I Love it When a Plan Comes Together…

Hello everyone, I hope y’all are enjoying the Christmas season! Jesus Revolution Belgium is on Christmas vacation so I am finishing this newsletter from sunny South Carolina.

After enjoying a fantastic Christmas with family and friends, I’m happy to share that a plan has come together for the next leg of my year for Christ… and it is even more exhilarating than I could have imagined. When Belgium denied my application for a long-stay visa, our team leader, Benjamin, decided to look for options that would keep the team together. He looked into bringing the team to the States to do ministry. Ironically, the US denied their visas! So, he looked elsewhere and an amazing opportunity opened up for us to spend time in the 10/40 window - first in Istanbul, Turkey for a couple of weeks of training, then in Pakistan (all over) and India (Hyderabad) for large scale evangelism, community outreach, and to support local churches and ministries. We’ll spend a little better than 3 months on the sub-continent and then return to Belgium to continue our ministry and to prepare for our large-scale, two-week, summer outreach in Malaga, Spain. Teens and young adults from all over the world will join us for this final outreach. If you or someone you know might like to join us (or one of the other Jesus Revolution Summer Outreach Trips), please check out the amazing opportunity here.

It is incredibly fun to consider how the inconvenience and stress of being denied a long-stay visa not only pushed our team to explore new opportunities, but actually opened doors for an incredible adventure God will use to bring new life to people in Turkey, Pakistan, and India!

I’m also thrilled to let you know that we had a fruitful final few weeks in Belgium, starting with an event called Le Forum des Leaders in France. This conference was a gathering of youth leaders from all across France where pastors served pastors to encourage and strengthen all the communities they represent. There were workshops, moments of communal prayer, moments of communal worship, and of course as in any gathering of Christians, lots of preaching. It was at this event that all three of us first year missionaries from the Jesus Revolution Belgium team entered into a new level of communion with the Holy-Spirit. The results were breathtaking. Estevan, who before had often been the most reluctant to lead and serve, was now jumping at the opportunities to pray, do the dishes, and take charge when no one else was willing. He even sacrificed his much-needed nap so I could take one instead. Jacopo, who before was rather closed in and seemed reluctant to talk when unnecessary, really opened up. We all discovered with great surprise and joy that he was really funny, a great observer of facts (‘we always are the last ones to leave church’), and an unbeatable Dutch player (a card game). I was changed as well. I received a word of knowledge and a dream commanding me to both share of myself and what God has given me with other people. 

God is always quite timely. The last week before vacation we hosted the Jesus Revolution Ukraine team and were able to wear the new versions of ourselves for our fire-filled colleagues. I won’t take the time to describe each of the seven members of the Ukrainian team, only know that there were two boys and five girls, and each and every one was a Spirit-filled pioneer. I have never had as much fun evangelizing as when I went with them! We all became even more intently aware that Europe is on the brink of revival when we all cried out for the nations during (our greatly extended) morning gathering. All of us were on our knees. 

I also had a dream that day of a huge wave starting to flood my friend’s house. I was terrified of this wave, but she just smiled and said, ‘Oh we have been waiting for this, I will go get my dad.’ Her dad is the Pastor of Surf Church in Hossegor, France, and when I awoke I realized that this must be the wave of Revival that we prayed for falling onto Europe at this very moment! I encourage you to join your prayers with us as we all wait actively for the Lord’s coming. 

In the meantime, we are all on vacation in our respective countries. It has been lovely being back home, especially knowing I’ll soon be back on the road. I am so grateful for all of you and your generosity. Thank you for making it possible for me to follow God’s call on my life! I hope to see some of y’all during my sojourn in the United States. Happy New Year!