Glasgow, Scotland

As I sit in a coffee shop called Rudy’s, absorbing a typical day called “abide”; life and ministry go on. A tangible living out of faith everyday, through consistent bible reading and prayer are what sustain ministry here in Glasgow and ultimately anywhere in the world. But for the past week and a half my time has been spent surrounded by a community called Re:Hope whose ministry has a complete foundation in the Word. A perspective that is often lost by so many in ministry, but these individuals have been grounded in the Word from the beginning.

 

A day named “abide “ very characteristically fits into that foundation, it’s a day spent in prayer and Bible reading. Something so often overlooked, but the rewards create a deep continual heart change towards Christ. This is what ministry is all about and for me to be effect at all, my heart has to be continually pursing Christ through disciplined time spent with Him.

Now the results of these disciplines are bearing much fruit here in Glasgow. I have graciously been housed by a young couple named Scott and Monica Burns. Scott is who, I have been following around learning from and who I have joined in ministry for the time that I am here. Our weeks together have included leading a multitude of Bible read through and prayer groups throughout the week, attending staff meetings, preparing for a Sunday morning services and Thursday evening classes, and doing street evangelism. Within each of these there are a lot of details, but ultimately the heartbeat of this team is to passionately serve Christ. This has lead to a dramatically different church called Re: Hope, here in Scotland.

Most churches have an average congregation age between 50 – 80 and the Church portrays a God who is irrelevant to culture.  A typical church rarely uses the Word, spends time in prayer, and has no local or foreign missions. Because of this a large church numbers about 100 and the average size is 30 – 50 people. For those churches whose congregation has left or literally died off, the church buildings are being sold and made into offices, restaurants and pubs. The worst situation I found was a church, which had been turned into a club called “Sin”. A vivid picture of the stark contrast between the Church and culture.  

The past two weeks have flown by and it has been amazing to be apart of what God is doing here in Glasgow. The first international stop has been a great one and I am eager to spend more time with the many staff that are apart of CRM worldwide. I would really encourage you to join me in prayer for Scotland! It is a country with a history of such strong Christian heritage. Men like John Knox who dedicated his life to spreading the gospel throughout the UK, a great example of that heritage. The state of the Church is in dire need of Godly leader’s; thankfully CRM is adhering to Gods call and training up those individuals.  

Closure and New Beginnings

            My travels started in Memphis, Tennessee where I met up with my old Spain Team. It feels weird to say “old Spain Team”, but in reality the goal of our meeting was to bring closure to our journey together. As I communicated in my newsletter, God has seemed to have His hand on the brokenness of our dreams and it was even more confirming when I met with everyone in Memphis, that God brought about His plans. One way, which this was very evident, was through Carissa, she was the only one in our group who decided to continue on to Spain and she is also the only one to now have a Spanish visa. No one else has heard anything about their visa, which to me speaks volumes as to what God ultimately wanted for us as individuals. I also can see very clearly that we each needed to be set on this path to Spain to learn deep valuable life lessons together before we moved on to our different locations. So through these couple of days in Memphis, God further confirmed our callings and brought healthy closure to our time together as a team.    

  

Currently I am in Birmingham, Alabama attending a missions’ conference at Covenant Presbyterian Church. This has been a phenomenal week, where a church has set aside many hours in honoring and allowing their 135 supported missionaries to share. Yes, I did say 135, which is rather amazing to think about this one church’s passion for missions. Sam Metcalf, my new boss, has been the keynote speaker and has deeply challenged Covenant. A separate blog post could probably be written on this issue alone, but needless to say God has really used him to encourage and propel forward change in this community.

           

            My new role is an exciting one as I have been able to sit in on some amazing conversations with businessmen, missionaries, board members, elders, pastors, and prospective donors of CRM. I could tell after the first night upon meeting up with Sam in Birmingham that I was in for quite the year with numerous culture shifts. With Sam having a key role in this missions week my job has been to make it as stress free as possible through serving him in whatever way I can. I have been warmly welcomed and I am so appreciative of how I have been assimilated into my new role. I can already see that God is going to do BIG things over the next year in my life and through me.

We are all staying with a wonderful couple named Will and Maggi Brookes, who have taken hospitality to another level and shown us a great time here in Birmingham. Will is on CRM’s Board of Directors and is an elder at Covenant. It has been wonderful getting to know them as well as so many people from around the world and right here in Birmingham.

The last thing I will share is how interesting it has been to be at a missions’ conference with CRM whose goal is to develop and minister to missionaries. Typically this takes place with the missionaries that are apart of CRM, but this week it has been wonderful to join that team in lifting up and preparing the missionaries to go back to their specific fields, encouraged and prepared. I have seen God, in a very powerful way, use prayer to rejuvenate and replenish men and woman who are giving their lives to full time ministry. I personally have also been so encouraged and blessed by all that God is doing through these men and woman and I feel very honored to be counted amongst them!