Our mission in our ministry is to share our stories with others so that they may experience the love that God has for everyone.
Our ministry was formed in January 2005 when we decided to answer a call that had been tugging at our hearts for several years.
We share our personal journeys with Christ through our music and stories!
Susie Brenner is a singer-songwriter who is enjoying ten years of sobriety. Through her music ministry, she shares her love for God, her successes and her setbacks on her road to recovery. She has released four full length CD's and a recovery CD entitled But For Grace. Her latest CD, Part of the Plan, was released in June 2009.
Linda Beckstead is a published writer, a mother of two, and was a high school teacher of twenty two years. She retired in 2009 in order to do this ministry full-time and to begin work on a book project with Susie. She brings a wonderful flavor of humor to her ministry and delivers her story in a way that will touch your soul.
My musical journey began at the age of 6 when my Mother enrolled me in piano lessons. Uninterested in the participation required of me, I began a painful journey that lasted 8 years. (Possibly more painful for the teacher than the student.)
At 13, I was dating this boy who played the guitar and I decided that I had to learn how to play the guitar too. It was a struggle to convince my parents to buy me one for Christmas (due in part to the lack of practice in connection with the piano). I did, however, prevail and got my first guitar. The interesting part of this story is that the boy broke up with me right after Christmas, so I was left on my own to learn to play. At this point, I was grateful for the background that I had in piano lessons.
The following summer I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior and became involved in the Youth for Christ music ministry. It was then that I wrote my first song which ultimately started my Christian journey. For the next several years, I continued with the Youth for Christ ministry and performed at local churches and festivals in my hometown of Plattsburg, Missouri.
By my early 20s, I had fallen away from God. I began singing professionally for the next three years in hotels and restaurants around the Kansas City area. This was the perfect setting for a person yet to realize that she might be an alcoholic. By this time, when the partying had long faded for others, it didn’t stop for me. My music stopped for the next several years as I struggled with my addiction, which was only getting worse.
It was in January of 1990 that I was admitted to my first treatment center and first acknowledged that I had an alcohol problem. I had entertained the idea before, but never wanted to give any validity to it because then I might have to quit drinking. Little did I know that this would be the first of many trips to different treatment facilities around the Kansas City area. By 1999, I had been admitted seven or eight times. It was in November of that year that I went to Valley Hope in Atchison, Kansas and finally the pieces started falling into place for me. There are many reasons why it worked this time, but it is only by the grace of God that I am here today sharing my story.
I have celebrated my sobriety with friends and family and written songs about my journey. They reflect the different stages I’ve experienced. The first song is about seeking, the next about reflecting and the most recent is about celebrating my five years of sobriety. Although I missed writing a seven year song, I have written a nine year song called But Now I Know. The song talks about being someone today that I never thought that I could ever be.
For the last few years, I have been a member of the Council of Ministries at MCC-Omaha. I first served as the Minister of Fellowship and for the last two years, I have been the Minister of Music. I lead the Praise Band and the Praise Singers each Sunday and also occasionally step out of my box and organize various choirs.
I have been blessed by the love of God, my Church and my friends in this journey. I thank God for being my God and for the loving hands that have always held me so tight. And my friends, it has been and still is an amazing journey.
The first time I walked into MCC Omaha was on Mother’s Day 1995. My children were not with me that day, and the sermon—celebrating motherhood—was difficult to hear. I raised my hand to accept the carnation the ushers were giving to mothers. But more surprising to myself, here I was, announcing for the first time, that I was gay, but also that I was Christian.
I avoided church the year before when I finally acknowledged that I was gay. I wasn’t sure how to approach the topic with God during that year. I knew God could see into my heart and that God knew the crush on my thirteen-year-old girlfriend back in junior high was more than a passing fling. For over thirty years, I tried to satisfy my church’s expectations about men and women, but after two marriages, I finally accepted that being gay was not a choice. The only choice was to continue the lie about being straight.
As a high school teacher, I’m a late bloomer compared to my gay students who are out and proud. It’s been through them, and the milestone of my 40th birthday several years ago, that I’ve grown most in my Christian walk.
I don’t know about anyone else who’s crossed that age threshold, but turning 40 allowed me to look at my life with a sharp eye. It was then that the double life I had been living—gay at home, straight at work—stopped making sense. I finally recognized all the lies that I had to keep committing to protect my privacy conflicted with calling myself Christian. And when I considered my students who were gay and honest about their life, I had to admit that I was being a poor role model.
For some teenagers, being gay is a celebration of who they are. Daniel could have been a rep for a store selling GLBT jewelry, and his senior year culminated in three proms dates in three different cities. But ultimately, it’s not Daniel who I worry about; I worry about other students like Heather who came to my classroom as a junior in high school and cried after the marriage amendment was voted into Nebraska’s Constitution several years ago—the same Constitutional change that severely limits GLBT rights. She told me that her friends said she needed to change her lifestyle and that she was condemned because she was a lesbian. In that moment, while I listened Heather’s story, I felt my own pain. I had endured my marriages trying to live what I thought society called me to do by acting straight despite what I knew privately to be my own truth, and here in my classroom was a teenager whose bravery in standing up to her friends, and later to her parents, exceeded my own.
And so between my respect for my students’ bravery and turning 40, I’ve since been a more outspoken and visible member of MCC Omaha’s board of directors. I’ve since been interviewed by local news station about events relating to the church and the marriage action. Although I’m always nervous about saying something stupid and getting it repeated on the evening news only to be teased by my students later, I’m no longer worried about being outed.
My principal has told me he will handle any phone calls if a parent complains about their child having me as a classroom teacher, but I also understand that if my job were ever challenged because I am gay and a teacher, I will look at it as a door that’s been opened instead of one closing because I am now willing to be a better role model for my students by standing up for GLBT rights.
This year, I am planning on retiring from my position so that I might have more time to do full time ministry and to work on a book project.
I have served on the Board at MCC-Omaha as the Moderator for several years. I am now the Minister of Marketing for the Council of Ministries and am also one of the co-chairs for the WJD campaign. On Sunday mornings, I am a praise singer, much to everyone's surprise and am in charge of the sound technicians. Susie and I both serve on several committees throughout the year and one of our favorite is the Prom committee.
Just as Jesus tells us to let our lights shine, I’m ready to do that because I can no longer be silent about what is right.