Brent Parsley's Blog

Destiny Rescuing Destiny

This is a familiar story on this blog, but God keeps moving it forward. So, I thought I'd post this latest video to share the continued journey. It's really exciting to watch how it keeps spreading. We played this video at the first Desperation Conference in June this Summer. As a result, we ended up taking a spontaneous offering where the conference attendees gave over $16,000 to build another Orphan Home with World Orphans.

The Heartwork Vision keeps moving. American teenagers reaching out to African Orphans. African Orphans reaching back to American teenagers. Destiny rescuing destiny.



Keep watching www.heartwork.tv for more...

The Heartwork:Uganda Timeline

This was perhaps THE highlight of 2008 and certainly ranks among the top 5 ministry experiences for me in my 33 years thus far. I've written a little bit about it previously, but I wanted to share the timeline and story with a little more detail. We recently showed this at _tag to update students and to celebrate what God is doing through them. I followed up on the video with pics and stories of each of the 3 Orphan Homes. It was such a great night. Hope it's an encouragement to you.

Give young people something missional. Give them something to do. Show them something that matters. Present a Jesus type challenge. They will rise to meet it. I've watched it over and over.

Hope you dig the video.

Heartwork: Uganda is Here and it is Happening.

Last year around this time a great group of people I know called _tag embarked on a fantastic journey. It was a journey into true Christianity. It was the kind of journey that God calls "pure and faultless". The directions can be found in James 1:27. They're not too difficult. They are simply, to "look after orphans and widows in their distress and keep oneself from being polluted by the world." We had the directions so we started the journey.

Our travel partners ended up being an organization called World Orphans and an awesome guy named Kirby. Our road led us to Uganda and Kenya to build 4 Orphan Homes for some incredible children on the other side of the planet.

Over the course of 2 month, that's only 8 weeks, a group of junior high kids and high school students freely gave over $67,000 dollars to this way of life. That amount was matched by a local business for a total of over $127,000 dollars.

That journey is continuing today. We received word this week that two of those four homes are now complete and the third is nearing completion. In fact, one of those homes already has eight young girls living there in safety.

There will be more to come on this. But in the meantime, in a season when circumstances nationally and locally are pretty challenging, and it seems sometimes like Jesus can be hard to find, I've seen Him. He's doing the same things He's always done. He's asking us to do the same. The directions are there. Let's take the journey with Him. It's time to go.

The 7th was Epic! The 14th is on the way...

Last Wednesday night _tag gathered in the Theater at New Life to Launch a new season as a family. Teenagers from our church and city in Grades 7 - 12 gathered together to worship, pray, study the Scriptures, and meet with Jesus. It was nothing short of Epic! What made it so epic? I'd like to point to the the fun stuff we were able to do that night. I'd like to point to the massive curtain drop at the beginning. I'd like to point to the overall vibe created that night. I'd like to point to the number of people that joined us in our Vision. I'd like to point to the BPS appearance. Certainly, all those things were great, but they weren't the reason _tag's re-launch was so incredible. The truth is it was an epic night because it was a packed house of teenagers focused on the simple but awesome Truth of Jesus.

I like all the other stuff. I think utilizing some of the language and media of our culture has some value. (And anytime you get a BPS concert for free, you should certainly take advantage of it). But it all pales in comparison to knowing "Jesus Christ and Him crucified." (1 Corinthians 2:2) As we enter this new season together we are renewing our focus on the Truth of who Jesus is, what He has done, and why that matters for us. This journey promises to be an epic one. I can't wait.

So the 7th blew away our expectations in every way. But I'll tell you what's better than that. The 14th is on the way. The 7th was only the beginning. See you there.

If you're looking to join the _tag Vision for 09 you can jump on tagonline.tv, check out the rest of my blog here, or just show up at _tag. You won't regret it.

Don't Miss the 7th Video #6

Don't Miss the 7th Video #5

Indeed. By now must realize the gravity of being at _tag on January 7th. See you there.

Don't Miss the 7th Video #4

Yup, you know what it is and you know what NOT to do.

Don't Miss the 7th Video #3

Yet another reason not to miss the 7th at _tag. The good reasons are just piling up. You really need to think about it.

Don't Miss the 7th Video #2

Another video to make sure you make the right decision to be at the new _tag on January 7th, 2009. Take heed.

Don't Miss the 7th Video #1

The first of several stories that encourage you to make life better...by being at the new _tag on January 7th, 2009.