I love Mark’s name. Especially when Ed Stetzer is interviewing him. He is truly “Ed”-worthy. Mark is the interim Regional Leader for Central and East Asia, and he is one of our hosts this week. Mark and Ed sat down to discuss mission strategy.

Ed Stetzer interviewed Rick White yesterday about how churches can engage in ministry in Poland. Part of our mission on this discovery trip is to seek to connect new churches with international mission opportunities.

Steve Brown stepped up to the plate (or leaned forward on the couch) and shared his heart and vision. He and his family have been living in the Czech Republic for the past four years. As he shared, he commented that what they need from churches in the U.S. is a long-term commitment. He said [...]

Ron Brown and his family have lived in Hungary for 14 years. He studied and learned Hungarian history and culture during the first five years. He initially began doing student work but discovered that Campus Crusade was already doing great stuff in Segud. He then relocated to western Hungary – as close as you can [...]

It’s 9:00 a.m., and we’re off and running – or up and sitting. Packed into a 3-room hostel are six different strategy and mission leaders for Eastern Europe. They’ve converged him this morning from the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland to share with our team about their hope and heart for the people of Eastern [...]

It’s a visual paradox to step off an electric tram onto a cobblestone street in the shadow of a 1000 year-old castle. It’s even a great historic transport to speak with college students in one of the oldest universities in Europe who carry cell phones and ask about the U.S. bank bailout. Across the street [...]

Another beautiful day in Krakow! I preached at Second Baptist Church – a contemporary body – this a.m. about the joy of knowing Christ from Matthew 13.44 and the magnificence of being a kingdom citizen. At least, I tried to. It’s a little difficult and distracting at times to preach with an interpreter, especially one [...]

After a 9 hour flight from Atlanta to Prague, Czech Republic and another hour from there, we arrived in Krakow, Poland at 12:30 p.m. local time. It’s 7 hours ahead of CST in the States. We’ve been orientated tonight, and it’s amazing to see the network of sharp folks that God has led to Poland [...]

I fly out tomorrow for an 8-day Discovery Trip with other church planters from around the U.S. to Krakow, Poland. I really deliberated on this trip because our church has been supporting and encouraging a pastor in India, and I would like to make a trip there as soon as funds are available. When the [...]

My buddy Craig Jenkins at Beech Street First Baptist Church in Texarkana recently made a commercial for their upcoming “Friend Day” that’s a spoof of the Mac-PC commercials. He was the pastor at Immanuel Baptist Church in Warren for several years. I just had to share it with you because I’m still cleaning up the [...]

I mentioned last week that many of the “fact”-checking sites are proving more and more to be exceptionally biased in which facts they report (or don’t report). Senior Research Fellow at the University of Maryland John Lott has written an excellent article on this all-out effort by the MSM (main stream media) and supposedly objective [...]

Breaking the Missional Code: Your Church Can Become a Missionary in Your Community by Ed Stetzer I read Stetzer’s Planting Missional Churches while I was at Glorieta this summer – mainly because I had borrowed it from Jackie Flake last year and wanted to return it to him at the conference. The book was a [...]

Update (4:52p): I like what Dean said in response to today’s vote: Look for this to be just the beginning of a long line of requests/demands for not only corporate handouts/bailouts, but the governmental variety as well (California started screaming for a federal loan to keep their government open before the House vote even took [...]

If you haven’t called your legislators yet to voice opposition to the bailout, do it NOW! Don’t give up just because you’re tired and think they won’t listen. … The Baseball Crank began a 3-part series yesterday called “The Integrity Gap” and as a first installment has a long piece on Sarah Palin. Part 2 [...]

If you ever had a helping of asparagus or brocolli or beets on your plate as a kid, you have heard that phrase before. “You’re going to eat this… and LIKE it…” It was always followed or preceded by explanations of how good these things were for you. Of course, in the dietary world, things [...]