Brent Jarvis

Brent and Shannon are Personal Contact Ministers in Missouri

Brent and Shannon Jarvis
Lake of the Oaks, Missouri

Background

I'm told I arrived in this world in 1968 :) I have a lovely wife, Shannon. We have been together for over twenty years. We have a 19 year old daughter, 17 year old son, 5 year old daughter and 3 year old son.

I am currently the Minister of Record (His Church at Lake of the Oaks) for, and an elder in, our congregation. Our congregation has decided to have a rotating minister until we decide who the "real" minister is from our group of elders. Our hope is that we'll learn how to be better elders through this process of serving each other.

We've hosted a spring gathering, in northeast Missouri, each of the last few years for HHC/The Living Network, where we've enjoyed getting to know some really wonderful people in the Network.

Since about 2003, we've tried to change our "way of life". In 2006, we sold everything in the city and moved to rural Missouri. This allowed us to get out of debt and to learn to live with what we can afford, when we can afford it. I provide for my family by means of my freelance graphic design services and a small advertising business that involves my whole family. We gave up a business when we moved to the country and we've discovered that without debt, a family can live on very little.

We enjoy heirloom gardening, composting, seed saving, and learning to use our small greenhouse. We hope to expand our efforts over the years to include a u-pick orchard and maybe blueberries and blackberries. If you'd like to share seeds or would just like to have some of ours, let me know and I'll send some to you.

We also enjoy hunting, fishing and basically most any outdoor recreational activity. We have no tv reception, so our entertainment is in the form of good books and movies.

We have been home educators for over 12 years and are constantly reaping those benefits. My wife and I are somewhat extreme advocates for this. Along the way, we have encouraged our children to discover and hone their skills and talents so they will not have to rely on a someone else to provide them "employment". My wife's blogsite is: http://learningtowaldorf.blogspot.com/. And we've contributed a lot to the PreparingYou homeschooling page.

My eldest daughter just finished her "formal" high school education. She's taken a few college courses (though college has not been encouraged nor has it been entirely discouraged) and is getting ready to travel to New Zealand for 3 months. She is a talented seamstress and artist. Her website, if you're interested in her Zombie Apocalypse bags (or clothing & accessories) is: http://www.crashlandingcouture.com/

My eldest son is an apprentice for a local chef and works during the summer doing lawn mowing and other handyman jobs. I believe he could be a candidate for the order at some point.

We've been fortunate to live near, and establish relationships with, many amish families. We've been able to learn quite a bit from them and we've grown to appreciate their own efforts to support their families and community. We also enjoy their fresh milk and eggs since we have yet to buy a cow and chickens.

My Hope

Scripture counsels us to be long suffering/patient, wise and harmless. His commandments are summarized by 1) Love God and 2) Love each other. We're explicitely told not to steal, kill, covet, adulterate or bear false witness against our neighbor. So why not learn to live by honest to goodness charity instead of through the covetous arm/agency of man's governments. If we're going to change from being the covetous, thieving, murderous, lying, adulterers we are, then we've got to step away from the paradigm society has trained us in. There is an alternative to the religions/governments of man. It's His Way that's outlined in scripture.

As a Husband and Father, I am learning how responsibility is key to our Liberty. The more we distinguish ourselves and the more we refuse to access the benefits taken from our neighbors, the more the Kingdom structure becomes important to our survival. I believe with the proper motivations, we can unlearn the corruptions and learn the ways of our Creator/King.

We'd like to find or be found by others in Missouri who are seeking the Kingdom of God. We're determined to order our lives now in the ways of our Father and to strive for His favor and seek His mercy as we take two steps forward and one step back.

Contact Me

You can contact me via email at creativeimpactatcenturyteldotnet. My phone is fiveseventhree twoeighteight zerozeroninenine.

A WEEKEND TO REMEMBER!

I had a weekend that I never would have expected.

Sunday morning, June 16, 2013, I attended church with my family. This is something I haven't done for years. My wife and children have wanted to get involved in church again for some time but I've pushed back. My family craves the fellowship...not so much the churchism. I had also been encouraged to go by someone I will only give initials for (SCOTT HOSTETTER). He encouraged me to go in order to expand fellowship and keep peace in my family. I've had a tough time in the last several years attending "church" for a variety of reasons (I imagine most here will understand so I won't go into them). Anyway, most of the message was good and focused primarily on keeping God's Commandments. I'm glad Scott encouraged me for what happened next.

After the service, we headed into downtown Hannibal to explore an art festival and get a bite to eat. We took somewhat of an obscure route and went past a house that had some smoke coming out from under the rafters. We pulled into the lot across the street and I hopped out and ran over to the house. Another guy had stopped to check it out too. By the time we got up to the house (10 seconds) it was pouring smoke out of every corner of the house. A woman and 3 babies peeked their heads out of the 2nd floor window. They knew something was wrong but didn't know the house was on fire. We pleaded with her to drop down the babies, but she was unsure and ducked back in the house.

We went to the front door which was locked and broke it down, but it was too hot to go inside...pretty much a furnace. Fire was everywere I looked. I couldn't go in over a step without feeling like my skin was on fire. (I have a greater appreciation for firemen today). The two of us ran back to the window and hollered up to get the woman's attention. She came back after what seemed like an eternity and was convinced by that time that the house was indeed on fire and the window was her only option. She must have tried to get out of the room while we were trying to get in the front door.

The woman dropped her youngest baby into my arms. While I was handing off the first child, she dropped her second into the other guys arms. Then we caught the 3rd baby together. He was maybe 3 or 4yrs old. Me and one other guy (someone else who had just come up to help), put our hands together and pleaded with the woman to jump. She was a rather stout woman....I would guess in the neighborhood of 300lbs. She came out of the window into our arms. Ok, so it was mostly us breaking her fall...I don't think we could have picked her up, let alone catch her from ten feet up. Either way, she was unharmed. The whole thing probably took place in under 5 minutes.

Police and firetrucks got there a couple minutes later after everyone had gotten out of the house safely. The family had some pretty bad smoke inhalation, but nothing serious. The house was pretty much a complete loss.

I tell you this story because it was something I was involved in, that I wouldn't have been, if I had stayed home (like usual). It was safe at home and I know mostly what I'd have done. I certainly wouldn't be offending anyone with my often uncontrollable urge to share my opinions. But, on that day, I mostly kept my opinions to myself. I mustered up what I could in order to do something for my wife who has been craving fellowship. We went somewhere I normally wouldn't go and at the end of the day, my wife was looking at me like I was wearing a cape or something....pretty cool feeling.

Somewhere along the line, I've lost my desire to interact with the masses. I've gotten tired of raining on parades. We have a hard truth to tell, but we need to remember it's a beautiful, life altering truth and some will be saved.

I don't want to be a dark cloud, I want to be a soothing cool shower on a hot, muggy day. I want to be a light. Not a blinding, avoid the area light, but one that lights the darkness. I want to be a cool drink, not a firehose. I want to be a little bit salty, but not so much so that I overwhelm the message; faith, hope, charity. I think I took a step in the right direction Sunday. I hope I'm able to continue taking steps forward and not slipping backward. Looking for opportunities with a sense of empathy, listening, and learning how to control my tongue will likely be a lifelong challenge. Sharing love instead of wallowing in self pity, selfishness, and defeatism is something I need to work on too. I don't imagine I'll have this kind of opportunity every day, but maybe over time I'll be able to pull some more souls out of the fire.

Message from Brent <mp3player width="300">http://www.preparingyou.com/wiki/audio/PCMsoundbiteBrentJ.mp3</mp3player>