Posts Tagged ‘missions’

This is the third part in a continuing series on the Youth of Western Europe, with a focus on France. See below for links to the first two parts of this series.

The political animosity of France seems not only to be directed at the U.S., but also at the Christianity it sees portrayed by the U.S. This unfortunate association, combined with historical milieu of the country, as well as its confusing religious history – where Christianity fought itself more than it ministered to its people – have led to the alarming state of lostness among French youth. They must be reached with the Gospel in this generation! To have such a highly technological and ostensibly educated society’s youth reject Christ would erode the “progress” of the last centuries. If the church cannot keep its children and address this situation in every country, it cannot claim to have reached a people.

According to the 24-7prayer.com website,

“80% of the youth population of France have never even seen or held a Bible!”

Couple that with France’s long history of persecuting religious minorities, and one can see how any authentic, Bible-believing fellowship that emerges could easily receive the moniker of “cult.” Although the evangelical community in France is greater than 500,000, most of those are over the age of 40. In fact, it is reported that there are more full-time occultic practitioners in France than there are Christian workers (24/7prayer.com reports 50,000 occultic practitioners)!

“Of France’s 60 million inhabitants, about 40 million consider themselves Catholic, but only about 5 million attend church each month. Up to 5 million are Muslim and 650,000 are Jewish. One million are Protestants; about 650,000 of them belong to the often austere and liturgical Reformed and Lutheran churches, but only a small proportion attend church regularly,” reported a February 2005 Christianity Today article.

The article claims that there are the 350,000he 350,000
English: World English Bible - WEB
Izbrano poglavje ne obstaja! Štetje svetopisemskih vrstic se začne z ¹! Vrstica ⁰ ne obstaja!

WP-Bible plugin evangelical churchgoers in France, but most French are deists, agnostics, and atheists ripe for a renewed effort of the church.

Scripture exhorts the church to preach the Gospel to all nations, but it is not a one-time event. Our Lord obviously meant to “keep preaching” the Gospel – not to drop a Bible bomb on a culture and then move on, thinking the task was done. Historically the church has done a better job of exposing people to the Gospel than it has curing them of paganism. All these factors lead to the need to re-examine our “unreached peoples” classification and press forward in the understanding that we must make disciples and not reap decisions from the nations. The youth of France are in desperate need of the transforming power of the Gospel and to be reached with its life-giving truth.

This is the second part of a series that is focusing on the youth of western Europe. The series is subtitled Ignorant Heirs of a Reformation and focuses on the youth of France.

HISTORICAL
Known for its rich history and culture, France has long been a leader and influencer of world affairs. For the purpose of this paper, only the history since the Middle Ages will be considered. In the last 1000 years, however, France has been the epicenter of religious strife, political upheaval, invasion, occupation, torture, and political struggle.

It has been a culture with a long history of religious ambiguity, corruption and deep tension. It was in Avignon, France in the 1200s that a dual papal battle began, with one Pope located in Avignon and the other located in Rome. After the errant leadership of Pope Boniface VIII, the French king Phillip IV manipulated the church and had the capital of the Catholic Church moved to Avignon in 1305. So began a long “captivity of the church” as the French king used his influence over the pope during a particularly weak and corrupt era n church history to enrich his kingdom and fund his ongoing war with England. Pope John XXII, installed by Phillip’s influence, devoted his whole tenure as pontiff to enriching the papal treasury (and subsequently, Phillip’s war coffins). It wasn’t until 1415 that a single Pope was finally elected by the illustrious and imposing Council of Constance – Pope Martin V.

By this time, however, incredible damage had been done to the cause of Christ through a multitude of Crusades, religious infighting and greed among the church’s leaders. A generation of Reformers arose to debate the church’s error, defend the Gospel, and describe the true meaning of church to an apathetic culture. Ironically, the same Council of Constance that created the end of the papal battle (in 1415, there were actually three men who were called as Pope!), also named John Wycliffe a heretic and ordered him burned.

In the next 400-500 years, Europe was the site of such great spiritual earthquakes, with the likes of John & Charles Wesley, Martin Luther, and John Calvin – that many considered Europe entirely Christianized. The discovery of the American continent and its emergence as a world power suddenly shifted attention away from France, allowing some of the religious “dust” to settle. It settled thick. Generation after generation would remember the fallacies and sheer outrage of acts of the “church.” Even with the spirit of reform in the air, to many outsiders, it just looked like a reorganization.

In the 20th century, Catholicism reigned in France, but it was nominal at best. France was embattled by Germany, invaded, and occupied in the early part of the century. It never seemed to recover its sense of national identity. Once a staunch ally of the United States and its old rival, England, in the last 30 years, France has leaned steadily leftward politically. Recently, France became the subject of debate among American political conservatives as it refused to endorse or help in the war on terror in Afghanistan or Iraq. In fact, upon closer examination, a people once known for their arrogance now considers Americans to be supremely arrogant as anti-U.S. attitudes continued to grow, particularly among the young people of France.

Because of the well-publicized faith of U.S. President George W. Bush, many of the young people in France identify America’s “arrogance” with its religion and have turned their back on the faith of their fathers – which in most instances never had a chance to establish itself either.

The following is a series that was formerly created as a paper for the Perspectives class. I went through training to be a coordinator for this excellent, missions-intensive seminar, and we were required to write a paper upon completion.

I chose to focus my paper mainly on the youth of France. I took three years of French in high school and have always been drawn to the country. Here’s hoping that this series will provoke thought, prayer, and strategic mission effort toward the youth of Europe and specifically, France.

Western Europe is one location on earth that many would never consider as having “unreached people” living within it. The likes of John Calvin, Martin Luther, William Wilberforce, and other great Christian leaders and reformers are inscribed on the pages of history books and church cathedrals across the continent. However, the youth of France today, who will be the focus of this paper, have rarely seen or even held a Bible!

Many would say that to classify anyone in Western Europe as “unreached” is ridiculous. However, within the youth population of France, there are dozens of other ethnic people groups, each desperately needing a witness of the Lord Jesus among them. While other missiologists continue to publicize and hype the “10/40 Window” to the church, unreached people exist in historically Christian countries. This unnecessary overemphasis may be the result of a man-centered approach to the interpretation of Jesus’ words in Matthew 24.14 where Jesus said that the gospel of the kingdom must be preached to the whole world and “then the end will come.” That one passage has shaped and formed the strategies of hundreds of American mission agencies in the last 20 years and has resulted in the neglect of emphasis on other key influential areas, particularly Western Europe and France.

The youth in this powerfully influential area of the world are at crucial spiritual crossroads, and to abandon a concerted, strategic focus on them may set the church back even as it pours resources elsewhere. In fact, to neglect the evangelization of the youth culture of France or Western Europe will eventually create the most influential non-Christian group of countries in our world. The purpose of this series is to identify the urgent spiritual needs of the youth of France and to develop a strategy for reaching them with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

[Above image taken from worldmap.org. Source.]

We arrived back in Monticello at 2 a.m. on Wednesday from our trip to Poland. Fortunately, I drooled on the plane from Charlotte to Little Rock, so I was semi well-rested. Our car was packed with my family, Tracy, Becca Sustaire and Lindsey Randall. Needless to say, it was cozy.

Wednesday a.m. played a cruel trick on us. We were up waaay too early. Carolyn had a head full of steam, and we immediately began boxing and packing. The movers arrive next Wednesday to take our belongings to Blacksburg.

Our last day in Poland was so fast, surreal, serious and joyful. We saw the awful horrors of Auschwitz and Berkenauer. The evil that was unleased upon the world in the malevolent intentions of the Third Reich is beyond comprehension. One part of you wants to stop, sit, and dwell painfully on man’s ability to ignore His Creator. The surreal part is that after several hours of immersion in mind-numbing history, well, we were hungry.

That’s where the surreal part came in. We drove across the street and ate kabobs at a tourist trap. On one side is genocide; on the other side is hamburgers.

When we returned to Krakow, we made a quick stop by the Jewish Quarter of town to see the Krakow Ghetto Memorial and Schindler’s Factory. And from there, the mall. Again, a sharp contrast.

Monday evening, we enjoyed a wonderful meal at the Massengales, our hosts for the week. We started in their living room with our first meal, and we ended there as well. As Shae shared with us about the impact we’d had over the week, we were so honored and humbled. We were there because we love Christ and because His love for all peoples compels all Christians to serve Him in all places.

It was awesome to hear the softball team share all that the Poland experience had meant to them. We cried, prayed, and rejoiced in the goodness of God. To a person, we all were hesitant in our hearts to leave Poland the new friends we’d made.

As I’ve packed boxes and worked this morning in our oven/attic, my thoughts keep drifting back to Krakow. Carolyn and I were so privileged to have gone on the the trip. Thank you all who gave, prayed, and helped in other ways to make our trip possible.

Sunday night in many ways was a fulfilling completion to our trip to Krakow, Poland. As we were preparing to worship at Compass International Christian Fellowship with our hosts and their families, it delighted us to see several members of the girls basketball and guys baseball teams in attendance. This was their first time in a non-Catholic worship service as far as we know.

As the service began, it was in English, and so we were able to sing with full and grateful hearts contemporary songs of worship to our King. Kayla was asked to share her faith story, and though she did so with an interpreter for those present who needed Polish, it was a dynamic and powerful account of how Christ has worked in her life.

I had the opportunity to preach. It was my second time to do so – my first being last October in Poland. I preached from Luke 18 about Zacchaeus’ encounter with Jesus. 

• It doesn’t matter what you’ve done.
• It doesn’t matter where you are.
• It doesn’t matter what you have.
• It doesn’t matter who you are.
• What matters is seeing Christ clearly.

The opposite of those first four is also true. (It doesn’t matter what you haven’t done.) The Lord enabled me to preach as simply as I could about the love of God in Christ, and I urged those present to get above the crowd in their life and get a clear view of Jesus. The wonderful thing about Zacchaeus’ attempt to see Jesus is that Jesus saw Him. Just like He does all of us when we turn our eyes upon Him.

That morning we were blessed to attend the First Baptist Church here in Krakow. Though it was a Polish service, two young girls in the church came to sit next to us to interpret and give us the gist of what was being said. As the preacher taught about the family of God, it was appropriate and encouraging for us to realize that these people – thousands of miles away from our Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Louisiana homes – were also our family in Christ.

After a great meal at Pizza Hut, we went back to Wawel Castle where the team had the opportunity on this occasion to take the self-guided tour inside the ancient cathedral there. 

Sunday night after church, we headed to Rynek to eat – and eating is much more of a relaxed event than simply a feeding. You’re expected to lounge and visit for extended times during meals here. Sebastian and Erin Vazquez joined us for the first time, and it was refreshing to catch up with them. They had been in Greece this past week and only returned to Krakow on Saturday night.

The gals hung out with members of the basketball and baseball teams, and then beat Tracy, Lou and me back to the hostel. Carolyn had gone back to the castle with the Massengales to take their family photos. She also was at the hostel.

When we got there, the girls immaturely decided to dump water on us from the top floor balcony. It was only my amazing reflexes that prevented me from getting a dousing since I went first. I don’t know what I heard first – water hitting the sidewalk all around me or cackling from on high.

We spent the rest of the evening as we have almost every night since our arrival – visiting, laughing and enjoying our God-given and blessed time here in Poland. Again, thank you sincerely to all those who made this trip possible with your generosity. Our Lord really is doing big things through the talents and witness of our team.

Friday

“If life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” So goes the saying. The reality is that God often throws in cake as well. We awoke Friday to a steady rain. Our plans had been to go to the park for our last day with outreach and softball with kids. His plans were better.

During our week, our presence in the park drew the attention of the director of the YMCA here in Krakow. He brought dozens of their kids over to participate in our program. As a result, he urged the missionaries here to please contact them if we needed to because of inclement weather.

That’s exactly what Shae did on Friday a.m. 

The team was able to spend the entire morning with 50+ kids, working on softball basics and playing games with them. The real fruit however, is a valuable and blessed connection with the YMCA that the missionaries now have. The personnel there invited them back once or twice a month to do more work with the kids.

Also on Friday, we toured (quickly) Wawel Castle. You may recall my visit to it back in October. It’s no less majestic on the second go-round.

After a looong walk, we met the guys baseball team for a scrimmage that evening. It was a great way to allow them to see what a game would feel like. It was their first opportunity to put into place what they’d been learning and practicing over the past weeks.

In a matchup of girls vs. guys, the UAM Cotton Blossoms won 6-5. They had a little help from McKenna Massengale, who belted several beyond reach of the guys, and yours truly… who was asked to play catcher.

From there, we went to Friday night coffee house. It’s a weekly event that the missionaries host. This Friday was line dancing. We weren’t quite sure how it would go over, but we discovered quickly when the place packed out just how excited the Polish people are about opportunities to fellowship and build relationships.

We had a great time… watching the team line dance. 

Saturday

We were thrilled to have the morning off on Saturday. After three consecutive days of nonstop action, walking, relationship-building and softball, it felt good to sleep in. Unfortunately for me and Tracy, we’ve had problems sleeping since the sun comes up at 4:30 a.m. So we find ourselves cruising the streets of Krakow on trams, waiting for coffee shops to open. (They do not open until 7 a.m.!) If you follow me on Facebook, you can catch some of our daily video updates that we’ve been making. Saturday’s was our favorite so far.

After lunch, we went to Jordana Park for a cookout with all the new friends and contacts that we’ve met this week. The park itself is incredible. The equipment for kids, basketball and tennis courts, rock climbing wall, skateboard park, and pond and trails are really very impressive. I haven’t seen anything like it in the States. And it’s well-used by the folks here in Krakow. It’s always full.

At the cookout, we played wiffle ball and treated everyone who came to grilled hamburgers and hot dogs. It was a big hit. The main thrust, however, was to allow the team to share a little about the “why’s” of their visit to Poland. In interview style, one of the missionaries facilitated a Q&A time. The girls were able to share about their love and with relationship with Jesus Christ clearly and passionately in front of the group as they reclined on blankets in the grass. It was a beautiful scene.

Afterwards, we trammed it to the mall where we ate and did some shopping. We retired back to the hostel for a devotional time and an exhausted lights out, or so we thought. After devotionals, it just seemed that it renews our strength and perspective. The laughter and general goofiness lasted well into the wee hours of the a.m. 

We were quite sobered by the fact that we only have two more days in Krakow. Time has flown. God has been good.

Thursday was another amazingly full day. The members of the UAM Cotton Blossoms who are on the trip with us – Becca Tipton, Kayla Temple, Savannah Morin, Lindsay Randall, Amy Mardis and Becca Sustaire – have been simply incredible. We all knew their team was fantastic, but what we were unprepared for was just how good these girls really are – not just at their sport, but in their love and work ethic.

They have burned the candle at both ends and served long, hard hours in kids camps and practicing with a newly-formed baseball team here in Krakow. All at their own expense and from the donations and love of others. The end goal is to honor and bring praise to Jesus Christ here in this beautiful city.

They’ve built relationships and opened several doors for the missionaries to continue their work and ministry. I’m also grateful for the parents and families of these girls who have trusted us and Journey Church. They helped contribute and encouraged us as we pressed forward with this trip – even with scant details.

Carolyn and I have been grateful and so blessed to see how the Lord has used every member of our mission team so far on the trip. Lou has been simply incredible with the kids that she has taken under her wing. She’s been a constant strength and source of help at every phase. Tracy has continued to battle with me for title of funny man of the week. Too bad he’s losing so far. Seriously, I am so grateful for his presence and his witness and leadership. As a campus minister, trips like these not only help him connect with the students with us but capture a vision for ministry on the campuses of the world.

After another jam-packed day of ministry and softball, we cleaned up and ate at a Chili’s-style restaurant called Yummies on the Rynek, and it was delicious. Two of the baseball players joined us and then took the gals around after dinner while us old folks searched for an ice cream stand before heading back to the hostel for a rousing game of Phase 10.

Truly, there is nothing more surreal than walking around the Rynek at night with the gorgeous lights on the St. Mary’s Cathedral and seeing the carriage rides lined up along the cobble stone roads. Thanks to those of you who gave so generously to make this trip possible. We are supremely grateful at every moment for the sacrifice and generosity that you displayed.

We had a blast.

We were amazed.

God is good.

When you bring a mission team overseas, you always emphasize the “F” word. That’s flexibility. You just never know what will happen or how your plans will actually turn out. 

Our hope all along for this trip was for the UAM softball gals to be able to conduct a sports camp for kids here in Krakow, to teach and demonstrate the sport of softball to a European town that cherishes soccer above all else and doesn’t even have a baseball field. That was our hope, and it was high.

We actually didn’t know if anyone would show up. The missionary team who are in Krakow had worked hard the last few days, passing out fliers and creating a buzz, but they too, had no idea if anyone would show up. That was until 11:00l 11:00
English: World English Bible - WEB
Štetje svetopisemskih vrstic se začne z ¹! Vrstica ⁰ ne obstaja!

WP-Bible plugin a.m. yesterday. It was then that more than 50 kids showed up, full of excitement and enthusiasm.

We were so proud of the girls. They were more than champs. Not only did they conduct this impromptu, unstructured camp in a setting that was challenging, but they did so with joy and deep character. They showed the kids softball. But larger than that, they showed them their hearts.

And while they were swinging bats and throwing balls, the Lord was behind the scenes hitting homeruns. One of the leaders of the Krakow YMCA “just happened” to be in the park, and he offered the use of their building this week should it rain. He also wanted to coordinate future things with the missionaries here. A great contact!

After a wonderful afternoon in the Rynek Square, we went to another location, and the girls worked with a newly formed guys baseball team. Baseball was new to them. So were girls who could outplay, outhit and outthrow them. I think it was a little difficult on them in this culture getting trained (and schooled) by girls. 

One of my favorite moments of the day was when Becca and Amy suited up and threw pitches. The loud pop of Becca’s glove hitting her leg after her pitch, followed instantly by the louder pop of the ball in Amy’s glove was pretty awe-inspiring. The kids and later the guys watched in awe. So did we. 

All the girls found key roles to play, and when we had our devotional time last night in the hostel (the Techno Twins weren’t around), we celebrated and unpacked a full day of ministry after Tracy shared about Elijah from 1 Kings 18. 

We are all grateful for your prayers and your generosity that got us here. God is at work. Will you please continue to join us in this great work with intercession? More later!

I woke up in Krakow. At 4:50 a.m. local time. Wiiiiide awake. So off to the shower and then to find Coffee Heaven – my favorite coffee hangout here in Poland (that I know of so far). I was looking forward to seeing if I remembered how to navigate the tram ride.

Imagine my surprise to discover that Tracy was up and showered as well. I didn’t think campus ministers knew that the sun actually comes up after it goes down… ;)

So off we went. First stop was an ATM machine. Next stop. Buying a tram ticket. It all came back. It was a flawless ride to the Rynek Square. Imagine our disappointment to discover that coffee shops in Poland don’t open until 7:00l 7:00
English: World English Bible - WEB
Štetje svetopisemskih vrstic se začne z ¹! Vrstica ⁰ ne obstaja!

WP-Bible plugin a.m. It was 5:30 a.m. 

We wasted time by exploring some side streets and discovering free WIFI zones with my iPhone and Tracy’s iPod Touch.

Finally… 7:00 a.m. and hot coffee and muffins. We both took some time to look at the team’s scripture reading for the day: John 6.26-51. The questions: Why did Jesus say He was bread? How does manna relate to Jesus? What is your own hunger level for this bread of life?

Finally.. back to the hostel to discover all the girls, including Carolyn, still in bed. This should be fun… More later.

We are here! After many months of fundraising, prayer, communication and planning, our Poland sports mission team arrived in Krakow this afternoon. We had a looooong, fun, exhausting, movie-filled plane ride of a trip. 

The main development of the trip has been the official declaration of a jokes war between me and Tracy Reed. So far, I’m winning. 

I’ll be posting regularly all week about the trip, so stay tuned!

In a few short weeks, I’ll be going to Poland for the second time in less than a year. I was blessed to go last October on a Discovery Trip sponsored by the Arkansas Baptist State Convention. I got to hang out with Ed Stetzer, Rick White, and some amazing missionaries that serve in Poland.

One of the goals of the trip was for the pastors who went to be mobilizers for Central and Eastern Europe. It’s one of the most difficult areas of our world to evangelize.

At the end of this month, I’ll be traveling back to that wonderful region of the world with members of the UAM softball team, the Cotton Blossoms. From Journey Church, Tracy Reed, the UAM Baptist Collegiate Minister will be going along with me and my wife and Lou Arnold. The goal of our trip is to assist the ministry of our missionaries overseas by conducting sports clinics and building new relationships through our work there.

When we asked the softball gals to go, we committed to helping them raise their money for the trip (in addition to our own). With a cost upwards of $1500 per person for plane fare, room and board, that was a sizable faith step. Little were we to know that Lou would raise all of her money within the first two weeks via Facebook!

During the time we announced our trip, we have been able to also send over three guys from our church to help the missionaries over spring break. They were able to work with the Krakow Tigers, Poland’s professional football team.

The purpose of my writing today is to ask you to help us raise the remaining money for our trip. We only need $3000 to reach our goal! Could you spare a few bucks – the cost of a Coke, or a Happy Meal, a movie, etc. to send our team to Poland? We would sincerely appreciate whatever you are able to do!

We are at the point of needing to purchase our plane tickets before the cost gets away from us! Help us finish this goal this week! And thank you so much in advance for your kindness, prayers and generosity!

The entire Noble brood flies out of Little Rock International Airport tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. to spend a week with Mike and Kristy Hales in Wasilla, Alaska. We have instructed them to schedule a lunch with Sarah Palin over the weekend. I am going to be offering my candidacy to Sarah as her running mate for VP in 2012. So it should be fun.

Mike and Kristy astounded us by their extreme faith back in the early part of 2007 when they began to share with us how serious they were about responding to what they sensed was God’s call on their life. Every time they turned around, Alaska was being mentioned in some shape, form or fashion. When they began to understand that months before, they had begun to surrender more and more of their lives to Christ, saying they were willing to do, go, and give whatever or wherever for the glory of God, they never dreamed it might be in our coldest state.

They sought a lot of counsel, prayed long and hard, and finally embraced the northerly direction they knew God was calling them to. It was not easy for their families – neither their families of raisin’ or their family of praisin’. In fact, both groups took it hard in different ways.

Their families realized that they would not be able to see Mike and Kristy or their two precious girls – Lilly and Abby nearly like they were used to. It broke everyone’s heart, yet Mike and Kristy pursued obedience with the Lord.

For our church family, 2007 started off great, with the transition to a new location and their first-ever “bought” facility. However, it became a tough year as several families left over conflict with vision and leadership. Mike was one of our elders, and it was extremely hard “releasing” him when our church was experiencing such division and conflict. He and Kristy have always been a huge support and encouragement, as well as a wealth of wisdom. They had been with Journey from the very first days when it was meeting in our living room. They were an anchor of hope. Yet Mike and Kristy pursued obedience with the Lord.

After a lot more research, they found Voice for Christ Radio Ministries through some friends of friends and contacted them. (There’s a great pic here of Kristy interviewing a contestant in the Before long, they excitedly made plans for an exploration trip. When they returned from that, they were confident and exuberant over how God had provided a place for them to serve Him in bringing glory to Christ in the rural areas of Alaska through radio.

With the added (and necessary) blessing of Mike finding a PTA job, they were ready. The next thing we all knew, they were selling out. Literally. Couches, chairs, TVs, cars, etc. They were all sold or given away to make money for the transition. They would just get all new/used stuff once they got there. They chose Wasilla as their home (before any south of Canada had heard of Sarah).

They left on June 14, 2007ne 14, 2007
English: World English Bible - WEB
Izbrano poglavje ne obstaja!

WP-Bible plugin. Mike has not been back to Arkansas since then. Kristy and the girls were able to come down for Christmas 2007. They’ve had family travel to visit them, but no one from our church has been until now.

We are so excited. In the midst of helping church members raise funds for Poland, we have not requested any aid for this Alaska Mission. For one, it feels more like going to see friends than it does in helping, encouraging and visiting missionaries. I think that’s the way it should be. For another, everyone we know is strapped. So… criticize all you want, but this is credit card missions at its finest. Caro hopes to be able to shoot a wedding for one of Kristy’s friends later this year in Alaska, and if that “pans out,” then it will pay for the trip – or most of it. However, for those of you who think credit cards are evil – or being in temporary debt is abhorrent, then you will turn up your nose at this.

But we’re going. And we’re pumped. And we’re trusting. If we have to in the end, we have all kinds of things to sell. ;)

So the next blog on this site may cause your eyeballs to chill. You’ll be reading what I’ve typed from Alaska. The next week will be full of laughter, snow, prayer, laughter, discovery, moose, tears, and joy. Two families that God has connected by faith and miles will be reveling in the freedom of serving a Risen Lord… by faith.

And maybe… just maybe… some of what is shared or written over the next days here or over at Kristy’s blog might shake you out of your comfort zone into your own faith journey.

By the way, if you read this, Sarah, Saturday night dinner will be fine. Any place you choose…

For Kristy’s perspective on their journey, here are some great blog entries from 2007:

• Our new direction
• More waiting
• For sale
• Alaska Night 1
• Mission Accomplished
• 1st from AK
• Three more days

This month, our church has three members heading to Poland to work with the Krakow Tigers in sports ministry. We’re excited for Jeremy, Clark and Michael. If you are able to help support their trip, please do so by using the ChipIn widget below. If just 2o0 folks gave $3, their goal would be met! Your gifts are tax deductible, and the guys will be extremely grateful for your generosity. Please pray about whether you might be used by the Lord to help send them to Poland!