It was a delight to preach in both of the churches we planted in Cologne-Porz and in Bergisch Gladbach in the last few months. Bergisch Gladbach has been without a pastor for over a year and is still not in a financial situation to be able to afford one. However, the spirit there is encouraging. The members have pulled together and committed to the church in a new way. People have stepped into new leadership roles and a general sense of ownership of the church. The church in Cologne-Porz is gearing up for their 20 year anniversary in May 2013 to which I have been invited to speak. When I preached there a few weeks ago the man that led the service is a miracle story himself. Back when I was pastor he had nothing to do with the church. His wife and in-laws attended faithfully but he was far from God and though I tried, I couldn't get close to him. After learning that he had had an affair, his wife considered leaving him with their pre-school children. Instead, she persevered and kept praying. At some point after Sue and I had moved on to our next church plant, he came to faith and now is a shining witness to God's grace in that community.
During the Karneval weekend I was able to talk with with several friends of friends about the gospel and our church plant. In the process I gave away all the church contact cards that I had in my wallet during the course of one evening. There was genuine interest for a new expression of church among this group of professionals with State Church backgrounds. This was especially interesting to me as I was dressed in a wedding dress! (Hey - everyone else was in costume as well. Sue was dressed as my groom and we had discussions with a variety of clowns, pirates, aliens, etc.)
Fra
u Vrooman's Hootnanny was our last big event in March to broaden our network and gather people from several different spheres together. It was a blast! Kristi (Frau Vrooman) organized and led an evening of sing-along with a variety of German and English pop songs. We also had a small group prepare three Gospel songs that ended up being the highlight of the night. The band was hot. Kristi was dynamic. And everyone sang themselves horse. We were especially glad to see a several people from my (and Kristi's) volleyball group turn out. Please pray that our network will be broadened and deepened through this and that people would move one step closer toward a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. URGENT NEED! "It's not worth fixing." When your trusted car mechanic utters those words, the problem is very serious. After all, he could stand to make a huge profit from the repair. Fortunately he honestly informed us that the repair cost would be much more expensive than the worth of the car. We have been saving for several years for the day when we would need to replace our 10 year old Honda Fit and that day came sooner than we expected. We need to buy something within the next month and really do not want to go into debt to do it. Taking into account what we have saved, we need to raise at least $16,000 in order to buy a late model VW Golf or equivalent. Our church planting ministry is dependent on having a reliable car. Please let us know by April 15 if you can help us with this pressing need. Click here for a payment card to print out and mail in with your check. This will ensure that your gift gets credited to our car fund.
Yours for Germany,
Jason and Sue
PS: Click here to see our current financial support needs.
