This past week I was in London doing some prep work for our upcoming Jet Set tour to London and Paris with The Upstream Collective. It was a great trip for several reasons. One reason was that my son Parker and my wife Susan were able to go with me.
Because my wife is a teacher at Black Forest Academy and of course my son a student they do not always get to participate in my ministry. It was great having them along for the weekend. We worked hard and had some fun.
My top five treats in London
- Krispy Kreme Donuts – I only had them twice but they were good.
- Watching my son go crazy on Denmark Street where we visited shop after shop of music stores. He is a guitarist.
- We saw the musical “Wicked”. It was indeed wicked (which use to mean good)
- The lighting of the Christmas tree on Thursday night. Norway gives London a tree each year. It is always great to be in a square with atleast 500,000 people.
- Being able to reconnect with several friends who live in London and spend some time with them.
I also want to list another top five of sorts.
1. Had lunch with a person who is working in London and part of our Skybridge Community . It is so encouraging to see people living out their lives incarnationally in the marketplace here in Europe.
2. Talked with a person who is an artist and is doing a spectacular job connecting with other artists in London and being the salt and light in that community.
3. Visited the wonderful folks at Westminster Chapel where we will be next May for a few of our days there. Ed Stetzer will be preaching there on May 23rd. The Upstream Collective and Acts 29 Western Europe will be hosting a one day conference there called Dwell on May 22nd. More on that later.
4. Spent time with an imb worker is who hoping to find creative partnerships with North American churches to engage the burroughs of London. What is really cool is how this guy is a catalyst for connecting these churches with existing ministries and churches and the collabroration that is going on is great.
5. The continual amazement at how the world really is in London. There are so many opportunities there to share the Gospel with many of the people groups in the world. I love working in Europe. I think it is one of the most strategic places in the world to be involved in missions. I have learned so much since 2001 about ministry here. I have much more to learn. Not to make an huge advertisement but Caleb Crider and I are really pumped about being with Alan Hirsch at the churchplanters.com conference where we will be doing a pre- conference workshop entitled “Back to the Future: Lessons from Europe” and how that can apply to church planting in the states today. If you can come to that please sign up on their site.
December 8, 2009 at 11:08 PM
Very cool Larry. As we’re raising support for our move back to Europe the thought of Europe as a cultural catch-all fuels me. I think that Europe rivals America as a cultural mosaic sometimes. There is a real international feel in the cities of Europe that just doesn’t exist as readily in much of the U.S. That’s an overstatement of course but you get the idea. Since you’re there during Christmas make sure you get a hold of some Mince Meat pies. Tesco (believe it or not) makes some tasty ones. Also grab a box of Roses while you’re there. Look for them in the chocolate isle at the grocery store…you won’t be disappointed.