Missio Colonia | Kevin and Kathi in Cologne, Germany

Before becoming a missionary, I never really considered how much international politics and economics effect the ministry of the Gospel. In the first century, the explosive growth of the early church was due in part to the political cohesion of the Roman Empire. Church planting in China during the early 1900s came to a halt because of the Boxer Rebellion. While God is never surprised by these things, they do have an enormous impact on missions.

While the economic situation in the world right now isn't as dramatic as the Boxer Rebellion, the falling value of the dollar is really hitting missions hard. In the past five years the dollar has lost over 30% of it's value against the Euro, and this trend has accelerated in the past year. This means that a missionary who raised support back in 2002 is now earning 30% less in 2007! Imagine in your own job what it would be like to take a 30% pay cut!

Please be praying for this situation. Do not necessarily pray that God raise the value of the dollar. Rather, pray that He would be providing for His work abroad even in spite of these circumstances. From all of the missionaries we know overseas, all of them are really struggling right now - many of them are considering returning to the States. We are at least fortunate that we are still support raising and we can raise the difference in the falling dollar before we leave. Missionaries in the field are handicapped in this regard. But, God is faithful. He will provide for all of our needs!

As we've mention many times before, this whole process of support raising has been a continual refinement of our prayer lives and how we view God. Over the past few months, God has challenged us in this - not necessarily with how much or how little we pray, but with what kind of heart. Another kick in the rear happened the other day when I read Mark 11:22-24:

"'Have faith in God,' Jesus answered. 'I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, "Go, throw yourself into the sea," and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.'"

I'm blown away by this verse. Such faith seems so foreign to the kind of shifting sands that I experience. But, if I'm reading the verse right, God wants us to pray in the assurance that you have already received what you prayed for. Notice the tense. Not that you will receive but have already received. Astonishing. Who can pray like that? In my prayers the past two days, I've been confessing this weakness and asking God to have grace for me when I doubt.

As some of you may know, we've been praying for the last six weeks that God would raise up the rest of our support by the end of the year. We're continually affirmed in our spirits that this is a prayer He wants us to pray. But, there doesn't seem to be anything in our support raising to suggest that this will happen - quite the opposite. But, we're are being called to believe in the God of the impossible. To believe that we have already received it. That's so hard for us. What happens if our prayers aren't answered? Please pray for right now in the battle of prayer that we are experiencing. Pray that God would give us confidence in our prayers - the same confidence and assurance that Jesus taught in Mark 11.

"The key to the missionary problem is in the hand of God, and that key is prayer not work, that is not work as the word is popularly understood today because that may mean the evasion of concentration on God. The key to the missionary problem is not the key of common sense, nor the medical key, nor the key of civilization or education or even evangelization. The key is prayer. 'Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest.' Naturally, prayer is not practical, it is absurd; we have to realize that prayer is stupid from the ordinary common-sense point of view."
-Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest

We spoke this Sunday at the Valley View Community Church in Sugarcreek. They actually gave us the entire sermon time to share our vision for Germany. We've been really blessed by this church so far, and the pastor their has been so supportive of what we are doing. Please pray that God would open up for them to support our ministry on a permanent basis.

You can also be praying for me. I'm going through a little stretch of discouragement. We've been praying some very powerful and bold prayers lately - namely, that God would finish our support by the end of the year. Up till now we've been praying with bold expectation having confidence that will hear us. Now, all of the obstacles loom so large over us - not the least of which has been a sinking dollar. Please continue to pray for our hearts that we would be bold and confident in the Lord.

I'm sure many of you are wondering how our Cramtastic Oktoberfest went this weekend. Well, it went off without a hitch, and it turned out to be a very encouraging time. They had between 20 and 30 people come out, and they gave us time in the middle for us to share our vision for ministry in Cologne. Then the group laid hands on us and prayed over us for a solid thirty minutes. It was a very powerful moment for both of us.

There was a lot of fun and games as well. The root beer flowed like honey. The karaoke was blasting most of the night. Kevin indulged most of the evening in a game of Settlers of Catan (a German favorite) while Kathi mingled and sang karaoke. We took a few pictures of the event, which you can access on the pictures page or by clicking here. As you can see, Kevin looks really good in lederhosen!

We definitely need to thank the 20somethings group from our old church in Illinois, Trinity Community Church. They were the ones who put so much time and effort to make it possible. We are especially grateful to Nicole and Andrew Smith, Dani Boudreau, and Aaron Woolever. The event raised some more for our out-going expenses, and God also raised up another monthly supporter through it. Praise Him!

We had a crazy Saturday this weekend. While I worked a full shift at the YMCA, Kathi was speaking and singing at our church's women's retreat. Then, at about 7 pm we headed out for the 8 hour drive to Chicago. We ended up getting into town around 2 am local time! The reason for the late night journey was that we wanted to be able to go to our old church on Sunday and visit our former small group as well (which we did and it was great).

We planning on being in the Chicago area for about a week. The main reason we're here is that our old church has planned a fund raiser for us next Saturday. They are holding a "Kramtastic Oktoberfest" with root beer kegs and everything! It's going to be a blast, and hopefully it will bring some new supporters to our support team. Please be praying for that. And, if you're in the Chicago area next Saturday, stop on by!