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Tryin' to catch up with everything after the trips I've made. Korea was a wonderful experience, not only because of the masses in the conference (almost 20.000!), but also because of the specific Korean touch. Prayer and worship are really special over there!
Check www.cm2007.net to see some of the meetings yourself, for example Andy Atkins' speech.
An successful experiment: this video was uploaded directly from my mobile phone! (I think it is kind of costly, I will find out at the end of the month :-)). It shows the place I was last week, together with the colleagues from Western Europe. Not too bad, as you can see... Stories to follow.
Labels: agapè, leadership, travel, video
This weekend I have been preparing my upcoming trips to Switzerland and Korea, and because of that I'm all into world missions right now. Tomorrow I leave for the Swiss Mountains, to 'share hearts' with my colleagues from 12 different nations. We will be in a mountain lodge at 2.000 m. altitude, close to Zermatt, for 5 days. After extremely tiresome weeks (mostly stress I put on myself...) I am really looking forward to it.
Then, next week, I will fly out to Busan, Korea for the Campus Mission 2007 conference. That will be a major event with some 20.000 students and staff from around the world. The vision is to initiate a movement that will bring the gospel to the remaining 6.000 campuses that have no active christian influence so far. People like George Verwer and our own Andy Atkins will be keynote speakers.
As I searched the web yesterday for some background info on Korea, I found some interesting stuff. After the United States, Korea is the largest sending nation of missionaries around the world. 3 of the 10 largest churches are found over there. In 1974 a huge missions conference was held (Explo 74), and it was so influential they even made stamps of it! (No kidding: see it here).
But the thing I am most excited about now has not to do with Korea but with Mongolia. It is exactly 6 years ago that we started our 5-month DTS with Youth with a Mission. In October 2001 we visited Mongolia with the DTS Outreach. We have since then always kept a connection to Mongolia, as we support a Campus Crusade staff member there, a lady that we stayed during our visit. Coincidentally (or not), now Rahel (who we know from Switzerland) is living with her. 
Anyway. We went to Erdenet and to a small town called Kharhorun, the former capital city. In both places we got to know Mongolian worship. There was one famous song they sang all over the place, which was truly heart moving. I remember one night in Erdenet when we were invited to the worship rehearsal. There was a crowd packed in a small room, and when they started singing it was like heaven... can't describe it any other way. I had never heard a thing like that, and never heard it afterwards. Later, in Kharhorun, the worship leader gave me the text and chords, and I tried to make something out of it - which was quite hard (see picture right :-)).
To make a long story short: with world missions on my mind, knowing that I'm going to meet some Mongolians in Korea, I recalled this worship experience. And while taking my guitar, I did another Google search for 'popular Mongolian worship song', and to my utter surprise I found the song - in mp3! I copied it, so listen and enjoy. It is a little different from what I remember, but it sure is the song. In the second half you can experience a little bit what I experienced live some 6 years ago... Enjoy!
Then, next week, I will fly out to Busan, Korea for the Campus Mission 2007 conference. That will be a major event with some 20.000 students and staff from around the world. The vision is to initiate a movement that will bring the gospel to the remaining 6.000 campuses that have no active christian influence so far. People like George Verwer and our own Andy Atkins will be keynote speakers.
As I searched the web yesterday for some background info on Korea, I found some interesting stuff. After the United States, Korea is the largest sending nation of missionaries around the world. 3 of the 10 largest churches are found over there. In 1974 a huge missions conference was held (Explo 74), and it was so influential they even made stamps of it! (No kidding: see it here).
But the thing I am most excited about now has not to do with Korea but with Mongolia. It is exactly 6 years ago that we started our 5-month DTS with Youth with a Mission. In October 2001 we visited Mongolia with the DTS Outreach. We have since then always kept a connection to Mongolia, as we support a Campus Crusade staff member there, a lady that we stayed during our visit. Coincidentally (or not), now Rahel (who we know from Switzerland) is living with her. 
Anyway. We went to Erdenet and to a small town called Kharhorun, the former capital city. In both places we got to know Mongolian worship. There was one famous song they sang all over the place, which was truly heart moving. I remember one night in Erdenet when we were invited to the worship rehearsal. There was a crowd packed in a small room, and when they started singing it was like heaven... can't describe it any other way. I had never heard a thing like that, and never heard it afterwards. Later, in Kharhorun, the worship leader gave me the text and chords, and I tried to make something out of it - which was quite hard (see picture right :-)).
To make a long story short: with world missions on my mind, knowing that I'm going to meet some Mongolians in Korea, I recalled this worship experience. And while taking my guitar, I did another Google search for 'popular Mongolian worship song', and to my utter surprise I found the song - in mp3! I copied it, so listen and enjoy. It is a little different from what I remember, but it sure is the song. In the second half you can experience a little bit what I experienced live some 6 years ago... Enjoy!
Had an interesting day in Haarlem at a networking day organised by the Evangelical Alliance and Hoop21. Our colleague Hans Luttik hosted the day. I am truly impressed with the way things are developing in Haarlem. Churches are working together, trying to seize opportunities to make a positive difference in the city. In the morning I joined the workshop with Jos Douma, pastor of the Fonteinkerk and rather well known because of his 'Passion for preaching'. We talked about the challenges of being church in the city, and the changes it requires to be truly relevant and outgoing.In the afternoon I met up with Jeff Fountain, director of YWAM Europe. I read his book 'Living as people of hope' during our Mallorca conference, and it inspired me a lot. We talked about vision for Europe and how this affects local efforts. Jeff writes a 'weekly word', make sure you get a subscription of you want to stay up to date with European wide developments. All together an inspiring day.
It has been silent on this blog, and it probably will be for another while. Last week I was at Mallorca, attending the Agape Europe Leadership Forum. Yes, one of those suffering for the Lord occasions... but seriously, it was hard work. We had a two day intensive team training followed by a three day leadership forum. Great stuff altogether, but I was quite exhausted when I got home.And tomorrow morning we're off for Spain again, this time for a spring holiday with the family. We have the opportunity to stay with Ruben and Lydia Fernandéz, our colleague National Directors from Agape Spain. The girls are really excited about flying tomorrow. Rosa asked today how many nights we will be on the plane...
And if you're bored because I'm not blogging a lot, why don't you join LinkedIn for a business & professional network or Facebook for a social network... Facebook is really hyping in Agape right now, so this is your chance to make many friends ;-)
Or: take a look at this site and start wondering why I am linking to it. (Tip: see the archives...)
Labels: agapè, family, leadership, travel
Students and staff members respond in prayer
Source: www.ccci.org
They're seeing students praying.
At Virginia Tech, Campus Crusade for Christ is nicknamed Cru. Ten staff members serve a group of more than 500 involved students on campus.
When the shootings happened, the Cru staff members were gathered together for their weekly staff meeting.
"We had a prayer meeting Monday night for our students and the students of some other organizations," says Dave Broadwell, who has worked with Cru at Virginia Tech since 1991. "Most students are shocked and numb at this point, not sure what to think and feel. I feel the same way."
The day after the shootings, the staff members agreed to spend the day in the Cru office to pray with students and talk with them.
At noon on Wednesday, the team plans to pray with other Christian groups on the drillfield--a very central place on campus, says Broadwell.
The staff team invites the watching world to join with them in prayer, depending on God.
"Please pray that amidst it all that the Lord would be glorified, families would be comforted and students would grieve appropriately," says Broadwell. "I have a feeling no one is going to know how to move on from here.
Sidebar: Where is God in the Midst of Tragedy?
Labels: agapè
It is quite exciting to learn what is happening here in
He had also interesting things to say about the current developments in society, where Christianity seems to be put in the back seat, and religion is something to be kept out of public life. We are actually protected by international law: two UN resolutions from 1981 state we are protected from discrimination on religious basis – we can exercise faith anywhere, everywhere. These resolutions were replaced by newer ones that protect religious freedom even more, mentioning three things explicitly to be banned: anti-Semitism, islamofobia, Christofobia,
It is also interesting to note that the Agapè ministry in
It's always nice to post from different places than home... so here is a quick update from Riga. I'm staying in a hotel in the old town, which is really nice indeed, as I can see with my own eyes. I walked around a bit this afternoon through this old town. Lots and lots of young people, places that are trendy (or wannabe-trendy, I can't really tell), beautiful architecture. The picture is not very typical but I liked the old Soviet image. (It is actually a pre-Soviet statue from 1905!).The conference started tonight with a talk by Elaine Lloyd, an American staff lady who has been living here in Riga since 1994. Great story about discipleship - understandable, very personal and practical. I'll post some notes later. Afterwards we had dinner in town; since Elaine and her husband are the Riga experts, I thought they would take us to some fancy Latvian place, but alas. I should have known better with these 'culturally different' Americans :-)
And thanks to the unsecured wireless connection of neighbours in the hotel I could Skype from the hotelroom this afternoon for more than an hour, have an MSN chat and online prayer with Mira tonight and post this post... for free!
Tomorrow I hope to fly to Riga, Latvia, for an Agape Europe conference on 'Current Leaders'. It will be a training conference with much practical input on how to start and sustain a discipling ministry in the business community. I have never been to Latvia, although I have been meeting a number of colleagues from the Baltics very regularly. People say Riga is a beautiful city, and as we are having lunch and dinner in town every day, I am very much looking forward to it. To the conference, that is :)Labels: agapè
Last Saturday 350 young, well-educated christian professionals gathered in Hotel Schiphol to listen and think about Inspiring Leadership at the Impact Symposium. Since Agape is partnering in this symposium we held a workshop for which we invited Jon Horne from London. Based on three concepts living, telling & changing he discussed how to integrate christian identity into the workplace, share it with others and make a change. It was well received - too little time to do everything, but most people felt inspired. During the breaks I met some old friends such as Evert-Jan, Jozua and Evelien (who is in the middle of this picture) and many other people. Inspiring!Labels: agapè, leadership
If you read some of the blogs I read, you are probably already familiar with the 60 seconds contest we held at the staff conference. We invited everybody to share their testimony or present the gospel in one minute, to be used in Internet Ministry. Watch here to see all of the results and guess who won the iPod :-)
We're still recovering from the Agapè spring conference last week. It has been a very special conference that brought us even more than we hoped for. With the verses from Isaiah 43 in mind, we aimed to leave the past behind and look forward. We used that verse as the Newyear’s wishes and now we also used it as one of the leading themes in the conference. The ‘official’ conference theme was ‘DNA: Agape is moving’. And sure, Agape is moving! It is exciting to see a new spirit arise both in the field and among the staff. In the closing session, we corporately recommitted ourselves to our calling and mission by signing this piece of art. On the picture you see it hanging in the Agapè headoffice.Labels: agapè
Well, we're almost set and done for the annual Agapè spring conference. It starts tomorrow until Thursday. This is our first conference being National Directors, so I'm a little more nervous than usual (which is 'not'). I have the privilege of being on stage a couple of times, so to keep it fun for everybody I am going to use Powerpoint, animated Powerpoint, video, cartoons, and just myself and a Bible.
The overall conference theme is "Agape on the move". You could say that, after a long time of searching and waiting, we're back - we know who we are, where we're from and where we're heading for. The verses God impressed on us some time ago were of Isaiah 43, 18 and 19: Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? Out of this verse, we hope to corporately take a step in this conference to leave the past behind and opening our eyes to the new things God is doing.
Pray with us that it will be an inspired and refreshing conference!
The overall conference theme is "Agape on the move". You could say that, after a long time of searching and waiting, we're back - we know who we are, where we're from and where we're heading for. The verses God impressed on us some time ago were of Isaiah 43, 18 and 19: Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? Out of this verse, we hope to corporately take a step in this conference to leave the past behind and opening our eyes to the new things God is doing.
Pray with us that it will be an inspired and refreshing conference!
Labels: agapè, leadership
Visited Rotterdam twice this week, on Tuesday and on Friday. And guess what: I'm going to love this city! The skyline is fabulous, with the Erasmus bridge and the two towers besides Hotel New York as the main landmarks. I took this picture from the Euromast, looks nice, doesn't it?
On Tuesday we were there with Alan Nagel, Campus Crusade advisor for City strategy. Alan was here to brainstorm with us what our approach to cities in general, and Rotterdam in particular could be. Colleagues Wim van Duyvenbode and Gijsbert Pellegrom toured us through the city, giving us a lot of history and background. There is a lot going on, and our challenge is to find our 'niche' to contribute.
On Friday I returned with Wouter to shoot some footage for a video presentation about Agapè and its mission. We visited the campus ministry team at the Erasmus University, and it was very cool to hear and see discipleship at work: one of the teammembers, who was challenged last year to join the team, just returned from a talk with a guy who "had found out that Jesus was the Son of God"... In the afternoon, we were downtown, shooting in the shopping mall. Fun to see all these different people, sad to realise that only one out of twenty considers himself a born-again christian.
On Friday I returned with Wouter to shoot some footage for a video presentation about Agapè and its mission. We visited the campus ministry team at the Erasmus University, and it was very cool to hear and see discipleship at work: one of the teammembers, who was challenged last year to join the team, just returned from a talk with a guy who "had found out that Jesus was the Son of God"... In the afternoon, we were downtown, shooting in the shopping mall. Fun to see all these different people, sad to realise that only one out of twenty considers himself a born-again christian.
Labels: agapè
Had an excellent meeting with Myles Wilson and the Leadership team today. After our first meeting in November, we decided to have a broader audience. So today we were about 15 people, talking again about raising personal support and specifically the biblical basis for it. If you're interested: here are the notes (half Dutch, half English). Better idea even is to buy the book.
Labels: agapè
Finally I got to join the Rotterdam student ministry team (Henk Veltman and Heiko van den Broek) to do some good ol' evangelism. Christian student fraternity NSR celebrates its Dies Natalis this week, and for that reason they did an outreach on the campus. So I got to do some spirituality surveys and share the gospel a number of times today. I liked it a lot to be among the students; it is already over 10 years ago that I graduated, but it felt like yesterday (well, the day before yesterday ;-)). I have planned to be involved in this ministry two days a month.
On the way back I drove into a winter scenery for about 15 minutes. Weird, how fast the entire world seems to change. Even my mood changed while driving through the snow.
It's monday morning again... a new week ahead, with many things to work on. This week we hope to finalize the Strategic Plan and Budget 2007. It is the first time in a number of years that we have one integrated strategic plan and a budget handed in on time to Agape Europe! The version we work on now is the technical one, but the plan is to rewrite it a little bit so it can be published and handed out. I am quite excited about the process, because it generates a lot of energy. As we work on one single plan, we see things coming together like never before.At the same time, we have a lot of challenges to overcome. Some parts of the plan are still too high-level, and do not give concrete guidelines for the ministry. We also need to build our capacity, both financially and in people, in order to do everything we want. But I do believe very strongly that this is going to happen.
Labels: agapè, leadership
Labels: agapè
