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Hello! My name is Brett Gorney. Yep..that's me in the photo. I am a follower of Jesus and, by His grace, I'm also the founder of MISSION 5IVE.14.
In February 2010, at 37 years young, I made the best decision ever by trading in my old way of life for a new life with Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. You can watch my testimony and baptism here. But each day I strive to live in a manner worthy of His invitation that has made my life feel more at peace and more ALIVE than ever before. |
Having fun with some fresh & tasty sea creatures in El Salvador. - Nov. 2014
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As I started this new journey, I took some serious time to invest in myself and learn more about who God really created me to be. I got involved in a community group at Buckhead Church in Atlanta, started leading in the singles ministry and most important connected with a few mentors who have played an integral role in my Christian walk. I was encouraged to take a "Spiritual Gifts Inventory" and I also tapped into several other personal discovery resources. I did all of this because I really wanted to know who I really was and what were my unique, God-given gifts. I had a small sense of what they were as I've always enjoyed encouraging people and helping guide them through some of the ups and downs of life, but I never thought of it as a unique gift from God...I just figured it was because I had a big heart for people and relationships. The other thing I knew about myself was that I loved connecting people with like minded interests which has led to a love for entertaining others, organizing events and setting up adventures either at home in the U.S. or around the globe. It also became very clear and made much more sense to me when my top three spiritual gifts turned out to be Encouragement, Shepherding and Hospitality.
Early on in 2012, God birthed something new in my heart. This new idea, this prompting, became a desire in my heart to create some sort of platform that would serve to encourage and equip people to live a life fully alive and to live with a greater sense of purpose and belonging. But I wasn't quite sure what that looked like and how God was going to do that in and through my life. I had moved away from Atlanta in March 2013 for an employment contract in Connecticut. Fast forward 8 months, the dream/desire was pretty much dormant and I was nearing the end of my contract trying to figure out what was next in my life from a career perspective. And then God did two things. He stirred the desire inside of me, making it come back to life. He also laid the word "VISION" on my heart. So I started praying each day, "God, show me the vision You have for my life. Help me to see clearly, this desire You've placed in my heart and to be obedient to Your Heavenly vision." And then God started to move.
One morning in January, I woke up to find an email from one of my mentors who is a bit of a "spiritual dad" to me. This is what he had written in his email to me:
Dear Son...
Interceding - by Standing in the Night Watch Gap at 3am for You that GOD will Birth a Fresh Vision in You, like Daniel, which You will See and Seek the Meaning and Understanding of the Vision by Obedience and Faith in 2014! Daniel 9:15-16. Reveal the Vision to the heart of your Son, Brett! Love - Papa Bill
The crazy part about that email is that I'd never told Bill that I was praying for a fresh vision! Then a few months later, I was visiting Hillsong NYC on Sunday, March 9, 2014. Brian Houston, Hillsong Church's founder/lead pastor, was visiting from Sydney, Australia. The current theme for Hillsong Church had been "PIONEER AGAIN" and the title of Pastor Brian's message that day was, "ALIVE". That alone made me perk up and then, what he shared in the message resonated so much with me that it became the catalyst for me to fan the flame under this desire that had been placed in my heart two years earlier. These are some of my actual notes I took during his message:
John 1:14 - The Word became flesh and lived among us! = Jesus
Heb 4:12 - The Word/Jesus is the great heart surgeon - He divides & cuts like a scalpel/sword - between soul & spirit, between bone, joints & marrow, discerning the thoughts and intentions of the HEART.
Salvation - its a work, a change of your HEART and Jesus Pioneers it.
Heb 12:2 - Fix your eyes on Jesus, the Pioneer and perfecter of our FAITH. Jesus is the original PIONEER.
FAITH - it starts in your HEART - everything begins/ends, starts/finishes with Christ!
So what does God tells us about our HEART?
Prov 4:23 - Above all else, guard your HEART, for everything you do flows from it
Boundaries in your life come from what's in your HEART.
Psalm 45:1 - my HEART overflows with a good thing! - What happens in your HEART defines the story of your life.
Prov 16:9 - The HEART of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.
And then Pastor Brian made this statement and the match was lit...
"What God has authored, birthed, pioneered in your HEART; the things you see when your eyes are closed; the secrets you keep in your HEART, He can complete in your life! Never underestimate what God can do in and through your life!"
Shortly after church I was sitting in a coffee shop in NYC. I pulled out my Bible, randomly flipped it open and was looking at Chapter 5 in the Book of Ephesians. There it was, right in front of me. The one verse that would speak right to my HEART.
Early on in 2012, God birthed something new in my heart. This new idea, this prompting, became a desire in my heart to create some sort of platform that would serve to encourage and equip people to live a life fully alive and to live with a greater sense of purpose and belonging. But I wasn't quite sure what that looked like and how God was going to do that in and through my life. I had moved away from Atlanta in March 2013 for an employment contract in Connecticut. Fast forward 8 months, the dream/desire was pretty much dormant and I was nearing the end of my contract trying to figure out what was next in my life from a career perspective. And then God did two things. He stirred the desire inside of me, making it come back to life. He also laid the word "VISION" on my heart. So I started praying each day, "God, show me the vision You have for my life. Help me to see clearly, this desire You've placed in my heart and to be obedient to Your Heavenly vision." And then God started to move.
One morning in January, I woke up to find an email from one of my mentors who is a bit of a "spiritual dad" to me. This is what he had written in his email to me:
Dear Son...
Interceding - by Standing in the Night Watch Gap at 3am for You that GOD will Birth a Fresh Vision in You, like Daniel, which You will See and Seek the Meaning and Understanding of the Vision by Obedience and Faith in 2014! Daniel 9:15-16. Reveal the Vision to the heart of your Son, Brett! Love - Papa Bill
The crazy part about that email is that I'd never told Bill that I was praying for a fresh vision! Then a few months later, I was visiting Hillsong NYC on Sunday, March 9, 2014. Brian Houston, Hillsong Church's founder/lead pastor, was visiting from Sydney, Australia. The current theme for Hillsong Church had been "PIONEER AGAIN" and the title of Pastor Brian's message that day was, "ALIVE". That alone made me perk up and then, what he shared in the message resonated so much with me that it became the catalyst for me to fan the flame under this desire that had been placed in my heart two years earlier. These are some of my actual notes I took during his message:
John 1:14 - The Word became flesh and lived among us! = Jesus
Heb 4:12 - The Word/Jesus is the great heart surgeon - He divides & cuts like a scalpel/sword - between soul & spirit, between bone, joints & marrow, discerning the thoughts and intentions of the HEART.
Salvation - its a work, a change of your HEART and Jesus Pioneers it.
Heb 12:2 - Fix your eyes on Jesus, the Pioneer and perfecter of our FAITH. Jesus is the original PIONEER.
FAITH - it starts in your HEART - everything begins/ends, starts/finishes with Christ!
So what does God tells us about our HEART?
Prov 4:23 - Above all else, guard your HEART, for everything you do flows from it
Boundaries in your life come from what's in your HEART.
Psalm 45:1 - my HEART overflows with a good thing! - What happens in your HEART defines the story of your life.
Prov 16:9 - The HEART of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.
And then Pastor Brian made this statement and the match was lit...
"What God has authored, birthed, pioneered in your HEART; the things you see when your eyes are closed; the secrets you keep in your HEART, He can complete in your life! Never underestimate what God can do in and through your life!"
Shortly after church I was sitting in a coffee shop in NYC. I pulled out my Bible, randomly flipped it open and was looking at Chapter 5 in the Book of Ephesians. There it was, right in front of me. The one verse that would speak right to my HEART.
Ephesians 5:14
AWAKE O' sleeper and
ARISE from the dead,
and Christ will
SHINE on you.
AWAKE O' sleeper and
ARISE from the dead,
and Christ will
SHINE on you.
It became crystal clear to me. I knew that God would build a platform through me and others that would exist to Inspire people to "AWAKE. ARISE. and SHINE a LIGHT in the World." The fire was ignited and now I needed to simply fan the flames and watch it grow.
The next event that I believe was divine timing was on March 19, 2014. I was having a total left hip replacement and would have several weeks of recovery ahead of me. So I had plenty of time to process all that had recently happened and I began to brainstorm, writing down a bunch of notes and ideas. I came up with the name MISSION 5IVE.14 all while continuing to pray for God to give me greater clarity of vision and direction with this organization. By His grace the surgery and recovery went extremely well and on top of that, I decided to move back Atlanta where close friends and my church community were waiting with open arms.
Over the next three months I was quite busy with some work and travel and didn't have a lot of time to get the organization cranked up. Then I was challenged by a speaker at an event hosted by a good friend of mine. The speaker encouraged us to write down one big goal we wanted to accomplish over the next 30 days and to get it done! Getting MISSION 5IVE.14 launched was my goal. I had a bunch of notes and somewhat of a framework...I just needed to implement it. And so here we are today...the fire is burning and fully alive...and I'm totally humbled by it all. Yet I'm even more ridiculously excited to experience life as this vision becomes more and more clear each day...fully expecting, through faith, that what God pioneers in my heart, He will complete in my life!
The next event that I believe was divine timing was on March 19, 2014. I was having a total left hip replacement and would have several weeks of recovery ahead of me. So I had plenty of time to process all that had recently happened and I began to brainstorm, writing down a bunch of notes and ideas. I came up with the name MISSION 5IVE.14 all while continuing to pray for God to give me greater clarity of vision and direction with this organization. By His grace the surgery and recovery went extremely well and on top of that, I decided to move back Atlanta where close friends and my church community were waiting with open arms.
Over the next three months I was quite busy with some work and travel and didn't have a lot of time to get the organization cranked up. Then I was challenged by a speaker at an event hosted by a good friend of mine. The speaker encouraged us to write down one big goal we wanted to accomplish over the next 30 days and to get it done! Getting MISSION 5IVE.14 launched was my goal. I had a bunch of notes and somewhat of a framework...I just needed to implement it. And so here we are today...the fire is burning and fully alive...and I'm totally humbled by it all. Yet I'm even more ridiculously excited to experience life as this vision becomes more and more clear each day...fully expecting, through faith, that what God pioneers in my heart, He will complete in my life!
AWAKE. ARISE. SHINE.
