Everybody’s heard of Jonah!

But, did you realize how much we have in common with him? Jonah’s story is shared by all of us. It’s a story of hope and redemption when we’ve screwed up, big time. It’s about using that redemption story to help others see and experience God’s grace and love. It’s about coming to grips with the fact that sometimes we fall short, but God’s love is never-ending.

As we ‘dive deep’ into this small book, we’ll uncover big truth about God’s love for us and others.

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We at First Mansfield Students are very excited about our new teaching series coming this January! It will be an in-depth look at a compact, yet powerful book. I encourage you to check out our Parent Cue. It’s a new resource that will provide you with a summary of our weekly teachings and questions for you to engage your student during the week! Just click the “Parent” tab at the top of my blog to get access to all parent information. You can also receive the Parent Cue via email (sign up for it here).

Isaiah 10:1-10

Isaiah was a prophet who foretold of a better time. A time when his people would have a Messiah to save them from the troubles of this world. And, when the Son of God was born, hope was born.

Hope of a new life.

Hope that resurrects peace from the hands of war,

…joy from the ashes of suffering,

…love from the mouth of fear.

Christ’s presence in our lives overcomes despair and gives us reason to breathe.

This week, reflect on Christ, the Bringer of Hope. How has He given you hope? What things do you hope for?

Today, my team and I are jumping in a van and heading to Nashville, TN for the National Youth Workers Convention.

This will be a weekend packed with inspirational worship, great entertainers, priceless training and connections with other youth workers that will last a lifetime. The best part of this trip is getting away with my team! We’ll use this time to dream BIG, learn new tricks, buy curriculum and deepen our bond.

Pray for us and our travels. We can’t wait to tell you all about it!
Follow me on Twitter to get live updates (@johnnybrower)! #nywc

I also dislike using the word “hate” (otherwise I would have used it in the title).

As soon as the weather starts getting cold, I start getting grumpy. Wintery weather does that to me. Here are the TOP 5 reasons I dislike Winter:

#1 It’s COOOOLLLDD!
I hate being cold (so much so, I even used the word “hate”). I don’t seeing my breath, my ears getting red, my hands and feet going numb or my body shivering. It’s miserable.

#2 Too Many Layers
When you’re cold, you layer clothing. It just makes sense. But, when you layer, you are constantly adding and removing clothing. This could lead to forgetting jackets and sweaters at the office and TONS more laundry. I wear 4x as many clothes in the Winter than I do in the Summer.

#3 Getting Shocked
Only in the Winter time do I fear getting out of my car. Every time I exit my car, the door shocks me. Pretty much any metal object I touch is out to get me!

#4 Defrosting My Car
I never want to leave the house. The Winter time adds a minimum of 15 minutes to your exit strategy. You have to warm up your unbearably cold car and you have to scrape/defrost your windows.

#5 Getting Out of the Shower
Did I mention it’s cold? Hot showers would be a perk to cold weather if not for this one little dilemma: at some point, you have to get out! I take showers twice as long as I do in the Summer. Most of that extra time is spent worrying about exiting.

What are some of the things you DISLIKE about Winter?

This year, First Mansfield Students is committing to raising up young leaders in the church — not only students, but volunteers, too. Generation after generation leaves the church when they leave High School. We believe that this is mostly due to a lack of ownership. We don’t trust the “keys to the kingdom” in the hands of students. The truth of the matter is, students ARE the keys to the kingdom.

To kick off this new commitment, we are inviting students who feel a call to leadership to attend Planet Wisdom this February. Planet Wisdom is a 2 day conference for students. It will feature great people like The Skit Guys, Dutton, Zach Hunter and Mark Matlock. These two days should prove to be inspirational and provide time to bond and dream with our new student leaders!

If you are a parent/student and are interested in attending with us, check out our website for details and registration.

I decided that my phone needed to spout the genius that is Ron Washington when someone calls me. So with the help of my friend Josh Nix, we made a couple ringtones.

Feel free to download (right-click on the links below and ‘save as…’).

If you are using an iPhone, save the files, change the file extension to “.m4r”, then drag/drop into iTunes.

Wash – Drop Antlers Drop Claw

Ron Washington Drop Beat

Today, this world lost one of it’s angels.

We will miss you Charlene. The evidence of your love and generosity is stamped on countless hearts. You have served God and your church faithfully and are an inspiration to us all. I’m so blessed to have known you. Thank you for all you’ve taught me.

Thank you Lord for this new day.
Give me wisdom to walk in your way.
All my burdens at your feet, I lay.
Show me how to live, what to do and how to pray.

- a prayer written by Charlene McKinzey

Apple has been hard at work to combat this generation’s newest moral adversary, sexting. They have recently been awarded a patent for their efforts.

Read the article here.

The invention, in various embodiments, addresses deficiencies in existing attempts at solutions by providing systems, methods and devices that enable an administrator to control the text-based communications of a user of a text-based communications device through an administrative mode of an intelligent text-based communication control unit or application. The text-based communication control application filters incoming and/or outgoing text-based communications based on administrator-defined criteria.

October 1st, 2010 will go down in history as the happiest day of my life!

At 6:30pm on that night, I married my best friend in the whole wide world. Holly Stringer Brower has made me the happiest man on Earth.

We’re excited about what our future holds. I pray that God’s love is revealed in our union.

Blessed is the day that is marked by love.

Our High School students are currently in a series entitled My Purpose at Breakaway. This series is based on a bible study that I did with our college students called Redefining Life: My Purpose.

Throughout the Fall semester we will dive head first into what it means to be truly alive — to understand what it feels like to unite our life with the purpose God has for us.

Join us for Sunday School* and Breakaway** each as we venture deeper into what it means to not just merely be alive, but really live!

*Sundays at 9:30am
**Sundays at 7pm