Tag Archives: Deutschland

I saw the sun in Frankfurt, even though it was only for a moment…

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For some reason I woke up early; really early today – 4 a.m. Maybe it was to compensate for the sleeping in until 11:30 the day before, but for some reason I was up & ready to go. So I read. Looked at the dark, pre-dawn sky. Counted sheep. (not actual sheep… more the pretend kind in an attempt to lull my brain into thinking it could go to sleep.) No luck.

Thought about the events of the last few days. Time with Johannes & Anja. Anja’s famous Thai Chicken. Bulgarian Wine. “Coincidental” answers to prayers unlooked for. Hard conversations wrought with pain, challenge, & hope for a future. Continue reading →

I’m back… or, how I finally found the internet in Prum, Germany

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I’ve not been able to connect to the net for a while, so if you’ve been sending me emails or notes that haven’t been returned, I’m sorry. Please bear with me – today, 10 November, Shawn & I found the “Lothar Raum” which is where we are connecting to the net via an ethernet cable. Also, this is a long post – you’ve been warned.

Sunday, 8 November
Woke up early to have breakfast with Alex & Linda – a good German breakfast of bread, nutella, yogurt & mueslix… & coffee of course. I appreciate these people who have opened up their home & life to me, inviting me in to be a part of what they do.

Alex dropped me at TPLF at 10, & I spent time reconnecting with friends & mentally preparing for the Sunday speech. Worshipping with our sister church is a lot like being at home, with a pleasant comfort that comes from revisiting something familiar, something that you’ve been missing. It was especially fun to see Dudi on the keyboards ☺.

I spoke on John 15:1-11 – on Staying Connected, with 3 specific points about connection:

  • connecting to God,
  • connecting to our church & church leaders
  • connecting to the people in our church family.

    Speaking through an interpreter is mentally draining – esp. because it requires thinking in complete thoughts vs. in ‘sentences’ if that makes sense. I hit a tangible ‘wall’ in point #2 about connecting to church & church leaders – because of the German reticence to ‘trust’ those in leadership due to both the history of domineering leadership in Germany (WW2) & also the loss/removal of TPLF’s senior pastor 18 months ago. It was tough, but I know I did what I was supposed to & said what I needed to. And left the rest up to the Holy Spirit & the grace of God. Sigh.

    After church, I ate a döner with Shawn & Matty, then waited for Eddy to come pick us up to take us to the Pastors conference that I’ve been a part of for the last 4 years – really enjoyed the talking & laughing with the boys on the long (3 hour) drive to Prüm, on the western border of Germany near France & Luxemborg.

    Our evening at the conference was one of getting oriented to the youth hostel where we’re staying, & a service consisting of praise & worship. Afterwards, we spent time with the German pastors & talked at length about the life & times of the last year. I met a pastor from Kazachstan who was visiting Germany & the German conference to see how the FEGW (Foursquare Germany) functioned as a church movement. As I stood their & listened to amazing story after amazing story, it reminded me both of how incredible our God is, & how small I am.

    FEGW Conference, Day 2
    Peter Wenz, a pastor from Stuttgart is the presenter. The thing that jumped out at me is that he is very animated & full of life & a tangible joy. The topic for the week is “FAITH” – & learning to live ‘correctly’ – which he defined as being filled with the Word of God, filled with hope, & lead by the Spirit into a life that is greater than me, for a purpose that God intends. Our main texts for the session were Habakkuk 2:14 & Hebrews 11:6

    I love how he defined & discussed faith –
    • not as something nebulous or intangible, but as something that is a secret, Godly substance placed in the hearts of His people; this secret substance gives us Godly confidence & boldness, special hope, discernment, & supernatural abilities to accomplish God’s purposes.
    • Faith is a gift from God to stir us, to awaken us to be looking for opportunities to live for God & to intersect the lives of others for God.
    • Faith opens us to God’s realm, the really real realm, to live life in a way that is ‘overcoming’ (Romans 8:39)
    • Faith is real & integrated into our everyday life, & as we act on it causes truth to become ‘real & evident’ in our hearts & lives
    • Faith is real & tangible, & causes ordinary people to really live extraordinary lives.

    Session 2 addressed Mark 1:14,15 & the ministry of Jesus – he talked about Jesus’ 4 declarations:
    • The time is come
    • The Kingdom of God is at hand
    • It is time to Repent – to renew our minds & way of thinking to God’s
    • Believe – in Christ, & follow Him

    Things that stood out:
    • The main obstacle to faith is unbelief – a humanist intellectualism that opposes the purposes & plans of God
    • This unbelief is often centered in the religious upper-class of society
    • We ask God to increase our faith, & then we ‘stand’ in & exercise the faith that we have – not the letter of it, but the Spirit of it.

    Good stuff – lots of great testimonies & encouragements.

    Shawn, Matt & I ate lunch together, then walked to a store down the street for supplies (snacks & water.) The highlight of our walk was when Matt tried to engage the cashier in small talk with a little, “How you doin?” She just looked at him blankly – didn’t speak any English. Shawn translated for Matt, & the clerk, once she understood, just looked at Matt & said, “Bad. Bad.” We all got some good smiles from that. Went to an Austrian restaurant for a schnitzel, a hefe, & lots of good discussion then went back to the hostel for the evening.

    We’re learning all kinds of stuff about each other. Good times.

    FEGW Conference, Day 3
    I woke up at 1 a.m. to a dull ache in my right shoulder, waaaay down deep in the joint. It kept me up until about 4. Bummer way to start the day.

    Our final sessions with Peter Wenz centered on Ephesians 4:7-13 – which is a portion of scripture that is especially significant for me (on account of the fact that we spent more than 3 months in those verses last year at this time – he focused on the words “measure of grace,” something given by God for people to live & function in – & that the “some people” who’ve been given the role of being a pastor, teacher, evangelist, prophet, or apostle are to be about the work of making disciples, spurring others on towards maturity in Christ.

    I especially enjoyed his discussion on how the body of Christ is to be “complementing” each other instead of “competing” with each other – with complementing being “to harmonize, go together better;” truly functioning like a body functions towards the same goal, not 100 unique ones.

    The boys & I are debating what we’ll do this afternoon during the ‘small group’ time – everyone else will be getting with the other pastors & leaders from their region & working on a project. We may be making another run to the store for snacks & supplies; Shawn found a “Sculpture Park” that we might be walking to, though the chill of our day, coupled with the ache in my shoulder makes a longer jaunt seem much less attractive… We will see.

    • preparing for lunch, & other adventures…

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    Eventually, one gets hungry on a Friday. And when one gets hungry, what does one do? One makes their way to the local REWE to do some grocery shopping.

    Since we were having hamburgers, the 1st thing we need to pick out was what we’d eat them on – Alex said that the bread needs to be good German bread so that it doesn’t get soggy – & who am I to argue with him. So we started by checking out the bread roll section…

    After we got our rolls & other supplies, we made our way back to the house for creation & assembly. The picture at left is the assembly line; notice how its put together in such as way as to allow for maximum efficiency.

    The burgers were marinated with a home-made marinade with lots of garlic & honey (delicious, with a spicy-bite-kick to it.) & then cooked in the oven.

    Linda isn’t a meat-eater, so she created tofu versions of what we had.

    And yes, thanks for asking, those are the hamburger creations we dined upon. They were so huge that large skewers were needed to just hold them together. I even ate my burger with the skewer still in it, which required a coordination & dexterity that I was not aware I possessed. Only had one DOH! moment where I Homer’d myself in the right eye. No pictures were taken of that portion of the meal.

    And here’s Linda downing her tofu-burger, topped with Alex’s specially created sauce, fresh tomatoes, lettuce, & chopped up little gerkins (which, by the way, is german for little pickles. Who’da
    thunk it?

    Near the end of the meal, I got a call from Anja – we’ll be getting together tomorrow for coffee, then dinner with Alex & Linda. Good times.

    Tonight, we’ll be hooking up with Earl & Matty, Levent & Ines to go to a place called Celsius, which I’ve been told is as close as one can get to Berlin, while staying in Frankfurt. I’ll have to report on that.

    Finished the final touches for my speech for Sunday at TPLF – I’m talking from John 15:1-11 about staying connected:

  • Connected to God
  • Connected to our leaders
  • Connected to our church family

    Sound familiar?

    • The Fantastic Journey!… or how I managed to travel for 24 hours straight…

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    I’ve known that my November 2009 trip to Germany was coming – months ago, when I booked my flights, I intentionally did 3 things to avoid known trouble spots:

  • Avoided any flight with the words “San” or “Francisco” included in it.
  • Put “I Heart Denver” in all my itinerary searches
  • Determined not to start my outbound voyage before 10 a.m.

    Lucky me, the first 2 things I did worked great – the 3rd? Not so much. Due to an Unforeseen Need To Cutback on the Number of Flights, my Reno-Denver leg was moved 3 times. So, I got to start my day at 5 a.m. so that I could make sure to get to the airport to make my 7:20 with time to spare. Sigh.

    Denver is a great airport; lots of great places to eat, spacious & clean concourses to walk (w/hand sanitizer every 10 steps,) & this time, friends to hang out with. Matty C & Earl W were both on board for the 1st leg of the trip – we hung out at the New Belgium Hub, ate omelettes & egg burritos, sampled the 1554 Black, & talked.

    A good time was had by all… a good time that was split up only by the next flight for me – Matty & Earl had somehow finagled a direct flight to Frankfurt out of Denver, albeit with a 7 hour layover in the aforementioned Denver Airport. At least it was a good one.

    Said my goodbyes & headed for Chicago – even landed there early due to a great tailwind. Only 90 minutes & I was to be off to Deutschland. Or so I thought.

    Literally as we were lining up for boarding, word came down from On High that there was an Un-named mechanical issue that needed to be resolved – the screen began flashing a modified departure time… 45 minutes further out. Ok.

    As our scheduled boarding time arrived, the voice from On High declared that our aircraft had been sent to the proverbial bullpen – & needed more repairs than could be gotten on the tarmac. The good news (& I use that phrase with my tongue firmly placed in my cheek, which caused me to bite it,) was that a replacement plane had been found to take us to the Fatherland… though it was only a mere 3 hours away. Which meant that our departure time would be just a little bit later than we’d initially thought…

    So, what to do? Get a bad attitude? Complain? Go flex my proverbial muscles for all the desk-counter personnel & ask them if they happened to know who I am? No. All of those jobs were already taken, with understudies even.

    The job that wasn’t taken was the one of the happy, content guy reading his book, who was also pleasant to be around, & occasionally even engaged in conversation with the people around him. So I took it.

    Not because I felt like that guy – precisely because I DIDN’T feel it. I was uncomfortable, grouchy, tired, hungry, frustrated, missing out on Game 6 of the Series, missing theBean & theFam something terrible already… I’ve been trying to grow in not just living by my feelings or by the attitude/outlook that tries to muscle its way to the surface… instead I tried to put on Christ. Keep a good attitude. Not focus on me & my disappointments.

    And I made it.

    Slept for 7 out of 8 1/2 hours of my flight. Woke up rested. Flight landed. Eventually made my way through passport control, baggage claim, & customs… found Alex G. Matty C & Earl W were located. Navigated the city (with a temperamental GPS to boot) & eventually got everyone where they needed to be for round 2…

    Ate the Hot & Spicy Pasta that Chef Alex made, with the 337 that theBean sent for Linda… enjoyed a Via together. Went for a walk through the park & the streets around Alex & Linda’s new neighborhood. Relaxing.

    Had a brief chat with theBean before she went to work. Ahhh.

    I’m looking forward to the rest of my time – starting with a good nights sleep. Good night now.

    • Missions Development…#6

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    I woke up the next morning feeling really ‘light’ in my spirit – rested too, but mostly light because I was feeling thankful that the heavy weight had been lifted off of my shoulders… a weight that I hadn’t even known I could be ‘done’ with. It was especially cool because I hadn’t even known that we’d be coming to Germany…

    My two American traveling companions & I went down to the ‘eating room’ & found an open table… after the ‘interesting’ foods (read: stuff I wouldn’t want to eat again even it was based on a dare,) I’d experienced during our time in England, I was overjoyed to have my 1st real experience with the German breakfast: dark, hearty, whole grain breads & rolls, baked that morning; what appeared to be salami, along with quite the variety of smoked meats & cheeses; Nutella. German coffee. Ahhh.

    In between stuffing my face, I ended up in conversation with the guy sitting on my left – turned out that he was a youth pastor as well – at ICHTHYS church – & his name was Johannes. Fortunately for me, he spoke great English, with a touch of American thrown in from a 7-month stint/internship at a church in the greater-Seattle area. We had a great time swapping stories, talking about life, fussball (soccer) & church stuff. From the first conversation, we connected at a deep level, & I really enjoyed his outlook on life, sense of humor, & ever-present laugh, which, when I close my eyes & concentrate, I can still hear in the recesses of my brain…

    We ended up skipping a couple of meetings (one of my favorite conference activities, by the way,) to hang out, talk, & visit the bistro for brats & Hefeweizen… by this time, I felt like we were getting to know each other fairly well, & that we could trust each other enough to speak openly & straightforwardly… So, I asked Johannes if he (& ICHTHYS) would consider the possibility of us coming on a mission to Frankfurt. He said “NO!” without even blinking – & then qualified his answer with an explanation & a few stories about teams from the US that he & ICHTHYS had hosted in previous years. The bottom line was that the aftermath of the teams was anything BUT life-giving & beneficial to the host church…

    Too many times they had been left holding the bag financially for some unforeseen & unplanned shortfall. The name/reputation of the local church had been dragged through the mud by some short-sighted & inconsiderate actions by someone on the mission team; the insistence of the team at doing their own program/method/ministry came at the expense of the long-term relationship & respect the hosts had attempted to cultivate with their friends, neighbors, & people of their city, people who the team didn’t see as “people” but as potential notches on the proverbial missions statistics belt; the hosts had often their hospitality criticized/belittled as “not being up to standard” (aka different) than what the ethnocentric Americans were used to at home… as though the ‘foreign country’’ should have been blessed & overjoyed just to receive the Americans, & like a good restaurant/hotel, should have done everything they could to accommodate their ‘guests.’ And there was no offer of continued relationship beyond the cursory (& known to be meaningless) “I’ll write.” So, rather than “do” missions in that manner, they didn’t host American (or Canadian) teams anymore…

    Curiosity must have gotten the best of him, because he asked, “What would you do if you came?” So I asked, “It depends – what would you like us to do? Is there something that you’re already doing that we could help with?”

    He smiled & said, “Hmm. Perhaps we can talk about this some more.”

    twelve, thirteen…

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    Saturday was Roundabout day – more like mini-compressed Roundabout day – our last two meetings (11/2007 & 5/2008) have been Wednesday p.m. through Saturday noon events – where people, mostly between 20 & 30, representing many nations of Europe (approx. 10) get together for a few days of intense worship, prayer, building & making friendships, & being encouraged to continue in their calling, with faith & courage, no matter the cost.

    This year, due to some extenuating circumstances, it was condensed to one day, from 10-4, which of course meant that the people attending were 100% living in Frankfurt… a total of 12 of us came together & I believe that the purpose of Roundabout was fulfilled… there’s a lot firmer structure in existence now, & the roles of the leadership team are more defined. Next meeting will take place in 11/2009, with the intent of doing this 2x/year after that, May & November.

    After Roundabout, we cleaned up the church, & then I hung out with Levent & Ines. Went to Ines’ ‘hometown’ called Koenigstein, & drank a coffee in a little cafe there. Then we headed to her childhood home & I got to meet her parents. What gracious people, very open & giving. They are both very handy – she makes jams & jellies, & all kinds of home-made baked goods; he makes his own ‘apfel-wine’ & is quite the wine-aficionado. I couldn’t leave without 2 jams. Very nice.

    Levent wanted to give me a little taste of Turkey, so we went to a restaurant called “Manolya” which in Turkish means “Parsley.” We ate 2 sampler platters – one of vegetarian foods with lots of Turkish yoghurt, & one with a selection of meats… Some of the best meats I’ve had in a long time. Very nice. I’m very garlic-ey right now, as the main ingredient in most of the veggie foods was “knoblauch” (garlic.) Sorry theBean. Hope its gone before I get home.

    This morning was church at TPLF – I was the guest speaker & talked out of Matthew 9:9-13 & Luke 18:9-14. Aris translated; its always a challenge to try to put the words I’m speeching on into complete sentences & thoughts so that the translator has something to work with & doesn’t have to wrestle with trying to guess what I’m saying. Overall, I think it went ok; a girl from SriLanka that has been in the church for about a year, searching & asking questions, gave her heart to Jesus. Cool beans.

    I really enjoyed reconnecting with many old friends – & heard from many, many people: “Thank you for being here.” And also, “please thank your wife, kids, & Hillside for releasing you to be here. It is very, very important & meaningful for us.” I’m glad that the relationship between our churches is still growing, & that there has been a ‘recommitment’ to each other, in the face of TPLF’s pastoral transition. On that note, I’m also thankful for Eddy & Laura – the new pastors; pray for them.

    This afternoon, a group of about 10 of us (the twenz) went to a stand-up pizza place. I got pepperoni-wurst & pineapple, & a good bier to wash it down – lots of talking & laughing over what was supposed to be the best pizza in Frankfurt. It was good. I’m looking forward to measuring it against Pizza Plus tomorrow night. :)

    Came to Levent & Ines’ house for part 2 of the party. A variety of cakes & other sweets, hanging out with Aris, Levent, Ines, Alex, Linda & Evita, Alex’s ‘little’ sister (she’s 18.) A good time was had by all, & I really enjoyed my last day here with many good friends. As the group shrunk, we sat around the table, ate leftovers, & talked. Very nice.

    They say that all good things must end, & so now I’m in the process of packing (& blogging!) so that I can get up at 04:30 a.m., drink a coffee or two, & head to the airport, where my plane takes off at 8 a.m. First to Chicago, then to SF, then home again. Reno. I can’t wait. Please pray for safe flight, good connections, & peace. I’m looking forward to seeing you soon.

    Blessings to you.

    elf…

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    …elf is the number “11” in German, & doesn’t refer to my favorite holiday movie, which, by the way, I’ll be digging out of the box for the yearly deluge of showings. After coming back from the conference, I spent the night at Alex & Linda’s one more time – they had a meeting of some potential sponsors in their ‘twenz’ group – a College type, 20ish age range group – & they were SO jazzed by the outcome – a real move of the Holy Spirit in their talks. Good times. I love seeing them both, esp. Linda, so excited that they couldn’t sleep, even though she had to get up in 5 hours. The Portugueser, a wine made by the guy next door, (literally!) helped with the celebration.

    Thursday a.m. I met with Jan, the German national leader – we had some great coffee in his living room, & some great talks – the thing that stood out to me the most was that he & FEGW have really have received & accepted me – not just as a guy coming to their conferences, a friend of TPLF that ‘tags along’ (his word) to their meetings – but as a person with a unique calling to support & encourage German pastors & leaders. He asked me to consider plotting & planning how I can see this happen in a more ‘official’ capacity, so when I come to visit, I can help out in these areas not only at TPLF, but also in other churches in the FEGW. This, coupled with the honoring that he & Roland gave me at the conference, is very, very encouraging to me, esp. as it comes 10 years after theBean & my original call to Germany, one where we even explored moving there (here?) but it didn’t work out. And at the time, we were crushed. I’m glad now, because we ended up at Hillside, & also because God’s plans are so much different & better than mine ever could have been. I’m sort of floating on Cloud 9 – & am smiling a lot. This was big for me.

    Dan & Geert picked me up at McDonald’s in Gau Algesheim – & drove me to Frankfurt, where we met with the Roundabout team to revisit our purpose, values, mission, & plans – it was an all day affair, & was very good. At the end of the day, we drove as a group to Eddy & Laura’s home in Mainz, about an hour away, for tea. And the best pumpkin bread ever. Laura is a cook. Like LeBron James plays a little basketball, & like theBean is hot. We talked about Roundabout, & got to hear Eddy’s heart about it too – very important, as TPLF has hosted the last couple of meetings, & will be hosting the one this Saturday. Important for him to not only know what’s up, but to be on board as well.

    We rushed back to Frankfurt & were just in time to meet my hosts, Levent & Ines – they are co-leaders of the twenz group at TPLF, & had just finished cleaning up after their meeting. They took me to their home & got me settled. I love the modern look of their flat, & esp. the colors they used. I am staying in the room that Brother defiled – he soiled the carpet with his dirty suitcase wheels. Silly brother.

    We sat on their couch & looked out over the Frankfurt skyline, while we ate some cheeze & drank a great Pinotage from South Africa, a wine that cost 2Euro. 2Euro for what I’m sure would have been a $12-15 bottle, easy. Got to bed at 12:30, so I could be up at 6:30

    Levent took one for the team & brought me to the church at 7:30 – not only that, he hooked me up with a travel mug of homemade java. I love this guy. What a treasure. And not just for the coffee. But it helps. :)

    We drove 2 hours south to visit Johannes & Anja in Geert’s awesome new Ford Galaxy (like the Windstar, but bigger & better,) with a great navigation system that speaks 15 languages. We settled on Dutch, Geert’s 1st language, & named the system “Betty” after Betty Ford. Long story.

    A great breakfast & lunch with our friends. Good talks. Laughter & tears. Johannes isn’t pastoring right now, & is in a time of healing & restoration, with the hope of getting back into ministry again at some point when FEGW feels the process is complete. I’m looking forward to that time.

    Spent the day with them, then drove back here to TPLF – Dan is headed home to Portland tomorrow, & the rest of us are going to host Roundabout, a day-long meeting for young leaders – to encourage them in their calling, to strengthen friendships, & spend some time together. Dan & Geert are headed to hang out with Aris; I’m going to see the new Bond flick with Martin & Sandra. Right now I’m just waiting for Martin to pick me up; I’m grateful for the wait, because its allowed me to post this uber-long blog.

    I’ll take pics tomorrow & try to post some, but no promises. I’ll take the pics for sure though.

    I’m speaking at TPLF Sunday – 2 services, 10 & 11:45, talking about Jesus & God. :) Really, I’m talking about Jesus, grace, & judgment. Appreciate your prayers.

    Ciao!

    zehn

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    The conference wrapped up with one pastor from each region, ‘the regional leader,’ giving some prayer points for their region – North, South, West, & Middle – there’s really nothing going in the FEGW in the former East Germany – not for lack of trying over the years, but the difficulty & opposition is great.

    After hearing from each leader, all of the pastors represented from that region stood up, & people gathered around them to pray for encouragement & also for the specific requests that we’d all just heard.

    Afterward, we had a few minutes where we could ‘break bread’ with each other – pull a chunk off of a flat, garlic loaf, & go to another person to share with them (the bread.) Part of the sharing was to be an opportunity to pray blessing on each other. It was a very moving & powerful time together. I was really touched by the prayers & blessings prayed over me… and by the number of people who said encouraging things to me.

    This is the 3rd year I’ve been at the conference, & so far I haven’t ‘done’ a whole lot – just got to ‘be’; spend time with people that were interested in spending time with me, usually over meals & in the gemeindeshaft (fellowship :) time after the service in the bistro – answering questions, listening quietly, & trying to pick up as much as possible what was going on around me. I go because I was invited, & because I feel a ‘call’ to support the pastors & leaders of Germany – I do that in prayer, at home, but also by being present, & by looking for a person that seems open to talk & get to know each other (aka “the hungry bird” -) It’s trusting in God’s Sovereignty for provision in the connections that I am to make. It’s how I met Roland & how Julia has ended up in our house.

    It seems that this year, more than the others, I can feel the acceptance & belonging – I heard from at least 10 people that being present, again, is a point of encouragement, for several reasons:

  • Its a reminder that they are apart of something bigger than themselves – FEGW is about 30 churches, & some have said that it can feel that they are very small.
  • Someone is praying for them & their situation – which means that they are not alone, forgotten or insignificant.
  • We have a ‘unity in the Spirit” that transcends culture, national origin, & even language. The fact that we’re fellow Christ-followers is incredibly uplifting, like being at Disneyland & seeing someone from your own neighborhood, a friend. An unexpected & uncommon love. (I love that phrase, uncommon love. Sharlee M. prayed it for theBean at the Womens Retreat last week, & now I can’t get it out of my head. It’s begging for a book… on how Christ-followers are to love each other, deeply, faithfully, & without condition…)

    I don’t always get to know the WHY of my call to Germany, or understand HOW stuff is supposed to look or to work. I just want to be faithful to it – & to be an encouragement, a giver of courage to others, that they would be strengthened in their faith, & in their God-given identity & their own call. And it also makes me thankful for Hillside, & for the people I am blessed to know & be known by there. Traveling reminds me how blessed I am, & all the areas that God has shown His favor to me.

    Thank you.

    • sieben, acht, neun…

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    The last few days have been mostly good – greatly enjoyed the 2nd presenter, Michael Winkler – he’s a church strategist, but didn’t preach ‘models & methods’ – rather values, priorities, & Spirit-led life… in a way that could be understood by ME… I’m pondering all sorts of things, esp. being home, being with friends, & being at Hillside… feeling hopeful.

    I’ve been spending lots of time with others – & really enjoyed my time with Roland Lorenz. He’s the pastor of “Arche Ottesweier” the church where Julia comes from. There is a special bond that has been growing, something that has gotten stronger having someone dear to him in our home & in our life. Hard to explain, but I can really sense a connection, much like I would feel if I knew one of the Eichhoernchen were in Deutschland.

    I’ve also really loved that I got to hang out with Eddy – the pastor of our sister church. We have had opportunity for some very good talks over good hefe, & I am thankful that the connection with TPLF will continue. I want to ask you to pray for Eddy & Laura (his wife) – for wisdom & favor – its a tough thing to come into a church transition, even under the best of conditions. I’m thankful for him being open to me – & very much believe whatever challenges there are, he is the man for the job. Talking Church with Eddy (vs the Machine,) is one of the favorite things so far.

    The person who coordinates the FEGW conferences is named Dagmar – She is a woman that theBean really hit it off with a few years ago – & is a gem of a woman; hospitable, thoughtful, organized. Though she likes theBean the best (who doesn’t?) she has made my time here very, very easy, & did a lot of the ‘pre-Deutschland’ connecting & registering for me. Without her, I’d have had to go at it on my own, & that can end one up on the wrong train. (Or so I’ve heard.)

    Found out that there has been some changes at home. Painted rooms. Hallways. Julia driving, living like a real American. My car even. :) Its a highlight to me in coming home, to see how theBean has chosen to occupy her time. She even got onto Facebook & changed her profile picture, with a leeetttllle help from the Weez, of course.

    Ooops. Coffee break. Kaffee pause, I mean. Don’t want to miss that.

    Tonight, its back to Alex & Linda’s, then a meeting with Jan at 8 in the a.m. Then a train to Frankfurt, & meetings with the rest of the Roundabout team.

    Thanks for reading, & for posting too. I love to hear from you.

    Ciao!

    sechs…

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    NOTE:
    I found the wifi, but for some reason can’t post pictures. Bummer. Sorry Bean. Anyway…

    Piet spoke today on not being afraid of evaluation, cultivating an environment of love & unity within the church team BEFORE doing any evaluating… The text was Revelation 1 & 2, hearing what the ‘Spirit is saying to the churches.’ It was an interesting take on how Jesus speaks to the churches, pointing out the things they’re doing well, & also the areas of sin/hindrance that need to be addressed, changed, repented from, things that are unhealthy.

    Then, this afternoon, we got into small groups & used some of the tools that Piet gave in order to take a look at the church specifically – I really think that Holy Spirit-led evaluation is one of the best things that a church can do… esp. when its tied to measurable effectiveness… I’m really glad to have sat in the sessions today, as the info was incredibly practical & applicable across cultural/national barriers – reminded me a bit of the Christian Schwartz (a German) material – Called NCD – Natural Church Development – which measures 8 characteristics of healthy churches. Cool beans.

    The German pastors got into their ‘regional groups’ for discussions & I came out to think & to blog – all this talk about church has got Hillside on my mind… part of it is thinking how I would evaluate myself… our church life & communications – how well people know the Main Thing, & if they even know what I think the Main Thing is. And what Hillside’s Main Things are, & how we try to define a “WIN” – how we know when we’re hitting the mark. Its an area I want to grow in, not just to be able to mark a box on an evaluation form, but for life’s sake -knowing, living & walking together as a church family – & by knowing, celebrating the freedom of living for Jesus in such a way that we can see more people come to know Jesus, His salvation, healing, & equipping. Hmmm…