Pizza and Planning, Prayer and Praise

The Darmstadt Baptisten Gemeinde

We attended the German-Language Baptist Church in Darmstadt yesterday.  It is such a great group.  They are in the middle of a search for a new pastor, and members of the church, along with the Youth Pastor, take turns bringing the message from the Word of God.  Yesterday a businessman who works for Deutsche Telecom (the parent company of T-mobile in the USA), brought the message.  They are doing a series, along with a large number of evangelical churches in Germany, entitled "Glaube am Montag" (Belief on Monday).  They have done services that focused on "Beliefs and the family" and "Beliefs and your friendships" among others.  Yesterday Mario brought a message entitled, "Belief from 9-5 - faith in the work place."  It was very good, though Carol and I understood only about 40% of the language, we were able to get the ideas, and were blessed.  The praise team did a number of songs, some we knew, some we did not, and one had a verse in English, which was nice.

The Darmstadt Baptisten Gemeinde

 After the service we were invited to a fellowship time in an upstairs dining area at the church.  We talked with several of the leaders of the church.  They wanted updates on how things were going and more information about the work we are doing.  They are very supportive.  Bob is hoping to attend a meeting of the SMD Darmstadt, SMD is StudentenMission in Deutschland, which is similar to Campus Crusade or InterVarsity at a US university campus.  We look forward to connecting with international students via the group.

The Darmstadt Baptisten Gemeinde

Last evening we had another meeting of our Launch Team to do some more work on our plan for the next 6-8 months.  We have laid out the essential ministries and steps we need to take and have split up the responsibilities.  We are planning to begin our "Preview Worship" times in April, once a month.  We will begin doing bi-monthly meetings in July and August,then weekly services beginning in late August-early September.

Pray for us as we move forward.  Of course, all of our plans are subject to the Lord's leading and supply.  James makes it clear that we must humbly place our best efforts at His feet and say, "If it is the Lord's will we will live and do this or that."  (James 4:15).  We firmly hold to the truth of Scripture - "Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails." (Prov. 19:21