Mexico Pre-Trip Video

So I have to give props to Kyle Rock once again; this kid (I think he is a young man now) is super amazing! He took the footage we shot down in Mexicali and turned it into this!

Mexico Pre-Trip

We just got back from our Mexico Pre-Trip and it was quick! We left Henderson, NV about 5am on Thursday and headed south for Mexicali. I was so exhausted from only getting about 4 hours sleep the night before. We crossed the border about noon and stopped at a local taco shop where we meet us with the missionaries we are connected with from The Ensenada Project (I know, its not Ensenada). We also suprised our own Sarah Roney who is serving down there; she had no clue we were coming!
So after some decent tacos we headed to the hospital that has a dorm in the back where we will be staying. Checked that place out and then went over to meet Gustavo and his family. Gustavo is the Pastor we will be building a church for over spring break. He is a great guy and has a cool family. The site where the church will be is about 10 lots down from his house.
After that we headed to grab a hotel real quick and then off to dinner. Dinner was great and the peso is down so it was even cheaper! Got home and crashed out!!! I got up at about 2am and puked my little guts out! (still not sure why...) Went back to bed, woke up and headed home. The trip was great!
I took alot of notes so we will be well prepared going down there. Please pray for us as this adventure takes place and we take students down to serve in a foriegn country.

LOVE

Tomorrow night we start our "LOVE" series. Every year in our High School Ministry I try to do a series that focuses on either love or sex (students love it when we talk about sex!). This year we are doing love. Feb 11th is our invite night where we really challenge students to reach out to their friends. The last stat I heard was that 90% of High School Students would go to church if one of their friends would just invite them.
We are having food, some funny games, doing a raffle for some prizes and sharing the truth of Christ. As we kick off the love series are focusing on why we have love and where the ability to love came from. I have come to the conclusion that if we don't have Christ in our lives all the loving we do is false; its not eternal.
I am super excited to see how God will work tomorrow, pray for us!

Sophie's First Time Snowboarding

I know the video is side ways, but it was so fun!

Winter Camp Pic

This has to be the coolest winter camp picture that I have ever been apart of!
Thanks leaders for making camp so amazing this year.
(Click the picture and see how rad it looks!)

MADE Series

Last night we finished up our MADE series. The basic question that we have been asking in this series is: "Who are you being made into and do you like that person?"
That is a hard question to ask in a message (especially for 5 weeks in a row) but it has been great. We used Ephesians 4:22-24 as the theme verse for this message series. For the first two weeks we looked at verse 22 about the way we have once lived and how that is hard. The whole time we were trying to point students to living "the new life in Christ".

Here is how the 5 weeks broke down:
Week 1: A story of being MADE- Neal Benson
Week 2: How to leave the old life- Neal Benson
Week 3- Learning to trust- John Coovert
Week 4-Being outward focused- Neal Benson
Week 5- Faith= Growth- Neal Benson

Last night as we wrapped up the series we really tackled that being MADE into who God has called you to be is a process and that it is never finished. We talked about exercising your faith muscle and letting God use you on your campus to reach your friends. The main point was to get students to reach out to invite their friends to invite night on Wed Feb 11th. Please pray for us as we reach students in Vegas!

Family Pic

I love this pic from BrianHead, Utah at our winter camp

Explode Winter Camp 2009

Winter Camp was amazing! That is the only way that I can describe this years camp. About four years we decided to do High School Winter Camp on our own to really focus on Discipleship and help our students get connected with eachother. The result has been a huge learning experience for me and our team.
This year we had Chad Blood from Lifeway Church in Arlington, WA as our speaker. Charity and I interned under Chad in Eastlake, CA. Chad taught on the Full Armor of God and really brought the truth of Jesus this year; it was great to spend the weekend with him.
Marc Faircloth lead worship and just nailed it! I love the room we meet in because its not a show room; the place allows students to really connect with God.
The main thing that I have learned from doing camp on our own (literally we do it all: rent houses, rent vans, rent town hall, bring all the food) is that we cannot do it without our leaders. Leaders, if you read this thank you so much for loving our studetns and impacting their lives!
Once again, Kyle Rock made an amazing video to wrap up the weekend.

Visiting Daddy at Work

Sophie stopped in the office to see me today. This is before she spit-up on my leg

Cutest Kid Ever

Sophie is cutest kid ever!!!

Sophie Chilling with Daddy

Got a quick video of one of Sophie's favorite things to do

Encouraging Day

So I know that I haven't blogged in a long time and that is due to me being a slacker! Yesterday was such an encouraging day that I have to share with you guys who are praying for us and watching what God is doing here in Vegas.

On Sunday night I went to a families house to talk with their son, Stephen, about his drug problem. We had a great conversation and an hour and a half later I left to have small group. I received a call from a friend of Stephen sharing with me how Stephen gave his life to Jesus after I left. So I called Stephen yesterday and was able to talk with him. He shared with me about how he is not depressed anymore and that he is finally happy in life.
A little preface is that Stephen was in a car accident two months ago where his girlfriend was ejected from the truck and died on scene, needless to say this has been a hard time. He continued to share with me how he flushed all his pills and cocaine down the toilet. I was so happy I almost cried!

That night I spoke at church and here are two comments that students texted to me after the message was down:

"Wow so todays lesson really made me realize that I've been just surviving. I made the decision to give my life to Jesus tonight and I'm so happy I'm so excited for camp and I truly want to thank you so much"

This is another comment from a student leader who brought her friend for the first time, her friend sent her this and she sent it to me:

"That was amazing ;) thank you so much for inviting me. Its opened my eyes i guess you could say ;) however you put it. But yeah. Thanx ;)"

I am so excited about what God is doing here. As a youth pastor trying to encourage other youth pastors, dont forget these times that we have the chance to impact lives. I am so proud of our students and how they have reached out to their friends, last night was a great night of ministry. A special thanks to our leaders who are always there to love on kids and who I get to partner with; I dont want to do ministry without you guys!

Wrapping up 2008

Today Charity and I were talking and I shared how I wanted to give an update on all that we did this year. She came up with a great word; "Reflect". We both decided that too many times we fail to reflect on life and remember all that God has done for us. I know this post may be long, but I hope you enjoy reading/seeing what God has done for us this last year.

Winter Camp 2008
This year we did our own winter camp in BrianHead Utah. It was amazing! My buddy Joey Ross came and spoke and Aaron Hoffman lead worship. It was great to see our leaders all jump in and make it happen. We just rented houses and Town Hall and spent time with students. It was so good we are doing it again in 2009

Mexico Mission Trip
I was able to lead a team to a town just south of Ensenada Mexico to build a home for a family who didn't have one. There are some super cool missionaries down there; Rick and Tammie Romano. They have great hearts and run a super effective ministry down there called "The Ensenada Project". If you are looking for a place to serve, contact them!

Translating the Book of Ephesians
This year I took a class through Fuller Seminary where I was able to translate the book of Ephesians from Greek into English. I would say that it was the hardest assignment that I have ever accomplished. I was so happy to turn all the 150 pages of homework in for that class!

Italy Vacation
If you missed the posts from Italy you gotta go check them out! This was by far the best vacation that Charity and I have ever taken. We feel so blessed that we were able to do this before Sophie came. (Little unknown fact: while we were in Italy we thought that Sophie was going to be "Zachariah Charles Benson")









Sophie Marie Benson in the oven
Sophie is by far the best thing to happen to our family this year. Neither of us would know what to do without her!









Hume SD: Middle School
Middle School Camp... was rad! I had a great time with the 8th grade, soon to be 9th grade, boys. They were great and Evan Faircloth is a rad leader, but Chase Feindel really led that camp well! Thanks for all your hard work Chase.




Hume Lake: High School
The students that we brought this year were great, but our leaders did even better! I always tell other pastors that our leaders are one of the main reasons that I keep serving. Without there help and support I don't believe that our ministry would be as effective as it has been out here. Thank you leaders for all your hard work. It is not un-noticed!

Baby Shower
Thank you all so much for all you gave. A special thanks to the McComb's for opening their home to allow us to have the shower there; you guys are truly amazing!

The Arrival of Sophie Marie
You can search the blog back in August to get more updates (click here). Sophie was born on August 26th 2008. She is by far the most beautiful little girl that I have ever seen in the world. Thank you Jesus for letting us have her!





Learning Hebrew
In the Fall I started on my Old Testament work for Seminary. I am currently, almost, half way done with my masters of Divinity from Fuller Seminary. Hebrew has been a huge challenge, but has taught me so much! Wanna see the Hebrew Alphabet? Check this out!

Thanksgiving in So Cal
We had a great chance to do a little So Cal tour this year at Thanksgiving time where we were able to see Charity's parents and my family. It was a great time with family. Click for pics

My Expanded Role at South Hills
This year we had an opening that I noticed on our staff: we had no one championing missions. I prayed that if God wanted me to help with it that my pastor would ask me. About a week later him and I were talking and now I am creating an Outward Team at our church that will be focused on evangelism and serving. I am pretty excited about this opportunity and the chance to grow in my leadership. Thanks for trusting me and letting me lead Bret!

These are just some of the memorable events from the year. Thank you so much for all of you that have prayed for us, supported us to reach students, helped me go on a mission trip and have just been there as our friends. You appreciate all of you!

Sophie's First Christmas

Sophie opening her first Christmas present

The announcements that got away

So last week we canceled Explode, our High School Ministry, because of the snow. I think that will be the only time we cancel church in Las Vegas because of snow. If you have 5 min and want to laugh, watch this ditty its quite the laugh...

The Day it Snowed in Vegas

So you may have heard that we got snow here in Vegas. It started snowing on Wed, Dec 17th and snowed until about 11pm that night. I was bummed because we had to cancel invite night, but I was able to go home and see my family. Here are some of the pictures that we have from that night and the next day.

Sophie was chilling, she is so beautiful!













Here is Charity with Sophie outside our condo

















Then on Thursday we went out to Red Rock. The whole time was amazing!













Here the Mountains to the west, they looked so amazing!

Snow Update

I have to post this because its Wednesday December 17th @ 1:09pm in Las Vegas, NV. It has been snowing for the last two hours here! That is right, it is snowing in Las Vegas. I grew up in Big Bear Lake, CA and know what real "snowing" looks like. I am shocked, excited, impressed and want to go snowboarding. Too bad its not sticking.

Sold my x-box

Yep, that rights. I sold my x-box 360 on eBay yesterday. Charity and I started talking about getting a Wii about 3 weeks ago and asked for one for Christmas. After we asked we started talking about it more and decided that we don't need two game systems. I thought about it more and decided that if my wife will play Wii with me than I will sell my x-box 360.
So right now my x-box is sitting in a box all packed up and waiting to be shipped (the buyer on eBay still needs to pay). Once that happens we are on the look out for a great deal on a Wii. We will probably buy a used one on eBay to save money.
It has been really cool with Charity not working and us having the time to spend together and also to be wiser with our money, we are really seeing God work!

Winter Camp is coming!

The other night at Explode I asked our leaders to pray for winter camp to Brian Head Utah, Jan 23-25. I asked them to pray, either verbally or non-verbally, every time they eat a meal for God to work in our winter camp. I wanted to ask you all if you would be willing to do the same? We did this for Hume Lake and saw God really move.
Yesterday at our student leadership meeting we created a “hit list” of students that we will be praying for them to come to camp. I will do my best to get this out to you all this week. Thanks so much for supporting what God is doing here with your prayers, I am excited to see God move in another camp!
If you are willing to give this your best shot will you please respond to me and just let me know?
Thanks a bunch!

Africa Update #4

Straight from my pastor:

Just a quick update from our team--
First, our team is GREAT. They are hard workers and Jesus lovers. We are almost done with construction on a new church building/Youth Center on the edge of Ouaga. The weather has been the dream of most people— high 80’s during the day—we’re going to come home with great tans!
Yesterday, Chase, Evan Faircloth and I traveled several hours to the home village of Victor (in our church). Victor was Chase’s roommate for quite a while before getting married recently. Victor had us take a bunch of stuff for his family for Christmas. It was amazing to travel to this REALLY African village (and we have been to several villages in our trips here). Wait til you see the pictures. I wish you could have sat with us in the bush taxi and been there when it broke down out in the middle of nowhere! Thanks for your prayers.

We shared Christ with 55 kids two days ago at our work site.
We are leading the Youth Group here in the capitol city for all the English-speaking kids (30-40).
We are thankful for your love, prayers and support. Nobody has been sick at all— well, Connie got car sick this morning! Everyone is in great spirits.