THE JOURNEY SO FAR

Mike Sares, senior pastor at Scum.

I've mentioned before that I attend two churches here in Denver. Sunday evenings I'm at Anna and Matthew's church. Matt's parents Bob and Janie Till come up from Colorado Springs as well so it's a great time to connect personally.

This weekend a special banquet is being held to try and raise some money for a building the church can call its own. The real estate in Denver is really pricey, but this is a hands on ministry kind of church. To move out of town because it's cheaper would defeat the purpose for which God formed the community in the first place.

I'll be assigned a table where people who have come on their own can sit. I get to help explain what I know of the church informally and just getting to know them a bit. They are expecting 250 people from all over the area, most who do not attend Scum Of The Earth. (Yes that's the church's name.)

Be praying that believers coming will see the importance of bringing Christ to the hurting and overlooked people of Denver. Pray that they'll see the importance of providing finances to the church since most of the people who come are either unemployed or under-employed. The church's regular operating budget is currently only about $6000 a month and $1000 of it is given away to help the poor in Denver. The salaries are not included in that figure because the staff work as volunteers who's pay comes from gifts of friends and family.

Pray for Saturday evening! Thanks.

Ruth and I are away from Denver for the week at Home Ministry Welcome, a retreat for missionaries with GEM who are back in North America on home ministry assignment (furlough). It's in a place called the Hideaway, a retreat center about 15 minutes from GEM's office in an area referred to as the Black Forest of Colorado.

It's a really encouraging time to meet with our mission family to debrief, catch up, pray and play together.

Ruth and I got the special privilege yesterday of having our dear friends Don and Bea Crane spend the afternoon catching up and helping us debrief the past term and look forward to the next. They've known us for over 20 years, have lived in as many countries as we have, and in so many ways understand us because we're a lot like them.

To have them speak into our lives, reaffirming us and praying with us was the breath of fresh air I needed. God really met us in a way that we needed. May God use us in the lives of others as he has with the Cranes for us.

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Here's a video produced by Jim Meyer and Dwight Eitzen, GEM architect (plus my comments in subtitles) to give you the big view of the project we're taking on in Kandern, Germany.

The building was built in 1884, but has a new roof, strong new roof structure, and is huge. The building will be carved up into apartments for the short term staff Europe-wide ministries will be needing in the coming years (eDOT, EuroTeam, CreativeWorks, and the Europe administration) plus we'll be able to expand the number of offices in the area.

The big joy is that CreativeWorks will have a wonderful, purpose built space for office and studio.

But first, the professional contractors are coming in to put in electrical, water, heat, and basic structural changes. Then we will be needing construction teams from churches in North America to put up interior walls, flooring, ceilings, paint, audio and video wiring and computer networking wiring. (not in that order.)

If you're interested, send me an email or write to euroteam@gemission.com.

The last several days I've been plowing through the difficult Old Testament book of Lamentations. Actually, I found out it's not a book. It's a poem: five chapters with 22 verses like an acrostic, each starting with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

I always thought acrostics were a little hokey. But then a lot of people think the blues are hokey. Down and out stories as simple as the music they're sung to. But no matter where I've played in the world, people relate to it. Maybe it's because we can all relate to life being hard.

Anyway, back to Lamentations. It's a poem that drives home the dire consequences of rebellion against God.

In yesterday's reading, the writer says (kind of anyway) "Ain't got no mo'freedom (1:1), no mo' friendships(1:2), no mo'glory (1:6), no mo' treasures (1:7), no mo' protection (1:15), no mo' dignity (1:8-9), no mo' provisions (1:11) no mo' strength (1:14), no mo' comfort (1:3,21) and no mo' inner peace (1:20). Now dat's da blues.

Fortunately, today, as continued on I finally got the the bridge. That's the part of the blues where you get a little change of pace, a little glimmer of something new.

Lamentations 3:21-26
"Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:
Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him."
The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;
it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD."

There is no doubt that the author of these poems sees the depth of Jerusalem's sin, and the just consequences that have befallen her. And yet...

There's a place in the heart for hope. Not wishful thinking. Facts that point to hope in the midst of disaster. Because of the Lord's great love, his compassions never fail. Not now, not ever. Because he is is faithful, God's promises never fail.

If my fate is God's hands, then I'll wait for him, seek after him, hope in him and wait for the salvation He will surely bring. And keep singing.

My landlady is looking forward to the next season. She means the new episodes of "Survivor". My parents are looking forward to the next season. They're flying out here in a couple of weeks to watch the aspens turn shimmery golden. Denver folks are Bronco season crazy (American football for my European readers) which starts this week.

I'm preparing for the next season as well.

While we have been involved in providing events and training over the past 6 years, my primary focus up to now has been to provide effective media for ministries across Europe. The dream of a team in Europe with both the skill and the equipment to produce media is now a reality.

We've produced projects like a video training series for pastors in Poland; a church planting seminar for Germany; and children's videos for outreach in Romania, Poland, Germany and France. We've produced countless short videos to help ministries tell their North American audiences what God is doing through their efforts. And we've created videos to help raise a harvest force for countries here in greater Europe. (If you’d like to see some of these videos, there are examples to watch on our website.)

Our team members Jim and Sara Meyer, Alex Haenggi and Josh Johnson are currently working on 11 new video projects— with several other projects on hold until we can get to them. Ted and Brandy Cox are in their last months of support development before they’ll arrive in Germany. Others have helped CreativeWorks on a short-term basis, moving us into this season of productivity.

We have been blessed with some special financial gifts to purchase an HD video camera, a high-end video production computer, other needed video gear, professional production software and the beginnings of an audio production studio.

The next season for me at CreativeWorks.

As Jim Meyer takes the lead in the media production side of CreativeWorks, I am now able to concentrate more on helping churches create effective events for sharing the Gospel and training church leaders in the use of creative ministry.

My years in Europe have allowed me to get to know leaders in the church and in evangelism throughout Europe and in North America. I am investigating some strategic partnerships with them to harness the power of creativity for ministry. European churches and short term teams from North America are also showing real interest in outreach initiatives with CreativeWorks.

Sharing Christ with thousands over the next year requires people and funding. Children's outreaches and materials along with three major outreach concert initiatives in Ireland, Poland and France won't come cheaply.

We're also developing a new program that churches across Europe can use to create special events where they could effectively share the Gospel with their neighbors. But it will take recruiting North American church teams as well as trips to help European churches prepare.

I've been invited to travel around Europe to begin teaching courses to church leaders in the effective use of creativity in ministry through regional workshops and in European bible institutes and seminaries upon my return to Germany.

I'm excited about the next season of ministry for CreativeWorks. After 6 years, God is only getting started with our media ministry. And I'm sure he has some incredible things in store for equipping the church in Europe for sharing Christ and growing the church.

Looking toward the harvest.

The Lord of the Harvest has seen fit to bring us this far. And he's given us some ideas on how he plans to lead in the coming season. I'll run a few of those ideas by you soon. In the mean time, keep praying for the work of the Gospel in Europe and for CreativeWorks.

The past almost three weeks, we've been doing a combination of family stuff, work stuff and yes even a bit of rest & relaxation stuff.

For almost two weeks, we were on the road taking Laura and Emilie to their respective schools. We drove about 2800 miles in all, crossing Kansas, staying the night at Ruth's sister's place so the girls could see Len and Nancy. Then it was on to Wheaton, Illinois.


We spent about 5 days there, staying with grad school friends LeRoy and Gwen Elliott. We got to be part of the parent's weekend, get Laura's room set up and equipped for the year, explore the campus and to spend some time with our friends. Laura's already got friends there, and a job transcribing the original letters of C.S.Lewis at the Wade Center. (above) We are really thankful for her new situation. None the less, the seat next to Emilie felt especially empty as we pulled away.

Then we headed northwest toward St. Paul, Minnesota and Bethel College. Along the way I got a touch of food poisoning so my next 48 hours were anything but fun. We ended up staying in a motel for a couple of nights but got to spend a wonderful evening with Emilie's family from last year, the Schrecks. While the others enjoyed the meal, I slept for a while and then woke feeling well enough for a couple of hours of good conversation. Emilie stayed in Bethel, working for the Art department while waiting for her flight to Manhattan and a semester of intensive art study there. (More on that to come.) We headed on, with an empty back seat and the realization that we are officially empty nesters.


We stopped overnight in LeMars Iowa to visit with former colleagues Larry and Florrie Adler from Ireland. They treated us to the royal midwest treatment. Hot dogs at a legendary roadside cafe called Bob's. Dinner with their church's small group. A parade of vintage cars through the middle of LeMars and a rock n' roll concert. Then the apex of the visit... ice cream at the showcase ice cream parlor of Blue Bunny Ice Cream. No wonder LeMars has proclaimed itself the "ice cream capital of the world."

The next morning we headed the car for Denver. There's not tons to see (apart for corn) across Nebraska, so Ruth read a book aloud along the way. It was wondeful getting in before dark to our little basement apartment in Denver (and out from behind the wheel.) We gave Matthew and Anna a call to tell them we'd arrived. At least we're to them for a while. It makes the transition a little easier with all three of our daughters out of the house.

It was really rewarding to be around to help Matthew and Anna move to a new apartment. It's usually the kind of thing we'd only hear about but unable to be of assistance from across the Atlantic. They've got a great place near the light rail train that gets them to classes in less than 15 minutes door to door.

We've been to GEM's international headquarters several times, working on some projects face to face rather than just via email. It's been nice to reconnect with several of those at GEM we've known for years. One is Ruth's good friend, Diane Alphonso, who is GEM's website master.

That brings us up to Ruth's birthday weekend (this weekend). Diane has friends who offered her a wonderful house in Estes Park, Colorado: gateway to the Rocky Mountain National Park.


We had an awesome weekend relaxing there with three others, wandering through a craft fair, watching wildlife and driving through the most beautiful place on earth. Oh, and by the way, all the wildlife shots on the filmstrip above were taken in the yard of the place we were staying.

Well, it's back to business as usual tomorrow. Happy Labor Day.