We will walk along side these young Christians, encourage them in their growing walk with our Lord, make sure they have the resources and tools to help them in development, and pray for them continually as we trust God to finish what He has started in their lives.

In a very real sense, our mission in life and ministry is no different than that of any other Christian committed to following God. We seek to grow in holiness toward the image of God by giving all that we are to loving God and loving our neighbor. You know well what a growth process that is!, but through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit and His transforming presence in our lives, we are achieving that mission.

Within that Christian mission, God has blessed Crystal and I by leading us to a specific role in ministry. I say that He has blessed us, because there is no better place and ministry opportunity that Crystal or I could have ever dreamed up. God knows us the best and He desires to bring us joy and fulfillment as we follow Him. Well, that's definitely the case here.

We have been asked to come to Europe and work with those who are responding to God's leading in their lives to become leaders in the church. I will be coordinating and helping to develop the pastoral training and leadership development across the Wesleyan Church ministries in Europe. There are currently church ministries in 9 countries across Europe (although that number continues to expand). Most of those works are still in their beginning stages, but God is already calling many to be pastors or missionaries or leaders in their countries.

For our first year, we were studying the Czech language in intensive classes and working to gain a better understanding of the culture here in Central Europe. Since then there has been traveling to learn about each of the countries and ministries that the Wesleyan Church is involved in throughout Europe. Now that the first round of trips is complete, the work of coordinating and developing a training program has begun.

But that all sounds a bit sterile for ministry -- just learning and coordinating. Those will be happening, but our mission will always be to touch lives with God's Spirit. We will walk along side these young Christians, encourage them in their growing walk with our Lord, make sure they have the resources and tools to help them in that development, and pray for them continually as we trust God to finish what He has started in their lives. And there are hundreds of you who have committed yourselves to reaching out to meet just such a need by joining with us in this ministry. Thank you!