The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother
Simon and tell him, 'We have found the Messiah'
(that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus.
(John 1:41-42)

Greetings from Amsterdam!  The winter is long and dark in the Netherlands—but we’re getting through it.  Each day, when I take the kids to school, the dusk is just a little bit lighter.  I lean into the wind as it pushes against the wide-bodied bakfiets (the “mini-van of bicycles”), and I force a smile knowing that, for all its hassles, the wind is one of those indicators that spring is on its way.  Every now and then, we’ll get an actual burst of sunshine!  But mostly we’re just waiting at this point in the game, and we’re trying to make the most of the winter:  cuddling up with a good book, eating delicious soups and stews, and enjoying long hours of candlelight conversation with friends.

As it happens, a Good Book, delicious food, and friendly conversation are also the main ingredients of a key ministry initiative that we’ve just kicked off this month as well:  the Alpha Course.  Have you ever heard of the Alpha Course?  It was started by an Anglican church in London, but it has since spread all around the world, across different denominations—and it’s become one of the most strategic evangelistic tools in Europe today.  It’s all based on the simple premise of a home-cooked meal, a laid-back presentation of Christianity’s most central beliefs, and a time for dialogue about the tough questions of life and faith.  Our church has offered the Alpha Course on two other occasions in the past, with great success; so we were very excited when another church in town approached us about the idea of teaming together to offer special edition of the Alpha Course at our ministry center—a course that could be carried by the combined resources of three churches, with room for dozens of people from the city, seeking answers to the deep questions in life.  Throughout the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011, we’ve been planning, preparing, and promoting.  It always takes a decent amount of time and energy to organize an Alpha Course—but finally, on Wednesday, the 2nd of February, we achieved lift-off, and it appears that our efforts were well worthwhile.

Our introductory evening was attended by 43 people!  This is a huge number of people to participate in an Alpha Course, and it presents us with a very strategic ministry opportunity.

The whole Alpha Course lasts for 12 weeks, with a weekend away in the middle.  As mentioned above, each session begins with a meal and a chance to get to know others in the group.  There is then a short talk, which looks at a different aspect of the Christian faith each week.  This is followed by a time of discussion in small groups, where everyone is welcome to contribute their opinion, ask questions and discuss with the rest of the group (most weeks we’ll probably have four different discussion groups, in both English and Dutch).  The emphasis is on exploration and discovery in a relaxed and informal environment.  Throughout the course, we will be exploring the following topics:

• Who is Jesus?
• Why Did Jesus Die?
• How Can We Have Faith?
• Why and How Do I Pray?
• Why and How Should I Read the Bible?
• How Does God Guide Us?
• How Can I Resist Evil?
• Why and How Should I Tell Others?
• Does God Heal Today?
• What About the Church?
• Who is the Holy Spirit?
• What Does the Holy Spirit Do?
• How Can I be Filled with the Holy Spirit?
• How Can I Make the Most of the Rest of my Life?

As you might imagine, the Alpha Course attracts a diverse range of people of different ages and backgrounds, holding many different viewpoints.  Some want to investigate whether God exists; others are concerned about what happens after death.  Some people have particular questions that they would like to discuss; others want to understand other peoples' beliefs or would like to explore what the purpose of life is.  Many participants have never been to church, others may have attended church occasionally but feel they have never really understood the basics of the Christian faith.  In all of these cases, however, it’s exciting to have the opportunity to develop a meaningful dialogue about Jesus.

We’ve gotten off to a great start, but there’s still a long way to go—and in order for this initiative to really succeed, we need a lot of prayer support.  That’s why I’m writing you this letter at this time.  Would you please pray with us for God to plant, sprout, grow seeds of the Gospel—and that we might even experience a harvest before the end of this Alpha Course (even in the dying days of winter, before the Spring has fully sprung!)?  Would you pray for all the course participants and facilitators?  Would you please pray for people to encounter Jesus?

Thank you, as always, for your part in making this ministry in Amsterdam possible.  There’s no real original way to say it:  but you, seriously, are the life-blood of our ministry.  Your financial support and prayer support keep us going in more ways than one, so I just want you to know that we really appreciate you.  We’ll be in touch…

Eric

Thanks be to God!  He gives us the
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
(1 Corinthians 15:57)

Greetings from Amsterdam!  Let me start by saying, “Beste wensen voor 2011” (Dutch tradition is to always offer someone “best wishes” for the New Year, when one first encounters a friend in the New Year).  And because it’s a New Year, I return to our annual tradition of publishing a “State of the Ministry Address”—using the first prayer letter of a new year to write a more extended overview of our lives and our ministry.  In so doing, I realize that I’m throwing a lot of information at you—yet, I want to my best to keep you aware of everything that your faithful support in prayer and finances is enabling us to do, simultaneously equipping you with the information to be continually praying for us in an educated manner.  Don’t feel guilty if you prefer to skim. :-)  But in any event, please know that we deeply appreciate your part in making our ministry possible.  It’s a great honor to report all that God is doing in our lives and in our ministry…

Amsterdam Life

This month marks the beginning of our ninth year in Amsterdam.  As of this coming summer, Lord willing, I (Eric) will have lived in Amsterdam longer than I’ve ever lived in any other place on Earth!  This is obviously also true for our children; so in a lot of ways, this place has simply become home to us.  We continue to evaluate our family’s long-term trajectory (particularly in light of our children’s eventual transition to secondary education), but at least for 2011 we remain fresh, focused, and fiercely committed to the task of making disciples in Amsterdam.  It’s a great honor to serve as a pastor to people through the most basic rhythms of life:  coming to faith, getting baptized, falling in love, getting married, having babies, enduring illnesses, and grieving death.  Bringing God into all of these rhythms—not to mention the everyday stuff—is a beautiful and mysterious process that never gets old.  This is our life in Amsterdam. 

Communities

As you may remember, it was about a year ago that we completed the process of adapting our small group system to create a network of “Communities,” with each group united around a specific mission and grounded within a broader sub-culture in Amsterdam.  Basically, as we studied the way that our city works, we realized that the most cohesive social units are not geographic / neighborhood groupings—but rather sub-cultural groupings centered upon a shared demographic or field of interest.

Because of this, it seemed wise to structure our small groups in such a way that we could tap into these natural networks.  With God’s help, we sifted through 114 different sub-cultures that we could identify with representation from among the people of our church, and we ultimately formed a dozen different communities reaching out to the sub-cultures that we found to be most prevalent and most strategic, including Artists, Families, Musicians, Persians, Professionals, Social Activists, Students.

The results of this strategic approach to ministry have varied from community to community, but overall it seems like there are some really strategic opportunities that have popped up or are just waiting to be cultivated.  In part through the work of these new communities, six individuals made first-time professions of faith in Christ—and there are countless other people throughout the city who are being exposed to the Gospel for the first time.  Please continue to pray with us for the growth, development, and multiplication of these communities throughout Amsterdam (and beyond).

Worship Gatherings

In addition to our smaller communities, held throughout the week and throughout the city, we also continue to gather every Sunday for worship gatherings at our ministry center in the heart of the old city.  In 2010, we studied the themes of Spiritual Disciplines, the Book of Jonah, the Book of Galatians, and we did an Advent series on the Gospels.  I did more of the preaching this year than ever before, but it was also neat to see three young Dutch men get their first experience in preaching as well.  Another two guys (who already had some experience) also continued to hone their skills in studying the Bible and communicating its truths publicly.  So I’m very encouraged to see a team of people developing in this area.

All in all, we’ve got some great momentum with our worship team and our teaching team, and we’re praying that our times of corporate worship will be very life-giving, Spirit-filled experiences in 2011.  One of the specific plans that we have for the coming year is to spend some more significant time teaching through the Old Testament of the Bible.  But rather than just looking at the Old Testament from a historical perspective, we also want to really examine the ways that the Old Testament points us to Jesus and to the ongoing role that we play as the Body of Christ in 21st Century Amsterdam.  So would you please pray with us for God’s movement through our worship gatherings?  We’d appreciate it!

Special Events

There’s much more to our church community than our weekly events.  I don’t even know if I’d accurately be able to provide an exhaustive list of all ministry activities!  But at any rate, here are a few highlights from the last year…

In the summer of 2010, we welcomed a summer intern from the University of Illinois, named Jeff Spencer.  As Jeff benefited from the opportunity to explore the possibility of a career in full-time international missions, we also benefited from his energy and enthusiasm in building up our church community through service projects, strategic support of our Students Community, and research on the overall health and well-being of our church.  It ended up being a really positive experience for us all, and it made us look forward to the possibility of hosting other interns in the future.

In July (in part due to Jeff Spencer’s organizational assistance), twenty people traveled from Amsterdam to the Italian Alps for a week-long experiential learning initiative called ReBoot.  Seemingly everyone who went on this trip came back with a fresh sense of things that God is doing in their lives and in our church community as a whole.  In many ways, the reverberations of that week in the Alps are still echoing through people’s lives today, and I’m excited to see how God will continue to work in these young people’s lives.

Another thing that stands out to me from 2010 is the partnerships that we were able to foster with other ministries in Amsterdam.  Stichting HiP (Help in Practice) and Serve the City provided us (and other churches) with strategic opportunities to serve others in need—and we look forward to continued partnership for various service projects in the future as well.  In addition to working with these two organizations, we’ve also developed a special relationship with two other churches in the city center, which has led to us deciding to partner together to offer a special edition of the Alpha Course, coming up from February to April 2011.  Every time that we’ve organized an Alpha Course in the past, seekers have become believers—and we’re really praying that the same will be true (just on a larger scale) with this joint initiative starting next month.

There were so many other special events throughout the course of the last year:  seminars, retreats, conferences, and councils—not to mention three weddings and two new babies born.  God really did a lot in and through Amsterdam50 in 2010.

Ministry Team Development

Things were scary last February, when our ministry funding took an unexpected hit and we found ourselves scrambling to raise some extra support even prior to our planned time of Home Service Leave in the summer.  But God totally provided for our needs, working through all of you:  the individuals, families, and churches that make up our ministry team!  It was a huge faith boost to see the way that everything came together.  By the end of our Home Service Leave in August 2010, we were back to 95% of our support goal.  Today, we still have a little bit of support to raise (approximately $250/month) in order to be fully funded; but overall, financial support for our ministry remains relatively strong and consistent.  We are confident that God will continue to care for us.

In light of all this, we just want to say thank you for the incredible thoughtfulness, consistency, and generosity that you’ve demonstrated throughout our years of ministry.  It sounds clichéd and hollow, but I sincerely mean it when I say that you are a vital support to us and our ministry in Amsterdam.  Thank you so much, for everything.

Our Personal Lives

Our family got to do a lot of traveling in 2010.  In March, we went to a conference in the Slovenian Alps.  In June, Marci and I were privileged to celebrate a special wedding anniversary in Rome.  We got to take a family vacation to Belgium in November during the kids’ fall break.  And we got to visit the United States more than once (for a funeral, our Home Service Leave, and a chance to celebrate the holidays with family)!  What a blessing!  This is definitely one of the “perks” of doing ministry in Europe.

Marci and I celebrated our twelve-and-a-half year anniversary here in Amsterdam this November—which, in the Netherlands, is a bigger deal than the 10th anniversary or even the 20th!  The road has been long and winding, with many unexpected turns, but we’re really glad that we’ve gotten to travel together.  Marci continues to teach English as a Second Language to kids at the elementary school in our neighborhood, and she manages our household with grace and skill.  Apart from my role as the pastor for our church here in Amsterdam, I’ve kept working on a couple of different writing projects:  one a creative day-by-day study of the Biblical Proverbs, and the other novel about an Albanian mobster coming of age in the lawless era immediately following the fall of Communism (a story based on a friend of ours here in Amsterdam).  I still help to facilitate a critique group for other international writers here in Amsterdam, and I’ve also started organizing a weekly morning of basketball with other friends at our kids’ school.

The kids are, as always, a great source of joy.  Elliot, now almost 9 years old, has started playing organized basketball on Saturday mornings—in addition to playing soccer almost every day on the school playground.  He also has a voracious appetite for reading, and we scramble to keep him “fed” with books in both English and Dutch.  Olivia, now six-and-a-half years old, loves to think up new ways to wear her hair (Are the 1980s-style ponytails as big in America as they are in Holland right now?!?).  Her reading skills are also noticeably picking up steam, and she was thrilled to get her first real Bible for Sinterklaas (the Dutch gift-giving holiday in early December).  Cor started pre-school—and thus, seriously learning the Dutch language—shortly after his third birthday in September.  He loves to sing and make funny faces to keep his older siblings and parents entertained.  Even though there can be times of frustration and difficulty, Marci and I are really happy with the people that our children are turning out to be.

There’s always more that we could write—but I think I’ll draw this letter to a close here.  You can, however, find ongoing updates of pictures, videos, news, and anecdotes about our family on my website:  www.ericasp.com.  Thanks again for the part you play in our lives and ministry here in Amsterdam.  We’ll be in touch…

Eric

P.S. – I’ve also compiled a “Picture Page” for this month’s prayer letter, which can be viewed electronically at http://www.ericasp.com/ministry.php/2011/01/14/january-2011-picture-page.  Sorry that it requires an extra step for you to access it, but it would have been just too large of a file to try to transmit via e-mail. :-)

May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ
give you grace and peace. Jesus gave his life
for our sins, just as God our Father planned, in order to
rescue us from this evil world in which we live.
All glory to God forever and ever! Amen.
(Galatians 1:3-5)

Greetings from Amsterdam!  This is our first written communication since our time of traveling, visiting, and talking on the phone with many of you, during our time in the American Midwest this summer; so I want to start by just saying thank you for all your hospitality, your words of encouragement, and your increased financial support!  It was really refreshing to have had the opportunity to personally interact with so many of you (though I wish it could have been everyone).  Even though all the travel was somewhat taxing, we felt really “filled up” by the time we returned to the Netherlands.  We’ve been back in the Netherlands for almost a month now, following nearly six weeks fund-raising in the United States—and even though we’ve become pretty well accustomed to this whole trans-Atlantic existence, I have to admit that this has been a particularly challenging transition back into Amsterdam this time around.  Especially the first week or two.  We had to deal with horrendous Dutch weather:  skies of battleship gray, high winds, buckets and buckets of rain, and cold temperatures.  Our basement flooded twice in that first week-and-a-half that we were back.  And stepping back into my church leadership responsibilities, it also felt like it took a good while before I felt up to speed on everything.  Though I won’t burden you with any further details, it’s been a particularly challenging transition back into Amsterdam.  But—thank God!—over the last couple of weeks, things have finally been getting back to a normal rhythm again.  Everybody is back from their vacations and getting back into “real life” again.  Momentum is starting to build again.  And I sense that we’re coming into a really great season of refreshment and renewal and refocusing for the future

Have you ever seen the Star Wars movie, “The Return of the Jedi?”  It came out when I was six years old (one of my earliest childhood memories is going to see it in the movie theater), so it made a big impression on me… But anyway, there’s this one scene near the beginning of the movie just after the good guys have just gotten away from this ruthless mobster named Jabba the Hutt.  They’ve blasted off into outer space with a plan to reconvene with the rest of the Rebel fleet at their mobile headquarters.  When they arrive at the headquarters and assemble in this big round room, there’s a brief moment of reunion.  Old friends hug and joke with each other; they smile broadly and catch up a bit on what’s been happening while they’ve been away from each other… But even while they’re in the midst of all this reunion action, it also becomes apparent that they’ve all assembled for a military briefing.  This weird-looking, fish-headed creature named Admiral Ackbar stands up and gives a presentation about the challenges that they’re all facing from the evil intergalactic Empire.  He describes the life-and-death conflict that the Rebel forces will have to initiate in order to defeat the evil Empire—and he starts going through the strategy that’s been worked up to meet the challenges.  Different people chime in at different moments, bringing in key pieces of information that help to shape the strategy.  And then, after the entire strategy has been discussed, they break to go their separate ways and make it happen.

You see, that’s the kind of season that I feel we’re experiencing with our ministry in Amsterdam right now.  We’re just reconvening again after the summer, after a lot of people have been traveling and such, and there is this very sweet sense of reunion that we get to experience as a church family.  We need to check in with each other and catch up on what’s happened over the summer (which turns out to have been a great season of refreshment, community, and even getting to see a number of people newly decide to follow Jesus).  But it turns out that we’ve also got some serious business to discuss.  As we look around us in Amsterdam, we are reminded of the spiritual battle that we’re constantly facing as a church; and we realize the need to repeatedly remind ourselves of the vision and strategy that we’ve developed to engage with this battle.

We need to freshly commit ourselves to knowing Jesus, becoming Like Jesus, and making Jesus Known.

Isn’t it crazy how we become so easily side-tracked in these pursuits?!?  The pendulum swings fast and hard—vacillating between laziness and legalism.  And this is why we’ve decided to take the fall to focus on studying the New Testament book of Galatians, as a church.  It’s such a beautiful reminder of the beauty and power of the Gospel of grace.  It’s an explanation for why Jesus really is a worthy object of our worship and allegiance.  As our church’s leadership team looked at the “battle plan” for this coming season of ministry, we felt like Galatians would afford us a special opportunity for growth and development, if we could allow ourselves to be impacted and envisioned by its simple message of grace and living a Spirit-filled life.  So I’m really looking forward to the opportunity to study and teach through this book of the Bible (along with a team of others).  In addition to focusing on this message in our Sunday worship gatherings, we’re also encouraging the people of our church to deeply examine Galatians in the context of their communities and life groups and personal lives as well.  And already (just two weeks into our study), we’re beginning to see some fruit…

But in all of this, we desperately need prayer support!  This is actually an integral part of our battle plan for this fall, too.  The spiritual battle in Amsterdam is intense, and we need God’s help for good communication, understanding, and application.  We need God’s help to make disciples and love our neighbors.  We need God’s help to love each other!  Since coming back to the church from our time away, I’ve noticed that there seem to be several low-grade conflict situations plaguing our church right now—nothing to get too alarmed about, I hope, but definitely something which needs to be committed to God in prayer.  We need to pray for more fruit of the Spirit:  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (like it talks about in Galatians chapter 5).  And just in general, we need a lot of prayer support!  Fortunately, from all of my conversations with ministry partners back in America this summer, I know that we have a broad network of highly-committed prayer warriors (i.e. those of you, who are reading this letter).  So could you please be praying with us and for us?  We really appreciate everything you do to keep us going.  We’ll be in touch…

Eric

And the things you have heard me say in
the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable
men who will also be qualified to teach others.
(2 Timothy 2:2)

Season’s Greetings from Amsterdam! We trust that God is an ever-present source of joy and hope to you during this volatile time of the year… As for us, it seems that we can identify a bit more intimately with some of what Jesus, Mary, and Joseph had to go through in Bethlehem, at the time of the original “nativity scene.” Our ministry facilities on the Herengracht are still a bit of a mess—like the lowly stable in which Jesus was born—with sawdust and globs of plaster all around, tools scattered in the various corners, and a chill in the air from the lack of heating installation. As with most renovation projects (at least most Amsterdam renovation projects), things never seem to run quite according to plan, schedule, or budget. Thus, our community is still in “exile” as we await completion of the renovation process so we can move into our new space (please pray with us for an efficient conclusion to everything, hopefully before the end of the year)…

Even so, ministry in Amsterdam is far from stalled. In fact, it seems that we’re gaining momentum throughout this admittedly awkward period of our church’s history!

One of the more significant events from the last month was our church’s first ordination service. On Friday, November 10 (followed by a separate church-wide recognition on Sunday, the 12th), Todd Watkins and I were officially recognized as pastors for Zolder50. Of course, the two of us have been acting more or less in this same capacity for a couple of years already—since the departure of the church’s founding pastor in July of 2003—but it seems that the ordination last month brought some closure to a work that God has been doing in our lives and in our church for the last few years.

Perhaps it would help to explain a bit more of the process by which Great Commission Ministries (and its association of churches) recognizes its church leaders. There is a wide range of practices and procedures for establishing Biblical leadership in churches today—and honestly, it seems that there should be some room for allowance of different practices and procedures among different streams of Christianity—but pastors in the Great Commission movement are recognized primarily on the basis of character development. More than formal education (i.e. seminary), more than vocational choices (i.e. “full-time” versus “volunteer” ministry), more than adherence to a specific set of denominational guidelines—pastors in our church culture are recognized on the basis of practical experience and, most significantly, development of godly character such as befitting church leaders (outlined in sections of the Bible such as 1 Timothy chapter 3, Titus chapter 1, and 1 Peter chapter 5). Thus, in essence, Todd and I were trained and tested through our experience in actually leading the church in Amsterdam over the last few years (together with a more experienced pastor, Joe Dunn, on-site for the first year and then coaching from afar for another year and a half). And as it seemed that the Holy Spirit had given us sufficient grace to develop and lead the church—which indeed seemed to become clearer over the last year or so—it seemed appropriate, for Joe and for the entire congregation, to formally recognize Todd and I for the positions to which God had apparently already raised us. Therefore, the ordination ceremonies in November were a chance for the church to lay hands on us and pray for us, in formal recognition of what God has already been doing in our lives. At any rate, the ordination was a special event for me, personally (it was also neat that my parents could be there to witness the occasion). And, to be honest, I think that the ordination has also had a somewhat subtle, subconscious effect on the church as a whole, as well.

Since the ordination last month, I’ve had several conversations indicating that others have been impacted with the idea that they, too, could be used by God to help lead the church (and new church plants) in the future. In particular, I’ve had conversations with one young man from my home group and two other young men from another home group that I’ve been coaching—all Netherlanders—who have expressed interest, ambition, and availability for playing a more significant role in helping to lead the church (and/or new church plants), developing and learning how to pastor as they go. Going against the natural Dutch aversion to being one of the “tall trees that catches a lot of wind” (an old Dutch proverb, basically reinforcing a cultural value of anonymity), these young men are stepping up to play a key role in leading God’s church in the Netherlands.

Without a doubt, this is something to be excited about! We’ve long recognized that one of the greatest needs in the world today—and particularly in Europe—is spiritual leadership. And it seems in recent weeks that the Lord of the Harvest is being faithful to send out workers into His harvest fields (Matthew 9:37-38)! Please continue to pray with us for this process of leadership development—and particularly the development of European pastors—within our church. And please pray for Todd and me, in our role as pastors for these potential pastors—and for the church as a whole—shepherding these people’s lives effectively, through the power and wisdom of God.

Thank you for everything that you give to make this ministry possible. Your faithfulness and sacrificial generosity remind us of Someone else, whose gift to the world is remembered at this time of the year. We wish you a very merry Christmas, and a happy New Year. Thanks again, for everything!

Eric

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his love endures forever. Who can proclaim
the mighty acts of the Lord or fully declare his praise?
(Psalm 106:1-2)

Greetings from Amsterdam! It’s a season for thanksgiving. No, not Thanksgiving with a capital “T” (the American holiday with the Pilgrims and Indians and turkey dinners and such)—thanksgiving: simply giving thanks, celebrating the goodness of God, and remembering His mighty acts in our lives. Especially here in Amsterdam (where, incidentally, they do not celebrate an official Thanksgiving holiday)—and especially at this stage in our church’s development—we have much reason for thanksgiving.

Just a short month ago, our church was homeless. We were struggling to get ourselves untangled from our old home on the Leidsekade, while simultaneously fighting through the red tape of government approvals and contract negotiations to get into a new place. But now, within the next week or two, we will once again have a roof over our heads—and not just any roof, but the roof of a really unique, truly beautiful, providentially prepared facility on the Herengracht (a beautiful canal neighborhood in the heart of old Amsterdam). Somehow, despite the odds, we managed to find a place that is bigger, more centrally located, more accessible, and significantly less expensive than our former ministry facilities! Truly, we’ve seen God work to meet our needs in very tangible ways over the last several weeks—even during the transition period—and we feel ourselves overflowing with thanks and gratitude for such assurances of God’s care for our community. There are still several elements of the transition that need to be solidified (including exact timelines for renovation and relocation), but we’re encouraged that things are headed in a positive direction. If you want to get more of the details from this transition period, I’d encourage you to check out my weblog: www.amsterdamasp.blogspot.com, where I’ve posted several photos and descriptions of the new facility—and, to be sure, I plan to keep posting more information as it becomes available…

In the meantime, we’ve got plenty to keep us busy! November will be a very active month for our family and for our ministry. In addition to moving the church (which will probably happen somewhere in the middle part of the month), we scheduled in a special seminar (called Ancient Paths) for the first weekend of the month, with a series of follow-up opportunities in the following week—all designed to facilitate recovery from deep emotional wounds and spiritual wholeness among the individuals within our church. We hosted the same seminar last spring, and the response was overwhelmingly positive—to the point that we felt we needed to offer the seminar again this fall, as well as create opportunities for some of the people in our community to be trained as facilitators for other seminars to hopefully be hosted in the future. Therefore, we’re excited to see how God will equip our ministry through the Ancient Paths program.

Also, in the second week of November, our church is planning to formally ordain Todd Watkins and me as pastors (as opposed to pastors-in-training) for our community in Amsterdam. I hope that I can explain more about this in our next prayer letter—but suffice to say, it’s an exciting development on both the personal level and the ministry level… Coincidentally (and, actually, somewhat consequently), my parents will be coming into Amsterdam also in the second week of November. We’re really thankful and really excited about their visit, as such opportunities for family connections do not come along too often (we may even try to pull off a good old-fashioned American Thanksgiving dinner while they’re in town!). In any event, with all of these things stacked on top of each other, it seems the second week of the month will be an eventful one for us.

Of course, it doesn’t end there. In the third week of November, I will be taking a trip to Austria for a conference with other GCM church leaders from across Europe. And finally to close out the month, Marci will be flying back to Ohio to help her Mom and Dad move out of her childhood home and into an old family farmhouse (which is in the process of being refurbished) where her grandparents will also live. So I’ll get some special time with the kids while Marci is busy packing, cleaning, and painting (and hopefully getting some nice downtime with her family too!).

I guess you could say that we’ve got our hands full for the coming month! But we’re excited that it’s good things and exciting things that are filling up the calendar. It’s obvious that God is at work. Therefore, we have much to remember during this season of thanksgiving. We hope that you will be similarly encouraged and prompted to thanksgiving by everything that’s happening here and in your own life as well. And not only do we want to thank God for all His goodness—we want to thank you for your role in making everything possible, through your prayer and financial support of our family and our ministry! Your faithful involvement in our ministry is an amazing blessing for which we are extremely grateful.

We’ll continue to keep in touch. Also, feel free to check the church website (www.amsterdam50.nl) and the “blog” (www.amsterdamasp.blogspot.com) for all the latest information. But for now, that’s it. Thanks again, for everything!

Eric