Song of the Week(s) & More!

I thought this would be a great way to introduce  ‘Song of the Week(s).  Goose Creek Church will be posting the occasional ‘Song of the Week(s), yeah we do not want to be bound by unhealthy and ultimately destructive expectations of finding an amazing song every week, but we can guarantee that you will find one you love at least every month. Well enough rambling, here are the songs – this is very different from first music post (‘5 Albums Worth Buying’) which is funny because in actuality I am almost always about the compilation, the best value which to me is not usually found in albums. I hope to post a few songs up at least once a month to connect you to what I am listening to. Hope you enjoy!

Jeremy Messersmith – A Girl, a Ghost, and a Graveyard

lupe Fiasco – Fighters

The Freelance Whalers – The Generator 1st Floor

The City harmonic

Click on picture to go to Song of the Week(s)

On the Nature of Daylight – Max Richter

Somber and melodic this song makes for a great song to study to,..

Partners

Goose Creek Church is months away from its pre-launch (pre-launch – the process of gathering core members that feel called to the vision of Goose Creek Church).  So, if you are in the Goose Creek/Summerville/North Charleston and Hanahan area, have a passion (or questions) about God, Scripture, community, please come check us out. Currently we are a seedling of Journey Church in Ladson, and will be starting small groups this Fall 2011! Note: If you would like to give a donation click here.

We would like to thank those of you who have supported us with your prayers and finances, it has been amazingly appreciated. As we look forward we would like to recognize a few of our partnering organizations. Also, in the coming days we will create ways for you to financially support Goose Creek Church!

Tornado Relief – First off Goose Creek Church wants to partner and support those affected by the recent storms and tornadoes. We want to remind you to keep everyone who has been impacted by the tornadoes in your prayers; the towns of Joplin, MO; Springfield, MA; Tuscaloosa, AL and more. We have family in Joplin and the more we hear about the gravity of the situation the more our hearts and prayers go out to the victims. Here is a support link to the Church in Joplin (you would need to contact the Church directly). We are also teaming up with Fellowship Holden Church to help those affected by the Springfield tornado. The Springfield Rescue Mission is also accepting clothes, furniture, toiletries, and money. Challenge: During spring cleaning if you find good clothes that you are not going to use or do not need I would encourage you to send them to one of the areas hit by the tornado.

Vision & DNA – Our vision is to invite people to live out the story of God. This means a lot of things; understanding the Scripture, knowing Jesus (and the cross), and our role as the Church. Living out God’s story is the reason we live and give the way we do.  As we live out this story and become more and more like Jesus we want to help those in need like Jesus did. Loving like Jesus is part of our DNA (who we are).  Here are some other core parts (the DNA) of  Goose Creek Church.  For more, visit our tenets.

• Teaching/Discipleship [Understanding God, His story, and living it out!]
• Community
• Social Justice
• Creating a diverse and relevant Church

At GCC there is a tension of growing disciples and reaching the unchurched. We will grow disciples through Small Group Environments (& training sessions). We have a high value of [life on life] community and growth; Small Groups will be a great and challenging outlet to explore one’s faith. Every Small Group will be asked to do at least one social justice activity a season.  GCC will also host events in the area designed to entertain and/or serve. i.e. Working at the Soup Kitchen or helping with Easter Egg Hunts! All this to say that giving is a big part of who we are!

Partners –

We are not called to make an impact for the Kingdom of God alone. Here are our partners. Note: These ministries have been instrumental in influencing Goose Creek Church.

We are partnering with Journey Church in Summerville, SC. Pastors Will and Clay have been exceptional in getting us plugged into the Summerville/Goose Creek community. We hope to be a light to Journey during the pre-launch of Goose Creek Church and onward.

Fellowship Church Holden has been leading the frontier in connecting with unchurched people of New England.  I’ve been proud to call them my home Church over the last year and have made some lifelong friends and connections there. My wife and I owe a debt of gratitude to Journey, Fellowship, Holden Chapel, and all the Churches that we have come in contact with.

Children of the Nations (COTN) is a non profit organization that feeds, equips, and educates children in third world countries in the name of the Gospel. I have heard several stories of the COTN going into Haiti and Sierra Leone and creating systems that last. COTN is not just a hand out, instead they create ways for people and communities to live better. Goose Creek Church is proud to support COTN.

Longtime friend Mike Schmitt started something amazing in Detroit! Elevate Detroit are Community BBQs that bridge the sharp divide between rich, poor, black, and white in the troubled city. In Detroit there is a little heaven on earth because of this ministry. More than once a month Mike and his friends get together to be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ as they share more than just food- they share community with various parts of the Motor City. Communi[D] D – is for Detroit is growing a national following as ministries across the nation are following the ministries lead and creating community in less fortunate areas.

We are excited to be partnering with these ministries our other passion include teaching (I love communicating God’s word) and worship (I think Priscilla has an amazing voice). We again thank you for your prayers… Within a few days we should have our Goose Creek Church tax deductible donations page up and running. God Bless.

Drinking some Hawaiin Punch and sharing some thoughts with a friend during an Elevate BBQ.

Here is Pris packing up some clothes for the residents of Joplin!

Here We Go,..

Welcome to our first Church Plant Post; you will still get my(self- proclaimed) excellent movies/book reviews in addition to that I will be sharing Pris and I’s Church Planting vision. Also, here is a video Jason Destratis made for my ordination, please feel free to follow us twitter @stevebramlett & @prisbram.

First and foremost everything we do is for the honor and glory of Jesus Christ, our vision is to invite people to live [out] the story of Jesus!

The story thus far…
The past few weeks have been intense, in a good way. Pris and I have navigated through our ministry calling, finances, and commitment; basically our life has been on pins and needles trying to figure out what God has next for us. We soon realized all arrows were pointing towards Church Planting in Charleston! Over the past week we took a battery of assessment test. My baby, (Pris) wowed them, she was funny, witty, and the Church Planting (CP) wives loved her—they told her so. I on the other hand had it a little harder. The male testers had ‘poker faces,’ asking a barrage of questions from our calling, to networking, to marriage and more. We passed; scoring high marks in the ‘marriage,’ ‘teaching,’ ‘organizing,’ and the ‘networking ‘categories! Our next step is to move to Charleston (90% in July) and begin working on the next phase – partnering with Journey Church in Summerville, in September 12′ our plant will be ready to b(l)oom!

After the test in Georgia, we visited Charleston. Everything went swimmingly, from the conversations on the plane to the rental car (Pris got to fulfill a childhood dream for the first couple days as they double booked our car and gave us an F-150 Truck– ask her about the extended cab, lol!). We would like to give out a special thanks to Eric and Charity Light for hosting us and my Uncle and Aunt for treating us to the Glass Onion Restaurant!

While in Charleston we connected with Pastors from the Journey Church and River Church in the area, amazing men of God! The biggest highlight and challenge was when Pastor Will Browning said we were an answer to prayers as they have been hoping and praying that more African American couples would come into their Church to help bring healing and bridge the racial divide in the city. (We hope and pray to be answer to that prayer!).

Click on Picture to see Jason's video clip he created for my ordination, very powerful!

We slowed down on day 5 and immersed ourselves in the Charleston culture enjoying a horse and buggy ride. During the ride we learned that Charleston as a port city has always been more unchurched and even had the first Unitarian Church in the South – the speaker motioned toward us as he said that knowing we were from New England. Serendipitously we also saw the Dipietros (Don Dipietro is an elder of our church!) They later drove by in their car chanting ‘Let’s Go Red Sox!’ The unruly New Englanders caused quite a scene, Pris enjoyed it, I however will always bleed Detroit Sports! After 5 days straight of meetings, networking, assessments, and a buggy ride we took two days off and visited the Destratis clan in Columbia, SC. They have been a huge help in networking, thank you!  Jason also made an amazing video* during my ordination (I will talk more about the ordination next post). The picture above is of a Small Group Easter Egg Hunt we attended. After playing Catan (a strategy board game, pic can be seen in  video), Priscilla and I returned to Charleston for two more full days of Church, potlucks, and meetings.

Several big things came out of this trip
1. We affirmed our Calling, we are moving to Charleston!
2. We have a partner Church, Journey Church in Summerville S.C.
3. We have jobs; Apartment Life and Priscilla has a job in Kitchen & Bath Job in S.C.
4. We found a city location in Goose Creek to live and Church Plant.