Sherry and I are in Springfield, MO for Missionary Training. Here's a photo of our Central Europe candidate missionaries. From left to right Michael & Jen Dant, candidate missionaries to Slovakia; Sherry and me; Micah & Melia Mann, missionary associates to Austria; Aaron & Julie Davis, candidate missionaries to the Czech Republic. Veteran missionaries arrive next week for missionary renewal.
Sherry and I are heading out the door to return to Europe. We've been in the USA since June and are looking forward to our return back to Prague. This return is a bit different than the others; this time we're going back without the boys. And so, Sherry and I begin a new adventure. As Sam said to Frodo (loosely quoted, of course): When we take this next step we will be further away from home then we've ever been. Thanks for your prayers and friendship and your support. OFF TO THE AIRPORT!!!
Sherry and I just returned from from an Europe wide strategic planning meeting in Thessaloniki, Greece. Thirty Three Assemblies of God Europe missionaries met together to pray, brainstorm and begin the process of formulating a strategic five year plan for impacting Europe with the Gospel. Our first step in our strategic plan...calling all Assemblies of God Europe Missionaries to 100 days of prayer, starting January 1, 2009. We hope that you'll pray with us. Europe needs Jesus!
Following our strategic planning sessions we attended the Pentecostal Europe Missions conference. Missions leaders from all over Europe gathered together to pray and plan on reaching Europe. We were honored to be a part of this conference. John Palmer, General Secretary of the Assemblies of God USA was the guest speaker for the conference.
The First Assembly of God in Harrisburg, PA held their annual missions convention on November 9th AM and PM. I spoke at AM service. The PM service was missions banquet. That evening we took an offering to help complete the Warsaw Theological Seminary in Warsaw, Poland and received $14,000.00 in the offering. In June 2010 First Assembly will bring a construction team to Warsaw to help put the finishing touches on the new building.
Sherry and I were speaking at at Light House World Prayer Center, an Assemblies of God Church in Cresco, Pennsylvania, when a surprise visitor showed up in the service. Buddy Barrel walk into the service with the welcoming applause of adults and children alike. Pastor Charles and Pastor Dawn greeted Buddy Barrel and shared about how the children in the church have been giving by filling up there barrels with coins.
Most Assemblies of God people know who Buddy Barrel is but for those of you who may not be a part of the Assemblies of God or who don't know Buddy Barrel let me give 
you some background. Buddy Barrel is the mascot of BGMC which stands for Boy and Girls Missionary Challenge. BGMC is the missions education emphasis program for children in the Assemblies of God. It provides resources to help teach kids about missions. It supports our missionaries in their fields of ministry in America and around the world.
Why a Barrel? When BGMC started in 1949, supplies were shipped by boat to the missionaries in barrels. Barrels were used because they could be sealed tight and made waterproof. This way the supplies would not get wet or ruined. As a result, Buddy Barrel was created. Small wooden barrels were designed for the children to save their coins in. These barrels have now changed to larger yellow plastic barrels. Kids are encouraged to save their money in these barrels and turn their money in once a month.
BGMC has sent thousands of dollars to Central Europe missionaries to help purchase ministry supplies that relate directly to evangelism and discipleship.
It was great to see Buddy and the response of the kids. Thank you Buddy Barrel, BGMC and all the kids for helping us share the Good News in Central Europe.
This past week Sherry and I had the honor of being at Valley Forge Christian College, in Phoenixville, PA. I spoke in the morning missions chapel and both Sherry and I spoke in 2 missions classes. We also had lunch with Dr. Meyer, President of VFCC, and his cabinet members.
It was a special day for Sherry and me, not only because VFCC is our al ma mater but our son Philip is attending VFCC. It was a thrill for me to stand behind the pulpit and look down at the student body and see seated among them was our son Philip. He is a senior at VFCC and will be graduating in the Spring of 2009. For more info about VFCC visit: www.vfcc.edu
Yesterday evening I had the privilege of speaking at the Fox Valley Christian Fellowship in Kimberly, Wisconsin. Making the evening even more meaningful was the fact that they are sending a building construction team to help with the new church building at Vienna Christian Center in Vienna Austria. We took a moment at the end of the service to pray for the team members. See photos.
My thanks to Pastor Steve Nickel and his wife Jeanne for the invitation and their heart for missions. Our thanks for all the team members for the heart and desire to serve.
I am attending the Swiss Pentecostal Church's pastors' conference in Lucerne, Switzerland. They just accepted 6 new young pastors into the leadership of the movement, this is the first step toward ordination.
Later today will be signing a partnership document whereby we (Assemblies of God World Missions) and they (Swiss Pentecostal Mission) publicly and officially signify our growing relationship and desire to partner together to impact Switzerland with the Gospel.
Just returned from the construction site of the new building of the Vienna Christian Center. There was a construction team there from our home state of Pennsylvania--South Hills Assembly Church (Bethel Park, Pennsylvania). A team of 25 people from the church, along with Pastors Jack and Kay Step (pictured with Sherry and me) are a part of the team.
The building is in phase one of construction. The majority of the construction at this stage is being completed with the help of construction teams from Assembly of God churches in the United States. South Hills Assembly have been a long time supporter of our ministry here in Central Europe. We are honored to have them here.
This past Sunday I spoke at the Pentecostal Church in Bratislava, Slovakia. The church is a growing and vibrant church of close to 500 people. The pastor and people are warm and friendly, and the services are exciting. Here is a link to a brief clip of the worship service.
And here are a couple of photos from the service.
