NCS New Canaan

Founding Chapter

Walking on [Frozen] Water: Miracles in Maine (Rev. Richard Berry – 4/28/23 – NCS New Canaan)

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When we first heard from Pastor Richard Berry in 2016, he shared miraculous stories of how God–or “Dad”, as he affectionately refers to Him–responded to the heartfelt and desperate cries of a small-town pastor wanting to provide a home for the homeless and food for the hungry in Skowhegan, Maine.  

With tremendous humility, Berry explained how his eyes were opened and his heart changed toward the homeless.  It was a message of hope.  “Dad” is still in the miracle business when his children get on their knees and ask for help.

When he came back (via Zoom) in 2020, Richard shared more stories of hope, human dignity, miracles, joy and self-reflection from the Covid pandemic. By this time, he had published three books chronicling the miracles happening in Maine.

Richard has now written four books and the fifth is scheduled to be published in 2023. In his third visit, he described the extraordinary lengths to which “Dad” will go for one person. Richard explains how he thought he was dying, but it turned out to be an elaborate and amazing ruse from above in order to reach another person with the hope of Jesus.

Berry also describes how “Dad” opened his eyes to miraculous healing. He explains how, after 30 years as a cessationist preaching that God’s miracles stopped nearly two thousand years ago, God used him as an instrument to completely heal a person from cancer.

Why should you listen?  For the same reasons you should listen to the earlier talks and might want to read his books:  If you want to smile, if you need to laugh, if you are willing to cry, if you are lacking hope, if joy seems to be hiding, or especially if you are questioning your belief in God, Jesus or the role of his Church in our world today.

To contribute to Dad’s homeless shelter in Skowhegan, Maine, click HERE.

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.

From Rebellion To Obedience (Scott Simon – 4/23/21 – NCS New Canaan)

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With extraordinary humility and vulnerability, Scott Simon shares an incredible journey that, upon reflection, he realized is captured by the phrase “From Rebellion To Obedience”.

Scott describes a journey that took him from a “privileged” upbringing in a dysfunctional home to the hallowed halls of a prep school and then the Ivy League. He transparently shares a “rebellion” stage that resembles a painful movie almost too crazy to imagine: a secret double life in the drug world of New York City while “studying” in Philadelphia, walking away from Penn’s Wharton School after a year, hitchhiking to Seattle, working in a crab cannery in Alaska, getting “evicted” from Alaska, living in a trailer in Colorado and working at a water treatment plant. Scott explains that this is when he had the first of several dreams and visions that changed the course of his life.

Scott shares that his Colorado dream eventually led him back to Wharton where he met his wife, Margaret, and eventually graduated. He describes a successful Wall Street career as a bond trader in which pride was encouraged and nurtured among fellow “Masters of the Universe”. He then vulnerably shares how everything changed on September 11, 2001, when his brother and many close friends were killed in the attack on the World Trade Centers. Scott talks about this unbelievable tragedy beginning a new faith trajectory and a profound new experience of God’s love and inexplicable peace.

Scott describes the new faith journey that he and Margaret embarked on together, including incredible experiences, encounters, visions and dreams that eventually led him to leaving Wall Street behind and “obediently” following a path toward Christian counseling and a ministry of healing. Scott shares how this phase of his journey taught him the power of listening and the power of the ministry of presence–of “showing up”. Finally, Scott talks about the recent, sudden and tragic loss of their daughter and how God once again was a source of unimaginable strength.

Every NCS brother should listen to this amazing journey of God patiently leading a man to lay down rebellion for obedience and pride for humility and of God “showing up” during the most painful moments–to listen and to be present.

Pursuing God in the Dark (Andrew Brunson – 1/8/21 – NCS New Canaan)

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With remarkable vulnerability, Andrew Brunson shares the extraordinary story of his wrongful imprisonment in a Turkish prison for two years and the faith journey that occurred in that dark place.

Brunson describes the loneliness, anxiety, doubts, desperation and despair that characterized his first year, pushing him to deteriorating health, inability to sleep, brushes with insanity and thoughts of suicide. It is the story of a missionary serving in Turkey for 23 years sharing the Gospel of Jesus and pursuing God’s presence who suddenly found himself being pushed toward Islam and unable to sense the presence of God.

Brunson explains that his first year was a process of being broken, and his second year was a process of rebuilding. He shares how he made the transition by deciding to keep pursuing God even in God’s apparent absence. Through daily surrender to God’s mysterious plan and through perseverance, Brunson began to understand the nature of his ordeal, the nature of God’s love, the preparation he was undergoing. Brunson describes how, through it, he discovered a profound new love for Jesus.

Brunson observed that the valley of faith testing is “full of skeletons”–every test of faith we encounter is enough to grow our faith or to knock us out of friendship with God, depending on how we respond. He was determined not to be another “skeleton”.

Brunson also explains why he believes that he was “on assignment” in that prison–being trained to encourage others. He relates his persecution to the changing climate in the United States toward Christianity. Brunson offers advice on how, as followers of Jesus, we can prepare themselves for increasing hostility, shaming, canceling and marginalization so that we are ready to stand firmly in faith against the threat–always turning to God in trust rather than turning away in fear

The talk is just over 30 minutes followed by an extensive Q&A.

Andrew Brunson and his wife Norine have started a new ministry called WaveStarters. More information can be found at https://www.wavestarters.org. Below is a video about their journey and WaveStarters.

The Incomparable Value of Joy (Dr. Jorge Valdes – 12/4/20 – NCS New Canaan)

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With great transparency, Dr. Jorge Valdes shares the incredible journey that took him: (1) from being the son of a wealthy family in Cuba, (2) to experiencing poverty in the United States and concluding God was not real, (3) to pursuing an education to become a lawyer, (4) to shifting his career path and becoming the #1 cocaine trafficker in the United States, (5) to being tortured for 29 days by General Noriega’s soldiers in Panama, (6) to surrendering his life to Jesus because of a karate instructor who concluded Valdes was the devil incarnate, (7) because of his new-found faith, to choosing to admit his past crimes, which led to being sentenced to seven life sentences and losing all his wealth, (8) to having his mind transformed in prison through reading the Bible, (9) to seeing in prison the tragic division among “Christians” and coming to understand the importance of behavior over words in sharing our faith, (10) to being released and telling his story in the book “Coming Clean”, (11) to regaining wealth through a legitimate business and then walking away from it to invest into the hearts of his children. In telling his story, Valdes stresses that the life of drugs, money and sex is not “his story”–it is just part of his story.

One of the most poignant chapters in Jorge’s remarkable story is the impact of the karate instructor who knew Jesus. Valdes explains that over the course of three years with the instructor, he came to desire to know more about Jesus. Jorge described that it was not because of anything the instructor said–it was because of something he exhibited that Valdes didn’t have with all his money, mansions, planes, bodyguards and women–a joy he thought couldn’t be real.

With tremendous passion, Valdes urges listeners to be authenticate in their Christian walk by investing in people through loving them, regardless of their backgrounds, political views, beliefs. He shares his belief that the world needs more safe places, like NCS, where people can be transparent about their struggles and failings without fear of judgment–places where they can “come clean”, be liberated through the saving grace of Jesus and go on to make a difference in the world by sharing His love.

It is clear that the current chapter of Jorge’s story is one of trying authentically to live his life as a follower of Jesus–sharing God’s story in his life and being a witness through his actions more than his words by loving people, investing in their lives and living without fear in the knowledge that Jesus has already won.

While the allure of joy may be one of the most impactful aspects of Jorge’s talk, one of his comments may be the most thought-provoking–that perhaps Christians should spend less time worrying about “putting Christ back in Christmas” and more time worrying about “putting Christ back in Christians”.

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