Bridges 11/25/2011
It has been on our hearts for the past 6 months or so, to be praying about ways to build bridges between the different denominations and ministries here. There are some great churches and wonderful ministries in Croatia, but it seems more and more apparent that they are often times doing things alone. They are isolated, and there does not seem to be the unity needed to really change this country. There are a some good things happening. There are some pastors who get together and pray for one another. I see some people helping with ministries that are not "theres." Please pray that God will continue to build bridges between these groups and that unity would come to the people here. Followers of Christ are bound to one another through the love of Jesus. Sometimes we don't act like it. We let small differences come between us; whether they are personal or theological. We need to be better bridges with eachother, so we can be better bridges to God. In all we do, we need to be pointing to the Kingdom of God. We need to be that bridge for people. So pray for Croatia, that we would continue to pursue the unifying love that God calls us too. As you pray, consider praying for ways you can be that unifying love in your own communities. Add Comment I just finished writing an account on our "personal blog" of our crazy arrival in Turkey to the Regional Conference this year. But right now I wanted to share one of my favorite moments of the Regional Conference. The speaker was one many people had told me about, so that night my anticipation was already growing. He began talking about Jeremiah who was in prison and more or less did something utterly stupid - buy a piece of land that didn't make any sense, but that he knew God was calling him to do it and that God would use it. He transitioned from there to other stories of people in history who had done things because they knew God was calling them to do it, but to many people it didn't make sense. And when we look back in Christian history, it is filled with stories like these, people who have done "against the odds" sort of things, people who have done things when many have said they couldn't or that wouldn't work or "that's not how things have been done before". But it all made sense to God. The quote he centered his speech around went something like this, "Live your lives in such a way that doesn't make any sense apart from the existence of God." For we are called to live our lives filled with Jesus' Spirit as extensions of God, and apart from God's existence, our lives don't make sense. We are called to follow God and to do what God has called us to do. I know personally, for us, many thought our actions didn't make sense when we first moved to France, and then when we moved to Croatia. And now we're here as Church Planters, as pioneers, and we're confident God has called us to do just that. But like the song (this week) reminded me, that God makes things beautiful out of dust, out of us, out of seemingly nothing. And I don't mean to say there is nothing here but dust, that is not true. God has been working here for a long time, and we are now to be a part of it, in a new way. Often, as denominational missionaries, we don't make sense to others, because we feel clearly called to partner first and walk along side others, before we try to "plant" or "grow" something of and on our own. We feel God has told us that bridges are needed here, not another "box" type of denomination that seeks to take or exclude people. We feel God has told us that waiting for Croatian leadership who can create a church that makes sense in this context is way more important than quickly creating a "Western Dave and Betsy" church. We feel God does have a plan to grow a Nazarene church here, and that it will be intentional about compassionate ministries; one that transforms, redeems, and gives life to areas of these communities where there is none. And we also know we cannot do this on our own, nor do we think we should. God knows how a church will begin, God knows what that church will look like and who it will reach LONG before we do. To many it won't make sense, but to God it makes perfect sense. Bike Ride - An Annual Thing! 10/17/2011
Traditionally, this bike ride has tried to be an annual thing. It used to be headed up by a Baptist pastor in the area. As Dave has a passion for riding and has met Tomislav, a Croatian Christian, who also has a passion for riding, the two are hoping to continue this traditional ride on an annual basis. It will look different each year, different route, different group of people, but the motives remain the same. They g invite people who are from all walks and ages of life, and also who are on different points along their faith journey - some "seasoned" Christians, some new ones, some who are seeking what it means to know God. All join the journey of doing something incredible and some may say impossible, and watch how God provides! This past August, they prayed and read the Book of John together daily while on the trip. It was a time of being together, being Christ to others, and relying on God. This was needed for the 500+ km of biking, one of the days was the hottest day in Hungary in 150 years! Have fun watching the video!!! English Camp and Country Line Dancing 09/27/2011
We just finished our first English Camp together as a team, and with our two new volunteers: Ben and Stephanie. We partnered with a Slovenian team who reaches out to youth through English Camps. They were invited by a high school to do the English part of their Language Camp. This team in Slovenia, unfortunately had an earlier commitment, so their team was not able to put on this camp, AND they reached out to us!!! We were extremely excited to help out. Providing English as a tangible way of reaching and teaching kids (and adults) has been on our hearts as well. We're thinking of ways of developing that part of how we serve in Croatia, AND we were eager to walk along side this team and help out. We met twice with this team to discuss teaching styles, curriculum, schedule, and school culture in Slovenia, which is quite different from America. So it was pertinent to discuss how students normally are treated, motivated, encouraged, etc... in high school, so that we approached our classes and the students with a frame of reference and so we weren't providing a service that wasn't connecting with them. All in all, it was a beautiful week of getting to know the students!! I especially enjoyed watching my class blossom throughout the week as I sought to encourage and empower them. I saw they were not used to feeling "built up" or "stepping out on a limb". They were soooo smart and amazing in English. I remember the day I told them that - they just looked at me with wide eyes of disbelief! Had anyone ever told them they were amazing at anything?!?!?! I also thoroughly enjoyed the teaching piece, and it has helped confirm for me that I truly want to pursue a "Teaching English as a Foreign/Second Language" Certification this year. I'm hoping it will open doors for our team to be involved in various ways, because we've seen in the last 8 months how practicing English is a need for many and something we can tangibly provide!! Here are some photos from our time together at the English Camp (we put on a "Cowboy" Theme night!): Men's Conference 07/03/2011
 A couple of weeks ago I was able to attend a men's conference in Osijek, Croatia. This was the second annual gathering of Christian's from all over former Yugoslavia. These are men from countries which have recently been at war with one another, and who all came together to worship God as the Body of Christ. Throughout the day there were different sessions on how to be a true man of God. Then there were multiple daily times of worship together. These kinds of gatherings are always so interesting because even though the sessions were helpful for so many people, you could tell that just spending time with fellow Christ followers was life changing. It was for me. One of the most moving times of the whole weekend was during one of the worship gatherings. The man leading the service announced we were going to celebrate the Eucharist together. He then asked for a representative from each country of the former Yugoslavia to come and serve the elements. I couldn't help but think this was such a unique and wonderful time of brotherhood and healing. For an area with such a tumultuous history, the Spirit has an amazing way of moving men beyond their differences, and into a place of unity. These men represented to me the power of the Holy Spirit in the region. God is moving here in BIG ways. The Spirit is at work. The love of Jesus is permeating the lives of every person, one-by-one. Three things: 1. By "outsider's" I mean us, because we are technically not part of the BIN District. 2. By BIND I mean British Isles North District. 3. District Assembly is a time when a group of churches, who are orgainzed into a district, gather together for mutual encouragement, business, accountability, and community worship. Ok? Ok. For those who don't know, the Scott's are the LINKS missionary family of the BIND. Every Nazarene missionary is LINKed with a district (or two), and they are, sort of, adopted by them (We have also been LINKed with the South Texas District). As the LINKS missionaries for the BIN district, we were invited to join them in Ireland for their District Assembly this year. Our journey began here in Croatia with a whirlwind of flights and train rides (an 8 hour layover in London), until we arrived at the church in Belfast. From the moment we walked in the church we were shaking hands and meeting people who had been eagerly awating our arrival. After that evening's service we met our amazing hostess Heather (and later met her wonderful husband Tom), who took us to her home which was about 45 minutes from the church. Poor Jacob was so tired by this time because we had been travelling all day. We made it to their house late that night and were so happy to be there! We woke up on Saturday and had coffee and talked with our hosts. A little before lunch time, they began preparing a wonderful local meal called an Ulster Fry. It's basically a bunch of yummy meats, some eggs, and some bread, all fried up and served in heaping portions on your plate (I think I'm still full from that meal). After this great meal, we hopped into the car and headed over to Belfast for the missionary service where we happened to be the keynote speakers. We sang some wonderful songs, and had the pleasure of hearing from Ana Marija Tomic, a Croatian woman who was saved years ago and is now involved in ministry in Scotland. She shared her testimony and a bit about Croatia. Then we had the chance to share about our call to international mission work, how God brought us to Croatia and how God is moving in Croatia. Anyways, after the mission service we got to have dinner with my brother-in-law's parents, Geoff and Jane Austin. They got to share more with us how God is moving in their church community in Scotland in which such wonderful things are happening there. After dinner we attended an awesome evening service. Jacob was a trooper and stayed up for it, but by then he and Betsy had gotten pretty sick. We woke on Sunday, and the two sickies and I went to a small church in Desertmartin (a small town outside of Belfast), where we had been invited to preach. This little church wrapped their arms around us and welcomed us as their own. What an honor it was to speak at their church. We were welcomed by a wonderful family in the church to have lunch with them after the service. They live on a small farm in the country, and they sure know how to feed their guests! After we ate, Jacob was getting restless so he and I walked outside and looked at the newborn lambs running around, we ran in the green fields, and picked daffodils for all the ladies in the house. By the time we got back, half of the church had come over to share in the desserts and conversation. Fortunately for Jacob and I, we had picked enough flowers to accommodate all of the new guests. That evening Betsy and Jacob stayed back at our host's house to rest, while I was able to attend the evening service in Belfast. Monday came and Betsy decided to rest on the final day with Jacob because it was another long day, going from 7:30 until 10:00 p.m. Monday was the big meeting day with lots of voting and presentations. I was not sure what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised by how encouraging it was to hear each church on the district present a brief report on how that community is doing. There was an overwhelming optimism, as well as a universal desire to reach and empower young people. We heard so many testimonies of churches re-envisioning how churches present the gospel. It was very inspiring. I was also able to be present for an ordination service, as well as the voting in of a new District Superintendent. It's great to see God moving, and the torch of ministry being passed on to new and energentic leaders. After that long day we made it back to our host's home and got to sleep right away due to an early flight out the next day. So Tuesday was another long day of travel while trying to process how amazing our weekend had been. We are so blessed to have been invited and welcomed by this wonderful district, and been able to be a part of this great event. It was an honor to be loved by the British Isles North District. We were also so encouraged by their sense of community, their support for each other, and by how God is moving there. We were blessed to be able to share how God is moving in Croatia as well. Partnership is awesome! Sorry so long. But it was awesome. -Dave Emersion and Immersion 03/17/2011
Sometimes these two words can be confused with each other. One is the act of emerging from something and the other is the act of deeply engaging or diving into something possibly to the point of saturation. Well, I find that sometimes things emerge when we immerse ourselves in a new culture: new discoveries, a new sense of self, and new loves. Sometimes this can come in the form of a new way of eating, for example, last night for dinner we made the following two Croatian salads, which we've grown to love:
What also emerges from my immersion is sometimes a new appreciation for parts of the culture I've from, but also appreciation for new aspects of a culture that bring new life to me, new perspective to my way of thinking, a broadening of my horizons. And sometimes it comes in the form of relationship building, or understanding a new concept of time, or just learning new ways of doing life. And I love the mutuality that can come with integrating into a culture, where those in the culture accept us and want us to be a part of it with them, but also want us to share our culture with them. I'm looking forward to learning more and more about this new culture, what ministry and church will look like and how God changes me in the process. Betsy Croatian Service 03/13/2011
Today was my first time attending a Croatian church service. Thus, my first time singing worship songs in Croatian. I found that even though I didn't know what I was saying, the spirit was moving. God gave me an image of a river and I prayed this while worshiping in Croatian today: God, may you be a river that runs through this nation giving life to those places that have dried up or are dying. We're thirsty for you God! Wash us, carry us, flow through us. May your river bring life, may it revive us. They also asked us to come in the middle of them so they could pray for us. It was awesome to feel their support and excitement about God bringing more laborers to Croatia. They prayed for our future church, our current team, and for our family. It was truly a blessing being there. Betsy  In our language class there are 13 countries represented and 15 people!! We are currently in language study about 3 hours a day, every day, until the middle of June. We just finished our first 2 weeks and only have 13 more to go!! :| So far though, we really are enjoying our language class!! We have found that learning French has helped us learn another language. Almost every day in public, we try to use what we've learned in class. We can order at restaurants and can have basic store interactions. After 2 weeks of language learning, we know how to say: who we are, where we're from, how are you, how we're doing, what our names are, our age, numbers, what our professions are and how to ask what someone else does. Our vocabulary now consists of: 20 or so animals, several professions and countries, family terms, basic food items, several other basic and random nouns, like church and walnuts, and important things like how to order a rotisserie chicken!! Even though we are feeling the weight and tiredness of learning our third language, we have truly enjoyed it thus far, and look forward to the big adventure ahead!! Orphanage Visit 03/07/2011
I just wanted to post a quick message about my trip to an orphanage last week. While Betsy stayed home with JJ last Sunday, I was able to visit an orphanage with some friends. A small group of a few people visit this place every other week. It is a relatively nice place, with a good facility and fun things for the kids to do. We went there just to hang out with the kids; play games, sports, "talk." The kids either have no parents, or their parents can't afford to take care of them. It's hard to imagine what that must be like for them. In spite of the obvious setbacks they have, they were fun and happy kids. We played Foosball, ping pong, basketball, and even Pictionary. Plus I gave a mini-talk on what it takes to excel at something (practice, patience, determination, etc.). It was a pretty cool evening. We stayed for a few hours, and a few of the kids LOVED that I played basketball in college. I showed them a couple dribbling drills to practice, and they thought it was awesome. A couple of kids (one 11ish and one 8ish) dragged me outside to shoot around. It was FREEZING and dark, but that didn't stop us from playing some intense 2 on 1. The 3 of us had such a blast. Lots of laughing and even some language learning for me. I was asked a few times if I would come back, and I assured them I would. I think the group is signed up to go again this Sunday, so I'll let you know how that goes. As soon as my language gets a bit better, I'll try and go more often than every other week. Blessings, Dave | Ministry Blog CategoriesAll ArchivesNovember 2011 |
