Check out this video, where Nick describes a little bit of what we are doing here in the Netherlands!
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Dreams do come true!!!
Everybody has dreams and goals that they hope to see become reality in the future. I began to dream while reading a book called, "The Finishers" by a guy named Roger Hershey. Thanks to Mr. Hershey for sharing his dream of one day being able to complete God's Great Commission, which commands all his followers to
make disciples of all nations. While reading, my heart was moved to the point that I began to share that same dream. I mean, why wouldn't you want everybody in the world to experience the fully satisfying life that Jesus offers?
I don't even say that, because I'm some super spiritually gifted evangelist. In fact, I'm not a gifted evangelist. Most of the time, I'm not on a spiritual high, and wanting to talk to people about Jesus. I think that in today's "passion" oriented Christian culture, we sometimes think that people who share their faith regularly, have better "spiritual DNA" than the rest of their peers. That's not the case. And this whole tangent is not what this post is really about, so I'll try to get back on course.
As I mentioned above, I began to dream about every people group on earth hearing the good news of Jesus Christ. As I dreamed, I began to look at my life, and see that God has blessed me in many ways. I was challenged by others and by Mr. Hershey to steward those blessings well, and finally came to the conclusion that I needed to commit to seeing the Great Commission completed in my generation. That's my dream, as lofty as it may seem, but I do want to remind you that we serve a God who created everything you see, and loves humanity more than you ever could.
And what a great God He is, because this past Thursday, He gave me the opportunity to travel to Leuven, Belgium to train students to share their faith with their peers. It's not everyday that you are able to "go and make disciples" of another nation, and I'm super grateful to have had the opportunity to be a part of it! Here are some pictures from our day:
Our group preparing to go sharing at KUL a the main university in Leuven that has 40,000 students. Belgains tend to be more community oriented then Dutch students, and were generally less willing to open up about spiritual things with strangers. If anything, we at least made them think a little bit.
As Maarten, our team leader accurately said, "Great revival movements of the past began with prayer." Revival is what I was praying for many times that day.
About 20-30 seminary students gathered to hear more about sharing their faith!!!
Leuven was also a beautiful city!
One of the most famous Gothic city halls in the world... just don't ask me what it's called. ;-)
My favorite was Sint-Pieterskerk or Saint Peter's Church. Check it out!!!
So blessed to have the opportunity to walk through this 800+ year-old church and pray that one day it will be filled again with followers of Christ.
make disciples of all nations. While reading, my heart was moved to the point that I began to share that same dream. I mean, why wouldn't you want everybody in the world to experience the fully satisfying life that Jesus offers?
I don't even say that, because I'm some super spiritually gifted evangelist. In fact, I'm not a gifted evangelist. Most of the time, I'm not on a spiritual high, and wanting to talk to people about Jesus. I think that in today's "passion" oriented Christian culture, we sometimes think that people who share their faith regularly, have better "spiritual DNA" than the rest of their peers. That's not the case. And this whole tangent is not what this post is really about, so I'll try to get back on course.
As I mentioned above, I began to dream about every people group on earth hearing the good news of Jesus Christ. As I dreamed, I began to look at my life, and see that God has blessed me in many ways. I was challenged by others and by Mr. Hershey to steward those blessings well, and finally came to the conclusion that I needed to commit to seeing the Great Commission completed in my generation. That's my dream, as lofty as it may seem, but I do want to remind you that we serve a God who created everything you see, and loves humanity more than you ever could.
And what a great God He is, because this past Thursday, He gave me the opportunity to travel to Leuven, Belgium to train students to share their faith with their peers. It's not everyday that you are able to "go and make disciples" of another nation, and I'm super grateful to have had the opportunity to be a part of it! Here are some pictures from our day:
 |
| On top of the 5 staff members from the Tilburg team, we brought 2 students and another volunteer with us to help. |
Leuven was also a beautiful city!
One of the most famous Gothic city halls in the world... just don't ask me what it's called. ;-)
My favorite was Sint-Pieterskerk or Saint Peter's Church. Check it out!!!
Saturday, October 19, 2013
Undeserved Clarity
I think one of the ways that God chooses to bless His children is when He allows them to more clearly perceive how He's working in their lives. I was able to experience this blessing in a number of different ways this week.
For much of the time that I've been here, I really felt like my view of God in my ministry was just like the photo below:
Let's say say that those little orange berries represent my view of how God was working here in the Netherlands. I knew that we were influencing lives as we shared about Christ's love day in and day out on campus, but I wasn't seeing the whole picture yet. I wasn't able to really connect with students during our conversations those first few weeks. I felt disconnected even more with the language barrier and the massive spiritual apathy we see here.
Thankfully, God takes care of us in just the ways we need it. And this week, I guess He wanted to encourage me by letting me see a wider perspective of His work.
On Tuesday night we held one of our bi-weekly openhouse events where we have been hoping and praying would be a mix of Christians and non-Christians. Our prayers were finally answered when a few international students came. On top of that we were able to connect with one of them, and play ultimate Frisbee yesterday. And even more exciting he is interested in discussing spiritual things in more depth!!!
A Christian international student we met this week, posted a lot of really nice things about the "American missionaries" in his facebook status. (I will share it on the blog as soon as I get permission from him. It's really cool!)
Another spiritually apathetic student got to hear about how I had a community of people in the United States willing to fund my mission. He was genuinely impressed that people believed in something that much to make them willing to give money to it.
Shelby (one of my teammates) and I, also had two really good conversations with students while sharing on Tuesday. One student is in his first year, and seemed really interested in hearing more. He said he used to believe that there was no such thing as God, until his mom died and he had an experience that lead him to believe that everything happens for a reason. Please pray that I will be able to meet up with him again soon.
Needless to say it was an encouraging week, and I'm thankful that the Lord has blessed me with seeing more of His plans in action.
God has blessed me with seeing how He continues to make things new, just like this picture of the plant making the building beautiful again as it grows. He truly is the one who knows what we need and when we need it, and I'm grateful to have the opportunity to experience His grace like that.
For much of the time that I've been here, I really felt like my view of God in my ministry was just like the photo below:
Let's say say that those little orange berries represent my view of how God was working here in the Netherlands. I knew that we were influencing lives as we shared about Christ's love day in and day out on campus, but I wasn't seeing the whole picture yet. I wasn't able to really connect with students during our conversations those first few weeks. I felt disconnected even more with the language barrier and the massive spiritual apathy we see here.
Thankfully, God takes care of us in just the ways we need it. And this week, I guess He wanted to encourage me by letting me see a wider perspective of His work.
On Tuesday night we held one of our bi-weekly openhouse events where we have been hoping and praying would be a mix of Christians and non-Christians. Our prayers were finally answered when a few international students came. On top of that we were able to connect with one of them, and play ultimate Frisbee yesterday. And even more exciting he is interested in discussing spiritual things in more depth!!!
A Christian international student we met this week, posted a lot of really nice things about the "American missionaries" in his facebook status. (I will share it on the blog as soon as I get permission from him. It's really cool!)
Another spiritually apathetic student got to hear about how I had a community of people in the United States willing to fund my mission. He was genuinely impressed that people believed in something that much to make them willing to give money to it.
Shelby (one of my teammates) and I, also had two really good conversations with students while sharing on Tuesday. One student is in his first year, and seemed really interested in hearing more. He said he used to believe that there was no such thing as God, until his mom died and he had an experience that lead him to believe that everything happens for a reason. Please pray that I will be able to meet up with him again soon.
Needless to say it was an encouraging week, and I'm thankful that the Lord has blessed me with seeing more of His plans in action.
God has blessed me with seeing how He continues to make things new, just like this picture of the plant making the building beautiful again as it grows. He truly is the one who knows what we need and when we need it, and I'm grateful to have the opportunity to experience His grace like that.
Friday, October 11, 2013
Enjoy your apple cider...
Yep today was one of those cold, rainy fall days with nicely colored leaves. Unfortunately the only kind of apple cider they have here is alcoholic. Thankfully there is hot chocolate though.
Fridays are our administration days. So instead of going to campus in the afternoon, like we do Monday - Thrursday, we get to work the computers. So for me, that entailed using Facebook to make sure all the students we know as a team were invited to our openhuis (open house) that will be taking place next Tuesday night. I also tied up some loose ends with some of my ministry partners, and had two unplanned conversations with a Jehovah's Witness who is also our neighbor. On top of that, I got to dabble in a little bit of personal development by reading, The Reason for God by Tim Keller.
Not a bad day if I say so myself. But I do miss the apple cider.
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Fridays are our administration days. So instead of going to campus in the afternoon, like we do Monday - Thrursday, we get to work the computers. So for me, that entailed using Facebook to make sure all the students we know as a team were invited to our openhuis (open house) that will be taking place next Tuesday night. I also tied up some loose ends with some of my ministry partners, and had two unplanned conversations with a Jehovah's Witness who is also our neighbor. On top of that, I got to dabble in a little bit of personal development by reading, The Reason for God by Tim Keller.
Not a bad day if I say so myself. But I do miss the apple cider.
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
∞ Infinite ∞
While meeting with a non-Christian student the other day, I had the opportunity to explain God's infinite love for humans. These are the notes I drew to help him visualize what we were talking about as we worked our way through the Connect study together:
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I drew this part here...
...while he read this paragraph aloud: The Bible shows that sin is the root of all other human ills. The ultimate consequence of sin is death.
As we continued reading... In the Bible, death doesn't simply mean that our heart stops beating. The essence of death is separation: separation from our bodies, from each other, and from God (who is the source of everything good) for all eternity. This is what the Bible calls hell. Unless something changes, this is our destiny. However, we've also seen that God loves us and wants to rescue us from our sin and his judgement. Like the father of the prodigal son, God wants us to share our lives and hearts with him. But for this to happen this gulf of sin must be dealt with... I drew this picture:
This story would be pretty sad if it ended here, but thankfully it doesn't!!! I got to explain that because God loves each of us so much, he sent his very own son to make a way for us to experience him in our everyday lives. But the way that he made is not an easy one. I used these two pictures below to show how gruesome and brutal Jesus' death really was:
.JPG)
I drew this part here...
...while he read this paragraph aloud: The Bible shows that sin is the root of all other human ills. The ultimate consequence of sin is death.
As we continued reading... In the Bible, death doesn't simply mean that our heart stops beating. The essence of death is separation: separation from our bodies, from each other, and from God (who is the source of everything good) for all eternity. This is what the Bible calls hell. Unless something changes, this is our destiny. However, we've also seen that God loves us and wants to rescue us from our sin and his judgement. Like the father of the prodigal son, God wants us to share our lives and hearts with him. But for this to happen this gulf of sin must be dealt with... I drew this picture:
.JPG) |
| The object above the word, "God" is a life ring used by lifeguards. I drew it to illustrate that God wants to save humanity. The bit to the right of God is a plate, with silverware and a cup drawn to illustrate God's desire to relate personally with us, like we do when we have meals with others. |
When you take the time to really think about what it must have been like for God to lay all the sins of the world on the shoulders of His very own Son, eventually turning his back on him in his very hour of deepest need, and excluding Jesus from relating with him like they had done for eternity before that moment, one can only conclude this:
God's love for us truly is infinite and accessible!!! What a thing to know and ponder!
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
The Dutch Spiritual Landscape
One the things I wish I could communicate better with people back at home was the spiritual climate here in the Netherlands. I can honestly say that I haven't seen anything like it before in my life.
Instead of giving you a bunch of stats, I'm just going to share with you what a typical conversation with a Dutch student sounds like:
Today, we went to the main cafeteria to conduct our spiritual interest surveys. This week we are using a survey called Perspective Cards, where students are asked to answer questions about their worldview. The survey consists of 5 larger questions, which open the door for us to ask some follow-up questions as well.
Ok enough stage setting. Eric and I went and initiated a conversation with a Dutch student named Kyle, and he politely agreed to help us by answering our survey questions. So we began with the first question: "What is your perspective of the nature of God." After taking a minute to look at the cards, he answered by saying he was agnostic. After asking why that was his answer he said some things about how there was no way to know if there was a God, but that he respects others who believe He exists.
When asked about what his view of human nature was, he responded that he thought it was neutral. He further explained himself by saying that all humans start off as "blank pages" and are influenced to do good or bad things by the environment they are or were at one time in.
Moving on the third question now: his answer for the meaning and purpose of life were to live for the betterment of your descendants. He explained that he doesn't really know why he thinks this way, but it could possibly have to do with some natural human instinct.
His answer to "Who was Jesus in your opinion?" was pretty typical for dutch students. He said he thought that Jesus was a great spiritual leader, but not God. He even said that he liked some of Jesus teachings like "love your neighbor as yourself."
The last question of the survey is, "What is your source of spiritual truth?" To this, Kyle answered that he uses reason and hard evidence to come up with what he thinks is true. The discussion then turned to how he used reason and hard evidence to come to his conclusions for the previous four questions. To which, he responds that he is confident in his reasoning and hard evidence conclusions in all but the third question. When asked to further explain about how he came to his conclusion for the third question, he responds with, "I don't know, but I just feel like it is that way."
The conversation ends with exchanging pleasantries, and an offer to learn more about Christianity, which he kindly turns down.
Now multiply that by 15, and you have a typical week of doing ministry on the campus of Tilburg University. Please pray that students will be more open and interested in the amazing Gospel of Jesus. And praise God for the rare (but not extinct) conversations that end in interest and another meeting to further discuss God and spiritual things.
.JPG)
Instead of giving you a bunch of stats, I'm just going to share with you what a typical conversation with a Dutch student sounds like:
Today, we went to the main cafeteria to conduct our spiritual interest surveys. This week we are using a survey called Perspective Cards, where students are asked to answer questions about their worldview. The survey consists of 5 larger questions, which open the door for us to ask some follow-up questions as well.
Ok enough stage setting. Eric and I went and initiated a conversation with a Dutch student named Kyle, and he politely agreed to help us by answering our survey questions. So we began with the first question: "What is your perspective of the nature of God." After taking a minute to look at the cards, he answered by saying he was agnostic. After asking why that was his answer he said some things about how there was no way to know if there was a God, but that he respects others who believe He exists.
When asked about what his view of human nature was, he responded that he thought it was neutral. He further explained himself by saying that all humans start off as "blank pages" and are influenced to do good or bad things by the environment they are or were at one time in.
Moving on the third question now: his answer for the meaning and purpose of life were to live for the betterment of your descendants. He explained that he doesn't really know why he thinks this way, but it could possibly have to do with some natural human instinct.
His answer to "Who was Jesus in your opinion?" was pretty typical for dutch students. He said he thought that Jesus was a great spiritual leader, but not God. He even said that he liked some of Jesus teachings like "love your neighbor as yourself."
The last question of the survey is, "What is your source of spiritual truth?" To this, Kyle answered that he uses reason and hard evidence to come up with what he thinks is true. The discussion then turned to how he used reason and hard evidence to come to his conclusions for the previous four questions. To which, he responds that he is confident in his reasoning and hard evidence conclusions in all but the third question. When asked to further explain about how he came to his conclusion for the third question, he responds with, "I don't know, but I just feel like it is that way."
The conversation ends with exchanging pleasantries, and an offer to learn more about Christianity, which he kindly turns down.
Now multiply that by 15, and you have a typical week of doing ministry on the campus of Tilburg University. Please pray that students will be more open and interested in the amazing Gospel of Jesus. And praise God for the rare (but not extinct) conversations that end in interest and another meeting to further discuss God and spiritual things.
.JPG)
Monday, September 23, 2013
This is my story... Agape Ontmoetingsconferentie 2013
This weekend, I had the opportunity to go to a conference with all the Cru (Agape) staff from the Netherlands. To be honest with you, I really wasn't looking forward to going. I would have rather enjoyed a weekend of relaxation and recharging in my bedroom, but after going I can gladly say that it was definitely worth it.
The theme for the weekend was, "This is my story" (dit is mijn verhaal). The emphasis was on processing through our testimony, so that we can make it more accessible for non-Christians to connect with and relate to. My own personal theme for this weekend was, "Where am I?" I've been here for a month now, and needed some time to think about, who I really am, as an American missionary in a new country, experiencing things for the very first time. Although, I haven't been able to fully organize my thoughts, it was a great start.
Nestled between sessions on Saturday afternoon, we got to go out and play soccer. It was a blast! I think that we Americans represented ourselves well with two of us each scoring goals, and the other placing a corner kick perfectly, so that it could be headed in past the goalie. After the game, I was told I scored "a beautiful goal" by a Dutchman Talk about a highlight for the weekend!!!
Sadly, there are no pictures of the goal itself, but here are some from the game courtesy of my wonderful teammate Molly Tolbert:
The theme for the weekend was, "This is my story" (dit is mijn verhaal). The emphasis was on processing through our testimony, so that we can make it more accessible for non-Christians to connect with and relate to. My own personal theme for this weekend was, "Where am I?" I've been here for a month now, and needed some time to think about, who I really am, as an American missionary in a new country, experiencing things for the very first time. Although, I haven't been able to fully organize my thoughts, it was a great start.
Nestled between sessions on Saturday afternoon, we got to go out and play soccer. It was a blast! I think that we Americans represented ourselves well with two of us each scoring goals, and the other placing a corner kick perfectly, so that it could be headed in past the goalie. After the game, I was told I scored "a beautiful goal" by a Dutchman Talk about a highlight for the weekend!!!
Sadly, there are no pictures of the goal itself, but here are some from the game courtesy of my wonderful teammate Molly Tolbert:
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