Tag Archives: DLT

The Caucuses – Day #13 – Last Sessions & Late Night Food/Fun/Fellowship

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Morning coffee never hit so good as it did before the last DLT sessions. Like most places theBean & I have been privileged to stay when we travel in this part of the world, there is a top notch “what’s your pleasure” coffee machine in the dining area. My go-to this trip was: Hit the Americano with an espresso topper, then add my own milk.

Sessions were: the roles of Fathers & Mothers – both in the natural family order as parents & also in spiritual terms, where we’re given the opportunity to help nurture & care for & contend for the spiritual life, development & well-being of others… esp. in situations/places where people are virtually parent-less (no leadership, no input from others, no direction, no care) & have no real idea on how to mature, grow up, live out the life of a Christ-follower.

We see all sorts of examples & precedents for this in Scripture, most notable with the Apostle Paul & Timothy (& Titus, though we hear more about the Paul/Timothy relationship.) Timothy was the son of a Greek man & a Jewish woman. A believer, at some point Paul encountered him & his mom (never really heard anything about dad) & took an interest in his growth & development as a Christian. Paul invited him to travel with him on one of his trips & took the time to impart everything he knew to him through the day-to-day process of sharing the Gospel Good News in new places, helping establish churches for the new believers, & in navigating the challenges & difficulties brought about in opposition, persecution, & other points of adversity. Paul refers to Timothy as his “true son in the faith” & writes at least 2 letters to him (1 & 2 Timothy); we also know that Paul installed Timothy as the pastor of the church at Ephesus as well.

The main encouragements we wanted to offer are these: God can give His people a ‘heart’ to care for others, esp. new believers & people without (obvious) help, leaders, & the like. As we grow up in Jesus, one of the things (I believe) that we’re to do is to take an interest in the well-being & development of others. To intentionally bless, care for, & impart what we’ve learned in Christ ourselves to those we encounter. That can often involve the development & ongoing maintaining of deep relationships that often mirror those of chosen family – spiritual parents if you will – that, like natural parents are called to do with their own &/or adopted offspring, care for & encourage their spiritual children.

I’ve never tried to declare myself to be someone’s spiritual “father” – I don’t know that you can demand/declare that you be given that role of significance & influence in the life of another. I believe it can be given by a person who adopts you as a person of influence & care for them. Its a beautiful thing – & it is a very helpful one, esp. in areas where there aren’t many (any?) visible spiritual elders, mature in the faith, to help lead & guide & offer direction to the believers in an area.

We asked our friend Ewald to share from his perspective what it means to him to be a spiritual father – we’ve known him for about 25 years, having met him & his wife Kerstin years ago at a German pastors conference. He is probably the person I know who most exemplifies what it means to be a spiritual father; the way he cares for the well-being & ongoing development of new (newish) believers in Central Asia (& beyond) is truly inspirational… & I’m praying that many in the room received a deposit of that same Father’s Heart from the things he shared.

Our final session was on Balancing Family Life & Work/Ministry. We talked from our own experiences – burnout, rhythm, rest, Sabbath. Saying “yes” & “no” congruently. Prioritizing family & having a strong sense of what “SUCCESS” looks like for you. Accountability. Margin. Life in all its fullness – as it was intended, by Jesus, to be lived. Our Eurasian Bible College host (& lead pastor/overseer T) shared about the power of rest & rhythm, as our time in this DLT came to a close.

We shared communion together over a light meal, & our time as a group came to an end as the first travelers gathered their stuff & said their goodbyes before heading out to the real world & home.

TheBean & I went to a store on the corner & I bought some Coke Zero & kleenex; we settled in around 9 p.m. to what we thought would be a quiet night, watching a movie & then heading to bed.

And then we got a text inviting us to go for a brief walk & a glass of wine.

Which turned into a group of 12 of us walking the cobblestone streets, somehow making our way only about 1/4 mile from the hotel to a really great Georgian food restaurant (same one we ate at a couple days ago.) The glass of wine & walk idea disappeared into a raucous, joy-filled fellowship around a couple long tables pushed together, as people from 5 nations ate from a smorgasbord of Georgian cuisine. TheBean & I sat at the end of a table, kind of away from party-central but still close enough to be a part. We heard the stories of a young man in a closed ‘stan country who has created a budding travel agency in his country to cover over his movements around the country as he shares the gospel. We listened to (& watched) the music & videos created by another young man, musician & producer, tied to celebrating Jesus & Christmas outreach to his city. We ate the sausages wrapped in tortilla; the lamb skewers. Drank copious amounts of mineral water.

Finally, just after midnight, theBean & I excused ourselves & made our way back to the hotel, navigating the still-bustling city streets. Climbed the 5 floors to our room & finished our movie over a Coke Zero. And, with joy & contentment, fell asleep.

Today is Sunday – nothing on the agenda for us beyond morning coffee except perhaps a trip to a flea market with some of our new friends. We’ll be saying goodbye to others later in the day, & then tomorrow, 8/4, we’ll head to the local airport around 8:30 a.m. to begin our trek home.

Life is good. Jesus is great.

to the Caucuses – Day #10 & 11? – The Heat is On

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Had a short (1 hour or so) delay to our flight leaving Central Asia, & arrived in the HEAT (35C/95F) of the Caucuses around 10:30 p.m. Turns out we had a few fellow DLT attendees on the plane with us, & we navigated the belly of the airport relatively unscathed. The cleanliness of the bathrooms really was impressive – they even smelled good. Cleared customs without an issues & gathered our luggages from the crawling carousel. Thank you Jesus.

Met our host for the next few days in the waiting area just outside of baggage claim & began the sometimes awkward (for me at least) process of meeting new people… a daunting task for me on a good day at home; especially challenging given the combo of everyone’s tiredness, late night, language challenges/barriers, & newness. We got sorted into a collection of Ubers & began the circuitous 30 minute journey to our hotel, weaving in & out of stop & go traffic, navigating the labyrinth of streets & combo of downtown neighborhoods & McCarran like streets. And then we arrived at our hotel. Kind of.

I’ve gotta say – getting dropped off in an alley, albeit with a sign for the hotel announcing its presence, was more than a little daunting. Hotel sign is there – where’s the hotel? Pulled our suitcases deeper into the alley, which, to be fair, had a bend at the end, so it wasn’t like we were in an alley with no exit… just no visible exit. Dark. Foreboding. Unfamiliar. We got about 10 yards into the alley & saw a collection of big city, almost Chicago-style restaurants inhabiting the ground floors of the myriad buildings crowded in around us, topped with what seemed to be a tetris collection of flats, apartments, & unknowns.

Right then, a car we hadn’t seen because of the darkness & probably our tiredness backed out of an alcove in the alley. It stopped & the driver rolled down the window & said, “You are looking for ….” & named the hotel. We said “Yes” & he pointed around the corner, smiled & headed out. We made our way in that direction & yes, indeed, there was our hotel, a 1920’s themed hotel built out into a 6 story old(?) new building. Seamlessly checked in & made our way to our top-floor room… to discover the temp in our room was 92. Ahhh. Quickly found the thermostat & worked out how to crank that A/C DOWN to 20C/68F. (BTW – that was Wednesday night; right now it is 7:30 a.m. Friday & it STILL hasn’t gotten below 22C/71F). But 71 > 92, at least when it comes to the temperature of one’s hotel room.

The room is about 1/3 the size of our room at the Be Fine, but it is still workable although without adequate dressers & with 1/2 the room taking on the low, sloping slant of the roof…  once we got our bags mostly stowed & our clothes put where they needed to be for the next few days, it was time for bed. Mostly. Too hot to sleep still I loaded up our VPN  & we watched part of a Hallmark show, a pleasant reminder of home.

Good sleep, slow morning, & breakfast in the hotel dining room. Typical setup of a boutique hotel breakfast area, but with local cuisine & breakfast items… & of course, cocoa puffs. Before this trip I hadn’t eaten them in at least 5 years. I ate two bowls. Went back to the room & crashed for another hour or so, then puttered around until lunchtime connections with our other DLT friends in the dining room. Got to meet a few new friends from nearby countries; I’m thankful that everyone speaks at least a tiny bit of English.

Our longtime friend from Germany, Ewald, is here. He’s on the board of directors of the Eurasian Bible College & has been ministering in the region for > 2 decades. He is a steadying force of a man, stable, encouraging, & grandfatherly (he has appeared that way since i met him back in the early 2000’s… even though he’s a little younger than me.) There have been logistical challenges & spiritual attacks/circumstances that will (probably) keep a couple handfuls of people who were signed up for the DLT from coming. There were about 25-30 people registered & we had about 15 who made it to the first session last night. Not 100% sure, but I think this might be the total number. We’re meeting in the hotel’s conference room, a small, odd-shaped room with few amenities or technology, but plenty of places to sit & comfy/cozy layout that facilitates squeezing into chairs around the tables & having easy conversations.

What precious people. Our hearts are moved & we feel connected to them as well…

Van Gogh in the live

Even though it was hot, we decided to brave the night with Ewald, our friend from last year, A, & a young 30 something couple who actually live in the city we were just in in Central Asia. We both connected with them & spent the next couple of hours walking the often cobblestoned streets of this ancient city & neighborhood looking at the things, taking the sights, sounds, & smells. Barkers stood outside their restaurants, hawking their food choices; humanity pressed up & down the street with people of every age & demographic packed into crowded spaces.

The group decided on gelato & we found an out  of the way shop with great A/C. Sat & talked for about 30 minutes, then made our way back to our hotel.

PRAYER REQUEST – I felt a twinge of pain in the bottom of my left foot about 1 inch below the joint on the 4th toe (you know, the little piggy who “had none.”) Not quite the ball of my foot. It hurts. Suddenly painful to walk or touch, bottom or top of the foot. I didn’t actually DO anything that seemed to cause it. I was walking on the uneven cobblestones, & then I noticed the pain.

As I type this in the morning on Friday, it hasn’t gotten worse… its just not any better. No swelling to speak of – its weird.

And we press on.

Breakfast in an hour or so, then 10-1 p.m. & 3-6 p.m. are our DLT sessions today, talking Family, Marriage, Husbands/Wives. We will see how it goes.

Central Asia – The Blur of Days #7-9 – DLT

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Monday around noon we loaded up the family van & headed to the Be Fine Hotel on the other side of the city… a decent 10 mile trek through midday traffic in a bustling city of 4 million. How long could it take?

2 hours. At least 2 hours. Stop & go traffic. Vehicles playing their own versions of a game resembling Frogger, Tetris, & tag. More close calls than I care to revisit. No accidents seen. Angels on overtime.

Settled into our hotel room with a brief respite before the opening sessions of DLT kicked off. This particular conference is Module 2 of the DLT material, “Marriage & Family” & the topics we covered over the last 3 days include – Discipleship & Leadership Training within the context of:

  • Family – what is it & what are God’s purposes for the family unit? How does God work with family to teach people about Himself & His character & life?
  • Marriage – who gets to define what is the purpose of marriage? What does Scripture have to say about marriage? How do you navigate through cultural & social norms for marriage when they are in conflict with Scripture? (For example, many cultures in Asia embrace the male dominated, female subservient role within marriage, where the husband is the absolute authority & ruler in the relationship, & the wife’s role is to serve the husband (& often the extended family of both sides – hers & her husbands), have children (esp. boys), often being treated more as a servant &/or possession than a partner. In Christ, marriage can be seen elevated to a loving partnership where both parties submit to one another out of reverence for Christ; where the husband takes on the servant leadership role of headship of the wife, laying down his life for her like Christ laid down His life for the church; where the wife willingly submits to her own husband (think 2 cars merging into 1 lane to avoid a crash) – instead of insisting on forcing her way ahead of her husband or into a domineering role over him, she comes alongside & walks with him.
  • the significant roles of the fathers & mothers in establishing & maintaining the identity & direction of the children; the role of spiritual fathers & mothers in providing care, leadership, encouragement, & mentorship in the pursuit of relationship with Christ, esp. for people who haven’t had the support/care of natural parents, or whose parents didn’t know Christ/didn’t teach them about life with Him.
  • the role of the single (unmarried) persons; the ultimate goal for all people for all life isn’t marriage – & singles aren’t to be pitied & treated as pariahs until the day when they could somehow (gasp!) enter into normal life & be married. There is a huge value on the individual in Christ.
  • Balancing family, life, work etc – living in rhythm & rest; embracing the Sabbath as a normative part of life for the Christian disciple;
  • As I’m doing this off the top of my head, I’m forgetting a couple of sections…

As I’m typing this, it is now Wednesday at 6 a.m. We’ll be doing our last sessions of this Central Asian DLT in about 4 hours – over the last 3 days, our schedule has included at least two 3-hour sessions to present the material through a translator, initiate & moderate discussions around the 5 or 6 tables where the participants are scattered 4-6 deep; provide opportunities for meaningful feedback from the participants.

The drain on the brain is real – trying to teach & “facilitate” while attempting to think in simple, easily translatable concepts, avoiding Americanisms & idioms that we rely on for our daily communication without even knowing it. Think:

  • Watching paint dry.
  • Actions speak louder than words.
  • Hang in there.
  • The last straw.

All of these were used this week. Native English (or at least Northern NV Americans) would easily pick up what is being said with each of these phrases… but for the Central Asian for whom English (not American, but English – there is a HUGE difference) is a 3rd or 4th language, it is tough & requires stopping, giving an explanation, re-translations, etc. Add to the mix the nuanced & emotionally charged topics of marriage & family which are often fraught with disappointment, frustrations, & unmet expectations, & you’ve got quite the brain drain.

Add to that 3 meals a day – social & conversational events that require patience, a sense of humor, & more than a few attempts to even get a cursory understanding of the simplest of interactions & you see why & how a person gets fried.

We’re 12 hours ahead of home, which makes for easy math, but not great sleep. We’ve been able to head to bed around 10 each night, often passing out quickly only to reawaken in the middle of the night (I’ve seen the clock turn from 2 to 3 a.m. every night so far) & struggle to get back to sleep before the morning responsibilities kicked in.

After our last session & receiving communion together today, we’ll be packing our bags & (eventually) heading to the airport where we’ll catch a flight to our next destination in the Caucasus where the Russian-language DLT starts tomorrow (Thursday for us – at 2 p.m.) It will wrap up Saturday evening with communion & celebration.

We’re looking forward to reconnecting with our dear friends who are the overseers for the Eurasian Bible School – people we got to know last year who are meeting us there for the DLT. From what we’ve been told, there are participants coming from several surrounding countries – all who have committed to the 18-month DLT process as they explore formalizing their personal & their churches relationships with Foursquare & either joining or, more often, beginning the process of forming the Foursquare Church in their country of origin. It’s a long & relational process – & I have to say – people are people.

Thank you for your prayers & support – they are helping us through some challenging times & we are seeing God doing some really cool things in healing marriages, providing hope & thoughts of a different & preferable future, in addition to growing as disciples of Christ. After all, what good is our faith if it doesn’t have a transformational effect on us in every area of life, especially in our interpersonal interactions with loved ones & family – both family of origin & chosen.

Central Asia – Day #6 – Church & stuff

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We didn’t have an assignment Sunday morning, so we hung out @ Y&G’s home while they took care of life business, including church meetings, gardening, & prep for afternoon (2 p.m.) church services. We’ve both been waking up around 4 a.m. local time (on the good night’s sleep) & then getting drowsy around 9 or so (9 p.m. at home) which makes sense, but is also inconvenient when we’re getting ready to start the day. More than once we’ve cat-napped & pushed through, hoping that our clocks & the urgency of pressing assignment of the DLT/Sunday service/people meetings would provide the boost (adrenaline? energy? kick?) to thrive & be fully physically & mentally present. So far, so good, but we’re heading into the intense portion of the trip – both mentally & relationally.

Spaghetti for lunch then we headed over to the church in the 110 F heat – the roads around the church are riddled with pot-holes & at best are severely pock-mocked with hole-ey asphalt, to the point that we had to turn the van around multiple times to avoid an impassable chasm. Excitement & lots of laughs.

Church was coolish, especially in the sanctuary; the extreme heat has made the occasional mid-80’s feel (almost) pleasant. Had a chance to say hello to a few people we met on our visit here last year, & then jumped into the vibrant worship, led by a team of several youngers on guitar, bass, keys, cello, drums, & a native-to-this-country mandolin-looking instrument, along with several gifted & energetic singers/worship leaders. We used the google-machine to translate some of the worship lyrics & other than that, just enjoyed our time of worship surrounded by a great church.

As I mentioned in the blog I did last night, I spoke from Ecclesiastes on ENJOYING God’s provisions & embracing His version of the Meaning of Life… had a lot of feedback from people who are wrestling with some of life’s biggest questions: finding purpose; money & stuff; relationships, marriage, & families; attempting to establish oneself independently but still honor parents & family of origin… the same kind of things we wrestle with. Same Same.

The message part of the service seemed to fall in the middle vs the end of gathering, & there were lots of other people giving testimonies, sharing info about recent mission trips, & even celebrating July birthdays. From beginning to end, service was about 3 hours long. Hung out a bit afterwards for chocolates & hot tea (always hot tea) & dodged the One Guy who wanted just a little bit too much time, energy, & personal information. We were invited out to dinner with our hosts & the pastor of the local church. Really challenging to figure out on the fly exactly WHAT is happening & WHEN & also WHAT is expected of us with each interaction. Our first DLT is a work in process & we’re getting more & more information about what will be happening today (starting in about 4-5 hours) at the same hotel/hostel we stayed at last year. It’s located in the hills above the city & should be (key words – should be) a bit cooler than it is down here in the valley… where, by the way, it’s supposed to be way down to a balmy 87F.

Prayers appreciated as we head into the 7 days of DLT; will do my best to continue posting. If I remember correctly, the place we’re staying for the next 3 days doesn’t have the best wifi & it was a challenge to get even a blog to post last year. But we’ll see. No borrowing trouble from the future…

 

Central Asia – Caucuses – Days #3-5 –

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The 10 (Istanbul) & now 12 (CA) hour time difference, coupled with travel shock & not enough sleep make me doubt how many days we’ve been at this… I’m at the spot where fingers are starting to help with counting the days etc, so maybe later I’ll give it another shot. Bottom line: we’re doing well; mostly rested & settled firmly in Central Asia (CA) , staying for the next 3 days with our new friends, Y & G.

We loved our time in Istanbul, & spent the evening soaking up the ambiance, resting in our hotel, & dotting i’s/crossing t’s to depart for the next leg of the trip. After a quick taxi ride, our we headed to the airport 3 hours early, just in case there were snafus. There weren’t any, but its good to be prepared.

The flight from Istanbul to CA left at 12:45 a.m., which meant navigating the airport, late-night. It’s my 2nd experience & my 2nd country having a crack-of-doom departure time, & both experiences have been Vegas-casino like. Super-bright lights, packed terminals, & all the activity & bustle you would associate with the casino night life of city that never sleeps, minus the slots & games. Of course its a peak travel time for a big chunk of the world… its just not a peak travel time experience that I am used to.  Yet.

Seamless travels & a mostly quick 5 hour trip landed us a few minutes before 8 a.m. We navigated customs & baggage over the course of about 90 minutes, & made our way out to meet our host, Y, a local Foursquare pastor & overseer that we met during last year’s trip. Y is a planter of churches, the coordinator of an inter-denominational fellowship of Christian churches throughout the country (& several of the surrounding countries as well.)

Arrived at Y’s home & was met by his wife, G, & a killer breakfast spread. The majority of what we ate came from their garden (fruits & vegetables), their neighbors (farm-fresh eggs), & a collection of dried peaches, raisins, & nuts from nearby countries. CA is super inter-connected.

No sleep the night before + a full belly = waves of overwhelming drowsiness. We excused ourselves to our room & crashed HARD for about 6 hours (!) Woke up discombobulated, but got to reconnect, albeit briefly, our dear friend Al – before he headed to the airport. We’ll see him next Wednesday when we go to the Caucuses.

The power went out around 2 p.m. (a not-usual happening in this next of the woods) so Y&G took us to a local place for dinner for laghman & shashlik. So good – & our conversations & laughter over the food was precious, esp. as we navigate the language barrier using hand gestures, best guesses & translation apps, etc.

Got back to the house to find that the power was back on (!) & there was great rejoicing. Sat around the table for a bit with good chocolate (from Sweden) & hot tea. Planned & plotted the Saturday activity – with the heat (approaching 100F) we are headed to the mountains to take a tram ride up a 10,000 footer to enjoy the views, see the sites, & hang out together.

Also, confirmed that I will be teaching at the afternoon Sunday service (if you’re up at 2 a.m. Sunday, pray for me) & I think I’ll be doing something from Ecclesiastes 5:18-6:9… a spin-off from our current “Meaning of Life” Ecclesiastes series at Hillside. We’ll be heading to the “Be Fine Hostel” on the outskirts of the city sometime Monday morning, & diving into the 1st DLT.

Thank you for your prayers & thank you for your encouragements. We are thankful & daily reminded of the relationships, care, covering, protection, & blessings God HAS & IS providing for us through this process. It’s a joy & an adventure.

Central Asia – Caucuses – Days #1 & #2 – Travel & Istanbul.

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Reno – Seattle – Istanbul.

The first leg of our travels has gone (relatively) smoothly… we left Reno Tuesday afternoon & navigated the SeaTac airport to first find our International terminal (never flown Intl out of Seattle) & then shared a burger at one of the few food places available until our flight was called & we mentally prepared for the 12 hour flight in front of us.

Good news from the start – there was an empty seat in-between theBean & I, although because of where our row was located, we had the rigid metal dividers between us instead of the usual “lift-up” arms, thereby relegating us to the actual territory of our seats. No matter – it was a blessing & a joy to be able to let-down & occupy the extra space. I was able to catch a couple hours of sleep spaced out in 30-45 minute chunks throughout the ‘night’, & the 12 hour flight eventually came to an end as we slowly descended into a city & place that I’ve only read about in history books & seen in movies, & that I never thought I’d actually BE in.

Istanbul is massive – 15 million residents. Architecture that spans every known kingdom & nation that occupied it in its long & storied history (Byzantium or Byzantion to Constantinople to Istanbul). Big pockets of modernity. The whole gamut of people groups, nations, tribes, & tongues. East meets West, literally.

Our bags came – booyah! Navigated the largest baggage carousel system I’ve ever seen in person out to the place where we could order our ride. The research I did last week on transit in Istanbul came in handy as we found our way to the appropriate space to order up a ride-share using a version of Turkish-style Uber. Our driver arrived in about 5 minutes & we were off.

The driver had 4(!) phones mounted on his dash – one for this app, three for him to alternatively talk, text, & browse IG. True story. He weaved expertly through the chaos of rush-hour Istanbul traffic for about 45 minutes until we arrived at our hotel unscathed, no thanks to the tour bus driver that came an inch from clipping the motorcycle driver in front of us as bus driver guy obliviously swerved into our lane, cutting us off, earning him an earful, complete with hand gestures & expressions of extreme disgust from a collection of drivers.

After getting checked in & showered & cleaned up from a long travel day, we walked to a small cafe across the street for a lateish (for us) dinner. Beef sausage & cheese omelettes on an open air patio (it’s hot!) Surrounded by the sights, sounds of traffic & conversation, & smells (big city & cigarettes everywhere) – its a beautiful place. We made our way back to the hotel to wind down with a Hallmark show (thank you VPN.)

Slept most of the night, with a couple hours of wakefulness in the middle of the night. We both went back to sleep around 4:30 & didn’t wake up til 9:20 or so, in time to make it to their (massive) dining room for the complementary breakfast. Eggs, omelette stations, breakfast foods, yogurts, real fruits (best watermelon & plum ever) a collection of coffee & tea stations, & people. From everywhere. Every tribe, tongue, & nation. In a room of approx. 200 people, I clocked 1(!) other American couple. I proudly wore my Pete’s Meat BBQ shirt to breakfast, thankful that it had a cow on it instead of a pig… because pigs are frowned upon in this part of the world.

After breakfast, we went back to our room & read, slept a bit more, & now we’re planning on some foot-travels to a local store to pick up some necessities we didn’t bring with us. The plan is to head back to the airport tonight around 9 pm our time, as our flight heads out at 12:45 a.m. landing in our destination city 8 a.m. ish Friday 7/25.

Thank you for your prayers – we aim to stay in touch using the blog etc. as much as we are able. Looking forward to connecting with our (old & new) friends in Central Asia; we’ve got a few days in the city, staying with a local pastor, until we head out Monday, 7/28 for the 1st Discipleship/Leadership Training (DLT) conference.

CA: Day #8

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Last full day of DLT began with breakfast & discussion-heavy presentations. I love the discussion elements because we got to hear from people with a varied background what it might look like to them to put their faith into practice; it allows you to get beyond the acquisition of information into the practical application of a Christ-following life.

For example – as a part of the marriage & relationships module of DLT, we spent a chunk of time processing through polygamy… something that is a fairly common (& accepted) practice in many parts of Central Asia – & especially among Muslims. In a local church context, Christ-followers need to have an understanding & consistent Biblical ethic on navigating polygamy when it involves people in it coming to Christ. It’s not like a newly-saved individual with their wives can be instructed, “just keep wife #1 & divorce the rest.” To do so could be catastrophic for those women cast off in the name of fidelity to the Christian faith, as a divorced woman in many of these cultures would have next to no rights, no viable means of support or living, & most likely no opportunities for remarriage. So what might be suggested is something like “2nd generation monogamy;” where the next generations of new Christians would be taught Scriptural principles around marriage (1 husband/1 wife) while the 1st generation family learns to live in a new reality following Jesus with remnants & reminders of ‘the old ways.’ Definitely a lot to think about.. & lots of fascinating discussions.

Our team was told we would have a late night as we were volunteered by our hosts to minister to our DLT attendees in prophetic prayer starting at 9 p.m. So theBean & I took advantage of our afternoon break (1:30-3 p.m.) to rest, read, & recharge. And by that I mean we crashed hard. HARD. I don’t know what it was that woke me up, but when I looked at my watch, it was 3:05 & we were late to the session. I didn’t have a clue WHO I was, let alone WHERE I was, & it took about 20 minutes for my brain to adequately reset to the point that I could gainfully participate in the happenings in our session.

Haven’t been sleeping great… waking up between 5-6 a.m.& not able to go back to sleep which is ok unless you are going to bed late… which we are. Naps have been helpful but today really hit me with a hammer.

Navigated the last afternoon session & had an opportunity to talk with/pray with a team of people from the northern part of the country: G, O, V, & S. After 20 years of pastoring in the same city/area, they are in the process of trying to decide what their next phase of life & ministry will be, as they lean towards starting a new church a few miles down the road. People are people… so similar to the plans, hopes & dreams you might hear about at home, with added intrigue & the challenges that come specifically targeted at each of us.

After dinner, (7-9 p.m.)  we decided to rest some more in preparation for our late night… I lightly napped & read (I’m on my 3rd paperback) & eventually got up & got ready about 8:45 p.m. Felt a little like burnt toast, but we took the time to pray for energy & to thank God in advance for giving us what we’d need over the next couple of hours as we prayed for our new friends from a variety of CA countries.

There was a brief message/encouragement, & then our team was divided into 4 groups of 2 or 3 & sent to the 4 corners of the room. The DLT attendees were instructed to get together with the people from their city/church/region &/or country & identify different things that they wanted to receive prayer for: things going well; points of need; areas of struggle; etc. Some instrumental worship music was put on & people began to make their way to the corners of the room. It wasn’t like they were standing in lines; they were encouraged to talk & pray with each other in the middle of the room, & then to make their way to a corner for prayer when the opportunity presented itself.

Got to partner with theBean & Will – pastor from Atascadero – as wave after wave of people came for prayer. Some readily identified specific requests, like “We need a place to meet that is authorized by the government,” or “We need workers to help us in our mission,” or “We need to know what we’re supposed to do next.” Others left it intentionally vague & asked us just to pray “as the Holy Spirit leads.”

Really cool how in every situation, specific things came to mind to pray for; sometimes related to the request; other times out of left field. The one that stood out to me the most was a group of 5 from the northeast of the country. They are all 30-something & are all 1st generation Christians. They don’t have elders in the faith in their area to look up to, to be discipled by, to learn from. They have the Bible & each other (as well as the confederation of other pastors spread waaay out in this vast land.) They prayed for spiritual parents: fathers & mothers in the faith to come alongside to help them grow in knowledge, experience, & perspective. They want so desperately to do well in making disciples & to not mar people with their unnecessary mistakes caused by inexperience &/or lack of good Bible teaching/practice.

As I listened to them talk, I was overwhelmed with emotion – they see themselves as inadequate & know all the things they DON’T have & WISH they did. They feel alone & desperate for help – for divine intervention in the form of people, elders, to stand alongside them & encourage them in the Way of Jesus. And I had a deep sense (& prayed about) God’s great love & joy that He has for these people; for their pure hearts, simple obedience, & active fatih… a faith that doesn’t wait until they know ALL there is to know on a topic before they start living it out. I felt like I could see in the spirit realm & when I looked at them, I saw warriors (not in a natural conflict/war kind of way,) but warriors who are battle tested in spiritual things. I saw God shaping them & making them to be the very thing they were praying for in there desperation… spiritual fathers & mothers. And though they may be 1st generation Christians, the first ones in their area of CA, they have what they need because they continue to see the One who will supply all their needs according to His provision.

So sweet to hear their prayers & their thanks at being able to be a part of the DLT: to learn from others & to grow in things of God that they would be able to do the same for others in their own place.

I was deeply moved & affected by this group, & I will continue to be praying for them long after we get home.

Finally wrapped up our prayer times around 11:30 – thankful for translation team – & made our way back to our room. We were pretty wired still (pretty normal for nights like this,) so we sat up & (finally) got the WiFi to work well enough to watch a show on Amazon & nurse a CA Coke Zero. Eventually nodded off around 1:30 or so (according to the FitBit) & (unfortunately) woke up at 5:30 again.

We’ll be leaving the hotel & headed to the airport around 2 a.m. tonight (8/9 – & technically Friday); then we have a flight & a bus/train ride to get to our Julia’s home in Germany. It might be a minute before I get to catch up on Day #9 & #10 – but – thank you for your continued prayers. Please join me in praying for these precious people of CA… & give thanks for the God who hears & responds… the same God who HEARS you & RESPONDS to you in your needs as well.

Deutschland 2023 – Days #4-7 – Church in Ottersweier & Foursquare LIVE

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Day 4 – 

Saturday was a slow day with not much on the agenda until the afternoon, other than reading, having talks, & rehearsing the Sunday message with Julia who would be doing the translating for me. It was great to be able to see Julia in her natural habitat, & also to enjoy the time together. We took about an hour to compare Bible translations/languages, work through specific points & word choices, & then to answer any questions each of us had for the other…  Arche Ottersweier (The Ark of Ottesweier) has been Julia’s home church ever since it was planted by pastors Roland & Manuela Lorenz; she’s involved there leading worship & in a variety of other areas, so she also provided a bit of a play by play to bring us up to speed since my/our last visit there in 2009 (Joni had never been there to the church/city/her parents house; I’d visited a few times & spoke at the church with her translating on one of the trips.) 

That afternoon, we made our way to the house of die familie Kern (her parents home) for kaffee & apfel strudel with eis (ice cream.) Goodness. And this was to be our ‘appetizer’ for dinner. I’m glad we had a couple hours to let it settle because I was STUFFED after we ate & my stomach was already hurting because of all the food & laughter :). 

Dinner was with Klaus & Pia (Julia’s parents) & Linda & Joah (Julia’s sister & nephew) at “Mucho Macho” an Armenian-owned tapas-style restaurant. We had Middle-Eastern, Armenian, German, & Spanish tapas in a family-style presentation (it makes sense if you see it) & ate until we couldn’t eat any more. SO. MUCH. FOOD. Klaus & Pia both have such a great sense of humor we find ourselves laughing almost constantly. 

It was raining as we left the restaurant, so late that I thought I’d turn into a pumpkin before we got home. But I made it. And went quickly to sleep to get good rest for Sunday.

Day 5

Woke up early-ish & had my normal Sunday am breakfast (Cafe Latte protein shake & a Quest bar) & a good cup of Julia’s french press coffee. We arrived at the church 1/2 hour early for prayer & spent the time in the upstairs praying in our native languages for the day, for the service, for the people in attendance, & for the churches in the town. 

The sanctuary/building is set up in an inverted “V” pattern with chairs set up on both sides of the sanctuary so that the people in the middle rows on back in each section can’t see each other. I (& Julia) spoke on being TOGETHER from Acts 2:42; we touched on maturity, selflessness, the power of the Holy Spirit, unity, being on mission together, learning to prefer & defer in our people connections, & stuff like that. 

After church, Linda’s husband, Heiko (sound guy today) came up to me excited & said, “You spoke to BOTH sides of the room today. The regular section AND the youth section. NO ONE has ever talked to the youth section.” I didn’t know it had been that divided up, but in retrospect I guess it was. That might explain the excited reaction from the youth a couple times during the message… 

Right after church, a young lady named Jana (13 years old) came up to me with a cup of coffee, light cream & gave it to me. She told me, “I wanted to make sure you got a cup of coffee before the end of service. Sometimes people come & want to talk to the speaker so long that we run out of coffee before they can get a cup.” Yeah, that’s the kind of girl she is. She was absolutely glowing with the joy of the Lord, full of life & the Holy Spirit. She (& her mom) were just radiant; Jana speaks English better than me, German, French, & is tackling Spanish & Japanese now. She said, “God is going to work through me & my ability to speak languages well, so I want to work to give Him some good material to work with.” SMH, but in awe & thanks. 

As we left the church, we said goodbye to Klaus & Pia – & Klaus followed us out of the building, waving us a majestic & heart felt “GOOD BYE.” My eyes may have misted over. 

For lunch, we went to Roland & Manuela’s home – take out pizza & home grown field greens. We talked with them & their girls (Desiree & Deborah – 15 & 13) & our Julia. The time went so fast we had to pack up & head out to the conference – Goodbye with Julia was so difficult. We love this woman, & are so proud of who she is & who she is becoming. Leaving our German daughter behind was the hardest thing we’ve done so far on this trip… definitely planning on making it back next year…

After a 2 1/2 hour trip, we arrived in Oberwesel at the Youth Hostel where the conference “Foursquare LIVE” was being held. As we were checking in, we ran into Alex & Linda Krieger, dear friends we’ve known & stayed in regular touch with for 16 years. We’re going to end our trip with them in Berlin, so it was extra special to be able to have these couple of days with them here at the conference.

The theme of the conference is Discipleship – led by an American, John Lewis of Kingdom Story Ministries. He’s a great dude partnering with the Foursquare Church to prepare our churches worldwide with strategy/intentional plans for creating discipleship pathways (in the US its called D.L.T. Discipleship/Leadership Training. And it is good stuff.)

Foursquare Deutschland joined with the US Foursquare church to celebrate 100 years of Foursquare with their own celebration this year at this conference. After the meeting, we had late night talks with Alex & Linda, then headed to bed.

Day 6

We ate breakfast with Brandon & Marcie Brazee, Foursquare missionaries & pastors to Köln (Cologne) Germany, along with their kids, Kaitlyn (14?) & Hudson (almost 8). Great time getting to hear their story & sharing a bit of ours; we share a lot of dear friends in common, so we really enjoyed the beginning of what felt like a good friendship. 

Full day of meetings & interactions… so during our afternoon break, we (theBean, me, Alex & Linda) went to the castle next door for some desserts… Yes. The CASTLE next door. For reals. It was a 5 minute walk from the Hostel & we had our drink & watched theBean & Alex kill their cheesecakes while viewing the Rhein river below us. 

Right before dinner, our dear friend Eddy (who we stayed with Day 1/2) hand-delivered a bag to us. 90 minutes each way. It contained 50 pounds (23 kg) of goodies we’d brought for the Brazee family, but that we couldn’t take with us to see Julia in southwestern Germany… it was a brief reunion for us, & also for Alex & LInda with their beloved former pastor. To me, Eddy’s selfless 180 minute journey to drop off a glorified (& Oh So Awesome) goody bag illustrates the kind of friend, man, & pastor he is. Truly one of the best men I know.

The food at the conference, served by the hostel, is super low in protein. Like nonexistent. And after a day and a half of greens & pasta offerings, we (theBean, me, Alex & Linda) decided to go to the Castle again for dinner. Alex & I had “beef cheeks, mashed potatoes, greens, & a nice Cuvee. TheBean had salmon, & Linda had a veal cutlet. Our protein cravings were satisfied, if only for a day.

That night was a night of extended worship, with prayer & prophetic ministry available as well. Specifically, prayer ministry was set out for the ‘stans (the countries that are Germany’s missions focus including but not limited to: Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, & a few others). Several pastoral reps from each country were there, & there was a very powerful time of prayer. We allso heard from one of the pastors from Turkmenistan, a man who’d spent much time in prison being tortured & threatened with his life… for the crime of becoming a Christian. Inconceivable.

Day 7 

Last day of Foursquare LIVE. We were dragging a bit this morning, but were buoyed by the worship time. This was followed by a Q & A with John Lewis, as German (& other) pastors in the room asked him clarifying questions about discipleship. One of the things that is an obstacle to discipleship in many/most Western countries is what John Lewis referred to as ‘consumer Christianity” which he defined as living Christian for the benefits & easy parts, while not necessarily taking the steps to obey & put into practice all the teachings of Christ, ala Matt 28:18-20 (see ‘teach them to OBEY’ in verse 20.)

Anyway, the Turkmeni pastor asked a question, which, by the way, was translated from Russian to German to English (!) to be heard / understood by the speaker. He asked, “What IS this consumer Christianity? In my country, you are Christian or you are not. You are disciple & as a result you may die. There is NO question about it. It is truly a life & death choice.” 

He didn’t say it in a condemning fashion, but rather in an incredulous, you’ve-got-to-be-joking-me kind of fashion. Like somehow, someway this was just a joke his other ‘stan” buddies were pulling on him.

But it wasn’t. And it isn’t. It is a thing.

How would you answer his question?

The conference ended, we said our goodbyes (& see you soon to Alex & Linda) & got in the van to Bielefeld, where we were transported with 9 other people in their church van about 4 1/2 hours to Bielefeld. We talked some with new friends in the car & by the end of the trip, the woman sitting next to theBean told her, “You would be a great mentor. After sitting next to you for a couple of hours, I hear God speaking to me & directing me & answering my questions through the wisdom you share.” So yeah, it was a good trip. That’s my theBean.

Our hostess, Anna Marie, a Foursquare Missionary to Germany (from Washington) met us at the church & we walked to her place about 100 meters from the church. She got us situated & fed us a great dinner of soup & rolls, & we’ve been sitting quietly, decompressing for the last last hour while I type this blog & try to recover from the wall-to-wall people of the last several days. 

I’ll dial in with updates tomorrow on what we’re doing here in Bielefeld for the rest of the week (leaving Sunday after church)  but for now I am TOAST & am ready to head to Dreamland with theBean.

Thank you for your continued prayers. Thank you Jesus for the kind of friends who would drive 180 minutes to bring a goody bag. For dear friends to share life & talks & cheesecake with. For men & women who love You more than their own lives & embrace obedience as their life’s call & Godly mandate with a tangible grace & love for You & for people that is contagious.

Good night.