Joint LIFE Group Meeting 15 March, 2012

Converge International Fellowship - Darmstadt, Germany - 15 March, 2012

Last night we had our second joint LIFE Group meeting.  We met at the Evangelisch methodistische Kirche again, and it was another great time together!  We had praise and worship music led by 6 musicians/singers accompanied by piano, three guitars and a cajon, (which is a drum in a box that the drummer sits on as he plays with his hands}.  We had a sweet time of sharing requests and prayer, a Bible study from the 8th chapter of the Gospel of John, followed by some more worship music, prayer and fellowship.  It was a great time.  We had another new person in attendance, and many of our "regulars" in attendance. 


One of the highlights of the night was the reading of one verse from our Bible text in 5 languages - English, German, Korean, Romanian and Spanish.  In John 8:12. Jesus said, "I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."  How wonderful it was to hear that bold claim of Jesus read in 5 different languages of the world that He loves and came to save!


Next week we leave for 10 days of meetings in Sorrento, Italy.  We have two days of LEAD Team meetings, where we will be working on global church planting strategies for the International Baptist Convention.  Those meetings are followed by the IBC Ministry Leadership Conference, which is 5 days of spiritual growth, reflection, learning, relaxation and fun.  Last years conference in Torremolinos, Spain was very good, and we are looking forward to this year's.  We are particularly excited to be together again with Glenn and Susan Herschberger, our co-laborers from Wisconsin who are planting Life Bridge International Church in Panama City, Panama (http://www.lifebridgeic.com/).


During our absence, the LIFE Groups will continue under the leadership of the church family.  God has granted us a wonderful group, and it is exciting to see them growing and excited about ministry to the city of Darmstadt.


Tonight we reach another milestone.  The ladies of the group are meeting at our apartment for a night of crafts, food and fun.  While we are hosting it, the planning and execution of the party are all being done by the other ladies.  The men, meanwhile are meeting at one of our guy's apartments for a cook out - sounds great, and the weather couldn't be better - 20 degrees C (almost 70 F) - and sunny!  


Praise the Lord!


John 8:12 
When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” 


Ein anderes Mal sagte Jesus zu den Menschen: »Ich bin das Licht für die Welt. Wer mir nachfolgt, irrt nicht mehr in der Dunkelheit umher, sondern folgt dem Licht, das ihn zum Leben führt.« 


Una vez más Jesús se dirigió a la gente, y les dijo:  Yo soy la luz del mundo. El que me sigue no andará en tinieblas, sino que tendrá la luz de la vida. 


Isus le-a vorbit din nou: "Eu sunt Lumina lumii. Cine Mă urmează nu va umbla în întuneric, ci va avea lumina vieții." 



예수께서 또 일러 가라사대 `나는 세상의 빛이니 나를 따르는 자는 어두움에 다니지 아니하고 생명의 빛을 얻으리라' 

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

A Special Day Today, A Wonderful Evening Last Night

Today is the six-month anniversary of our arrival in Germany.  How we have been blessed in these weeks that have flown by like a vapor.  We have come to embrace our new homeland.  This evening we decided to enjoy a beautiful sunny spring day with a spontaneous drive to Heidelberg.  We chose to abandon the fast and wide Autobahn for a winding, old country road.  It was a great way to celebrate our time here!


Last night was such a special evening.  We had a joint meeting of our two LIFE Groups at the Evangelisch methodistische Kirche that is located just a block west of our apartment.  Stewart Maxwell, a key member of our team, is actually a member of the EmK, and he made arrangements for us to use their facility for our monthly joint LIFE Group meeting.  Last night  was our first.  We met in a pair of conference rooms just across the hall from the main sanctuary of the building.  We set up the chairs in a large circle, with a screen at one end, and a table.  Soon 22 people had gathered.  The room was abuzz with activity as new friends were introduced, and "old friends" shared their weeks' experiences with one another.



We started with prayer.  Stewart and his wife, Judith Lynn had selected songs, and the lyrics were projected on the screen as Stewart and Eric Eagle played guitar and led us in praise and worship.  As we joined in "Here I Am To Worship", "Blessed Be Your Name," and "Amazing Love", I was nearly overwhelmed.  With a few exceptions, six months ago these folks had not met, fewer still had worshiped together.  But there we were, people from 8 nations on 4 continents joined together in prayer and praise, study and worship.  


The time of Bible study was in John, chapter 8.  It was a lively and meaningful discussion of the plight of the woman caught in adultery.  Deserving of death under the law for her sin, she found grace at the feet of Jesus.  Are we not all in the same position?  Are we not all guilty as we fall before Him?  Do we not all need to hear his words, "Neither do I condemn you"?  


Do we not also need to heed His command - "Go and sin no more..."?


The Bible study was followed by our first celebration of communion.  We remembered the price of our pardon as we shared reminders the broken body and shed blood of our Lord.  It was an incredible experience.  

Amazing love, how can it be

That You, my King, should die for me?

Amazing love, I know it’s true.

It’s my joy to honor You,

In all I do, I honor You.

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!

Some interesting articles for you to check out.

Sorry it has been so long since we posted an update - more on that later...

I have a couple of articles that I want to make available to you.  You may have seen some of them - the Newsweek article was the cover story, so it was pretty wide-spread - others may have slipped by you.  I thought each of them had information, insights, or an interesting angle on the world we live in.

The first is the aforementioned cover story from Newsweek Magazine.  It is an eye-opening story that all Christians need to read and be praying about.  We have brothers and sisters around the world who are being martyred for their faith.  For the details of this story you can read the details in Ayann Hirsi Ali's Newsweek article: "The Global War on Christians in the Muslim World."




The second article is from WORLD magazine, and focuses on a new way of looking at missions in the 21st Century - The article describes the "10/30 Window."  Some of you may be familiar with the phrase "10/40 Window" which is used to describe the portion of the globe from the 10th to 40th Northern latitudes - within that "belt" around the world live the largest unreached people groups in the world.  The "10/40Window" has been the primary focus of missions for the last 15 years.
The "10/30 Window" hits a little closer to home.  It is the lost generation that is currently between 10 and 30 years of age.  Check it out at  http://www.worldmag.com/articles/19008.

The final article comes from USA Today, and is about something that I believe may be at the heart of the lost generation - "Spiritual Apathy." Check out the article at http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/story/2011-12-25/religion-god-atheism-so-what/52195274/1.

Happy Reading!

Monday, 6 February 2012 - An Eventful Weekend!

We had a very full weekend! If you have been watching the news you may have seen that Europe is in a bit of a cold snap.  We have had a week of sunshine and relatively cold temperatures - though not as cold as we are used to from Wisconsin and the Dakotas!

On Friday, Bob met with Andy Cauble, a new friend who is here to minister to Turkish immigrants in the Frankfurt area - including Darmstadt.  Andy located a small group of Turkish believers here, and has been serving as their pastor for the past several months.  Bob and Andy met downstairs at the Layla Pizza/Gyros/Schnitzel restaurant that owned by our Turkish friend, Orhan, to work on Andy's new Facebook page. It was a great time sharing and planning and connecting.

That evening, we drove over to Ramstein for prayer meeting with our "sister" church there.  The people of Ramstein have been such an encouragement to us, and the prayer meeting was no different.  Bob got to play drums with the praise team, and we got to share prayer requests and praise reports with them.  They took time to have their elders and people from the congregation pray over us.  In addition, we heard great testimonies from future medical missionaries being sent out by the church next year, and from a young high school student who definitely set the standard for passion for the lost!

Saturday's highlights included an early morning meeting for Bob with one of the men of the Darmstadt church.  It was a great time of encouragement and learning.  We took a walk in the bright, cold sunshine, and later had dinner in Frankfurt with friends from the church in Oberursel.  A wonderful evening!

Sunday morning we attended church at the German Baptist church that is just a few blocks from our home.  Though the entire service was in German, so we were not able to understand all of it, we really enjoyed it.  Till Kööp, the minister to young adults, was the speaker, and the youth did much of the service.  The worship leader introduced us to the congregation, explaining that we are in Darmstadt to begin a new International church in the city.

After the service, we had a small group of people who came to talk to us, including two young couples who are very excited to join our group.  The two men are brothers, whose father is from Chicago.  Their wives are sisters from Romania.  When they asked us where we were from, they lit up at our answer of "Wisconsin."  They had worked with some short term missions teams from Blackhawk Church in Madison - a church that both our sons, Andrew and John, had attended!  We are very excited to welcome them to the team.

This morning, we began our "Deutsch Intensivtageskurse".  We will be in German language class from 9-1 each day for the next month.  While it is a little intimidating, we are very excited to learn.  The class today had people from Spain, Afghanistan, Czech Republic, Russia, China, Slovakia, Portugal and the United States.  An International Church Planters dream!  We were able to reconnect with the young woman from China we met a few week ago, and we are very encouraged to continue to develop that friendship.  We had two young women back to our place for a visit - one in the Darmstadt team, and one not (yet!).

This afternoon we spent our first day at the fitness center that we have joined.  Not only is it a good opportunity for us to get into shape - it is a really good place to meet people and develop relationships.  The coach we had to day was named Gasper - he spoke very good English (he lived in England for 4 years), and we had a lot of fun with him as he showed us the machines, and helped us with our initial training regimen.

This week our LIFE groups will meet together as one, rather than in two small groups.  This monthly "large group" time is important to keep the connections and relationship close, and to introduce new people to the rest of the team.  We will be meeting on Thursday evening - please keep these meetings in your prayers - for both growth in the lives of the believers, and in growth in the outreach to new people and unbelievers.

Thanks for your continued prayerful support of our mission - YOU are part of this team, and we appreciate you!

Monday, 30 January - LEAD Team & Life Group

Today Bob had a LEAD Team meeting in Ramstein.  LEAD Teams are groups of pastors and leaders who work together to plant new churches in their region.  LEAD is an acronym for Lead, Encourage, Achieve & Dream.  Our Team specifically works to plant churches in Northern Europe...It was a good and productive meeting.  We are currently looking at 4 cities in Germany for new church plants, and are "dreaming" of churches from England to Asia!

Carol spent the day working around the apartment and spent the afternoon connecting with one of the women from the church in the "missional marketplace" - the local mall.  They had dinner together at the local Mexican eatery, and spent a few minutes at our place before heading off to the LIFE Group.

Our first LIFE Group of the week was held tonight on the North side of the city.  We were joined tonight by Maina, a Kenyan woman whom we met a couple of weeks ago.  She is a PhD student at the Technical University.  Eric led us in song with his guitar, we had a great time sharing our week and praying, and then got into the Word.   It was a good time with the group studying the life of Jesus from the Gospel of John.

Pray for the LIFE Groups - that we will find receptive hearts when we invite people to join us and that we experience growth in the size of the group, in the depth of our understanding and love for the Lord!