Prayer for the Week
Posted on | January 31, 2010 | No Comments
In house week is upon us again. It’s that week where everyone from NLI is banned from travel and we all share good times with each other, remind ourselves why we do what we do and get geared up for the coming year. Pray for the staff this week that it would be an encouraging and inspiring week leading into a wonderful year.
Please continue to pray for Lauren’s health, she has an eye appointment tomorrow. They have to put her to sleep to check her eyes cause she won’t sit still.
Financial & Prayer Update – 2010
Posted on | January 9, 2010 | No Comments
Happy New Year!
We had a relaxing time over the holidays although it’s great to see Lauren getting back into her routine with school in the morning again. We are really looking forward to 2010. Did you know that it was Jan 10th three years ago that we crawled out of one of those fancy metal tubes called airplanes and found ourselves walking through the Birmingham airport just 20 minutes from our new home? Yeah still feels crazy and probably is.
We’ve continued to give you a financial update every six months and here we are again. We are asking that you would specifically pray with us for two areas of our finance. First we are praying for 4-5 more partners investing approximately $50/month to join us this year. With this we will be able to fill out our current budget. Second we would like to be able to move to a larger house, one with three bedrooms. This means we are praying for $250 per month over and above our current budget.
Why would you want to leave a wonderful two bedroom house you’ve been in for three years you ask? Well great question and leads to our next prayer request for 2010. We are hoping for an addition to the family this year. I know people don’t usually announce that they are trying to get pregnant and neither are we. Many of you will remember that it took us three years to get pregnant with Lauren and that didn’t happen until we asked a few people to join us in prayer. Also we would like you to pray that this child would be totally healthy and our family would not be faced with additional health challenges. So you can see that pray and a larger place would be a real blessing to us.
Of course the third prayer request is for the ministry. The past year has been a season of internal change for the organization that we’ve had the opportunity to be directly involved in, repositioning staff and moving locations. We meet in February as a group where we will be looking to find a strong outward focus again. Looking at the myriad of opportunities that face this exceptional group of people there is much to do. Particularly there are a number of ministries in France, Netherlands, Italy, Russia and Albania that we are exploring partnership with, these are new areas for us. And of course we need more staff in addition to the three that are currently going through the fundraising preparation to join the team.
Thank you again for all the prayers and support you’ve given us in 2009, we really appreciate it and definitely feel covered in prayer by you. We pray that 2010 is a year of blessing for you as you have flipped that page of the calendar. While we flip the page every month there is something about this one that allows many of us to refocus and for some to establish new beginnings. We pray this is true for you as well.
Blessings,
Doug, Kara and of course Lauren
Was your Christmas Merry?
Posted on | December 28, 2009 | No Comments
Ours was lovely. Christmas eve we had no plans, and it made me a little sad to have no family around, but then I got busy making butter tarts and cinnamon buns and the evening passed quietly. It was actually very relaxing.
Here is Lauren helping me knead the dough. I must add that this was my first attempt and they turned out fantastic (well they could have been a bit more moist).
Christmas morning (as with every morning) Lauren came into our room for a cuddle and I gave her her stocking, and she was so pleased. “Wow” is one of her favourite words at the moment, so we heard a lot of that. She got loads of books and a little handbag set with glasses, play lipstick and compact, mobile phone and keys. She barely let go of it!
After breakfast – she had the usual rice crispies and banana, and we had the cinnamon buns….. we let her get on with the other gifts, first of which was a whole bunch of clothing from her grandma, all of which she absolutely loved. So much so that she insisted on putting every item on, pants, skirt, dress, sweater and a jacket. She looked pretty funny!
Then the fun began as she opened her play toaster, used it once and it broke…..guess I should have spent more than £3.99…. hopefully i can return it. Then she opened more books, a couple of learning games and then finally her little people house. I am surprised at how much she loves that little house, she loves putting the people on the potty and to bed and she especially likes to make them go into the fridge to get eggs.
Here’s a few more pictures of present opening and aftermath.
We enjoyed a very nice Christmas meal with our friends Ron and Janelle Zerr, they are another NLI family also from Canada. Janelle made the most delicious turkey and stuffing…..and there was lots of leftovers, some of which we got to keep! Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of all of us sitting around the table, and it really was picture worthy cause I used a tablecloth! Janelle also made a pumpkin pie, and it was from real pumpkin, not just from a tin (you can’t get tinned pumpkin here), it’s been a couple years since I’ve last had pumpkin pie! Why is that when you get discussing Christmas, all the food you eat becomes some of the most important stuff? Do you have any food or treats that you have to have, or else it doesn’t feel like Christmas? I think for me it’s butter tarts and toffeefe……and of course a turkey dinner!
Boxing day we were invited round to another Canadian family’s home to celebrate their 25th anniversary and just have some fun with a £3 gift exchange. Doug was lucky enough to come home with some ladies padded hangers. Lauren was a little doll going around collecting all the wrapping paper.
Here she is with her friend caleb playing cars.
Thank you for all your prayers and and support in 2009. Blessings to you and yours in 2010.
Of The Many . . .
Posted on | December 10, 2009 | No Comments
Of the many things I do throughout the year, one of them is to inspire young leaders. Here is a quote we recieved following the Youth Leadership Training Conference in Bulgaria a couple of weeks ago:
“I do believe this small group of leaders will do a major difference for the nation of Bulgaria. Thank you for investing in us and may God take us all to a new level of relationship with Him and reveal and use us for the big picture He has for Bulgaria!!!”
It’s great to hear that kind of enthusiam come from the people we work with. We know that these young leaders will eventually transform his community, plant a church relevant to the emerging generation and begin to reach out into other areas of Europe like Albania. We know this because it is already happening, the Bulgarians have a huge heart for the country of Albania and have asked for our help in reaching that country with the love of the Gospel.
Ripping Apart Magazines
Posted on | December 4, 2009 | No Comments
Okay, I admit it. I was the guy that ripped an article out of the in flight magazine at seat 16A on the Dash 8 plane from Paris to Birmingham yesterday early evening. There . . . confession is good for the soul! Here is the little article I pulled out:
“I made 5127 prototypes of my vacuum before I got it right. There were 5126 failures. But I learned from each one. That’s how I came up wiht a solution. So I don’t mind faulure. I’ve always thought that school children shoudl be marked by the number of failures they’ve had. The child who tries strange things and experiences lots of failures to ge there is probably more creative.
We’re taught to do things the right way. But if you want to discover something that other people haven’t you need to do things the wrong way. Initiate a failure by doing something that’s very silly, unthinkable, naughty, dangerous. Watching why that fails can take you on a completely different path. It’s exciting, actually. To me, solving problems is a bit like a drug. You’re on it, and you can’t get off. It can take a very long time to develop interesting products and get them right. But our society has an instant-gratification thing. we admire instant brilliance, effortless brilliance. I think quite the reverse. You should admire the person who perseveres and slogs through and gets there in the end.”
James Dyson (inventor of the bagless vacuum cleaner)
As I think about Lauren and the creativity that at times seems to be locked inside her, I want to foster this kind of fearlessness in her. She already runs around without fear and I don’t ever want to rob her of that (although hoping she learns that grabbing dishes off the counter to break on the floor isn’t creativity, you’re just plain gonna hurt yourself and upset your parents)!
Sweet Paris
Posted on | November 27, 2009 | No Comments
Yup off it Paris with a quick stop in Germany for a meeting. I’ll be traveling with Ian to meet up with a few people to talk about the future and the work they are doing. We are hoping to see a few opportunities for NLI to partner with them. Please pray that these meetings would be blessed and something great will develop out of them.
Dates are December 2nd and 3rd, just a quick one!
Looking Beyond 2009
Posted on | November 16, 2009 | No Comments
Next Level International (NLI) has been built upon a solid foundation of partnership. In the past eighteen years we have seen over 7000 leaders trained, over 130 churches planted directly and hundreds more indirectly, and thousands of individuals mobilized into frontline evangelism. Europe is an ever-changing landscape, particularly evident in this last decade. We have seen the European Economic Community (EEC) continue to stretch its borders as they include more post communist nations. The often volatile Balkan region is now being welcomed into the EEC family and the first Muslim nation is being considered for candidacy.
What this all means is that at NLI we need to change and challenge our thinking and actions as well. In a post-Christian Europe where many countries number the evangelical witness at less than 1% there is much more to be done. We know that the post-communist hunger that existed for many years is waning but continue to see the deep spiritual need for the power of the Gospel. We are called to see the creation of movements. Addition will not get the job done it will take exponential multiplication.
With this in mind and a strong desire to build on the past, NLI has developed a regional focus and is currently training leaders in 5 of the 6 regions of Europe. As well there are church planting and short term mission initiatives in 4 of the 6 regions. Our aim is to expand our ministry initiatives in every region over the next two years while adapting our training/projects/teams more specifically to each culture. We see this enabling us to move closer to the goal of a ministry relationship in every nation of Europe by 2020. The nations being targeted for new ministry initiation are France, Italy, Russia, Belarus, Lithuania, Hungary and Albania.
Nov ‘09 Newsletter
Posted on | November 13, 2009 | No Comments
Here it is again, the Watson Newsletter:
Nov '09 Newsletter
Through the Looking Glass!
Posted on | November 1, 2009 | 1 Comment
A group of pastors and their wives joined us at EuroSummit and then travelled with Greg and Judith into Crimea, Ukraine on an exploratory trip. Here was the feedback from a couple of them in their words:
- “We had an amazing time at both the Eurosummit and the Expo following and are very excited about where God is leading. We’ve been chatting it up with our local church and they are quickly catching our enthusiasm. It looks like a team is already beginning to form for this summer/fall – even before we have a partner! Northern Canada is EAGER to engage their European roots!” – Tony -
- “…will I attend another EURO SUMMIT in the future…FOR SURE… Will I go on another EXPO trip with Judith Linnell….ABSOLUTELY… Will I trust Greg to show me a great field of Focus for new projects with NLI…MOST CERTAINLY!! You two made an awesome team and work very well together. I think having Peter as our Canadian interpreter was brilliant and he is such a caring and spiritually sensitive chap! I love his spirit!” – Simon -
These are typical responses from people who get the opportunity to spend time with the people I work with and get the chance to take a peek ‘through the looking glass’. In less than two months we are launching 8 churches in Crimea and see this as our contribution to sparking a church planting movement in the region as we continue to add church plants into this project!
Lucia and Peter
Posted on | October 23, 2009 | No Comments
Please pray for Lucia and Peter. Lucia has been working with NLI for three years in Slovakia as project staff, looking after the administration and stms there. Since the project ended last April she has been working at a few jobs and has decided that she would like to join the NLI team in a full time capacity, fundraising her salary and everything!
This is an exciting step for them and us. Lucia is an amazing young woman who is very gifted and has a real servant’s heart. Along with Peter, they have planted a church in their home of Brezno over the last three years and continue to look for new ways to grow and bring change in their community. For Lucia to join the NLI team it means taking a step of faith in their finances. For NLI she will be the first full time staff member from Europe on the team (other than my English friends who aren’t convinced they are European). She will be a great addition to the regional team and I know that it will only serve as a benefit to them as a couple while they continue to grow their church.
Both Peter and Lucia will be with us at the end of November for a few days of training and to get a better picture of her on the team. Please keep them in your prayers!
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