The Pete'n'Bree Blogspot

So Memorial Day we went on a great bike ride through the wine country of Livermore! It was great, and as always, every great thing ends with a stop at Starbucks!



For lunch we stopped at a a creek and Mom T pulled out a snack from Papua New Guinea! It was called Beef Crackers, and Bree and her mom had a moment where they remembered the old commercial on TV there in PNG and they recreated it for your viewing pleasure.

Well, its official, I am in a new Job! It has been unbelievably perfect for me. I have been really enjoying it to say the least. I really feel I have been placed in a great position for my specific talents and strengths. I am in a nutshell a developer. By title I am the Children’s Ministry Coordinator – Brentwood Campus. My job is to manage the transfer process of Children’s Ministry in from the Livermore campus to the Brentwood campus. I get to be hands on with Kids, of course, but really my job is to disciple and nurture the Volunteers and staff that are truly the hands and feet of the ministry. I also have the unique job of evaluating the process of fulfilling the concept of the multi-site church. The idea of one Church in two (or multiple) locations. The challenge to transfer the DNA and Bone structure, yet allowing each campus to have the appearance and feel (Flesh so to speak) of its own. Making it tailor fit to its location, demographics, and congregation. So, for me this has been the gem of my job. I just love being a researcher and developer. Know in a worldly way this can easily be taken to an unhealthy place, so another element that I am personally finding is the importance of my personal closeness to Christ. I have felt the fleshy pull to take the ministry in a different directions or “my direction” without consulting with my Lord and praying over EVERYTHING I/we do! It can be tainted SO easily. So, I have been praying for my walk and dependence to the Lord for His guidance and directions. Please be praying for me in this. What is incredible and I know is a God sent, is the fact that in the last week the church leadership has found the Campus Director at large for Brentwood! And by design and not by coincidence at all, it just so happens to be my mentor! Dave Shields! He is the missionary from Africa that Bree and I lived with for two months. They have come home after 6 years and are now on staff at Cornerstone. He is now the director in Brentwood! It is amazing because he is the most prayerful man I have ever met. He lives his life completely dependant on the Lord. It will be a privilege to serve with him!



With the Full time job in Brentwood came a move! Bree and I found (after a long search) a perfect living situation! We are renting rooms out of a beautiful home in a gated community surrounded by picturesque lakes. So for now I am living in both places and Bree is in Livermore. After the wedding we will both be Full-time Brentwood residence. It is more then I could have ever imagined. I expected a 12 x 12 box apartment during this time, (heck, who knows that can still be in immediate future) But for now, we live in a very comfortable, roomy, home. This is the owner’s investment home and are seldom there, the rent is very good, and they are only asking for half the PG&E! They are paying water/TV/WiFi/garbage. Sounds too good to be true! I still can’t believe it, but I have been living there for a month now, and it has been awesome; Great people.

Poor puppy....

So, Bree and I are having a blast with Bree's mom now with us from Papua New Guinea for the wedding! She dove head first into wedding planning and we are SOOO happy that we have her expertise! She is the music editing pro!

So, my boss discovered yet another way that we can be techy geeks. He has got half the staff (including myself) on this new thing called twitter. It is designed to answer the question… What are you doing? I is web based but it is designed to link to you cell and arrive as a text. The idea is you invite your friends to subscribe to your “twitter” account, and so then you will send a text to one location and it is automatically sent out to your friends. (one the ones who want to receive them… not EVERYONE) So, the point… if there is one, is to just update your friends on what your up too. Saying things like… “Just saw the new Indiana Jones! Go SEE it!” or “just got a new bike! And I love it!” To random for you? Give it a try and you will be hooked! www.twitter.com and watch the video on top.

Hey Guys! So, I had the chance to go to Willow Creek Community church in Chicago a week ago for a Children’s Conference! It was quite the experience! I am still trying to download all of the amazing insights that we can use to improve our effectiveness to reaching Kids for Christ.

First off, when we landed in Chicago, we were walking through the airport and all the sudden, we ran into THE AMAZING RACE! All the teams were racing to get to San Pablo, Brazil, and we just happened to be standing by their gate! It was unforgettable.




Then we headed to Willow Creek Church, and WOW!!! That place was huge; 25,000 member congregation. It was just unbelievable to see something like that. But better then that, it was cool to see so many people fired up to serve kids that week, and 44 countries represented as well!



The big bad Cornerstone Childnen's team! For the record… 1# in laser tag!

They even have a lake stocked with fish!


Check out this video of the one and only legendary Glen Keane. He is one of Disney’s most prominent animators, and was responsible for characters such as Ariel (The Little Mermaid), The Beast (Beauty and the Beast), Aladdin (Aladdin), Tarzan (Tarzan), and many more! (Video)