Done!

Sunrise this (tomorrow really for us) morning in Lao Cai was 5:42am (close as I could get to Ban Ho) . . .
At 5:51pm (12 hours difference) the final message of $100 was emailed to me from Colorado.

Isn't God awesome! Within 9 minutes of the sunrise we raised the $1,600 to care for children around the world who no one who contributed has ever met! They will now have beds, mats and blankets to be warm & somewhat comfortable as winter comes on. Things we take for granted.

We had people from 8 different cities in Colorado and Texas give generously to help those in need in Southeast Asia - and it all happened in less than 12-hours! Wow!

I want to share with you one message I got from Lynn Floyd. You Creekers remember that Lynn filled in for me the first Sunday of my sabbatical this Summer. Pretty cool that God would have him collide with His need in Vietnam through my blog post as I come back from sabbatical.

Check his message out . . .

John, So, I've been reading "The Hole in Our Gospel" the last week and a half. It's been a major eye opener and no doubt I have personally and led the churches I have been involved in to be guilty of the sin of omission by not being more passionate and active in bringing hope, relief, and aid to those living in abject poverty.
I have resolved for that to change in my personal life, the life of my family and the life of my church.
So as I finished up another chapter last night in the book I prayed something like: "God it seems like such an overwhelming task. The misery is overwhelming and the needs are far too great. What do I do with all of this information?" Then I remembered something Stearns said in the book: "I believed that we really can alter our world, but we can only do it one person at a time. And when enough people choose to do this, even a crisis on a global scale can change." (pg. 163)
I then got out of my bed to check my email and I saw your post about the Immediate Need in Ban Ho and helping to break the cycle of poverty in their life and how by just helping to provide beds and blankets could help meet a tremendous need......I knew it was God answering my prayer and inviting me to join Him in what he was doing over there.
So, praise God for your team. And praise God for the vision that you are spreading to take the gospel to the whole world.
Blessings, Lynn

Shepherding a Child's Heart

Hitting me in the gut this week as I continue the sermon series on Family and prepare to talk about Leading our Children.

My kids are nearly all gone! Wow! It happens in a blink. You wonder: How have I done? Have I been faithful? Was I as intentional as I could have been?

I hope that you're asking those questions now. All of us only have a short time to lead our children.
Where are we taking them?

Be there Sunday as we talk about shepherding their hearts!

And who are the folks around you who need some encouragement in raising their children?
You'll never know how God could speak to them until you invite them!

Thankful

We all desire God's best for our children. First for them to walk with Him . . . and to do so with integrity in every area of their life . . .

Thankful for the acknowledgment the girls received this weekend of their diligence and perseverance in soccer . . .

The Caller Times article is here . . . Laura was named All-South Texas Defensive MVP and District 27-5A Defensive MVP. Sarah was named District 27-5A All-District.

Also proud of Luke who is a Freshman and after the Freshman baseball season was over last week was one of a few guys that was brought up to Varsity for the rest of the season and the playoffs.


I pray that they walk in His power with the same dilegence and perseverance.

Lonely

Saturday night is the HS girls group, so my buddy Luke and I usually hang out.

Not tonight. He ditched me for the homecoming dance.

Wow, it's amazing - just the other day we were playing knee football in the living room.

And here he is tonight with his beautiful sisters.

Their last HS homecoming dance, his first.


"There is a time for everything,

and a season for every activity under heaven." Eccl 3:1

Builders!

Praise God for our building team who constructed walls in the Children's Area last Saturday!

Audie & Amber are doing their very best to use our space as efficiently as possible and our volunteer team helped us to max it out!

Go check it out - and check out the other classrooms most of which have had a makeover in the last month!

Thanks team and thanks God for continually providing ways for Your Kingdom to Come!

A Season Ends . . .

A long Monday as we had another drive to San Antonio . . . and our King HS girls soccer team lost to SA Clark 2-0 in the playoffs to end our season.

But they had a great season - 2nd in District (10-3-1) --- and Laura and Sarah both played awesome games last night --- and I am so thankful we were able to be there!

The sad thing for me is that these fun times will be over before we know it . . . Parents, enjoy all the games and concerts and moments away together and recitals and plays, etc, etc . . . they go by so quickly . . . Be there!

Others First

On Sunday I talked about a growing problem/praise that we have . . . too many kids for our building! What a great issue!

Creekers are working now planning the best way to build new space . . . but until we get there, would you consider helping to make room for the next family that needs to connect with God?

We connect with kids and families in awesome ways and there are new families every week who walk in to Oso Creek from places of loneliness and isolation searching for hope. And we have it! And we have plenty of room . . . at 9 o'clock.

If you're a regular 11 O'clocker (the premium time for new folks) would you and your family be willing to come at 9am??

A small price to pay for someone else to discover meaning in life and find their families adventure!

Kid's Camp Video

If you're interested in seeing more about what happened at Kid's Camp a couple of weeks ago, then
Click here to check out the video on YouTube!

Jason Evans has set up an Oso Creek YouTube account where we'll be able to keep stuff viewable. Cool stuff.

4 Kids!

Emily got home last night and it's awesome to have all 4 of our kids back home again!

Children are a gift from the Lord;
they are a reward from him.
Children born to a young man
are like sharp arrows in a warrior's hands.
How happy is the man whose quiver is full of them! Psalm 127:3-5


(Not the greatest pic as I'm experimenting with my camera phone . . . just figured out that I could text pics to my email . . .)

Passing It On

This afternoon our kids (Sarah, Laura and Luke) helped Cindy and I put out cards and bags for the food pickup tomorrow. (And YES, remember, one gathering time tomorrow - at 10am - for Serving Sunday!)

I'm thankful they went, and it reminded me again of how I need to expose my kids to more ways to give themselves away. Just this week I was emailed a great article about practical ways to encourage our children to give themselves away that change lives. Check out the article by clicking here.

And then I was also reminded this week - and again today with my kids - of how important it is to be intentional about WHY we serve.

We give ourselves away not just because we're 'nice people' or want to do 'good things.'
But we give, because God has given freely to us.
We give because we are called to allow the Light of Jesus to live through us and to glorify God with our lives.
We give because we are all called to the single mission of seeing people embrace the forgiveness of Christ and live in the Kingdom of God.

How I desire that to become more and more my mission - and our mission - in life.

Campin' Out

Our kids (4th-6th graders) are having a great time this week at Camp Zephyr! Here's a shot out at the lake this morning.

Please take a minute and ask God to pour out Truth and Blessing on them. And for Him to give our leaders wisdom and love.

Here's a list of the leaders:
Audie Lawley, Amber Appleman, Shawn McBride, Justin Adame, Sarah Bradshaw, Cecilia Gonzalez, Heather Zdansky, Sabrina Kerr, Jamie Ogden

And Campers: Taylor Aslinger, Rylan Davis, Jacob de la Garza, Jeremy Jackson, Brendan Roe, Michaela Braly, Holly Cazalas, Lexy Taylor Garcia, Railey Gonzalez, Maegan Leeton, Victoria Lichtenberger, Marley Mangum, Abbie Stewart, Annika Bonnes, Meagan Geddes, Paige Harlin, Audrey Mcfatridge, Dorothy Ogden, Savannah Rivers, Sierra Rivers, Amethyst Roe, Xanthe Spofford, Aryssa Perez, Victor Perez

Fellowship One

Pretty soon you'll see a cool new kiosk in the foyer every Sunday morning with 2 stations to check kiddos (birth through MS) into their classes.

It's part of a web based people management program (Fellowship One) that we purchased and have been slowly bringing online the last 3 months. What you see in the lobby - an interface to check-in children/students and track them on Sunday mornings - is only the tip of the iceberg.

At this point we have about $4,000 and at least 300 man (and woman :) hours invested into Fellowship One. It will have every piece of information possible for every Creeker or guest. Demographic info yes, but much more -- Communication info with all guests; Connection info - decisions they've made, if they've been to Discovery Dessert, a Life Group; Spiritual Journey info - classes, equipping; etc, etc, etc . . .

I tell you all of this so you'll understand a little more about the big kiosk -- but more importantly so that you'll see how much people matter to us!!

This ISN'T just a system, but a tool to help us care for people in more consistent ways. We found over the past couple of years as we grew that more and more people - both guests and Creekers - were 'falling through the cracks.'

Fellowship One is going to help us to be God's hands and feet . . . to connect folks more quickly to others who can care for their needs and invite them to a Group. To connect everyone to serving opportunities that match our passion and to learning opportunities that match our season of life.

I'm pumped about the many ways that Fellowship One is going to help us help you - and many others - connect with God! And I'm so very thankful that we have leadership and staff with the vision to do what it takes to make people - and their eternities - our priority!

All the Parts Are There

We all ask the question - probably daily - 'Are all the parts really there?'
Is it true what I've been saying the last two Sundays in the Family Circus messages that God has made all the parts available (i.e. Apollo 13 clip) so that our families can experience the hope and oneness that they are made for?

In a word, Yes. Is it easy, No. Is it worth it, Heck Yes!

I obviously don't have all the answers. I do know we have to fight.

There are many people who have influenced me (and Cindy) in our fight for our family, I wanted to share some of the advice of some of our mentors with you. Specifically these are folks who have mentored us - as parents - through print. These are books I would highly encourage you to read as you look for the parenting parts [After putting the books in below I realized how often I said 'awesome' or 'great' or 'powerful' . . . because these are the very best of what we read and they ALL ARE awesome!]:


- Shepherding a Child's Heart by Ted Tripp - This was the genesis for Cindy and I in understanding that it's not about controlling, or even just guiding, our child's behavior - but it's all about seeing their heart's changed! If you don't 'get it' here - you won't get it.

- Bringing Up Boys by James Dobson - All I can say is 'Read it Dads!' And read it as soon as you can! And then read it again (I think I've read most of it 3 times)

- How to Really Love Your Child by Ross Campbell - Simple and powerful

- God's Design for Sex - by Stan & Brenna Jones - Series of 4 books that you read with your child and were awesome in helping us talk with our kids about sexuality. And parents if you ignore this area, somebody else won't! These are great - first start at age 3-5 and all are very appropriate for their age development.

- Ready for Responsibility by Bob Barnes - This book speaks so practically about helping our children to learn responsibility in critical areas. He's the first one who made me think about: 'Are we raising our children to be children, or to be adults?' Again, awesome stuff.

- Raising a Modern Day Knight by Robert Lewis - A game plan for raising our sons. Do you have a plan Dad or are just gonna 'wing it'?

- The Five Love Languages of Teenagers by Gary Chapman - Has (and is) really helped us in recent past . . . Awesome in helping to understand transition to adolescence and the different needs of teens. Has sections for single parents and blended families.

- Choices by Mary Farrar - For women wanting to make God's priorities her priorities, inlcuding but not limited to being a mom. [by Cindy and one of her all-time 'top of the list' books!]

- And Then I had Kids by Susan Alexander Yates - A great dose of encouragement for moms! Filled with honest, practical, Biblical wisdom for moms with young children. [by Cindy]

We're Having a . . . TEENAGER!

That's right, we're having a child . . . it's just a 17-year old child! Meet Beatrice (she's the one between Luke & Laura :) and she goes by 'Bea').

Bea is a foreign exchange student from Madrid, Spain who goes to school and plays basketball with the twins. She needed a new place to live and is going to be living with us until school is out this year.

We've never done this before - but hey 2008 is the year of new adventures for the Bradshaws! We're excited to see what God teaches us . . . and to see how we can love and encourage Beatrice!

Merry Christmas from My Kids!

If you wanna watch something funny then click on this video and watch my kids dance! (Their gonna love their Mom for doing this :)

The 3 A's

Last night Cindy and I had the privilege of going to the Coastal Bend Fellowship of Christian Athletes Coaches Appreciation Dinner (you know I'm a wannabe real coach!).

Les Steckel who is the National President of FCA and former Head Coach of the Minnesota Vikings spoke. As he was talking about raising our children (and anyone else around us that we are 'coaching' to grow) this really stuck with me. He talked about the 3 A's:

Attention
Affection
Affirmation

How desperately our children need these. How desperately our world needs these. How Jesus desires the 3 A's to flow through us in the power of His Spirit!