Have you have missed one of my prayer letters or have never read any of them? Did you know you could check them out right here on my blog? Simply click on Foro Romano (the name of my prayer letter) to the left and check it out. I absolutely apprieciate your prayers and interest in the ministry. Your prayers make it all possible!
Thanks,
Joel
What a way to celebrate with friends and family, or at least with those who have become my family here in Rome. We even had some friends come from Germany and coincidentally from Turkey. In case you were wondering they did not bring us a turkey though, because I guess they don’t even eat turkey there. We did get to have some turkey and it was yummy. The Italian word for turkey is tacchino and the girls on our team did a wonderful job of talking to the meat man to get us a lovely turkey.We had all the traditional thinks like turkey, mashed potatos, stuffing, rolls, green beans, pumpkin pie, apple pie. It was a wonderful taste of home.
We had Dan, our team leader act as dad and cut the turkey. He did a great job. We sat down and ate dinner and watched Home Alone.It was a great time to celebrate what the Lord has done this year not only in the lives of students, but also in our lives. I am so thankful to be here and so thankful for your prayers.
“Do not be anxious about anything,
but in every situation, by prayer and petition,
with thanksgiving,
present your requests to God”
Philippians 4:6
Here is a great post from Andy Dixon, a British CCC friend at Miami University. He has some great insight and is way cool. Let me know what you think…
Yesterday I had one of strangest experiences of my life. Some of the older married guys on CCC staff here at Miami are taking seminary classes in their spare time at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and yesterday Mark Brown had one of their professors come in to talk with staff and students about the current position of the church and where it is headed. This is the point at which I welcome you into the twilight zone…
I don’t know if you’ve ever experienced this but it was truly surreal, I sat there and listened to Dr. Phillip Sell discuss the direction that culture, the church and people’s mindsets are heading in America…in the process of him doing this he described everything I have experienced and lived through in the UK in the last fifteen years in THE FUTURE TENSE. One word. FREAKY!
To have someone talk about my past as someone else’s future is up there with the oddest things that have ever happened to me in my entire life and it wasn’t a good thing either considering what is happening.
Any Brit reading this won’t bat an eyelid at the thought of vast swathes of society showing no interest in the gospel, saying the gospel is old hat and no long valid, having no interest in “coming to see” what Christianity is about, disliking Christianity and viewing it as arrogant and selfish, a crutch for the weak. No Brit will have any problem with me saying that this is quite simply the view of the vast MAJORITY of people in the UK either. Now fly 3,500 miles west to the United States and those facts are earth shattering, everyone has some contact and connection with Christianity don’t they? Couple that with the suggestion that maybe churches investing millions of dollars into building projects to get bigger and better church centres are throwing money into a black hole and I’m starting to look around the room at a bunch of students looking decidedly shocked…most Brit’s on the other hand would, like me, point to the fact that they can probably think of, if not more at least as many churches who meet in schools, cinemas, football grounds and community centres as own their own acre of dirt.
So many Christians in America (so says Dr. Sell) believe that if they can just get the right person into the White House, or the right politicians into the Senate, or a church centre that can house a home school they can avert disaster and make sure America stays on an even Christian keel. Sadly that just isn’t where the culture is going…we saw that in the UK, we tried that in the UK and take a look where it’s got us!
It wasn’t until yesterday afternoon that I really registered that this idea that the UK and Western Europe are 15 years ahead of the USA in terms of the movement of spiritual ideas is true. The USA is in a tailspin towards the post Christendom of Western Europe, Dr. Sell argues that the American church needs to shift it’s thinking to that of a missional mindset going out to the non-believers of society and not asking them to step onto our turf. You know what? From my own life experience and situation I can do nothing but agree with him 100%, we must all get up, get equipped, step out of our comfort zone and go to them.
Check out the two videos that I got to make for our team. We are having them shown back at Miami to get students excited about coming to Rome! I hope you enjoy!
