Quote: Wayne Grudem

No believer should think himself or herself too foolish to read Scripture and understand it sufficiently to be made wise by it. 


The only foundation firm enough to rest one's faith on is the word of God itself..


That is encouragement to me!  And remember "encouragement is Red Bull for the soul."  (Prater)

Quote: RC Sproul

Resisting the lordship of Christ is not only sinful, but it is stupid, because God raised Him from the grave, placed Him at His right hand, and given Him all authority in heaven and on earth and has called every person to bow the knee before Him.

Week One: DONE

Well, our class of 23 men from 5 different countries bringing 65 kids along to Maryland has finished week one.

It was a wonderful slow start orientation week of getting to know one another and the staff of SG and Covenant Life Church.

Mostly we had the opportunity to get to know each other better.  I am truly looking forward to ten months of learning from these men.  As Gary R says "the greatest resource you have is each other." That is going to be so true.

Some highlights:

• Lunches with SG and CLC staff
• Meeting many SG staff that I have "known" but never met
• The "Athletic Assessment" with the PC men
• Getting a taste of learning from Jeff Purswell
• Having one PC family over for dinner this week, our goal is to have each family over at least once this year

And for those that know me best, part of my assigned reading for the weekend?  Grudem and Calvin.  Pinch me, I get to focus for 10 months on learning how to continually watch my life and doctrine closely.

Finally, for those of you who have supported us in so many ways, thanks you so much for making this possible for our family.  The thanks to each of you can never be said enough.

Soli Deo Gloria,

RFB

Earthquake in Maryland today!

I was sitting in my study room (man cave) in the basement when the whole house shook for a few seconds.  Becky was on the main floor and the girls upstairs in their room.  The girls had the greatest shaking and a picture fell off their wall.  We all met on the main floor and said "what happened?"  Well, after checking the news a 6.0 earthquake hit near by.

 ⁶By the word of the LORD the heavens were made,
   and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
⁷He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap;
   he puts the deeps in storehouses.
 ⁸Let all the earth fear the LORD;
   let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!
⁹For he spoke, and it came to be;
   he commanded, and it stood firm.  (Ps. 33)


Praise God that we are safe.  We can now add earthquake to our Maryland experience list!

Soli Deo Gloria,

RFB

CP at the PC

What?  We had a church planter (CP) at the Pastors College (PC) weekender.  The past three days the eight CP at the PC had the privilege of traveling to Covenant Fellowship Church to get to know one another and learn from the church planting team and some recent church planters.  My brain is still on overload, but it was a great weekend.  Some highlights:

• Dave Harvey teaching on ambition
• A panel of 3 church planters
• Mark Prater and Andy Farmer teaching and discussing the process of planting
• Philly cheesesteak and nerf gun wars.

We had a great time together.  I am looking forward to getting to know these men more in the weeks and months to come.

Soli Deo Gloria,

RFB

Quote: Mark Prater

Encouragement is Red Bull for the soul.

No posers plant churches with Sovereign Grace!  (Thanks for the encouragement Mark)

RFB

We Have Arrived!

We have been in Maryland for six days and still feel like we are drinking from a fire hose at times.  We have been so blessed by the love and support of Oasis Church in the helping pack the truck and clean the house on our way out, thanks again.  We also were greatly blessed by John driving out in the truck and helping unload/set up.  We were equally blessed by Becky M driving out with the girls and helping unpack/organize.  We could not have done it without the help of the body.  We love you guys!

We are getting settled and learning the area.  Our new home is nicer than we expected.  There is even a home school family a few doors down with girls the same age.  God has been so faithful to provide every step of the way.

We had a class picnic and the girls each made five or six friends, they were so excited.  Hope made a friend from Germany and is looking forward to learning about Germany.  I am slowly getting to know some of the guys in my class.  I am looking forward from learning from each of them.

I leave tomorrow for a three day pre-PC church planters weekend.  Please pray for God's grace and wisdom for our weekend and for the wives and kids at home.

Soli Deo Gloria

RFB