January Update

As you may have noticed, our blog has lacked the quantity of content you, our readers, are used to. Melanie and I have both found ourselves very busy over the past month. Melanie stays busy with as the Director of the After School Program at her school. Now that Christmas and New Years are behind us, we are setting our sites on Spring and Summer.

You may have seen on the news that Florida was experiencing record setting low temperatures a few weeks back. We held up in our house with the heat cranked for two strait weekends! It felt like we were back in Kentucky. Of course, our house is much nicer to be stuck in than our 385 square foot apartment in Wilmore. We are happy to announce the temperatures are back to normal for this time of year, which is between 70 and 80 for the high. Over the MLK holiday weekend, Melanie and I went to Cocoa Beach for the day. The water is still chilly (about 62 degrees), so we just layed out. As you may remember, I took surfing lessons last October. My sister (and parents) gave me her longboard (7'9") for Christmas. She does not use it much anymore. I had hoped to do some surfing last weekend, but realized I would still need a wet suit. I officially sold my snowboard, and it seemed rather pointless since the only mountain with "snow" in Florida is at Animal Kingdom. If you think I am snowboarding on a mountain which regularly reports Yeti sighting, you are crazy! Melanie and I are hoping to make it to the beach more often this year, as our new house is about 15-20 minutes closer to Cocoa Beach, than the Ronald McDonald House.

I will be starting Spring classes in a few more weeks. I will share a blog about my classes at that time. Melanie and I are very excited about the end of seminary coming soon. Who knows what the next chapter of our life together will hold.

Love Breaks In

I, Brian, had the opportunity this past weekend to preach at Aloma UMC in Winter Park. I was following a Christmas/Advent theme, and my topic was the “Gift of Love.” I worked from Matthew 1:18-25. I blogged the sermon on my other blog, read it here. (Don't tell my other blog, but this one is still my favorite :)

We will be heading to Virginia soon for Christmas to spend time with my parents and sister. Wish I could wrap up Orlando weather and gift it to Virginia Beach. Looks like snow!

Merry Christmas!

I'm a Certified Candidate!!

It’s official, I (Brian) just left the District Committee Board of Ordained Ministry (United Methodist) and I am officially a certified candidate. You cannot even begin to imagine how exciting this if for me! For those of you familiar with the UM process you understand how much blood, sweat, and tears have brought me this far! Literally, I have experienced all three in the process. The blood was given in a health physical. For those not as familiar with “the process”, allow me to share.

The process to ordination as a UM pastor is quite long and tedious. The UM church takes seriously those whom will be placed as pastors in their congregations. I am thankful for the process and its many hurdles because it has reaffirmed my calling to ministry, and connected me with a group who really cares about God’s work in my life. Over the past year I have spent a good deal of time working with a mentor, reading and reflecting on ordained ministry, taking psychological tests, and more. All this is on top of my work in seminary. By reaching this level, the board recognized my call and gifts (from God) while setting me on a track to continue to grow. The next steps are to begin working on my paperwork for the state level ordination, which will come after graduation. This will basically be a thesis, as the total page count should be in the 90s.

I still have a ways to go, but feel very affirmed in the journey. I was worried the committee would be a bunch of grouchy old preachers who were looking to trip me up on theology and question my intentions. But I knew the people of the Florida Conference would not be this way. I found a group of warm individuals who wanted to see me succeed. They were grace-filled, encouraging, and loved me enough to share some perceived areas for continued growth over the next year.

The Methodist church may not be perfect, but they are solid in the process of ordaining their ministers and pastors. I have some many people to thank for their help and work in my life to walk with me to this point. However, I have to mention my wife, Melanie. She has been a constant support when it would have been easier to walk away from the frustrations of the process. God has, and is still, using her in many ways to speak His truth, encouragement, and guidance into my life. God sure made a good match here. :)

October News

With another Preview Weekend behind me I feel I can now re-focus on this semester and focus in the next couple weeks. First, I (Brian) felt compelled to blog.

• Surfing Lesson: If you remember back to a blog around May, Melanie purchased me surfing lessons at Ron Jon in Cocoa Beach. We had not had a chance to use them until we carved our some time last weekend. The weather could not have been more perfect. Flordia was in a heat wave so it was just like summer again. I had surfed a few times in Virginia Beach, but never taken any formal classes. I was given a surfboard by a friend several years a ago. It was a 5'3" stunt board. The instructor said it was the worst possible board to learn on. We used an 8' longboard to start with. Much easier to get up on and balance. I was able to catch several waves in the hour. If you want a great workout, try surfing, my arms were burning for days! I hope to pick up surfing as a hobby. Melanie loves to lay out on the beach, and I enjoyed riding the waves.
  
• Current Courses: I am taking three classes (8 hours) this semester. I tricked myself. You see, Asbury considers 9 hours to be a full time load. I know I cannot do full time work and school. So I said, 8 hours is still part time. Well, turns out my Mentored Ministry class is only 2 hours, but workload is considered 3 hours. Despite the heavy workload, I am really enjoying all my classes. The Mentored Ministry class has me interning with our church, Aloma UMC and mentoring with our pastor, Dr. Wayne Williams. The class works like the labs we used to have to do in science. I have spent the last several years doing a lot of theory, now I get to "mix some chemicals" in the church. My mentor has been especially helpful and encouraging. I am also taking Basic Christian Doctrine with Thomas Buchan. It's a systematic theology class which touches on a broad spectrum of concepts. My last class is Foundations of Campus Ministry. My call to ministry has always danced around the idea of Campus Ministry. However, I just assumed it would fade in time. The problem, is the desire to work with young adults keeps growing stronger. 18-25ish seems to be the dark ages in development. Lots of work on children and adolescents, and a good deal of information on adulthood. However, we seem content to send our adolescents to college and hope they return to the church when have a kid or get married. This is not good enough. There is no need to be afraid of the "age of exploration." I don't intend to quell the inquisitiveness of college students, but be a voice interested in their spiritual formation through these years. I am excited to see what shakes out come graduation.
  
• JohnsonBrian.com: I started this blog more for myself than anything else. I am experimenting this semester with a form of notetaking/journaling. It will consist of quotes, short blogs, interesting tidbits, and more. I also think this will free up this site (melaniebrian.com) to be our regular life and adventure blog. So please, if your interested, bookmark both sites.
  

I have uploaded several recent photo albums. Click over to see them.

September Updates

Wow! So much has happened since we last bogged back in August! The picture above is Brian and I celebrating my 28th Birthday last month. We went out with some friends to the Japaneses Steak House I really like. The week before that (Labor Day) we moved into our new house, and only two weeks before that I started my new job at Pershing Elementary School as the Director for ASP, Inc.
This past weekend we spent in Savannah with all of my family for Lucinda's wedding! She and Chip finally tied the knot. We had a great time with everyone and enjoyed hanging out and dancing together. It was a fast weekend, yet very relaxing and enjoyable. There will be more pictures to come of the wedding and our new house.
It is hard to believe it is already October. Brian is ridiculously busy with school and recruiting. He is taking a full load, plus doing his mentored ministry. He just finished his paperwork for candiacy and now we wait until the end of October when he goes before the board. Keep him in your prayers as I am sure his nerves will kick in. We just pray that everything works out as it should.
We won't be having an official house warming party, but instead will have a few people over for a Halloween party.... I am hoping I will finish and have everything set up in the house by then. We have come along ways!
Check back for pictures in the next couple of days. I should have some posted soon!