NCS New Canaan

Founding Chapter

Surrender: The Release of a New Man (Deric Frank – 11/3/23 – NCS New Canaan)

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Deric Frank was a 10-year-old boy when he first cried out to God, and today he preaches Biblical truth on a TikTok channel with 50,000 subscribers called “Deric Delivers” (in between delivering packages for UPS). With amazing NCS vulnerability, Deric shares the painful journey in-between that led him to finally surrender to God’s relentless pursuit.

Deric explains that the painful journey began with growing up in a tough neighborhood and a broken home riddled with violence and led to selling narcotics at 11, being thrown out of his home and living on the streets at 14, being thrown out of school, getting shot at 17, and ending up in prison facing a death sentence.

Deric explains that he continued to get in trouble in prison and even a visitation one evening by an angel in his cell was not enough to turn him from his path of trouble. Deric describes what finally broke him and led to him surrendering his life to Jesus, beginning to chase Jesus with a passion, hearing and resisting a clear call to preach the Gospel, and eventually impacting lives as a minister and teacher in prison.

Finally, Deric shares about being introduced to NCS Inside/Outside shortly following his release (after serving 22 years of his sentence) and the way NCS brothers came around him with love and encouragement. Deric Frank was released as a new man.

Journeys of Grief (Lewis Trippett – 6/9/23 – NCS New Canaan)

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Modeling NCS authenticity, transparency and vulnerability, Lewis Trippett courageously shares the grief journey he has experienced since his wife of 42 years went home to Jesus on July 8, 2021.

Using illustrative slides (a link to the slides is provided below), Lewis describes four distinct aspects of his grief journey:

  • A Physical Journey
  • An Emotional Journey
  • A Social Journey
  • A Spiritual Journey

After describing his wife’s illness and passing, Trippett explains some of the common grief “models” and “stages” and then vulnerably shares how they failed to capture the reality of his pain and experience.

In walking through the four aspects of his grief experience, Lewis explains how every person’s grief experience is different.

In describing the Social Journey, Trippett transparently shares his experience with people who “showed up” and his disappointment with those who were absent. He also authentically offers advice on how to walk with a friend through grief, helpfully providing specific “dos” and “don’ts”.

This is a talk for everyone–those experiencing grief and those who care enough to “show up” for a grieving friend.

SLIDES

Journeys of Grief (Trippett)Download

Against All Odds: Casting Your Nets (Eric Torres – 3/17/23 – NCS New Canaan)

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With great transparency, Eric Torres shares the broken childhood that equipped him to love broken kids, and the words of life spoken into him that have allowed him to speak words of life into so many young people.

Eric vulnerably describes a challenging childhood growing up in Bridgeport with a father who was an addict and a drug dealer. He tells about the lies–the words of death–spoken into him and how he began to internalize them and believe he had no future other than to drop out of high school and follow in his father’s footsteps. He believed he had no hope, no purpose and no destiny.

Eric then explains how, on his 16th birthday, his life was set on a new trajectory. He was invited to church, and a woman took him out for pizza and a pitcher of water. He describes how she affirmed him and spoke words of life. Torres reveals that he came to know Jesus that day through the relational acts of that woman. She invested in him and gave him a hope, a purpose and a destiny.

Eric tells how he went on to graduate from high school, get a bachelors and a masters degree, teach for 18 years in the Bridgeport schools and spend two years as a principal.

Torres then talks about how his life took another turn at 40 years old when his kidneys failed. Within a year, God miraculously provided a transplant and a new job as Executive Director of Elevate Bridgeport.

With tremendous humility, Eric describes how, though Elevate, he is able to show Jesus to young people by speaking life, hope and purpose, changing the trajectory of their lives just as words of life and the love of Jesus changed his. In describing the four-part Elevate model of character building and life skills, full-time mentors, adventures, and college and career preparation, Eric shares that the Elevate motto is “No one gets there alone.”

In closing, Eric challenges us to recognize we were made “for such a time as this” and to hear Jesus’ call to cast our nets on the right side of the boat to see what He has waiting for us.

Going from Mess to Mission (Nick Agneto – 2/17/23 – NCS New Canaan)

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With extraordinary humility and vulnerability (and his father in attendance), Nick Agneto shares the amazing journey from “mess to mission” that was prophesied when he was just a boy.

Nick describes a typical childhood in a dutifully religious and loving family followed by an adolescence searching for love and intimacy in all the wrong places. He talks, in “spoken word” poetic style and with remarkable transparency, about the “mess”–a tale of women and nightclubs fueled by a cornucopia of drugs that left a trail of brokenness.

Agneto recalls learning about the awakening of his father’s faith and the way he quietly pursued God, all the while modeling a new way of being for his family. Nick shares the anger he felt toward God in the middle of the “mess” as he searched for intimacy and God pursued him.

Nick also tells the amazing story of his miraculous and instantaneous healing at the hands of a visiting preacher through the power of the Holy Spirit. It was a healing that transformed his life, launching him toward the life of “mission” prophesied by a Catholic priest when Nick was an altar boy. Nick explains that he made a decision that day to follow Jesus whole-heartedly.

Nick challenges us to take the step he finally took–to choose intimacy with Jesus, to choose healing, to choose new life, to choose to know His love so that we can love others, to say “I want you, Lord!”. He challenges us to listen for God, to hear what He has for our lives, and to “be about our Father’s business”. He challenges us to share the story of the cross and how it has changed our stories. He challenges us as NCS brudders to “show up” for each other.

Running the Good Race (Reginald Jones III – 12/16/22 – NCS New Canaan)

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With incredible humility and authenticity, Reginald “Regg” Jones III shares a unique and fascinating faith, family and life journey that had its faith roots at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Darien, site of an incredible spiritual revival documented in the book The Miracle in Darien by Bob Slosser.

Regg describes growing up with a father who decided to change the trajectory of his family by making time with his children a priority and how Regg came to face the same challenge with his own family. He explains the four “family values” that shaped much of his educational and professional journey and how he came to accept Jesus Christ as his Lord at the tender age of 11.

Jones talks about how his faith grew through the mentorship of others, the struggle he experienced after college in deciding between pursuing a path in “ministry” or “business”, how those mentors helped him choose business, and how he later came to understand that his choice was based on a false dichotomy, learning that both paths constituted “ministry”.

Regg describes his professional path through top firms such as Pepsico, Apple, Bain and Goldman Sachs, and the lessons they taught him about organizational culture. He explains how he learned to carry and share his faith in those environments and how all those lessons about culture and faith eventually helped shape the vision and culture of Greenbriar, the private equity firm he founded in his 30’s.

Regg explains the four pillars of Greenbriar’s unique culture that was born from a vision to take the best of the corporate cultures he had experienced and shape them by his faith, and he describes why he believes “love wins” even in the marketplace.

With remarkable vulnerability, Jones talks about how he navigated the challenges along the way and how God showed up with “kisses from Heaven” to encourage and guide him at just the right times. He describes challenges such as balancing a demanding career with family life, starting a new business in the midst of 9/11, and walking the “thin green line” between success and failure, always trusting in God’s providence.

Finally, Regg explains the vision that inspired his involvement in the founding of Trinity Church Greenwich.

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