Latest Develoments

Happy Thursday!

I'm sending this message out to an undisclosed group of friends who have prayed, supported and partnered with us over the past few years. (Doesn't that sound intriguing??)

Many of you receive our periodic updates (if you don't and would like to, just hit "reply" and let me know) and have probably heard about my transition into a 2nd (or is it 5th?) career as a roofing contractor in order to support our mission work. Things are going pretty well, I've actually even seen a couple paychecks! I really believe that this is going to provide the flexibility and long-term financial support we need in order to continue focusing our efforts on connecting with broken, hurting, skeptical (and often poor) folks around south Fort Worth and beyond. Even some of my very jaded roofing co-workers are showing interest!

I hope, pray and fully expect that over the course of the next year I will be able to cultivate a large enough referral base and proficiency in this job to make a sustainable living without abandoning my calling to plant churches. But, I need help to get through the next 12 months. In addition to the support we're currently receiving, I am looking to raise, through one time and monthly commitments, the equivalent of $2000/month... $24000 for those whose math skills are no better than mine. ;) By next summer I hope to be self-supported (financially speaking) in ministry through my roofing work.

I would like to be able to use the money I'm already making from roofing to get us moved into a house near the Chappotins (which is a very modest and affordable neighborhood...and there is currently a house for sale two doors down from them) in order to enter more fully into the rhythms and lifestyle we're currently attempting from a distance. For those that don't know, we were offered a temporary living situation when we moved here in October of 2008. Some friends who live just outside of town have a small mobile home on their property. It would be a bit cramped for our family of five, but was just what we needed to get relocated, and would only be for a few months... We are very grateful for Mr. Ron and Mrs. Debbie, but we are ready to move into a neighborhood. (Besides, the boys miss their dog Chicory who has been living with my parents for the past 2 years.)

We've done a pretty good job over the past couple years (thanks in large part to the concern and generosity of our friends and family) of eliminating significant portions of debt. We're committed to continue making choices that allow us to live on less.

Many of you receiving this are currently monthly supporters of ours - thank you! Can you think of another person that might consider a short-term - just one year - or even a one time commitment? Perhaps you could organize a dinner with couples from your Sunday school class or even talk to leaders in your congregation.

If you, or someone you know, wants to hear more about any of our ministry efforts I would love the chance to meet with you. If anyone wants to see this stuff in action I would love to show you. If they want to know more about the theology behind what we’re doing I can share it. If someone wants to know how to partner with us financially, the address for Christ Journey is PO Box 3283 Burleson, TX 76097.

I have never aspired to be a fundraiser and it pains me that there are people who've received more requests for money from me than anything else. This continues to be a humbling experience but I have learned the truth that none of us makes it through life on our own. Our level of conscious dependence on God's provision has increased and so has our realization of how much we need other people. I pray that this will be my final fundraising push, but that I am merely beginning to understand my need for God and others.

Please also continue to pray for the development of this long-term bi-vocational approach.

Grace and Peace,
Bret

Prayer Requests

Good Evening everyone,

I have a couple special items for prayer that I would like to urge you to lift up to our God.

First, those of you who are local may have heard that there have been a string of suspected attempted abductions of children here in Burleson. On three separate occasions over the last few days a young person has been approached by a person they did not know and felt threatened - at least one of the children was actually grabbed by the man, but escaped. It seems likely that at least 2 of the 3 encounters may have been the same person.

This is certainly unnerving to those of us in the area, especially parents of young children. To make matters worse, 2 of the 3 events occurred in the Shenandoah community - where some of our friends live. This of course hits very close to home and we would like to ask you to pray for the safety of children everywhere, but particularly for our friends in Shenandoah who are certainly dealing with heightened anxiety tonight.

On another - happier - note, we'd also like you to be in prayer for a meeting I will have with a church this Thursday. Rachel and I have grown extremely cautious about getting our hopes up - we have certainly had to learn to deal with rejection over the last few years. However, the very promising conversations and events leading up to this meeting, and the timing... we are excited, nervous and, for the first time in a while, hopeful that a church may be willing to partner with us financially.

Please join us in prayer for this meeting and potential partnership.

Grace and Peace,
Bret

Long Overdue Update:

Dear Friends and Family,

I’m sorry that it has been so long since our last full fledged update. Life and ministry here in Burleson have been exciting and exhausting (in mostly good ways) over the last couple months.

We are just a couple weeks away from the 1 year mark since beginning to fundraise and vision cast for the Wells family church planting endeavor and its now been 6 months since we moved to Burleson.

Many of you are already aware that Rachel has begun organizing the preschool ministry at Christ Journey. We don’t have many teenagers, but our little community is chock-a-block full of nursery, preschool and elementary aged kids! Recently one of our friends with a mere 2 children commented that they were feeling pressure to join the 3 kids club - a prestigious society of which most of our families are a part!

Last month Rachel noticed (with the help of Conner) that our children’s worship/Bible class did not have Bibles! Rachel put out a request on facebook and the world renowned wellsbrothers blog for financial help to procure some Bibles. Within just a couple days we had enough money to purchase the Bibles with some left over to replace them as we have opportunity to give them away. We feel very strongly that we have no right to keep those sacred Words to ourselves...if someone worships with us who doesn’t own a Bible the message is explicit: if you need one, take one. 

To those of you who contributed to this need, we cannot sufficiently express our gratitude! Your partnership in this ministry is so valuable.

We’ve had the privilege of seeing several house churches planted recently. Let me tell you a little about two that I’m especially excited about. There is a government assisted townhouse/apartment community here in Burleson known as Shenendoah. Christ Journey connected with folks in this neighborhood in the past through a kid’s camp that was apparently a great success. Recently we reconnected with some of the folks from Shenendoah and began asking what it would look like to host a house church (and eventually a series of house churches) in this community. That has become a reality. In addition to myself, the family hosting and one couple from Christ Journey, we also have made connection with several other families in the neighborhood, including the director of Shenendoah and the director of Harvest House ministries. 

Robin, one of the hosts, is in the process of organizing a neighborhood watch (which we’ll participate with in some way), a safe house/after-school/summer program for teens, and a neighborhood block party with free hotdogs for everyone! People from all kinds of backgrounds are interested in what we’re doing because it is more of a Christlike lifestyle in the midst of the community than just a Bible study (as great as Bible study is!)

Also, on Wednesday nights we are participating in a new “house church” in the Chappotins’ front yard. Basically we gather around the grill and invite all the neighbors to bring something to put on the pit. There’s always plenty of extra for anyone who may not have anything and we make sure they know they’re welcome to it! We also invite a few families from Christ Journey to join us - in part to hang out, in part to model community for Chris and Heidi’s neighbors and in part to model communal living for our own folks. 

This past Sunday we were able to do a neighborhood barbecue at the home of Jimmy and Debra Osborn and have had several other families ask how to get this going at their own houses. Our goal is for as many of our families as possible to reclaim their front yards as sacred space - where the love of Christ is displayed and strangers are welcomed in. IT IS HAPPENING!!!

I’ve just begun the training/certification program to serve as a coach for Mission Alive. We’ve already found coaching techniques to be helpful in our continual training and equipping of house church leaders and plan to use this more and more in the future. This will also provide me with an opportunity to bring in some additional income to augment our financial needs.

Speaking of finances, after much prayer and discernment regarding fundraising and funding options, Chris and I have made the decision to research and pursue opportunities to lead retreats for other churches and groups. We don’t anticipate this fully supporting either of our families, but it will give us a setting to bless others with some experiences which have already blessed our community. In doing so we hope to connect with potential partners in our ministry and raise awareness regarding the value of church planting movements.

Right now we have four retreats that we are using cyclically with Christ Journey. Two of these retreats -  Marvelous Light, a spiritual cleansing and renewal retreat and City on a Hill, a leadership identification and equipping retreat - have been a part of Christ Journey’s spiritual formation process for a while now. 

The addition of Foundations to the retreat schedule has already proven valuable. We recently participated in this event, which I converted from the previous format of a series of evening discussions. It focuses on reading, hearing and telling the grand narrative of Scripture.

We also believe that Sanctuary, an experience in ancient Christian disciplines and spirituality, will also be powerful. Sanctuary is based on retreats that I’ve led, participated in and cultivated over the past several years. I'm indebted to Shawn Small, Molly Wren and those with the Converge Youth Ministers Network in Dallas where I first experienced a retreat like this around 5 years ago.

We hope to be able to serve and encourage other ministries with these experiences which have been so important to us and the Christ Journey community. 

Rachel and I (and the Chappotins as well) are seeking to be creative, diligent and discerning in our continued process of funding this mission work. Over the last few months we have made tremendous relationships with our neighbors - many of whom would be classified among the “suburban poor,” working families that are barely keeping bill collectors at bay (and often haven’t been able to do so). 

The reality is that these families contribute much to our community; we are richer because of their friendship. But their contribution is not financial. We are reaching out to the hurting, the broken the forgotten and overlooked. But Chrysler still wants us to make our car payments, student loans sit quietly in the corner grinning and the Wellsbrothers expect to eat multiple times each day.

As humbling as it is to say this, I cannot do this alone. 

Many of you have partnered with us financially over the last year and because of you there is a 19 year-old single mom working at Denny’s who just began school to become a medical assistant; who didn’t have to choose between paying registration costs or buying food for her baby (which was exactly what she was doing until you helped her). 

There is a family from up north who wouldn’t have had any friends to turn to when the husband ended up in the hospital with pneumonia, but now they have meals being provided for them every night this week.

There are a group of people who’ve rarely eaten in a restaurant who now sit down with new friends at Rosa’s each month to feast on tacos.

People who didn’t know their neighbors are sharing hotdogs and hamburgers in their front yards; children who didn’t have Bibles have one of their own; darkness that seemed so oppressive is obliterated by light...despair is struggling to hang on as hope creeps in to places for the first time. If you haven’t seen or heard it yet, let me encourage you to check out the sermon from Christ Journey’s worship gathering on March 15 (message transcript  or link to podcast of gathering- ) 

We are experiencing a community where the effects of the Fall are being rejected by the call to reclaim community in Christ.

And we need the continued financial support of our friends in order to continue in this mission. At the one year mark of our fundraising efforts, there are some who have the decision to renew a one-year commitment and others who made special gifts who have the choice to do so again. If that is you, we ask you to prayerfully consider your partnership in this ministry. 

We need you. 

We need your friends, family, neighbors and congregations. You may not be in a position to drop everything and begin planting churches - and yet you can. You can help this network of house churches, worship gatherings and Christ-formed relationships continue to expand through this region and beyond.

Feel free to print this out and share it with others whom you believe may be interested.

Also, if you know of a church or group that may be interested in participating in a Sanctuary, Foundations, Marvelous Light or City on a Hill retreat - or something similar - please help us get in touch with them.

Thank you for serving as our co-laborers in the gospel.

Grace and Peace,

Bret, Rachel and the Wellsbrothers