The Whole Family

This is the first picture we have taken of all 3 of us. The first week has been full of many ups and downs for us with little Callie. She has had some pretty calm days where she struggles to eat and many fussy days where she eats a lot, but does not sleep much during the day. It has been a little stressful on Jennifer and I, but we are hanging in there. Her jaundice is gone and she seems to be eating adequately enough to be gaining weight, so we are thankful for that. This parenting thing sure is fun, but it is not always easy (and we can say that after only having a child for 1 week). Her Gami and Aunt Laura leave tomorrow, so we will be on our own. You can pray for much patience, wisdom, and rest for us.

Heading Home

We brought Callie home from the hospital yesterday. After a nightmare feeding on the first night, everything has been going pretty well. She has a little bit of jaundice on her face and chest, so we are praying that will go away in the next few hours. She is still cute as can be, and we have enjoyed having her in our home. We think she likes being here as well. Here are a few pictures of her:

This is the same outfit that Jennifer came home from the hospital in 27 years ago

She was not happy about being put in her car seat, but the car ride ended up being pretty smooth

A few more pics of the first day

Callie has been great so far. She is spending all of her time in the special care nursery because there was the possibility that she had an infection. (Right now, all signs are pointing to the fact that she does not!) She is hooked up to all kinds of cords and wires and stuff, but she has handled it all pretty well. So she stays up there all the time and we go to see her every 2-3 hours for about an hour each time. She has been so much fun for us already. If everything goes as planned, we will take her home tomorrow (Dec. 26th) night. Here are a few more pictures:

It's A Girl!

Callie Virginia Brooks was born December 24, 2008 at 7:53pm. She weighed 6lbs 11oz and is 19 inches long. This is an early shot of her. You can bet there are more to come.

To the hospital, we go!

At midnight last night, we came to the hospital. Jennifer had contractions every 5 minutes or so for about 10 hours last night. Right now she is on pitocin and has her epidural, so she is trying to sleep through this part of the labor. I tried to take a picture of her to post it on the blog, but she was having none of it. I can't blame her though. Hopefully our next post will be a picture of all three of us.

Pregnancy 39 1/2 weeks

Well, we are hopefully nearing the end. No sign of Baby Brooks yet, but surely not too much longer. This will probably be my last pregnancy picture because if the baby has not come by this time next week, I'll probably not feel too much like posting another picture. We're praying that he/she will come soon. I will more than likely get induced on the 26th if Callie/Cole doesn't come on his/her own.

Christmas Party 2008

We had our annual Christmas Party with students on Saturday night. We got together for desserts, white elephant gift exchange, and watched the movie Elf. It was a good time to get a lot of students around our ministry. One of the best parts of the party is always the holiday sweaters that are worn (you can see some in the pictures). We also have some fun gifts in the white elephant gift exchange. One of the best gifts this year was a box with 4 dead mice in it.

Pregnancy 38 weeks

As promised, I'll continue to do week by week pictures till the end. Hopefully no more than 2 ish weeks to go! At my doctor's appointment on tuesday I found out that the baby has dropped, meaning the head is engaged in my pelvis. Of course anyone's guess is as good as another concerning when Baby Brooks makes his/her appearance.

Pregnancy 37 weeks

Full term at 37 weeks! We are officially full term now, meaning that if Baby Brooks arrived today his/her lungs would be fully developed. However I will not be at my official due date for another 2 weeks and 5 days. So far no big signs that labor is real close. We will keep you posted though!

Christmas Tree 2008

The Brooks family tradition continued as we headed out to a Christmas tree farm the day after Thanksgiving to cut down our Christmas tree. This was the first year that Cole or Callie came with us (sort of...). He or she was there in belly at least. It took us a little longer than in years past to find the tree, but this is what we came up with:

Then I began cutting...

About 30 seconds later, this is what we came up with...

And the finished product...

Pregnancy 36 Weeks

I'm getting bigger...

Burly Man Retreat

Last weekend we had our 3rd annual Burly Man retreat. We get together and talk about Biblical manhood, growth in the gospel, and our Christmas Conference. Another big draw for the retreat is the burly man competition. We play "burly games" like tug of war, sawing logs, the human knot, pushing vans, and running a huge log up and down a big hill. We were thankful for the turnout of guys, and it seemed like everyone enjoyed themselves. We are praying that the guys that came to the retreat would continue to come around our ministry and want to grow in their faith in Jesus. Here is a video from the weekend:

Pregnancy 34 weeks

6 weeks to go (give or take)...maybe

First Snow 2008

This is the earliest that we have seen snow since moving to Minnesota. It is November 7, 2008 and we are already seeing the flakes fall. Just 3 days ago the high was 74; tomorrow the high is in the 30s. I guess this is what we get for moving to Minnesota.

I like this quote...

“We are people that know politics is important, but not ultimate. We know that politics has its place, an urgent and important place where, in the City of Man, decisions are made that can make the difference between life and death, injustice and justice, mercy and no mercy, commonweal or common disaster.

But we also know that there is in this world at its very best only a hint of the kingdom that is to come, where God’s reign is supreme.

No government will ever be able to say, ‘Every tear has been wiped away.’ No government will ever be able to say, ‘The blind have received sight and the deaf have received hearing and the lame now walk.’…That power is God’s alone.”

We cannot put our hope in a government to save us. There are a lot of people who are upset that Obama was elected president. While there are other people that I would like to have in office, I cannot forget that hope does not lie in a political figure, but in Jesus Christ who did far more than Obama, McCain, or any politician could ever do.

Vote as though you are not voting

What should our perspective be on voting in this election? Our pastor, John Piper, gives some of his thoughts that I think are very helpful.

Our School

At Northwestern College (NWC), there have been some issues raised by the students, faculty, board members, and trustees about the way the administration is running the school. In this post on Justin Taylor's blog, he references a web site http://friendsofnwc.com that talks about some of the issues that are being raised. Being a Christian school, there is much emphasis put on leading and teaching in a way that exalts Christ above all else. There are feelings at the school that these things are not being done in a way that honors and glorifies God. You can read about it and join us in praying that God would use this situation for good (Genesis 50:18-21).

Just trying to keep you informed on things going on in our life and ministry.

I am currently a little over 31 weeks! Just 9 (give or take a few days) weeks left. We're definitely getting ready but also trying to make the most of our last days just the two of us.

Video

If you subscribe to our blog through RSS or google reader or anything like that, you may want to visit our blog so that you can view the video we put together that gives you a look into our daily lives in Minnesota.

STP

Every Sunday night we have between 10-15 students over to our house for STP (share, training, and prayer). The students come together and share about younger students they are ministering to and different prayer requests they have in light of that. We then spend about 25 minutes praying for those requests, as well as for people in different countries around the world (based on the Operation World country of the day www.operationworld.org). Finally we take about 5-10 minutes where either Elliot (the other staff guy at NWC) or I will share one practical application for them to apply throughout the week as they seek opportunities to minister to other students on campus. The picture above is of our prayer board where we write down requests each week. We are so thankful that God has given us this many things to pray about throughout the week. I dont know if you can see clearly, but the "smiley faces" on the board signify answered prayers from the week before.

This is a picture of the baby's room. We will add more photos later once we put the finishing touches on.

Multiplication

One of the goals of our ministry is to see our lives multiplied in and through the lives of the students we minister to. That process is happening this year as the guys that I am spending time with (James, Drew, and Roman) are seeking to minister to others. For example, on Tuesday of this week James was able to have dinner with a freshman named Sean from his hall. As they ate, James asked him questions about his faith and they talked about the gospel together. We are hoping and praying that this will grow into a relationship where they meet regularly to talk about their faith and study the Bible together. Over the past 2 years, James has seen the value of people like myself and other older guys in our ministry pouring our lives into him. He wants to do that same thing with Sean and some of the other guys on his hall. Please pray that our lives and the lives of the students we minister to would continue to be multiplied at Northwestern College.

New Baby Pics

We had another ultrasound today. Everything checked out ok with the baby. He or She was very active (as usual). We got a few more pictures for you to look at.
Profile of our baby. His or her mouth is open in this picture (if you can see it).

This is our shy baby, hiding his or her face in the wall of the uterus

And this is just a normal shot of the face

Pregnancy 27 weeks

I am 27 weeks pregnant today! This is the last week of my 2nd trimester, and we have approximately 13 weeks left. Charlie and I both are having fun reading to the baby and feeling him or her kick! We'll keep the pictures coming.

Questions

I (Charlie) am leading a group of 3 sophomore guys along with another student named Jack. Pat, Pete, and Corey are sophomores that are growing in their walks with God. They all have tons of theological questions about things in scripture and what they mean for our lives today. In my 5 years on staff, I have never led a group of guys that had so many questions. This semester we are focusing on a Bible study called foundations. Each week we are studying a different topic (i.e. God, Jesus, the gospel, discipleship, community, etc.) and learning what the Bible says about each topic. As I am thinking, praying, and planning for these guys, I am realizing that the best thing for them in getting their questions answered is to go back to what the Bible says about these foundational topics. When we are left to what we think about different aspects of Christianity, questions and doubts arise. My hope and prayer is that, as these guys learn more about God, Jesus, the gospel, etc., many of their questions will be answered.

Older D-Group

Last night, I met with my older guys (James, Roman, and Drew). This semester we are studying about characters in the Old Testament. As we study, we ask ourselves the questions: What do we learn about the character?, What do we learn about God?, and How does this point to Jesus and the gospel? We started studying Abraham last week. We had good discussion on what it means that Abraham believed and it was counted to him as righteousness. We also talked about the story of Sarai and Hagar (Genesis 16) and how that reflects the gospel. We have a tendency to look at old testament characters and view them as good role models and moral people that we should follow. In that story, we see that they are flawed sinners just like us. We learned that the old testament is stories about God showing His grace to those who deserve it least (much like us today). I am praying that through this semester and study of these characters that we will have a better understanding of who God is and what He has done (and is doing) for us.

First Tailgate

Today we had our first tailgate for students at Northwestern. We had around 70-80 students show up for hamburgers and hot dogs before the football game. These are great opportunities to meet new students and engage them in conversation. They are also good events for our student leaders to invite students they are hoping to minister to in order to get them around other people involved with our ministry. James and Drew brought 5 guys from their hall to the tailgate. It is exciting for me to think of all the students that are now leaders in our ministry that we met at our first tailgate 2 years ago. That is where I first met Drew, so it is cool to see how God has used that meeting to form the relationship that we have today. We are praying for more relationships like that to come from all of our "social" events. The guys and girls in the pictures above are some of the people that could be impacted by the gospel through relationships with people in our ministry in the years to come.

Pregnancy 24 weeks

It has been a while since our latest pregnancy shot. I am 24 weeks now. It has been an exciting month. I can feel the baby moving around more and more, and Charlie has been able to feel him or her kicking a number of times. Just about 3 1/2 months to go!

Vision Night

Last night, over 50 students gathered in one of our staff houses for our vision night to kick off the school year. Andrew, our campus director, spoke about how before Christ we look to take from others and give to God. Apart from the Gospel, we are the focus or the center of our lives. That being the case, we look to satisfy our own desires so we take from others or use others to our own benefit. We then try to offer up the things we do to God in hopes that that is good enough. In the Gospel (when Christ is the center of our lives), we look to get from God and give to others. So the Gospel free us from self to God for others.
We spent time praying that God would use our student leaders (the 50 in the room) to impact other people with the Gospel. We are excited about what God could do at Northwestern's campus this school year. Our students seem to really have a desire to reach out to younger students with the truth of the Gospel. We are continuing to ask God to sustain and fulfill that desire.

Theology Fuels Doxology

A phrase that is fairly common around our church (mainly because our pastor says it a lot) is "Let your theology fuel your doxology." Another way of saying this is let your knowledge or understanding of who God is fuel your worship of God. A famous author wrote, "Your understanding of God is the most important thing about you." Who we understand God to be shapes so much in our life. It can determine where we live, what we do for a living, how we interact with other people, how we raise our families, and so much more. I want to continue to fight for a right understanding of the God of the Bible. About a month ago I heard our pastor explain how Psalm 100 is a great example of how our theology should fuel our doxology. As you read this, watch for how the psalmist's emotions or worship flow from who God is.
v.1-2 "Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into His presence with singing!"
v.3 "Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us and we are his; we are his people and the sheep of his pasture."
v.4 "Enter His gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!"
v.5 "For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations."
To break it down simply the psalmist starts by calling us to make a joyful noise, serve the Lord, and come into His presence. You may read that and think "why should we do that?" He gives the answer: "Because the Lord is God," he made us, we are his people. That is the reason we are to sing and serve and come to Him because of who he is and what he has done for us. The Psalmist concludes with the same pattern. he calls us to enter his gates with thanksgiving and to give thanks to God. Again, "why should we do this?" Simple: Because the Lord is good; he loves us in all circumstances, and he is faithful to all generations.
I just thought those were some neat observations on Psalm 100. I want to encourage you that if you really want to worship God as He wants us to worship him (which is "in spirit and truth" (John 4)) you must seek to first know the God you are worshiping.

Ultrasound Pictures

We had our ultrasound yesterday. The baby seems to be healthy and is continuing to move around a lot! Here are a few pictures of our little peanut:

Pregnancy 20 weeks

We just took this picture of me at 20 weeks. We go on Tuesday for an ultrasound. We are not finding out the sex of the baby, but we're excited to see our little one. Please pray for a good report, a healthy baby.

Summer Beach Project Video

We have completed the video from this year's summer beach project. You can watch it from our blog.

Pregnancy (week 17)

Here is a picture of Jennifer at 17 weeks. She is currently at 18 weeks, but not a whole lot is different. She has felt the baby moving around a lot more, and we have another ultrasound in 2 weeks. We will be sure to post anything we find out from that appointment.

Church Membership

Our pastor, John Piper, preached a sermon this past week on church membership. It was an interesting, thought provoking sermon. His four main points were that:
1. Membership is implied by the way the church is supposed to discipline its members (Matthew 18:15-17)
2. Membership is implied in the simple fact that excommunication occurs (1 Corinthians 5:12-13)
3. Membership is implied in the Biblical requirement to submit to elders and leadership (Hebrews 13:17 and 1 Thessalonians 5:12)
4. Membership is implied in the way it requires elders to care for the flock (Acts 20:28)

Our pastor encouraged Christians to be members of a local church. The way the Bible talks leads us to think that if you are a Christian, then you are a member of the church. This got me to thinking, why does the Bible not explicitly say something like "You should become a member of a local church" if that is what is pleasing to God. I think there are two main reasons:
1. When people became Christians back when scripture was written, it was natural for them to want to connect and submit to a body of believers in this way. They did not have a church on every street corner that they could walk in and out of on any given Sunday. Many times, Christians were persecuted, so they needed other Christians to help them and to keep watch over their souls. They needed the church. It was a privilege to be a part of the church. The battle early Christian church leaders were fighting was not trying to get people to join their church because it was such a privilege to the early Christians to even have a church that they could be "members" of.
2. Kind of related to #1, Christianity was not part of the culture like it is today. Church for us today in America has become the cultural thing to do. For us the idea of church has become something you go to on Sundays and Wednesdays. For them, the church was the body of believers that were there to help keep watch over your souls and to help them grow in their walks with Christ. Again, they needed the church, and they knew it.

We need the church today just as much, if not more, than early Christians needed it. We are battling with the same sin that they battled with, so we need leaders in our lives who are giving their lives to watch over our souls and to think for our growth in Christ. The Christian life is not meant to be lived alone, but with a body of believers in a local church.

To listen to our pastor's sermon, you can go here

Back In MInnesota

We have been back in Minnesota since Saturday. We had a good trip back. We stopped in Chicago to celebrate the fourth of July. For the rest of the summer, we will be spending time working on our support, attending/leading our summer in the cities program, working on our house, and Jennifer will be working at the assisted living home near our house. We will be sure to put up some pictures of Jennifer as she begins to show. We had an appointment yesterday, and everything seems to be going well with our little baby.

New Addition to the Family

We had sent out emails and newsletters, but forgot to update the blog to let everyone know that we are going to have a baby. The baby is due on December 19th. We are not going to find out whether it is a boy or girl until he or she makes an appearance in this world. This has been a huge answer to prayer for us. Please pray with us for the health of the baby, and that God would continue to sustain the life that is inside of Jennifer. Here is a picture of our first ultrasound picture (you cant see much, but you get the idea):

Visiting the Beach Project

For the first time since 2005, we were able to spend more than 3 days at the summer beach project. We were there for 2 full weeks and really got a full taste of everything that is going on. The students really seem to be growing in their walks with the Lord while they are there. They are studying through the book of James. It was fun to learn with them all the things that James has to say about the gospel of Jesus Christ. On the surface, that book can be seen as a contrast between faith and works. As we studied we really saw the value that James puts on the gospel really affecting every part of your life. Works do not supplement our faith as justification before the Lord, but they are the overflow of our faith. James heightens the importance of living a life as one who is judged under the law of liberty, which is the gospel (James 2:12-13). Living this way frees us up to love and show mercy to all. We are excited about all of the things we learned and all of the ways the students are growing this summer. Here is a picture of everyone from Northwestern at the beach project:

2 year anniversary - San Diego

For our 2nd anniversary, we took a trip to San Diego. We wanted to go somewhere that would be warm, and San Diego was warm. We got burned a little bit on our first day in the sun. But we managed to enjoy ourselves anyway. We relaxed, went on walks, and took a visit to the zoo. Here are a few pics from the trip:

Summer Leaders

A few weeks ago, we had our summer leaders retreat. This is a time where we bring all the students who are going to be leaders on our Summer Beach Project and Cross Cultural Project together for training. We hope that God will use this time to effectively equip our students to become better leaders for the summer

James and Drew

James and Drew are two guys that meet in my discipleship group. I just wanted to show you guys a picture and give you an overall view of what God has done and is doing in their lives. They came in to the school year as sophomores just looking to grow in their walks with God. Through meeting in our discipleship group, coming to campus meetings, leaders retreats, hanging out with myself and other staff, God has really grown them in their walks with God. They live together on a hall with a few other freshmen guys. We have talked this semester about what it will take to influence other guys on the hall with the Gospel. They are leading a small group of students at our men's Bible study. Both of them have decided that the best opportunity for them to grow and learn more about leading other men in their walks with Christ will be at the Summer Beach Project. They will both be leading small groups of 3 to 4 men this summer. It is exciting for me to see them grow to understand that they are not just to learn about the Gospel and how it affects their lives for their own sake. They are learning these things so that they can see others impacted by the truth of the Gospel. In the book 3 John, John writes that he has "no greater joy than to see that my children are walking in the truth." Drew and James are spiritual children to me, and I can say that I have no greater joy than to see them fighting to live lives worthy of the Gospel and impact other people around them at college. I have confidence that because of what God has done in their lives this school year, they will be people who hold fast to the truth and seek to influence others with that truth no matter where the Lord takes them

Boston Spring Break Update - Part 3

I wanted to tell you all a little bit about Stephanie, one of the
women we met at the rescue mission. Stephanie was my bunk mate and
had only just arrived at the mission from prison a couple of days
before we got there. She was one of the first people I talked with
there. A little about her story, she's my age and didn't start using
drugs until her twenties. The trigger point for her was finding her
boyfriend of 10 years dead from a drug overdose. Instead of that
making her afraid of drugs it pushed her towards them because they
helped her "cope." Her dad had a history of drugs and alcohol abuse.
They frequently used together. Some time later, Stephanie got caught
driving with alcohol, and every type of drug imaginable on her. She
was sentenced to one year in prison. Now she is at the rescue mission
finishing her prison sentence. She has found out that her dad is
dying due to drug and alcohol abuse of a long period of time. His
dying wish is that she would get clean and stay clean. She doesn't
really know if that is motivation enough for her. Her battle is so
intense. She told me there isn't a minute of the day that she doesn't
think about using drugs. She was addicted to heroin, and that can be
some of the worst stuff. I got to listen to her a lot and share with
her a lot. She would definitely say she's not a believer and she just
doesn't know what she really thinks about God. She told me she
doesn't care if she lives or dies and she hates herself. It's so hard
to know all the right things to say in situations like that, but I
walked through verses like John 3:16 and Rom. 6:23 with her. I drew
out the bridge diagram (a diagram showing how Christ bridges the gap created between God and man by sin) and gave it to her. We talked through sin, our
need for a savior, God coming and suffering for us, many deep spiritual
truths. I challenged her to read the gospel of John. When I got home
I mailed her a NIV study Bible. I hope that she will read it and
that God would pierce her heart with His truth. I pray that maybe he
used me to plant seeds that others will come along and water and one
day will yield the fruit of salvation in her life.

Boston Spring Break Update - Part II

The first story I will tell you is about a resident at the Boston Rescue Mission named Paul. Paul had been living at the Mission for about 4 months. He was addicted to alcohol, heroin, and oxycodon pills, to name a few. He has been divorced and has two sons and lots of nieces and nephews. His family has a hard time really trusting him because of the way drugs and alcohol have controlled his life. We met Paul early on during our visit to the Mission. Our third night there, I came up to our floor and saw Paul looking at the book of Philippians with one of the guys in my discipleship group, James. James was walking Paul and another guy named Billy through what he has learned in Philippians this semester. Paul just loved everything that James told him. He loved it so much that he gathered us together every night after that for a time of reading at the Bible and prayer. God really used our time at the Mission to impact Paul's life. While we were there, Paul told us a story about how he told some lady on the street that Jesus loved her (that was his way of sharing what he knew of the Gospel). We bought him a study Bible before we left so that he could continue the ritual we had started of looking at the Bible every night. It was cool to see Paul's desire for others living at the Mission to experience some of the same things that he had experienced. He would always try to get others to join our group at night, or he would get people together in a group so that they could hear some of the things we were talking about (the Gospel and Jesus Christ). Yesterday, i received a letter from Paul and here is what was in the letter: "God has blessed me by bringing a guy like you into my life to help understand there is a better way. Things are moving along for me one day at a time. God bless. please keep in touch." We have many more stories similar to this about how God used us in the lives of the residents at the Boston Rescue Mission that we will tell you over the next few weeks.

Boston Spring Break Update - Part I

We just recently returned from our Spring Break trip to Boston. We took 8 students (James, Drew, Jens, Emily, Adina, Tana, Kayleen, and Jamie) to live in the Boston Rescue Mission for one week. The Boston Rescue Mission, or Kingston House, houses between 20-50 guys and girls in a post detox program. The residents have just recently come from detox programs (or prison for all the girls), and they are in the process of trying to get their lives back together. Many of them have been addicted to alcohol, cocaine, and heroin. So for our trip, we went and lived amongst people in this program for one whole week. During the day, we worked at the mission cleaning up, doing the dishes, painting a closet, etc. At night, we devoted all of our time to getting to know the residents, hearing their stories, watching TV with them, and sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them. We saw God do a lot in our lives, the students' lives, as well as the lives of many of the residents. Over the next few weeks, we will be posting different stories about the people that we and our students interacted with on a daily basis over the last week in Boston.

Boston - Spring Break '08

We just returned from taking some students to work at the Boston Rescue Mission in downtown Boston for Spring Break. We will put up some pictures and write more of an update in the next few days.

Chicago Christmas Conference '07

A few pictures form our Christmas Conference in Chicago. If you would like to hear any of the talks or see some of the skits, then you can visit www.chicago07.org. These pictures are of all the guys form Northwestern, all the girls from Northwestern, and then Jennifer with Kayleen and Wendy (2 of the girls she leads in a small group).