by Bret Capranica | Feb 2, 2007 | Personal
As some of you know, Kelly and I just recently completed certification to be foster parents. Our prayer and desire was to have a little infant. Yesterday, while I was away in Escondido studying for my Doctoral project, Kelly called me to say that we had just received a call to come pick up a seventeen day old little girl, Brie Ann. Due to the circumstances, we will be on an accelerated track to adopt this new little treasure. Brie arrived in our home this morning and we are thrilled to welcome her. She is in my arms participating in her first blog and loving every minute of it. Thanks in advance for your...
by Bret Capranica | Jan 1, 2007 | Personal
I trust this first day of the new year has been a good one for you. Kelly and I spent the day relaxing and preparing to return to a full schedule. It is my earnest prayer that you will see the goodness of God’s providence and trust His grace day by day in 2007. The year is already shaping up to be a full one in ministry. This year I hope to read through Scripture again (this time through the NET Bible), preach through Romans 4-8 (that is my goal in my Sun PM Preaching this year), memorize significant portions of Scripture, read more than I have in the past, invest myself significantly in our internship ministry and complete my Doctor of Ministry project. Personally, Kelly and I are looking forward to becoming foster parents this year. We have a final walk-through of our home next week. We believe we will be certified and approved to become foster parents soon after the walk-through and then at any time we could be called to receive an infant into our home. We will trust and pray that we can be patient and steadfast through what can and no doubt will be a very emotional time. We are very excited about the possibilities. 2006 was a good and full year. We are looking forward to the life ahead in this new...
by Bret Capranica | Dec 23, 2006 | Personal
There are a few CAPRANICA readers who are in the Amarillo area. If you are and are free from 3:00 p.m. to whenever (Saturday – Dec 23), drop by the Homewood Suites in the lobby area for an informal get together. Kelly and I are bringing some BBQ and would love to see any of you in the area. We are hoping to see a number of people from the church I used to serve as well as more family and friends. Drop by. If you can’t make it today, give us a call at the Hotel and we’ll see if we can get together. We’ll be in Amarillo until...
by Bret Capranica | Dec 20, 2006 | Personal, Uncategorized
Kelly and I are heading off to the great nation of Texas – in just a few hours. We expect to spend Christmas with my parents and sisters in Amarillo, Texas, my hometown. If our hotel has internet, I’ll check in and maybe post some pics and catch up on some material I’ve wanted to keep up with. Enjoy your...
by Bret Capranica | Dec 16, 2006 | Culture, Personal
Biblical Foundations » A Puritan Christmas Adreas Kostenberger put together an intriguing article describing the 16th and 17th Century Puritans and their attempts to snuff out Christmas. I enjoy much of what I read from the English Puritans and have gleaned great spiritual benefit from them in my personal life over the past twenty years. But, should we go to the same extreme as they when it comes to Christmas? My wife has done an excellent job of decorating our house for the holiday season. From Thanksgiving through next week, we will have had just over 100 people in our home for holiday celebrations. For Christmas day, we will travel to Texas to see family and friends and perhaps even have a white Christmas. Kelly has a collection of Christmas CDs that she plays often in our home during this time of year. In my car is Handel’s Messiah which I have enjoyed listening to over and over. Today our choir will have a special outreach performance of our Christmas concert at a local senior mobile home park and Sunday we will have four services (two normal morning services and two Christmas concerts) connected with the Christmas season. All of these will be geared toward strengthening the hearts of the saints in their commitment to Christ and exposing the lost to the Gospel of Jesus. In this sense, I love Christmas. But there is another sense that makes me almost sick (literally) when I think about Christmas. It fuels pride. How so? This should be obvious. Pride is fueled at Christmas time as it exposes the rank materialism that...
by Bret Capranica | Dec 2, 2006 | Personal
The fall is perhaps the busiest time of year for me (as I’m sure it is for many) personally and in ministry, which always adds a lull to the blogging. A great deal of my time is invested in my local church ministry in a number of areas. Preaching and Teaching: I preach every Sunday evening and since June, I have been preaching out of the book of Romans. I also teach each Sunday morning in a small group study with young adults. Currently we are doing and inductive study in 1 Corinthians. Tomorrow we will begin chapter 14 and the controversial subject of speaking in tongues. I also teach two classes on Wednesday evening. One on Spiritual Disciplines and another on how to teach the Bible in a small group setting. Internship: This past October, our church officially launched our first internship ministry with one student: Jaron. Jaron is a part of a special Bachelor of Applied Theology (BAT) program at California Baptist University (CBU), which focuses upon preparing men for pastoral ministry. Our internship seeks to provide the practical training for these students. So, since October, Jaron and I have been meeting for two hours a week (and a lot of phone calls and off-the-cuff meeetings) to discuss expository preaching. Jaron will be preaching his first sermon this Sunday evening. What a joyful time this has been to see Jaron’s growth and zeal for the ministry of the Word. Doctor of Ministry. This past week I finished my final DMin seminar work and I will now begin to focus completely upon my DMin project. Our internship ministry...
