Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in bri2000's LiveJournal:

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Tuesday, January 17th, 2006
8:12 pm	I'm a backstabbing entrepreneur I am officially going counter-culture now in pursuing a career in missions. That means stabbing the current frenzied American culture in the back and twisting the knife. I met with International Teams last week at their Elgin headquarters and found out a little about them. They currently have a team in Cambodia. My next trip will be to Tijuana, Mexico in late March to build 3 homes from the ground up, all the while ministering to the dirt-poor folks who live there in boxes. This Saturday AM I will be participating in a refugee simulation at Willow Creek church to familiarize myself with interacting with refugee families, which I will be doing in Athens, Greece in May. Most families are fleeing from war-wracked Middle Eastern countries such as Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan. A "Persian Fellowship" church meets somewhere in Athens and I plan to scope that out while I am over there. This past Saturday night I was at the home of a woman from Willow Creek who loves to pray for and with people, and I left her house a much different man then when I walked in. I will begin raising support for my Athens trip sometime next month. (Comment on this)
Thursday, January 5th, 2006
5:28 pm	Chronicles of Narnia I just returned from the show and absolutely loved it. Now I need to read the book. Once again, I was the last person in my friendship groups to see it. I talked to my small group leader last night over the phone and she strongly encouraged me to go, and I wasn't disappointed, no indeedy (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Saturday, December 31st, 2005
1:07 pm	down for the count I have been sick with the flu for the past 4 days now. I haven't been this ill for nearly 3 years. I had originally planned to go into Chicago tonight to ring in the new year with the fireworks in Grant Park, but that probably will not happen. Several singles from CCC are getting together at someone's home in Montgomery tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon-evening and I plan to join them at some point. so the big event this year will be January 1 instead of December 31. Next week I will begin taking steps in future plans. I emailed another organization called International Teams, lets see where that goes from here. (Comment on this)
Sunday, December 25th, 2005
2:21 pm	How desperate singles deal with Christmas and the holidays Here is a sobering (and somewhat morbid) thought, Studies show that more suicides are committed on Christmas Day by single adults than any other day of the year. Also, more singles commit suicide during the time period between Thanksgiving and January 1 than other times of the year. I tend to feel bummed around this time of year, more so this year. Memories of Christmas 2004 are still haunting me this year. But today I feel better than I thought I would have, part thanks to an awesome Christmas Eve service at Community Christian Church last night at 11PM. I hope to travel lots next year and serve our great God in third-world countries. Once today has passed, things will greatly look up. Thanks for the prayers. Suicide is definitely NOT the way singles should deal with holidays, but unfortunately, many of them do. Even the Grinch's heart grew 3 sizes on Christmas. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, December 21st, 2005
8:17 pm	Another trip cancelled I just received an email from Community Christian Church telling me the trip to Rwanda, Africa scheduled for July, 2006 has been cancelled. I will now look into the trip with the Emerge group South Africa trip. I did not make the DR trip with Willow Creek either, so I will try to get down there later in the year. Boy, this sure has been a difficult month! Time to go back to the drawing board. Time to look into some serving opportunities on Christmas Day. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, December 13th, 2005
9:00 pm	Finding my niche I feel that the Lord is calling me somewhere, but I cannot put my finger on where He wants me to go. I am planning on doing some kind of inner-city serve on Christmas Day. Keep the prayers coming, they're working. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, December 1st, 2005
9:03 pm	Someday I will get to Waveland Just found out tonight that Willow Creek is cancelling their trips to Waveland MS for hurricane relief the entire month of December. I was scheduled to leave on December 6. I am rather bummed. It would be so cool to go there on Christmas Day and serve (in the words of my mother I am thinking irrationally) I want to do some sort of serve on Christmas. I'll continue to pray about it. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, November 24th, 2005
4:15 pm	Happy Thanksgiving It has been 3 weeks since I was let go from my job at Allstate. I have been volunteering at Bright Hope International at their warehouse 2-3 times a week. My future is still uncertain but I hope to do some ministry with them in the future. (Comment on this)
Friday, October 28th, 2005
9:56 pm	I have returned I returned from Thailand a few hours ago. I have been travelling for nearly 24 hours and have not slept in over 30 hours. It was a tremendous, eye-opening experience for me. I stayed with an Akah tribe in their little village for a week, and lived my life just like they do. They capture and cook their own food, eat bugs, (I ate a grasshopper and a cricket). It is nearly 10PM and the jetlag is beginning to take over. Will go to sleep very soon. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, October 8th, 2005
9:29 pm	Odds & Ends I can't believe that I depart for Thailand in a little less than a week now. Lots to do before I go. Gotta pack 2 weeks worth of clothes and a sleeping bag, not to mention mosquito nets. I will attempt to eat a grasshopper, maybe a caterpillar or two. A busy week is coming up. Small group tomorrow evening, I will go to Heather's house on Monday evening in Aurora, I plan on going to Fusion on Tuesday evening in Wheaton, haven't been there in many weeks, NewCom at Willow Creek on Wednesday evening, Thursday will be an early evening train watch, and Emerge coffeehouse later at night. Friday I will pack and crash early. I spent most of today working with the Street Hope ministry in Chicago's Humboldt Park area, spreading God's unending love to the area's homeless and under-resoursed, inviting them to a local church for a warm meal. For some, this was the first warm meal they had in over a week. I prayed for a few of them, one had a bad drug habit that he is trying desperately to break. Drugs are rampant in this part of the city. There were enough pancakes to feed 1,800 folks. Needless to say, lots were left over for next Saturday's weekly Street Hope. Even though it's Saturday night, I am feeling a little more tired than usual. I was up rather early this morning to head to the city by 9AM. I will probably chill the rest of tonight. (Comment on this)
Monday, September 26th, 2005
11:03 pm	Evangelistic assault on New York City I arrived home from NY earlier this evening feeling like I fulfilled my mission there over the weekend. The past 3 days were nothing short of extraordinary. My first experience riding the New York subway during Friday's PM rush hour, you literally could not move in there, packed like sardines in a can. The "real work" began on Saturday morning when my team of 15 from Community Christian Church, combined with the staff of Forefront church, spread out all over Manhattan and prayer walked. We also handed out flyers to people passing by and handed out free chewing gum on several street corners throughout the city. By 3PM, all of Manhattan had been prayer walked. How cool is that!? God clearly has His sights set on the New York City metro area. Forefront church officially launched on Sunday morning with identical services at 10AM & 11:30AM with contemporary worship and very relavant Bible teaching. Their mission is to spread God's unending love to the lonely and unconnected in NYC. More people are lonely in New York than any other American city (even Chicago) The dense population and incredible rat-race lifestyle here only add to it. That afternoon, after the services, we met with the Forefront staff and had a debrief and a prayer time, before splitting up to do whatever we wanted this evening in the Big Apple. I took the subway down to Ground Zero and spent some quiet time there. The sight makes you speechless, the horrendous assault on our country that took place at this very spot 4 years ago is still heavy on many hearts of New Yorkers. People just stare at the ruins, and not speak a word. As darkness began to fall, I boarded the subway up to 42nd Street and Times Square, where I reunited with my team for a 7PM performance of the Broadway hit show "Sweet Charity" The talent here is off the charts. I got up this morning and walked by Madison Square Garden, then I walked through Times Square again, navigating the bustling sidewalks filled with people dressed for success dashing in and out of office buildings, all the while chatting on cell phones. Everyone seemed so busy, so much to do and so little time to get it done, whatever "it" may be. I walked past the Empire State Building, more people rushing frantically about. Just 2 days ago, these streets, this city, was awashed in prayer. You heard the saying "God Bless New York City!" After all the spiritual events that happened here this past summer and even now, I believe He is doing just that. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, September 14th, 2005
6:47 pm	Please pray I just found out at work today the position I currently have at Allstate is being eliminated after 12/31/05. There is many decisions to make, do I stay with Allstate in another position and location? Do I look at other corporations? Do I go into ministry full time? Maybe the Lord will open some new doors for me. My current job is being eliminated by restructuring and moving to electronic online formats for doing business in today's high-tech world (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, September 10th, 2005
1:30 pm	A Praying Church Community Christian Church is hosting a 24-hour "pray-a-thon" beginning at 3PM this Friday (9/16) and concluding at 4PM on Saturday afternoon. The entire congregation was encouraged to sign up for a 1 hour time slot. I will be there from 1AM-2AM Saturday morning, and may possibly sign up to facilitate it from 2-3AM when I go this evening, so I will pray out the prayers in the shank of the night with a few others. So much to intercede for right now, new CCC campuses launching in southeast Aurora area and another in Chicago's Pilsen community, and ForeFront Church in New York prepped to launch 2 weeks from tomorrow, Hurricane Katrina victims, several will be staying in Elgin, and other concerns. I went to the incredible prayer and worship night this past Wednesday and it was awesome, I actually got goose bumps during this service, so I know the Lord had His hand upon us. I raised nearly $1050 in funds for my trip to Thailand in October. Praise God!! I never thought I would raise so much support in such a brief time period, but with an awesome God, anything is possible. I met Heather after the midweek service at Willow Wheaton and gave her my funds to send to ProVision, and they are still coming in. A busy day tomorrow and small group tomorrow night, I will chill today. (Comment on this)
Sunday, September 4th, 2005
3:01 pm	I rest now Well, the busiest summer I have ever had in my life is over. I can pace my life more reasonable now. I have been doing an unhealthy pace for the last 3 months or so. I officially joined a small group last Sunday night and will do a social event with them later this evening in Naperville. Sometime next week or next weekend I will meet one-on-one with Dea (the leader). She is very cool and we hit it off right away. We are beginning a study on James next Sunday night. I went to the Emerge coffeehouse last Thursday night and had a great time. I will be attending those more often. They are a very missions-oriented group of folks who like discussing international issues with the church and how to be the church to hurting souls in third-world countries, very appropriate as I will be travelling with a few of them next year to South Africa and Phillipines, and possibly more locations TBD. With trips to New York City (at the end of this month), and Thailand (in late October), the lifestyle I truly love will come into play. Despite no travelling, this year has been a year of much soul searching and tremendous change. I battled mild depression in late December of 2004 and all of January and most of February of 2005, changed churches in late April, got involved with inner-city ministries around that time also, and all that activity and much more time driving and on the road led to this incredibly busy summer. So, the school bells are ringing, the children are back in class, Labor Day weekend is here, so I can rest now. (but for how long?) (Comment on this)
Saturday, August 20th, 2005
1:36 pm	What do I do now? I was awake for a better part of the wee hours this morning from a noisy thunderstorm that rocked the Schaumburg area during the night. Over an inch of rain poured down, the heaviest rain we had since early May. I went to bed shortly after 3AM and was awaken by another storm just before dawn. I slept in until nearly 10:30 this morning and probably will just veg this afternoon until I go to church this evening. So much has been going on this summer that I am having a hard time trying to balance everything. Willow did a weekend drama several years ago entitled "Plate Spinners" about a man who had so much on his "plate" that he ended up dropping all of the "plates" he was "spinning" I began raising funds for my trip to Thailand in October about 5 days ago and got several bites. This is my first time raising funds, and it is going well so far. It gives others a chance to be a part of my trips without even leaving their homes. I plan to go to South Africa and Phillipines next year with the Adventrek group, and possibly another location TBD. I may visit Sally in Costa Rica in February 2006. I unfortunately did not get a chance to see her while she was here for the Summit, due to both of us having too much going on. Tomorrow I plan to go to the Community Christian Church picnic held at Blackberry Farm in Aurora. I know several people from the singles groups will be there, we could all chow on hotdogs and brats together on what is forecasted to be a gorgeous day tomorrow. Next Saturday I will be delivering backpacks to families in the Humboldt Park area of Chicago with people from a local church there, Urban Vineyard. I may even attend service there next Sunday. A car show is being held next Sunday afternoon (8/28) at the Alumni Club sports bar in Schaumburg, I may head over there. Well, what do I do next. (Comment on this)
Saturday, August 13th, 2005
3:27 pm	Thailand is a go, it's definite I will meet with Heather tomorrow afternoon and the founder of ProVision Inc. who is in town for the Leadership Summit to discuss trip logistics and details. I began raising funds for this trip just this past week. I will gladly welcome any prayer or financial support. (Comment on this)
Sunday, August 7th, 2005
1:32 pm	More groups I will be visiting a small group this evening in the Fox Valley area of Aurora and I will visit another group tomorrow night in south Naperville. Now that Sojourn is "adjourned" for a while I will visit more groups in the coming weeks. Sojourn also has some small groups and I may visit some of those at a later date. Both of the small groups are from Community Christian Church. There is another group that meets in the Lisle area on Sunday evening and I may visit that group 1 week from tonight. (8/14) Sally, (from Costa Rica) is here for the next couple weeks attending the Leadership Summit, and I will try to hook up with her sometime. Pace of life is picking up once again. (Comment on this)
Monday, August 1st, 2005
6:43 pm	Oh Yeah...Baby! I found out late last week that I have been accepted onto the team from Community Christian Church known as "Team Forefront". We will travel to New York City at the end of September to launch a new postmodern church in the heart of Midtown Manhattan. The Forefront Church will officially begin ministry to NYC the last Sunday of September. Never in my wildest dreams have I ever thought I would actually help start a church. It will be a "sister church" to Community Christian Church. Maybe they will someday join the Willow Creek Association. This has been an unprecidented summer in terms of evangelism and doing ministry in NYC. Billy Graham had his last crusade here in late June, 5, count'em 5 WCA churches in or near NYC will host videocast of Willow Creek's Leadership Summit next week. This is huge, it has never been done in New York before. There is lots of spiritual momentum going into Forefront's launch in late September. It is about 85-90% sure that I will be traveling to northern Thailand in October to minister in a tribal village and do some construction to a feeding center. At least 3 big trips, possibly more, are planned for next year. I am considering raising funds for next year's trips. I have never done this before, but was encouraged to pray and give it some thought. God had a plan after all. There was a good reason why I was supposed to lay low this year, at least until next month. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, July 19th, 2005
7:01 pm	Ethnic church visits to happen soon I plan on starting the inner-city church visits in late-August and into September. I had originally planned to do this back in the spring, but it never happened and is long overdue. Churches are as follows and anyone who is reading this is more than welcome to. New Hope Bible Church -- Chicago (Humboldt Park/Wicker Park LaVillita Community Church -- Chicago (Lawndale) Lawndale Community Church -- Chicago (lawndale) Urban Vineyard Fellowship -- Chicago (Humboldt Park) Chicago Tabernackle -- Chicago (northwest side near Jefferson Park) Rock Of Our Salvation Church -- Chicago (Austin) Uptown Baptist Church -- Chicago (Uptown) Good Seed Ministries Church -- Chicago (Englewood area) Heirs Of The Promise Church -- Chicago (Austin/West Humboldt area) Living Faith Community Church -- Chicago (Cabrini Green) River City Community Church -- Chicago (Humboldt Park/Logan Square) Progressive Baptist Church -- Aurora Grace Community Church -- Carpentersville Wheaton Christian Center -- Carol Stream/Wheaton Salem Baptist Church -- Chicago (far south side) also I will try to plan a Fusion road trip to Grand Rapids, Michigan in September to attend service at Mars Hill Bible Church (Rob Bell's home church) Anyone up for it? I have wanted to go there for over 2 years. (Comment on this)
Thursday, July 14th, 2005
7:52 pm	raising Cain in Lake Geneva That's exactly what 8 Fusionites (including myself) will be doing this weekend. I will be returning to the Chicago suburbs early afternoon on Sunday. I will probably attend the Sojourn group that same evening at 8PM, albeit a little sleep-deprived. (Comment on this)