2010 was a challenging year for us, to say the least. It was one of those years where you wonder what God is up to, and why things are happening certain ways. Now we look back and see how God tested our faithfulness to his calling. In my devotions over the last few weeks, I’ve been reading thru Job, comparing his response to adversity to the way I respond. There’s not much comparison. It’s too easy for me to focus on the present, and lose sight of the big picture and the God that causes the sun to shine on the righteous as well as the unrighteous. Now as we start 2011 we have a renewed sense of purpose as God reveals some of the reasons why our year worked out the way it did in 2010. Last Summer, Jennifer and I both felt called to start a church in the Austin area. As we were going through the application process with a couple of different churches, we began to get excited about the possibilities. We also looked forward to the opportunity to reach people who might not attend an established church.

During the Summer, God directed our paths so that we knew it was not the right time to move to Austin. Then at the same time I met a group of people trying to start a church right here in San Antonio. Jennifer and I took a leap of faith and got on board with Real Life Fellowship. We had an awesome experience with this group of men and women. To see them sacrifice their homes, their personal space, and their time to reach people in their community! It was also awesome to teach Siler and Caleb that you don’t need a building and a playground to have church.

At the same time that Jennifer and I started working for RLF San Antonio, the Lead Pastor from Corpus Christi just so happened to move his family to Austin in order to start a new campus. At the time, I didn’t think that would change things for us, but God thought otherwise. God has opened the door for us to go to Austin and share the love of Christ! What’s most exciting is that we won’t be going alone. We’ll be teaming up with Micah and his family as we start this journey. The area where we will be starting off is in Circle C, an area with seven square miles without one church. This is such an important mission that our family is about to take on, we need an outpouring of prayer for God to open doors and hearts in Austin. Our whole church body at Real Life is setting aside the next 21 days for prayer and fasting. In Austin, we are praying for a place to meet, a gifted, sold out Worship Leader, for Jennifer and I to sell our home in San Antonio, for us to find a place to live in Austin, and for God to give us divine appointments along the way!

Before you start to feel bad about the folks we’re leaving behind in San Antonio, just know that they were relieved when we told them the news. When I met with the group, they saw this as a way to continue reaching out, but without the pressure of trying to grow quickly to support a Campus Pastor and family. Right now, they are looking for a place to meet on Sundays so that they can get everyone together in the same place and take their group to the next level!

Sorry this was such a long post, hopefully the pictures made it go faster!

Faith and Doubt

Tuesday night I caught a few minutes of the Dennis Miller show. I love it when I get a few minutes to listen to his show, not only is it funny, but he usually has some interesting takes on politics that don’t fit neatly into the typical “conservative” opinions. On this particular episode, Dennis had a great guest, the actor Orson Bean. The segment I heard featured Mr. Bean (he he) telling his story of how he turned from alcoholism and wild living to faith in Christ.

I’ve heard Dennis comment on other people’s faith before; not in a negative light, but in a somewhat skeptical manner. On this occasion, Dennis interrupted Orson’s story with a question about doubt. As Orson was describing how much richer and fuller his life has become in Christ, Dennis asked if it was possible once you have found God to revert back to doubting God’s existence.

Orson’s answer to the question was great, and it reminded me of one of the greatest misconceptions about faith in Christ. So many people think that having faith means that Christians believe something based upon their emotions and feelings, in defiance of their reason. This could not be further from the truth.

In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis described faith as holding to a belief that your reason has once determined to be true, in spite of your changing emotions and feelings about that particular belief. Think of a parachute, when a potential skydiver is on the ground, his reason tells him that the combination of silk and nylon will cause enough friction in the air to slow his descent and allow him to land safely. When the skydiver reaches the door of the airplane, it is his emotions that tell him to turn back and cause him to doubt his parachute, not his reason.

The same is true for me as a Christian, even as a Pastor. My faith in Christ cannot be a slave to my emotions and feelings. There will be times when I don’t feel like believing. Standing at the door of the plane and looking down can be terrifying. I jump because I remember the sensibility of my faith. I remember the testimony of the early church martyrs. I remember the undeniable fulfillment of prophecy in Scripture. Then I also remember the track record of my faith. I’ve jumped before and Christ caught me, surely he can catch me again.

I think it would benefit us as a church to admit our struggle, and triumph over doubt. Rather than acting as though doubt is never a serious contender to our faith.

What's next for the Rasco's?

It’s been some time since my last post, but we haven’t had anything official to announce even though much has happened in our family since the beginning of the summer. However, since Monday of last week, we have a big announcement.

Jennifer and I will be starting a church in Live Oak, TX called Real Life Fellowship. We are so excited as we look forward to seeing God work in a mighty way. This summer as Jennifer and I sought and prayed for God’s direction, one of the steps we took was to develop a vision for the type of church we wanted to start. Shortly after we developed our vision statement, God lead us to a church and Pastor whose vision and objective matched ours. For that reason, we are so excited to be working with Real Life Fellowship. Real Life is a multi-site church based out of Corpus Christi, with seven campuses across the country. You can check out their website here at www.reallifefellowship.org.

As of this week, I am the Pastor of the Real Life Campus here in San Antonio. What does that mean? In short, it means our lives are about to change. Jennifer and I are taking on the leadership of a group of 35 people who are currently meeting on Sundays in one home in Live Oak. Over the next few months, we want God to transform that fellowship into a group of 100 people meeting in 10 different homes. Then in January we want to launch the church in a theater or community center in the Live Oak area. We believe that God wants this campus to launch and have a profound impact on the people of San Antonio, and we cannot wait to see that happen.

There are several key ingredients that we need in order for this ministry to make an impact for Christ:

We need an outpouring of prayer for God’s provision and providence.

We need people to serve alongside us.

Finally, we need God to provide the finances to make this launch possible.

Jennifer and I want to personally invite our friends, family, and co-laborers in Christ to join us in this adventure, in whatever capacity you feel lead. Some of you may be able to commit to pray for us weekly or daily over the next few months. Some of you may be searching for a church home, we would love for you to join with us and be a part of this exciting new ministry. Some of you may feel lead to support this ministry financially.

If you have any interest in partnering with us in any way, please send me an email at brian@brianrasco.com and I will sign you up for our newsletter. I will also send you an invitation to an informational dinner at our home. Although that sounds boring, I will sweeten the deal by making some of my brisket for the occasion! Jennifer and I want to take some time to share with you the vision of Real Life and let you know the challenges we will be facing. We also want to share the story and success that Real Life has had starting churches over the last five years. Thank you so much for your prayers, and please continue to lift us up as we step out in faith and obedience to the Lord!

Until the nets are full,

Brian and Jennifer Rasco

Pursuing endurance

"But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness." - 1 Timothy 6:11 ESV

We don't really use the word steadfast anymore, but endurance relates most of the message of that word. The problem with pursuing endurance is you have to endure something unpleasant in order to accomplish that. Right now, my family is traveling a difficult road for the Lord, and with God's grace, we will endure!

To our Parkhills family, thank you for praying for us. Each kind word and thoughtful prayer gives us more encouragement and hope than you can imagine. Please understand that we love the people of Parkhills, and we do not bear any ill will toward the church.

I know there are concerns about the way my leave was handled. Make sure you share with the pastor any concerns you have, and follow the guidelines in Scripture to avoid gossip and dissension. Go to the ones who have offended you and tell them. Then prayerfully seek reconciliation. If you act according to the will of God and instruction of the Bible, God can be glorified even in the midst of this difficult time!

I am just now able to put my thoughts down because I needed some time to refocus and listen to the Lord. The last three weeks have been emotionally taxing.

Last week, Jennifer and I sat down at Starbucks while the kids were in school. Jennifer picked up a book by Jerry Bridges called Trusting God. As she read one of the chapter’s on adversity, I could see her spirit lifting. One of the things it said was that when you are in the midst of adversity, focus on the positive consequences. We started listing off a few together while we sat there. First, we needed this break. The last 12 months of dealing with the church budget was like an ever increasing burden (keep in mind that the rest of the staff and church still feel this burden). Second, we needed family time. Between my ministry responsibilities and extra jobs, Jennifer and the boys don’t get to spend enough time with me.

Ever since that moment at Starbuck’s, Jennifer and I have been looking for the positive, and praying for God’s grace to ignore the negative. Next thing you know, God started moving.

Last October, Jennifer and I got to spend some time in Prague with my sister and brother-in-law. While we were there, we enjoyed participating at their church plant called Bridge Community. This visit planted a seed in my mind about church planting back in Texas.

Once we got back, I planned to continue serving at Parkhills until God made it clear that He wanted us to step out and start a church. As usual, God’s timing was not the same as mine and now we find ourselves at a crossroads. Jennifer and I have visited churches in the area that are looking for a Student Pastor, and we believe that God has something else in store for us. Then God started pounding church planting into our hearts through godly people, Scripture, and amazing circumstances. As a result, Jennifer and I have decided that we want to become church planters.

This week I sat down with a local Pastor who started a church 20 years ago. He gave me some valuable insight and challenged me to sit down and develop a vision for the church that I wanted to Pastor. As I prayed and worked through that process I have found several opportunities to partner with other churches who have a similar vision. Right now, Jennifer and I are praying about those opportunities and that God would open the right door and close the wrong door for us.

We would greatly appreciate your continued prayer for our family. We have some big decisions ahead of us, and we need clear direction on how to move forward. I’ll keep you all posted as things develop.

Thanks again for your prayers and support!

Until the nets are full,


Brian, Jennifer, Siler and Caleb

My Testimony

I guess I should have started my blog with my testimony, but it's better late than never. Here is a little about me and my journey to the Lord!

I grew up in Houston, Texas, and when I was around two years old my Mom and Dad divorced. So I spent most of my childhood with my Mom. She took me to church nearly every Sunday, where I would hear the message that Jesus died for you, and that you should believe in Him if you want to go to heaven. For some reason, I never could understand how I was supposed to make myself believe? It's not something you can make yourself do right, either you believe or you don't? One day, my cousin went down the aisle after the service and told the Pastor that he wanted to accept Christ and be baptized. Just a short time after that, so did I. The only problem was I didn't fully understand what I was doing. I believed what the Pastor was saying, I just didn’t know what it meant to put my faith in Christ.

Just before my eighth grade year we moved out to a suburb on the outskirts of town. We also started attending a different church, with a Pastor and Youth Pastor who preached like I had never heard before. They made this 2,000 year old “story book” relevant and meaningful to my life and struggles. It was during my second youth camp with the new church that I figured out what it meant to really believe in Jesus. It wasn’t enough for me to know who Jesus was, and that He died and rose from the dead to pay for my sins. I had to put my faith and trust in Him. How did I do that? Well, if you really believe in something you follow up your words with actions. Saying “I believe” doesn’t cut it, you have to prove it by stepping out and following Jesus. You have to make Him the most important person in your life. You can’t say you believe in someone and then ignore what they say?

At that camp, God claimed me as His child. I started to hate sin and care more about lifting up Christ than myself. I grew closer to my youth group and started leaning on God for direction and guidance. Some of my friends who were bad influences had to go, and others had to start going to church with me. I wish I could say that I’ve never looked back since that day, but there were times when I strayed. In my last two years of high school and my college career I stopped trying to grow closer to Christ, and I began to do whatever I wanted. My own desires and plans for my life got me in more trouble than I care to remember, but God never gave up on me. He kept calling me back to Him, reminding me that I was His possession.

Thankfully, God sent me an awesome wife who was also a Christian. After Jennifer and I were married and the responsibility of leading a family hit me, I was broken before the Lord. I couldn’t do this on my own, I needed Him guide me. So, I re-committed my life to Him, and began to pour myself into the Bible, and the church. God speaks to us in many ways, but the most powerful method He uses today is the Bible. He spoke to me by making passages stick out, and by giving me the exact words I needed at just the right time. After a year and a half of pursuing God, I began to feel that He wanted me to serve His people full-time, which meant He wanted me to be a Minister of the Gospel. My wife and I have been serving God’s people since 2001, and we’ve never looked back or regretted our decision to give God everything we’ve got. Our lives aren’t perfect, but no matter how rough our road gets we are perfectly content to serve our Savior! If you are like I was, and you’ve never “made yourself believe”, I would love to talk to you about Christ, and help you come to the point where you can put your trust in Him. Please feel free to email me so that we can talk.

Faith Hope and Love

Sunday evenings we study Mere Christianity by CS Lewis in our Guys Bible Study. This week we covered three very important chapters. They were entitled Faith, Hope, and Charity. We spent most of our time discussing charity, and our discussion followed along these lines. I began by asking the guys what the word charity meant. The only answer I received was, giving to the poor or needy. While this may be the modern accepted definition of charity, it is not the sense in which CS Lewis used the term. He sees charity as the virtue of Christian love toward others.

What are God’s expectations toward us regarding love? We all know the golden rule, “do to others has you would have them do to you.” What’s interesting is that Jesus requires even more. He instructs us to love our enemies as well as our neighbors. Christ wants us to love people based upon their value as bearers of the image of God, not based upon their appeal to us. I can hear the murmuring begin, “that’s not easy to do, especially when some people are just unlovable.” For Lewis this excuse will not do. He makes it clear that we shouldn’t bother trying to conjure up fond feelings toward someone. That is a useless proposition and it doesn’t help us fulfill Jesus’ requirement. Instead we should ask ourselves “if I loved them, what would I do for them?” Then go about doing those things. Our love begins to compound, and soon you’ll find nothing but fond feelings toward the person.

This truth is vital for Christians to be able to live out the Gospel. Not only in dealing with casual acquaintances, but also with family members and even spouses. If you want to love someone, act like you do.

The same principle also applies to our feelings for God. Throughout your life you will have seasons when you don’t feel as though you love God. Concentrate, fast, pray, and plead with yourself to love God more and you will not obtain what you desire. Instead, think for a moment about what you would do for God if you loved Him. Start doing those things, and soon you’ll find yourself loving God more than you could have imagined.

Are you feeling distant from someone right now? What have you done for them lately? What would you do for them today if you loved them? Now get busy, but keep in mind the proper reason for doing this. It’s not to gain appreciation or praise from the person. God says love them because I loved you, don’t expect a pat on the back, or you’ll be disappointed when you don’t get one! Do it to please God and your reward is secure.

First Blog Post Ever

Well I finally did it, I've fulfilled my childhood nightmare from fourth grade. I remember sitting in the assembly listening to an entertaining guest speaker. He was a children's author who had written an exciting book about two young kids who solve a mystery and hunt for lost treasure. I can't remember his name, but I still remember listening to him describe having to rewrite hundreds of pages and how much typing and reading he had to do in order to finish his book. I distinctly remember thinking that this guy had the worst job I could possibly imagine.

God's sense of humor is uncanny, because many years later I find myself employed to write (and speak) words for a living. Every week I have to prepare one to three messages relating God's Word to the lives of the students under my care. Today, I decided to start my first blog for two reasons.

First, the students are always asking me what my real job is during the week. Second, parents are always asking "do you guys really study the Bible, or just goof off!" The students are clueless, but the parents have a valid question. When they ask Little Johnny what we talked about in youth group, he probably says something like "Uh, I don't know." Ask him who caught the most interceptions in football before Bible Study began and he'll be ready with an answer.

For those reasons, I sentence myself to fulfill my worst nightmare. Now I will be writing as part of my job!

Just to give you and idea of what my posts will be like, check out something we talked about last week at Breakfast Club:

That's right, we had a devotion about a talking donkey. Puss in boots did not factor into our discussion. I asked the guys at Breakfast Club if they had ever heard of a talking donkey before the movie Shrek. One student said yes, but couldn't remember where, so I read them the story from Numbers 22, where Balaam's donkey saves him from the Angel of the Lord. Then the donkey looks up and says "why have you beaten me these three times?" It's a cool story, and they will probably remember it every time they see one of the Shrek movies.

What does it have to do with being a teenager in today's world? I think it's easy to relate if you think about it.

I picture the two people groups in Numbers 21-25 like the students at an old middle school dance (they still have dances, but I think they're online only now). Girls on one side, worried about what the guys are thinking and saying, and the mindless guys on the other side mustering up the courage to ask one of the girls to dance. You can almost cut the tension with a knife. That paints the picture of Israel and Moab. Israel is worried about what Moab will do to them for encroahing on their turf, and Moab is worried that Israel will boot them right out of their turf. It's interesting that the people of Israel didn't know about the talking donkey and the prophet who couldn't say a bad word toward the Jews. All they knew is that the Moabites never came rushing in to attack, and they were able to enter the promised land a short time later.

How many people in the camp of Israel were terrified and praying that God would do some sort of miracle to keep the Moabites at bay? How many of them worried about what would happen, or how God would allow them to enter the promised land? How many of them imagined that God would use a talking donkey to keep his children safe? What if God answered their prayers of safety by saying "Don't worry, I'll use my talking donkey to keep you safe?" I doubt they would have been comforted by that thought.

One of the toughest challenges in being a teenager is that God doesn't always show us the talking donkey that answers our prayers. Teenagers are worried about how they look, how the other kids look, what other students think, and what the future holds. They don't realize that God has amazing things happening in the background that they may never see. We need to help our students see that when God has their back, He will do whatever it takes to look after His children. Sometimes a talking donkey is just what it takes.