Brenner-Beckstead Ministries: News/Journal

We hit town Saturday about 5:oopm due to heavy traffic in Atlanta. Our GPS, which we have named Phoebe, could not figure out where she wanted us to go. We were trying to get to the host family's house and Phoebe kept telling us to get on the interstate and then make a u-turn. So we followed what she said and then she would tell us to make another u-turn and get back on the interstate. Finally, after getting more than fed up, we decided to use the phone. We got the directions to get to the house and headed off. During the time that Linda was talking on the phone, Phoebe kept saying turn around, make a u-turn and turn around...over and over. Somehow Linda listened to Phoebe instead of hearing what our host was saying. So, we turned around and drove and drove until the road we were on ended. I then asked Linda if she was sure we had heard correctly. Now we were lost so we had to call again. This time they told us to go back where we originally were and meet them at the Waffle House. We did as they said and arrived back to the same place where Phoebe began her confusing directions.

We followed them to their house and met another friend of theirs from the church. We had a great dinner, lots of laughs and great conversation getting acquainted with each other. Then we went to bed early so that we could be refreshed for the service the next morning.

The MCC in Augusta is located in a beautiful church building with amazing acoustics. It originally had belonged to the Lutherans before MCC purchased the building. They had a wonderful team of people to help us get ready for the service. I(Susie) was thrilled to get to perform a song with the choir and the pianist was amazingly talented and accompanied us. It was much fun and it was an honor to sing with them.

The worship was wonderful and as always, we met a lot of very nice people. We then packed up and went to a restaurant by the Levee. It was very quaint and and about nine congregants lunched on the beautiful patio. Again, there was lots of conversation and laughter and it was thoroughly enjoyable. Then we went down by the Levee and saw where they were going to have their first Pride Parade and event! It is so exciting for them1

Then we went back and packed up our things. We said our thank yous and goodbyes and hit the road. It was a great day and a great weekend!

We want to thank our host family and our new nutritionist for the great hospitality and for the wonderful friendships that we made! Thank you for the wonderful sound technician who made us sound awesome! Thank you to the choir and to the pianist who accompanied us. And lastly, but most importantly, thank you to Pastor Jeff for allowing us to share our ministry with his congregation!

Hey everybody! We have spent the last 2 months working on our house, doing a little remodeling! We have been working on projects that we needed to get done before winter and it looks as if we got them done just in time!

We are in Florida and performed at the East Coast Community Church in Port St Lucie and Melbourne last Sunday. It was beautiful doing the worship service in the park in Port St Lucie! Then we traveled up to Melbourne and did the service there. It was wonderful to see people we have gotten to know over the last 4 years! And of course, our good friends, Pastor Jerry and Pastor Mike! Thank you for your friendship and support over these last few years.

And this weekend, we are off to Boyton Beach for the Sunday morning service and then we are doing a concert with Shawn Thomas and special guest, Brian Ladd. It will be at the MCC of the Palm Beaches and we are excited to be getting to do a concert with Shawn.

Hope to see you this weekend!

May God continue to bless each of us richly!
Susie and Linda

Hey everyone! I apologize to the great people of the MCC of the Quad Cities for taking so long to get this on the website. This has been a very hectic week and we are a little behind. But! We had the greatest time in Davenport. We arrived for the concert and met one or our hostesses for the weekend and some other people that had come early. We didn't have too much time to chat since we had drove in from Omaha at that very moment. The concert was wonderful and the crowd was definitely full of energy and enthusiasm! We then had a small dinner downstairs and enjoyed getting to know all of those that were there.

Our hostesses treated us very well and cooked us a delicious breakfast to start our morning out with. We enjoyed conversation about each other's lives and the different cities where we lived. Then it was time to go for the service.

Again, the people were amazing! They clapped and sang and we all were blessed that morning! They had a potluck dinner after the service and it was another time to enjoy the fellowship of this church and to get to know people a little better. One of the greatest things about doing this is getting to know people and to share your life with them and in turn, they share theirs with you. And for us, this helps us to grow and to be nourished because of the journeys we can share with one another in each place!

We thank each of you for being a part of our weekend and for making it such a fun weekend! We hope that we get to see you all soon!

And, if you are on Facebook..look us up and become our friend!!

May God continue to bless each os us richly!

It is so hard to believe that it has been eight years since the terrorist attack on the United States. I know that most of us remember exactly where we were and what we were doing the first moment that we heard that something was happening. For me, it brought back memories of the Oklahoma bombing and how unreal it was to watch those pictures. And yet, this scene kept playing out with more devastation.

May we continue to pray for those families who lost loved ones that day and never forget the lives that were lost.

We got to Boise late Friday night and found our hosts, Pastor Renee and her partner, Diane's house very easily. Although we had been there once before, it had been over two years. They have a great house and we felt right at home.

The next day we relaxed and got ready for the concert. The concert was held at the Boise State University, the home of the Broncos, and you definitely knew that you were in Bronco territory. Anyway, the room where the concert was held was donated by BGLAD and we want to thank them for the beautiful room. It was a great night and we couldn't have asked for a nicer group. We enjoyed a very nice reception after the concert. We had a wonderful time and we met a lot of new people.

The next day, we almost overslept! We weren't used to a later service and so we were just hanging around relaxing when we realized that we only had about thirty minutes to get ready! So we got busy and got to the church, set up and it was time to start. The Spirit was definitely in that church and could be felt by all. Although it was a small crowd, you would have thought the place was packed! We celebrated Rev. Renee's birthday after the service and had some awesome chocolate cake. We then went to dinner before Linda and I left for home.

We want to thank all of the Boise people who helped make this a great weekend! Thank you to Rev Renee and Diane for opening up there homes and to Judy for sharing her weekend with us. And, Linda has a new Mom who has adopted her! What a blessed weekend!

We have just concluded our trip beginning in Colorado Springs, then on to Montana and now on to Boise. We had a great time in Colorado Springs hanging out with Carla and Sharon for the weekend and of course, we had a great time at Pike's Peak MCC. The picnic the following day with all of the Cluster churches for Colorado-Nebraska was a big success. We got to see friends that from all of the congregations!

Then we were off to Montana. It seemed like it took us forever to get there and we stayed the night in Helena at a hotel. Most of you might not know the significance of that, so if you don't know, email me and I will let you in the secret. And for those of you who know, you will probably get a big laugh out of it! Anyway, we finally got to the beautiful cabin we were staying in and it was gorgeous! We relaxed and read and just truly enjoyed the peace and quiet of no outside contact. I know that I am always joking about having no cell phone or internet, but it was truly a much needed rest.

Then, we went to MCC of Montana. Forgive me you Great Falls people, I continue to call the church as Great Falls MCC. The congregation had just moved into the church the time that we visited the last time and it was beautiful with the touches that they personalized the space with. The landscaping outside was very peaceful. The fun thing about this group is that it doesn't have to be Sunday for half of them to drop by the church. We were getting ready to leave on Monday morning and by the time we had left, there were at least 10 people gathered drinking coffee. Now a few of them came to work or help clean the church, but others just dropped by to visit. It was great getting to see them again so unexpectedly before we left.

Then it was back to our cabin to do some more relaxing. I have to tell you that we did make this a working vacation also. We went out and made some music videos for one of the songs on the Part of the Plan CD and we made two videos from The Journey CD. So we did get some business taken care of during this time.

Now it is eight in the evening and we have been driving all day through the most beautiful scenery. We have seen streams and mountains and meadows. This is magnificent country up here. We are blessed to get to be able to take in the beauty by driving through each of these spectacular places. We will be doing a concert on Saturday in Boise and the church service on Sunday and then will be taking off for Omaha.

We look forward to seeing each of you again very soon. Thank you for your continued prayers, love and support for us and our ministry. We would love to stay in touch with you so please write on our guest book or email us at

susie@brennerbeckstead.com
linda@brennerbeckstead.com

Or you could also join Facebook and accept us as friends. We share a lot of every day stuff on there that we don't get a chance to share on the website. Look us up under Susie Brenner and then Linda Beckstead!


WE LOVE YOU! AND Happy Birthday Kevin!!!!!
Susie and Linda

Wow!! We did our concert last night and did our service today. We had an awesome time seeing people that we hadn't seen for two years. We also met a lot of new people. We had a great concert and they allowed us to stay in their church for the weekend. They have an apartment downstairs in the basement of the church and it is a quiet little place where we relaxed and had a wonderful night's sleep. It is a little strange getting up and getting ready and just having to walk upstairs to do the service! That is a first!

We shared some wonderful time with the fellowship of friends at dinner last night at JJ's. Then after church today, 24 people joined us for lunch at a chinese restaurant. The people here are such a loving family and they are led by Rev. Gina Hartung, who is a truly annointed woman. She and her partner, Irene, have a blessed relationship and have become very special to us. Actully, all of the people here are very special people. Steve, who has made us something each time we have come, stayed true with the gifts. He made Linda and I beautiful necklaces that we each wore this morning.

We want to thank each and everyone from Great Falls MCC for having us this weekend! We are anxious for our next return trip!

May God continue to bless each of us richly!

Susie and Linda

Hi everyone! We have been staying this week at the most beautiful cabin about 30 miles down the road from here. We have had no cell phone service, internet or tv. It has been a wonderful experience just enjoying the beauty of God's world. The cabin is just amazing and we can sit on the porch and watch the deer in the forest. When we wake up, we can see the mountains right in front of us thru the windows. It is a breathtaking view to wake up to.

This weekend we will be traveling to Great Falls to play at the MCC there. We are looking forward to seeing everyone! It is about a 3 hour drive from where we are.

Hope all is going well with each of you. And may God continue to bless each of us richly!

Susie and LInda

We traveled to the Colorado-Nebraska Cluster and were honored to perform a concert on Saturday night at Pike's Peak MCC. On Saturday, Carla, Sharon, Linda and I went sightseeing. We decided to drive thru the Garden of the Gods and then on to Pike's Peak. It is an amazing and beautiful climb up to the top. At the top, we all felt like a little strange because of the altitude, but it was an amazing sight to behold. On the way down, we had to stop a couple of times because we had smoking brakes. There is a point half way down the mountain where they stop to check the temperature of your brakes and ours did not pass. We thought we had smelled something burning, but we thought it was the car in front of us. We were wrong...it was us. After stopping a few times, we finally made it down the mountain and back to our hotel. It was a great day to spend with our friends from home.

The concert was the first event for the Cluster gathering and it was very well attended. Pastor Wes hosted the event and Pastor Ken and Pastor John Mark were also in attendance that evening. We had a good time praising God and coming together with the other churches for this gathering. Then there was a reception afterwards with lots of goodies. We were blessed to have been a part of this event.

On Sunday, we were worshiped at Pike's Peak MCC and heard a very thought provoking sermon by Pastor Wes. He gave us some things to think about on our drive to Montana. Linda got up and spoke a little bit about the Cluster gathering and I sang special music. The song that went perfectly with his sermon was We Shall Be Free.

We then all got in our cars and drove to a picnic hosted by MCC of the Rockies and Pike's Peak MCC. There was a nice gathering and we had hotdogs, hamburgers and a smorgasbord of food. It was a great day with beautiful weather!

Thank you to all of you who helped in the Cluster gathering! It was a huge success!

Then it was off to Montana for us!

We arrived in Kansas City late Saturday night from Joplin and didn't get much sleep that Saturday night. But we were up and ready to head to the church to set up and get ready for the service. During the service, Linda told a little bit about our ministry and invited everyone back to the concert that night. I then sang But Now I Know for special music.

We were excited about the concert because the boys in the band and Karla Oliver were coming down from Omaha to perform. They arrived around 3:30 and got set up. We practiced until about 5:30 and the concert started at 7. The series that month was on Heroes and so I told the story of Mindy's Song and how she was a hero to all those that knew her during her struggle with cancer. There was a great crowd there and it was good to see so many familiar faces. It was wonderful to share our ministry with my home church and with the friends we had known for so long.

The evening ended with us all going over to Gates BBQ and having a late dinner. The food was great and the company was even better. We are truly blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives.

Thank you for allowing us to share our ministry with you! And congratulations again to Rev. Kurt for his new role of Senior Pastor!

When we arrived, we knew exactly where we were going to camp since this was our third year here. I had already built an excellent fire pit the previous year and I knew it was just waiting for our return. We had the perfect location because it was close to the activities and we also got to meet a lot of people passing by. The campground is divided up into different areas, such as, the noisy area, semi-quiet and quiet. In the previous years, our area had been designated as the semi-quiet area, however, much to our dismay, it had now been changed to the noisy area. So, we had to leave my beautiful fire pit and search for a new campsite.

We drove around and finally agreed on a campsite that was still close to the activities but was not on the general path of people walking by. But, it was a nice site, none the less. It just so happened that a fire pit had already been started, so building a new one wasn't like starting from scratch.

Since we had arrived a little before sundown, we decided to only attempt to put up one tent for the night and it was a good thing because it took us a little while. The next morning we got up early and started putting on our own tent, but we had to rely on the pictures. We had borrowed a tent with no instructions. However, we were very thankful that Scott and Eric and had loaned us the tent, but our experience in putting up tents in the past has not proved very fruitful. We did manage to get the tent up with the pictures after putting up poles and taking down poles and putting up poles in new places....After our tent was set up and our camp was together, we were ready to start having fun with Rendezvous events.

Rendezvous Events

One of the things about Rendezvous is that the people are so friendly and everyone makes you feel welcome. There are five days of scheduled events and you can participate as little or as much as you like. The first evening was a potluck so that people could get to know each other a little bit. We, however, were treated to Walleye which was cooked on the grill by the girls and it was excellent! We then went down and visited and returned to make our first fire for the week. This was the first night to sleep in our tent and as we were going to bed, the thunder started up. The thunder in Wyoming is different than in the Midwest because it doesn't just clap, it truly rumbles across the sky. In the middle of the night, there was a torrential rainstorm and we thought our tent was going to come down on us it was storming so badly. That did not happen although we had to do storm damage cleanup on our campsite the next morning because we had not prepared our things for the rainstorm.

We have a tradition of going up to the MCC Omaha boys campsite and sharing breakfast each morning. Each day, a different team is responsible for breakfast. It is a wonderful time to share with our friends and to start our day out together. They are not tent camping and are in an RV so that's why we always breakfast at their place because they have a stove.



During the week, we participated in many activities. We went canoeing with a group of people one day and it was beautiful and relaxing. Down at the main tent, they always have a lot of games to participate in and during the last couple years, we have just sat on the sidelines and enjoyed the festivities. However, this year would prove to different.

On Friday night, I was one of the evening's entertainment. I was honored to be asked again and it was a very fun evening. There was a wide variety of people in the audience. One of the spectators was a young man who some would have classified as a heckler but instead of heckling, he kept saying things like “I love you” and “can I be your back up singer or dancer.” Finally the perfect song came up and I invited him up to the stage to be a go-go boy dancer. The first thing that I told him was that he had to keep it clean. He did a pretty good job of that with a little help from me but that was the highlight of the evening. He gave me all of his Mardi Gras beads and I wore them for the rest of the weekend. Watch for the pictures to be uploaded in the photo gallery to catch a glimpse of just how funny it was. It's just a good thing that the camera cannot show how very red my face was! In one of the last few songs, I sang I Choose You to my wife as she joined me on stage. She was running the sound that night and I made her come out so I could sing to her. I am a lucky woman! Then our friend John came to the stage and played his guitar and sang. He is a very talented singer-songwriter and is cute also. He ended the evening with a marvelous set!

Our Saturday began with breakfast and then MCC-Omaha hosted a spiritual service with Pastor Tom presiding. It was a beautiful service with everybody singing and praising God with the mountain scenery behind us.

Later that day, we all participated in a number of games. I have to say that it is really hard to be in the crowd and always be called out by name. Joe, who was one of the organizers, kept calling out Linda and I's name to be involved in the contests. The first one was way out of our box..it was butt quarters. If you haven't ever heard of this game, it is exactly like it sounds and you have to go thru an obstacle course with this quarter between your cheeks. You keep the quarter in place outside of your chothes! I did it first and failed very quickly. Then to my total astonishment, Linda Lou decided to try it after much coaxing. She was so shy that she went behind a tent to situate the quarter just right to start her course. After getting it in just the right place, she came out from behind the tent bunny-hopping. She stayed true to her lipstick-lesbian self and got almost all the way thru the course never losing her feminine qualities. We played in several other games and they were just as funny as the first. We actually did win a game called drag racing and each won a t-shirt.

Another surprise came on Saturday afternoon when John and I went down to the main tent to practice music for the Red Neck Wedding skit that was taking place that evening. We were talking shop and Linda kept telling us to listen to the MC. We kept talking and she insisted that we stop talking and listen. Much to our surprise, they were announcing the King and Queen of Rendezvous and we were the winners. It was certainly funny when they announced that John was the Queen and I was the King. We each received a Tiara, a Sash that stated our title and a Septor that had bubbles in it. We took our royalty very seriously and were told that we had to wear our sash and crown for the rest of the day and night. It was quite the surprise and I was very honored to have been chosen and couldn't have chosen a better Queen!

Sunday came way to quick and it was time to break down camp. We took down the tents, packed up the trailer and headed up to share our last breakfast with the boys. We got on the road about eleven and headed for home. Unfortunately our trip home with the tarp covering our trailer wasn't quite as easy as the trip up. Our tarp ripped, we had to stop at WalMart and get a new one and then for the next hour, we stopped every five minutes to readjust the darn thing. But, we finally made it to Omaha and were already talking about next year!

Thank you to all those who made Rendezvous such a great success! We had another wonderful time and will be back next year!

I have decided to tell this story in a couple of installments, because believe me, there is alot to tell! So here is the first one!

What a great time we had this year! We had such a fun time the last 2 years that we decided leave for Wyoming earlier and take a couple of friends with us. Well, we knew that we had our Jeep so packed last year that we would probably need a trailer. We asked everybody we knew if they had a trailer they could loan us or rent to us and no one had one that they thought would make it to Wyoming! So, we rented one. When we went to look, we thought the small one would be great, but we when we started putting our stuff in the living room, we decided to get the next bigger size. We thought the small one would probably only hold our stuff and not our friend's.

We were leaving on Tuesday so we picked up the trailer on Monday. We had decided on a trailer that wasn't enclosed because we thought we could just tarp the thing. After getting home and dropping it off, I went to the store. When I returned, our friends dropped by and we were just getting ready to put the trailer back on the Jeep and it wouldn't start! Of course, I again said a word that I had to ask forgiveness for! Luckily, Justin had an extra battery for a project car that he has been working on, so the battery went in and all was well. Linda and I have a hard time packing too much before the event that we are leaving for because we are so busy, so this was no different. Yes, we packed all night long. The thing about packing for Wyoming is that you never know what the weather is going to be like, so you have to take clothes for all weather!

At 6am, we started loading and much to our dismay, it was raining when we went out to load up our stuff! So, we thru the things that would need to remain dry in the Jeep and put all the stuff in the trailer that could get wet and off we went to pick up our friends. I told Linda that I was a little worried
about where their stuff would go because the trailer was looking a little full already. It continued to rain and so we had to go ahead and load up. I was really worried after seeing all of the stuff the other couple was bringing. So, we packed and organized and the trailer was full. The only problem was that not everything had made it in the trailer. Now it was time to decide the importance of the things that were left and some things did not make the cut. We then tarped the trailer and prayed the tarp would make it to Wyoming! The rest of the stuff we decided to pile in the Jeep and that left little room in the back seat. We had one seat down and one up and so Linda and I rode very snugly in the back seat. It wasn't quite so bad for me, but Linda had the task of holding some stuff up so that it wouldn't fall on her lap or her shoulder. Nine hours later and after many bathroom stops, we finally made it to our destination!! Now it was time to find a campsite!

After our relaxing day with Pastor Steve and Heath, we went back to the hotel to get our stuff together and check out. Then we were off to get our errands done. It didn't quite work out that way though because we never imagined that the copy store would be so undermanned on a Saturday afternoon. We soon aborted that plan and decided to go on to the coffee shop and we would copy our stuff in Kansas City instead. We had a pleasant afternoon getting some much needed work done.

We got to the church early which was nice because we could leisurely set up our display table and equipment. You see, usually we are arriving about an hour before and are hurrying to get everything set up and the time just flies by! So we truly had a relaxing day all the way around! Robbie and his friend Ito showed up around 5 and so we chatted for a little bit and Robbie and I practiced our song. It is such a joy to sing with him and he is so very talented.

The concert got started a little after 6 and the people there were just great! We had the pleasure of meeting Pastor Ed Paul who is the Interim Pastor at the MCC in Tulsa. It was an unexpected surprise that he had driven the hour and a half to attend our concert. We shared stories and music and praised God! After the concert, they had a reception and everyone got to have all sorts of goodies! This is the time that we truly get the time to talk to people and to get to know them a little better. This would be one of our favorite times at each church, the time we get to know the congregation personally.
We stayed around and chatted for quite a long time and then we needed to get on the road to Kansas City. We said our goodbyes and thanked Pastor Steve for a wonderful weekend! We continue to see how God works thru others and God knew that what we needed was a time to relax and just be and Pastor Steve, Heath and SOC made that happen! We look forward to our next visit!

OK...we are all caught up on stories from our Florida tour! We still have to write about Wyoming and let me tell you, there is quite a bit to write about it! But, no time left today. We have been at Panera's again catching up on stuff. Now it''s time to go to Office Max and then to the church...we are in Joplin.

We are the first in there concert series! We have had a great time on our visit here. Last night we went the Joplin LIttle Theatre and saw a play with one of the congregants in it. It was great! And we also had dinner before with a friend of Steve's and Heath's. This morning they took us to something called, Grand Falls, and it was beautiful. It was so nice to sit and relax and just listen to the running water and talk about the beauty of the place.

Looking forward to seeing Robbie tonight here in Joplin. He is coming down with a friend for the concert and you know me, he has to sing a couple of songs! And looking forward to seeing everyone in Kansas City tomorrow!

May God continue to bless each of us richly!
Susie

We have never had the privilege of hearing Rev. Sandy preach and this time was not exception. We did, however, get to hear Booth preach and that was a treat! Linda told a little bit about our ministry and I did special music during the 9 a.m. service. Although we feel at home at many places, we especially feel at home here in Pensacola. We have stopped here every year with the exception of the first year of our ministry. Holy Cross is the place that first just started calling us Susie and Linda instead of our full ministry name and we knew this was a place that we would call another one of our families.

The second service was done in a concert style and the people who attended were there to praise God and have a good time doing it! We clapped and sang together and Linda got quite the laughter when telling stories about me. We hope that people enjoyed the service as much as we did. Probably one of the greatest moments was when our friend's little baby daughter decided to come out and dance to a song that I was doing. I ended up taking her up with me and she danced and clapped! She was very precious and it added a special touch to the service.

We arrived at the MCC in Mobile and were amazed at how beautiful the inside of the building was. They were located in an industrial area and the outside was deceiving compared to how they had transformed this space into a beautiful church. Rev Jo and her partner, Pat, were wonderful people to meet and we seemed to hit it off very well. The concert went off without a hitch and the people seemed to enjoy the music and stories that we shared. The congregation, again, was very friendly and it must be true that people from the South know how to take care of visitors, because we had assorted goodies after the concert.

We hung around and chatted for at least two hours after the concert and really got to learn about the people that had attended. Most of the time we don't get a chance to hang out and talk, so this was an especially nice time for us. Thank you for sharing your time and your stories with us! And then it was back for a night time drive to Pensacola! We look forward to getting to know the people of Mobile better!

We had planned our trip so that our last churches would be in Alabama and Pensacola. I am sure that we could have asked someone where to stay so that we might be in close proximity to both, but we didn't. However, we did stay in Pensacola and drove to Montgomery on Friday evening for a concert. We were actually early to the church, I know, you are surprised! Anyway, we were greeted with warm hospitality and thought they had a very nice church. So, we were surprised when they said that they would be moving in the future to a new church home which was larger. That is always a wonderful thing to hear when you visit churches.

The concert went well, although I continue to tease Linda about her singing and clapping episode from the East Coast churches! The congregation was enthusiastic and as I say now, they are NOT partial clappers. They were clapping and singing along and you knew that Jesus resided in that church! Rev Lee prayed a wonderful prayer to close us up and the prayer was so wonderful that it made us wish that we could stay for Sunday service!

Thank you for your gracious support of our ministry and a special thank you to Sara for running our sound for us!! May we all be blessed richly!

Can you all forgive us? We truly apologize to the churches that we are going to be posting today and tomorrow for not getting them up sooner. Sometimes I think we might need to pay heed to our song, Life is a Journey and slow down a little bit.

They couldn't have found a more perfect name for the MCC in Naples. Celebration fits them to tee!

We had overbooked our time a little bit on this Sunday because Susie thought that Naples was only an hour and a half from Pinellas Park. But, it actually was about three and a half hours away. But, we made it on time to set up and just have a couple minutes to change and pray.

The church is tucked beautifully into the wooded area and the amount of light that shines through the window makes the worship space glow. While we were waiting for our turn, we were moved by the music and the Spirit in the church. We were especially touched by the annointing during the weekly prayers of the people. We had a great time with everyone singing and clapping with us and they are definitely a clapping church!

After the service, Pastor Rick, his partner Michael and Susan, who is a deacon, treated us to our first dinner in a clam shell! Actually, it was a beautiful seafood restaurant in Naples and the booth was shaped like a half clam shell. You can check out our picture on Facebook! Although we had been in Florida for several weeks, this was our first real seafood dinner. The food was excellent and getting to know everyone was very enjoyable. We'd love to tell you the name of the restaurant and to tell you to ask for Jenn because she was a great waitress, but we can't remember the name.

We are looking forward to visiting again next year and we want to say to Pastor Rick, thank you for opening the doors. And thanks to Pastor Steve for helping that door open!

This weekend was definitely a weekend of first's for us. I had done some research and found this church on a gay and affirming site. I spoke with Pastor Joyce and she invited us to come and perform for a concert Saturday and for the worship service on Sunday. We arrived in town a little early, checked into our hotel and decided to drive to the church. One of our biggest fears is getting lost and not making it on time to our scheduled church. Or actually, I think that Linda has a bigger fear that I am actually going to forget a church that I have scheduled until it is too late! But I promise her that will never happen! After we found the church, we went back and got ready to go.

We were greeted by Pastor Joyce who is a lady with an unmistakable accent that is not from Florida. We never did ask how long she had lived there, but she sounded like our friend Ray! We found out that she was originally from Rhode Island. Pastor Joyce also introduced us to Pastor Wanda and we had a very nice conversation with her son Daniel who had just returned from being a foreign exchange student in Denmark. Needless to say, he is planning on going back to Europe after graduation. We met wonderful people who shared with us about the church and a little about themselves. The church is a Spirit filled church with many gifted individuals. The concert went well and we were excited about coming back for the morning service.

The Sunday service was full and they had a wonderful praise band that started the service. The music ministry here is extremely blessed because they have 3 or 4 praise bands that rotate each Sunday. They did some original songs that some of the band members had written and then they sang a powerful version of Your Grace is Enough. Pastor Joyce then turned the service over to us and you could feel the love for God in that place. We were blessed to have been able to worship with them. Pastor Joyce and Pastor Wanda are powerful women who have been annointed with the Spirit of the love of Christ and they share that love with all who come thru their doors! We made many friends and looking forward to seeing them again next year!

After leaving Boynton Beach, we ran into a traffic jam on I-95 and didn't arrive in Port St Lucie until well after midnight. We found our hotel without any problem although it was much later than we had anticipated. We went to bed and got up early so that we could meet Pastor Jerry and Pastor Mike and follow them to the church.

We met some new people and we also got to see friends that we had made over the last few years. The service went well and we shared conversation and laughs afterwards over coffee and goodies! The people have always been so very good to us and again, this church was one of our first churches we shared our ministry with when Brenner-Beckstead was formed. We love Pastor Jerry and Pastor Mike and admire the time and talent that they give to their congregation and their ministry. They actually live 80 miles from the first church and make that trip every Sunday for the first service at Port St Lucie. They not only come for the service, they actually have to bring the church with them. They bring the sound system, the elements, and all the rest of the things that they need to set up for church. Then afterwards, they pack it all up and get ready to go to Melbourne to set up for the next service.

We had packed our stuff that morning from the hotel and after the service, we too packed up our things from the church and headed out to our next stop, Melbourne. We did have great conversation with Mike and Jerry over lunch and then we were off. We checked into our next hotel for the night and decided we had 30 minutes to catch a few zzz's. After our short siesta, we headed over to the church to get ready for the next service. Unfortunately we had learned earlier that the air wasn't working in the building so we wore shorts to this service. Again, we saw some people we had met before and also met some new people that had joined the congregation since last year. We tried to keep the service short since the air wasn't working. Afterwards, we loaded back up and jumped in the car with Jerry and Mike to hurry to the beach to watch the space shuttle liftoff. We got to the beach just in time to learn that it had been postponed. We were all disappointed, but none more than Linda and I. So, we decided to go to Five Guys for dinner and then back to the hotel. (We can't wait until they get Five Guys in Omaha!) Our weekend with the East Coast Christian Community was very uplifting and we are looking forward to the next time that we get to worship with them!

We headed over to the other side of the state on Saturday afternoon to do a concert at Church of Our Savior MCC. We had heard that this church was located in an old Pizza Hut building so we didn't exactly know what to expect. We have attended MCC in many different locations, but this one was the first restaurant! I can assure you that only the shape of the building reminded you of a Pizza Hut because the inside has truly been transformed into a beautiful place of worship. There were stained glass windows all around and a beautiful alter space in the front. However, the smell of Italian food did meet us at the door as did Marci and Rose. They had been hard at work cooking the dinner that was to follow the concert!

As we were getting ready to set up, Pastor Ren came in and we were pleased to meet him for the first time. He is a very energetic guy and you can tell he is well loved by his congregation! The concert was fantastic and the congregation was very upbeat and energetic just like there Pastor. We had the pleasure of having Shawn Thomas and some guys from the West Palm MCC in the house also. We also got to meet Shawn's partner Brian who was a wonderful man! The dinner that followed was scrumptious and there was a beautiful cake that one of the congregants had made for dessert!

We want to thank all of those people who helped make it such a successful evening. Many thanks go out to Chip, who did an excellent job at running the sound and for Cathy for selling our merchandise for us. It gave us a chance to fellowship with the people and allowed us to eat that fabulous dinner! We had a wonderful time and are looking forward to visiting them again in the future!

It was great to see the people who braved the rain at King of Peace! We saw friends from the past and got to spend some time catching up and then we also developed some new friendships.

Rev Candice gave us a warm welcome and we enjoyed chatting with her before the concert. If you have met her before, you know that she is 6"1". The obvious statement is you must have played basketball! She said that she had played in high school and shared with us about the days when the girls had 6 players on a team.

We had a great time tonight and want to thank everyone who was there. We also want to thank Rachel and Jaye for running our sound. And we look forward to seeing each of you next time!

We were honored to be at Trinity on the same day that there new provisional pastor arrived, Rev. Jim Merritt. You could feel the joy in the congregation and all around the room as the service began. Rev. Jim delivered a very moving message on Independence Day and there is no doubt that this congregation will be blessed by his presence.

We enjoyed clapping and singing to a variety of songs. Linda introduced us and our ministry and she told a very funny story about how AARP had called me before I even turned 50 and how upset it made me!

Despite where we are in the country, it's nice to know that all MCC's celebrate an open communion and we were blessed by the prayer that Barb gave us. Several people said they would keep up with us by email and we hope that you do; we promise to write back. And if you'd like, check out our schedule on our website. It would be fun to see you all again while we are still in Florida!

St John the Apostle is the church that we have been to the most since beginning to tour in 2005. We truly feel like part of the family when we are there. When we were there last year, they gave us each a shirt for their Would Jesus Discriminate Campaign. This year, they gave us each a seafoam polo that had the name of the church on it and these are treasures to us.

We were blessed to share the morning service with them and had a great time! Then we came back for a concert that evening. They had there first Pride celebration in a few years and people said it was a hit. We were just sorry that we didn't get to attend the event. The night was also special because my Dad and I sang together. I have always sang with him at different places, but he had never sang with me at church before. It was a memorable occasion to say the least. The concert went well and we had good laughs, good stories and good music. Thank you to Rex and Jodi for running our sound at both events. The service ended with Pastor Steve blessing our ministry and his words were answers to prayers we had lifted up that morning.

Just wanted to let you know that the CD The Journey is now available on Itunes. You can download individual songs or the whole album. The new CD, Part of the Plan, should be on Itunes within the next month. If you think about it, it would be great if you would go and check it out and write a review about the album.

Thanks so much for your support!