Day of prayer and other....

Hey everybody.
Thank you everyone who joined us in the day of prayer for Europe yesterday. What an amazing time it was. I just thought I would share one of my highlights of the day with you. I had a most wonderful evening tonight. Mommy was off at bible study with some ladies from the office and praying as well, so I invited our children to engage in prayer for Europe with me.

‘From the mouths of babes to the ears of God.’

It was a delight that almost brought tears to my eyes as Katya chose the country, the object of our pray, Albania. We looked at the pictures, read the prayer requests and talked about the poverty which spoke to Marika’s heart. As they prayed that people would have food to eat, jobs, warm homes and Jesus, I was delighted at the purity and simplicity of their prayers as each in turn prayed for Albania, then Azerbaijan and Austria (of course).

Their delight at watching the number of people praying for Europe in real time, as we refreshed the web page was catching. We refreshed the page several times as Katyas eye’s grew big in the realization “those people are praying for Europe right now, every second”. At the time of the writing of this blog the people having prayed for Europe and noting it on GEM's website is 10,334 - praise the Lord for the many offerings of the saint, may they be a sweet smelling sacrifice to our sweet Savior. May the face of Europe change forever.

I thank the Lord for honest little hearts engaged in world evangelization.



We also wanted to catch you up on a trip Tim took this past weekend to Pasadena CA. He attended a conference called the Journey Deepens. It is a weekend designed to help individuals, or couples, who have already felt the call to missions to further investigate and go deeper with the Lord. (Both young people and finishers)

While there are a couple of plenary sessions, much of the time is spent in smaller groups. Tim was invited to function as a Coach to one of these groups. It was a wonderful time for Tim as he connected with these young people and was able to share some of the needs in Europe. He was also asked to participate on the Q&A panel. It was a complete delight for Tim to work with, as he describes them, stellar individuals.

As a result some from his group are getting connected to other ministries while there are three other individuals and one couple getting connected with GEM. Do pray specifically for Dave as he prepares to submit his application for ministry in France.

John Piper, in his book, Let the Nations be Glad said: Missions is not the ultimate goal of the Church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship does not. May we teach our own hearts to worship so we might teach the world to worship our immeasurable God, today.

Because of His grace and Mercy, Tim and Jennifer

History in the Making

Hey everyone.

I wanted to share with you some exciting stuff going on in Austria. Some of you, who are history buffs, might know that during the Reformation, the protestant teaching reached into Austria as well. It entered Austria by way of Switzerland into Tyrolia and Vorarlberg. The Anabaptists and Hutterites made their stand there against the government in the 30 year war.

Austria then became a stronghold of the counter-reformation. During this period 20,000 believers in Salzburg were given 2 weeks to clear out or forfeit their lives. Then much of the history of the true church in Austria was swept under the carpet.

As of late, the BEG (Fellowship of Evangelical Churches in Austria), has been working toward reviving the history of the protestants in Austria. Two reasons foremost, to give the Evangelical church in Austria, legitimacy and secondly to establish the Kingdom of God and His glory.

During a lengthy two year process, the BEG found much acceptance and encouragement in the midst of some difficulties. A Museum in the north-east part of Austria which has a number of smaller historical bungalows, offered the BEG a Bungalow where we could recount the roots of the protestant movement in Austria. Three weeks ago the museum had its grand opening. Many helped put the museum together, and many attended as our roots in Austria were put on display.

Praise the Lord for this exciting opportunity to bare a witness through history.

On a side-note. It’s also exciting to us that one of the exhibits is a seal from one of the key cardinals of Salzburg during the counter-reformation. This seal was donated in Don White’s name to the museum. Many of you know that Tim’s parents, Don and Sherry White, served the Lord and His Kingdom in Austria for over 34 years. They just recently returned from a repeat visit visiting and encouraging churches and family over there.

Celebrate with us and your brothers and sisters in the Lord through the following pictures.

Financial Crisis

Dear friends.

I hope from time to time to put up some editorial comments on our Blog.
If they offend, I am sorry. If they are biblically inaccurate, please let me know and I will be corrected.

As we have been watching the ‘economic crisis’ in the US and the world unfold, because of our undisciplined desire for more, for better, for bigger, for having now what we really can’t afford, I wonder how we as followers of Christ respond?
Do we panic with the world? Do we begin worrying about our retirement fund, our portfolio, our mortgage?

In His sermon Sunday past, Pastor Dave said that in this time of economic instability we as Christians ought to be the winners. If we live our lives in accordance to the will of God, we should not have overextended ourselves, we oughtn’t to live in debt and so we should not fear inflation.

As I was fishing this past weekend, I listened to a conference by John Piper based on his book, “Don’t Waste Your Life”. A great book by the way. During this conference one of his points was don’t waste your money.

As he pointed out, if we understand our relationship to money correctly, in relationship to our Lord, we must come to the conclusion that the money we have is not our own. We are stewards of His money, not owners. We are stewards of anything we believe to own. So the question then is do we use the money we’ve been given to manage according to the purposes of it’s true owner? As we connect with non-believers, do they see us using ‘our’ resources in the same way that they do? Do we buy the bigger house, buy the extra luxurious car, buy the little toys everyone wants like boats and motorcycles and whatever else? Do they hear us talk about our investments and our retirement plans in the same way they do? Or do they hear us talk about the trust we have in God, because he provides according to our need, our NEED, not our wants and desires. How do we respond when the Owner of our resources, takes them away?

Now, you may think that as a missionary it must be easier for me to talk about these things. We might not have as many resources to claim as our own as some, but let me assure you, whether a person is making minimum wage or three figures, the temptation is the same, to own the money that God has given us to steward.

What, to us, is more valuable, money or Christ?
What do we trust in more, money or Christ?
In this time of ‘economic crisis’, do we trust in our Father, or do we enter a path with the world, a mad scramble, a panic driven mentality. What if your retirement fund disappears? Do you serve a God who can take care of your needs when you can’t tend to yourself any longer? What about the money that was intended for your children’s college? Can God provide them jobs so they can work their way through school? What if you can’t afford that trip you’ve been wanting to go on for so long? Can God use you better in your own back yard?

When the question comes to our finances and whether we are wasting them, how do we view the money that we’ve been given to manage? Is it ours? Is it God’s? Is it reflected in our stewardship? How will you and I redistribute the resources of our Master, to live on what we need and use the rest for His purposes, to further the Kingdom of our King?

Lk 9:57 As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”

God was not caught unawares of this economic turn – He is Lord