The body is a unit, though it is made up
of many parts; and though all its parts are many,
they form one body.  So it is with Christ.
(1 Corinthians 12:12)

Greetings from Amsterdam!  We’re just back from our month in the land of big cars and long highways, the land of free refills and conscientious customer service, the land of long-and-much-beloved people and places… Let’s just say that our recent visit to the United States was wonderful.  We really enjoyed the opportunity to reconnect with family and friends in America—so much so, in fact, that by the end of our trip we weren’t so excited to get back to “regular life” in Amsterdam.  But by God’s grace, our return to the Netherlands has been surprisingly smooth and satisfying, so far.  In fact, we actually find ourselves glad to be “back home” in Amsterdam, after our trip “back home” to Ohio.

One of the things that struck me during our time in America was the beauty and power of the body of Christ.  It’s simply amazing how believers from across the globe work together to serve as God’s hands and feet in the world today.  Although we went back to America in hopes of sharing stories of God’s work in Amsterdam and offering our thanks and appreciation to everyone who so faithfully supports our ministry—we actually found people on our ministry team thanking us for allowing them to be involved in God’s workings in Amsterdam.  Marci and I were unspeakably encouraged by the countless men and women (a number of whom we had never met before) who approached us during our time in America to tell us that they had been praying for us through critical periods of life in the Netherlands.  And wherever we went in America, we felt like honored guests.  We had enthusiastic people welcoming us into their homes; we were treated to wonderful conversation over wonderful meals; we were provided with a comfortable-yet-fuel-efficient car that could carry us from place to place… And thanks to God’s goodness and the generosity of the Church in America, we were able to meet all of our financial support goals for the trip!  Indeed, it is an incredible blessing to be a part of the body of Christ…

Since returning to the Netherlands we’ve been quickly re-assimilating into our local body of believers, Zolder50.  There’s been a lot to catch up on, but overall things seem to be going very well with the ministry in Amsterdam.  Obviously, given the fact that our last month was largely spent on American soil, we don’t have much in the way of personal observations or specific news from the Netherlands to report.  Nevertheless, I would like to ask for you to pray together with us this month for the following:

• Ongoing Negotiations regarding the Zolder50 Ministry Facilities:  Just prior to our travel to the States, our church definitively learned that we will be leaving our current ministry facilities ('The Zolder') this fall.  Naturally, this will present some challenges (leaving a place that is such a part of our history and our identity; going through the hassle of starting over again in a new place), but we also trust that it will present some opportunities (to move toward greater financial self-sufficiency; to impact new areas of Amsterdam for Christ; to reaffirm the centrality of Jesus within our church, above and beyond any specific facility or event).  So please pray with us for ongoing negotiations with the owners of our current facilities, that they may cooperate with reasonable terms for our departure (in particular, we’re working on departure dates and financial settlements for contract termination).  Also, we would appreciate your prayers for wisdom and direction in finding new facilities to meet our needs as a church.  And please pray for minimal disruption to ministry activities during the transition period.  Your prayer support for this is critical…
• “Spies in the Land” Follow-up:  In April, one of the Zolder50 home groups joined up with a short-term missions team from Michigan to visit Rotterdam (the second-largest city in the Netherlands) in order to explore the spiritual climate of the city and evaluate possibilities for eventually sending a team from Amsterdam to help start a new church there.  The result was an overwhelming plea for our involvement in Rotterdam.  Consequently, three of the people from the Michigan team are returning in July to dialogue further with our church and with other Rotterdam Christians to strategize and consider possibilities for starting a new church there within the next couple of years.  Thus, this strategic initiative really needs our prayer support in the coming weeks!  Through this year’s “Spies in the Land” project, we’ve also discovered strong possibilities for eventual follow-up in Nijmegen, Groningen, and Maastricht (other cities that have been visited by Zolder50 home groups).  Also in July, the fifth and final home group from Zolder50 will be “spying out” the fifth and final city of our project: Utrecht.  Therefore, your prayers for all of these possibilities would be greatly appreciated.  In particular we’re praying along the lines of Matthew 9:37-38:  “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
• Zolder50 Leadership Development.  We believe as a church that we can play a critical role in mobilizing “workers” to go out into the “harvest fields” of Amsterdam and beyond, through deliberately training godly young men and women to lead the church in Europe.  To this end, we’ve been developing a special equipping course that will hopefully begin in the fall, by focusing on our church’s current home group leaders and ministry leaders.  This summer, Lee Dubois (one of our staff members) will be leading a pilot group to test the program and materials.  So please pray especially for Lee and the pilot group, that they could have wisdom to help establish the most effective strategy for developing leaders in our setting.  We trust that this could be a pivotal project.

In everything, thank you so much for praying for us and actively participating in the world-wide Body of Christ.  Each part of the Body is vital to the healthy functioning of our ministry in Amsterdam; and we simply couldn’t be here without you.  You mean more to us than we could ever possibly say!  We'll be in touch...

Eric

P.S. – On the internet, visit share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8YZN2TVo0YXc to see some of our favorite pictures from the last month or so (we’ve narrowed it down from a one-month collection of about 700 pictures to our top 30)…