BRB: Be Right Back!!

Hey Friends, we are on the move! This whole week we are packing up our home to move to Indiana on Sunday. Right now as I write this I am surrounded by boxes, packing tape, and things just waiting to be placed in a box. It is really overwhelming! But we are working hard. This Saturday we are having a huge pack party and everyone is invited!! 10-2pm we will provide lunch.

Also, keep us in your prayers. We are feeling the pressure of upcoming missions trips, moving, new ministry, new environment, and finishing up and starting another grad class, all in one month. We need HIS strength, and patience.

Love you all!! We will post as soon as the internet is up and running on MONDAY in our new Apartment in Fishers. Keep an eye out, and as always, drop us a comment or a phone call.

OH YEAH!! I almost forgot...My iBook died...May it rest in peace, however I harvested it's brain, and will be uploading it's life back into my new MAC in less than a week. So tonight's post is brought to you by Danielle's Dell.

Samuel Logan Brengle journal entry

Today I am packing...or trying to pack up my office. For me this is a very difficult and emotional task. A couple of students have placed small notes, EVERYWHERE! in my office. Notes of encouragement, scripture, and song lyrics, and They are all very humbling and encouraging to me. Of course I am saving them. But as I began to pack up my book cases, I came across a book I was handed a few weeks ago, "Journey Into Holiness". As I scanned the pages I came across this journal entry by Samuel Logan Brengle that touched my heart. Wanting to become a great preacher, he began to fervently seek the filling of the Holy Spirit. For weeks he searched the Scriptures, and then he began to examine his own heart....he writes this...

I saw the humility of Jesus, and my pride; the meekness of Jesus, and my temper; the lowliness of Jesus and my ambition; the purity of Jesus, and my unclean heart; the faithfulness of Jesus, and the deceitfulness of my hearts; the unselfishness of Jesus, and my selfishness; the trust and faith of Jesus, and my doubts and unbelief; the holiness of Jesus, and my unholiness. I got my eyes off everybody but Jesus and myself, and I came to loathe myself."

I like this quote by Samuel, because as I close up and pack up my ministry here in Mukwonago, I am so honored, humbled, and in awe that God would use a guy like me. Thank you Jesus!

the Classic, Always good for a Laugh...LEMON TEETH

Saturday Night, our good friends, Steve, Cindy, Matt, Mike, Tina, and Jake took Danielle and I out to my favorite place. TEXAS ROAD HOUSE!!!! Man I love that place, and they treated us to a really fun night. Of course we were too loud, and laughing about everything...even Danielle's famous laugh came out. But as the night wore down, we broke out the lemon teeth. Who doesn't love the lemon teeth? Here are some pictures!!

PARK WALK

We recently participated in our small town,s PARKWALK a fundraising event to raise awareness and funds for cancer research in the local hospital. Danielle and I were talking...it just feels like a ton of people get cancer. I remember when I was a kid it felt like elderly or much older people were effected with cancer. but now a days, it feels like anyone can become entrenched in this battle. This PARKWALK meant a lot to Danielle and I, and we are so glad Cindy W. allowed us to come in Steve's and Matt's place. When we arrived and saw all the people walking, the sight made us very emotional. We both felt like crying...which is strange. But as the walk went on, and as we talked with the survivors, family members and friends it was encouraging to hear their stories.

God moves in such dark places. Where hope is hard to find...hard to see...that is where God shows up...and that is what we all need to cling to in this broken world.

Above is a picture of our friend Kelly and her Family. Kelly is a survivor...and a great friend. Her family is very close to us, and we have loved laughing with them!!!

Kelly is not only a survivor...she surrendered her life to Christ, and leaned on Him in her dark time. Her faith challenges mine! Thanks Kelly!!

Also, we praise the Lord for taking Sue home this year. While it was hard for us to say goodbye. We know this battle was long and hard, and going home was such a relief. We love you Lord!! Thanks for the time you gave us with Sue, her faith, love, and passion for you, is still alive.

New Email:::We Are Back up and Running with Email!!!

It is interesting how many people have been sending me emails...it is incredible how my life has changed since that first hotmail email address way back my senior year of high school!! Amazing!!

well here is my new email: pastorfreed@gmail.com

lots of laughs...and tears now adays around the Freed's. We are adjusting and preparing for our move on Sunday, June 4. We are expecting this day to be really hard. Pray for us friends...

and drop us a comment=)

Email Down! AHAAAAAHHHHH

Hey Friends, I know millions of you have...ok thousands....ok hundreds...all right....a couple of you have been trying to email Danielle and I, the last couple of days and our email has been down. Our Church is changing servers and our email is down. We will be back up online very soon...we hope!!! No email is a crazy way to live!! I seriously don't know how we all did it before the internet. Of course feel free to drop us a comment!!

look what we found while we packed!!!

During a recent cleaning out of our storage area Danielle and I discovered two very neat thing about our life...

1. Danielle has a lot of trinkets from years past. We had three large tubs full of little items that had a little story. From a crushed can Christmas decoration to a bunch of crushed pennies, Danielle and I love memories. I guess that is why we like this blog. It causes us to slow down and reflect on the memories God is giving us. When we die, and our kids burry us, they will never say we had a lot of money. But they will say we were rich with memories and friends. Thanks so much for making memories with us Mukwonago. We will forever remember how Mukwonago was the first home in our marriage, the first adventure in ministry and the our first address where we received junk mail.


2. We discovered that John was moonlighting as Batman. more like creepyman.

You won't beleive what we saw!

Church signs always have cleaver things to say, like...."CH__CH, What's Missing? U R" here is one of our favorite church signs!

IN THE HOUSE!!

In our Student Ministries [CrossRoad Ministries] we have small care groups called LIFE GROUPS. Now don’t be mistaken these are not Bible studies or book studies, they are cell groups where students come together to join their lives in deep community. Each LIFE Group is facilitated and led by a LIFE COACH, which Danielle is one. She has a group of 12 girls that show up to our small apartment on Arrowhead Dr. for a LIFE GROUP, and each week is different, sometimes it is creating an intimacy map, or reflecting on a different Fruit of the Spirit [Gal. 5] or tackling life issuse and sharing burdens or victories with each other. Either way, I only catch a glimpse of it, because the group really cares about each other, so they hold tight to the policy what is said in the group stays in the group. However….
This past Monday, Danielle asked me to get the tarp out of the garage because she was going to be doing some tie-dyeing….IN THE HOUSE!!! Let’s just say, I was really nervous but also very proud. You see Danielle is an awesome LIFE Coach. She totally knows what it means to coach students to become the Christians God has created them to be. Here is what our LIFE Coaches committed to be in the lives of students…

Encourage:
___Through healthy adult relationships between students and adult LIFE COACHES we hope to encourage students in their daily spiritual journey from adolescence to early adult hood. Encouraging them in their unique S.H.A.P.E. and personal call on their life.

Empower:
Providing students with the tools to…
___REACH OUT to their friends and family in evangelism and servant leadership.
___REACH IN with specific elements of the Christian LIFE: DO – KNOW -- BE
___REACH UP with a heart of worship in all that we do.

Invest:
___To offer creatively designed programming focused on providing students with opportunities to use their gifts to serve to the Lord in their world.
___To provide literature, web content, and music that will strengthen and excel their spiritual growth.
___To Provide a place specifically designed for their generation to gather together in a family style atmosphere that gives acceptance, comfort, and challenge in their spiritual growth.


Well, our LIFE Groups are going to be something we miss a great deal about CrossRoad Ministries. but the philosophy and desire for deep community is something we will always strive for. And if you were wondering, after the night, Danielle said tie-dyeing in the house, was really scary, and decided it was a once in a life time fun thing to do. But probably would not attempt it again unless it were outdoors!

Subscriptions

Recently I was thinking of getting a subscription to another magazine called HOMILETICS, when I realized, Danielle and I get a ton of magazines. Currently we are getting, GROUP, RELEVANT, RADIANT, CHRISTIANITY TODAY, READERS DIGEST, O [buy it off the shelf], Mental Floss[subscription just ended], OUTREACH, BOOKS AND CULTURE, WESLEYAN LIFE, AND OF COURSE the TRIANGLE. But I have pictured my favorites for you to see. Here is why we get so many magazines...

TOP 10 REASONS TO Subscribe to Magazines!!
1. Easy read: Most articles are quickly written to be quickly read. They quickly get to the point, share the information and leave with a little smarter, in about five minutes.
2. Most Magazine articles are the gold minded from larger books. For example, most of CHRISTIANITY TODAY articles are excerpts from much lager books, that go on and on. but an article is quick and to the point.
3. A Magazine is fun, great pictures, interesting places, and quick humor.
4. Magazines capture current cultural trends faster then a book. A book takes months if not years to be polished and published. A magazine has only one to two months to reprint itself.
5. You can share an article with a friend much easier. For me to photocopy pages in a book would be time consuming, but with a magazine I can copy an article and pass it around to my friends.
6. Magazines are specific and purposeful. When I open OUTREACH magazine, I know what I am going to be reading about.
7. Cheaper then a volume of books. I recently got RELEVANT for my friend Pat for 6 bucks!! you can't beat that!!
8. Who does not love to get cool mail!!!
9. They make great gifts!! and cheap!!
10. They go great in a bathroom.

Bonus Reason: Stay Relevant with the times with current culture magazines

Well just a thought..enjoy your magazine subscriptions!!

BABY GOT BOOK!

I love this VIDEO!! You have to Check this out!! Danielle and I bought the DVD!! You should too!!

NEW HOME

Well Danielle and I were in Indiana this past Thurs, Fri, and Saturday looking for a new home. After searching and seeing EVERY apartment complex in the area we finally decided on Sand Creek Woods Apartment right off 116th street. We really loved the area and the complex offers a community pool, hot tub, indoor half court basketball/volleyball court, and a work out gym. Also each apartment has a garden tub and wood burning fire place. We are so excited about this new home!


Also, Danielle and I will be able to adopt a new family member. A precious little dog. We have been wanting a dog for years, and with a new apartment comes the ability to adopt. We will be sure to share all the pictures with you!! Keep checking into our blog as we will update you our friends and family with our adventure. Our move in date is set for June 4. Continue to pray for our family here in Wisconsin, as we make this transition.

Alan Jackson: Precious Memories

My Good friend Dan W. let me borrow his new Alan Jackson CD! Wow it is awesome!! If you are like me and you grew up with those old camp meeting songs, you will love this one!! I feel like I am back at Victory Camp in Columbus, Ohio! Alan Jackson does an incredible job at capturing that old time sound in the hymns that many of us grew up listening too. Check it out for your self HERE.



Thanks Dan!!!





Also, pray for Dan and I. Today Dan found an opportunity through the Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts to share the Great News of Jesus Christ. He has been a Boy Scout Troop leader for years, and asked if I could be the speaker at this year's spring retreat. We are praying that God uses our efforts to speak to hearts.

Easter is here!! Celebrate the Great News!!

Here is a picture of our good friend Matt W. enjoying Easter breakfast at the church!! Matt is a good friend who is also apart of CrossRoad Ministries.


We had a great day of Easter. Our day started by being at the church at 6:45 to help set up for breakfast! Also, we had a little petting zoo for children to see baby chickens, bunnies, and rumor has it a goat...but i did not see that. Here is a picture of Danielle and I with some Chicken McNuggets.




The day ended with some guitar playing with Matt and Danielle. Matt is just picking the guitar up and really doing a good job. Danielle on the other hand prefers just to strum, while I do the chords for her=)

To all the Danielle Fans of the World

To all the Danielle Fans of the World here is another Great Picture of Danielle!! We went for a walk at Mukwonago County Park last week, and I snapped this shot of her. She is standing with a beautiful back drop of the rolling hills of Wisconsin. Come visit us before we move back to flat Indiana!!
Today, my Uncle Dale and Aunt Marilyn is coming over on their way back through from a speaking engagement in IOWA! We hope to show them a great time at [ http://www.primequarter.com ] PRIME QUARTER!!!!!
My new Favorite restaurant!!

Easter Prep

Hey Friends, as you know Easter is knocking at the front door, but Palm Sunday was a great day for Danielle and I. Our local church family celebrated the life of Christ through an all church drama. The choir sang, and members of the congregation acted out the diffrent characters in the story of Grace. We even had Pat R. be Jesus. He did a great job!! Here are a few pictures we snaped with our new camera!! Enjoy! What is your church doing for the season? Better yet, what are YOU doing to celebrate Grace?







I love this picture of Jesus at the copier!!! What if Jesus worked in your office!!!





Danielle and I dressed the part. I was John the Baptist and Danielle played a HOT blond Jewish girl...she played her part perfect...except for the Jewish part=)

New FE-115

Danielle and I just purchased a brand spankin new Olympus FE-115 Digital Camera. We are excited! Enjoy our first picture, of course we took of a picture of something cute=)

Hopefully you will see a lot more pictures of where we are currently living, as well as our new destination in Indiana. If you have any great pictures, we would love to see them!! Please send them our way!!

Oh yeah, all of you who love to blog, you have to check you People Fisher. I am currently a founding member, and would love to see you on there!! http://peoplefisher.com/johnfreed --come join me!!

Good night! That paper for my final class is almost done!! I am procrastinating right now!!

Last week of my 1st class

I have just started my last week of my first class of Grad work with Indiana Wesleyan Univerisity. I can't believe I am working to ge my Masters. If only Mr. Chapman from the 6th grade could see me now. I wanted to share something with you from a book I just finished called, "Managing the Non-Profit Organization" it's as good as it sounds. But Peter Drucker does an awesome job in this book, and my professor, Robert Whitesel jotted down a few of his favorite quaotes and I wanted to share them with you. Enjoy, and I hope you can use them to reflect on the management of your life, or ministry. If you ever get a chance to sit down and read a good book, don't pick this one up, it is pretty heady and not very entertaining. But a great resource!






Forum: Epilogue
Date: 03-31-2006 22:07
Author: Whitesel, Robert
Subject My Favorite Drucker Quotes

From Peter Drucker's “Managing the Non-Profit Organization”

“A leader needs to see himself in a position of indebtedness. Leaders are given the gift of leadership by those who choose or agree to follow.” (Drucker, p. 37)

“Even if you have market leadership, non-customers always outnumber customers.” (Drucker, p. 100). Elmer Towns said once: “As long as there is one person in your community who doesn't know Jesus as Savior, your church isn't big enough

“Write down what you expect to happen. Nine months or a year later, compare your expectations to what actually happened.” (Drucker, p. 197)

David Hubbard said, “I think a CEO has two primary areas of service. I have to care for the vice-presidents, whom I supervise…And I have to care for the trustees.” (Drucker, p. 173)

“Paying serious attention to self-development - your own and that of everyone in the organization - is not a luxury for non-profit executives.” (Drucker, p. 189)

Inviting each volunteer to answer two questions twice a year. “What have I learned? What difference to my own life has my [ministry] at the church been making?” (Drucker, p. 190)

Drucker's questions were great. “Where have I made an impact? Where do my clients need me-not just want me? Where have I been wasting their time and mine? Where should I concentrate next year so as not only to give my best but also to get the most out of it?” (p. 191)

Drucker maintains, “Probably the best of the nuts and bolts of self-development is the practice of keeping score on yourself.” (p. 224)

“Write down what you expect to happen. Nine months or a year later, compare your expectations to what actually happened.” (Drucker, p. 197)

“It is always painful for me to see how great the gap is between what I should have done and what I did do.” (p. 224

A letter to the ones we love

Dear Friends,


Almost three years ago, the Lord led us away from a group of people we loved deeply at Daybreak Community church in Lapel, Indiana. We were newly engaged and knew that we needed a full time ministry where the Lord would use us. At that point in our lives he led us right to Our Savior’s Wesleyan church.


For the past three years you have been so wonderful to us. You have showed us love, and given us such great encouragement. We have made many great memories, like the canon on New Years Eve, sledding in the front yard, Ultimate Frisbee in the summers, Winter Rush, Noah’s Ark, and of course youth camp. We have laughed together at Sunday Night Live and LiveWire, and cried together over an open chair. We have grown in our walk with Christ, some still just beginning. Through the years we have committed deeper to one another as a family in LIFE Groups and Sunday night worship. Danielle and I see each of you as brothers and sisters, and have grown to love you so much! God has blessed us with an awesome youth group.


When we first arrived in Mukwonago, we were nervous, lonely and scared. We quickly poured ourselves into ministry and into your lives. We have loved watching you grow up, and have success in your lives and we rejoice in what God is doing in and through you. So as that first year came, we learned how God wanted us to spread the message of Jesus Christ to Mukwonago.


We learned that you love to be honest and real, so we shared Jesus honestly with people, and talked to them about the real impact Jesus can have on a life. Many of us experienced Christ in a fresh way.

We learned that you love to serve the Lord. Through rake and run, soup kitchens in Milwaukee and the missions trip to the dangerous South Chicago, we were able to join in the work of Jesus Christ in places where people were desperate, hurting and in great need. And we loved it! We laughed, cried, and even picked up glass so other kids could play tag.

We learned that you are full of love. We feel so blessed to be a part of your lives. Each one of you has invited us into your life, and offered us trust and a big smile. We needed you, and you allowed us to be your friends. Best friends!

We learned that God’s plan for Mukwonago was much greater than the two of us. We have seen God use you, time after time to bring people to SNL! or LIVEWire! God has used you to start chapel services before wrestling meets, morning prayer groups, or inviting friends to “See you at the Pole”. God used you in incredible ways.


As Danielle and I served in Mukwonago, we began to sense Him building us into the couple He has created us to be. We learned how to work together and how to serve the Lord with one heart and one vision. We know that God has used the students of CRM to develop us, probably more than we have developed them. Through the years we have worked hard to pass on to you, our deep love for Jesus Christ. Our life mission is to tell people of the transforming power of Jesus Christ. We truly hope you have gained this.


However, in the past couple of months we have felt God calling us to another adventure. We are not exactly sure where God is taking us, but we do know that He is calling us to obedience, trust, and readiness. We pass this letter on to you and your friends as a token of love and hopefully a tool of understanding. We would not trade our 3 years in Mukwonago for anything. We love and appreciate all of you and we see clearly many reasons why the Lord led us here 3 years ago. We know clearly that God has a plan and a calling on all of our lives and we have to be open to Him and the plans He has for us. While this may be a hard spot in the plan for all of us, we have to trust God, and be confident that he has this all in his control.


We want you to know that we did not go looking for a new church to serve in. We did not send out resumes, we were in the midst of our everyday ministry here when we received an invitation to explore the possibility of ministering in Fishers, Indiana. We took the invitation, after much prayer, and spent a few days with the people there. After more prayer, we were offered the position there, and we felt deep in our hearts that this was the next step in God’s plan for us. Many of our hearts

desires and personal goals were met in this new position.


We understand that our decisions seem very confusing, and not very concrete. And we understand if you feel very angry with us. But we want you to know that we love you, that this decision was extremely difficult for us. We hate the idea of moving from Mukwonago, and the people we love so much, but at the same time, we must be obedient to God’s calling on our lives. We must be sensitive to the Holy Spirits guidance to new places.


We would love to talk with each of you about this, and hear your hearts. We hope that in the next couple months you would call us, and let us know how you feel. We want to share with you; our hearts, and hopefully this letter will help a little. But we want you to know that this decision is not based on anything that this church or you did not offer us. It is based on a calling God has placed on our life, the same calling that led us here to you.


God is good in all He does. For us to teach that, we must be willing to live that out in every aspect of our life. We teach and talk with you all the time about the plan God has for your life, and at the same time, we are trying to live out God’s plan for John and Danielle. While moving is going to be so hard, we know that our new adventure will be exciting and God centered.




We love you,



“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart; for whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God's grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 1:3-8

Worship in my life

2 Core Beliefs I have made about Worship

For my personal devotions I have been reading Leviticus and Exodus. Both books are very clear about how God communicates and dwells with His people. Here are a few things I have come to a conclusion about in my own personal life concerning worship.

Less always equals More:
The less of myself in the worship time, weather in music, in the Word, or quietly hiking through the woods, the more I can focus on my Heavenly Father and less on me, the more of Him I will experience and rest in.
As I read Leviticus and Exodus, I am seeing a chosen people who complain and groan about their issues, and give no concern to the work or power God is displaying all around them. Have I done this? Would God’s anger burn against my selfishness? Does this show up in my life? These are all questions I have been asking myself as I read through the scriptures. I can’t help but reflect on what John the Baptist said concerning Jesus, “He must increase I must decrease” John 3:30

God Directs Worship, I only can participate:
The God in the Old Testament is the same God of March 2006. I believe longs to be worshiped; I believe He longs to direct our worship. We participate in the moving of a Holy God when we worship. Worship, is giving worth and ownership of our lives to something. For me, worship is only given to the God the Bible outlines. As I read God’s Word I am worshiping, as I take out the trash, I worship. Worship is not something we step in and out of, it is much greater, much deeper. Worship is a lifestyle, a holy participation of our spirit participating in the work of the Holy Spirit. David describes this as “deep calls to deep” Psalm 42
Do I really live this way? Or do I emotionally, or rationally step in and out of a worship task in my life? If Sunday morning worship is not my style, do I feel like I have not been filled, or have not worshiped? Is it possible that worship is not about what I do, but deeper, to who I am? Or is Worship just as much what I do, and less of who I am right now?

John