Just that word alone sends streaks of excitement, wonder, and of course nervousness of the huge responsibility that lies before us. Nonetheless, we see this as a God-given privilege and are taking it as just that.
We have been happily married now for over FIVE years, which blows our mind. Just yesterday we were at RTS in Orlando tying the knot with our countless friends and family in attendance. And since then, we've built so many new incredible friendships...our friends in Charlotte while Kent attended Southern Evangelical Seminary, and now our friends in the Atlanta area, many of whom are long friends of Kent from having grown up in Lilburn, where we now live.
We've both tried a lot of jobs and ventures along the way. Starting from our early days in 2003, Brook enjoyed waitressing at a small cafe while feeding her hobby of art in her free time. About 3 months later, God provided a nanny job with a wonderful family, the McCalls. They had three children at the the time and were a pure delight to work for. When the summer came Brook realized she had the desire to teach. A 5th grade teaching position opened at Lake Park Christian Academy. What an incredible experience for Brook full of challenges, growth and fun memories. During this time, Kent was a bank teller for a year at BB&T (while attending seminary classes at night; Brook audited many of those classes). Oh! and Kent coached tennis for a year at Charlotte Christian School. It was quite an experience for him.
While in Charlotte, Kent and Brook were able to become very close to Norm & Barb Geisler. Taking classes from the man whom many have dubbed the "Grandfather of Modern Christian Apologetics" was quite a treat, and having meals at their house was even better. Always a loyal fan of Bryan College students, Dr. Geisler asked Kent to be his personal student assistant. Since Dr. G was the main draw for Kent's decision on which seminary to attend, this was no doubt a very high privilege. During that time, he was not only able to help Dr. Geisler with grading papers, but also helped research for his fourth volume in his "Systematic Theology" series.
Kent is now finished with his Master of Arts in Christian Apologetics degree (finished it from Atlanta via online course) and can't speak high enough of the education and relationships from SES. Ted & Kathy Wright, Steve & Heather Garofalo, Gerard & India Figurelli, Drs. Howe, Leventhal, Habermas, Alex McFarland, Simon & Nel Brace, and so many more wonderful friends. We are overjoyed that we were able to spend 2 years in Charlotte and look back on that time as crucial in shaping us into the people we are now.
What brought us to Atlanta was a phone call from Dr. Doug McIntosh, Kent's pastor since he was born. He mentioned that Kent's former youth pastor, Everett Bracken, was resigning his post after 10 years to do a full-time ministry (at the church still) called "Released Time Bible Education" where public school students take Bible and comparative religions classes FOR CREDIT DURING SCHOOL HOURS from our church campus. It's amazing. Anyway, Dr. McIntosh asked Kent & Brook to consider moving to ATL to be the new full-time youth pastor at Cornerstone Bible Church. At that time, we had been praying for an open or closed door regarding whether or not Kent would pursue the Air Force chaplaincy program.
Long story short, Kent has now been a full-time youth pastor for three years now here in Lilburn, GA and is loving it more each day. Brook has been doing the much needed job of overseeing the girls' ministry, an area that Kent could only handle at arms length were she not involved. We have an incredible support team of leaders (Jeremy & Katie Bower (formerly Hughes), Bob & Paulette Lilley, Aaron Bura, Grace Choate, Marcus Whatley and Vincent Calano. They've all been a tremendous blessing.
Since moving to Atlanta, Brook has worked two jobs--one at Reach Out Youth Solutions (Barry St. Clair's ministry) as an administrative assistant, and the second at Primerica Financial Services as, well, an administrative assistant to Randy Godfrey. She also does Juice Plus on the side, which has been great for our health. Kent tried his hand as a rep at Primerica on the side--learning much and thoroughly enjoying it along the way--but had to give it up due to his time being divided too much. He now repairs and/or upgrades Apple Computers for people & small businesses on the side b/c he learned that it was something that came easy to him and there's a large market for it here in our area. So far so good.
And here we are, five years and change since we married, and our little baby GIRL is due literally any minute, but officially in five days. Brook resigned her position at Primerica at the end of September to be a full-time mom. She hasn't stopped moving since! House arrangements & cleaning, errands, youth ministry, baby showers and a very weird sleep schedule have kept her on the go. The latest is that the baby room is near completion. Yay! Many thanks to Emily Ahlenius who stepped in to help all day today (she's in high school and on fall break).
In preparation for the baby, Kent borrowed Eric Taylor's Taekeuchi tractor (like a bobcat with tank wheels) and bulldozed the back yard completely. He spent a week planting grass and burning excess lumber/weeds and laid straw to cover the fescue seed. Lord willing, it'll take root over the winter and start growing in the spring.
Brook's driving now a Scion xB and Kent has a Kymco People 150 scooter as well as a 1982 Toyota Pickup for when it rains or when he needs to haul stuff. The Scion is great on gas and is as big as an SUV on the inside. Kent's scooter gets roughly 90-100 miles per gallon, and filling up costs roughly $4. Yes, you read correctly. $4.00. Life is goooooood!
So after many baby showers and youth event after event, here we are. There's so many other details in between that time doesn't permit to write, but that covers at least most of the big picture of our story together so far. Everyone at church and elsewhere has been so encouraging along the way, and the countless prayers are so richly received. Thanks to all of you wonderful friends reading this. We will be using this blog to post our updates from time to time. Please pray for our newest family member. God bless you all!
Kent & Brook
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