We cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard… (Acts 4:20)

 

 

Greetings from Amsterdam!  You may notice that this month’s “prayer letter” is a bit unusual—a “prayer video,” actually, instead of the regular textual format.  We’re hoping that the technology has become widespread enough that almost everyone should be able to play the embedded presentation (and if not, we’re hoping that you can figure out a way to watch the video at a friend’s house!)… Thanks to a special offer from a GCM videographer in America, we were able to give you some eyes and ears to experience our ministry in a more personal way.  The way I figure it, if it’s true that “a picture speaks a thousand words,” our hope is that this video (figuring in 10 minutes and 4 seconds in length, with 60 seconds a minute and 30 frames per second) will speak 18,120 “words” that could never fit in a regular letter!

We pray that the story represented within this video will be a great encouragement to you—as it is to us.  Please know that your prayer and financial support play a critical role in allowing this story to unfold!  We could never thank you enough for everything you do for our ministry…

Eric

Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.
(Psalm 84:5)

Greetings from Amsterdam!  It’s a new year of ministry in the city—the beginning of our fifth year here (believe it or not!)—thus, with this prayer letter, I am continuing a tradition that I’ve established through my years of ministry with GCM—using the first prayer letter of a new year to write a more extended overview of our lives and our ministry.  As always, you are welcome to skim or to read in-depth.  At any rate, we are extremely grateful for your partnership in prayer and finances, so we just want to keep you informed.  And to tell you the truth, it’s a joy to report all that God has done and is doing…

Amsterdam Life

If I could pick a word for each of the years that our family has been here in the Netherlands, I would say that year one was “landing,” year two was “settling,” year three was “assimilating,” and year four was “advancing.”

Elliot started school in September, and his introduction into the school system has truly taken our family to a new level of immersion in our neighborhood and in Dutch culture as a whole—learning about unique cultural traditions through the eyes of our little boy, getting to know a lot more families from the neighborhood, and volunteering for school activities (Marci even serves on the Parental Council for the school!).  Olivia is just starting her own introduction to the Dutch school system (and systematic exposure to the Dutch language) through being involved in a peuterspeelzaal (pre-school) two mornings per week.  Marci also took another, more advanced, Dutch class over the summer—thus, we’re all becoming quite proficient in our understanding of the language.  It’s surreal but gratifying to see how “normal” one can feel conducting daily life in a different culture and in a different language.  Overall, we’re enjoying life in Amsterdam.

If I was going to guess a word for the coming year, I would say that this fifth year will be a time of “evaluation.”  When we first moved over to the Netherlands, we said that we wanted to be here for five years, so we could get past the most volatile period of culture shock and then make a more informed decision about our family’s long-term plans for the future.  Thus, we’re really hoping to seek God through the coming year and try to come to a better understanding of His will for our lives—that is, if we should continue on our current heading and invest more heavily in life on this side of the ocean, or if we should start moving in a (gradual) direction toward returning to our native culture.  Please pray with us in this regard; we would appreciate it.

Church Transition

In the first half of 2006, our church reached a point of strength and stability that we had never previously experienced.  Our weekly worship attendance was somewhere between 200 and 250 (which is an astronomical number for a church plant in Western Europe), and we were eagerly anticipating new opportunities for expansion.  However, in the process of looking ahead and dreaming about the possibilities for the future, we really sensed a need to establish firm foundations that would serve our church for the years to come.  And one of the biggest needs in this direction was to solidify the church’s financial position and, consequently, the church’s meeting location.

Therefore, it turned out that much of our time and energy in 2006 was spent in the direction of relocating our ministry (I won’t get into it too much in this letter because much text from the last six months’ prayer letters have already been dedicated to covering these developments!).  To say the least, the process has been much more involved than any of us ever imagined; however, we rejoice because it’s finally nearing its conclusion!  Sometime in the next month or two, we should be able to bring an end to this awkward transition period and start focusing more on the future.  Of course, as long as our church is a living and breathing spiritual organism (which it is), there will always be some kind of change and transition to deal with.  In fact, we anticipate that it won’t be long after moving into our new facility that we’ll start moving seriously in the direction of church multiplication!  But we’ll be particularly happy to have some of the complicated legal and financial dealings behind us, as we get into the next period of transition.  Your continued prayer for the church during this time period would be much appreciated.

Special Events

As for other events beyond the “normal” scope of ministry (worship gatherings, home groups, and so on), the last year was actually a relatively significant one for our church.  In 2006, we in Zolder50 launched our first leadership development initiative, coached our first full-fledged Dutch intern, launched our first fully-Dutch home group, explored the first possibilities for involvement with ministry in the third world (famine relief in Kenya, Africa), and celebrated perhaps a dozen baptisms demonstrating individuals’ first steps of faith in following Christ.  Of course, all of these could be considered very special occasions and notable “firsts” for our community; nevertheless, there are yet two events that really stand out in my mind as I think over the last year.

Over the summer of 2006, I was especially excited to see Zolder50 sent out its first mission teams (within the Netherlands), in a project we called Spies in the Land (see Numbers 13:1-25).  Our church’s home groups went to scout out the four corners of the Netherlands to determine the potential for eventual church planting beyond Amsterdam… Indeed, we discovered that there are significant needs and great potential for church plants across the country.  Now, we just need to develop some kind of “Workers for the Harvest” project (see Matthew 9:38) to follow up on last year’s “Spies in the Land!”  You can definitely be praying with us in this regard…

The other special event that particularly stands out in my memory is Zolder50’s first official ordination ceremony in November, when Todd Watkins and I were formally recognized as shepherds for the flock in Amsterdam.  It’s a responsibility that we take very seriously, and we’re trusting that our ordination will help to ignite other young Dutch leaders to aspire to similar spiritual leadership for the church of the future.

Ministry Team Development

It’s absolutely amazing to see how God provides for our family’s ongoing material needs.  It’s been eight years since we first stepped into full-time, support-based ministry—enabled by the generous giving and faithful prayer of individuals, families, and churches from back in America—and we’re still going strong.  This team is such a vital part of our ministry, providing the practical and spiritual foundation allowing us to be a part of the ministry of Zolder50 in Amsterdam’s city center.  Although we may have to do a bit of support-raising in 2007, we had a remarkably solid year of support in 2006.  Thank you for your role on our support team.  We appreciate you more than you could possibly know.

Our Personal Lives

Our family has gone through its share of ups and downs in the last year.  By and large, though, we are very much aware of the ways that God has protected, provided for, and used our family in Amsterdam.  We enjoy the opportunity to do ministry together, with all our varying opportunities for individual contribution.

Olivia is now almost two-and-a-half years old.  Her personality is marked by a charming sense of fearlessness and passion for life—which suits her well for making new friends and learning a new language in the peuterspeelzaal (preschool) that she’s just begun attending two mornings a week.  Otherwise, Olivia enjoys taking care of her baby doll, reading books with Mommy or Daddy, and copying whatever her big brother is doing.  Elliot is now almost five years old.  He’s had a great experience in his first year of school.  His teacher raves about his intelligence and attitude of cooperation in the classroom, and he’s also found some good friends in his class.  Elliot’s favorite pastimes are music (playing, singing, and listening) and collecting sticks from outside (what can I say—that’s what boys do!).  We’re very proud of the person that he’s turning out to be.

Marci is, as usual, a wonderful wife and an excellent caregiver and teacher for our children.  In addition to caring for our immediate family in Amsterdam, she got to take a special trip back to Ohio in November to help her parents restore an old family farmhouse and move in (after also helping to clear out of her childhood home).  She’s hoping to take another trip back to do more work on the place sometime in 2007.  And as for me, I enjoy my continued role in leading Zolder50 and leading our household through life in Amsterdam.  One of my favorite personal projects lately has been the development of a new individualized website: www.ericasp.com.  Since New Year’s Day, it’s become a special means of sharing photos, posting news, and just generally expressing myself… I’d love it if you’d visit and leave a comment to let me know what you think!

And with that, we’ve come to the conclusion of this lengthy letter.  Now you know the state of life and ministry for us in Amsterdam!  Please keep praying for us; your spiritual support is absolutely vital to our physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being.  Thanks again for everything, and we’ll be in touch…

Love in Christ,

Eric

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ABOVE LEFT:  We’ve been doing a lot of renovation work lately; of course Elliot likes to get in on the action whenever he can… ABOVE RIGHT:  Our new ministry facility at Herengracht 88 is still a work zone… but not for much longer!

   

ABOVE LEFT:  We were excited to have about 50 people attend our first ever “Who is Zolder50” class (a sort of informal church membership class); ABOVE RIGHT:  Asp family portrait in November 2006; BELOW:  Todd Watkins (second from the left) and I (second from the right) were ordained in November by my father (left), Joe Dunn (middle), and Daniel Goering (right);