October Update

Well, October has come and gone and we are beginning to see some new opportunities. Ministry seems at time to move at an almost standstill, and at other times I can’t seem to keep track of everything. I will not waste a lot of your time with the standstill stuff, so I will get to what we are involved with right now.
Most of my focus for the rest of my time here in Germany will be in Wuppertal. After spending a lot of time with Andre, I feel we can best use our time to partner with him to see if God is starting something new there. I have started helping out with an outreach ministry that meets every Tuesday. We have invited teenagers form the neighborhood around the church to come and learn about the Bible. So far we have seen about seven or eight kids come, all of whom are from immigrant families. This is pretty exciting. At the moment, the kids have absolutely no desire to sit and listen too much, so we are just working to build relationships with them during our short time together. Our prayer is that as we share the love of Christ with them that God will draw them unto him. Pray for patience and love for these kids. It is not always easy.
As we have looked into where we can begin to take risks and attempt to reach out, we are looking to be more aggressive in our attempt to get something going on campus. Although the student population in Wuppertal is between 10 and 15 thousand, there is not much going on in the area of ministry. We are praying about partnering up with a couple other people in ministry to see if God would open the doors to start a church near campus. This is a major step and would be a work that would still be in the makings after we are gone, so we are praying for open doors, and willing hands to get involved in the work. The Harvest is definitely plentiful, but the laborers are few.
My plan is to go knock on some doors around the University to find out if I can be of service anywhere (English conversation, small group) and see what doors might be opened.
Lastly, I am still working with the youth group on Friday nights. This is not the work of a new church plant, but it might be the work into the lives of future church leaders. As we lead, we are trying to find new ways for the kids to reach out to their friends and teach them about the joy of being in Christ. If we are going to see these young people get excited about seeing their friends come to know Jesus, we need to pray God gives them a joy and an excitement about Jesus. Pray for me and Frank (youth leader), and ask that God give us wisdom and direction as we lead and teach.
It seems the opportunity for ministry is never hard to find, but it is important to stay focused. When I start diversifying my time to other “ministry opportunities” I realize I start spreading my self out too much, but never get anything done. Ultimately, I know God does it all, but I also know he desires me to live wisely, and make right decisions. I pray, and ask that you would pray, that God would give me wisdom and discernment in the decisions I make. I am not asking for a no risk decision, but I do want to stay focused to what He desires me to do.
Thanks for all your prayers.

Oktober

Well we are finally back at it after our trip to Illinois. It was great to see family and introduce Maggie to her grandparents, aunts and uncles. I flew back a week earlier than Kristen, so she made the trip back to Dusseldorf by herself. She said it was not too bad, but she has no desire to do it again. Traveling alone with once child is tough enough, but two makes it a full blown trial :-)

We are continuing to build relationships and pray for God to guide us in the right direction. The bible study is at a stand still right now, but we have all been traveling these past few weeks, so we are praying things get going this next month. We will be putting an ad in the paper this next week, so pray for people to answer the ad and come hear the truth of God's Word.

I have been asked to preach again in Mettman, so I guess I did not scare them off with my first sermon. I have been praying for the Spirit to work through me, and to preach the sermon He would have me preach. I am also preaching at the end of November at a youth service in Wuppertal. I will be preaching from 1 John 1 (be in the light). I am praying God's Word penetrates hearts, and people turn to him. I believe the Gospel is powerful enough to change hearts every time it is preached. I pray the Truth convicts people of their sin, and changes lives.

God has been blessing me through his Word the past couple of months. My time with him has become more precious to me, and I pray I continue to grow in the discipline of studying his word. It is not the reading of the Bible that is the end, but the means to it. The more I learn from his Word, the more I am getting to know Jesus Christ.

Jeremiah 9:23-24 '"Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things."Declares the Lord'