Catching up

As we said yesterday, we are sorry it has been so long in giving you an update on the Blog.  During most of the month of February, and into the first week of March, our schedules went from "very flexible" to "very full". Our German language class, with the homework and study that it brought, coupled with doing two LIFE Groups per week, and daily trips to the Fitness Center really filled up our days!

Our language class was a great experience.  We were in separate classes due to Bob's having studied the language in high school - which meant we got to meet twice as many people!  Each of our classes had 12 students, and we had three teachers who rotated in every hour and a half.  We started with two sessions of grammar, then conclude the day with one session of conversation.  The conversation portions typically were about features of life in Germany - the education system, family structures and traditions, driving, religion, politics and government, history, etc.  It was interesting and challenging.

Carol's class had students from Afghanistan, Puerto Rico, Spain, Czech Republic, Russia, Portugal, China, and the United States.  Bob's class had students from Hungary, Palestine, South Africa, Brazil, Moldova, Indonesia, Russia, Ukraine, Japan, Bulgaria and the US.  The students in our classes ranged in age from 17 to 54 (yes, we were the oldest in the classes!).  It was a great chance to expand our network of people and to share our love for the Lord and for others.  The students and teachers especially loved it when Carol brought home made Mrs. Field's chocolate chip cookies!

The LIFE Groups continue to grow.  In one 10 day period, we saw 8 new people join our group.  Last Monday night we had a Strategic Planning meeting at a local pizza place - and we are going to follow up with a second meeting for the same purpose on Sunday evening of this coming weekend.  Our goal is to lay out a definite plan for the rest of the spring and into the summer - with the goal of having our public launch of worship services in September/October.

During the months between now and then, our goal is to keep adding to our group.  A church that is not actively adding to its numbers in the earliest days will not add to its number in the years to follow - it must be a core value that we hold.  We need to be people of prayer, for it is the Lord who builds His church.  We must be dependent and surrendered to Him if we are to be effective.  We also need your prayers during this time.  We are engaged in spiritual warfare of the most direct type - snatching souls from the kingdom of death into His glorious light.  That only happens by His grace and His work in the hearts of people.  Pray that the Kingdom of God will advance powerfully, and push back the darkness!

Tonight we have a joint LIFE Group at the local Methodist church.  One of our core group members is a member of the church, and made arrangements for us to meet there.  We are going to have a time of worship, prayer, Bible study and celebrate communion together.  It will be a very special evening, and we are excited about it.

While we long for, and pray for more people to be part of our church planting work in Darmstadt, Today we read the story of Gideon in our daily Bible reading plan - and were reminded that God does not need large numbers to do His work.  In fact, He had Gideon send home the vast majority of his soldiers - over 20,000 men, so that there would be no doubt that it was the LORD who won the victory - so Gideon took on the massive army of Midian with only 300 soldiers.  How comforting to know that we serve, and wage our spiritual warfare, with the same God leading us - and He will surely give the victory!