Sunday Night “Sum Up”–4.5.2009

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Each Sunday night I will be summing up the previous week’s events in a “numbered” list, along with the “sum total” of our attendance for the week…even though “I’m not very good with numbers.”

  1. Had a really great Sunday today!!
  2. The “numbers” weren’t very good, but that is not all we are concerned about.? 220 today.
  3. We had a TON of elementary kids in second service!? We are planning on being PACKED next weekend!
  4. I had a conversation with a new couple that made my week this morning after service!? It is so cool to be able to be the kind of place that people “can’t wait” to come back next week!
  5. We prepared for next week’s worship response time by filming “Cardboard Testimonies.”? Check out an example here.? Ours are AMAZING too!? You NEED to be here in church this SUNDAY to see what God has done in Carthage!
  6. Had a very good crowd for our New Members Class this evening!
  7. We are gearing up for our Free Family Portraits…3 photographers to shoot a TON of pictures!
  8. Taylor had his first baseball practice on Friday night…lots of throwing and catching…if you can throw to a target and catch the ball, you are well on your way to being a good ballplayer!
  9. Supposed to have another practice this afternoon, but was called off–for SLEET!? What in the world??? We need some warm SPRING weather SOON!
  10. Got a lot of Kilz primer on the walls for our “little” (HUGE) painting project here at the house.
  11. Took a group of leaders to KC to Westside Family Church.? It was really good and I think it was awesome to have our folks be able to talk to some of their leaders and observe.? BTW, we are doing a TON of things right!!? Great job FPCers!
  12. Went to SGF to our architect’s office on Thursday.? The new building is going to really, really cool.
  13. Can’t wait for tomorrow night’s game!
  14. And the Masters this weekend!
  15. And MLB starting!
  16. Welcome Spring!

Here is a gallery of pictures that I posted on twitter and from my phone this week (and last week)…

The Week In TwitPics….

Thursday Cambodia Team Update

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Keep praying for the team for their last day of clinic before coming home on Friday!? They will be flying home at 11 a.m. Friday at CST.

Hey All

We had another good day in the Village.? It was Hot again, but not near as bad as Tuesday.

We all pretty much performed the same tasks as the other days.? We did have some good questions during our gospel presentation which was very encouraging.? It is a long process for a Budhist or a Muslim to convert to Christianity, but some of the questions showed that God is at work.

Today we shared the gospel with the children using the colored bracelet (black=sin, red=Jesus’ blood, white=forgiven, blue=baptism, green=grow and gold=heaven).? The children were very attentive and it was fun to share with them.

This morning Rhet, the man I asked you to pray for yesterday, attended our devotional time.? The Gospel was presented in a very clear way and we prayed for him and his wife.? I think he has tremendous potential to be a great leader and look forward to the day that he surrenders his life to Christ.

Tomorrow we will work until noon and then make our way back to Phnom Penh.? We fly out at 11pm our time (11am Joplin time).? I doubt I will have the opportunity to write again, so keep us in your prayers as we travel back home.

God has been good and it has been a blessing to serve Him here in Cambodia.
Brock

Wednesday Cambodia Update

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Keep praying for our medical team in Cambodia!? They are 12 hours ahead of us, so it is Thursday morning!

Hey All

Thanks for your prayers, we had a great day.? It started off by being cloudy and breezy.? It was still pretty warm, but not unbearably HOT like yesterday.

When we arrived at the clinic we were told of a young lady that was possibly having a miscarriage.? So, Dr. Kit and I went to see her. (I know, I was thinking the same thing.? Take the guy with not medical experience when you have two nurses and Doctor?!?!?!?!?) He decided that she was having complications from a previous miscarrieage and that she wasn’t pregnant.? She did need IV fluids and to be taken to the hospital.? Terry came to give her the IV, she told me to pray because she hadn’t done that in over 20 years.? God was good and Terry was able to get the IV in quickly. We later found out that she is the wife of one of our translators.? Neither of them are believers, but he has been asking many questions.? We stopped by to see them this evening at the hospital and they were shocked that we would take the time to stop by.? Please pray that God would use this time to draw them both into His Kingdom.? His name is Reth and I don’t remember her name.

After the excitement of the morning the day was pretty routine.? We all continued doing the same jobs as yesterday.? We saw around 130 patients today.

Tonight, we had a treat for dinner.? We had home-made French fries with our sweet-and-sour chicken, water melon,? and rice.? All in all our meals have been pretty good, but the fries brought a smile to everyone’s face.

God is at work and we are glad to be part of what HE is doing.

Thanks again for your continued prayers,
Brock

Tuesday in Cambodia

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Keep praying for our medical team in Cambodia!

Hey All

Tuesday was HOT, I heard it was over 100 today!!!!!!

We had another great day at the clinic. The Doctors saw just over 100 people. Terry continued to evaluate patients before they were seen by the Doctors. Julie joined her today. I worked some in the pharmacy, shared the Gospel with some and played with kids. Did I mention it was HOT today?

Terry and I are both feeling better. We still have coughs, but we also have our voices back. Wow was it HOT today.

The food has been good, so far no major stomach issues. We are about to run out of Diet Coke though. I am not sure what that might do to team chemistry, because I think 3 of us are addicted. We can’t find anymore in the town we are staying in, so it could be a long couple of days. By the way, it was nasty HOT today.

Driving in Cambodia is amazing. I have never seen more motorcycles, scooters and mopeds in my life. They drive like they are invincible. It is fun to watch, especially since I am not driving. It was pretty HOT today.

We are expecting another good day tomorrow. I think it is supposed to be HOT.

Thanks for your prayers,
Brock

Sunday Night “Sum Up”–3.22.2009

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Each Sunday night I will be summing up the previous week’s events in a “numbered” list, along with the “sum total” of our attendance for the week…even though “I’m not very good with numbers.”

  1. Preached live at Carthage today…I love when I get to preach…I miss it!
  2. Don’t miss the preparation and study…but miss preaching.
  3. Don’t miss the “grind” of having to have a message every 7 days.
  4. Had 256 on Spring Break…don’t know if that is good or bad.? Seemed like we had a lot of new faces, which is awesome!
  5. My mom and dad spent the night last Sunday night and got to hear me preach at Collide.
  6. We went to dinner at Cheddar’s for dad’s and my birthday.
  7. Taylor and Tucker rode to SGF in the motorhome…Tucker rode “shotgun” and probably told Pa Pa how to drive the whole way!
  8. I took off Monday through Thursday to work on the house “remodeling.”
  9. I am extremely tired from scraping off our “house of wallpaper.”? There is wallpaper in almost EVERY room in our house!
  10. Didn’t get as much done as I wanted, but we will hopefully get the “wallpaper walls” textured and painting done soon.
  11. I was pretty proud of myself in not “working” during my vacation…I am pretty bad usually about “checking in” on my vacations.
  12. Taylor spent Monday through Thursday with both grandparents…had a great time!
  13. Tucker was “wheels off” here at home with us!
  14. Tuck tried to “help us paint” by painting with the roller (no cover).? He did a great job on our floor, the walls in the foyer, the hallway walls, and the playroom…problem, we didn’t want any help yet!!? Paint thinner anyone??
  15. Kids check-in is getting better each week.? Seemed like it went really well today.
  16. Mizzou RAH!!
  17. Rock Chalk Jayhawk!!
  18. and as much as it hurts to say it…Boomer Sooner
  19. Bottom line–Big 12 did really well in the first two rounds.
  20. Fran is leading a pool I am in…what??
  21. I have an idea for Easter that is going to be AWESOME if we can pull it off!
  22. Excited to have staff meeting tomorrow morning and get back into the swing of things.
  23. Happy Birthday Kevin!

Here is a gallery of pictures that I posted on twitter and from my phone this week (and last week)…

The Week In TwitPics….

Sunday Night “Sum Up”–3.1.2009

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Each Sunday night I will be summing up the previous week’s events in a “numbered” list, along with the “sum total” of our attendance for the week…even though “I’m not very good with numbers.”

  1. Had a really good…busy week this week!
  2. Attendance was down a bit this week…probably the weather…sickness is going around too…232.
  3. LAUNCH is going to be a really good series!? We really need to get “unstuck” in our spiritual lives!
  4. Make sure you get your friends to this series!!
  5. We had a bunch of crazy technical difficulties that our team handled really well…I don’t think people noticed, though–GREAT JOB tech and worship guys!
  6. Kevin is the man with creating video stuff!? Our announcements are looking better and better each week.? Plus, we had the sultry, sweet, smooth sounds of his dad doing the voice over this week!!? Thanks Coach!
  7. Had an AWESOME Leadership meeting today after church!? I am excited about the future of our church because of this great group of people!? Beware…they may be “tapping on your shoulder” in the coming days to help join them in serving at FP Carthage!
  8. I love hearing the unbelievable stories that are told at those meetings!? That always fires me up!
  9. We got our children’s ministry packed away in less than 10 minutes…that needs to happen every week…and it can if a larger group of people give us 5-10 minutes before they leave for lunch!
  10. My new Kindle 2 came in the mail yesterday!!? I am really pumped about that thing!!? My back is already thanking me for lightening the book load!? Got an ESV version of the Scriptures for free…that is my first and only book so far.
  11. Had a crazy day on Saturday running from Basketball, to a birthday party at House of Bounce, to our monthly “birthday” dinner for the OBU Bunch (Stones, Clements, & Jones.)
  12. Great meeting in Springfield with Pelham-Philips (architect), A1 (sound and video), and Downhome Productions (lighting, etc.).? The building is going to be AWESOME!? Keep praying that we remain faithful in our giving in order to continue moving forward.
  13. Did I mention I am a Kindle owner??
  14. We are attacking the “wallpaper house” head on…in the foyer!? Wow, people in hell must have to strip wallpaper…what a whip!
  15. Put up some corkboards in the boys’ bedroom tonight…and a car clock to match the theme.? (We have a grouping of pictures of old cars that my Grandpa and Grandma Emack gave ME when I was a kid that is the “anchor” for the room.? My Grandpa made the frames (he was a carpenter).? The same grouping was in my room growing up!)
  16. The dumb dog (Pepper this time)? got into the neighbors trash again!!? Arrgg!!? Need to get another radio shock collar for Pepper I guess.? Henry’s collar is too small already for Pepper.? He is going to be a big dog!
  17. Going to try to get to bed sooner this week…obviously not starting the week off right, huh?? Good night!? Have a great week everyone!

House Demolition Video

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We have began the long process toward our goal of having a new worship facility in Carthage!!? Yesterday, we demolished the house that was on the property.? This video is in fast motion, but it didn’t need to be in too much fast motion–it only took about 10 minutes to have the house completely torn down from when the big Cat started!? That is a shower that he “tossed” to the side!? Amazing power in that equipment!

Check out the video that Aaron made for us!? I can’t wait to hear the cheers when we show the video at church on Sunday!? Here is the sneak preview–pays to read the blog!

Monday is for Missions…Phnom Penh, Cambodia

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I am getting ready for my first international mission trip this March.? It is actually only the second time I have been outside of the country…the first time was a few years back for Brad and Nora’s wedding in Montreal.

I am heading to Phnom Penh, Cambodia with four others from Forest Park.? It is going to be a medical mission trip to (tenatively) a village called Srai Chan.? It is on the Mekong River and we will be staying in the providential capital and traveling to the city each day to set up clinic.

I am going with a doctor, two nurses and Brock Cummins, our missions pastor.? I asked the doc that is leading the trip if he could call Brock and I “doctor” for the trip–“Spies Like Us” style!? I am doubting that is going to happen…but it is always worth the try!

Actually, Brock and I are going to be the “gophers” for the trip–which is awesome!? We are going to be doing whatever they need us to do…anything from helping with the medical exams to playing with the children.? Probably going to be a lot of playing with the children…which is cool.? There is going to be another national doctor that will help Dr. Blake set up clinic in the village, so we are hoping to see several hundred people over the 5 days we are doing clinic.? All the while, we are able to share with them the hope we have!

Please pray for the Cambodian or “Khmer” people that we see in clinic…that they would find medical answers to what ails them.? Pray also for them to find answers that only the Gospel can bring!

I will give more updates in the coming days, but for now, check out some of the articles on Wikipedia concerning Cambodia and their history.

Watch the film, “The Killing Fields” to get a good idea of the where we are going to be…in the villages right around the Killing Fields.

Here are few pictures of the people and places of Cambodia…be in prayer for them please.

Fireproof Special Showing at Forest Park Carthage

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This Saturday, February 7th, at 5:30 p.m. at Forest Park Carthage, there will be a special showing of the motion picture “Fireproof.”? We are going to have a full house at our old renovated movie theater where we meet!? I am really excited about the marriages that are going to be improved with the showing of this movie as well as the date night that will happen afterwards!? We are kicking off our marriage ministry called “Married Life” with this event!? Ronnie and Kristie Sanders are going to be leading this powerful and needed ministry in our church.

You can also check out a bunch of tools on FireProofMyMarriage.com.? If you have any friends or family members that would benefit from this movie–get them there this Saturday!

Here is the trailer of the movie….

Big Game** Sunday

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** See this post to read about how the NFL has allowed churches to have Super Bowl Parties, just not allow us to call them “Super Bowl” Parties!

Well, this “Big Game That We Can’t Name” Sunday is going to be awesome at Forest Park Carthage! We have a great new series on marriage starting called, “Old Fashioned Home Remedies.” It is going to be great! I know several of our members are inviting their friends and family to church tomorrow to experience this teaching on how to make their marriages better. That is awesome! There are so many things that pull us apart–kids, work, finances, a bad economy, and the list goes on and on. But it is good to realize that God created marriage and wants our marriages to not just “get by,” but to “prevail!” Come and check out the new teaching tomorrow and bring a friend!

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Our Children’s Ministry is starting a new curriculum tomorrow called 252 Basics and is going to be AWESOME! Kendra and her team of children’s ministry volunteers have been working hard to make your child’s experience the best possible each week and this week is no different! This month’s theme is “Fairness” and the decor and theme of the experience is a “County Fair.” It should be a lot of fun for everyone!
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Then, in the afternoon, we are having “The Game We Can’t Name” Party starting at 5 p.m.!! There will be lots of our folks there hanging out and watching the game on the big screens! Bring some tailgating food to share and be ready to have a great time! The basketball court, pool room, and the TV in the “family room” will be available as well for those who don’t want to watch the “Big Game We Can’t Name.” The Kickoff is at around 5:30 p.m. Plus, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band are doing the halftime show. What could be better than that?? See you there!