Brenner-Beckstead Ministries: News/Journal

COLORADO SPRINGS
We had the joy of going to Pike’s Peak MCC for the first time this year. We got to reunite with Rev. Wes Mullens who we originally met a few years ago at one of the Regional Conferences. We want to again congratulate Rev.Wes on his new position as the Senior Pastor there. Our concert went well and there is an interesting story to go along with this church. After the concert, we were treated to dinner at a Mexican restaurant in downtown Colorado Springs. We were thoroughly impressed by the downtown and it's so funny when we always say that we could live in this city! (We usually say it about each town that we visit!) One of the people in this town happened to see that we were coming to Pike's Peak. She was checking out our website and saw that we were going to be in Ft Myers at the MCC there. She decided that she would contact her sister and let her know about us. She continued to check our website and got to the photos and realized that her sister was already on our website! We had the pleasure to meet her sister and her partner the very first year that we had been at St John the Apostle. We all had a good laugh and realized what a small world it really can be! Thank you for letting us share our ministry with each of you.



DENVER
What a time we had in Denver! We hooked up with our good friend Andi on Saturday and hung out with her daughter Dondrea and her granddaughter Emily. We met Andi at our home church in Omaha when she came to speak one Sunday. She treated us to a very fun time in town and we got to take our first bus ride! Denver has a cool bus system and even cooler yet is their light rail. We never made it onto the rail system but we wanted to get on just to see what it was like, although we had no destination in mind. It’s probably good that we didn’t because we might not have found our way back in time! Andi’s daughter, Dondrea, is a fabulous person and she and her husband work with the homeless youth in Denver. Their daughter Emily is a hoot! The innocence of a child is amazing! Although she is only three, we could all learn a few lessons from this one. She loves Jesus and when she is acting up she goes and asks Jesus for a change of her attitude. This happened while we were eating out and she left and came back and she truly was all better. I wish it were that easy for me, but I can’t to get myself out of the way.

We played at the MCC of the Rockies on Sunday morning and had a concert that night. I was blessed to have their band, Back Pew, play along with me on We Stand Amazed and it was great. Thank you to them for being gracious enough to join me. They are a talented bunch and they have a good time! We came back that night and did our concert and we were energized by everyone’s spirit. The crowd was great and we made some new friends in Denver!

TOPEKA
We were home for only a few days when we left for Topeka. They have a fairly new church home and the building is great! It had a lot of space and the sanctuary was beautiful. We did a couple of numbers in the morning and came back to do a concert in the evening. The congregation was truly welcoming and we met a lot of wonderful people. Our hosts, Nancy and Terry, went out of their way to make sure that our stay was comfortable and we appreciate their hospitality. We were also able to see another old friend that we met at Regional Conference, Rev. Patrick and we also met his partner Derrick. We had good fellowship and talked about exchanging out musicians and Pastors some Sunday.

Hi everybody! Here will be heading to out to Topeka this weekend and this is our first entry since leaving Omaha in June. It has been a very busy summer. For those of you who haven't seen us in the last few weeks, I have to tell you a funny story about the very beginning of our trip.

Our son, Justin, is house-sitting for us and we were only 45 miles outside of Omaha when we got our first call from him. After he said hello, he told us that the fire department had just left the house. We were about to turn our car around when he told us what had happened. You see, he was grilling a steak for breakfast to celebrate his new independence of being alone for the next 21 days. It was rainy which made the grill very smoky and so someone from our neighborhood must have called the fire department thinking our house was on fire. We think Justin was calling us first before a neighbor got in touch with us.


Tallahassee—Gentle Shepherd
Being the novice travelers that we are, we forgot to consider the time change between Omaha and Tallahassee when planning our arrival time. We were traveling along thinking that we were making great time when Jeannie called us and asked us what time we would be arriving. The church was having a spaghetti dinner before our concert and she wanted to make sure that we would arrive in time to eat. We assured her that we would. A little while later, the phone rings again...and again it's Jeannie. After chatting awhile, we realize that we have not taken into account that we lose an hour along our journey. Now we see why she was getting concerned. We arrived at 6:15 pm, in time to change our clothes, say hello to everyone and get setup for the concert started.

Gentle Shepherd purchased a new church since last year when we were here and it's a great site. They have so many opportunities with this property. The concert was fun and it was great to see familiar faces and meet new people, including some children. As it turned out, we had some spaghetti after all because Patti was kind enough to take us home some so that we could eat afterwards.

We again were hosted by Patti and Jeannie and it was wonderful to stay with people we call friends. We also got to see Kiwi the bird. I don't think we have told you about him, but he talks! We were fascinated by him last year because he sang “Hey Good Lookin.” This year he was a little shy and only said “Good Morning” and a line from “Happy Birthday.” And then after we got back on the road, we entertained ourselves to see who had the best Kiwi voice.


St Petersburg—King of Peace
The next evening we stopped at King of Peace. We met Pastor Candace Shultis who is the new pastor. We also got to meet Pastor Gloria who was the founding pastor of the church back in the 70s. It was a great honor to be able to meet her. We haven't been to King of Peace for a couple of years, so we knew a few faces, but we also met many new people that night. We shared a meal afterwards and we want everyone to know that Stella is one of the finest cooks we have been so fortunate to meet. King of Peace does a nice job of creating a worship and fellowship opportunity for its congregation.

Ft Myers—St John the Apostle
On Sunday morning, we worshiped with Pastor Steve and his congregation as we brought the songs and stories to the service. Over the course of a couple of years, we have gotten to know congregants by name and a little bit about their lives, so going to St. John is a bit of a homecoming for us. Florida churches are beginning the “Would Jesus Discriminate” campaign, a campaign that we support. They were very kind and gave us our own t-shirts. For those would like to know more about the campaign, check out the denomination's website at WouldJesusDiscriminate.com or Jesus.com.

We had a fun time at the service and we want to thank Jodie and Rex for their help with sound and Velma for keeping in touch with emails. We had a wonderful lunch with Robert and Bob which has become an annual tradition, and this year, their friend Tim joined us which was a very nice addition. We went back that evening to enjoy being a congregant at their Sunday evening service. They have started a contemporary service and it was very uplifting! Thank you for welcoming us with open arms.

When we got back into Omaha, we wore our WJD shirts while out running errands. Linda remembered what Robert told her to say if anyone asked about the shirt, and while at Walgreens, one woman stopped her after reading the shirt and said that, of course, Jesus would not discriminate—we are all his children. Linda told her to check out the website, just like Robert suggested. It was surprising to both of us that just wearing the T-shirts can get the conversation started.

West Palm Beach—MCC of the Palm Beaches
It rocked!! Our Saturday night concert was rocking! We had a great crowd who enjoyed clapping and singing. And of course, we got to hang with our good friend, Shawn Thomas. By the way, if any of you have not heard Shawn’s music, you are missing out. He was in Omaha in April and performed a concert at our church and he rocked! You can check out his website at shawnthomasonline.com. We felt particularly special when we arrived and our Omaha church had sent us flowers saying they loved us. We want to thank Barry Beard for helping to arrange this.

One of the ways our faith gets tested is when it's so close to the start time for a concert or service and only a few people are sitting in the pews, and so we got a little pop quiz from God that night. We always say that we can have a great concert even if there are only three people there and we are two of them. That night it was about 6:50 p.m. and no one had arrived yet and Susie and Shawn started talking about making the evening a jam session. And then we were surprised when everyone showed up about the same time. As it turned out, it was a great evening and we were nourished by everyone's enthusiasm—especially on a holiday weekend.

We want to thank Shawn who did a great job running sound and to Pastor Paul for allowing us to come.

Port St Lucie, Melbourne—East Coast MCC
Pastors Jerry and Mike are among the most hardworking men we've met. They travel to two cities each Sunday and perform three services, each its own unique style. East Coast MCC's have a special place in our hearts because during our first tour, we called the pastors and they said yes, we could come to their church. It's not always easy to get invited to a church—we knock on a lot of doors—and we were blessed to have made that call because we made a lifelong connection with them.

We started the morning at Port St Lucie where we saw a few familiar faces but met many new people. It is always wonderful to have a congregant come with their Mom, which happened here. We got to talk to her for awhile and it is truly that all parents can't be as accepting as this woman was of her son.

In Melbourne, to our surprise, we performed two services. We thought we were just going to be congregants for the traditional service and perform for the contemporary service, but then we found out that wasn't true. We were excited about the opportunity to be part of both services, and so Susie revised her song list for the traditional service. One of our favorite traditional songs to perform is “When the Roll is Called Up Yonder.” Our friend Robbie Parker from Kansas City is the pianist for the song and performance track and the music is amazing. Our favorite story to tell about him is that he is a great musician, but plays by ear which means he makes up the accompaniment as the spirit moves him. There's been times, though, that he doesn't always remember how he played the song since the last performance and so we think it's funny that we sometimes need to play the CD to remind him what he did. Robbie has provided backup vocals with Susie on all her CDs and has a special place with us for sharing his talent. Best of all, he is among the kindest, most spiritual people you'll ever meet.

We enjoyed being able to spend time with the people from Melbourne and had two great services and a relaxing, fun dinner afterwards.

Pensacola—Holy Cross MCC
There is a magic that exists for us when we perform at Holy Cross. Pastor Sandy graciously allowed us to be a major part of the Sunday morning service and it was a great experience. The congregation enthusiastically sang and clapped to Susie's music and laughed to Linda's stories. There was an infectious, spiritual energy at this church and it ignited all of us while we were sang and praised God. What was especially great was the positive support given by the praise musicians who took a Sunday off while we were there.

We want to thank Bea for running sound and Jess and Rev. Miriam who helped us get set up. We also want to thank our hosts Rick and his partner for sharing great conversation when we arrived Saturday night, a beautiful place to stay, and delicious quiche for breakfast. We were glad we were able to spend time with Serena, Michelle, and their beautiful daughter Sunday afternoon. We continue to be in awe of Michelle whose Christian walk is evident in everything she says and does. After having a delicious brunch that included the best stuffed French toast, we left Pensacola on a spiritual high that continues to nourish us.

We want to thank everyone who came to see us and also for those of you who have been keeping us in your prayers! We have been blessed by all of you we've met for the first time and renewed by all of our friends we were fortunate to connect with during this trip. Thanks to each of you who made this possible through your donations and prayers, and especially to the pastors who shared their church and congregations with us. We look forward to seeing you again and may God bless each one of us richly!

We are gearing up for Omaha Pride this weekend. It is in a new location this year so it will be interesting to see how it works out. I will be performing with the MCC Praise Band on the Pride Stage and later performing by myself in the evening. (I always said that Linda couldn't have a mic but she is actually a praise singer now.)

We are blessed to have a great community here in Omaha and the Pride Festival is always fun. Linda said tonight that we have to get our beads out so that we are in the colors!!

My good friend Barry Beard wrote some words for an anthem for the Rainbow Flag and I put it to music. We are performing it twice this weekend so it will be our debut of the song! He did an excellent job!

Hope to see all you who live in and around Omaha at Pride this weekend!!

And then there's packing for Florida which is a whole other story!

Be safe and Rock on Jesus!

We performed at the MCC in Joplin yesterday, Saturday, and we had a great time. Rev Steve greeted us and made us feel right at home. The service went well and the congregation was very friendly and loving. We went to lunch and enjoyed conversation and wonderful fellowship! We want to thank Rev Steve and the congregation of MCC Joplin for allowing us to start our tour there!

However, I do have to tell you something funny about our trip back to Springfield from Joplin. We did great while we are on Interstate 44. But then we needed to decide which exit we needed to get off on to get back to my Dad's house. They told us the night before, just look at the exit number when you get onto the interstate in the morning. Well, we forgot and we drove about 10 miles past Springfield and then we turned around and drove back 20 miles. I was just sure we needed a certain exit and that was farther back. We did get off on what I thought might get us back to my Dad's but it was a very different route than the one we had come on previously. We drove and drove and finally we came to a T in the road. Linda asked which way and I said very confidently to go right. We went for awhile and finally she was just asking me if I was sure we were going the right way when we came to a stoplight and the road was one that we had traveled on to get to my Dad's house. We were so excited and proud that we had found our way back. We both decided we should turn right and after about 5 miles decided we were going the wrong way. So, we turned around and went back the other direction. For some reason after we had traveled for awhile the other direction, we were getting very confused, but then we saw another road that we knew. I read the directions that we originally had and knew that we should turn around againg and go in the same direction we had just come from and so we did. By this time, we are laughing and can't figure out why we can't get home. So, we turn around one more time and finallly find the road that we needed to get home. At one point we called my Dad and he asked where we were, but we were never really sure and we told him we would figure it out. Our drive to Joplin only took an hour but our return trip back took over two hours!

Hopefully we can find our way home tomorrow as we head back to Omaha for a few days before we are off to Kansas City to visit family.

Linda and I have had an interesting last three months. Most of you don't know that I broke my ankle three months ago and although you'd think that I would be fully healed that isn't the case. I am still on one crutch, sometimes, although by doctor's orders I am still supposed to be doing that all the time. I keep telling Linda that I will know that I'm healed when I walk into the living room of our house and there is not a bed in there. But, we are looking forward to getting started on our summer tour again. We have been very blessed to not only be returning to some of the places we've been before, but also to include a few new churches in our travels this summer.

After our concert at The MAX this Saturday, we will be leaving for our first stop, which is the MCC in Joplin, Missouri. We want to thank our friend, Shawn Thomas, for putting in a good word for us. Shawn visited our church here in Omaha last month and put on a great show! If you haven't ever heard him, check him out at shawnthomasonline.com. He is very talented and we are blessed to call him friend.

Again, we are very excited to get started this summer! We look forward to seeing our old friends and making new ones!

May God continue to bless each of us richly!

Susie and Linda

Hey everybody! We are almost done shaping our summer tour and we will let you know all of the places we will be stopping in the next few weeks!

Our last stop before heading back to Omaha was at the Ft Collins MCC. We had met some of the people that morning at Rendevouz and enjoyed meeting the rest of the congregation that evening. It was fun to hear stories about our Pastor Tom and it was touching to see how very loved he was there in Ft Collins.

The service went well and we had a great time meeting everyone after it ended, The congregation was very welcoming and kind and we again felt like we were family. Sometimes after church, we go out and eat with some of the congregation, but everyone was tired and so we hugged and thanked them for allowing us to share with them and then went on our way. We were hungry so we stopped at this Mexican restaurant several blocks from the church. There were many restaurants to choose from but decided on this particular one because of the name. We were seated and just getting ready to order when Rev. Ken and another congregant appeared. Rev Ken said that he felt the Spirit telling him to go to that particular restaurant to see us and chat with us. It was amazing that we hadn't said anything about eating and especially nothing about the place that we were going to eat. But, it was a wonderful conversation and we shared laughs among friends

Thank each of you at Ft Collins for making our trip a blessed one and we hope to see you again soon!

Monday, August 6th

Why do the rides home always seem the longest? Is it just that you had so much fun, but you're tired and ready to get home to your own bed? Well, that's how I think we are feeling right now. We are writing as we are traveling home from our trip to the Wyoming Rendevous and from doing the service at Ft. Collins Family of Christ MCC in Colorado.

We had a fabulous time at Rendevous. It was held in the mountains between Laramie and Cheyenne. Pastor Tom called and invited us to help with the Spiritual Service that was being held on Sunday morning. Rev. Ken Pilot from the Ft. Collins MCC was hosting it. One thing that Pastor Tom didn't elaborate on were the details of the camping location. He explained that it was in the mountains and it was just a great experience. What he neglected to tell us was that it was an unimproved site, which when we found out, we weren't exactly sure what that meant. Actually, I was very frightened at what I thought that meant. We had to call the office of Wyoming Equality, who hosted the event, to find out some details and it was there that we found out exactly what unimproved meant. The first thing I asked is if there were showers, because I automatically assumed that there were restrooms. She informed me that they were having portable showers brought in. Again, I wasn't sure what that meant. The one thing that I did ask was if they were private and she said yes, which was a relief for us. If they brought in the showers, I was worried about what else they brought in. My next question was not about the restrooms, which is probably what you are thinking, it was if there was electricity, so that we might curl our hair! When she said no electricity, I told her that I might have to go buy a butane curling iron and she laughed at that. Finally, I asked about the restrooms and she said they brought port-a-potties in for the group to use. Well, all the way there, I just kept thinking that this was going to be some experience and it definitely was!

We didn't arrive until dusk and it truly was out in the forest in the mountains. We drove up roads that made us glad that we had the Jeep and not the Mazda. After driving up and around several forest service roads, we arrived at our destination. We went to register and the people welcomed us to Rendevouz. Then we set out to look for a campsite. We were looking for just the right camping spot so we drove around the different roads. People had been arriving since Wednesday when the festival actually started, so most of the prime locations were taken and it was getting darker by the minute. Linda was getting concerned but I told her it would be alright, it was better to find a spot where we could put our tent under some trees and still be able to build a fire. We finally settled on a place on top of a hill with a tree nearby, but needless to say, the tent didn't make it under a tree. We pulled up the Jeep closer onto the grass and were getting ready to park when we ran over a big rock that high-centered the Jeep. We were stuck! We tried to get away from that rock, but we weren't able to move backwards or forwards. (Imagine Linda pushing the Jeep :) Then, our first angel, whose name was Louis, came to our rescue. He asked us if we needed help and we accepted quickly. We told him our dilemma and after taking a few minutes to surmise the situation, he manuevered the Jeep off of the rock and we were free. We thanked him and he went on his way. We still stayed in the same location, we just chose another spot to park. So here we were! By this time, it was completely dark and we decided that we needed to get out our flashlight, the lantern and tent we had borrowed.

I was starting to wonder how we would put this tent up in the dark, but it said on the instructions it was just a 1,2,3 thing and it was up. How hard could that be? Well, before we even got the tent out, our next two angels arrived and asked if we needed help with our tent. We hesitated a minute because we didn't want to bother them, but then they explained that Louis had been down and had told them about our rock incident. So, they decided that we probably needed the help, so we accepted and man, it was a good thing. It was a little more than just a 1,2,3 thing but they put it up fairly quickly while Linda and I held the lights. I am absolutely sure that we would have ended up sleeping in the car that first night had they not come and helped us. We are extremely grateful to Louis and to the others who helped us with the tent and we knew that God had sent the angels to help us!

The next morning we arose and it was a bit chilly, but we decided we would check out this shower thing. So we walked down and the first thing we saw was that it cost $2 for a bucket of water that the people warmed up for you. We ventured over and took a look at this thing called a shower and decided that it wouldn't be that bad. The shower consisted of a PVC pipe frame with tarps around each one. You put the handle in the bucket and then you had a foot switch to press the make the water come out. Linda and I decided we could share a bucket of water because we weren't going to be in there very long because of the outside temperature. It didn't quite work out that way. I thought I had saved Linda enough water, but when she got in, she started running out of water before she had totally rinsed. The boys next door asked her if she needed more water because the pump started making this suction noise to indicate the water was gone. She declined and decided she would be alright without another bucket. By the next day, we were pros at figuring out the shower system.

Among the things that we did was to go to a couple of shows, There was a live band on Saturday night and we danced to a variety of music. We even got to practice our two-step.

On Sunday morning, we helped Pastor Tom and Rev. Ken with the worship service that had been planned for Sunday morning. It was a wonderful service and there were about 30 people there. It was a great chance to share MCC with those people that don't have the opportunity to worship weekly at a place where they can worship in honesty and truth. Of course, some of the people were the surrounding areas and had an MCC near them, but there is not an MCC in Wyoming.

We had such a great time and met such great people!! We can't wait until next year comes around so that we can go again!

Monday, July 23rd

On Sunday morning, we reached St. John the Apostle in Ft. Myers and were greeted by Pastor Steve. He hugged us and made us feel like we had just returned home. We introduced him to Rob Parker, who many of you know is from Kansas City. Rob played the piano and sang harmony on all of the CDs we've recorded. He flew in on Wednesday night to spend some time with us and perform with us that morning.

St. John the Apostle is one of the first churches we visited on our summer tour a couple of years ago. It has been the church that we have returned to the most and we have enjoyed getting to know the congregation a little bit better each time.

During the service, Rob played the piano and sang harmony on a couple of songs. We also sang “I Can Only Imagine” together.

Rob is a very talented musician and singer, but there's one thing that most people don't know about him. He plays by ear and can't read music, however, he can take the chords to a song and create beautiful accompaniment, like he did for “Nadine's Song.” But the funny thing about Rob is that he can never play the same thing twice. When I'm rehearsing with him, he does some great stuff, but he just feels the music and then when I ask him to play that again, he sometimes doesn't remember what he just played. He was listening to “Nadine's Song” at a church service in Omaha and thought that it was a great piano part, but he wasn't sure that he was who recorded it until I told everyone that he was in the congregation. Now he said he needs to listen to the CD so that he can figure out the piano part so he can perform live with me the next time I do the song. And by the way, he did a beautiful job playing and singing in Ft. Myers and we would like to thank him for being so gracious with his time and talent.

We would like to thank Pastor Steve and the congregation for allowing us to visit once again. It is such a great experience to worship with our family. We look forward to the next time we visit.

Monday, July 16th

We are traveling back to Bonita Springs which is our home base after performing at Gentle Shepherd MCC in Tallahassee last night. It is a 6 hour drive, which means for us, it is at least a 7 hour drive. We tend to have to use the ladies room a few times during our trip.

Last night again was like a family reunion seeing familiar faces that we met last year on our way through Tallahassee. Then also, there were the new friends that we acquired after last night's worship service. It was sort of a combination concert and service, but the Spirit was truly in that church last night. There are a lot of times when the congregation comes up afterwards and tells you how much they enjoyed the service and then there's times that congregants come up and share their story and tell you how much they were blessed by what you had to say, that somehow what you said had a big impact on them. Last night was like that and that is one of the greatest blessings that we can receive to hear right then from someone that they needed to hear the stories we told that. Sometimes we never know who or if we may have touched someone, but there have been times that people emailed us later and let us know how we impacted their lives. No matter which way it happens, we believe that we are following the calling that God has laid on our hearts and we continue to pray that we might always let the Spirit lead us wherever we need to go.

We want to thank the congregation of Gentle Shepherd for allowing us to worship with them and we were blessed by their presence. We would like to especially thank Kathy for setting up sound, Jeannie, for running sound, and also thank her and Patty for hosting us. Two people that we did not get to thank were Kathy and Rebecca, who so graciously paid for our dinner after the service and never said a word about it. They had already left when the waiter told us that our bill was taken care of, so a special thank you goes out to them for their kind generosity.

Monday, July 9
Linda and I want to thank you for your generous support and prayers. Without your help, Brenner-Beckstead Ministries wouldn't be possible. Because of the money raised at our benefit concert and donations since then, including monthly sponsors, we will be able to complete our summer tour.

Linda and I have always said that as long as three people were at a service, that we were meant to be there. And those three persons included ourselves. We are very blessed to have people from the various congregations house us while we are in their town, but we have to pay for hotels on the way. Between that and gas, traveling can become costly.

I wanted to share a question that someone asked me about how donations and money from sales are used for this ministry. Although we raised a sizable amount of money for our tour, there are still expenses associated with replenishing our merchandise, in addition to daily living expenses while we are away. Also, some people may not know that I took an eight week leave of absence without pay and so we still have to meet the needs of paying for our bills and our home. So while your money makes the tour possible, the money raised from love offerings and merchandise sales help pay expenses back home.

In the last two years, we have nearly broken even and our goal remains the same. That goal is what we feel God calls us to do which is a full-time, year-round traveling ministry. We want everyone to know about God's all-inclusive love and we pray that at least one person is touched by our stories and music at each church we visit. We feel especially honored that the Omaha community has embraced us with their support and love.

Thank you and may God bless each of us richly!



Tuesday, July 10
Hello everyone! As many of you know, we left for Florida on Monday. We had planned to leave Omaha at 1pm but didn't actually get of town until 7pm. However, we did make it to St. Louis which was our goal, but we arrived at 3:15 am. Our original intention was to pack after the service on Sunday, but we decided we needed some downtime instead. We loved spending our last Sunday with our MCC-Omaha family. The energy was amazing and the Spirit could definitely be felt during the service.


Wednesday, July 11
It was another family reunion when we arrived in Pensacola for our concert at Holy Cross-MCC. There's nothing better than seeing familiar faces and meeting new people. Our concert was originally scheduled to be in their new building, but due to unexpected setbacks, it was moved outside a warehouse which they were using for office space. For us, it was exciting to hear the music come out of the speakers into the open air. What Susie and I hadn't considered was the possibility of rain, but the pastor and congregation had a plan arranged in advance. The rain came despite the concert, but this group was fast and within fifteen minutes, speakers and chairs were moved inside and arranged for the indoor setting.

When I think about the concert and Holy Cross, it was so great working with Melissa on sound or to look into the congregation and seeing people sing with the music. It was also wonderful to visit with people after the concert and hear about their lives. We were touched by Rick's and Paxton's generosity to house us and Pastor Sandy and Debbie's treat at McGuire's. But the best part was to be with our family praising God.


Thursday, July12
We are on our way to Bonita Springs as I write this entry. It's a ten hour drive from Pensacola to Susie's dad's home, but the interstate has little construction and so the drive is easy. When we arrive, we'll have been in the car 28 hours split between four days.

People usually ask us whether we are flying or if we have an RV or bus. At first we thought flying would be too costly, but while we had time to consider it, flying would probably break even after considering the hotel stays needed to break up such a long drive. As for the bus, there's just two of us right now, and so until the band joins us, the Jeep will do.

There's probably many of you who are the main driver which means you're on Linda's team. Susie gives me a break and drives for a few hours to break up the long stretches. But I have to give her credit for driving for up to four hours at a time in the last couple of days. But when it's my turn to drive, she has plenty of advice from the passenger seat. And although she was navigating when we got lost yesterday on our way to Pensacola, it didn't bother me. I knew we would still arrive on time, and now she couldn't complain about the time I got us so lost in Tampa that I lost navigator privileges for a day.

And so I'm curious, what do you all do during long car trips? For us, we rarely play the radio or CDs unless Susie's practicing before we arrive at a church. For the most part, we spend a lot of time talking, dreaming, creating. Susie brings her Traveler guitar and we sing or sometimes she composes. I've tried writing in the car, but it's not a good space for me. I just don't feel very creative. We also read to each other. She'll read a newspaper to me while I drive, or I'll read a devotional or a chapter from a book I'm reading (usually something from Anne Lamott). Susie also just learned to text, and so she'll text friends and call people to reconnect. Occasionally someone naps, but for us, because our lives are so busy during the school year, the hours we are in the car is precious.

Sunday, July 15th
I am sure you all are wondering what happened to us. We have been writing little entries every few days, but we have had an internet connection issue, so it has been impossible to get these to our web mistress, Carla Petersen. Last year when we were traveling, we used my phone as a modem and it didn't work very well, so our wireless opportunities have been limited to hotel stays. Of course, my Dad has a computer, but let me tell you, I haven't dealt with dial-up in a very long time and now I know why. It is impossible to wait to get on and then to try to move from site to site. I can log on, go take a shower, come back to sign on, then go eat and finally I am on the internet. But, then I have no patience when trying to maneuver from place to place. I don't know how people can deal with it! My Dad has finally decided to change to an “improved dial-up.” I'm not sure what that means, but it still doesn't sound to great to me. And the story doesn't end there! Last night, we decided to go to a WiFi coffee shop which ended up being a time. We went to Starbucks and they closed at eight on a Saturday night. We were determined to find a place to connect so that we might send our stuff to Carla. On the way to dinner, we had seen a Barnes and Noble, so we went and tried there. They stayed open until 11pm, so we thought that we had found the perfect place! Then we got in to the cafe, settled in, tried to log on , but had no success. Linda went to the counter and the young guy told her that they had horrible service there, but if we wanted to walk around the mall, we could get onto the mall internet service. Needless to say, we had had it, so we packed up and went home.
So, now we are back in the car traveling to Tallahassee. It is a 6 hour drive and I, of course, have already driven my hour and a half. So Linda is driving and I am playing the navigator.

Please keep us in your prayers as we continue our travels. And also, keep Mia, our boxer, in your prayers. Sandy, our friend and house sitter, is doing an excellent job, but when we last talked to her, she said that Mia has been being a little bit bad. Mia likes to get into things and so we put child locks on all of our cabinets in the kitchen. She used to take out the food in the lazy suzan, take it upstairs and eat whatever wonderful treat she had decided upon, on the bed. We found that she wasn't particular, one day it was a brownie mix, one day might be rice, and the final straw was the vegetable oil. We had to find a solution and that was to use the child locks. Well, she must be having a little separation anxiety, because Sandy says that now she is getting out things from the bathroom cabinet. When we talked to her today, she told us that when she walked into the house from church, she found toilet paper strung all over the place. If only we had a camera set up to see her activities while we are gone. We also have a Schnauzer named Andy and I am sure that he plays a part in things once Mia has gotten them started.

We feel blessed to have the help of our friends during this tour, house sitting, taking care of our lawn and other miscellaneous things that go on in the upkeep of a home.

Going to Great Falls is like going to a family reunion where it's great to see the family we already know and still get to meet a few more cousins. That's exactly the way it felt when we arrived at the new church on Saturday afternoon and were greeted by Steve, Kyle and Ed. The concert Saturday evening was great and it was a lot of fun having the congregation join in the singing. We did have a couple of God moments that evening. Linda did not understand how to make the CD player play this one song and although we tried several times, it just would not play that particular one. After returning to the hotel that evening, Linda and I revised our music for the next morning and moved the song, which was “I Can Only Imagine,” to the Sunday service. We discovered that this song and “Nadine's Song” truly touched several people. While Linda's stories received several laughs, it also gave the congregation something to consider for their individual journeys. The music with the combination of Linda's stories truly had an emotional effect during that service. The other God thing that happened was when Linda was switching CD's and realized she needed more time, she sent up a prayer asking God to buy her some time and my guitar fell over, which hasn't happened quite like before. Coincidentally, Linda got the time she prayed for. The fellowship we shared with the congregation of this church was truly a blessing because they are a blessed church with an anointed Pastor.

We arrived in Billings around 10 o'clock at night and from the highway, the lights of the city were beautiful. The next day we arrived at the Loft and met Ron, one of the owners, and we had previously met Bill, who is the other owner, at our concert at The MAX. The Loft is a really cool place because it has a great dance floor, a quieter-type bar and a casino all in one. After setting up in the dance bar, we went over to the other side where they were having Karaoke, so I decided to do a couple of songs. Later we opened the concert with “Amazing Grace” to the tune of the “House of the Rising Sun.” One of our best memories was watching people dance to Christian music. Bobbi and Kris from Omaha would have been right at home. The evening ended with an encore of “I Choose You.” We enjoyed visiting with people before and after the concert and hope to return next year. We would like to thank Freddy who ran sound, and by the way, has a wonderful voice, and thanks to Bill and Ron for inviting us.

Our tour began on June 20th when we left for Montana. We actually left a day early because we thought that Billings was 17 hours away from Omaha, however, it was only a 12 hour drive. So, we decided to play tourist for an afternoon. I had never seen Mount Rushmore and so we left Rapid City and headed for the hills. We arrived and went thru the gate to pay for parking and all was well. We got a little confused because our ticket said #3 on it and we had taken the wrong turn to go into parking lot 3. So, we ended up exiting the park and driving back through the gate. Lucky for us that the ticket was good all year. We headed up to the parking area once more and missed parking lot #3 again! We were laughing and I told Linda that I hoped we didn't have to go thru the gate another time because they would think we were crazy. So, we parked in parking lot #5 and had a good laugh about Linda's driving skills. It was nice to have the shoe on the other foot since she is always telling stories about my driving.

Hello everybody!! I know that it's been awhile since we have entered any information about what has been going on with us, but time has just passed so quickly!

We finished our Florida tour and it was absolutely fantastic! The people we met and the churches we visited were so welcoming and kind to us! We want to thank everyone who opened their homes to us and treated us so well!

For any of you that don't know about our newsletter and are interested in receiving it, please send me your email address and I'll send you that last several issues! It tells about each of the churches we visited and tells a little bit about our experiences at each one! We also want to say a special thank you to the people at our home church, MCC-Omaha, for starting this wonderuful Sheltering Trees Prayer Team and newlsetter that they created for us!

There will be pictures coming from our trip very soon, so keep watching for our Summer Tour pictures!

Thank you all for your wonderful support of our ministry with all of your prayers, kindness and generosity!

May God continue to bless each one of you richly!

Susie
ROCK ON JESUS

Hey everybody!! We are alive and well in Bonita Springs, Florida! We have traveled over 2000 miles and we only left Omaha on Thursday! We will be updating you about the churches we visit and the people we meet as often as we can. We will be adding a few pictures also!! (Any bad pictures that show up will be the ones that I've taken!)

The one thing that we would like to do is thank the people who so graciously opened up there homes to us. Andy and Lonnie were two great guys that we stayed with in Minneapolis. And then there was Nancy in Ocala, Florida, what a pleasure it was to meet her! We want to also thank the Gentle Shepherd MCC in Tallahassee for providing our lodging during our stay there.

I also want to let you know about The Sheltering Trees Prayer Team that some of our friends at MCC-Omaha put together. It is a Prayer Team that is open to anyone and you receive a newsletter with information about our tour and also, prayer requests and answered prayers that we have experienced. Just yesterday I called someone and asked them to pray for my Dad who had to go to the emergency room on Sunday night. And I know that they took that prayer and passed it on to others that are on the team.

There are so many things that can happen when you're traveling. We barely missed getting hit by a truck that blew out a tire, but praise God that we had just passed him and were about 20 seconds in front of him.

So continue to keep us in your prayers as we continue to pray for each one of you!

If you are interested in joining The Sheltering Trees Prayer team or would just like to receive the newsletter, please email us and we will put you on the list!

Thank you again for your love and support!

God's Blessings to each one of you!

Susie and Linda
ROCK ON JESUS!

Susie and I often talk about getting out of our box because of the comfort in doing what is familiar. About a year ago, that meant that Susie had to learn to sing without her guitar, and for anyone who watches her sing today might never realize the security her guitar has given her. In fact, she said at that time she would rather choose songs that needed her guitar than put it on a stand and sing with a CD.
Much has changed for each of us in the last year--or maybe it‘s that each of us have changed much in that time. Those of you from MCC-Omaha who’ve been at church when Susie leads the praise music may not realize what a challenge that would have been for her a year ago.
Susie and I believe that we are always where God wants us to be and so learning to expand our comfort level has been a result of the life lessons we have learned from our church family. Leading praise music, competing in Pride Idol, and singing at recent benefits have all contributed to Susie’s comfort level of singing with just a microphone. And while I tease Susie that anyone who uses a microphone as often as she does is obviously outgoing--which Susie is--all of those past opportunities have given her the skills and confidence to do the best job possible this summer.
And while I have also been shaping my own speaking skills through pulpit fills and ministry activities with Susie at our own and other churches, my comfort level has been stretched by relying on others for prayer. In the past, I would have never imagined calling on a prayer team to lift up our needs during this tour, which seems like a paradox because I fully believe that prayer is powerful and real. While we regularly pray for others, I’ve just never imagined that our travel mercies might be part of someone else’s prayers.
And so this prayer team, composed of our MCC-Omaha family and the new friends we’ve met along the way, is appreciated in more than words can say. Please know that we will also hold in prayer each request that has been shared with us.

May God bless each of us richly. Rock on Jesus!

Susie and Linda

Since visiting multiple churches over the last two years, one of the most important commonalities is MCC’s open communion table. Susie and I treasure the prayers of blessing at communion and the ability to walk into any MCC knowing that we are always welcome at each church’s communion meal.

May God Bless You Richly!

Linda and Susie
ROCK ON JESUS!

Gentle Shepherd MCC is blessed with a great sound team with Cindy and Jeanne who were extremely helpful during our concert, and then Jeanne later wore her second hat as the worship leader and did an excellent job in setting a positive tone for the evening.The kindness of this congregation made us feel welcome and at home. Their energy made the concert fun--especially the young girls who enjoyed clapping at so many of Susie’s songs. But when it came to my turn to join Susie for “We Stand Amazed” at the end of the service, I was lucky to spot Denise and follow her beat as many of you may know I have the capabilities of leading a congregation into clapping chaos.After the service, we joined a group for a late dinner which was a great way to get to know people even better. While visiting churches allows us to share our stories about God in our lives, we grow from hearing how God has impacted other people’s lives, too.

Trinity MCC was the first Florida church of our tour and the first person we met was Nancy, one of the congregants who opened her home to us for the night. With all of us on leadership teams at our churches, it was a bonus to spend time with a board member for meaningful shop talk.
Trinity’s buildings are on a beautiful seven-acre property. Nancy told us the primary building was a quansit hut that had been transformed into a sanctuary with a separate building serving as the area for a social time. (Note: if anyone of you are feeling the need to minimize this screen to look up quansit hut--Susie didn’t know either. Even though I tried to describe one to her, she now says to think of an Army barracks, and that’s probably a good comparison.) The image that stays with us is the beauty of the building and its space both outdoors and indoors. As with each church we‘ve visited, it‘s the kindness and compassion of the congregation that will remain with us. Everyone at Trinity was very friendly and made us feel completely welcome at their church. The service was wonderful with a great mix of traditional and contemporary hymns in addition to the music we brought that day.


.