THE JOURNEY

CASCADING IN CASCAIS

Went to Cascais today. It’s a lovely fishing town on the Estoril coast just north of Lisbon. We sat down outside this nice hotel, overlooking the Cascais harbour. Sophie ordered a cup of tea (pictured). Can you tell it made her day?

LISBON FOR A WEEK!

We are in Lisbon, Portugal from today till Sunday. Every year we fly here for the CA leadership summit. The conference is attended by CA church planters from all over Europe, and some from beyond. There are also CA boardmembers and consultants. This summit is always one of the high points of my year. The inspiration, encouragement, challenging messages, the friendship, the fun and laughter, the exercises, the worship – it all makes for a great experience. Some of our very best friends are here. It is so good to just sit back, relax, and be ministered to! Here are some of our friends…

Frank and Dawn do a church plant in Paris. They have a large team, three beautiful daughters, and a challenging mission. Lately they have been under specific attack. Recently Frank has had to go to the Emergency room with team members...Fortunately for them, they are assembling a really large team - good news, because Paris is a big city, and not a city that always responds to the gospel so well. Their church is called Vintage.

Darrin and Julie are doing a church plant in Aix en Provence. They have two kids, McKenna and Sawyer. Their project is going well. Their challenge is that every semester they have a whole new group of students come to the city, while the old bunch leaves. I visited them last year, and interviewed a lady who was in the process of coming to Christ. So exciting to watch!

Troy and Heather Cady have been at work in Madrid, Spain for a while, and their project, Mountainview, is doing great. Troy is an amazing actor. During the summit he did a piece on the Emmaus travellers, which brought tears to my eyes. Tro and Heather are pretty sure they will stay in Madrid for a long time to come. I am so grateful for people like them. who leave home and family, to serve God here in Europe.

And then there is this couple, doing a churchplant in Rotterdam. Unlike th above, we don't have a team of CA-staff, who work with us full time. But I am so thankful that we do have a team! The last few weeks I have been so excited by they way different people in Crossroads Rotterdam are stepping forward! Here are just a few of the names: Erik, Miriam, Jelle, Bart, Jonathan, Hilde, Alexander, Arjan, John, Hester, Jantina... and many more! That’s just a quick sample of some of our friends!

Golf in the snow!

Today I played a round of golf - for the first time in many years. While we lived in the US (96-99) I played golf frequently. This is not to say I always enjoy the game - it can be amazingly frustrating! Since then I have only played twice. And then today.
It was so cold! At some point it even started snowing. But man, did I have a good time! I played with Alexander, a friend I have made through XRR. He is literally in between jobs (starts the next one next week), and he and I have taken the opportunity to get to know each other a little better, and deepen our friendship.
Today we talked about our desire to better understand God's voice. Alexander and I both have that desire. We would like to hear his voice clearer, and on more occassions. He described himself as desperate - and I have to say I share the feeling.
But anyway - what great fun to play again! (And I played pretty good)

The very first XRR leadership Retreat

Last weekend the leadership of XRR went away for a retreat. About 20 of us took time for prayer, worship, teaching, vision-sharing, communion and fellowship.
It was a great experience. I have posted a small gallery of images for you to enjoy. We stayed at a hotel in a small city not to far from Rotterdam. It offered a lovely room which we used for our program.
The theme of the weekend was 'taken, blessed, broken, given.' These are the words the Bible uses consistently when it speaks of communion. Jesus says of himself that he is the bread of life - and, like him, we too are sent to the world. He takes hold of us, blesses, breaks us and gives us to the world (Thanks to the late Henri Nouwen for this theme!).
I spoke three times and Eric spoke once. A lot of insights we are gainign from people like Brian McLaren and Tom Wright came through.
We had a great concert of prayer on Saturday afternoon, during which we prayed for XRR and for Rotterdam. Then we all enjoyed a good meal at a nearby restaurant. We also did a fun team-exercise under Eric's leadership (although he was very sick!), and had a very good group-discussion regarding the challenges we face in the coming year.

Rethinking the future

When I was studying at Tyndale Seminary I took a class on eschatology. I think it was taught by Professor Don Tinder, who was very good. Eschatology is that part of theology that studies what the Bible says about things to come,'  - put differently: the future.

The class helped me understand quickly that there is not one simple way to look at the information the Bible gives us. Christians, evangelicals included, differ greatly about how they are to understand what the bible says. There is huge disagreement over what Biblical passages are applicable. There are 6 major schools of thought. There are all kinds of understandings about this - even though most christians don't realize this. To suggest that we should understand the Bible in this-and-this way in this regard is just too simplistic.

Dynamite

Every first Tuesday of the month I meet with Jelle. He is the first initiator for XRR, the church plant we work with. He is the chairman of the baord, and as such the most direct boss I have.

Our conversations are deep, personal, and very inspiring. Jelle is a walking house on fore - on fore for God. When I forst joined XRR I was unsure of how this relatioonship would pan out (I think both of us wondered about that), but now, 16 months into it I can only say how grateful I am to God for allowing me the privilige of working next to Jelle.

wow - what a sunday!

Today's service was just amazing! XRR keeps continuing to grow. Today there was close to 90 people! The stream of visitors just seems to be expanding all the time. Some come in response to personal invitation, some because of our website, and some because there is a buzz going around about XRR.

Today was also the first time we had a complete band. Jos, a drummer, joined us for the first time. It sounded terrific! Those who know me know how critical I can be of sound and music - but I kid you not: it just sounded like a CD! Sophie led worship  - it was awesome. I took this image with my mobile phone...

Bob Philips, pastor of Crossroads Almere spoke. We are in a series 'God in the movies' (God op Film) right now, and he used the movie 'Signs' as a starting point. It was very good - you can find a recording (including a song Sophie and I sang) here.

And then the stories of lives changing before and after the service. I met with one guy who is finding his identity in Christ, and repenting of a decision he has made - awesome!

Confusing and exciting!

The last few weeks I have been listening to some lectures given by NT Wright. They have excited me a great deal! I have given them to everybody on the XRR management team, and now all of us are listening to them, and talking about them.
(You can find them on www.opensourcetheology.net; the lectures are here).

So I ordered some books by NT Wright (his name is Tom). Today I received from Amazon 'Jesus and the victory of God,' 'The New Testament and the people of God,' and 'Rediscovering Jesus.' I have started reading them, and they are fascinating!