- June 24, 2010
When we moved to Germany in October of 2007 the church here had offices not much bigger than some people's walk in closets. Because of this, our pastor and I have both been working from home offices. The result of this was that we'd see each other a couple times a week and never really got to "work together" as a normal staff would. However, as the church has grown, we've realized the need to actually have an office where all of us could see each other, grow our interpersonal relationships and just plain work better.
Fall of last year the hunt was on for a space where we could function as a team. And God has once again provided as only He can! Today I'm typing this from the fourth floor of the Volksbank building on the edge of downtown Trostberg. We have a spacious office where seven of us work comfortably plus restrooms, kitchen and conference room. I'm already noticing an increase in my efficiency in getting things done and the added joy of actually seeing my coworkers daily. It's also great to have the office not in our house, so then when I go home, I am really, truly...off work. Glory!
In the last few weeks, as we've been working on moving into the offices, we've also seen the Lord begin to add to the church. The last few Sundays the attendance has been noticeably higher and we've even begun seeing multiple visitors each week at youth!
As Jesus said, "new wine requires new wineskins." Nobody likes change, but in order to receive the fullness of what the Lord wants to do, we have to stretch, reach out and prepare to grow! As we do, He is faithful to provide every time.
How are you changing and making room for the "more" that He wants to do in and through you? Seriously? What practical steps are you taking that are making you stretch, where you're feeling uncomfortable? If you're all too comfortable, ask the Lord for fresh vision. He's ready. Are you?
Thanks again for your faithful prayers and support. Together we're making an impact in Germany! (for prayer requests, please see our "support" page)
Youth Band GROWS and ROCKS!!- June 10, 2010
We've been working on developing our youth worship band for some time now. Along the way we've had some detours and bumps in the road, but we're finally getting to the place we want to be.
Just before Easter we had a couple teens begin playing bass guitar. We've been without a bass guitarist in the church for over a year, so I've been excited to see how quickly they learn. We also had a young lady begin playing acoustic guitar and another took over the keyboard.
I got an email from our regional youth director and he asked if we had a youth band who could lead worship for an upcoming regional youth retreat. I wasn't sure if we should jump in or not, because our band is pretty green and I didn't know if all of them were willing to put in the extra work to take on such a task.
After praying about it and talking with them, I decided to take the plunge. The most important thing for me was that they would step up spiritually and be ready to really lead worship, not just play music. I told them very plainly that this wasn't an opportunity to be superstars, but rather to serve our region with our gifts. We added about eight extra hours of group rehearsals this past week just to master our songlist. I also ramped up our group prayer times and give them the entire "Praise Life" class to listen to, which I had just taught in the Bible school. (And required that they turn in their notes.)
Last night was sort of a test-run for them. We had our monthly "Praise and Prayer Night" for the church and we led it together. And I'm proud to say - they did a GREAT job!! They took it very seriously and flowed wonderfully with the Holy Spirit in worship. The whole evening was very powerful and the people who came were greatly blessed!
It's been awesome to watch as they have embraced this challenge and allowed me to stretch them spiritually and musically. We've grown as a team and I'm excited to be able to watch them grow even more as we minister to the teens at the retreat this weekend. They've been praying themselves for this weekend and for the power of God to manifest and I can't wait to see what happens!!
Thank you for your continued prayer and support. Together we're making an impact in the lives of teens in Germany!
Ministry EXPANSION!!- May 5, 2010
At our worship night in December there was word of prophecy at the end. To sum it up the word was that we had more territory to take, that a time of expansion is coming.
In the last few weeks we've begun to see some new doors opening to our ministry as God "expands our territory." In Traunstein (about 20 miles south of us) there is a club for Christian young people. Not a night club, but more a place where kids from different churches and different kinds of churches can gather and have occasional events, worship services, etc.
In April they presented a special evening with the theme "Taking it on the chin. Where did the love go?" and asked me to be the guest speaker. It was an evening focusing on violence in youth culture and in specific, an event in Munich about a year ago where a man was beaten to death in the subway.
I was nervous at first having never been there and never having taught specifically on violence in this manner. But the Lord gave me the scripture about Cain and Abel from Genesis and helped me to show them how to deal with their own anger. I talked specifically about how forgiveness breaks the chain of violence in our lives and society.
An added bonus that night was that people were there from a Christian TV station to film that night's event. That means that at least a part of my teaching that night will be shown on TV to be seen throughout Germany and the German-speaking world. (We know these people pretty well and I'm hoping to get a copy of the footage to share with you soon.)
And, it goes even a step further. Yesterday I got a phone call from a guy who's involved with putting on a regional festival for this Christian "club". He said his son was in Traunstein the night I preached there and it had really impressed him. So based on his son's recommendation he asked me to preach at this regional festival. It will be about 180 teen from various denominations from our local area, and a great opportunity to impact more youth in our region for Christ! Together we're making a difference in Europe!!
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