The next couple of weeks are exciting ones (I say that as if the other ones aren’t). Next weekend, 11 April to 13 April, we’ll be spending some quality time together as a team and together with the Great Britain Field Team at Centre Park - Sherwood Forest. We were invited to this retreat with the GBFT before any of us had even arrived in England and we’re looking forward to the time we get to spend knowing them better and the time we get to spend developing our team dynamics.

Then, on the 15th of April, Leah and I will be heading back to America for a really brief trip to accomplish a couple of things. We’ll be focusing on Ohio and Georgia and while we’re there, we’re going to focus on these things:

• We’ll get to spend some time with supporters who make it possible for us to remain and work in England.
• We’ll get to see our families for some quality, albeit brief times.
• We’ll get to accomplish some things asked of us by CMF.
• We’ll have the opportunities to raise some extra support for running and maintaining the Canvas House.
• We’ll get a chance to retreat with nearly all of the other active Globalscope team members at a once-a-year Globalscope Retreat. This year, it’s in Savannah, Georgia.

In the time from now until the GBFT retreat, we’re continuing to spend time around the city with the “randomers” - students who haven’t gone home between terms and for the Easter holiday and once we return on the 5th of May, we’re back into the swing of things immediately.

If you have a supporter user-name and password, you can track the happenings via the Events Calendar. Click here to log in and head to that page. If you’re a supporter, but don’t know your user-name and password, click here and send us a message. So, like we said, action-packed and exciting weeks ahead and we’ll keep you updated every step of the way!

I find the greatest peace in the mornings. As I’m drinking a big cup of coffee (one of my favorite things) and listening to classical music (the music with which I was educated) I find peace. When days are at their quietest, in the morning, that’s where I like to live.For the last couple of mornings, I’ve been considering the idea of retelling and remembering all that God has done. This was brought on by a conversation I’ve had recently where I was responding to the simple question, “So, how are things going so far?” As I told the story of our time in England, I was remembering and recounting all that God has done and it excited me to see that there have been many awesome stories and demonstrations of God’s work in England - many of which I hadn’t recognized in the moment. It was only in the retelling and remembering that I noticed God the most. And so, I wish to recount again the story of our time in England…so far.

I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds. Your ways, O God, are holy. What god is so great as our God? You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples. Psalm 77:11-14 (NIV)

Relationships
Since arriving on October 29th, our team has been striving to find our place and identity in Birmingham, England. When we first arrived, we noticed that CMF had done a great job of networking and developing relationships on our team’s behalf. However, now we had the responsibility of sorting out what those relationships actually were in practice and how we could continue to develop and invest in them. Relationships with Pavilion Christian Community and the people there, relationships with Together in Mission, relationships with Birmingham Christian College, relationships with other ministries in the city - all of these important points of engagement for our team. Then determining how each of these relationships then relate to each other was a focus for us.At the same time, we were focusing on our personal relationships as a team. We all realized quickly that we had spent a total of two weeks with each other before we arrived in England and now we were spending nearly every waking moment. We took on the responsibility of learning each other. We took on being intentional about learning how best to talk with, relate to, work with and love each other…successfully, I might add.We additionally had the task of determining what our relationships with supporters looked like now that we had to shift our whole mindset. We were here now. We weren’t raising support any longer. We weren’t working on communication and follow-up with them 24/7; we had a new job to do. Personally, this scared me a little bit (still does to be honest) because I want our supporting team to feel like and know that they are a part of all that is happening here and without them, it cannot continue. It remains incredibly important to me. And so we continue to work out how these relationships look while we’re making our focus students instead of “getting to England.”

Getting a Routine
Even from the first days, we knew we needed to get a pattern to life. We were beginning the process of learning the culture and some sort of order would help us all go through that process a little better. So we started regular, planned meetings - usually at Sainbury’s Cafe (say what you want Englanders, it’s a good cafe) to talk about vision, strategy and how things would actually come together. Read the rest of this entry »

We were having a conversation once that went something like this: “You know, some day we’re going to look around and suddenly realize that everything is taken care of. We’re going to suddenly realize that it’s time…to go.” That time is now.

We are departing for England on Thursday, October 25, 2007 at 1:30pm.

Our house is now up for both sale and rent and we believe that we need to take a step out ahead, into what we know God is doing. All along this journey we have tried to take steps of faith, jumping before we really knew how things were going to turn out. We don’t want the house to be any different. This was not an easy decision for us, but we know we’re going to look back and see this decision as turning point. Click here to read more about this decision and how God led us through the conversation.

In the end, all of our support has been raised (close to $9000 a month and $14,000 in one-time gifts - amazing). We received our visas in three, yes 3, business days. We have had 11 immunizations, seven, yes 7, in one day. We received word that there is a residence available for rent in England shortly after we arrive. Our teammates Robert and Natalie have received all of their support and they have received their visas. They are ready. Our house here in the states is set to sell or rent no matter where we are. Families and individuals are praying. Our families are praying. The outreach teams from our supporting churches are praying. The elders, staff and ministers from supporting churches are praying. People who receive our E*news are praying. Our sending church, First Christian, is praying. Other CMF teams in England are praying. We are praying. You are praying.

So the path has been paved. It’s been quite an amazing, challenging and exciting journey so far. We can’t wait to tell the stories of God’s work in Birmingham. Here we go!