take the long way home

A friend of mine and I were talking yesterday, mixing depth of life experience and humor in our rumorings of each of our present situations. In a deep theological moment he described life as taking the long way home. Some of you may recognize those words from the deeply insightful and wise theological society known as the band, Supertramp (song: Take the long way home). But as I continued to ponder this thought and where life has taken us and wondering where else it may lead, I wondered if that’s what this life is about for those who love and embrace Christ. (thanks Rob)

We are all on a journey ‘home’. This world, these toils and struggles are temporary. Even if we wind up in a box under an overpass, we don’t belong here, we are on our way home. We are just taking the long way around, but how else will we grow into Christ-likeness?

On this road we are going to encounter roadblocks, mountains, valleys and many other obstacles. During this ‘road trip’ it is important to notice when someone or something shows up as part of Gods plan to create in us that Christ-likeness through relationship or through suffering. Unfortunately the truth is that we can become so preoccupied with all we have to do that we look right through people and past situations and fail to see their significance. Seeing those people and situations God would use to reshape our lives does not happen automatically. Christ-likeness is intentional and it cannot be rushed.

The most difficult thing on this long way home is the look inward, that ‘Dark night of the Soul’ where we encounter our sinfulness and come face to face with it. And for each individual this comes at a different stage of life and perhaps repeatedly. However, the glorious and most wonderful thing about this deep dark night is that we stand on the promise of Romans 8:1, there is therefore now NO CONDEMNATION. We are not condemned, and anyone who teaches sin without grace is distorting the Gospel and speaks out of pride. God is all about grace as we discover the darkest, most deceitful recesses of our selves on this long way home. Yes, we will be convicted of our sin, but as we breath out the sin, in the same breath we breath in the grace of God and don’t live condemned. Condemnation is a lie of the enemy and he would have us remain immobile on the road home.

As I’ve read the e-mails of a friend this year who has struggled with cancer, I have listened to her journey as she has gone deeper with the Lord on her long way home. She asked to become more Christ-like and through suffering is going deeper. The hand of God, in grace has held her and she is healing. Each one of us is on this path, each in a different way, each at a different stage. Know that God is there, that he loves us all and is walking with us on this long way home.

May He bless you as your journey continues in 2009 and may you go deeper.

The Whites

Hello dear friends.

We are ending another year that has brought a lot of changes to our family. Thank you for walking through this time with us as we have made our move from Austria and church planting to Colorado and raising workers.

I have been traveling locally quite a bit, visiting with colleges and churches, developing relationships and helping individuals prepare for ministry in Europe. I am also coaching several individuals as they are either completing their application to join GEM or as they are raising support to get to Europe. In addition I will be helping teach some of the sessions during the candidate orientation for our new candidates end of January, beginning of February.

We have begun to regularly attend a church here in Monument which is a 2 year old church plant. Surprisingly it seems difficult for us to stay away from church plants. After attending for a couple of months it became apparent that the church lacked a missions program, so I had some significant meetings with the pastor and am now in the process of developing a missions program. We are already helping the church reach out locally. One of our first along-sides is a needy family of 6, a mom and 5 daughters. We as a church are doing more than just buying them a turkey or ham. We are coming along side them in significant ways, including finding women in the church to mentor the daughters, help the eldest get her GED, providing car repair etc. It has been exciting to see the church step up and take on this challenge too.

As many of you are aware, with our move back, we have lost some significant support and our account has gone into the red due to the expense of moving back. We have already received a couple of year-end gifts towards this need, but would invite you to consider making a one time gift before December 31st, which is tax-deductable and would help us regain some footing as we go into the new year.

Some of you have really blessed us I doubling your support sometime in the last two years. That has been a huge encouragement. May we ask others of you to consider doing likewise. If you have been supporting us at $25 a month, would you be able to move to giving $50? If you have been giving $50, would you prayerfully considersupporting us at $75 or $100 a month? Some of you might also be in a position to come along side us as first time supporters or as a major partner at $200 a month.

We are so thankful for all of you and your prayers and your giving and look forward to seeing how the Lord will continue to lead our family as we seek to empower rapidly reproducing churches in Europe.

Merry Christmas to you and yours from the White family, Tim, Jennifer, Connor, Katya and Marika


In order to make a one time gift, start coming along side, or increase your partnership with the White’s please either go to: http://www.gemission.org/Donate/ , and follow the links to give on-line,

or write to:
GEM USA18950 Base Camp RoadMonument, CO 80132

and inform them whether it is a one time gift, an increase, or a new supporter and identify us by name and account number. Tim and Jennifer White – acct# 46870

Thanks again

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

Prayer for Europe

“The man who mobilizes the Christian church to pray will make the greatest contribution to world evangelization in history.” Andrew Murray

Well, with these words allow me to invite all of you to join us on October 23rd for a day of prayer for Europe.
Our desire is to see more than 10,000 of God’s saints go to their knees for the continent of Europe. Our earnest prayer is that the Lord would lay open the fields, bring them to harvest, protect the workers and make His name great among the peoples of Europe.
There are many people groups in Europe today, the nationals, the immigrants and the refugees. Each one of them needs to hear about the love of Christ.

On the 23rd, Greater Europe Mission will provide a virtual prayer format on our website (http://www.gemission.org/Pray/Strategic.asp). This site will take you on virtual tours through the countries of Europe with information which will aid you in praying for specific needs.

Please join us for this day, plan it into your calendars, invite other friends and watch with us as the Lord turns the tide of Europe.

************************************************************************

On another note: Thank you everybody for your prayers about our car situation in Austria. In addition to Tim’s communication with the police, our former insurance broker in Kloeterneuburg went to the police in our stead. Between the two, the police have gotten on top of the cars new owner. He will have to pay for his ticket, he also has a week to get the cat transferred to his own name and make things right. Please keep praying as we are also trying to figure out the phone situation in Austria. The same people that moved into our house and bought the car, took over our phone line, and now I’m still receiving the bills.
Thank you saints for praying.

Sending you all our love, Tim and Jennifer White

Prayer needed

We would covet your prayers.

As we wrapped things up in Austria we were down to the wire and so as we sold the car to the person that moved into our house, we handed him the keys, the car and the license plates. He was going to need the plates to unregister the car and reregister it in his own name.
Unfortunately it appears he has not done so yet. I received a speeding ticket from September 14th. We´ve been her since August 12th. Also, because of a mix up in paper work, I seem to still be paying his phone bills.
I am communicating with the police in Austria right now and trying to get it all straightened out.
Please pray that these things will be resolved very quickly and without much cost.

Thanks, Tim and Jennifer

Container arrived

Hey everyone.

Wahooooo, is an expression of excitement.
Our container arrived yesterday afternoon. We were thankful that in spite of the last minute notice of its arrival that we had 6 people from the home office, able to come and help.

We had two hours to empty the truck and got it done. We were all thoroughly exhausted and those of us not getting any younger are feeling it today. Praise the Lord that everything arrived in one piece. It feels good to have beds to sleep on again, a couch to collapse into when the day is over and toys for the kids.

Thanks for your prayers in this.
Tim and Jennifer

Check out this Video

Hey everyone.

We are still waiting for our container. Hopefully we will see it this week. Continue praying that it will arrive and we can get it unloaded safely.
I wanted to share a video with you about a ministry team GEM sent to London this year.
Check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQFZNQVdIAY&eurl=http://www.gemcreativeworks.org/?p=482

From Tim, Jennifer, Connor, Katya, Marika

Welcome to our Blog

Hi, we have finally decided to join the many others who Blog rather than send out E-mail updates. So here we are. While there is a hardcopy letter being sent, within the next week, with a new prayer card, we wanted to catch you up here as well.

Tim has begun working at the office and is enjoying his new work. He has already been on the road a lot, meeting with schools and churches. We find ourselves in exciting times at Greater Europe Mission. You may, or may not be aware that we have had a new president (Henry Deneen), since last year. He has come in with fresh vigor and is focusing our mission on new work ahead of us in Europe. We will continue ministering to Europeans at every level of evangelism, church planting and education. In addition we are planning on sending 100 new missionaries to Europe within the next two years. These missionaries will be engaged with immigrant Muslims throughout Europe. We hope to reach the ever growing Muslim population in Europe, with the gospel. Currently there are about 2.1 million Muslims in Germany, every 5th person in Vienna is a Muslim and if the rate of growth continues in England, the Island will become almost completely Muslim within the next 10 years. Our initial targets for this new initiative are France, Spain, Morocco, Germany and Turkey.

Please pray for us as a Mission in these new initiatives as put the immigrants of Europe firmly in our sights. Please also pray for Tim in his new duties as he visits churches, schools and individuals, seeking to be an ambassador of the Lord in linking individuals with the opportunity to serve in Europe.

We are finishing up this weekend preparing 6 more young people for ministry in Sweden.
Please pray for them as they head out over the next 6-8 months.

Please continue to pray for our family as we settle in to our new home and life here in Colorado. Please also pray that our container will arrive soon so we can enjoy sitting and sleeping on furniture again. J

We look forward to keeping you better informed through our Blog from here on out. Please let us know if you have any problems accessing the Blog.

For His Kingdom to the Europeans