Belgium Follow Up

Jim and Jami had a great time in Brussels and were impressed with the Serve the City ministry.  This model not only reaches out to people through meeting felt needs, but very effectively encourages the involvement of the local church. Working with their events would be a good opportunity for a small flexible Proclaim ensemble or mime team. 

Jami was there to explore possibilities for a short term mission or internship. She had a good experience that week and is interested in returning, but has decided that this summer is not the right time.  

 Jim and Jami had a day to see a few of the sights and had the special treat of spending that evening with our dear colleagues Jean-Claude and Miriam Thienpont from our time at the Belgian Bible Instititute when we first went to Belgium 30 years ago. 

  

Belgium Bound

Today Jim made his 4th trip to the airport in less than a week! The last three times he spent the day playing for travelers passing through. 

(click for video link)

But today he was there as a traveler.  He and our daughter Jami headed to Brussels where they will be spending 3 days with Carlton and Shannon Deal who are ministering in an international church and directing a global ministry, Serve the City.  Through this ministry Christ's love is communicated in practical ways as volunteers are organized to reach out to those in need in their city. Serve the City, which started in Brussels in 2005, is now active or starting in 74 cities around the world. 


Jim will be exploring the possibility of Proclaim partnering in a project to assist this ministry, and Jami is interested in learning about a missions internship that they sponsor in the summer. A couple of ministry events will be going on this weekend, so they will really have a chance to see the action first hand. 


This will also be a time to reconnect in Belgium 20+ years after our time there at the Belgian Bible Institute and then with Anno Domini. Please pray for Jim and Jami during this time and for wisdom and God's leading about future ministry opportunities in Belgium. 

  

On to Belarus

From February 20 to March 7 a 14-member Next Exit team will be in the beautiful country of Belarus.  There we will  partner with and support the work of Spasenie, a Belarusian band whose name means salvation.

We have found no other group of musicians whose model for ministry so closely matches that of Proclaim.  For years this band has regularly had hit songs on the pop charts of Belarus that boldly express God’s message of hope and faith. Through their work, churches have been established and strengthened, a community center has been built which services their city, and many other types of ministry have been launched. 


Next Exit is invited to tour with them doing joint concerts in Belarus and neighboring Ukraine.  Additionally, we will be helping with a music festival and teaching some master classes for young musicians and technicians with an eye toward eventually establishing a music training center.


One of the things Jim is doing to help raise funds for the tour is playing for tips in the courtyard at the Jacksonville airport. He is permitted to have a sign indicating that all tips are going for a mission project and display information about the project that people can take. Hopefully it will stimulate some interesting conversations!

If you care to add a tax deductible contribution to the Belarus “tip jar” you are more than welcome! Just click DONATE on this blog.

                        

NEW(?) YEAR

The new year is 1/12 over already, and it seems like it was just a few days ago we saw the pineapple drop in Sarasota! 


We must start the year expressing thanks to God for his provision through our faithful monthly supporters and special gifts of generous donors, as we were able to end 2010 with a deficit of LESS THAN $2000 in our ministry account -- a dramatic improvement.  In fact, all Proclaim missionaries who have had serious deficits ended December with their deficit erased or significantly reduced.  This is confirmation that God’s resources are sure and he is not limited by this world’s economic climate.


Neither is he limited by this world’s political and social environment.  We see the troubles in North Africa that greatly impact plans that are in process for ministry this year, but know that God will open doors and accomplish his work.  In Proclaim we constantly have the challenge of making plans, but being prepared for those plans to change depending on world events, finances, or situations of our personnel or ministry partners. January is always a month of getting organized for the coming year and beginning to finalize schedules and plans, and it can be unsettling to not have more nailed down. But what we love is that we have no choice but to seek God daily for his direction and wisdom.


You can see why we treasure and depend on the partnership of those who seek God with us for his leading.


Contact us for an electronic copy of Jim's newsletter about ministry plans for February and March, or download at this link:
http://www.mediafire.com/?c4f9r6as8i16t3r

CELEBRATING OUR HISTORY

Just a week after our return from Albania we were on the road to Norfolk/Chesapeake VA to help celebrate with Tabernacle Church of Norfolk marking their 75th year of ministry. We were part of Tab as a young couple and got our start in missions through our involvement there. With all the changes over these many years it is so encouraging to see how the ministry continues strong and vital. 

We had a full schedule catching up with long time friends, involvement in music, speaking and sharing our ministry, talking to prospective musicians for Proclaim, and connecting with other missionaries on the possibility of coordinating efforts in the future.  

This faithful group has prayed for us for many years. 

We were able to relax too with our hosts in Chesapeake -- friends originally from Jacksonville -- including a day at North Carolina's Outer Banks and visit to Kitty Hawk and the Wright Brothers museum, and a fantastic evening at a Gaither concert. 

On the way home, since it was on our route, we stopped to see where Kathie spent the first 6 months of life -- Bob Jones University.

An unexpected bonus was the amazing fall color we enjoyed in the Tidewater area and on the drive.  This seems to be an unusually colorful year on the whole east coast, more brilliant than we remember seeing before. We are so thankful for this time and being reminded of what an impact the people and events of Tabernacle Church had on us through the years.  

TALES FROM ALBANIA

Well, the Proclaim tour to Albania is now history.  The 20-member Mercy Street team was strong and unified.  We came from Germany, France, Albania and the US with one purpose: to serve the church in Albania by providing a means of gathering people to hear and respond to the good news of God’s salvation.

And respond they did!  Many gladly heard and discussed this “new” message of hope.  A few responded immediately by accepting the gospel and praying to receive salvation right at the concerts.

Others indicated that they would like to have further contact with the local believers.  And a few others responded by walking out of the concerts as soon as the name of Jesus was declared.  This last response shouldn’t surprise us.  There is power in the name of Jesus and those who live in darkness are afraid of the light.  But those whom God had prepared for an encounter with the one true light responded by moving toward the light.

In 17 days we traveled to 6 cities performing before high school and university students, married couples, businessmen, diplomats and musicians and others. 

Our venues varied -- concert halls, opera houses cinemas and clubs.  We served those ministering on university and high school campuses.  We assisted the efforts of 7 different churches and church planting efforts.  In each case we were impressed with the boldness of the local believers to share their faith one-on-one after the concerts.  Much seed was planted, some new “plants” were harvested and the name of our Lord was spread further in the hearts of Albanians.

We came back very tired.  But it is the good kind of tired you get when you’ve worked hard and seen something really special accomplished.  We thank you all for your sustaining prayers!  May God richly bless you as you harvest in the fields God has placed you in!


See more photos of the tour:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=543665&id=544390283

ALBANIA MID-TOUR

A refreshing dynamic in Albania is the openness of people to talk about spiritual things. Although there are very few true believers, almost everyone claims one of the three faiths -- Catholic, Orthodox or Muslim. In fact, one guy said he was a Catholic atheist. So we have had interesting conversations. 


In contrast to previous tours in Albania, this time we are beginning to see the effects of entertainment overload. Typically it has been easy to fill a hall, even for an unknown band. This time, the crowds for most of these well-publicized concerts have been smaller than expected by the sponsors. But in spite of that, and even when many of those who did come leave when the message gets serious, consistently most of those who stay till the end engage in long and deep conversations.

At our last concert, in Vlore, the crowd was so enthusastic we thought the theater must be filled with local believers.  But we found out later that at least half were new contacts! When the house lights came up we were surprised at how few people had stayed with us, but within seconds the front and aisles were crowded with people wanting to interact. One conversation was with 3 young ladies, each of a different faith. In another, several Muslim young men were genuinely interested in the information that the Qur'an instructs followers to read the Gospels. And three other young men became new believers. 

The manager of the theater was very anxious to get the place emptied immediately after the concert and started shutting down lights to get people to leave. At first he was very antagonistic, but our translator from New Life, who is traveling with us, began talking to him, gave him a CD and was able to share the gospel with him. He evenutally made a complete turnaround and assured us we could stay as long as we needed to.

The next day we had no concert scheduled and were able to spend the day in Vlore beginning with a team meeting, then taking walks by the sea, stopping to eat at one of the local seaside restaurants, catching up at internet cafes, and just resting. It was a refreshing time of physical and spiritual renewal.

One of the examples of God's provision on this tour was at our arrival in Vlore. We went directly to our hotel to find that our rooms had been rented that morning to some one else. That is after our coordinator there had reconfirmed our reservations twice that week. So we all waited there while our tour director checked another hotel around the corner. He was back in 10 minutes with the news that they had room for all 20 of us for the same price as the original hotel, and the new hotel was nicer. 

Today we returned to Tirana for the 5-day home stretch with a concert each day. We will travel out of town for 2 of those but return to our home base each night. Thanks for continued prayer. Several members have had illnesses or injuries but God has given the strength to go on with their parts in the concerts. We are so thankful for the opportunities here.