Two years ago we got to know Shawn, a pastor from Florida who came to one of our evangelism training. At the end of this training Shawn was convinced that he needs to change the paradigm of his church because (in his own words) he realized that: “I’m a keeper of aquarium instead of being the fisher of men”.
Since then we've hosted two in-person and one online training in his church to equip every believers to start spiritual conversations and leaders to help start multiplying small groups utilizing our Sent 6:7process. At the end of August we've hosted another 2-day training in Shawn's church continuing the ongoing process of equipping everyone with simple tools to share the gospel and multiply small communities. So far, 453 members of his congregation had been equipped to share the gospel and to start new missional communities. Their goal is to plant 5 new churches of which 2 already had been started.
Shawn's story is just one of the many we see God opening doors for us to envision and equip believers and leaders to live missionally in their everyday context.
Shawn and his wife, Melisa - visionary leaders and pioneers!
"Where there is no guidance the people fall, But in abundance of counselors there is victory." Proverbs 11:14
Between August 21-25 we've spent 4 days together with the Leadership Team and the Advisory Board of Church Movements. The collective wisdom of these leaders are greatly helping us in the process of planning and executing. Their leadership is a tremendous help as Dave and Gabor are guiding our growing staff team of 99 staff in 57 cities across the U.S.
YTL (Youth at the Threshold of Life) is ready
After many years of hard work of Edina and several other helpers, the YTL curriculum is finally available in English. God already opened doors for us to use it. Edina serves weekly at The Hope Center in KC where they are helping kids (K-12) who are coming from difficult backgrounds and are having daily after-school programs for them. They are excited to start utilizing YTL to teach character, relational- and life-skills based on biblical values while sharing the gospel with these children.
The whole YTL curriculum and other information is available for free at: ytl.academy
We Covet Your Prayers
Another hard moment of saying good-bye. Renato - after being in KC for three weeks - went back to Hungary where he will continue his adult life (he graduated college this year). He sees his long-term future in our home country. This was especially a hard moment for us because now we have two kids living in Europe long-term, in two different countries far from us. We know this is God's leading for him and for us. Pray for him as he is looking for a job and pray for us as we wont see each other as a family for another year.