And We're Off!

Psalm 32:8 

"I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye."

As we are just a few hours away from boarding the plane and heading to Australia, my mind thinks back to the years we have spent praying and planning for this trip. God has been so good to Simeon and I as He had led us to this point in our lives. From the beginning, our call has been sure, but there have been many unknown details concerning our future and our ministry plans. Our prayer is that God will use this trip to speak to our hearts and give us clear direction as to what the next step for our family is. 

Our hearts are filled with excitement at the ministry opportunities that we will have while we are visiting in Sydney and Brisbane! The Hullana's (pastor of the Southland Baptist Church) have an exciting, expanding work going in Sydney! We will get to be involved in soul-winning outreach and their youth ministry. We will also get to visit the site of their new church building project. We will be with Joe & Melissa Marshall in Brisbane (missionaries). They are doing a great work at newer church plant, and we get to help and participate in their church's first missions conference. We will also be involved in music, teaching, and preaching. 

We have been so encouraged by each of you that have let us know that you are praying for us! There is nothing like knowing our brothers and sisters in Christ are praying for us along this journey! God's presence has been so real to us through this endeavor, and it is in large part to the faithful prayers of our family and friends!

Specific Prayer Requests

• Safety as we travel
• Filling of the Holy Spirit as we minister to others and seek to be a blessing to the families we will be staying with
• Continued health for me during my pregnancy and for our baby, Eden
• God will give us clear direction as we seek His will

All for His Glory,

Brettnay

Why Australia?

So, I get a question all the time. "Why did you decide on Australia?" Some people are asking out of general curiosity, some ask because they genuinely want to know, and some just plain don't understand the point of mission work. So, to the best of my ability, I'm going to try and break it down.

Australia is not a third world country. In fact, it's very much a first world country! They have skyscrapers, a solid government and political system, and a stable economy. They don't need people to come dig wells or bring medicine and food to the dying. They aren't suffering from a horrible outbreak of a deadly virus or having problems with earthquakes. They are actually very much like America. The hardest thing most Australian people deal with on a daily basis is getting to work on time, just like most Americans. So why are we going?

Mission work is not about taking care of the physical needs of people. While that can be a crucial part of the work in some mission fields, it should not be the main goal. I am a Christian before I am a missionary. As a Christian, it is my responsibility to share the love of Christ with others and to preach and teach the gospel. A missionary is just someone who decides to do those things in a place other than his home country. Unless you've felt the call of God yourself, you cannot explain to someone what that's like, but as a senior in high school I felt the impression of God on my heart to go to Australia and to reach it's people with the gospel. I'm not a well digger, a medical doctor, or a humanitarian aid worker. I'm just a Christian with a call from God to do His work in Australia.

So, how did I receive my call? If you're expecting to hear that I was riding a horse on my way to Damascus when a bright light blinded me and told me to go, I'm going to have to disappoint you. I'm just an ordinary guy who felt the impression of a great God on his heart. I don't know what God is going to do through me and my wife. I don't know what undertakings we'll take on in the future. All I know is I'm a Christian. That means no matter where God puts me, I have one goal and one objective. I need to reach as many people as I can with the gospel and the love of Christ. That's the end of the story. Why Australia? Because Australians need to hear that God loves them, died for them, rose again for them, and wants to spend eternity with them in Heaven. Pure and Simple!

Alabama Church Plant

   This past week, Simeon and I had the privilege to lead a group of Crown College students to help a pastor start a new church in Chelsea, Alabama. What an amazing weekend we experienced! Pastor Kilpatrick has a burden for church planting. He has bought a store front, and has put much prayer and work into starting this church. We went down to help pass out literature about the church. We covered much of Chelsea in a day and a half and got 20 prospects!

  Our hearts were strengthened and encouraged as Pastor Kilpatrick shared his testimony of starting Gospel Light Baptist Church and now the Chelsea Baptist Church. He shared instances where time and time again, God came through just when he needed Him most. To stand there and see all this man has accomplished, but watch him giving God all the glory was amazing. We serve a wonderful God who delights in answering the prayers of His children, and who rewards us for our total surrender and faith!


Please pray for the Chelsea Baptist Church and Pastor & Mrs. Kilpatrick as they prepare for their first service on Easter Sunday!

Update On Our Survey Trip

Most of you know that we've been praying through the planning stages of our survey trip. Well, the big news is that we have flights scheduled for this September! We're very excited to see what all the Lord has in store for us as we take this small step of faith.

We've been working with two missionary families while working out the details of our trip. I'd just like to introduce you to them so you can pray for these dear people when you pray for us. The first step of the journey, we'll be in Sydney for a week. Pastor Hernan Hullana will be hosting us. He's married with three adorable kids. They have a primarily Filipino church as there are many Asian immigrants in Australia. Please pray for these sweet people who are willing to help us even though they don't know us at all. They are doing great things in Sydney!

                                                     

For the second week we are there, we will be  with the Marshall family in Brisbane. They've been incredibly helpful as we've planned this survey trip. Bro. Marshall has aided us in searching for flights, getting us visa information, and introducing us to the Hullana's. He has a great reputation in Australia with local pastors and has provided us with good insight into the state of existing Australian churches. Please pray for this man and his family as they serve in Brisbane!

                                        

We'll give more details soon as we get things worked out with these families. These are great Christian people, and they have been so very helpful to us! Please add them to your prayer lists! Please continue to pray for Brettnay and I as we have a lot more work to do as we prepare for this trip! Thanks for your prayers thus far!

WE ARE AUSTRALIA BOUND!!!

Ephesians 3:20 "Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,"

God has been at work in an amazing way!! Simeon and I have been keeping an eye on plane tickets for several months trying to find the best deals. Tickets to Australia are very expensive, and we had several challenges to work out with layovers and flight times.

Our Australia missionary friend contacted us Tuesday to let us know that in celebration of Australia Day, several airlines had discounted tickets. God worked out the details of our flights better than we could've imaged, and we got a very good rate!! Praise the Lord!!

We are Australia bound September 12-26. Please continue to pray for us as we still have many details to work out. God has proven so many times that He is preparing our path in this endeavor! Your prayers mean everything to us!

We will write another post soon with more details about our upcoming survey trip!

All for His Glory,

Brettnay Brazzell

Bible Club Update

Those of you who keep up with the ministries we are involved in will know that we are in a Teens For Christ Bible Club every Tuesday morning. It's such an enormous opportunity to go into a public school and teach the kids about Christ.

We had a big "Friend Day" at our club on 11/17/15 where we encouraged kids to come and bring a friend with them. The purpose of the Bible club is to get the gospel to as many kids as possible, but also to get the kids involved in reaching their peers. We had 52 students that day and 2 made professions of faith in Christ. The following week on 11/24/15 those two students both came to club again, and one of them brought a friend with him. It's truly amazing to watch what God is able to do in the lives of young people, many of whom would never have otherwise heard the gospel. Please pray for Alex and Elijah as they try to grow as Christians. Pray that they will share what they've done with a peer.

We live in east Tennessee, and as such are in a highly "Christian" area. Many of our public school kids claim to be regular church attenders. Sadly, the types of churches they attend are not gospel preaching churches for the most part. Our pastor often says that the Great Commission doesn't say to open your church doors and ask people to come in. It says to "go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature". It's our responsibility to find them and get them the gospel. One such way to do that is through the open door we have with Teens for Christ.

Unfortunately, we cannot reach the whole student body this way. Even with the club, there is no way we could get every student in the classroom to teach them about Jesus. That responsibility has to land on the students. This past Tuesday I encouraged our students to share their salvation testimony with another student this week. I explained how I got saved, then I asked a few of them to explain how they got saved. I explained to them that we all have different stories, but we all come to Christ the same way, as sinners in need of a Savior. Then I encouraged them to use their testimony to give the gospel to a friend. This is the only way to reach students in the school who would never come to Bible Club on their own. Who better to reach students with the gospel than other students? I would be more likely to listen to a friend than some stranger who I only see once a week.

Let me ask you this. When was the last time you spoke to a peer about Christ? We're asking these students to work up the bravery to talk to their fellow classmates about Christ. We don't have classmates anymore, but we do still have peers. Unless you work on staff at a church, you probably work with a group of people who are for the most part unsaved. They need Christ! Most of them will never darken the door of a church building except for weddings and funerals. Where are they going to hear the gospel? The dry cleaners? Not likely. The most likely place for them to hear and accept the gospel is at work from a coworker. I know it's hard to share the gospel at work. I don't work at a church either. They still need Christ and it's up to us to get Him to them! I'll give you the same challenge I gave my Teens for Christ club this week. Share the gospel with one coworker or classmate. It'll all be worth it if one person gets saved.

Patiently Working Hard

I hear people say from time to time that they are waiting on God's will for their lives. It's as if they believe that somewhere off in the distance there is a magical portal that they'll be able to walk through and find everything God wants for them. They think there is a great door open to them that will solve all their problems and answer all their questions. Yet, today they are content to sit down, do nothing, and wish things were different than they are currently.

I know I'm called to Australia. There were times when I was in college that I wanted to quit school and go, but my wife (fiance at the time) had the wisdom to convince me to finish school first. I was still under the notion that once I finished and got married, I'd pack up my things and go; but it hasn't worked out that way. From time to time I get frustrated about it all and even wish that God hadn't told me where He wanted me to go until He was ready to take me there. That has been my "door off in the future" that would make everything better.

I know now that this is a fallacy in my own thinking. I have come to understand the fact that God wants me here right now. Once I settled that fact in my own heart, it was amazing what God opened up for my wife and I. I now am able to serve in a nursing home on a weekly basis, serve in my church choir, and two weeks ago, my wife and I began leading a Teens For Christ Bible Club at a local middle school. We had 74 kids this past week and were able to share the Gospel with them in their own school! I never would have imagined the opportunities I've had right here, but God didn't give these opportunities  until I was ready to settle down where he had me right now.

We studied Abraham a few weeks ago in Sunday School. He was told of God to pack up and go, but God never told him where. God said go, and Abraham went. He became a wanderer and a nomad for the rest of his life, but he had God's blessing. He didn't know where he'd go next until God told him. The point is that God didn't tell Abraham everything. God told him what he needed to know right then. I may know where I'm going someday, but I have to listen to what God wants me to do today first. The Lord wants to lead our lives, but He wants to lead on a daily basis.

Don't think that your golden ticket will come in the mail one day, and you'll know then and there what to do. There's no magic portal that you'll walk through to serve Christ and be happy. Serve Him right now where you are. You are where you are either because God wants you there, or because you're running from Him. Let Him use you today! He'll guide you tomorrow if you do!

Teaching English to Reach a Heart

People say there is nothing quite like teaching a child to read, and then hearing them read their first words by themselves. I have not experienced that, but I have experienced something that might come close. . .

This summer, I had the amazing opportunity to finish my TESOL degree (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). It made for a challenging beginning to my summer, but what I received from it was worth it! Yes, I was very excited to receive my certification to teach, but I left with something even more valuable than that! I had developed a love for helping internationals learn English by studying God's Word. Watching them not only reading the Bible in English, but then grasping an understanding of the Gospel in our language is an experience difficult to describe! Many of them were so open to hearing about Christ.

Through this one class, I created friendships that I hope to hold onto for a lifetime! I look forward to seeing how God will use this training in my life as Simeon and I seek to follow God's will for our lives at home and one day abroad!

We cannot begin to express what your prayers and encouragement mean to us! Please continue to pray for us as we seek God's direction and follow His will for our lives at this stage He has us in!

All for His Glory,

Brettnay Brazzell

Preparing A Mind for Mission Work

Yes, that's a play on the title of the blog.

Have you ever heard a Christian  or pastor tell you to "just go and trust that God will take care of you"? Unfortunately, this is a mindset that many Christians have. My wife and I are 100% sure we are called to Australia. That's the "go". However, we do not know where. We do not know when. We do not know how, why, or what we'll be doing when we get there. I'll be honest, it's frustrating to me sometimes, and my wife handles it better than I do most of the time. Some would tell us to just start deputation and trust that God will give more direction as we go.

Maybe He would do that. Maybe He wouldn't, but I know that God will direct me as I follow Him. God gave us a brain so that we could be rational. God Himself says in the Bible on a number of occasions "come let us reason together". He wants us to think and not be irrational in behavior. It's important that you hear me out before writing me off. I am not saying that we should listen to our rational thought more than the moving of the Holy Spirit. I'm saying that where the Spirit is silent and the Word of God doesn't give specific direction, then we have to rely on what God has given us mentally. 

I applaud how Christian colleges are getting involved in training people in the trades. The world of tomorrow is very different than the world of yesterday. Churches that can fully support pastors are becoming a thing of the past. Should those pastors take small churches and work fast food to support their families when they could first acquire a skill that could support them? Where do you draw the line? I am actually taking online courses in Web Design and Development. I don't know how God might use that, but I'll have an option if God sees fit to place me in a small congregation. I think God calls us to support our families as well. 

It's a sticky subject, and I'm not 100% sure I know exactly where I stand. I know that there are people who depend on themselves too much. I also know there are people who irrationally rush ahead of God thinking that they are "trusting Him". I read once about a young man who left home to join the Billy Graham Crusades. He thought he would just play guitar and sing gospel music. Come to find out, the organization didn't just let any ol' teenager get up on the platform and play. He had rushed ahead of God's direction for his life.

God is working on my wife and I. He's molding us. He's bending us. He's trying our patience every day. I'm not just working a job, banking money, and saving for retirement. I'm serving in a church, saving for a survey trip, and seeking God's face daily for direction. My wife and I are contacting mission boards, conversing with missionaries, and learning more about Australia. We're also serving in a nursing home where I'm learning to how to love people and how to guide people in a more pastoral way (not that I'm trying to pastor the people. Many of them have a church home they go to as well). 

The point is that God's working on my heart and my mind. I'm trying to be as logical as I can with the funds God is giving me as well as the time I have with my wife. We'll take a survey trip when God provides the funding. When God provides the direction, we'll go. When God says it's time, He'll have prepared us financially, mentally, and spiritually enough to meet the task. God never gives us more than we are able to handle without also giving us His divine aid. 

I would ask that you'd pray for Brettnay and I. I do not want you to think we are discouraged, because we are not. We are happy in Jesus and very much enjoy where we are serving Him now! I have every confidence in my Lord and His guidance in my life. He knows the answers to my questions, but right now the answer is wait. So we wait.

Your friend and brother in Christ Jesus our Lord, 

Simeon Brazzell

I Tim 1:12

An Update on Our Calling

Many of you know that we are called to be missionaries to Australia, but you may be wondering when are going, what are we hoping to accomplish, where will we be ministering. In answer to your questions, we have no idea! There is no doubt in our hearts that God has called us, and that we will be going there. The specifics are a little hazier for us right now. 

We have been struggling with this a bit because we want to act on what God has put in our hearts! At the same time, we do not want to get ahead of God's perfect timing. Isiah 55:8-9 says, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." God is working in our hearts in this area. Pastor Tim Cruise from Shining Light Baptist Church was preaching at our church recently, and something he said was such an encouragement to Simeon and me. He said that in the "waiting process" God is not only preparing you, but He is also preparing the place, people, and work that He has for you. There are several areas in our lives where we know God is preparing us, and what an amazing thought it is that while He's working on our hearts here in the states, He is also working in Australia preparing the way for us!

These are a few things that we are currently doing in preparation for God's call. 
1. We started a savings account when we got married that we put money into each month that we will use to take a survey trip. Plane tickets alone are around $2,300 for one person! We would like to spend several weeks traveling around to established ministries as we pray about where God would have us and in what capacity He would have us serve.
2. We are in the process of finding missionaries, pastors, and churches who hold to our doctrinal position and are actively serving Christ in Australia. Websites such as Baptist Friends and Baptist International Missions, Inc. have been so helpful as we contact different ministries. We are praying that through these contacts, we would form friendships, learn more about God's work in Australia, and possibly find ministries to visit while we are on our survey trip.

Simeon and I would greatly appreciate your prayers concerning the things listed above! If you know of any ministries in Australia, please comment and let us know!

We are so excited about what God has for our future, but until He opens those doors, we are enjoying serving him in "our Jerusalem." Acts 1:8 "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." 


All for His Glory,
Brettnay Brazzell

I'm Getting Older - But Should I Look Back or Forward?

Yes, I did have a birthday. It was on October the 23rd. I am now 23 years old. Many of you just rolled your eyes and muttered to yourself something about twenty-three not being old. I suppose you'd be right. I just feel like I'm still supposed to be sword fighting with a hockey stick in the backyard with my little brother.

I wrote once before about time being like a vapor. (The link is here) That is certainly beginning to feel true for me. It seems like yesterday, I was playing high school soccer, and today I'm 23, working a full-time job, and married! What on earth happened?

I'm not going to act like I'm distraught over it because I'm not. I love the fact that today is a new day filled with new experiences. Yesterday is the past, and I cannot change it nor would I. That brings me to my topic.

The past and the future. According to an article published in October 2010, people are more likely to react with more intensity when presented with situations effecting the future rather than the past - link. What exactly does that mean? Let me illustrate. Let's say that you were talking to someone and they told you that a friend of yours was cheated on by her husband last week, but you are in a foreign country and are unable to speak with her to let her know how sorry you are. You tried to call her but you got no answer. You would probably hurt for her for a few hours to a day and then forget about it until you got home.

Now let's take the same scenario and reverse it. Let's say that you somehow know that in one week your friend's husband is going to cheat on her, but you are in a foreign country. You tried to call her but you got no answer. I'd be willing to bet you'd do everything in your power to get a message to her. You might even pay a little extra and have your return flight tickets bumped forward a few days since you couldn't reach her by phone. It wouldn't be something that could wait. Why?

I'm not necessarily talking about adultery and its effect on people. I'm talking about the measures you would take to ensure you got a message to her. Cheating is cheating. So why in one instance do you wait till you get home, yet in the other, you do everything you can to get home? Because the past is over and you can't change it, but the future is uncertain and you feel like you can make a difference in it.

What's the point? Why do we as Christians gawk in awe at men and women of the past who made a difference, but hold no hope for the future? People spend their lives studying famous and infamous men and women of the past. That's not wrong, but we cannot effect the past personally. You can however effect the future. People are dying and going to Hell. Some people died and went to Hell yesterday. That's a terrible thing, but if we asked them I guarantee they would rather we tried to witness to others rather than live in pity for those who are already gone. (Luke 16:19-31)

Is someone's eternal future important enough for us to be a little inconvenienced? Just a thought.

Keep thinking friends,

Simeon Brazzell - I Tim. 1:12

Statistics Don't Change Lives

If you've spent very much time in an evangelistic church, you have heard all the stats by now. You have heard that there are over 7.6 billion people in the world and almost all of them are lost. There are "X" amount of starving children and diseases are running rampant in "this" country or "that" country. You know about missionaries trying to help people recover from tsunamis, hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, and all sorts of other natural disasters. You know there are Christians around the world who are still dying for their faith. So why are we unaffected?

This thought has plagued me for some time now. I know that I sit in service after service and listen to the needs of the world. Brettnay and I go to a church that has a great burden for England. A country that once was an international hub for the spread of the gospel yet is now one of the most spiritually dark places in the world. England's fastest growing religion is Islam! But would it shock you to know that Islam is also America's fastest growing religion? Mosques pop up every day around our country while churches are closing. What's happening? Why isn't God blessing us anymore? I'll tell you why. The world has become a statistic to us.

When was the last time you had a conversation with someone who wasn't born in America about Jesus Christ? I work downtown; I see foreigners every day. They speak enough English to get by and try to make a better life for themselves. Most of us, including myself, view this as an inconvenience. "Learn English or go home", we mutter to ourselves. But they aren't here because they need a better life. They are here because God placed them here. We have an opportunity unlike any other country in the history of mankind. We have an "international hub" for the gospel right here at home! America is the second largest Hispanic country in the world, second only to Mexico. But there is another statistic. When will we decide that people aren't statistics?

Jesus said in his iconic "Great Commission" to "preach the gospel to every creature". He didn't say to preach to every country or to every people group. He brought it down to the individual. We all can't be a Billy Graham or D. L. Moody and preach to thousands of people. But one thing that all men God uses do is witness to individuals. Charles Spurgeon was well known for spending hours witnessing to single individuals as well as preaching to large crowds. What if I told you he wouldn't have been blessed with the crowds if he hadn't spent time with the individuals? People aren't statistics to men like Spurgeon, Moody, Graham, and many other men. They are individuals who need a Savior.

Keep thinking friends,
Simeon Brazzell
I Tim. 1:12

Everyone can. . . no, SHOULD be a missionary!

Before you choose not to read this post because of the title, know that I am not saying that everyone should pack their bags, say goodbye to their families, and head overseas!! Missions is not simply something that takes place in foreign lands. God, through His Word, gives each of us as believers a command to be a witness of the Gospel. Luke 24:48 says, "And ye are witnesses of these things [what Christ has done in your heart]. I am an English major, so I enjoy determining what each word in a sentence is functioning as. In this verse, witnesses is a noun. We often think of this word in light of it's verb context (performing the action of witnessing), but Christ is not referring to witnessing as an action here. He is saying that ye = witness. Before we can witness to others, we must be a witness! "The noun must come before the verb!" -Clarence Sexton

With that said, back to the title of the post. So do I truly believe that everyone should be a missionary? YES!!! Acts 1:8 says, "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." Some are called to reach "the uttermost part of the earth" as are Simeon and I. God has burdened our heart and called us to go to the foreign field of Australia to be a witness for Him! But Christ also says to be a witness in "Jerusalem. . . Judaea. . . and in Samaria." So what does this mean?
   Jerusalem: The area in which you live, work, etc. (ex. Knoxville, TN)
   Judaea: The broader region of your "Jerusalem" (ex. Tennessee)
   Samaria: The area in which you'd rather not go (ex. homeless shelters, slums, etc.) (Jn. 4)
This verse shows us that we are all to be missionaries, whether it be abroad or in the city we live in!

There are other ways you can "be a missionary." As stated before, you may not go to a foreign land, but you can have an important part in the ministry of someone who is, and therefore be a part of the ministry to which they are called. 
Here are some ways you have a part in the ministry of a missionary. . .
   1. PRAY!!!- This is the most important thing you could do for a missionary! God is the only one who can meet their needs and increase the ministry He has given them. Your prayers bring the needs before God's throne. By praying for a missionary, you develop a connection with them and their ministry and you enter into the reward of their labors!
   2. Communicate- I probably won't understand the full importance of this until I am on the field myself, but I have heard that missionaries love to receive emails and correspondence letting them know what is going on at home and how you are praying for their ministry. I am currently corresponding with a missionary wife, and I could not begin to express to you what an encouragement it is to BOTH of us! I love hearing her stories about their life and ministry, and she enjoys sharing them! Our emails are a blessing to each other!
   3. Give- You give so that the missionary family is relieved of the financial burden of making ends meet. This frees them to devote their time and abilities solely to the work of the Lord. 

These are just a few things that I have found in my studies of the Scripture. It is my belief that even right now I am a missionary! No, I'm not serving on the field God has called my fiance and I to, but I am in my "Jerusalem" and right now, this is where God has called me to be a witness to! So I challenge you to be a missionary to your "Jerusalem" and support those who are reaching "the uttermost"!


All for His Glory,
Brettnay
Philippians 1:20-21