Josh Brake: Hey,
everybody, what's going on?

Good to be with you again.

Um, I have some cool updates and just,
uh, man, in awe every week of how God is

continuing to lead us, um, by his spirit.

I mean, it's easy to think of, uh, the
world and even church planting, but

the world as some things are spiritual,
some things are practical, some things

are logistical, you know, and you
kind of make these false predictions.

Uh divisions between things but everything
is spiritual and i've been reminded of

that this last a couple weeks as i've
Began to begin begun to receive answers

from the lord on some really practical
Things that are immensely spiritual.

So Um, I was having a conversation
with my church planting coach john last

week and we were just talking about You
know, the reason that we're in church

planting is not because we necessarily
love church planting, but because we have

passion, vision, excitement, and we want
to go, go, go big picture visionaries.

You know, there's this is kind
of who we are and and we want to

run after all these big dreams.

And that's good.

You need that.

You can't do well, maybe you can.

I think it'd be hard to do
church planting without that.

So because of that, one of the
complications and one of the frustrations

can be really getting down to the details
on what does this actually look like.

And, uh, who is going to be walking with
me and who's going to hold me accountable

and all of those things, it can feel
like, uh, I don't want to do that.

I just want to get in a room with
people and pray and seek the Lord

and preach and, you know, disciple
and blah, blah, blah, share the

gospel evangelize all this stuff.

But without structure and some sustainable
structures that give space for those

things, then those things will just
kind of like happen and then fall off.

And then how am I leading
others to do that?

And so I understand the necessity of it.

So, for example, let me give
you a real world example.

The last couple of weeks during
the holidays, Christmas and New

Year's, I had kind of one project
and that was to prepare for this

thing called the stakeholder summit.

In short, it was a zoom call I had on
Monday, January 6th, uh, for an hour

and a half with all the stakeholders
and this church plant, all people

who have given from their churches,
the lead pastors from churches that

have partnered with the church plant.

And, uh, I was given a template to
fill out of, like, here's my vision.

Here's my strategy.

And then here are goals I want to hit
in 2025 with not just goals of I want

to hit this goal, but what behaviors
do I need to be adopting and acting

on every week to make those happen?

So, really detailed, I mean, everything
from the 30, 000 foot view to what

am I doing this week to get there?

Some of you might hear that and
like start drooling because you're

like, Oh my gosh, yes, I want that.

Um, for me, I'm like, Oh gosh, seriously.

I mean, I understand the value of it,
but I just want to meet with people.

I want to talk about Jesus.

I want to pray.

I want to worship in his presence.

I want to pray for the sick.

I'm, you know, I want to lay
hands and do, do, do the thing.

So, uh, doing, doing that
exercise was hard, but good.

And I felt the presence of God in it.

And that is what I'm trying to say.

Uh, in this process, the things that I
felt like they were holding me back and

hindering, hindering me from entering in
the presence are the very thing that the

Lord actually wants to fill with himself.

And I think we saw evidence of that as
we had the meeting on Monday, Monday.

the plan was really, really good.

And it wasn't mine.

I really felt like the Lord
gave it to me and everybody was

encouraging and encouraged by it.

And it just went so, so well.

And the Lord is confirming, Hey, this
is from me, everything that's happening.

I'm permeating the whole thing, which
is so encouraging, you know, uh, uh,

as somebody who just thinks God is only
in the big picture, dreaming, vision,

excitement, he's also very much in the
nitty gritty details of the process.

So part of that is, um, his
leading when it comes to location.

So I mentioned last time, uh, about a
location and up until this point, we've

said, we feel like Dallas is the place
we feel called to plant in, which Dallas

is huge, so that's not really helpful.

That could mean, you know, Fort Worth.

I mean, that's still the Metroplex,
you know, that could mean Fort Worth.

That's 45 minutes away or it
could mean Farmer's Branch

right, right across the street.

So we didn't know and so up until
recently we have, we have felt

led to go to Richardson, Texas.

That's where we feel called to plant.

And if you ask why it would say because
the Lord has led us there and it's not

because Richardson is growing, although
it is, it's not because Richardson

has, um, a very diverse eclectic
community, although that is a draw.

Uh, we sense the Lord leading us to
Richardson and, uh, there have been

multiple instances over the last week.

There was one week, actually,
it was, uh, in December.

Yeah, it was about a month ago and
beginning of December where Sal and I

had a, um, uh, leadership training type
thing through nexus, uh, in Richardson

and the next day I went to church and
a couple pointed me to Richardson that

there's a church that's meeting in
Richardson, they're moving out of the

facility and I might be able to take it.

And I was like, oh,
okay, it's interesting.

So I reached out the
couple days after that.

I had coffee with
somebody who lives there.

Further east and north from Richardson,
but said if we were to plant in

Richardson, then they would be
in members, committed members and

serve and pour out their lives and
ministry at our church in Richardson.

Um, and then I drove around Richardson.

I drove around UTD, University of Texas
at Dallas, and that's where I'm going

to head next with this conversation.

But I felt the love of God for UTD.

I felt God's love for that place.

Uh, and I was like, okay,
that has to be God, right?

Because I had, I know nobody at
UTD, um, that has to be the Lord.

He loves this place.

He wants to do something
here in Richardson.

Uh, and then the next day, my Sal,
um, saw a guy to make a long story

short, he's met him on a plane months
ago, happens to see him again in the

coffee shop that he's at randomly.

Turns out this guy used to live in
Denton and work full time, but had just

quit his job and moved to Richardson
to focus on being on worship teams.

Which we have been praying for worshipers.

So there's another Richardson connection.

Then the next Sunday I show up
at church at a different campus.

Felt the Lord say, go
to Vista Ridge today.

So I went to Vista Ridge and met, or
didn't meet, but saw a couple who is

praying about being on the launch team.

It just depends on
where we're going to go.

And I told them.

Where I asked them where do they
live and they said richardson?

So we we I mean we really feel like
the lord through that that was one

week time in one week It was like
richardson richardson richardson

richardson richardson all these
independent encounters with people

in richardson and uh That was just
that really that really was the lord.

So so so our posture is we're
going to richardson Unless god

diverts or says no at this point.

That's where we're headed Okay, so but
it gets a little bit more specific You

So in this call I had with my stake
stakeholders, we talked about one of

the opportunities in Richardson is
UTD, University of Texas at Dallas.

There's 30, 000 undergrads there and,
um, uh, you know, that's, I mean, not 30,

30, 000 students, about half, a little
over half are undergrads, very diverse.

Um, and so I'm, I'm praying about UTD,
you know, yesterday and, you know, They

were talking about how to get an in on
campus and I'm just processing that.

I'm like, okay, you know,
that's, I'm listening Lord.

And how do we, how do we get in?

And so all morning and afternoon,
uh, all morning, really I am.

Yeah.

Morning and afternoon.

Sorry.

All morning I'm researching UTD.

Who do I know that goes there?

And I find there's somebody I know
that is, that follows the crew,

which is Campus Crusade for Christ.

They have a thriving
ministry on UTD's campus.

And I'm, I'm like, okay,
well, who follows them?

So I have a friend who
follows their ministry.

And so I texted her to see
what's up, if she knows anybody.

And, um, you know, I'm, I'm
reaching out to the staff

members for crew on that campus.

And, uh, and then I go to lunch
and lunch with this, a former

student of mine who comes to me on
Sunday and just says, Hey, it's me.

I'm like, Oh my gosh, Sam, what's up?

We get to talk.

We ended up getting lunch and turns
out he has lots of friends at UTD.

Considered going there, but has lots
of friends there and I was asking him

about the university and it was you
know So UTD was on my mind, right?

Okay Another connection is I've
been thinking a lot about former

students of mine who had did I
disciple when I was the youth pastor?

That's still in the area.

That's maybe an adult now that would
like to help launch a church with me

and there's been several that I've
come up with that I've actually had

conversations with and I've And so
after lunch, I'm doing a little bit more

work at home and then I go to the gym.

And as I'm walking into the gym,
I go up, I ride the bike for

like 5 10 minutes to warm up.

As I'm walking down, I see a former
student of mine and I'm like, yo,

I haven't seen him and his brother.

I was like, I haven't
seen y'all in forever.

What's up?

And we, so we get to talking, turns
out, guess where he goes to school.

He's a junior at UTD and we're
actually going to get coffee this

week, uh, to see just to catch up, you
know, and I, I was, I discipled it.

I met weekly with him and a few
other, uh, middle school students

when he was in middle school.

And then into high school, we
would still see each other.

Uh, so this is not
like, this is not a kid.

I barely saw.

I spent a lot of time with him.

He's 20 years old now.

He lives at, he's a junior at UTD.

And, um, yeah.

I just took that as the Lord saying,
Hey, I'm trying to lead you somewhere.

So, uh, I really feel.

And then, okay, then this, the
last thing, and this is a smaller

one, but this morning, Carrie
Newhoff has a leadership podcast.

He's a church planter leader, kind
of guy up in Canada, and he releases

a podcast every Tuesday morning
and released an episode with JP,

Jonathan Picluda, and Jenny Allen.

Uh, and the title of
it was College Revival.

And Gen Z's confession and their
talk for an hour that they're gonna,

I haven't listened to it yet, but
for an hour they talk about, um, the

revivals happening on college campuses,
which is why I felt called to UTD.

You're not called to, but I thought
I was intrigued by the idea of doing

ministry around UTD because of that.

You see little revivals happening on
college campuses in the United States.

Uh, and I, that, that just came out,
that episode came out this morning

after my whole day, UTD day yesterday.

Um, so all that, that is, Those
are, those are details, right?

Those are all dots that if you connect
them, you see the Lord's hand in it.

So when you talk about big picture vision
and dreams and God's leading, you're like,

yes, I feel called to start a church.

It's going to be a primary, you know,
player in church planting and, and

revival happening in United States.

And then you get down to the details,
okay, where and God uses all these little

details way detailed ways, uh, that may
seem like coincidences at the time, but

it uses them to lead you to a place.

So I just.

Man, the Lord is in all of it
and it's so encouraging because I

never want to go a day without him.

I don't want to do anything without
him and He is in all of these things.

So i'm just really grateful
for that and uh, yeah,

um a couple other updates so uh
fundraising wise man, Lord is providing

we're we've got a commitment commitment
if you do some of the math and you

kind of add it all up We've got about
three hundred seventy thousand dollars

committed already To the church
plant and there's more coming in.

I mean people Reach out and say, Hey,
I heard you're planning a church.

Uh, what, what's the, where's the link?

Can I give, you know, like what?

This is crazy.

I'm not even asking people and
they're, they're coming to me to give.

And that's just a sign
of the Lord being in it.

Um, so, uh, I'm going to begin
meeting with the launch team in my

home on January 19th, uh, Sunday
nights, five to 7pm every single week.

If any of you are interested in
seeing what we're about and what

we're trying to do, um, then
I would encourage you to come.

214 769 5228.

Um, I would love to just talk with you
about what that looks like and what we do.

Um, or just show up at my
house if you know where I live.

Um, uh, I'm just really excited for the
new year and God is in this and, uh,

I think, I think that's it for today.

Uh, I have, uh, some more I could
share, but I'll save it for next week.

Try to do one of these each
week and keep you guys updated

and in the loop and excited and
encouraged about what God is doing.

God is on the move.

That is fact.

And not just, I'm not just talking about
here with our church, but, um, in, in the

United States, in Dallas at the branch,
uh, we've already baptized four people and

it's January 7th as I'm recording this.

So, um, we just, we've had one Sunday
and we had four people baptized.

Already so that the branch is the
guy's moving at the branch as well.

So, all right.

Love you guys thankful for y'all
Please continue to pray For the break

family as we're expecting baby girl
in march very excited for her and for

abby to just continue to be healthy
Uh, and um, let me know if if you guys

need prayer for anything I would love
to engage the lord on your behalf.

All right.

Love you guys.

Have a great week