I don’t think I could have gone through a more abrupt climate change during my move to Fort Lauderdale. While packing my car, there was a fourth of an inch of ice on the roads. My mom called to tell me that there was a yard sale of about 30 cars in the ditch on I-74, all within a half mile of each other. To leave praying that I wouldn’t end up in a ditch, and to arrive at the Georgia / Florida boarder wishing that my air conditioning worked was quite a shock. I still can’t believe that it’s February 3rd and it’s 70 degrees outside.
Shortly after my arrival, the work began. Monday to Wednesday, we hosted an XEE launch at Coral Ridge. What a privilege it was to serve churches from Canada, Virginia, Minnesota, Florida and Washington D.C. Several of our launch participants were former missionaries, one couple to Canada and another just home from Chad. Their ease of understanding and their fresh insights of different people groups were refreshing and challenging.
The day after the launch, Adam and I started setting up my office. It was a great test of our teamwork as we had to move, and play hide and go seek with the 6, 400 pound filing cabinets that were in my office. We’ve been getting questions about where they’ve gone, or how one of them ‘magically’ appeared in the break room. We just shrug our shoulders and inform them “it was Brian’s idea.” Childish I know, but it seems to work.
One of the highlights of the week was visiting Rio Vista Community Church on Sunday. If you recall, Rio was the team we took to Kuala Lumpur / Singapore. On Sunday we unveiled the location of this summer’s trip. The first week of August we are going to Berlin, Germany. As of right now, there is now no formal way of training German churches on how to share the gospel. From what our contact in Germany has informed us, after the wall came down, it was a free for all with the gospel. As a result, Germans were turned off from “organized religion” and Christianity. Our goal over the next several months is to create a culturally relevant version of XEE specific to the Berlin culture.
Would you join me in praying as I’m still in the process of finding a permanent place to live, a church to call home and a new (to me) car. With each day, I’m getting more and more settled, but my guess is that until these big three are settled it won’t feel like home. Thank you again for all of your support and encouragement!