When young children are showing the aptitude to become chess masters, they sit them down and show them all the chess pieces, where they sit on the board and how they move.  All the pieces except the Queen (if you don’t know chess, the queen is a very powerful piece that can move in all sorts of ways).  As they play people and learn the strategies of chess, no one gets to play with a queen.  They learn all about chess and develop strategies using the full abilities of all the different pieces without being dependent on the queen.  Once they have come to a point of mastering these strategies, they are thrown for a loop when their next opponent comes in and has a queen and they still don’t.  They must continue to play without a queen while their opponent gets to use this very powerful piece.  They must continue to play until they develop an understanding of how to use all the other pieces strategically to still win the game – even against their opponent’s queen.  It’s only until they continue to play other players who have a queen and win repeatedly that they are awarded a queen to then play with.

In the church planting context – you might consider the Queen to be Sunday Morning.  In the past, many churches have started with a Sunday morning only to be try and make Sunday morning do everything – build community, discipleship, worship, etc.  Sunday is weighed down and if there’s something wrong with Sundays, then the church doesn’t make it.  But what if in our church planting strategies, we start out not dependent on Sunday mornings.  While Sunday mornings can create numbers quickly, many sitting there are only keeping the pews warm.  What if we instead concentrate on the different aspects of church and only introduce Sunday mornings once these other things are in place?  What kind of life transformation would happen then? Anybody out there seen this lived out and would like to comment?

The second part of the trip was working with a family that lives it.  I blogged a little bit about The Anchorage Project yesterday but living around Joe, the director, was really expanding what I had discussed the week before.  This was taking things beyond book knowledge and I have to say, I loved it!! Now it wasn’t anything about the conditions – I’ve been in a lot worse places but we had a lot of cold, wet walks by the river, it was 12-15 hour days working on the computers, equipment was late arriving, and they had recently painted our B&B room which freaked my sinuses so I was having nose bleeds.  (However, we did get the Irish Breakfast every day that we worked there – not heart-healthy though – see the right side photo).  It was working at The Anchorage Project putting in an Internet Cafe and Wifi Hotspot that I got to see many of the principles we had talked about living.

One night Joe was running a time for some of the kids in the neighborhood but an older gentlemen stopped by and I spoke with him.  He spoke with such a thick Irish accent I wondered if we were speaking the same language (in case you’re wondering – we weren’t.  I think we might have better been off if we had been speaking German).  In the end, I caught that he wanted me to tell Joe that he had stopped by.  He said his name (which I had to ask him a couple of times to repeat because of the accent) and he finally said, “Just tell Joe – He knows me!” He said it in such a way as if he felt that he and Joe were best of friends.  When I talked to Joe about him later, I found out their relationship wasn’t that close but Joe makes everyone he meets and interacts with feel like he really knows them.  I think that’s the thing.  He takes the time so that people feel connected with him.  It’s not that Joe doesn’t have things to do; he’s actually extremely busy with The Anchorage Project and his family (small Irish family with 5 kids) but he still takes the time so that people know they are important.  I want this to be a part of my life.

Several years ago, the board of directors of an old mission house approached Joe and asked if he and his wife could do anything with the old mission house to change the neighborhood. This is the same mission house that Joe as a teenager vandalized and threw rocks at before having his life transformed by God. The Donnelly’s idea was to use the mission house to now bring hope into the neighborhood. Their mission was that hope is comprised of four aspects: beauty, children, community, & justice. This old mission house is now called The Anchorage Project.

Beauty is being lived out through the use of plants and birds that are sold through the Anchorage Project. They train people on how to take care of these plants and birds, and while it can seem strange, all sorts of people from little old ladies to tattooed young men come to the center waiting for their flowers.

Children are cared for through the Anchorage during the children’s morning programs and special events that happen in the neighborhood. Parents see the joy that the kids have and the sense of play that is inspired at the Anchorage. Through their children’s eyes, they have a sense that things will be alright.

Community is beginning encouraged as the Anchorage Project starts a cafe which includes the Internet Cafe. This is a safe place for people to gather. They can come in and have something to eat and drink, sit around and chat with friends, get on the Internet, socialize or just talk with one of the people working there. Those who serve in the café aren’t there for a job but are wanting to care for people living and working in the neighborhood.

Justice is the final aspect of bringing hope and all the other parts play into it. Almost every part of beauty, children and community has a small fee, such as the flowers are sold or time purchased on the Internet Cafe computers. They are priced to be inexpensive to the community but they do create a revenue source so that every year the neighborhood, via the Anchorage Project, is able to give  help to in places like Africa, Southeast Asia or Eastern Europe. Hope is found in the realization that even though they don’t have much, they are still able, as a neighborhood, to help others.

So how do computers help bring hope to the inner city? By being a part of an overall plan, computers and technology can further the vision and mission of ministries. The vision of a computer center, as part of the café, continues to build a sense of community by getting people out of their homes and together. It also meets a real need by tapping into an opportunity for people to have access to the internet, for everything from research to communication. A way for this poorer neighborhood to have a greater variety of tools to make their lives better. And this is all done in the name of Christ and for the purpose of exposing others to HIS Kingdom.

We were delighted to share in a small part of what The Anchorage Project is doing to impact their community and the world.

The idea is that there’s sensors in an arm band that pick up low frequency sounds (inaudible to human ear) so that you when you tap different parts of your arm, it “sounds” different and so the computer knows where you hit and can act appropriately.  Totally cool but think about the implications – we could use this for helping handicap people to use computers.  What other ways do you think this could be used beyond the typical “coolness” factor?

Check out the full article at http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/04/19/microsoft.skinput/index.html?hpt=C1

On Saturday April 10, 2010, the people of Poland awoke to the devastating news that the presidential jet had crashed. The President of Poland, Lech Kaczyński, was killed, along with his wife Maria. In addition, the crash claimed the lives of senior government figures, senators and representatives of Poland’s parliament, senior members of Poland’s military, and various religious leaders. The loss to Poland’s government and culture is incalculable.

The plane was on the way to a commemoration service for those killed in the forests of Katyń in early 1940. At that time, members of the Soviet Security Service murdered over 20,000 of Poland’s military leadership and intelligentsia. That event has long been a contentious issue in Polish-Russian relations. This present tragedy is now forever linked with the tragedy of 1940.

Greater Europe Mission asks you to join us as we pray and extend our hearts to the people of Poland in their time of grief and loss.

• Pray that Prime Minister Donald Tusk and acting President Bronisław Komorowski would rely on God’s wisdom in reconstructing the government.
• Ask God to fill the governmental positions with qualified and competent people who desire to do His will.
• Ask God to draw the Polish people to Himself through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
• Pray that this event would not aggravate the already fragile Polish-Russian relationship.

Thank you for joining with us in prayer for Poland – a vital and influential country in Europe. We share with you the confidence that God desires the best for Poland and its healing as a nation. Psalm 91.

Best Regards,

Henry Deneen
President
Greater Europe Mission

It’s been a great week as I’ve presented on how people can use WordPress to develop websites and web applications as well presented on a web app that we developed to help facilitate intercessory prayer for groups that are geographically dispersed.

I really enjoy coming to this conference as I get to speak a lot of geekness as this conference attracts computer people from all over Europe. We get to share and swap ideas about how technology can be used in ministry so its really awesome.  My role here is really that of computer consultant and so far, I’ve talked to people about developing solutions that will be rolled out in the UK, the Netherlands, Germany and even into the Mediterranean Sea.  I feel very privileged to have been able to be here to help these technology ministers.

Read the Dutch article (if you can read Dutch).

EVOKE trailer (a new online game) from Alchemy on Vimeo.

Think differently about how online games and technology can change the world.

Other traditions during this time are huge parades through each town in the area where people dress up in various costumes.  Originally, these were to scare away demons and evil spirits to bring about the end of winter.  Just as with Mardi Gras and Carnival, there can be quite a bit of lewdness however its more about the demonic spirits.  While many think that Germany (and Europe for that matter) has been this place where Christiandom ruled however less than a 100 years ago most people were more about the superstitions, regional gods, and tales of evil spirits.  For many of them, the church just added more tales and gave more fear to them so their faith wasn’t about knowing Jesus Christ but about what they had to do to keep the evils here on earth at bay.  One of the interesting things is how people associate the whole festivals to Christianity but want to be disassociated with the Church so much so that Basel, Switzerland (which has the largest Fasnacht parade in the world) celebrates on the Monday after Ash Wednesday just to show that they have no ties to the Church in their activities.

The common person in Europe (historically and today) has never truly been shown the Gospel for what it really is. For those that pray, please pray with me that they will.

(Check out the Wikipedia page on Fasnacht)

www.PrayEurope.com

What does prayer mean to you?  Is it a ritual performed before a untouchable being or an intimate conversation between you and your Best Friend (who also happens to be the all powerful and holy God)?  Over this past year, prayer has evolved in my life from presenting a list of wants and needs before God to a conversation about the things that matter most in my life where He has listened and told me what’s important and revealed even more things.

Beginning Ash Wednesday, February 17th, I will be joining with people from around the globe to pray for Europe for the 40 days leading up to Easter. We want to use this opportunity to engage our own prayer partners and your networks to pray with us and for our work here.

Think of how you have experienced God’s response in your life as a result of answered prayer. We are anxious to see God move in Europe, North Africa and Eurasia – areas where we have seen great need for people to experience living examples of Christ’s love.

This focused time of prayer for Europe is being called 40-40-40.  It highlights over 40 countries of Europe for prayer for the 40 days of Lent (starting Ash Wednesday, Feb 17) for at least 40 seconds of prayer each day.

Want to participate?  Go to www.prayeurope.com and

• sign up for the E-Newsletter (link in upper right corner)
• Follow PrayEurope on Twitter
• Become a PrayEurope Fan on Facebook
• Tell your friends and family (you can use this PrayEurope Flyer (pdf) if you like)

Would also be so kind as to let us know you’ll be participating by filling out this quick form?

For those of you that have kept track, you’ll know that we’ve been working on our “new” offices for about 3 years now.  We took a 100 year old, 3-story barn in the middle of town and converted it into an office complex and apartments.  The bottom floor has 4 apartments (2 of which we house short term to mid term people in) and the top two floors house various ministries (8 ministries that work throughout Europe & North Africa) that are based here in Kandern, Germany.  It’s been a long, tiring process as we did most of the work ourselves from demolition to tiling to installing network cabling to roofing to insulating to water proofing the foundation to everything.

There just the parking lot left to be done (scheduled for this May/June – want to come help?) and some odds and ends but for the most part – its done!!  We’ve already seen some things come out of having the building from various groups in the area using our conference room (it’s the largest in town outside of classrooms) to the German classes that are being held here (which brings in immigrants from parts of Eastern Europe and the Middle East).  While its only a building, it has been built with the intention of being a tool for God’s work here.

Please celebrate with us and check out more photos at http://www.euro-team.org/SMGconstBarn45.htm