Brian Howe

Check out Buddy’s blog for his take on the miracle that was yesterday!

Yesterday…well really the last two days but especially yesterday were unbelieveable. It was our last weekend at out Shops of Malta location. We are consolidating Malta into our Clifton Park location for the next 18 months while we build a permanent home for our Malta location.

 This weekend was bittersweet, that space in the corner of a shopping plaza is holy ground. Peoples lives have been changed for eternity there…my life in ministry has been molded there…I have laughed, cried, and everything in between there. I am going to miss  the smell of chinese food wafting in from next door and as I am unexplainably going to miss setting up my office in the church nursery every morning.

The next chapter is beginning in the story that is Northway Church…I was talking to Buddy today about how it feels like we are just starting again. There is a refreshing sense of adventure and awareness of the presence of God amongst our community. The great Theologians Semisonic once wrote “every new beginning comes from some other beginning’send”…I remember 5 years ago and “the” beginning but I am stoked and ready for our new beginning. This past weekend was literally a miracle…I will share more about that tomorrow.

What is your favorite memory or what do you think about when you remember our Shops of Malta location?

I am sitting in Uncommon Grounds in Saratoga putting my message together…It has been brewing in me and I have all the parts…just putting them together! Every time I have the honor to speak at Nway or anywhere else I get the same feeling. It’s this combo of nerves, humility, fear, boldness, nausea and a few other things. The responsibility to speak from God’s Word will do that to you. Libby is chillin with me, she is the best soundboard, I just bounce my message off of her and she tells me the truth. I am excited for this weekend and trust me my prayer life is caught up. No matter how many times I speak it still feels like the first time! 

Doing a video shoot all day…Check me out on Twitter to see what really happens on these shoots! 

I had the opportunity to hang out with Ben from the band Skillet yesterday afternoon. Skillet, Thousand Foot Krutch, and Decyfer Down played a sick show at our Clifton Park location last night. I was so impressed with Ben…his non-rock star persona was refreshing, the dudes heart beats for worship. Very cool to hear about the inner workings of the music industry and life on the road…I knew the dude was cool when he insisted we make a pit stop here. Pray for these guys, they are out on the frontlines doing ministry and their music is speaking into issues that people face everyday.

Check out this YouTube video from the concert last night…this is how Skillet closed their show…Pretty Sick!