It has been about a month since I drove out from Amsterdam towards Estonia. It has been a time of adjusting, a time of making connections, a time of starting worship courses.. |
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the team of the school KUS through which we do the Worship Central course |
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Ministry with vision When I arrived to Estonia, I jumped straight in. No time to waste! Time for meetings and preparations. The first month I have mostly focused on starting the basic worship course - Worship Central. To me and my new teams, it has been above expectation. We have currently 2 courses running, one for Northern Estonians and the other one in the South. We together have exactly 131 students in the Worship Central course! We had some worship teams late with registration and because of space, they have to wait till January, when we will start a new course. With the first session, I realized, that I have people taking the course who are active and known in the worship ministry in Estonia. We have Estonian versions of for example Kees Kraayenoord (NL) and Tim Hughes (UK) sitting and taking the course with their teams. Using these new contacts and their network, we have together started to build a network of Estonian worshipers, from where to connect worshipers from all over the country and offer them information and help and provide a place to connect. Within a day we gathered already 150 people in this group. This is part of the MEW vision, and it is great to see so quickly that this is a really relevant need and desire! The second thing we started with the people I met at the course, is to share a united unofficial database of Estonian worship songs. It is the biggest existing local database at the moment. I still need prayer and work to create an official database for the worshipers here. |
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On my first week, when I was heading towards a church. As I drive, I am starting to feel the drive is not smooth and start thinking if I should stop the car and check the tires. Really thinking: "Oh no! Andy checked the car and said this car is good for a long time!" Driving a bit slower but then I realize.. The roads look nice, but actually are wavey and pumpy. The roads locate on a climate with 4 seasons with -25C and +25C, rain, sun, snow.. Andy was right afterall, my car is top-notch! just that the roads are not |
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God is active Besides running the courses and starting new ones, I have had opportunities to preach, help with worship team's practices, lead worship in different settings and gatherings, and I have spoken on local Christian radios. This all to encourage people worship God with all they have! I have driven about 2500km in September to serve the people here, and I can say God is active and moving. He is also healing, mostly our emotional wounds. Our God answers prayers and comforts. He also builds up people and churches but He also confronts them and leads them back on track. |
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Personally I still rent a small apartment in the center of Estonia. This month I am looking for a new place closer to networking and churches, possibly more in the South of Estonia where the school KUS is, that I work with, and it is closer to some of the churches that I help. I did not know many Christians before I left the country in 2011, but through working and traveling, I now have got to know many more, and looking forward to build beautiful friendships with the people I work together. |
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One month and already there is a lot to be thankful for. My expectation has risen what God wants to do in here and how He will lead through this mission to equip the worship teams and lead the churches into truly worshipping Him - in Spirit and in Truth! |
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PRAYER Requests: - Please pray for the travels as I drive a lot, and the roads are often between dark forests and pumpy roads
- Continue praying for the Worship Central courses, that the Spirit could move and people could hear the guidance how to do worship in their churches
- Network of Estonian Worshipers to grow and offer the necessary help for their needs
- The official Estonian worship database needs right global connections and responses
- I still need more financial support so I could continue traveling as much as needed
- A special request to pray for my homechurch back in Amsterdam, as they are going through a tough time
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