I long to see you so that I may impart to you some
spiritual gift to make you strong—that is, that you and
I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith.
(Romans 1:11-12)

Greetings from Amsterdam!  We’re now less than a month away from our family’s home service leave—visiting friends, family, and ministry partners in America (primarily Ohio) from July 9 to August 17.  We’re looking forward to the opportunity to be back, but we’ve certainly got our hands full these days, trying to tie off all the loose ends in Amsterdam while also doing as much as possible to prepare for our limited time in the United States.  I hope that this month’s prayer letter can be helpful in both disseminating and collecting information about this upcoming opportunity for us to “be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.”  In any event, though, I wanted to start with asking:  Could you please pray for us, as we’re going through these next couple months of planning, preparing, and traveling?

This time around, I plan to prioritize personal interaction with ministry partners and prospective ministry partners, more than organizing large-group events or traveling far and wide to cultivate completely new contacts.  Hopefully this means that I’ll get the opportunity to catch up with you (i.e. anyone reading this prayer letter), at least by telephone.  Thus, if you’re interested in personally connecting, and we haven’t already set something up, please let me know of your interest (contact information listed below)—and hopefully we can make arrangements to meet up at a time that’s convenient for you.  In addition to that, perhaps it’s also helpful to share our tentative itinerary at this point, which also includes a few public events that you’re welcome to attend, if nothing else works out to connect on the personal level:

Northeast Ohio:  July 16-18
Public Event:  Speaking at Hambden Congregational Church on July 18
Service starts at 10:15 AM – 13840 G.A.R. Highway / Chardon, Ohio

Northwest Ohio:  July 23-25
Public Event:  Speaking at h2o Church on July 25
Service starts at 11:00 AM – 104 S. Main St. (above Easystreet Café) / Bowling Green, Ohio

Rapid City, South Dakota:  July 31 – August 1
Public Event:  Not yet confirmed

Mid-Michigan:  August 7-9
Public Event:  Speaking at Riverview Church on August 7 and 8
Services start at “7:00ish” (PM) on Saturday, “9:30ish” and “11:30ish” (AM) on Sunday
3585 Willoughby Rd / Holt, Michigan

North-Central Ohio:  July 9 – August 17, Unless Otherwise Noted
Public Event:  Speaking at Berean Baptist Church on August 15
Services start at 9:00 AM and 10:45 AM – 2145 Middle-Belleville Rd. / Mansfield, Ohio

On an even more practical level, I wanted to put out feelers to see if you might know of any possibilities for a few practical considerations during these five and a half weeks that we’ll be in America.  First, would you know of anyone who might have a cell phone that we could borrow?  We’d certainly be willing to pay for the monthly costs and usage costs, but it would definitely be nice if we didn’t have to look into acquiring a device of our own for the short time that we’re on that side of the Atlantic… Second, would you possibly know of anyone who might have a vehicle that we could borrow for part or all of the time that we’re in Ohio?  We’ve already got a few good possibilities along these lines—but still nothing definite and nothing for the entirety of the time that we’ll be visiting.  Again, we’re more than willing to pay for maintenance, fuel, and insurance costs that would be involved in such a situation.  Just know that any leads along these lines would be greatly appreciated.  Finally, it’s good for you to know that we’re still looking to raise approximately $500/month in new support and about $10,000 in special gifts during our home service this summer.  Thus, if you know of any other people who might be interested in hearing about our ministry in Amsterdam, we would be very grateful for your help in networking, even ahead of time.

This kind of “taking care of business” letter is not my favorite.  I’m much more into stories about what God is doing here in Amsterdam.  So I will leave you with one little (hopefully amusing) story from recent happenings here with our ministry.  It’s a story about a young man (we’ll call him “Arjen”) who’s been coming around to our church off-and-on for the last year or so.  He used to be a drug addict, with a pretty tough image; though he’s always been surprisingly warm, when you engage in heart-to-heart conversation with him.  Anyway, about two weeks ago, Arjen decided to follow Jesus—after extended exposure to the Gospel, both in personal conversations and in church gatherings.  It’s truly a miraculous story of God redeeming this young man’s life.  But a recent conversation between Arjen and one of our church’s community leaders illustrates that his sanctification will be an ongoing process.  As the two were talking, the “F-word” slipped out of Arjen’s lips, accidentally.  He caught himself—immediately embarrassed—and apologized profusely for his mistake.  The community leader just laughed and waved it off casually.  She assured Arjen that it would take time for him to overcome his old habits.  Upon hearing this, Arjen was visibly relieved.  He sighed and mentioned that it was a good thing that he had already planned to meet up with me (Eric) for coffee, to talk about his new life of faith.  He sighed and said, “I really need some help, because I don’t know sh** about living like a Christian.” :-)

To be sure, you can be praying for the “Arjen”s here in Amsterdam—and generally for the work that God continues to do in Amsterdam, even while we’re in America for roughly a month and a half.  We’re very grateful to have the ministry opportunities that God has given us, and we’re especially looking forward to serving as a bridge this summer, hopefully bringing some sense of connection between the Church in the United States and the Church in the Netherlands, for mutual encouragement and edification.  We look forward to maybe seeing you soon, too.  We’ll be in touch…

Eric

A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.
(Proverbs 31:10)

Greetings from Amsterdam!  We’re in the midst of a sort of springtime holiday season here in the Netherlands.  Within the course of a single month, we’re celebrating Queen’s Day, Memorial Day, Liberation Day, Ascension Day, 1st Pentecost, and 2nd Pentecost!  The kids spend more time at home than they do at school this month—which is kind of nice, but if you ask me, I would prefer to just have a longer, American-style summer break!  Anyway, the weather is lovely at this time of the year, allowing plenty of time at parks and playgrounds and café terraces.  All in all, this is a great time of year in Amsterdam.

This is also the time of year that we celebrate Mother’s Day, our Wedding Anniversary, and Marci’s Birthday—and that got me to thinking.  Through all the years of sending out monthly prayer letters, you’ve probably noticed that I (Eric) tend to be the writer in our family.  It’s something that I enjoy, and it comes relatively naturally to me.  Now, Marci is always the official editor for our prayer letters, double-checking them and providing suggestions for improvement before any letter goes out; but by virtue of her own preference, her role is typically limited to this.  Recently, however, Marci was asked to write an article for an internal publication within Great Commission Ministries, and I thought it might be interesting to share an excerpt from the article in this context as well.  Ever since we moved to Amsterdam, Marci’s ministry contributions in Amsterdam have been enormous—but they’ve been largely invisible.  Thus, to give you a sense of her life and ministry, I want to use the majority of this letter to quote from Marci, herself:

*     *     *     *     *

Over the past seven years of living abroad, I’ve been grown and stretched in ways I didn’t expect.  Seriously. Everything from cooking without Crisco (how am I supposed to make my great grandma’s recipe without shortening?) to navigating the medical system through three surgeries involving my children.   In big things and in little things, I have had to learn that my security comes from Him alone.  Not in friendships, not in the comforts of home, not in cars or in the ability to communicate in an intelligent manner.  Him alone.

It may sound funny, but some of my biggest learning experiences have been with a bike.  Our major mode of transportation is the “bakfiets” (imagine the ice cream cart bike, loaded with children rather than ice cream).  There has been almost nothing so small that has evoked such anger in me.  Just picture yourself driving in your car with three small children, while at the same time doing aerobic exercise and being pounded by rain and wind instantaneously.  I have said many times to myself while riding, “THIS ISN’T NORMAL!”  And yet, I think it has been an amazing character-building experience. Who would have thought a bike could be such a tool of God? Many times I arrive at church thinking, “Okay, now I’m supposed to look spiritual with my hair plastered to my head and big sweaty spots on my shirt?!?  I have had to learn to let go, and focus less on myself. After all, it’s not all about me, right?  There are times, just today in fact, when I wanted to yell at the tourists standing in the bicycle paths and at the wind pushing me away from my destination.  I was exhausted by the time we reached church.  As I was peddling down the last road, I heard God whisper, “Didn’t you ask me this week to point out when you were being self-absorbed? Didn’t you pray, ‘Help me to recognize any form of pride or unbelief and to refuse it immediately, help me to be thankful’? …Well, Marci, you might want to review your thoughts right now.”  Ah yes, right, the world does not revolve around me. The tourists aren’t trying to jump in my way; the wind and rain are not a personal assault.  My kids have been safely transported to church. I have legs that are strong.  I get the chance to come and worship you freely.  Less about me; more about Him and what He’s freely given.  It’s been a learning experience for me.

One of the other major things has been trusting God with my children.  Not too long ago, Elliot shared in our small group that it can be difficult for him at school, being the only Christian.  He’s had to deal with lots of different beliefs and grapple with why he believes what he believes. Not bad things necessarily, just heavy things to see your 7 year old struggle with.  For Elliot, these things have pushed him towards searching God’s Word for answers.  After reading the story of Elijah and Baal, he thought he might challenge the Muslim kids at his school to build an altar to Allah and repeat the Bible story.  “Then they’d know once and for all who was the real God,” he said.  < Gulp. > We directed him to seek God for guidance (in the end, he decided against this idea).  Then there are the days when he feels overwhelmed and comes to me, his lips trembling and tears in his eyes, “My friends don’t want to hear about Jesus.  Mom, I don’t know how to do this.”   Today, with Elliot beside me, we were singing in church about how strong and amazing our God is. We were pumping our arms in a “Yeah, that’s our God” kind of way and grinning at each other.  God gently whispered in my ear, “See, I am redeeming this, He knows me more intimately because of these situations.”  With each child added to our family, I am learning to continue to trust His process in their lives.

I’ve had to learn to not be so self-absorbed.  Not so worried about what others think. I’m learning to listen for that gentle whisper and keep believing I will hear it, even when it takes awhile to tune into God’s voice.  I still have bad days where I want to only look at my situation and moan. There are the days when I have to pick up a missionary biography and remind myself of the sacrifice of so many who have come before me, that what I face is only a fraction of what others have or are facing.  I have to remind myself that my situation (real though it may be) is pretty darn blessed, compared with much of the world.  God is growing me, challenging me and teaching me.  I wouldn’t trade that for anything.

*     *     *     *     *

What a wonderful woman God has given to me, to our children, and to our church!  As the Proverbs say, “she is worth far more than rubies.”  As members of our ministry team, would you please continue to pray for Marci, as well as for the rest of our family and for the ministry here in Amsterdam?  God is at work all around us.  There’s a lot happening between now and our abbreviated (five-and-a-half week home service) this summer.  Your prayer and financial support is a huge encouragement to us.  Thanks for everything!  We’ll be in touch…

Eric

For the word of God is living and active.

Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates

even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow;

it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart..

(Hebrews 4:12)

Greetings from Amsterdam!  As I was thinking about what to write for this month’s prayer letter, it occurred to me that I’ve been doing a lot more preaching this year.  More than ever before.  Perhaps that sounds strange—given the fact that I am serving (and have been serving, for the past six years) as a pastor for the church here in Amsterdam.  But I’ve always tended more towards the pastoral and administrative side of things, over the up-front, homiletic roles; and throughout the majority of my ministry career I’ve been blessed to have teammates who have been more wired for preaching.  For me, preaching has always been a part of the mix, probably 12-15 times per year on average (at least since moving to Amsterdam).  This year, however, I’ve already delivered nine full-length sermons (through just the first quarter of 2010), and the coming months should allow me to easily pass my previous levels of preaching productivity.

I don’t bring this up to be boastful or plaintive.  I guess I’m just mentioning it because it’s been a growing process for me, personally.  I’ve had to develop a lot of discipline and endurance, to keep up in this area of ministry which has not been my strong suit.  As I’ve put in the work to prepare for our church’s weekly worship gatherings, God has been remarkably faithful to inspire me and equip me for serving the church in this way.  At the same time, I’ve also been challenged to consider other ways to equip, encourage, and inspire the church through alternative, creative means of instruction—ways in which we maintain a very high value on God’s Word and its power for our lives, though not necessarily in the form of a 45-minute sermon.  These alternative forms of biblical instruction this year have included a time of extended prayer, a panel discussion, testimonies, and two different “family meetings” (talking about very practical ministry considerations in an interactive, “town-hall” style environment).  These worship gatherings have been surprisingly life-giving, and it seems like the church has responded really well to these different ways of learning from the Bible.  Perhaps most intriguing for me personally, though, was our Palm Sunday worship gathering, in which the entirety of our "message" was based on just one single Bible passage and four simple follow-up questions.

Basically, we just picked one Bible passage:  Luke 19:11-27 (the Parable of the Ten Minas, which Jesus shared with his disciples immediately before riding into Jerusalem).  First, we read it straight-through, with everyone following along (visual reinforcement of the words on the pages).  Then, without any follow-up explanation, we read through the exact same passage a second time, with Bibles closed and everyone listening (aural reinforcement of the words from the passage).  Then, we asked these four simple follow-up questions and allowed opportunity for group interaction (which worked well, even though we probably had about 110 people in attendance that week).  These were the four questions:

1. How would you restate the passage in your own words?
2. What does this particular passage teach us about God?
3. If the message of this Bible passage is true, how would we have to obey?
4. With whom do you plan to share the things that you just learned?

My hope in doing things this way was for us all to be sucked into the learning process together—not just me, the pastor, studying and studying, and preparing and preparing, all throughout the week and then sharing a "very wise, very insightful" message with the congregation while they all sat there and listened quietly.   No, what I was essentially trying to do was publicly reinforce my conviction that the Bible is way more accessible than we typically believe!  A person doesn’t need any kind of theological degree to read the Bible—or even to teach from the Bible.  A person doesn’t have to have any kind of formal "adjustment period" before he can start to get meaningful insight from his own study of the Bible.  Even if that Palm Sunday worship gathering happened to be the first time someone ever read or heard the words of the Bible, I was convinced that it could have been an amazingly powerful and insightful experience all the same!  Yes, there are some parts of the Bible that may be kind of confusing, at first glance—and there definitely is some benefit to deeper study and learning from others who have greater experience with studying the Bible... But if we believe that the vast majority of the Bible is immediately accessible and beneficial for anyone who would choose to pick it up and read it, then there’s something powerful to be said by simply doing that in a congregational setting.  I went into that Palm Sunday worship gathering with the belief that a simple focus on one Bible passage and four follow-up questions could provide a simple tool for any individual, small group, or church seeking to learn from the Bible.  And our church’s experience on that Sunday bore that out!  Following the worship gathering, I had numerous conversations with young men and women who felt like God had really spoken to them from Luke 19.  Two young Dutch men even approached me later on, asking if they could lead the church in a similar exercise at some point in the future (which is something for which we’ve been praying and hoping for quite some time!).  This alternative form of “preaching” turned out to be a very effective learning experience for our church.

To give credit where credit is due, we learned about this way of studying the Bible from an Indian church planter named Victor John.  He called it a “Discovery Bible Study.”  But seriously:  Even Victor John would admit that it’s not rocket science.  It’s not some magic formula for understanding the Bible.  It’s just one Bible passage and a total of four follow-up questions.  I’m not sure how much more we’re going to try to use this technique for studying the Bible together during our Sunday worship gatherings.  But in any event, this time around it was a very positive experience!

So at any rate, I just wanted to thank you for all the prayer support and financial support which allows us to be serving the church in Amsterdam at this time and in this way.  We appreciate you very, very, very, very, very much.  :-)  We’ll be in touch…

Eric