The Toddyssey

Round Flat Tables

2012-02-01T05:30:00.000+01:00

I'm sitting here at 05:30 waiting on my flight to Madrid for a meeting with our ReachGlobal European leadership team, and I'm thinking. One statement that I've made is that we in RG Europe want to help create 'round, flat tables' for partnership. Round tables so that everyone can see everyone else. Flat tables because we are all equals. No one is 'above' anyone else based on money, geographic birthplace, or power. This attitude is best described in Philippians 2:5-11 and it is supernatural. As North Americans, this is counter-cultural and we're generally not very good at having this attitude. We think we have what everyone else needs to hear or have. I'm hoping that we can make some good progress this week in helping to create these tables.-it's about the glory of God

Expectations

2012-01-06T09:51:00.001+01:00

I've noticed that most of my discontent comes from my expectations. Now that I've written that, it only makes sense. I guess I was expecting that to be profound. Maybe next time.-it's about the glory of God

Location:Budapest ,Hungary

The Week in Review 2 Dec 2011

2011-12-02T11:38:00.001+01:00

Wow, this was one of those weeks where you feel like you got stuff done, but you're still wondering if it was the right stuff.

This week I'm still facilitating the online course for EQUIP, 'Intentional Living.' This is a really good group of students, so it's not a lot of work to help them interact with the material. We're in the third week of the course, so we've tackled 'Guarding Your Heart,' 'Ministering from Your Strengths,' and this week is 'Figure out the Big Rocks.' Next week will be the final week where we 'Connect the Compass to the Clock' and develop a rhythm for living an intentional life. One reason I enjoy facilitating this class is that it is an opportunity for me to reassess how I'm doing in these areas.

There were a couple of coaching calls this week, one in person and one online. Those are exciting times where I get to hear what God is doing in lives and how He is building His Church. Aside from the call where I get trained, I met with my 'peer coach' to begin our next module on Life Coaching and I met with a church planter who said, 'You'll probably be frustrated with me, I have not been very coachable in the past.' I wonder if he knows that I'm challenge motivated.

I was able to help with the ICSB middle school boys basketball team this week. Bill Babione asked me to fill in for him while he was gone, so I helped Ellis Vaughan and his son Samuel ride herd on 18 young men. Two of them happened to be Nate & John, which was nice. Nate touched the rim for the first time yesterday, so he was hopping around the gym making sure all the rims were the same height or something. =) It sure is fun watching your kids grow up.

Next week is looking busy with lots of reading/prep, coaching calls and training, plus two meetings for the Danube International Church elders (I'm one of them) where we're going to work on vision and direction for the church. Please ask that I'd be a diligent worker in the Lord's Harvest through the coming week.

Angst, Humility and Trust

2011-11-29T11:04:00.001+01:00

Support Team Building, MinistryTeam Development, People Raising, Fund Raising--whateveryou want to call it--has been the topicof a couple of conversations for me lately. I guess that’s part of being amissionary, you have conversations about stuff no one else really thinks about.But every year about this time I start getting stressed out. We're coming up onChristmas. I'm supposed to be jolly and focused on the 'reason for the season,'but all I feel is anxiety and a bit of awkwardness. We’re getting to the end ofthe budget year. I should do a ‘year-end ask’ to make sure there will besomething in the account at the end of the year, but it’s a huge fight in mymind to make this happen. Can’t I just enjoy kids coming home for Christmas andrevel in the season? So that’s the context for you...my annual angst.

Thismorning I was reading through Romans 3 where Paul was talking about howno one other than Jesus has or is able to doenough to satisfy the Law. That's when it hit me: that's what the effort of Support Team Building feels liketo me. I can never do enough and I'm not goodenough at it to satisfy whatever 'ideal' I've got in my mind. What if I justworked more hours? That doesn't get me anywhere because the hours I work andwhat I get paid aren't directly connected. Nope, I just have to grit my teethand ask. It’s humbling. Is this any way to provide for a family? I could havedone more during the year to communicate better, send more letters or something(phone calls?), so that I wouldn't be in this position. Am I learning anythinghere?

What about changing the game abit? I do want to do a better job of joining the churches and people I knowwith what God is doing in Europe. I want to be more intentional about being a connection point for ministry between Europeand the rest of the world. But can I change things so that it costs lessto do missions? What kind of ‘cost’ are we talking about here? Maybe it would be cool if it was free, but likeDavid, I don’t want to give God something that costs me nothing (1Chron 21:24). No, I think it should cost me something so I have to depend on God. He'sworth it.

I think there are two things that God is gentlydriving (though it feels like a hammer-drill today) into my heart:humility and trust. God is teaching me that only He provides for me and myfamily. That's humbling, especially when I realize that working more hours orsomehow trying harder are only thin veneer coverings for trying to do itmyself. Sure, I've got to be responsible. That's why I'll include a link foronline giving, send out emails, tweet and do what I can to help you see whatGod is doing in Europe and to understand the vision to which He has called ourfamily. But there is a fine line between mypersonal responsibility and takingthings into my own hands to bring about God’s promise of provision (checkout Genesis 16 to see how Abram tried it). So I needto humbly ask, without biting my lip or making a face, and trust that He willbe at work to provide for our needs. I ask Him first, and then I ask thelocal churches and people He has brought into our life, because I know thatthis is what He's asking me to do. He might give me another avenue in thefuture, but right now He’s teaching me to give upcontrol of my life and trust Him as I askothers.

Trust is such a difficult word. It has to do with believing. Do I reallybelieve that stuff in Luke 12:27 about how He cares for the lilies ofthe field? It's easy to say 'yes,' but it's a whole lot harder to live it. God,please help me.

The Week in Review 25 Nov 2011

2011-11-25T12:58:00.001+01:00

Looking at my calendar, this has been an interesting week. But one that I like a lot. The previous weeks have been on the road, meeting new people, and having deep conversations over important issues. The role I find myself in is enjoyable to me and I think I'm well suited for it (by God's grace).

This week had many of the same elements as earlier weeks, but without the travel. Here's the report:

Monday morning was a great conversation on anti-trafficking ministry, while that afternoon was a quick call on Roma ministry.
Tuesday involved a call helping a young missionary sort through his calling/role.
Wednesday was a call with a Lithuanian lady living in England working to develope a partnership between English and Polish churches to reach the Polish immigrants in England.
Thursday was Thanksgiving (for which I'm thankful).
Today was a call about developing a Christian community center in Kiev, Ukraine and helping an Albanian church planter think through how to refresh his relationship with God.
Every day I'm facilitating an online course 'Intentional Living' through EQUIP, so I get to interact with new missionaries and pastors in the US on issues related to living with purpose

When I look at that list I'm excited that I get to be a small part of what God is doing in so many different locations, contexts, and lives. I'm thankful for the training I'm getting in coaching and how these people are being helped through that. I'm also thankful that I get to drive kids to practices and friend's houses and that I'm home each night.

Coaching

2011-10-23T01:16:00.001+02:00

This has been a great week of training in coaching. Over the past few years I've found myself in situations where I was able to ask questions of pastors or missionaries that seemed to unlock ideas for them that neither of us had thought of previously. More than one person has said, 'Wow, you ask great questions." The problem was that I had no idea where they came from or why they were good questions. This week helped me to see how I can intentionally ask good questions and how those questions can lead to concrete change. I'm looking forward to how God is going to use that in the future in Europe.
Now I just need to get back there. =)

-it's about the glory of God

Location:Peña Blvd,Denver,United States

Nigeria for beginners

2011-09-03T20:18:00.001+02:00

I'm sitting in my hotel in Abuja, getting ready for the MANI consultation (http://www.maniafrica.com/) where we're hoping to develop some partnerships with African mission movements coming to Europe. I'm here with 3 coworkers, James Lauderdale, Dale Phillips, and Kevin Mason. This is my first time in Africa and I'll have to say that I've had to be very conscious of my 'cross-cultural attitude.' That kind of surprised me, being a cross-cultural worker and all.
The first day was a little strange...
About 3:45 the taxi picked me up after a solid 4 hours of sleep. Packing took a bit longer than I anticipated. As we took off, the conversation kind of stopped as we all realized that the song on the radio was 'YMCA' in Hungarian. Surreal is the only way I can describe it.
Everything was pretty normal through the layover in Amsterdam until we got to the gate for the flight to Abuja. I have never seen so many kids on a flight. Little kids and babies. We're estimating 70-100 kids on this flight. And it felt like we were the only ones who noticed. If this had been US TSA agents we never would have left. Kids were running everywhere, sticking their hands in the baggage x-ray machine, playing, I think it was a kid who opened the emergency exit that brought airport security over to investigate. We didn't really go through in a line, but more of a cloud. It's not like this is the first time I've had to navigate other 'line cultures,' but this one was noticeably stressful for me. Then the guy came out to announce that there was a fuel leak, so we might be delayed. Apparently it didn't leak too much, because they fixed it quickly and no fuel trucks showed up to top off our tanks. After that it seemed like it went back to a normal flight. Then we landed.
Passport control, baggage claim, and customs were all using the cloud method, which was fine. It's a different place and I expect that. The ride into town was an hour or so because of the army check point set up for security. There is increased security at every public event. Today we saw them screening people going into a wedding. Granted, there were about 12 bride's maids, but it's still just a wedding. Let's get back to the drive in. Two lanes marked on the road. Three or four lanes in use the whole way in. I was wondering whether dying in a car wreck going to a conference counts as martyrdom.
All in all, it was an interesting day of travel for me. I'm glad I'm here and I'm looking forward to what God has for me to learn and what He's going to do in Africa and Europe as a result of this event.

-it's about the glory of God

Location:Idris Gidado St,Abuja,Nigeria

Better Men than me

2011-03-28T11:58:00.001+02:00

Consecration is the act whereby we regard a common thing as sacred because we see God’s purpose in the design. – Ronnie Stevens

As I was listening to Ronnie preaching on Sunday I got a bit stuck at the beginning of his sermon. Not like the video he was trying to use, but hung up on his first point, well, really a sub-point. “Suffering was consecrated as God’s instrument.” Two people came to my mind immediately: Gabe DeGarmeaux and Jordan Williams.

Gabe is helping start Scarlet City Church in Columbus. His almost three year old son, Deacon died last week in a car accident. I can’t imagine the pain. All I’ve heard from Gabe has embodied Ronnie’s point.

Jordan is a Wheaton College student I met through my son, Tim. Jordan was recently diagnosed with AML, a form of Leukemia. As I’ve followed Jordan’s path through the hospital stays and chemotherapy I’ve been impressed with how he has (without explicitly stating it) pointed me to this same idea.

Both of these men have seen the hand of God in their life in ways that are painful, pain that I can only imagine, and I believe that they have ‘consecrated the suffering.’

Here are some of my notes from what Ronnie was preaching:

The suffering in my life:

-highlights my dependence on God

-enhances my credibility with others

-deepens my fellowship with Christ

-makes me become more like Jesus

-gives me opportunity to thank God

Here was my application for my life:

Take every ‘common thing’ (every common event, like getting up in the morning, like seeing, or eating) in my life and consecrate it, set it apart to God’s purpose even if I can’t see the immediate reason.

I’m guessing I won’t do this well, but that’s the direction I want to head.

Gravity

2011-03-23T10:57:00.001+01:00

I never really think about it. Some days I fight it, like when I’m doing push-ups. I guess I appreciate it, since it keeps me here, but I’ll probably never understand it.

This past week a few conversations have sparked this idea of the ‘gravity’ in my spiritual life. What draws me in? What do I need to push away?

Last night we had a discussion about ‘growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.’ What does that mean? My friend, David, pointed out that it’s growing in our relationship with Jesus, growing in love and in our ‘knowing’ Jesus. I like that. When I was putting it into my own words it came out more like, ‘growing in orienting ever aspect of my life around Jesus, focusing everything about me on Him.’ Regardless of how you frame it, there is a fight involved. Just like I’m doing push-ups and sit-ups to stay in shape physically, I need to do some spiritual ‘exercises’ to continually refocus and reorient my life on Him. It’s a fight against the gravity of…well, everything that’s not Him.

ReachGlobal Church Planting Ministry

2011-03-09T17:08:00.001+01:00

Spare pair

2011-01-11T03:06:00.001+01:00

I forgot my reading glasses. I left them somewhere in the house in Budapest. This little bit of information came to me when I was on my first flight (right before I spilled the glass of tomato juice in my lap). Fortunately, my Kindle lets me make the font large enough for me (and anyone else within a few yards) to read without my glasses. However, the first stop after I landed in Florida was a Walgreens for some inexpensive reading glasses. After a quick search for the cheapest things I could actually see through I found a ‘three-pack.’ It seemed a little strange that someone would want three pairs of the same glasses, but they were cheap. I got to the check out and the lady said, ‘It’s buy one, get one free.’ My reply was, 'Oh, so are they half off?’ She surprised me with, ‘Nope, go get another pack.’

Anyone need an extra pair of reading glasses?

Warm-up

2011-01-07T13:35:00.001+01:00

Last night we were warming up the band Euphrates for a run at the Endless Set List on RockBand. Tonight is the night we give it a run. Tim, Beth and I head out on the 06:30 flight. They’re headed back to Wheaton and I’m off to Orlando for a week of meetings with the Europe Division Leadership Team. I’m trying to get all the prep in for our 58 song marathon tonight.

Rock on!

My most deadly enemy in 2011

2011-01-01T11:38:00.001+01:00

“…God blesses us so that His glory might be made known in all nations. But an all-important question remains. How do we make God’s glory known in all nations?” – David Platt in Radical

The house is quiet as I sit here on New Year’s Day. Football hasn’t started in the US and no one is up yet after the parting last night. So I’m thinking about the new year. In 2011, how do I do my part to make God’s glory know in all nations? What is it that I believe He is calling me to this year? Heavy stuff, but I’m most of the way through my pot of coffee and I think this is the kind of moment for these thoughts.

God has us in a unique position. He has shaped me in a specific way, given me experiences that most others haven’t had. You can say the same thing. You and I are instruments in our Father’s hand, formed by Him to fulfill a specific role in making His glory known in all nations. Heavy. Scary.

Most days, I love everything about what He has called me to. But there are days where I look at this place He has me and I want to step back into safer areas, areas where I don’t have to trust Him so completely. Comfort is probably one of my most deadly enemies. Humility and courage have to me two of my greatest allies.

I think I see the answer to the ‘how’ question for my life. The next is', “In His power, will I do it?” I’m praying for you and me, that this year we will.

Serving with the Army

2010-12-16T18:01:00.002+01:00

Today I went with John’s 5th grade ICSB class to one of the Salvation Army homeless shelters in Budapest. The building was built by the Salvation Army in 1927-28 and operated as a homeless shelter for men until 1948 when it was taken from them by the communists. It remained some kind of shelter for men without families or just released from prison during the communist years in Hungary, but virtually no money was given toward upkeep. When the building was returned to the Salvation Army in 1991 it was in a shambles. They have worked hard to repair the building and rebuild the ministry to homeless men and women in Budapest.

John’s class brought supplies for the battered women’s shelter. The director met us at the men’s shelter to receive the gifts, since the location of the women’s shelter is secret. She was excited to accept diapers, baby food, bottles, toys and clothes for the children housed there.

The class was able to brighten the day of the 250 men and women who are served a free lunch there as well. The meal is simple, but provided every day of the year and cakes are donated for a nice dessert. They bring the people in to the dining room in three groups and the class sang Hungarian Christmas carols to each group.

I was impressed with two things today.

First, the ministry of the Salvation Army in Budapest. The officers discovered that 493 children in the 8th district are on a waiting list to get into daycare. While that might seem overwhelming, they are doing what they can. They opened a daycare that is currently able to care for 7 of them. That might seem like a drop in the bucket, but I’m sure it’s a cup of cool water to those 7 families.

Second, the 5th grade class at ICSB impressed me. Before we toured the facility, we were told to treat the people housed there with respect, to look them in the eye and speak politely to them. From what I saw, it seemed that every student did just that. One person even mentioned that they appreciated how the students honored them in their singing. When Andrew Morgan, the director, asked if they had any questions, he was flooded with good questions about the ministry there. These students seem mature and interested in how they can serve.

Today was a different day for me. Usually I’m talking with guys about the big picture. Today, I watched quietly as hundreds of lives were touched in the name of Jesus by some dedicated volunteers and 15 ICSB 5th graders.

Non-competition

2010-12-15T12:15:00.002+01:00

We’re trying to make more a point of connecting with other ministries around Europe. Part of that is meeting with guys who are roles similar to mine. There are a pile of people here in Budapest who have regional roles. We’ve talked about doing this for a while, and today is the first whack at it. Please pray for us that we would be able to figure out how we can cooperate better for the Kingdom.

UPDATE:
Not everyone we were hoping to see was able to come to the meeting. Four organizations were represented and we're hoping to see at least two or three more take part as this develops. It was a good time of getting to know each other and starting to see what it might look like. This was a small taste and now we have a developing thirst to see God move among us.

Bad photo-blogging

2010-12-05T23:59:00.001+01:00

This is the sign that greeted us as we got on the bus to the airport. Kind of a funny way to start the trip from Stockholm to Tallinn and I looked 100% tourist as I stopped to take the picture.

We were there to visit Argo

Buinevitš and his family. Argo is starting a church in Lasnamäe, a district of the Estonian capital, Tallinn.

I’m such a bad photo-blogger that I don’t have a single picture of Argo or his family. =(

James got some good ones, so I leech off of him and post some after we get back to Budapest. In lieu of emotion-grabbing photos, I have snow-filled, former-Communist apartment/development pictures from the area where Argo is working.

The clean car is Argo’s.

We spent the 48 hours in Tallinn asking as many questions as we could and listening to Argo tell us about his heart for this district where there are no Protestant churches and one unfinished Orthodox church building.

We also tried to encourage Argo and Einike, his wife and their 10 yr old son Markus. Part of that was taking them out to eat on the Old Town square in Tallinn.

If I had taken the picture to truly show you what we saw in Estonia, they would show you a man and his family with a deep commitment to see God worshipped in an area where many of the people don’t even believe He exists. When I get the pictures from James, I’ll show you a man whose courage and determination I admire.

Seventy new ones

2010-12-02T09:23:00.001+01:00

The EFK is an exciting group in Sweden. I know the picture doesn’t exactly convey the electricity in the room, but that was because this was at the end of the day, following a lunch and we hadn’t been properly re-caffeinated.

A vision to start 70 new churches in Sweden before 2020 is inspiring. The sad reality is that by their estimation, that only slows the decline in the number of believers in Sweden. They told us how they close churches every year and hope to start new ones to replace them in growing areas of Sweden, but it’s difficult to keep up.

I should mention that there were more people at the meeting earlier, but I was too engaged in the conversation to think about getting a good group shot. Regardless, it was an encouraging day as they expressed their desire to help as many people as possible start as many new churches as possible. And they asked us to help.

Later today we hop over to Tallinn, Estonia for 48 hours to check in with Argo, a church planter there. No updates for a bit, because I’m not taking my computer. Pray that we can be an encouragement like we’ve been encouraged here.

Pleasant surprise

2010-12-01T19:30:00.001+01:00

I stopped into a coffee shop to get some internet time. So I felt obligated to buy something if I was going to use their free internet. A coffee and a little ‘breakfast bun’ should do it. The coffee was good, the bun was a surprise. It was soaked in honey, which was great. I made the assumption that the black sprinkles on top were poppy seeds. After the first bite I gave a closer inspection. It was ground black pepper. Maybe not what I would have chosen if I had known, but better than you might think. When I asked some Swedes about it they told me it’s not anything they’d ever heard of before. Happy I found it.

Learning about New Life

2010-11-30T21:59:00.001+01:00

Today James and I were with the staff from New Life Church all day. It was a very good day. We shared blessings and needs then spent time praising our Father and asking Him for help. James sat in on their staff meeting while I met with the pastor of Tomaskyrkan, another Evangelical Free Church of Sweden (EFK) partnering with New Life. I think we both learned a lot today about Stockholm, these churches, and what partnering with them might look like.

Here are some things we learned:

Tomaskyrkan and New Life are working hard to connect artists with the Gospel through Synergy.

New Life wants to be a part of starting 20 new churches in Stockholm by 2020. (Stockholm 2020 is aiming for 50)

About 1% of youth in Sweden have any contact with a church or youth group.

God is working here.

Tell a story

2010-11-30T20:30:00.001+01:00

Write a story based on this series of illustrations. You can start at either end. I don’t know if there will be a prize, but you should have some fun putting it together.

If that’s too creative for you, just try to explain what each picture is communicating and where this series of illustrations can be found. Have fun with it! =)

Bosse in Stockholm

2010-11-30T08:11:00.001+01:00

Stockholm is a city of almost 2 million people. James Lauderdale, my co-worker, and I are here learning as much as we can about Stockholm and a group with which we’d like to partner. We were told that the Stockholm of today is significantly different than the Stockholm of 20 years ago. Over 35000 immigrants each year settle in Stockholm. Most of the Swedes aren’t attending any church at all.

Bosse is a retired architect who gives his time to New Life Church. He started attending New Life two years ago after his wife died of cancer. He wanted to make a new start, so the EFK (Evangelical Free Church of Sweden) church he was attending blessed him and sent him to New Life to serve this Swedish church with a strong international profile. Bosse says, “I have a new life at New Life!”

We attended the coffee house they have on Monday nights at the rented facilities where they meet. It’s how they welcome new people to their community. It was exciting to see how this group of about 30 (primarily Russian speakers) were encouraging each other.

New Life is a church of about 600 people representing about 50 different countries. They have a vision to start 10 more churches in the Stockholm area in the next ten years. James and I are hoping to learn a lot this week.

Thanksgiving Chapels

2010-11-23T21:58:00.004+01:00

I'm doing the Elementary and Middle School chapel services at ICSB tomorrow (Wednesday). Here is my illustration for the Elementary chapel. The Middle School might get a peek at it, too.

Bragging

2010-11-22T14:18:00.006+01:00

One thing that I really enjoy is spending time with my kids. Only half of their number live with us anymore. It was fun to spend some time with Matt in DC and Tim & Beth in Wheaton.

I’m hopelessly proud of my kids. It’s fun to be with them, I admire their spiritual maturity, and I love the people they are becoming. More than once I’ve had the thought, “Wow, I want to be more like him/her.”

Each one is different, so even with only three of them at home it’s never boring. This weekend has been full.

Nate was in the ICSB Middle school production of Aladdin.

John had a couple basketball games.

John making magic

Katie had her birthday party (a murder mystery that I got to host).

Today is the beginning of basketball season at ICSB, so we’re becoming a basketball family for the next few months.

Thanks, God, for such great kids.

Washington’s Proclamation

2010-11-19T12:09:00.001+01:00

Getting ready to speak at the Elementary & Middle School chapel services at ICSB next Wednesday, I found this:

WHEREAS, It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor;

WHEREAS, Both the houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me “to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness”!

Now, therefore, I do recommend next, to be devoted by the people of the states to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be, that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country.

—George Washington

Tan, P. L. (1996, c1979). Encyclopedia of 7700 illustrations : A treasury of illustrations, anecdotes, facts and quotations for pastors, teachers and Christian workers. Garland TX: Bible Communications.

Mileage

2010-11-18T15:45:00.002+01:00

I’m sitting in my office.

I haven’t been able to say that too often this year. This room isn’t even where my office was at the start of the year. It is the same building, so I guess that’s something. Today has been kind of a ‘self-debrief’ of my October. I was in the US for 5 weeks for Europe leadership meetings, a couple events, and to find more partners for the work in Europe.

The leadership meetings went well. It was the first time that we had an extended time with our new leader David Ruiz. (Below is his talk at Cape Town 2010.)The week was a great time for us all to get to know each other better and begin to focus our direction as a leadership team.

The events were great. I was at the EFCA Great Lakes District conference where there were some great speakers (Mark Batterson was one of them) and I was able to talk with some great pastors & church planters about engaging in Europe. The Missions Fest at the Compass Church in Naperville, IL was also exciting as they focused on ministry in Europe.

As I was going over my calendar for those 5 weeks, I realized that I traveled by car about 3,000 miles. Now, I’m sure there are people who do that all the time. I’m not one of them. That was a lot of driving for me, but it was worth every mile. I was able to spend some time with some awesome pastors and church planters. It encouraged me, it was refreshing to just be with these men.

My Boss Speaking at Cape Town 2010

2010-11-05T07:54:00.001+01:00

A Thousand Questions

2010-10-31T05:42:00.003+01:00

Reaching a City with the Gospel

2010-10-29T03:55:00.001+02:00

Tim Keller Argues For Churches In Cities [Lausanne] from Kenny Jahng on Vimeo.

Recent Family Pictures

2010-09-22T19:47:00.001+02:00

Exercising

2010-09-03T14:24:00.001+02:00

I'm getting healthy.

Today's exercise:

210 pushups (Hundred Push-up Program)

Ran 2 miles

30 sit-ups

15 minutes stretching

Breakfast:

Spinach egg-white omelet

1 men's vitamin

two glucosamine pills

Weigh-in: 233lbs

What am I doing? Yeah, I’m trying to lose weight, stay fit and be in better health, but what’s the point? Sometimes I’m not sure. Am I trying to turn back the hands of time, trying to stay young? Is this about personal discipline or health? Often, I think I’m just battling middle age, not coming to terms with who I am now. Do I have regrets about some of the choices I’ve made? Sure. I should have gone to the doctor about my shoulder when Matt Brandt dislocated it for me my junior year of high school. Maybe things would be different now. But that’s really not the point.

The point is: What do I love?

He loves Thee too little who loves anything together with Thee, which he loves not for Thy sake.

Augustine in his Confessions

I had better be doing all this health stuff because I love God. It's not an attempt to try to gain His approval or earn any favor from Him, but because: I want to be a healthy, effective tool in His hands; I want to be an example to the people around me (my kids especially) of a healthy life devoted to God; and because it’s an exercise of giving myself over to Him. Measuring every motive against my love of God.

Ouch. I did my stretching today, but that one hit a tender spot. Can I live my whole life like it’s an exercise of giving myself over to Him?

The next 22 days

2010-09-02T14:02:00.000+02:00

Looking at the calendar, I’ve got 22 days until I head back to the US for our European Division Leadership Team (EDLT) meeting and a very important time of ‘support team building.’ Preparing for that is pretty important if I want it to be a successful time. However I can’t lose these days with my family. I’m not looking forward to being gone for a minimum of five weeks, maybe more if I don’t find more partners.

The ‘felt need’ for the family is for me to make sure everything is working when I leave. The desktop computer is back from the repair shop and the Ford Galaxy went in today. Hopefully, everything will cooperate and we’ll be set by the time I fly out.

Time. That’s the one thing that I feel the most stress about. There is so much to do, but I want to make sure that I’m spending time with Kristi and the kids. Good time. Time where they know that I’m engaging with them, present with them. Picking them up after school, fixing dinner for the family, and making time to talk with them about what’s happening in their life.

Now that I’m thinking about it, I should probably be living with this attitude every day and not just the next 22.

119 Thoughts

2010-09-01T13:50:00.001+02:00

I won’t list them all, but I did want to share a couple thoughts I wrote in my journal as I read through Ps 119. Most of these come from the second half of the psalm.

v. 126 It is time for you to act, O Lord, Your law is being broken. -Father, You need to act in Europe.

v. 130 The unfolding of Your Word gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.       -Help me to skillfully explain/apply Your word in my preaching and conversation.

v. 133 Direct my footsteps according to Your Word; let no sin rule over me.    -Let my devotion be radical.

v. 143 Trouble and distress have come upon me, but Your commands are my delight.   -I want to find more delight in my Father than in my sin.

v. 162 I rejoice in Your promise like one who finds great spoil.   -I want to feel like I just found an extra $1000 when I open Your Word.

Nothing special, but I thought you might benefit in some way. =)

Strange Encouragement

2010-08-13T01:06:00.002+02:00

I’m looking back over the calendar, letting the memories roll around in my mind; the people, the places, the events that have formed our life since we flew out of Budapest on June 10 and landed in the US.

Grace Chapel, our home church, did a lot of work to bless us with a house, a car, and lots of other helpful bits here and there. Their love and encouragement were evident in many different ways and we can’t thank them enough for being a part of our lives. When I tried to express it in front of the church I couldn’t quite get through it. It’s amazing to me as I think about how my life has changed so much since living there, but the people there are still such a large part of who I am. One quote (there were many) to show me how different my life is from that of my kids: “Dad, you grew up around here. What did you do?”

The summer has mainly been visiting churches and supporters. While it’s been a lot of miles, it’s also strangely encouraging. Maybe ‘strangely’ isn’t the best word there, but that’s the one that wants to come out of my mind. We don’t see the people from these churches for 2-3 years and there is a certain amount of ‘anxiety’ as we’re getting ready to visit them because most times we don’t know exactly what to expect. However, when we finally arrive, it’s like no time has passed since the last time we saw them. The relationships pick right back up; it’s great to be with them and they are a wonderful encouragement to us. Its strange how that happens, but one of the blessings of being in this role.

If I saw you this summer I want to thank you. I appreciate the encouragement.

Driving in Hungary

2010-06-18T21:40:00.001+02:00

Yeah, I couldn’t pass up this picture as I drove into Budapest…

Giving him the business

2010-06-03T14:02:00.001+02:00

I messed up. I forgot to change the subject line on my last mass email…

End of the School Year

2010-06-03T13:21:00.001+02:00

It seems like every night is a different graduation party (basically the same group of people at different locations). I’ve been to awards ceremonies for high school, middle school and elementary school. There isn’t much left to do, except the actual graduation ceremony. Bethany graduates from ICSB tomorrow. I know a couple people are happy.

ICSB is trying to raise money for a playground and a school van.

You can give to this project (Acct.# 075711, ICSB Expansion Project) here.

Erd League Champions

2010-05-29T19:39:00.001+02:00

John’s team won the ‘Erd League’ today. They had a great game against a pretty good team that struggled without their best player. The Diosd Dodgers had a great season and I was glad to be there to see the end of it. Here’s John’s first hit of the game.

Normal Day?

2010-05-28T22:47:00.000+02:00

‘What is a normal day for you?’ Someone asked me that question a while ago and I found it difficult to answer. Well, here’s a shot at answering it by describing a little about today.

I started off by heading downtown to meet with a guy I’d never met. Howard is with Jaron Ministries and was in Budapest as part of the European Leadership Forum. A mutual friend wanted us to meet to see if there was potential for working together. We had a nice 90 minutes getting to know each other. I walked away with quite a few ideas about where we might be able to cooperate.

As I rode the bus back to where I parked the car, I started thinking about what needed to be done in the next two weeks. (The family flies to the US in 13 days.) My whiteboard at the office is full of tasks. My calendar has a few more personal ones for getting the house and family ready. I decided to try to work on both lists a bit today.

When I got home, the first thing I did was take the door off the house. This thing has been giving me fits. It would barely shut and I finally had to take it apart to figure out what the problem was. Only took a few minutes and several times on and off the pegs to get it sorted out. Now it shuts fine and that irritant is out of the back of my mind. Since I had such success with one door I considered working on a second one before lunch. Unfortunately, the longer I looked at the closet door, the more I felt like it was going to take too much time for today. The door wouldn’t hang right anymore because the wood in the jamb had rotted away. Earlier I had taken out the rotted part, so now I’m percolating on how to repair it. I need to get it done before we leave, (and these are dangerous words) I’m just not sure when.

After lunch, I got back to work. I answered a few emails, but not nearly enough. Then I went to work doing prep for preaching when I get back to the US. I’m not sure how many times I’ll be preaching, but between that and telling people about what we’re doing I’ve got a lot of preparation.

The day was cut a little short because I’m trying to spend more time with the family after being gone for almost two months.

We went to see Katie’s class displaying their work from Hungarian culture class (gulyas, a folk dance, and dessert) and we capped off the evening at the Middle School Recognition ceremony. Here are a few pictures from the last few days and a cool video. I’m really enjoying being with my family. =)

The In-Between Time

2010-05-25T12:28:00.001+02:00

Delta is nicely reminding me that I have 16 days until departure. Didn’t I just do arrival? It seems like I still haven’t completely unpacked my head (and heart) from my last trip and it’s time to get ready for the next one.

Bethany is off in Cyprus for her Senior trip. Everything seems to be going well there. A small break before the rash of graduation parties. Graduation parties are great, it’s just that they come in bunches.

I’m working on getting stuff fixed around the house, or getting it ready for us to be gone for a few months. If I was a better blogger there would be a picture of me putting the door back on the shed after it blew completely off. I wonder how many times you can re-attach one door? Actually, doors are problematic for me right now. I still have to re-hang the one on the closet where the wood rotted away, and figure out how to get the front door to close without herculean effort. Just a couple of the ‘around the house’ things on my list.

My whiteboard is covered with the ‘my role’ stuff I need to get done in the next two weeks. Everything from vehicle and housing for our time in the US to next steps for the work in several countries. I’m not sure if replacing the battery in my watch is ‘around the house’ or ‘my role’ but it had better happen this afternoon.

I’m asking God to help me make sure I get the most important things done and to be at peace leaving what I can’t get done undone. In the mean time, I’ll give you a little taste of how much I enjoy being back home with my family.

Intersections

2010-05-18T18:41:00.000+02:00

Tim Chester has a really helpful paradigm for naturally communicating the most important message we can ever hope to relate to someone else.

Four points of intersection
Everyone has their own version of the ‘gospel’ story:

creation – who I am or who I should be
fall – what’s wrong with me and the world
redemption – what’s the solution
consummation – what I hope for

When we hear people expressing their version of creation, fall, redemption or consummation, we can talk about the gospel story. Talking about Jesus begins with listening to other people’s stories and sharing our own story of Jesus.

Check out the rest here.

Forgiveness

2010-05-18T15:28:00.001+02:00

On May 25th Chris Brauns, a guy I’ve decided is pretty cool, witty, and someone I could hang with regularly, will be doing a free online webinar on forgiveness. Space is limited.

Chris Brauns, a keynote speaker for our 2010 Peacemaker Conference and pastor of The Red Brick Church in Stillman Valley, IL will be doing a live webinar on Tuesday, May 25^th starting at 9:00am Mountain Time. Chris is visiting our staff as part of our staff retreat, and it is our privilege to have him available for a webinar.

Chris will be taking the audience through a “forgiveness quiz” and will expound upon some common misconceptions about forgiveness. This thought-provoking webinar will help you dig deeper on the topic of forgiveness (and help you prepare for the 2010 Peacemaker Conference on forgiveness).

Visit Peacemakers for more information.

HT: Chris, check out his blog.

Your Life in Rhythm

2010-05-14T14:49:00.001+02:00

Your Life in Rhythm by Bruce Miller; he’s a pastor I know ;-)

When I first picked up this book I wondered if it was a question of semantics. Is this just another way of looking at managing my time? It didn’t take long to realize that Bruce was asking me to change the paradigm I use to look at time and my life.

The message of this book is that balance is an unattainable myth, a static state, and not realistic for anyone’s life. Instead of striving to find ‘balance’ we should be working to ‘understand the times,’ at various levels. This is from the flow of my day all the way to examining the season of my life. The season of life I’m in helps me make decisions about what I should be (and not be) doing. When I look at my year I can see the busy seasons and the more relaxed periods. What is it realistic to attempt in each of those phases? What should my expectations be?

What difference does this make in my life? I was concerned about the amount of travel I was doing for my role. As I looked at the overall flow (of my year and my life) and the state of my family, I realized that there are ‘high travel’ seasons and stretches where I am home. When I’m home, I focus on my family and preparation for the travel times. When I’m traveling, I don’t need to feel regret that I’m gone if I’ve been faithful to give my family what they need from me when I’m home.

I would recommend this book to anyone regardless of their season of life. I’m still working through applying many of the principles and I’m convinced they will help not only me, but my family.

Back Home…for a bit

2010-05-13T12:54:00.001+02:00

These three pieces of luggage held most of me for the past 53 days. I cheated a bit with odds & ends scattered around the car, but generally it was all in there.

Tim was laughing when I was up at 2AM the night before I was flying back to Budapest with stuff spread around the living room, trying unsuccessfully to make 65lbs fit in 50lbs of space. Well, actually 54lbs, the lady at the counter was very nice to me when she saw the stricken look on my face. When I unloaded everything back at the house I decided that I have too much stuff. I’ll be purging a bit more over the next 28 days. Yeah, that’s how long until the next trip. This one is with the family to the US for the summer. Way better. =)

I’m spending today reflecting on what happened over the past two months, the people, places, conversations, and thoughts that ran through my life. Hopefully I’ll be able to process everything well over the next couple of days. I’m also working on being intentional about the coming 28 days. What are the most important items on my agenda? Reintegrating into the family, tasks at the house/cars, people to reconnect with, items to follow up with from this trip, and plans for the coming months.

So far, my cogitation has given me one nugget. I lost about 25lbs over this trip (I wish the airline had credited me that in luggage). I was reading 1 Chronicles 11-12 about King David’s might men (esp. Benaiah in vv. 22-25). David’s men had skill and devotion. They ordered their lives to serve him well in their capacities. Losing some weight is a good start for me. But what are the other changes I can make to be more focused and efficient in serving my Lord? Not exactly the thought I expected to consume me upon returning to my house, but there it is.

Graduation

2010-05-09T15:10:00.000+02:00

Yesterday we got to attend a ceremony for the people receiving the Urban Studies certificate. I don’t know if you can see on the picture, but Matt was asked to share some reflections on he experience in the program. He did a great job (the other two did as well, but this one is my son).

We had a fun day hanging out together with Matt, Madi, Mom (Happy Mothers’ Day!) and Dad. Tim joined us later because he was presenting the colors for the grad school commencement.

Today we head to worship with Matt & Tim at their church, then a brunch at the school and the big event this afternoon.

Wow, I’m a proud Dad on Mothers’ Day.

I’m amending this post with a few more picture from the actual graduation ceremony.

The Culmination

2010-05-07T20:04:00.000+02:00

Well, we're not quite there, but this is the last weekend for me in the US for a while. It certainly feels like LeadTeam and Mt. Hermon were a million years ago.

All the people, the places, the little incidents along the way. I loved living it all, but this weekend is the big event. Matt is graduating from Wheaton College.

Yeah, it only seems like yesterday that he was with us in Budapest. Then we sent him to Wheaton, he broke both his wrists his first Christmas home, then he is graduating. I’m sure there’s more in there but it’s kind of a blur.

As I’ve been thinking about this, I want to make sure I live this weekend well. Sure, there are still a couple more things to buy, bags to pack before Tuesday and I’m anxious to get back home. However, Dad & Mom are driving in, Madi (my niece) is arriving today, Tim is doing color guard for every event beginning tomorrow (Sat). All these people are here and I want to enjoy each one, celebrate Matt, and soak in God’s faithfulness.

Two false notions American churches should reject about global ministry

2010-04-14T15:16:00.002+02:00

Pastor Chris Brauns gets the hat tip for this post. Seriously good stuff to keep in mind as you are partnering with the Church in Europe or anywhere for that matter. Thanks Chris!

Normal People

2010-04-13T15:28:00.001+02:00

Think about the biggest names in the Church today. Who are the most influential Christian leaders you read about and listen to? Some guy from California? A pastor from Minnesota? Chicago? Anyone from West Liberty, Ohio? (Just checking to see where your 'fame threshold' is!)

When I think about the people who are well-known or influential in the Church today, I come up with a list of names of people that I don't know. I have no idea who they are personally, so I assign them a character of perfection. My thinking goes like this: 'They must not have any flaws, because it seems like God is working through them to build His Church.' The next thought is, 'I can't be used like that, because I have flaws.' Strangely, when I was younger, I thought, 'God can use me because I'm just as good as they are.' Both of those conclusions are wrong. The reality is that God does some crazy stuff with normal, flawed people.

Recently, I was reading through the book of Judges, on my trek to read through the whole Bible and feel better about myself as a 'real' Christian who reads the whole Bible. As I rambled through this chronicle of the days following the death of Joshua, I found some interesting people.

Ehud, a favorite among junior high boys, known for his stabbing technique as he delivered a message from God.
Deborah, a favorite among junior high girls for her strength and independent nature.
Gideon, the mighty warrior hiding to do his farm work.
Jephthah, a guy of questionable pedigree (he didn't come from a Free church or go to Trinity), but God used him mightily.
Sampson, the imperfect hero.

When I got done reading, I had this thought ringing in my head: God does some crazy stuff with normal, flawed people.

The reason I became a missionary was not to do email (it barely existed then, so it was difficult to hate it yet) or go to meetings or raise support (raising support isn't evil like rooting for the Oakland Raiders, only my attitude towards it). My problem is that those things become 'what I do.' My vision for what God is calling me to becomes too small. I can lose heart, and then, even if I had a tent peg or a donkey's jaw in my hand, I wouldn't know what do to with it.

Ephesians 2:10 says, "For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago."

Reality Check 101: I am a normal, flawed person, but one who has been redeemed by Jesus. What God wants and plans to do with me is up to Him.

This reality check is for you, too. He has done some amazing things to bring you to the place you are right now. Those experiences weren't for nothing. Fight the battle of believing Him, believing the things He says about you (we are His masterpiece!) and to you. Shake off the things which so easily entangle you and do the things--the crazy things--He is calling you to in this place He has brought you.

Some things I’ve seen lately

2010-04-12T18:11:00.001+02:00

Here’s the first house I remember living in. I in Springfield, OH so I thought I’d drive by. Mom had to tell me the address. I guess it’s been over 40 years…

I’ve been running a few miles each week since I’ve been here. This is where…

Sometimes I watch Dad work. That’s always a treat. =)

The Results of Golfing

2010-04-12T17:52:00.000+02:00

Yeah, I bought some sunscreen on Saturday after the Friday golf outing with Dad. =) This picture is a from a few days after it started peeling. One of these days I’ll learn.

The Relationship Between Evangelism and Social Action

2010-04-09T20:17:00.001+02:00

The Relationship Between Evangelism and Social Action

Posted using ShareThis

Decisions

2010-04-05T02:56:00.002+02:00

I love my Moleskine journal and my Moleskine calendar. My problem is that when I had my last computer stolen, they got my journal and calendar. The journal wasn't too difficult to replace, but the calendar wasn't available in Budapest. I got a 'replacement,' but it just hasn't 'clicked' with me. Here are the two I'm trying to decide between:

Any opinions?

Happy Easter

2010-04-05T01:59:00.003+02:00

This morning I got up early. When it got light enough to see outside, it still looked pretty dark. Not a nice morning, clouds.

I went to the building where the church meets. We shared the Lord's Table (I got to help serve). We shared breakfast together (I got to help serve there, too). Then we spent more time in worship as we heard from John 11 where Lazarus was brought back to life (not like what Jesus did when He was raised to new life). Finally, we heard a pretty cool production (video, song, narration) looking at the crucifixion and resurrection. A good morning.

This afternoon I looked out and saw the sun. It was bright and clean.

Something Paul wrote in his letter to the church in Colosse came to mind: '...you trusted in the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.' In the letter he wrote to the church in Ephesus, he said that same power is at work in us who believe Him.

The sun's shining in my life.

Leading From the Sandbox: Seven Questions for every ministry

2010-03-31T19:50:00.001+02:00

This is the kind of stuff we got at LeadTeam.

These are questions I'm trying to ask myself every day.

Leading From the Sandbox: Seven Questions for every ministry

LeadTeam Report

2010-03-30T01:31:00.004+02:00

LeadTeam was pretty good. Ok, I think it was the best so far. We had a great start with the Quiet Waters Retreat where we spent the day in fasting and prayer. We got a significant amount of time with our leadership where they were transparent in sharing their heart for the vision to which God is calling us.

I have a few questions that I'm planning on reviewing regularly:

Am I thinking too small?
Am I underestimating the power of the Gospel?
Am I underestimating God's power within me?
Am I thinking too narrowly?
Am I working too independently of others?

Here is how I'll be describing RG when I'm meeting with partners in the US & Europe:

We are a Gospel-centered movement

transforming lives, communities and institutions world wide

in the power of God's Spirit

I'm excited about where RG is going.

Touring

2010-03-29T20:53:00.007+02:00

We finished LeadTeam early on Friday, so Mike Edwards and I headed up to San Francisco. I had never been there, but Mike had and he knows how to run a GPS. We had a great day. I took a picture of the Golden Gate bridge. Yeah, I have skills. Actually, I think pictures of the Golden Gate bridge take themselves. It's a pretty significant engineering achievement.

I also got to drive down Lombard Street. If you remember Herbie the Lovebug, he kind of made that street famous. It's called the 'Crookedest Street in the US.'

Way cool day. Thanks, Mike. =)

Team is what we're about

2010-03-24T18:53:00.003+01:00

Europe ruled the courts last night as we crushed all opposition. We worked them over so bad in the prep for the event that most didn't even show up. As a matter of fact, only two people showed up who weren't on our Europe Division Leadership Team. We showed our compassionate side by incorporating them into our team for the evening and going with some intra-squad action.

Mike Davis was wicked hot on the court with his outside shooting and nearly infinite number of assists.

Don Reynard carried the other side with his magical ball handling skills as he rained shots from around the arc and relentlessly drove the lane.

Everyone else showed grit, determination, a complete lack of skill, and an indomitable spirit of team. No injuries to report.

It was a beautiful experience.

LeadTeam

2010-03-24T00:59:00.004+01:00

LeadTeam has been great. We started off with a day of fasting and prayer. I appreciate that ReachGlobal considers this important enough to begin our major leadership events with seeking God together.

Today, I had the privilege of sitting on a panel of guys involved in developing partnerships around the world. I was definitely the one who least deserved to be on the panel, but it was a good experience for me.

Our team from Europe challenged the rest of the world to a streetball game tonight. I'm interested to see if anyone takes up our challenge. It's great to be with these people, to be pushed and sharpened in our thinking and actions.

The button I was looking at

2010-03-21T15:27:00.003+01:00

I don't know about you, but 11 hours on a plane doesn't go that fast for me in an economy seat. Once I got bumped to a business seat (not business class, just the seat), and that ride was pretty sweet. To make matters worse, there was this button on the back of the seat ahead of me. For 11 hours I thought it said 'Don't Pull.' Kristi would have been able to read it and comply without a problem. I struggled with this thing the whole ride. Finally, as we were getting off the plane, I looked at it more closely with my reading glasses on. Stupid thing says 'Coat Pull.' I'm playing with it the whole ride next time.

If I had been tweeting that Paris/San Fransisco flight...

2010-03-21T05:56:00.003+01:00

11 hours? we're taxiing for 9 of them...

watched 'Blind Side,' why do I cry at sports movies?

good food on Air France, I wonder how many WeightWatchers points I just ate...

Whoa, 'Bullitt' with Steve McQueen, great flick

I'm pretty sure this seat was not designed to be sat in for 4 hours...11?

kind of the opposite to Estonia in December, long day and not much happening here.

finally on the ground in San Fransisco, off to Mt. Hermon for LeadTeam...

In the Middle

2010-03-19T16:11:00.001+01:00

I’m looking at my calendar. Eight weeks back, I’m sitting in my office getting ready for a week of meetings with the other RG leaders from around Europe. That was a powerful week for us. We met our new International Leader (David Ruiz) and I believe God showed us a little more light on the way forward. Since that week, I’ve had a trip to Albania/Macedonia which was amazing. I think that God is bringing some interesting/powerful things together there. Missions from everywhere to everywhere. I also spent about ten days in Amsterdam with two overlapping groups. The first group was our RG City Team Leaders. These men and women are the real backbone of our organization in Europe. They are player-coaches who are bearing the burden of the added responsibility for their teammates in our 23 locations around Europe. We spent some time working on ‘exegeting our cities,’ understanding what is there and how God wants our teams to engage. The second group was part of our Church Planting Institute, so missionaries and national partners from around the continent. I had 18 guys I was hosting which was fantastic. Their stories, their plans, they blessed me and I think they were given courage to continue on in the path our Father has laid out for them.

I’m looking at my calendar again. Eight weeks ahead, Lord willing, I’ll be sitting in my office again after returning from a long trip to the US without my wife, Kristi. Next week will be LeadTeam, the vision/training event RG has for people like me from all over the world. I’m really looking forward to this one. I can’t say that I’ve been overly impressed with every event like this in the past, but I’m excited about what I think God might do in this one. After LeadTeam I go to Ohio for almost three weeks. I’ll try to connect with as many of the churches and individuals who support us as I can. I want to tell them about what God is doing in Europe and ‘introduce’ them to some of the people I work with. I am also trying to expand the circle of people and churches who are involved in the work in Europe, so I’ll be trying to make new connections and seeing if I can explain what I do before they get distracted. Following Ohio is California for a wedding of a good friend, Robyn Smith, who has been working here in our office for the past three years. She’ll be missed by us, but welcomed by Brad. Bethany really wants to go to Biola, so I guess I might have to get used to this trip. The next leg is the Chicago area. I’ll be doing more of what I did in Ohio, but have less of a ‘base’ to work from. It should be interesting. The bonus at the end is that I’ll get to see Matt graduate from Wheaton College, another very happy event which brings life changes.

So, here I am in the middle, recovering, trying to capture all the good from what has happened, and anticipating, frantically preparing for what my Father is bringing my way.

Reset

2010-03-13T13:48:00.003+01:00

The past 10 days have been great. We had our City Team Leader Forum followed by our Church Planting Institute. The location was an airport hotel in Amsterdam, which was my home for 10 days. I love being with the other Area Leaders for Europe, and our City Team Leaders; these men and women are godly, encouraging people. Our partners from around Europe bring inspiring vision and stories where we can see God at work. I will admit that it was nice having someone clean my room every day, but I missed Kristi and the kids terribly.

I'm still enjoying the afterglow from the events and I've got some work to do this week from all the conversations (James Lauderdale did a great job with some video interviews with some of our partners), but I only have a week. Yeah, I leave next Saturday for 7 weeks in the US by myself. I'll be writing a bit more about what that time will be like and I hope to blog the whole thing during my trip. Until then, I'm going to go play some basketball in the driveway with John...

Church Planting Institute 2010

2010-03-08T10:09:00.002+01:00

Today is the beginning of one of our most important events of the year. We gather our staff and partners involved in church planting for teaching, practical application, and networking to facilitate 'multiplying healthy churches among all people.' This year we have D.A. Carson on the Gospel, they guys from DNA for practical exercises on ways to touch our cities as the people of God, and over 60 of our partners around Europe together. I'm excited to see what our Father is going to do here and around Europe through this event.

Pray that we would all stay healthy and that God would use this event to continue building His Church.

CTLForum 2010

2010-03-06T16:53:00.002+01:00

City Team Leader Forum

March 4-8 :: Amsterdam, Netherlands

We gather our City Team Leaders from around Europe for training and discussion every two year. This is one of those years. The purpose is to help our leaders be better leaders and to hear from each other. Our director, TJ is here as our main speaker (first time in three years). We're looking at God's Word together and discuss how to "exegete your city" for ministry impact. Our first day was focused on prayer and fasting, a great way to start any meeting. This afternoon we are doing case studies from three cities: Lyon, France; Montreal, Canada; Berlin, Germany. Excellent discussion today, more discussions about our teams & cities until we end Sunday night.

God is blessing us.

A taste from CTLForum 2010 in Amsterdam

2010-03-06T11:51:00.002+01:00

We don't own anything,

control anything, or

count anything as ours, and we're

not here to replicate our brand.

We are here to multiply healthy churches. -TJ

John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace by Jonathan Aitken

2010-02-27T20:41:00.002+01:00

This is the second book that I read completely through on my new Kindle. I picked it up cheap and thought it would be a good read on my trip. It was. One bonus for me was that he quotes the ‘Newton scholar’ Bruce Hindmarsh a few times. I’ve never met Bruce, but he’s the brother of a friend. So every time there was a quote from him, I was like, ‘Ha, that’s Brenda’s brother.’

What I Liked
The book was readable. It didn’t get bogged down with too much detail or rabbit-trails, but there were plenty of stories to keep me engaged. I thought the author did a good job of relating who John Newton was, a bit about his family, and his influence on the world.

What I Didn't Like
I like the book. There was nothing in it that bothered me or made it unpleasant to read.

Why You Should Read This Book
You should read this book to get out of 2010 and get a different perspective on the world. I was challenged by Newton’s personal discipline, his devotion to his wife, and his impact on the world. You will be, too.

Edit: Who the author is adds a whole new dimension to the book.

Painful

2010-02-23T20:47:00.001+01:00

10 Ways to Encourage a Missionary

2010-02-23T13:35:00.002+01:00

10 Ways to Encourage a Missionary

Posted using ShareThis

Relevance

2010-02-22T20:23:00.002+01:00

I've been following a conversation on a couple of different blogs on the Gospel and relevance. You can see what's being said here and here. Any thoughts?

Albania

2010-02-21T22:34:00.002+01:00

I spent ten days in the Balkans in the beginning of February. It was a great time with some great people. I didn't take any pictures of note with a camera, but I have a couple in my mind. Here's one:

We were in a country neighboring Albania. The guy I was staying with asked if we could stop buy a friend's place for a while. Seems like his friend doesn't have too many friends where he lives, so my buddy likes to stop out to see him as often as he can. We drove out into the hills. The road was kind of paved, but not much. It was a grey, chilly, dark afternoon and it didn't take too long to decide a GPS would be a joke where we were headed. Rickety bridges, hairpin turns, interesting 'houses,' and after a while we were there. This guy lived alone. His two sons were grown and living in another country. His wife had left him to move back to her home country. All of them had returned last summer to see him be baptized in his village. After he did that, the neighbors killed his dog. Lots of family in the area, but not friends now. My buddy would spend a few hours with him talking about Bible stories and what they meant. This guy doesn't read. He's got God and my buddy.

The picture in my mind is this guy alone. Working in the field, splitting firewood, or puttering around the house...alone. How does he get any food for his soul? How does he stay alive?

I know I don't have the whole picture, but that's the piece that's stuck in my mind.

ICSB Basketball Tournament

2010-02-21T22:08:00.003+01:00

This event is arguably the highpoint of the year for the school. None of my kids have ever been involved (other than Jonathan Edwards), but I will do everything I can to be there each year. I am impressed each year with the solid character of many of the players involved. 'Potential' is the word that keeps ringing in my head as I'm watching these young men and women play from their hearts.

Here is Matt Jackson's write up of the final game from his Facebook page (he's Ben Jackson's dad, one of those 'solid character players' I mentioned earlier). I can't relate it any better:

The Intl Christian School of Budapest (ICSB) boys won their invitational tournament, which is their championship, tonight at their home court, beating teams from Budapest (AISB), Kiev and St. Petersburg, Russia. In the past few years an intense rivalries has developed between ICSB and Kiev as well as with their cross town rival AISB.

Just yesterday the Kiev team beat our boys in the seeding round of the tournament by nearly 20 points. ICSB boys knew they were off their game but not sure if that alone accounted for the 20 pts. Kiev's 4 starting seniors put together a team seemingly invincible. Tonight's game was looming large.

Winning the opening tip, the ICSB boys came out strong and opened up a quick lead. ICSB's 6' 5" Andrew Neel and 6' 3" Jacob Mullett from the base line were UNSTOPPABLE. Kiev's star player #50 Matthew Atkins went down early with a knee injury and did not play the rest of the game.

ICSB was up at half time. Kiev showed life in the 2nd half but due to some great hustle and defense, especially by Jake Sanders, the Kiev Eagles stayed grounded.

Ben led the game in assists and boards but was nearly shut down in his offensive scoring. Still, his play was vital to the team's win. Ben and teammate Andrew Neel both took spots on the all-tourney team.

The celebrations were long, hard and loud as the ICSB student body, players and fans rushed the court as the clock ticked to zero. Spontaneous dancing, ear-splitting cheering students celebrating and parents crying all rocked the gym on Ifusag street in Diosd, Hungary. Wow! What a win! What a celebration! No USA state championship could muster the kind of energy we felt in that gym tonight!

Half-Price in Hungary

2010-02-19T12:48:00.004+01:00

Last night we went to dinner with our friends, Norm & Michelle Smith. We had a great time and I took no pictures. Every year on the third Thursday of February almost every restaurant in Budapest sells everything on their menu for half-price. Yeah, that's kind of unbelievable. We heard about it last year, but it didn't seem like anything significant. Norm invited us to try it out with them. It was great. Thanks to Norm for making it happen. Next February...watch out!

2010-02-18T06:07:00.002+01:00

DugDownDeep_Carnahan.mov from Covenant Life Church on Vimeo.

Tip of the hat to Pastor Bruce McKanna over at Think About These Things

Crazy Hair Day

2010-02-17T20:15:00.007+01:00

This is Spirit Week at ICSB. Monday was Pajama Day. Tuesday was Superhero Day. Wednesday...Crazy Hair Day. John has been growing his hair out for a few weeks in preparation. Nate was a little undecided. The clippers came out and he made the choice: an off-center short Mohawk. John stuck with his plan: the longer Mohawk. Tomorrow morning Kristi will spray on the green to highlight their choices.

We'll see if these dos last through the basketball tournament this weekend. Go Bulldogs!

Leadership Meetings & My Role

2010-02-17T17:47:00.007+01:00

January is the beginning of travel season for me. January 21 marked the beginning of 8 days of meetings with the Europe Leadership Team. It was an encouraging time. There has been a lot of transition since Rick Burke left as International Leader for Europe. We spent some time working on organizing ourselves so that we are covering all the important areas.

I was affirmed in my role of 'partnership strategist' or something like that. Basically, I work where we don't have RG staff to mobilize movements. What does that mean? I do a lot of meeting people to figure out who might be like-minded partners. I talk a lot about the RG Sandbox (an illustration which describes how we operate). I try to connect people who I think might help each other. I ask questions to help people think about their strategy and come up with good ideas. I encourage/teach principles of church-based leadership development.

Next post will be explaining a bit about how all that happened on my trip to Albania. First, I've got to shave Nate & John's heads for Crazy Hair Day at school.

What is a church?

2010-02-17T16:35:00.004+01:00

In The Forgotten Ways, Alan Hirsch defines a church like this:

A true encounter with God in Jesus must result in…

from Tim Stevens LeadingSmart.com

I follow a couple of blogs. This one caught my eye for a couple of reasons. First, this is the kind of question I have been thinking on since 1995 when I first came to Europe. Other than language learning, the question of what a church is has been a constant topic. It helps to have a good idea of what you're trying to get started when you're working in a different culture.

Second, Hirsch's book is sitting on my shelf waiting for me to read. I need to get to it.

Planning for 2010

2010-01-03T14:40:00.002+01:00

This is something that I always start late in the year, but it never really seems to come together until the beginning of the year I'm planning for. Here's a word (well, 3 of them) from a blog that gave me a helpful perspective. My 3 Words for 2010
What planning are you doing for 2010? What's most effective for you?

How I sing in the car...

2009-12-19T10:42:00.002+01:00

(HT: Andrew Ford cuz he's pretty cool)

Stuff you see at the bus station in Prague

2009-12-17T11:44:00.002+01:00

I took this one out of the window of the bus headed from Prague back to Budapest. It might explain something, but I don't know what. One of those signs you just have to get a picture of and then post. =)

Traveling

2009-12-17T11:24:00.001+01:00

I had meetings in Levice, Slovakia; Lodz & Szczecin, Poland; and Frankfurt, Germany and this was going to take a week of my life. I had promised myself 'no more night trains,' but this was going to require one on the first night. Not the way I like to start off a week. Did I really want to do this? Yes! Each of these meetings was very important. I had to buy the tickets twice, since the first set was stolen with my computer and GPS two days before my trip. (Can you cancel this ticket for bed 25 on the night train to Warsaw and issue another? That's a copy of the ticket. Yes, the original was stolen. Then you should go to the police. Will they give me my money back or issue me a new ticket? No, and we won't either. Two hours gone. When will they start issuing electronic tickets for the train? Now I'm in bed 47.) It is less stressful traveling without a computer on a night train ;-).

First meeting in Levice was good. I am glad I'm on this trip even though the night train is coming up next. God has me right here for this kind of stuff. I can be rested by sleeping 6 hours in 20 minute spurts.

Wait, my train is late. An hour late. I'm going to miss the night train in Bratislava. Am I happy or sad? The lady at the train station in Levice can't do anything for me in any language with or without translation assistance from the crowd. This isn't how I was imagining this trip going. So, I'm on the train to Bratislava, the are there other trains from Bratislava to Warsaw tonight? Eight changes and 13 hours? Hmm, I wonder how comfortable the train station is in Bratislava. Finally, I get to Bratislava. I wonder around the station till I find the ticket counter. Standing in line, wondering if it is worth it to get a hotel for the night and get the train in the morning. Finally, I get to the window. (Always begin any sentence to anyone who sits behind a little window in Europe with this: I'm sorry...) 'I'm sorry, but I missed my connection and I'll need another ticket for the next train to Warsaw.' (as I show her the ticket) Her eyes: concern as she reads the ticket, then puzzlement, then happy? 'You didn't miss your train, it's right there! Hurry!' What? My first train wasn't the only train late that night. The night train with 20 minute chunks of sleep is much better than the train station.

Getting off in Warsaw, slightly rested. Wait, it looks like bed 25 was slept in...

They said it was a Chili's...

2009-12-17T10:46:00.001+01:00

We were in Vienna for the last middle school soccer tournament of the year. I had just returned from being gone for a week and wanted to really enjoy the time with the family as we spent the day together in the car and at the tournament. The GPS said there was a Chili's restaurant in Vienna on the way to the tournament.

The voice in my head said, 'This is wonderful! What a great way to make this a memorable day.' The sign on the restaurant said 'Chilinos', which must be Austrian for 'sucker.'

It was a memorable laugh together and the food was not as good as the price would indicate, but it was a good start to the day. We did get a little lost (which I hate) because the GPS lost the signal between the buildings, but after a few circles we found the right track.

Katie & Nate both had a good final tournament of the season and we picked up one more story for our family to remember.

Reese's Cups

2009-10-29T22:23:00.003+01:00

I wonder why no one ever mentioned that they sell Reese's Cups at the cafe here at the Bible school. And they aren't the two packs, there are three cups in each package.

These little blessings keep reminding me that my Father loves me.

Four principles from 2 Cor 8

2009-10-29T21:30:00.003+01:00

v. 5 Giving to God, then to each other
v. 8 Not as those who give orders, but those who serve
v. 9 Not as those who own, but as those who give
v.14 Mutual benefit and equal worth

David loaded us down with quite a bit there. I'm loving it.

Question to ruminate on:
Where have I been challenged today in my thinking?
hmm...I hope I can get it all into words in the next couple of days.

Thanks for being a part of my first live blogging experience. I hope it was as exciting to you as it was exhausting to me.

Looking at Structures

2009-10-29T21:15:00.003+01:00

David is talking about the beginnings of COMIBAM and how it was organized. It was a cooperative structure in a country between Pastors & Churches, Missions Agencies, and Network of Training Centers which all came together in a network called the National Missionary Movement.

COMIBAM became a catalyst in that structure.

Research is required to figure out who all the players are so they can begin to network together.

After relationships and some level of trust is established 'action networks' can be established to accomplish tasks through voluntary cooperation. As tasks are undertaken together, trust grows and stronger, closer relationships are established .

Cooperation is the starting point for mission. Interesting...

Another finger break...

Causes of spiritual and missionary growth

2009-10-29T21:03:00.006+01:00

A strong national leadership, committed to the mission of the church.

The church involved all its members in its mobilizing strategy.

Significant use of media contributed to the presence of the church in society.

A biblical and church-centered missiology is emerging in Latin America. (I think we need that in North America and Europe, too.)

A life time commitment of missionaries is natural. 74% of missionaires sent from Latin America are long term.

'From Field to Missions Force' - tag line from COMIBAM, we need to have that in Central Europe.

The Mission Force

2009-10-29T20:49:00.003+01:00

Latin America, Africa and Asia are sending as many missionaries as Europe and North America. We are at the point where those three continents are passing the West in numbers of missionaries being sent out.

There has been a dramatic spike in missionaries sent out since 1990. Mongolia is the most effecient missionary sending church (222 believers to 1 missionary).

I should have tried this live blogging with a slow speaking German. This is a lot of work.

The local church is at the center of the mission process. However, many local churches don't have a biblical understanding of their role.

They were able to create National Mission Movements to help coordinate the recruitment, training and placement of missionaries from each Latin American country.

This helped coordinate the receiving of missionaries in various countries around the world as well.

It is necessary to define what we mean by the word 'resources.' Actually, a lot of terminology needs to be defined in these types of relationships.

National movements create opportunity for cooperation on training.

Giving my fingers a rest for a minute.

Where in the World is the Majority World?

2009-10-29T20:43:00.003+01:00

A few quotes from David Ruiz:

The world is upside down.

The shoe sizes of the missionaries have shrunk.

The church is from everywhere and going everywhere.

By 2025 Africa and Latin America will vie for the title of the most Christian Continent.

We were looking at a map of the world where south was on top. A very interesting perspective. Helpful for getting out of the box you don't even know that you're in.

Live blogging from EEMA: Emerging Missions

2009-10-29T20:30:00.001+01:00

David Ruiz, former Executive Director of COMIBAM is our speaker tonight at this EEMA (European Evangelical Missionary Association) consultation. David has come to us from Guatemala to share on the issue of Learning From The Majority World. I spoke with him earlier about his involvement in Europe. He has been involved in Albania and has been instrumental in helping churches there begin to send out workers to other countries. Wow. I'm excited about what David will have to say to us tonight. I know that not too many people are actually reading this, but I thought it would be wildly exciting to try live blogging from this event.

Actually, I have had to take time each day I've been here to debrief myself. The discussions I've been a part of have stirred so many ideas that I've had to empty my head a bit between sessions. I've met quite a few interesting people here who have also provoked my thinking on many issues related to missionaries being sent out from the countries of Central and Eastern Europe.

Right now, we're hearing about 'mission-net' which is an event aimed at inspiring a missional lifestyle among European Christian youth. Wow, more ideas...

How I spent Saturday

2009-10-26T17:00:00.000+01:00

I spent quite a bit of time with the guys down at the 'gumiserviz' last Saturday. That's where they change your tires. All season tires are rare in Europe. Most people have a set of summer tires and winter tires. I don't own two sets of rims for each car, so I take the cars down to get the winter tires put on. I also had one tire that was pretty much destroyed by a curb which seemed to be unnecessarily close to the road. That meant that I was able to explore the jack and the spare tire as well as honing my tire changing skills. All is in good order. The VW (pictured) had to make a return trip to the gumiserviz after I was able to remove a nail from the roadway by lodging it in one of my tires.

The guys who work at the gumiserviz put up with my practically non-existent Hungarian, which is nice since I get to spend so much time with them.

Stakeholders in my life

2009-10-20T13:30:00.005+02:00

Stakeholder (corporate) - a person, group, organization, or system who affects or can be affected by an organization's actions

I'm working through some material with a few other men called the Life Development Planner. This is a tool to help gain better perspective of God's purposes in the world and how we can be involved in His plans. We look at how everything in our individual background has been purposefully arranged by God to make us the people we are. We create a timeline of what God has done in our lives and look for developmental gaps in our knowledge, character and skills. Then we are to design plans to address those gaps. I'm loving it. I'm pretty sure that God made me for doing this kind of stuff with people.

This morning, as I was working on one of the exercises, I took off on a tangent. I started to make a list of all the 'stakeholders' in my life - the people who affect me or are directly affected by my actions. My decisions (or lack of action) impact their lives. Many of them did not ask for this, they were born into it or someone else made a decision which put me in this position. It was sobering for me to think about my influence in their lives. What message am I sending them?

The people on that list will be affected by my personal develpment. This is no trite exercise. Paul talks about it his letter to Timothy (1 Tim 4:16 Pay close attention to yourself...).

Here's what I learned:
1) You influence more people than you think, so consider the message you're sending.
2) You are here for the benefit of others, so do not neglect sharpening yourself into an effective tool for their blessing.

I cook on Thursdays

2009-10-18T14:44:00.001+02:00

Last Thursday I decided to make chili. I was having my Day Alone With God, so I spent the morning relishing my relationship with Him and was looking forward to relishing great bowl of chili as Fall has arrived in Budapest. The first order was to run by the grocery store to pick up the ingredients for this heartwarming creation. As I was prowling the aisles of the local Interspar grocery store I was happy to discover several packages of cheddar cheese. Well, I'm thinking, "Cheddar cheese was made for shredding over a fine bowl of chili, chili like I'm about to make. I wonder why Kristi never buys cheddar? Hmm, I'm buying it."

Now, if you are an astute observer, you might notice a couple of holes in my thinking there which could point out why I should not do the shopping on a regular basis. I'm not saying those things should preclude me from doing the shopping, only give one pause in assigning me that honorable task.

Well, Kristi happened to notice these two golden briquettes of flavor in the refrigerator and was helpful enough to point out that they are roughly the equivalent of gold, financially speaking. I probably would have noticed this had I really looked at the price. This also served to illuminate that pesky little itch in the back of my mind, "Why doesn't Kristi buy cheddar?"

As it turns out, I bought two 0.175kg blocks (pictured with my grinning face, wasn't I happy?). So I'm dealing with (I later figured out) 3/4 of a pound of cheddar. Not bad, but I have to admit 0.175kg doesn't seem like a whole lot of cheese to me. Thus, two.

Now, we get to the idea of pricing. Sure, the fine print says, '5890 ft/kg,' but don't even think for a minute that I read the fine print. Besides, if I had, how much is some microscopic amount (0.175kg)? I mean, that reminds me of my grade point my freshman year at tOSU and people said that was bad. Ok, enough beating around the bush here. It turns out that I paid right at $15/lb for the cheese. Part of that is that the dollar has lost over 15% of it's value in the past 6 months. That hurts every month. Another part is that I just wasn't paying close enough attention to what was important (like Kristi's example). That can hurt every day.

I didn't have the heart to each the cheddar on my chili. It's still sitting in the refrigerator, looking at me every time I open the door. My golden bricks of flavor.

Humility

2009-09-02T11:36:00.002+02:00

Gospel humility « Of First Importance:
“Humility agrees and is glad that everything we have is a free gift of God, and that this severs the root of boasting in our distinctives. Whatever talents, whatever intelligence, what ever skills, whatever gifts, whatever looks, whatever pedigree, whatever possessions, whatever wit, whatever influence you have, put away all pride because it is a gift, and put away all despair because it is a gift from God.”
- John Piper"

Poland and Sweden

2009-08-27T11:43:00.004+02:00

Aside from a little altercation in the late 1600's there isn't much to connect Poland and Sweden other than the last couple weeks of my life. We had our ReachGlobal conference for our Europe staff in Wisla, Poland and then Kristi and I went to Stockholm to meet with some church leaders and planters to talk about how ReachGlobal might possibly further the progress of the Gospel there.

Wisla is a nice ski resort in the southern part of Poland, so it makes a great place for a bunch of missionaries to go in the summer for a conference. It was great to spend a day fasting and praying together as well as reconnect with friends from around the continent. Quite a few significant conversations took place over the five days we were together. One important event was saying farewell to our International Leader, Rick Burke. I've worked with Rick almost as long as I've been in Europe and I've profited from his influence in my life over the years. He has been a great boss and an even better friend. He's taking a role as missions pastor at First Free Church in St. Louis, MO so I'm planning on staying in contact with him in the future.

Kristi and I went to Stockholm with Gary (Associate Executive Director of ReachGlobal) and his wife, Karen. We had a great time together because we match up well. Gary and I enjoyed our lengthy meetings where we were learning about what God is doing in the free churches of Sweden. Karen is an educational consultant so the conversations with Kristi were frequent and practical. We all enjoyed learning about Stockholm and the Church in Sweden. One thing we came away with was a better understanding of the decline of the local churches over the past eighty years and the need for starting new churches for this generation.

My Role

2009-08-06T16:26:00.005+02:00

I have a job that can be nebulous. When people ask me what I do I have to decide whether to give them an answer which satisfies them or the real one. The answer which satisfies is usually ‘leadership development for our staff and partners,’ which is kinda true. The real one is more complex and either doesn’t help or baffles them into silence. I’m thinking about this because these past couple of weeks I’ve been working on my annual evaluation. That’s where I sit down to evaluate the past year, look at the role I think God is calling me to, and make some plans for the coming year. There are forms to fill out and all that, but the most important outcome for me is a fairly clear picture of my direction (and the one short sentence answer to the ‘what do you do?’ question). I’ll be working it all out on the calendar over the next few weeks, but I wanted to share some of this with you so you can get a look at what I’m going to be busy with over the next 12 to 18 months.

I have two main areas of focus: developing a network for church-based training across Europe; and oversight of unstaffed locations and in Europe.

Church-based training network
Simply put, church-based training is the local church engaging in its responsibility to equip the believers, all to maturity in Christ and some to leadership. The predominant model sends individuals from their church to a school where they study for 4 years and then they search for a church which will pay them to serve. In many parts of Europe, that model doesn’t fit the context. Individuals can’t afford to uproot their family to attend school and the local church can’t afford to pay anyone to serve. The model I’m encouraging has the local church training up people from within to serve as its leaders. There are other benefits aside from the financial aspect. The local church provides the context for spiritual and character development and the individual is developed in the ethos of the local church.

My aim in this area is to develop a network across Europe of people who understand the principles of church-based training and are involved in putting them into practice in local churches.

Unstaffed locations
Right now we don’t have any staff in Slovakia or Albania or Moldova, but we have a relationship with a local church or denomination in each of those places. I get to develop those relationships. Sometimes it’s me meeting a pastor or a group of pastors. Other times it’s meeting with denominational leaders or US partner churches. I’m asking questions, offering resources, networking connections and sometimes giving my opinion.

This next year I’ll be exploring some new locations in hopes of developing the beginnings of relationship into more practical partnership.

So, if we’re riding in an elevator somewhere and you turn to me and ask me what I do, you’ll hear one of two things:

I work with pastors and local churches to help them be healthier
or...
Read my blog

Why I Believe Berlin Is the Most Important City In Europe

2009-07-09T11:01:00.007+02:00

This idea has been in the back of my mind for a couple years . . . and now it's in the front. Berlin is the most important city in Europe. I believe that this is the place where God must be displayed as glorious if Europe is going to be influenced for the Gospel. Here's why in broad strokes:

Berlin is the leading city in Europe politically, economically and socially.

Berlin is a city of global influence.
One third of Berlin's 3.4 million people have only just arrived within the last ten years, matching the one third which have moved out to other influential cites. There is a large international community in Berlin, which can be said about many cities in Europe, but Berlin is 20% immigrants. There is a large student population at Berlin's many universities. Berlin is home to the third largest homosexual community in the world and the mayor openly promotes a very tolerant world view (maybe the most open-minded in all of Europe).

Berlin is beginning to show signs of life spiritually.
This city is the spiritual connection between east and west Europe (post-communist and post-Christian respectively) making it a laboratory for understanding spiritual Europe. While the evangelical population has gone from 0.5% to 1.4% over the past ten years, there is still plenty of room for growth.

'The nation that once embodied Europe's division is once again das land in der mitte--both geopolitical pivot and central catalyst to the continent's economical and political integration.'
The Spirit of the Berlin Republic, by Dieter Dettke

Conversations are in full bloom as we learn what we can about Berlin. I'll try to keep adding to these thoughts over the next couple of days, but now it's time for a currywurst.

An Afternoon in Berlin

2009-07-09T00:10:00.002+02:00

We had an easy ride up to Berlin from Budapest (EasyJet). It was a bit rainy when we first arrived, so we got an overview of what's happening around Berlin as well as a bit of history/geography in preparation for our tour. We got to see some of the area around the Brandenburg gate, which was cool. The more I'm around this city, the more I'm convinced that this is one of the most important cities in Europe. I am amazed at what Mike has been able to do here since arriving and I'm excited about what God is bringing together. Tomorrow will be some more touring and meeting one of the church planters who is mentoring other church planters in the area. God is working here.

Trying to get back in the saddle

2009-07-08T11:30:00.004+02:00

Okay, Matt, my oldest son, made me feel bad for not posting for a long time. So now I'm posting something. I'm supposed to be packing for a trip to Berlin with Matt and Robyn Smith to see Mike Edwards. We are going to talk about what is going on and what God could possibly hatching in Berlin. One idea that Mike and I talked about the last trip was setting up a summer ministry program for college students (from anywhere) to come live in Berlin, have some learning experiences and do ministry together. I like that one a lot. I think it could be a template for something we do in major cities across Europe with ministry partners from all over the world. Robyn is coming to take great pictures and help us think about how to communicate what we're thinking about. Matt is coming to give us the US college student perspective. I think that both of them will be key to seeing this developed in the future.
Now I'm back in the saddle and I need to go finish packing.

Battling in a Neutral Country

2009-04-30T10:31:00.004+02:00

I was talking with my son, Matt, about stuff and he mentioned that I've let blogging get away from me. Updates, information, but no stories. Got me. I've been using Twitter more/better, but I haven't had the energy to write too many stories with all the traveling I've been doing lately. Since I've got a couple weeks before my next little jaunt I'm going to try to get a bit caught up. The discipline of reflecting on the past month+ and sharing some of those stories.
The easiest to share is from my last trip to Switzerland. The building over my shoulder was used in the James Bond flick "On Her Majesty's Secret Service." We were staying in Mürren, a town farther down the mountain, but it seemed like everyone still took a couple hundred stunning pictures of mountains.
In the middle of all this beauty pointing us to our Creator, we were there to discuss issues of the heart (Proverbs 4:23). For me, the focused on the battle I'm in to keep my heart engaged with God, my wife, and the people around me. It is a battle. The battle requires energy. More energy than I have. It drives me back to the undeserved working of my God on my behalf: grace. It pushes me to rely on my brothers as we stand together to be the men our Father is calling us to be. I'm thanking my Father that He gives me what I need to battle well for the sake of His Name.

Another one on Missions

2009-04-30T10:02:00.001+02:00

The highest of all missionary motives

“If God desires every knee to bow to Jesus and every tongue to confess Him, so should we. We should be ‘jealous’ for the honor of His name—troubled when it remains unknown, hurt when it is ignored, indignant when it is blasphemed, and all the time anxious and determined that it shall be given the honor and glory which are due to it.

The highest of all missionary motives is neither obedience to the Great Commission (important as that is), nor love for sinners who are alienated and perishing (strong as that incentive is, especially when we contemplate the wrath of God), but rather zeal—burning and passionate zeal—for the glory of Jesus Christ.

Only one imperialism is Christian, and that is concern for His Imperial Majesty Jesus Christ, and for the glory of his empire or kingdom. Before this supreme goal of the Christian mission, all unworthy motives wither and die.”

—John Stott, The Message of Romans (Downers Grove, Ill: InterVarsity Press, 1994), 53

(HT: Of First Importance)

Getting back into it

2009-04-28T09:25:00.006+02:00

I feel a bit numb from all the travel lately. I've got until next Friday to get some time with the family and be productive here in the office. Hmmm...this should be a good start.

The Bible’s purpose

“The Bible’s purpose is not so much to show you how to live a good life. The Bible’s purpose is to show you how God’s grace breaks into your life against your will and saves you from the sin and brokenness otherwise you would never be able to overcome… religion is ‘if you obey, then you will be accepted’. But the Gospel is, ‘if you are absolutely accepted, and sure you’re accepted, only then will you ever begin to obey’. Those are two utterly different things. Every page of the Bible shows the difference.”

- Timothy Keller
(HT: Of First Importance)

The Transforming Message of the Gospel

2009-03-31T04:07:00.002+02:00

The theme at our LeadTeam meetings this year is holistic ministry. We are receiving some training on it. But the thing that I most appreciate about these meetings is the focus on the centrality of the Gospel. Each day we are beginning with a focus on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the essential message about the forgiveness of sin in Jesus. The Gospel of the Kingdom that Jesus was proclaiming throughout Galilee. This is the main thing and I'm happy we're keeping it as the main thing.