whipple Creek Church

Obedience

Tell me if you would, when has God blessed your obedience?

Live Weekly Service

Amazing church yesterday in small community church on the Outer Banks, NC. Amazing hope in midst of devastation of Hurricane Irene.

Another Bucket List Item Scratched Out

Yep, OCC (that's Orange County Choppers for those who haven't seen the show) was on my bucket list. It is amazing to see these bikes up close. It's like a museum or art gallery for motorheads. The detail is amazing, incredible paint, incredible metal work.

I had to pose outside the shop as everyone else was, but I didn't have a bike to pose with so I decided to show off my tat! (Also notice my new melon style!)

God has truly gifted people in amazing ways. I continue to be amazed at God's creation and creativity through His creation, us included, on this sabbatical journey.

Update

Our alternator went out in Wilton, NY. We made it into parking lot of a store. I went into the Stewart's Convience store asking the worker behind the counter if he knew of a rental car place. A customer overheard what i was saying and said "my brother owns a tow company and repair shop!"

A lot of other God-things happened but they got us a new alternator belt to get us running and now Sunday morning, they're working to replace alternator!

They(guys working on motorhome) keep saying it's a miracle how we were able to drive this far and how Duke just "happened" to be in Convience store when I was in there! It gave me a chance to share what I believe happened.God is good. I'm thankful for Les, Duke, Sam and Randy!

In His Grip from the Middle of Nowhere,

Brett

What I'm Learning on Sabbatical.

The church will exist and thrive and go on without me. Because of previous, it doesn't mean I'm not needed, wanted or of value to the church. It just means others are taking ownership and God is still showing up.
It's hard to slow down for me and enjoy the moment(s), but I'm learning.
Tell the family when I'm emptying holding tanks, not to run or flush anything!
I still can't shut off the little engine in my head after 4 weeks.
I miss the church.
We live in amazing country with amazing people.
There are things I've neglected to teach my two boys.
I can drive an RV like a champion.
Filling up at gas stations, you often have to re-swipe your debit card multiple times to fill a 100 gallon tank.
Put on auto reponder for email, before you leave.
45mph curves mean 45 in an RV.
Going to the bathroom in an RV is equivalent of going to the bathroom in airplane.
I didn't realize how tired I was.
Construction cones and cans will fall down when you hit them with a 17,000 pound object,
Instinct is sometimes better than trusting gps navigation.
God is in this trip and we see His work everyday. We are blessed by His goodness, care and hand of providence!

Location:County Road 31,Cooperstown,United States