Baltic Family Camp

God willing, on July 30-August 5 Christians from the countries of Lithuania, Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Germany, and the United States will converge on Camp Ruta in Moletai, Lithuania for the first Baltic Family Camp (BFC).  This ministry has long been a dream of many and thanks to God along with the missional focus of the Levy Church of Christ, the dream is about to be realized.

Recently I had he privilege of traveling in the Baltic region. I was warmly welcomed by Christians in Vilnius, Lithuania; Warsaw, Poland; Riga, Latvia; Tartu and Tallinn, Estonia.  Without fail they expressed joy, excitement, and anticipation about the camp. Our goal is to make BFC an annual gathering for Christians in this region.

The Baltic area churches of Christ- while strong and vibrant in most places- remain small, scattered, and isolated. Their hunger for extended fellowship is evident.  BFC– which is scheduled after the youth camp ministry is completed in each country– will hopefully facilitate deeper fellowship and church strengthening. We envision it as a time of refreshing, rest, and renewal.

We have a tremendous team from the U.S. and Europe who plan to facilitate growth discussions for missionaries, men, women, couples, and singles. Planned is also a separate day camp for the children who accompany their parents.

We solicit your prayers for this effort. We still have much to do in order to be fully prepared. Our appropriate theme is “We Are One.”  If you would like to know more about Churches of Christ in the Baltic region here are some links with information about the congregations and the people in them:

• Vilnius Church of Christ
• Warsaw Church of Christ
• Tallinn and Tartu Churches of Christ
• Riga Center Church of Christ
• For more information about Camp Ruta click here.

Looks for more news about BFC here in the future.

Marriage Ministry Mission in Vilnius

Richard and Jeanna Lynn May recently completed a two-week marriage ministry mission trip to Vilnius, Lithuania through What God Has Joined ministry. From all reports it was an incredible success. Both of the Vilnius evangelists, Ilia Amosov and Juozas Puodziukaitis rave about their work and the lasting positive affects on everyone who attended the seminars and personal coaching sessions. Here is what Richard and Jeanna Lynn said about the trip:

We returned from our two week trip to Vilnius Lithuania on April 17.  The mission was a super success!  We offered 12 hours of seminar and coached between 50-60 hours.  The ministers of VKB and their families were warm and appreciative.  We continue to hear exciting news and positive reports regarding the Marriage Mission.  We have written a full report of our trip and will send it out soon and post it on the website. 

We thank God for Richard and Jeanna Lynn! Their work was an answer to many prayers and hopefully the beginning of a lasting ministry presence in this country for years to come!

* For more pics please click here and for a complete report on their mission trip click here.

“Haste the Day When My Faith Shall Be Sight”

Death has visited us at Gateway. Two brothers- both amazing men- have gone to be with the Lord. They are asleep- at rest from the diseases that slowly ravished their bodies. I praise God for that. While they will missed greatly it is better for them that they went home.

Oscar Bell (along with his wife Lucy) was a trailblazer in racial integration among Churches of Christ in Pensacola. If you knew Oscar, you would not be surprised at this. This gracious brother quietly made lasting impacts across two continents in his long military career.

David Jordan was the definition of a servant. He spent his life serving God, his family, the hurting and his country. David survived (and helped dozens of others to do so) an Amtrak train accident in Mobile Bay. Later he served the devastated people of Pascagoula, MS after Hurricane Katrina as a key man “on the ground” for the relief efforts of the Central Church of Christ. (John Dobbs writes about David’s work).

Sunday (April 10th) at Gateway the sermon focus will be on the resurrection followed by a related sermon on Easter Sunday about heaven. Oscar and David are learning more about this right now then I will be able to share. But I can imagine.

MercyMe sings a deeply moving song entitled I Can Only Imagine. (posted below) It lifts me up to God’s throne every time I hear it. As I mature I find myself thinking more frequently about the things Oscar and David are now realizing. Then I think about another song.

It is Well with My Soul is an old standard that has touched generations. There is a phrase in this song that has become much more meaningful to me- Lord haste the day when my faith shall be sight. Right now (to paraphrase the apostle Paul) I can only see darkly, but one day I will see God face-to-face. This will be the day when faith becomes sight- when all I’ve hoped and lived for and struggled to know becomes reality.  Lord haste that day!

I think Oscar, David and a whole host of others will be there- waiting and grinning. 

As for now though, I can only just imagine.

Bringing Up Girls

 

I am currently reading James Dobson’s book, Bringing Up Girls. The book was a gift (and a hint) from my wife, Terri.

I come from a family of girls- three sisters and no brothers. All my children are girls. Even my sister’s children are all girls.  “Girls, Girls, Girls” could be my life-story and not just an old Elvis movie!

But the challenge of rearing my two youngest girls in today’s fluid culture is daunting- a mixture of blessings and challenges.

Taylor is my eight year old. She is such a smart kid- bright and beautiful and somewhat of a nerd. She probably knows more about Andy Griffith and Barney Fife than any other eight year old girl! She is growing up so fast it is scary.

Jordan is four. She is sneaky smart and quite mischievous. When she chooses, she can charm anyone with her beautiful smile which lights up her face. Other times- well she will let you know how she is feeling. She stays busy always trying to catch up with big sis.

I think about these two amazing gifts from God and I pray that God will give me the insight, strength, patience and love to be the kind of dad they need.  I want to bring up these girls to know and love God.

I am asking for your prayers too- and not just for me, but for all dads and moms working diligently to bring up girls and boys in the Lord.

Somewhow I don’t think it is as easy as it used to be.

I am so much cooler off-line

Well, maybe. Some would argue that whatever cool quota I was given has been long used up!

But online? Besides blogging, my most enjoyable online activity is fantasy baseball. Cool- for those involved, but for most of the world, kind of geeky.

I have always had old-fashioned leanings. I much prefer to watch old episodes of The Andy Griffith Show than dancing stars, singing idols and biggest surviving losers. So this whole new cyber world reality we live in now challenges me.  I constantly stay behind the curve.  About the time I catch up with one online component, it is old news.

I can’t text. My fingers are a mess on phone pads. Tweeting frightens me. I can envision having a discussion with another tweeter. “I have 2387 followers” he says. In a tiny, humiliated voice I would reply, “I have three.” Thus having to admit just how uncool online I am.

I am on Facebook. I try  to be cool there with witty one-liners and snappy sayings- which usually come across as lame. (An aside- I believe Facebook will eventually take over the world. Soon we will be ordering pizza there, shopping for clothes, doing our banking, conducting church services, asking someone at our dinner table to pass us the potatoes- everything!)

Sometimes I feel like the loneliest guy in the world. I find myself surrounded by people, but who have no time for a conversation with me because they  are texting, tweeting, or doing one of a thousand possible things on their cool iphones. I am nostalgic for the day when I could actually chat with someone on the phone. Just chat. Talk about whatever in thirty-five characters or more. Not cool any longer though. When my old, uncool cell phone rings I know it is either my wife (thanks for still calling Terri) or someone wanting something. I am not complaining though. It is actual voice interaction. Sometimes I find myself fighting the urge to ask Punjab from India how his day is going when he calls as an outsourced telemarketer.

I have actually had these type of brief exchanges. “Hey, give me a call sometime and let’s talk about it,” I say. “I will text you” comes the reply. I realize that social networking is here to stay, but in it I am the dorky guy who shows up at the dance without a date and without any dance moves.

Even my eight-year old is cooler online than me. Recently she asked her mom to borrow her iphone so she could listen to a song. I didn’t even know you could!

Offline, I am a fairly confident, competent guy. I am Andy Taylor! Online I stay dazed, confused and intimidated. I am a combination of Barney Fife and Gomer Pyle.

Just this week I tried to “network” my blog. I followed the instructions given me on my computer screen and sent out invitations. I did get a single response. A friend replied to tell me that the link I sent out to my blog did not work! LOL! This in a nutshell sums up my online ineptitude and uncoolness. 

If on the world-wide web there will ever be a cyber cemetary, my epitaph will read:

“Here lies Danny. His links hardly ever worked.”