YWAM Amsterdam

After a very brief hop across the English Channel, I arrived in in Amsterdam, Holland sans baggage for the second trip in a row...! Can you believe it? It's been several years since an airline lost my suitcase and now I take two trips within two weeks and my luggage gets lost twice in a row...! Smile!

After picking up yet another stranded traveller courtesy kit at the lost luggage counter, I exited through customs at the Schipol's mega-airport with its sprawling shopping center (I bought a car duty free there once when Teresa and I lived in Europe) and found Missionary Steve Ashworth's smiling face there to greet me. We then hopped the train to Amsterdam's Centraal Station, just a few blocks from the YWAM base.

When I saw what was hanging outside the door to their apartment, I knew I was in the Netherlands for sure. The first time I ever saw a pair of shoes like that was when I was seven or eight years old and my Mom and Dad brought some back to me as a souvenir when they stopped overnight in Holland on their way home from a trip to the Holy Land in the sixties.

We toured the YWAM Amsterdam building where Steve and Rhonda and their three beautiful children live. It's called De Poort, which is Dutch for ‘The Gateway’. The 150 year old building provides classrooms and housing for the different ministry schools, office space for their Support Ministries, and housing for staff. They run several schools out of this particular YWAM base, including the Discipleship Training School, Leadership Training School, Makind Disciple Makers, School of Evangelism and Pioneering, School of Intercessory Prayer, School of Urban Frontier Missions, and the Nations to Nations TakeOff Discipleship Evening School. Here is a photo of Steve inside a classroom set up for their School of Intercessory Prayer, which is going on at the moment.


We then headed out on bicycle to visit the mission's other facilities.


Amsterdam is such a beautiful city and exploring it by bicycle was a real treat after so many hours cooped up on an airplance. The weather here today was beautiful and the neighborhood they are in is laced with canals bordered by tiny streets, and historic architecture.



Our first stop was the new Tabernacle of the Nations prayer center, a house of 24/7 prayer and worship in the heart of Amsterdam’s Red Light District. In Your missions giving through Hillcrest Church is helping make this project possible...!
















Then, we went next door to The Cleft. It focuses on mercy ministry and sharing the gospel with tourists, homeless people, businessmen, prostitutes, drug addicts and lonely people.














We wound up at The Samaritan's Inn building where the Dwaze Zaken arts café is located. Although the identity of the café is Christian, there are no preachers or sermons. Rather, it provides a platform for many different art forms and hosts a number of different kinds of activities on an ongoing basis: concerts, workshops, exhibitions, (film) discussions and lectures. The initiative for this kind of café grew out of the belief that God is the ultimate Artist. The initiators of the café wish to demonstrate that the Christian lifestyle is contemporary, very active and provides sufficient basis for today’s problems and life’s challenges. Young people find at Dwaze Zaken a lively café where they can find friendship, a listening ear and a helping hand. Thanks to your generosity, I was able to treat the entire Ashworth family to a delicious dinner. We had great fellowship, and I am now about to tumble into bed exhausted, but very thankful that we are partnering with such quality people...!

Jetlagged at Gatwick

No matter how many times I "hop the pond," these transatlantic flights always wear me out. I have never quite grown accustomed to trying to sleep sitting up... (Smile!) But, I found a Starbucks here at Gatwick airport (yeah...!) with good, strong "drip" coffee and I'm feeling better by the minute, even with only an hour or two of sleep. In a bit, I connect with British Airways on to Amsterdam, where I am going to visit our missionaries, Steve and Rhonda Ashworth and their children. They are missionaries with Youth With A Mission based in Holland, but also active in other countries around the world. I am really looking forward to this time with them, although brief. They have very graciously rearranged their travel schedules to the Phillipines just in order to be home and welcome me when I come through...!

Amsterdam holds very special memories for Teresa and me. Our first trip to Western Europe after we were married in 1985 was to the International Conference for Itinerant Evangelists hosted by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association in the summer of '86. The conference had made arrangements for the 8,000 or so delegates from all over the world to have free, unlimited transportation on the city's tramways. Following the evening meetings, Teresa and I would hop some tram at random, ride it to the end of the line, and then return to our hotel. It was a great way to sightsee and in July, it did not get fully dark until very late in the evening. I had already ministered in Europe multiple times beginning in 1981, but both Teresa and I were profoundly impacted by what the spiritual need that we saw everywhere around us in '86. Following that experience, we began stepping up our involvement in that part of the world and things culminated with our moving to France as resident missionaries on New Year's Day of 1991.

This trip will be fast and furious (that's the way I like them...!), with stops in five countries in ten days. I'll keep you posted as often as I can via my blog.

Teresa and I love you precious people at Hillcrest Church and are thankful to God for the privilege of serving you...!

Thanks to God for Brooklyn Tabernacle Trip

I am so very thankful to the Lord that He made it possible for me to spend the last four days together with our pastoral staff at the Brooklyn Tabernacle Pastor’s Conference in Brooklyn, New York. Ever since I arrived at Hillcrest Church four years ago, I have dreamed of introducing them to the ministry of that congregation.

The conference we attended was not about leadership methods or church growth techniques, but about spiritual refreshing, inspiration, and renewal. Before going, I told our team that my prayer was that God would minister to them while they were there in whatever way they most needed Him to during this season in their life. I encouraged them to just sit back, relax, soak up God’s presence, and receive from Him without feeling like they needed to observe, analyze, take notes, or glean new ideas. If any of that happened – great! But, I did not want them to feel under any pressure to do that, but encouraged them to remember that God was taking us there first and foremost so that we could encounter Him and hear from Him in a fresh, deep way.

The team went on up to New York City on Saturday ahead of me, and were able to attend the first service at Times Square Church as well as the Brooklyn Tabernacle. Out of all the many, many congregations that I have personally visited or have knowledge of across the USA, the Brooklyn Tabernacle is one of the two I admire most. The Church on the Way in Van Nuys, California is the other of the two, and Times Square Church is right up there near the top of my list.

Here are some excerpts from some statements that I gave to our team about the two congregations they visited on Sunday, outlining what I admire most about those churches:

1. Both of these churches are deeply grounded in prayer. They view all ministry as something that most effectively and naturally flows out of a walk with God that is nurtured by a rich, personal and corporate prayer life. I think these churches have come to rely on prayer to such a degree in part because their leaders have regularly been confronted with overwhelming need, be it seemingly unsolvable individual problems in the lives of the people they were ministering to, or insurmountable financial challenges before their entire church body. They have had no other recourse but to cry out to God in desperate faith. Having learned from their experience that He answers those who call upon Him, they deliberately rely on heaven’s help to do the work God has called them to. They believe that the most effective strategies are those which are both birthed and bathed in prayer. Their testimony and example has often encouraged me during these last few years. A quote from Abraham Lincoln has become one of my favorites: “Many times I have been driven to my knees by the overwhelming realization that I had no where else to go.”

2. Both of these churches regularly experience the manifest presence of God. By that phrase, I mean first of all that work of the Holy Spirit whereby we become specifically conscious of God’s presence. I believe one of the key reasons why these churches continue to enjoy such remarkable growth is that people in their surrounding communities have become convinced that they will encounter God if they attend a service at one of these churches. That kind of “buzz” causes a sort of natural publicity that keeps more and more people showing up for the very first time. While each of these congregations has great music and passionate worship, I don’t think people come because of their particular “sound” or “style.” Their secret lies, not in sophisticated cultural sensitivity, but in deep, genuine spiritual reality.

3. Both of these churches are very passionate about reaching the lost. They do not try to target the already churched with better methods or marketing than other churches. Instead, they continually engage in many forms of intentional outreach to the neediest people around them. This is the primary way their churches are built. They attract even the hardest of sinners, lead them to Christ, and then thoroughly disciple them. One of the things that amazes me in both of these places is the apparently high level of consecration and godliness among their people, especially given their backgrounds in what many would call “deeply” sinful lifestyles.

4. Both of these churches look like their neighborhoods. They are multi-cultural and multi-racial. It is easy to think that in a city like New York, with such an ethnically mixed population, such blending is easy or even automatic, but this is not the case. In fact, ethnic and racial tensions are often highest in those areas of the city where very diverse populations live in close proximity. Little love is lost between the Hispanic and African-American communities, for instance, and high profile, severely racially charged incidents have occurred in the city’s not too distant history between African American and Hasidic Jewish populations. In spite of such tensions, these churches both reach a diverse audience, including many different social classes. Brooklyn Tabernacle, for instance, clearly reflects the economic composition of its borough, but it also has successfully reached stock brokers, top fashion models, etc., and integrated them into its church family.

5. Both of these churches have experienced very significant growth over many years without being particularly trendy, hip, or even innovative. They are living proof that authentic, straightforward, Gospel ministry - loving God, caring for people, walking in integrity, and ministering the reality of the Holy Spirit in response to human need - still builds great, lasting churches. Both of these bodies have world-wide impact, not so much through formal missionary ministry as through the natural, spontaneous, ripple-effect that flows from so profoundly impacting individual human lives in a major metropolitan area.

I do not believe God wants us to try to duplicate Brooklyn Tabernacle or Times Square Church in Dallas, but I do believe with all my heart that God is calling us to raise up an Antioch church with the same kind of atmosphere, spiritual DNA, paradigm of ministry, and church growth dynamic as I have described above. As I told our pastors, in the final analysis, I do not believe our primary focus should be on growing our church, but, rather, on becoming the kind of pastors whose lives and ministries produce a thoroughly New Testament church which experiences natural increase.

We had a great time of fellowship during this first trip we have been able to take together outside of the Metroplex. It was not only a bonding time, but I believe God planted seeds in each of our hearts that will bear a very fruitful harvest for many years to come. Would you please pause for a moment and pray, asking God to water the seeds that were sown with His precious Holy Spirit?

Thanks!

P.S. I got my suitcase late last night, just in time to bring it home with me today on the plane. PTL!

Yes, It's cold...!

Ryan and Amy

We were really glad that Ryan and Amy, part of our extended Hillcrest Church family, were able to come down and see us on Tuesday. Wish we could have seen, the Jankes, Neals, and Neubauers, as well. Next time...!

Out for a walk together

This is the view from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade along the East River, very close by the church.



And, here's the Brooklyn Bridge.

If you want to see some more photos, check out the page on Pastor Rawd Jone's blog that he made for his daughter, Sophia, who is studying Paddington Bear in school. He put together a travelogue called, Paddington Bear Goes to New York City.

What a great night!

Brooklyn Tabernacle Prayer Meeting

The staff and I are in the auditorium of the Brooklyn Tabernacle. It is forty-five minutes before the start of tonight's prayer meeting and the ground floor (some 1,500 seats) is already full, with seats that appear open all being held by someone for someone. Pastor Cymbala said in an earlier meeting today that the congegation is going to be asked to pray for all the leaders in attendance, one by one. This prayer meeting will last until about 8:30 pm tonight Dallas time. If you read this before then, would you please take a moment and breathe a prayer that God would speak to each one of our team in a personal way? Thanks! YOUR PRAYERS MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

mbrand@hillcrestchurch.org
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David Wilkerson

David Wilkerson brought a powerful message this morning from Hebrews 10:19 calling us to boldly enter the.presence of the Father, referring to the welcome the Prodigal Son received when he returned to the presence of the Father.

Lord, what would you have me to do?

Pastor Jim Cymbala ministered a great word this afternoon based on the question Paul asked Jesus in Acts 9:6, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? (KJV)" Simply put, everything that happened after that in the Book of Acts was God's answer to that question as He led the disciples step by step. God's servants asked God for guidance one step at a time and He gave it to them. This was the key to their remarkable fruitfulness in ministry.

Still no luggage...

No trace of my suitcase anywhere. The airline cannot even find it at this point, which, I suppose, is not surprising, given what must be an enormous amount of disruption in the entire air traffic system. They did finally give me $75 to buy a clean shirt, etc. Boy, clean, dry socks never felt so good...! (Smile!)

Smiles

I think I finally figured out how to post photos from my pda. Anway, we are having a wonderful time. Great fellowship, great ministry, and improving weather, PTL!

Intimacy brings capacity..

Dr. Tony Evans just finished ministering during the first session. It was an exposition of Ephesians 3:14-21. Here's the key thought...greater intimacy brings greater capacity, greater capacity brings greater potency, greater potency positions us to experience God's greater serendipidity.

mbrand@hillcrestchurch.org
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Good morning

Here we are! My luggage is somewhere else, but the Spirit is here and that is all that matters!

Just found out that Dr. Tony Evans, who is speaking this am, was on a plane that ran out of gas last night and landed in Washington, D.C., then took a taxi all night to get here for service this am. So, I AM BLESSED by comparison! (smile!)

mbrand@hillcrestchurch.org
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Made it!

2:30 am, but I made it to Brooklyn...!

mbrand@hillcrestchurch.org
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Taxi, Taxi...

It's great to be in Newark, even if I am standing outside in a line of about 200+ people waiting for one...! (Smile!) Been talking to our team on the phone over in the city, and they obviously have had a great day, in spite of all the rain.

mbrand@hillcrestchurch.org
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Newark...!

Just landed in Newark...! Now, just need to find a taxi driver with a friendly looking far (smile) to drive me over to Brooklyn. Apart from a few more bumps than usual, thde flight went really well.

mbrand@hillcrestchurch.org
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Finally...!

Well, I am now on a plane to Newark, New Jersey after sitting on the runway for so long that our crew went into illegal overtime...! But, the captain says we are good to go! Yeah!

Keep praying that this one doesn't cancel.

Blessings!

Pastor Mark

mbrand@hillcrestchurch.org
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The Mission Field Is At Our Doorstep

In case you ever wonder how important it is that Hillcrest Church truly become, "A Local Church With A World Vision," check out the article in the Dallas Morning News entitled, "Buddhist Shrine Brings a Bit of Cambodia to Area."

It tells the story of about the Cambodian Buddhist monk, Socheatrapagna Sisowath, who arrived in Dallas one year ago in order to build a local replica of the shrine at Angkor Wat, the temple/mausoleum near Phnom Penh. I encourage you to take a moment and pray that this gentleman will have a personal encounter with Jesus while he is here in our city.

We Might Be In-Laws Someday...!

Thanks to our very own Dennis Smith over at the Men of Legacy blog for pointing the way to a great article by Todd Wilson of FamilyMan Ministries entitled, "We Might Be In-Laws Someday...!" over at Men of Integrity.net.

As the father of an eight year old princess, I say, "Amen!" to Todd's list of things he wants taught to his future son-in-law:

1. Train him to be involved with his family. He can't do his own thing.
2. Train him to be a good listener. Eye to eye—no distractions.
3. Train him to be gentle. No harsh words or roughness.
4. Train him to be able to say "I'm sorry"—even when he feels wronged.
5. Train him to have a real, growing relationship with God. He can't go it alone.
6. Train him to care more about loving his wife and raising his children than he does about his career.
7. Train him to be able to say "no" to his own desires and "yes" to hers.

To sign up for Todd's weekly email, click here. To subcribe to his podcast via the free, itunes software (no ipod required...!), click here. While you are at it, check out his "You 'da Dad" online magazine.

God help me to live up to that list myself...! Number two, especially, pierced my heart. How many times have I "listened" without "looking...!"

Go GodTube...!!!!

I just stumbled across GodTube on the Internet, a "still in beta" Christian alternative to the immensely popular and sometimes vulgar YouTube, which I personally tend to stay away from unless someone recommends a specific clip for viewing. For me, randomly browsing through YouTube looking for good things to watch can be a bit like looking for a piece of desert somewhere in a garbage can ... but, that's a purely personal opinion I might should have saved for another day...! (Smile!)

Anyway ...

Here is an interview with GodTube's founder and DTS grad, Chris Wyatt; a couple of cute takeoffs on the great Mac vs. PC commercials that underscore the difference between just being a Christian and being a true Christ follower; and another, much more edgy, parody clip targeting young people.

Those original Mac commercials, by the way, were some of the funniest I have ever seen. The one that showed the PC guy "freezing" every few moments was painfully brilliant, in my opinion! So much so, in fact, that as hard as it is for a die hard Windows guy like me to admit, my next laptop will probably be a Macintosh, especially now that my favorite Bible software, Logos, will soon be available on that platform.

Trust you are having a great day and are off to a great week, walking with the God of the Ordinary...!