God & 10 People – What could happen?
Right now, as I write – People in Yalta, Ukraine are gaining job skills that will help them feed their families. Right now, they are learning about Jesus Christ so that their own souls can be fed. That’s what an eLearning Center is all about.
There is a short term missions team that has just helped install the computers for the center and is now teaching basic computer classes. The team is made up of people from two churches in Rhode Island, a person from Canada, a couple of people from our partner organization, Bible Mission International, and our own Debbie and Larry Peck. They are running three classes a day and have nearly 60 students.
This is just a part of what we do in eDOT. eLearning Centers are designed to help people get computer skills (also known as job skills due to the rapid increase of computers in the work area of Eastern Europe) so that they are able to get/retain jobs. Meanwhile, they are able to come into the churches that house the eLearning Centers and find out more about Jesus Christ. They get to make relationships with those inside the church where the can freely ask their questions about God and yet, if the computers where not there, they never would have come to the church.
eLearning Centers are great opportunties to help the churches in Eastern Europe reach out to their fellow citizens. Want to know how you can be a part of this, email me or got to the Project Equip website.
Burning our boats
In 1519, Hernando Cortez with his fleet of eleven ships sailed into the Vera Cruz harbor determined to defeat Montezuma and get the riches of the Aztecs. Cortez was so determined for victory, that to ensure that sucess was the only option, he had his whole fleet of ships burned so that his men knew that there was no retreating. It was all or nothing!!
Similarly, when Krista and I got married in 1992, our pastor, David Chadwick, turned to Krista during the charges and said, “You know, divorce is not an option. You can shoot him but you can’t divorce him!!” The fact that he didn’t say anything to me I feel reflects on how he well he thought my character to be. He knew that I would never entertain the idea of divorce. Of course, when I mention my take on the situation, most people just snicker and say that I should keep telling myself that that was what he meant. Hmmmm, could he have meant it another way?
Well, today is one of those boat burning days for us as we follow God’s calling on our lives to move to Europe. The jeep is being sold. I have had about 10 inquiries about the Jeep and the first guy to actually test drive it offered me asking price. Sold!!
So now our house is sold, our furniture that we are not taking, our TVs and other electronics that are not dual voltage (Europe’s electricity is 220V instead of US’s 110V), and now one of our vehicles – my baby – my hobby – the Jeep are all gone. Do you smell the smoke in the air? Forward we press on.
Besides, with some of the money from the Jeep, I get to buy an iPod!
What theologian are you?
I like to do quizes sometimes and this is one that I found that was kinda different. So what kind of theologian am I?
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You scored as Anselm. Anselm is the outstanding theologian of the medieval period.He sees man’s primary problem as having failed to render unto God what we owe him, so God becomes man in Christ and gives God what he is due. You should read ‘Cur Deus Homo?’
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Which theologian are you?
created with QuizFarm.com
Its really, really hot!!!
The bank thermometer here in Rome, Georgia read 106 degrees F (that’s over 41 degrees Celsius for our non-American readers). Now I’ve lived in the Southeast portion of the United States for most of my life but I still consider 106 degrees (darn, have to start thinking 41 degrees) is HOT!!!. So what do you do when it’s this warm? Find air conditioning.
Today though even with the heat has been a great day. I have gotten to speak with missionaries from Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Russia, Hungary, England, Brasil, and many other places. So far, three of those places want to talk about our ministries working together to use technology to build the church in their areas. A gentleman from Brasil is working on his own electronic Bible courses in Portuguese and since we too work in Portuguese too, we are looking at seeing if we can’t exchange our courses. Another missionary based in the United Kingdom who works with Muslim populations wants to see if we can’t work together on bringing many different types of Christian literature in Arabic and other items into electronic form so that we can more easily send these items to Muslims who are asking questions about Jesus Christ. And a missionary going to Siberia, Russia wants to talk about how we install eLearning Centers and about the different courses, both for pastoral training and for those seeking to know Christ, that we already have running in Russian because of our work in Eastern Europe.
Please continue to pray for :
- me to be bold. I am here to make new church contacts and individual contacts so that we might finish raising our needed monthly support. I don’t have a booth set up for people to find me. All I have is my laptop bag on my shoulder and a button that says “If Jesus had a computer, how would He use it?” to get noticed.
- Alex and Krista as I am away. Alex (5 yrs old) is very used to me being around and is having a difficult time which means Krista is too.
- those that I am meeting with here and in the future. That God would put on their hearts to want to join us in this unique ministry using technology to advance the Kingdom of God.
I just want to leave you with something I heard at a conference awhile back that I have quoted many times today (from the guy at HollywoodJesus.com, I think): “The Internet is used for illicit things. In most of the world, Jesus Christ is an illicit search term”
Selling the Jeep
My Jeep is now “For Sale” here –>Click here to see AutoTrader.com ad
In a way, its a sad, sad day for me to put the Jeep up for sale but then it also means that we are taking that next step in pursuing what God has called us to. I have to say that what God has called us to is so much more than any “thing” we might own or any living conditions that we might be used to . We feel so honored that God would ask of us to be a part of what He is doing in Europe. To all of our supporters out there, we pray that you too feel honored as God has called you to be a part of what is happening.
We just got an update about the courses being offered in Romania and how they had 27 students this last year (their first year in offering courses) and they expect to have 50 this coming fall!!! God is doing some amazing things as these students (many of whom are working in ministry and applying what they learn immediately) grow in their understanding of the Bible and church leadership. This is exciting because just think about the impact that 27 people in church leadership will have, and then those that they reach out to and so on. I just get so excited thinking about it.
Pray with us as I (Courtney) will be traveling to Rome, GA to meet with pastors and other church leaders at the Evangelical Presbyterian Church General Assembly.
- Please pray specifically that I will be bold as I talk to people and that they will be receptive to what we are doing in Europe.
- Pray that I will make contacts with interested people and churches that will want to partner with us.
If you would like to receive the eDOT monthly newsletter that has articles with info like that above, sign up here
Pursuit of our Dream
I just finished reading the book, The Dream Giver by Bruce Wilkinson. It was recommended to me by a friend and to him I say “Thank you”.
This book talks about how God made us for a special reason and talks about the journey to fulfill that purpose. It was recommended to me as my friend felt that we were on that journey (which we believe we are) and I’ll tell you that Bruce Wilkinson does explain the journey very well. He uses an allegory (similar to Pilgram’s Progress) and it really does put the whole journey in perspective and helps you to understand the different stages.
I highly recommend this short (160 pages) book if you are:
- Feeling like there is something more to life than what you are doing now
- Want to follow your dream but don’t see how its possible
- Are pursuing your dream, but are having a hard time seeing the way
- Are doing your dream and want to help others move towards pursing theirs
I Can’t Do It
I can’t do it. That is what I said many years ago when I became a Christian. Sixth grade, sitting in a pew on a Wednesday night. I had spent a year trying to change myself. I had even gotten a clean slate to start over with as we had moved from Minnesota to North Carolina. Yet there I was, in trouble at school – again. So I told God that I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t change myself. That’s when He answered saying that He didn’t expect me to. He just wanted me to allow Him to do it. And He did it – over time.
Now, I sit here looking at what is before us. So far I have seen God sell our house (which I didn’t know if it ever would), complete some Seminary courses (I know I couldn’t do those on my own), raise up people who pray for us faithfully, provided all the money needed for our moving costs and provide a place for us to live in the mean time. I have also seen God raise over 70% of a daunting amount of needed ongoing financial support; more than twice as much as most missionaries need not going to Europe. It is so reassuring to know that I can’t do it. If it were up to me, we would never have gotten to 25%. Our house would never had sold. I definitely would not have gotten through any more schooling.
It is all up to God. Just as I put my faith into God to make the changes in me that I so desired as a child, I now can put my faith in God for raising the rest of our support. Why? Because its all for God’s glory. Not mine, not Krista’s, not our church’s. Its all His. As people join us in this ministry, it is not recognition of what Krista and I are capable of – it’s revealing the great power that God is!!
So to all of you that are partnering with us, thank you for being open to being used by God to reveal His Awesomeness to us and those that our ministry will affect. God bless.
(Pardon to those of you that are reading this thinking that Christians speak too much about money and giving. However, it is how we view money that can reveal a lot about how we view God. I’d love to talk to you more about this if you would want to)