ecumenical bridges

A couple of weeks ago I had the honor of receiving an invitation to a gathering of Austrian ministry leaders. This organization is called the roundtable for Austria. The organization has worked for the last couple of decades to try to reconcile much of the pain caused by centuries of religious conflict. Leaders from almost every denomination, tradition, mission organization, and para-church ministry working in Austria are represented in this group. Ultimately, members of this group have committed to put aside their difference in order to focus on a singular mission, fulfilling the Great Commission.

I definitely didn't realize how big of a deal it was to be invited to this until I sat down and started talking with some of the members of the roundtable. As I was sitting hearing stories from guys who had been in ministry for decades, I was approached by one of the leaders of the group and asked to speak during the general session. this was a bit intimidating for reasons previously discussed, but was a great opportunity to share with them about the concert ministry, especially with an upcoming concert featuring Fireflight on the horizon.

Please keep this organization in your prayers. They are working in some pretty incredible ways to reconcile the pain caused by centuries of misunderstanding and to work together to bring Jesus to the people of Austria.

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and baby makes four...

that's right...our little family will soon become a foursome. We have found out that Rebecca is 6 weeks pregnant! There is definitely "something in the water" as all the families that live within our block have recently had a baby or are currently pregnant. Our baby will be the 6th baby born to ICSV staff in a span of less than a year (first one was born in early November and we will be welcoming our new addition in September). So, kind of unexpected, but a pleasant surprise nonetheless!

Fly on the wall and shipping possibilities

We left Gjakova yesterd to go to Pristina for the night before our flight back to Vienna today (Thursday)...but before we left, Berat invited us to join him at the Bethany Christian Services Community Center for an event as part of the USAid celebration of 15 year anniversary of providing development assistance in Kosovo. We helped Berat do some last minute set up stuff, but mostly, we just sat around waiting for the show to start. Maples and Faisal spent a lot of time with some of the young men and women who were waiting to present their vision to the USAid Executive Director. Soon, the delegation from USAid arrived and took a short tour of the center, in the middle of the tour, Berat took some time to introduce the Baseball camp to them...and then graciously introduced me. The delegation was surprised and excited to hear that there were some baseball opportunities. We spoke for a short while and it turns out that the Executive Director used to oversee the Denton Prog...

Who are these kids at ICSV...

Hi everyone... The first week and a half of school has been absolutely amazing! We have had some great opportunities to begin building lasting relationships with the students that God has brought to Vienna to be educated at the International Christian School of Vienna. Rebecca has been adjusting well to her role as secondary secretary. She is learning quickly the many demands of her new role and is doing quite well in supporting us teachers and the rest of the staff. Rebecca hard at work I have been really enjoying my classes. I have a total of 43 students spread out over 4 periods. The students I have represent 14 different home nations, with many of the students who are "Austrian" are first generation, so they are of other nationalities as well. I have also had the opportunity to begin working with the soccer team...again, many nationalities are represented on the field, truly an international squad. Here are some pictures of the team training at the local club...

Johnstein!

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