I preached on intercessory prayer yesterday at the church plant in Esch.  I’ve been noticing a growing desire to leave some sort of legacy behind with this beloved community.  I desire so much that each follower of Jesus would see and embrace their purpose in being a carrier of His reign.  And, I’ve starting to realize in an even deep way that this grace and responsibility begins and ends in the realm of prayer.  Man, what I want so much is that we (myself included) get that more and more!

In response to this growing conviction, I’ve started doing regular prayer walks around different parts of the city – simply to pray for what God is doing in a place and asking Him to do even more.  I’ll be honest, I sometimes find myself wondering what I am doing.  I ask God, What do my little prayers in the face of over 1 million people in the city, 2,000 years of history, and unspeakable darkness really mean?  And, there’s the rub for me when it comes to intercession.  Who am I to believe that my pop-shot prayers have any impact against the wide expanse of the spiritual and physical world?

The truth is, it’s not my prayers that really matter.  It’s Jesus’ prayers.  He’s interceding for this city.  He’s confronting the darkness.  When we pray in His Spirit and in His Name, we’re joining Him in that work.  We piggyback His intercession, so to speak.  I’m okay with that.

I don’t know what’s going to happen in this city.  I think I’ve stopped expecting some great, flashy revival.  Honestly, what I want most is that His people would grow into the amazing calling He has given us.  And, that this city and this world would be transformed as a result.  I’m convinced that won’t happen unless we start praying with Him.

With that said, there is a lot to update after almost a year of absence.  In the past year we have seen much of our ministry here in Cologne deepen and expand.  My responsibilities working with the German church plant in the city have increased.  I now regularly fill the pulpit as well as contribute to the leadership of the church.  Kathi is busy caring for our year-and-a-half old son, Micah.  She also has had the opportunity to bless and minister to several women through discipleship and counseling.

In the coming weeks, I hope to share in more detail here what God has been doing in our lives.  It seems actually a little overwhelming thinking of encapslating the last year in words.  But, we’re thankful that we have the medium of communication available again, and we hope that you’ll come back often to get more insight into our lives and ministry!

The actual trip back was pretty brutal.  If anyone ever tells you that 2 hours is more than enough time to get through check-in at O’Hare, don’t believe them.  I have never come so close to missing an airplane before.  We were running through the airport Home Alone style.  Thank goodness, all of that is behind us now, and we’re back home getting settled into our apartment.

In the next few days, I’ll post a little bit more on our time in the US.  It was a challenging time filled with many extremes.

Right now we are enjoying a little time off giving us a chance to rest and Micah the chance to get to know his grandparents.  But, next week we start the process of support raising.  The week we left from Germany we found out that our monthly support was in a very dire situation.  In the past few months, we have lost a number of substantial supporters dropping our support well below 80%.  This is putting a severe strain on our finances and our ability to continue ministry in Germany.  On top of that, our missions agency, Greater Europe Mission, has (justifiably) made it clear that we will not be allow to return to Germany until we have raised enough monthly support to fill our current deficit.

Please be praying for us in the coming week.  In total, we need to raise almost $1,200 a month in support in order to return to our ministry in Germany.  It’s a tall order, but we are confident in God’s provision.  If you are interested in either becoming a new supporter or increasing a current commitment, please let us know as soon as possible.  Most importantly, please be praying that God would raise up all of our needs according to His will and purpose!

March 22                               Arrive in Chicago
March 22 – March 26        Chicago & NW Indiana
March 26 – April 10          Dellroy, Ohio
April 11 – April 19              Dayton, Ohio & Indianapolis, Indiana
April 20 – April 25            Dellroy, Ohio
April 26 – May 4                 Chicago
May 4                                      Depart from Chicago to Germany

We are currently working to schedule visits with people in these various locations.  Our ideal is to organize some group events so that we’ll be able to see as many people as possible.

Please be praying for traveling mercies, especially for Micah.  We’re not entirely sure how he’s going to handle the flying and long road trips.  Pray also for the various support raising activities we’ll be doing along the way.  We’re currently in need of raising new monthly supporters.  Pray that God would lead us into His provision.

We’ll keep you informed while we are on the road with blog posts, pictures, and perhaps a video or two.  See you soon!

Language is such a tricky thing.  Language coarses and dictionaries will only get you so far.  To really speak and understand at a level even resembling a native speaker can take years of constant practice and observation.  The gulf between a native and non-native speaker is immense and ever present.  It’s probably what’s most difficult about our time here so far.  I would say that my knowledge of German grammar and vocabulary is pretty advanced.  But, when it comes to how you comfort someone who just lost a loved one in their language, for example, you enter a whole other realm of communication that you never learn in a classroom.

The past few weeks I have gotten a renewed desire to be disciplined in deepening my mastery of German.  Like I said, grammar books and flashcards will only get you so far.  I’ve realized that one of the most essential things I can do is simply listen.  By taking time to intentionally listen to Germans speaking, you can slowly over time develop more of intuition and feel for how the language functions on a more routine and social level.

To this end, I’ve started watching 30 minutes of German television in the mornings.  This may not seem terribly noteworthy, but I decided that my programming of choice would be German soap operas.  That sounds silly, but it turns out that soap operas are a great way to learn language!  Generally, plot lines and dialogue aren’t too complicated and the language used is typically very colloquial.

Soaps were the natural choice also because that is what’s on TV during the time that I have free in the morning.  So far, my soap of choice has been Lena: Liebe meines Lebens.  It has already given me some good language insight, and I’m dying to find out who shot David von Arensberg!

Needless to say, Kathi is having a good laugh.  She thinks its hilarious that I’m turning to soap operas for my language practice.  She finds it funny explaining to Micah that Daddy has to go now to watch his stories.

At first, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of this gizmo.  It just seems to me to be another example of modern technology replacing genuine human contact.  Prayers in this context have traditionally been done in community.  However, sensing the modern need of one-stop solutions, the Gebetomat can give the busy commuter a connection to God in just 5 minutes.

I don’t want to be overly cynical.  It’s an interesting idea, and I shouldn’t knock it until I’ve tried it.  But, it just seems to be missing some crucial advantages of traditional forms of personal and cooperate prayer.  At the very least, it’s an interesting novelty and curious cultural phenomenon.  I hope that I get to come across one at some point!

The sermon itself was on Matthew 13:44-46, or the parables of the hidden treasure and the pearl.  I’ve always been fascinated with the pattern of exchange throughout the New Testament.  Repeated we are called to exchange our old lives for the new life of Christ.  Whether its Jesus calling us to take up our cross or Paul declaring his previous attachments garbage, this idea of exchange seems to be one of the foundational principles of the New Covanent.  The thing that really stands out to me about the Matthew 13 parables is the role of joy in that exchange.  Our absolute surrender to Jesus is supposed to be a joyful surrender!

This idea was really brought home to us this morning in fact.  We found out that another missionary family that our sending church back home supports suffered a tremendous tragedy.  The husband and wife are long-time missionaries in Mexico along its dangerous border with the US.  Yesterday while the couple was out driving, the wife was shot and killed by a gunman (CNN story).  Please be praying for the Davis family right now.  It’s a sobering reminder that our surrender means our very lives as well.

Last week, the Evangelical Alliance of Germany put on a nation-wide event of prayer.  Here in Cologne, the local Alliance organized prayer meetings around the city each evening in which the various members of the alliance took part.  On Friday, I headed up to another part of town to one of these prayer meetings.  This particular event was held in a part of town that has a heavy immigrant population.  So, at this meeting were members from the nearby Russian-speaking church as well as the Turkish church in the city.

One of the “rules” that was given at the meeting was that people were encouraged to pray and worship in their native language.  What a sight!  It was amazing to witness one man praying to God in Turkish, then a woman in Russian, then another in German.  In all, four different languages (I threw in English) were used to give worship and praise to One God!  The Turkish believers there even blessed us with some worship music in their own style and language.  What a blessing it was.

I love moments like this.  It’s one of the reasons why I’m here.  If you could have seen the love these Turks, Russians, Germans, (and a crazy Ami) displayed toward one another, it would have made you long, like me, for a deep experience of what it means to be the Church.

One of our very good friends and American teammates here in Cologne is a woman who also studied voice as part of her education.  In coming to Cologne, she set out to combine this love of and talent for music in bringing people the Gospel of Jesus.  In the short time that she has been here, she has become very connected in the music world.

One of our other teammates is a potter.  He uses his unique gifts to create some pretty remarkable opportunities to reach to our city.  For this past Advent season, he arranged a type of “Potter’s Advents calendar”.  In the front window of his work studio, he laid out 24 earthen vessels with numbers for the 24 days of Advent on each of them.  Each day, he would break open one of those pots, and would then hand out a special gift to people passing by his shop.  One day it was chocolate, or another it was free Glühwein.  This outreach created some of the most unique opportunities to share Christ with his neighbors that he has ever had.

What do these two friends have to do with Kathi’s love of music?  One of the gifts that our potter friend prepared to give away as part of this outreach was a free Christmas concert in his shop to the people of his neighborhood.  He enlisted the help of several professional musicians to give their time and gifts toward this outreach concert – including a classical guitarist, our other opera singer friend, and Kathi.

So, on the 20th day of Advent, Kathi was able to pass on that gift to God’s glory once again.  The concert was amazing.  They sang several classical and contemporary Christmas pieces, both Acapella and with the guitar accompaniment.  The crowd that gathered was really blessed by the gift, and it helped to serve our friend’s continued work in reaching out to his neighborhood.

As we continue to make our home here, one of our deepest prayers is that Kathi finds more opportunities to take this special gift and utilize it for His service.  It’s been difficult, to say the least, to have to wait for the time when that would happen.  But, I know that it will.  My bride has a special music in her heart.  I’m positive that God wants that to be shared with the world.