Archive for the ‘Friends’ Category
Posted on September 7, 2010 - by Larry - 0 Comments
About Asia
This week I am on the west coast talking about Asia. We will be moving from place to place quite rapidly if all goes well so not a lot of time for posts. I will keep post some updates on The Upstream Collective Facebook page.
We are excited about working with some of our friends on this mini tour to Los Angeles, Phoenix and Tucson. I am sure I will learn a lot about this part of the world. I talked with some of the guys who are coming along with us today and it is incredible to hear some of the God stories from these guys.
I am also looking forward to talking to pastors from the churches who will be attending and learning more about what they are doing in their own communities and how they are engaging the peoples of the world in their own cities. I learned today that there are about 240 different languages spoken in Los Angeles. There are over 3.5 million foreign born peoples in LA. Mind boggling. What an opportunity to reach the peoples of the world here in North America.
Posted on September 3, 2010 - by Larry - 0 Comments
City Church
Last week I had the chance to sit down with Jason Dukes in Birmingham, Alabama. Jason lives in Florida but came there to this gathering. We were part
of a mission conversation with a group of church planters from Birmingham. I always enjoy time with Jason. I have enjoyed getting to know him over the last year and finding ways that The Upstream Collective and ReproducingChurches.com can work together.
I had a couple of good “take-aways” from our time together. As you know I see more and more the need for Christ followers to live and work in cross cultural situations with normal jobs. We are seeing this happen in quite a few cities in Europe with the Skybridge Community. I liked the term that he used: “missionally employed”.
The other thing that I observed in this meeting of planters is a model if you will of how a group of churches can come together with each others best interest in mind. The formula is quite simple: They pray together, encourage one another and find ways to give themselves away. Imagine a group of churches in a city that relate to each other in that way. Very cool stuff. Check out their city groups on their site.
If you can you should try to go to the conversation that they are putting on later this month. You can find more information about Reproducing Churches.com here.
Posted on August 10, 2010 - by Larry - 1 Comment
Destinations
I spend quite a bit of time talking with people overseas who are looking for some unique partnerships. Here is a sample list. It is by no means complete. I am sure I am leaving off some key requests from friends so I want to say I am sorry in advance. If you have interest in any of these please send me an email at larry@theupstreamcollective.org. Would love to help if I can.
1. Playing American Football in Portugal
2. A church adopting a neighborhood in Amsterdam
3. A church adopting a burrough in London
4. A business internship in Paris
5. Serving in Montreal
6. A church adopting a city in Spain
7. Partnering with work in Tula, Russia
8. Partnering with work for Russian speakers of Latvia and Estonia
9. An internship with a ministry in Madrid
10. Adopting a Skybridge worker in Western Europe
Posted on July 7, 2010 - by Larry - 0 Comments
Your FOCUS on the World
One thing I like to do on my blog from time to time is to introduce people or networks that I like to work or whom I think have good mission resources.
Recently I have been reading some materials from www.CatalystServices.org. They have very practical posts regarding partnerships.
If you get a chance you should check out Your FOCUS on the World. It may be the right resource for your church.
Your FOCUS on the World is a step-by-step manual that will guide your church to DISCOVER your global potential, SELECT and build relationships with the right partners, and then IMPLEMENT a high-impact, cross-cultural initiative involving the entire congregation. For those already engaged in a global partnership, the book will help you build leaders, avoid costly mistakes, and expand networks.
An intensely practical resource, Your FOCUS on the World highlights the real-life stories of congregations which are engaged in successful global initiatives and shares their best-practice suggestions. The manual and extensive online resources provide samples and worksheets you can customize to fit your needs.
Posted on May 7, 2010 - by Larry - 0 Comments
Madrid Favs!
Last weekend my wife and I were able to go as sponsors to Madrid. We tool a small group of high school students from where my wife teaches here in Germany. We had loads of fun. We were able to see some of our old Spanish neighbors. We were able to see friends we use to work with. We were able to hang out with some people from the Skybridge Community.
We also were able to give the students a taste of Madrid both in culture and in food.
I decided to take some photo shots of my favorite foodie places. I missed a few places but got most of them. You can find them in the gallery located at the top of the site. Before you take a look you need to realize that I am not a photographer so I really should not be in the gallery. smile but true.
But give it a look anyway. Here you go!
1. San Gines – for super Churros and Chocolate. Best if eaten after midnight.
2. Jose Luis – for yummy tapas. Locations throughout Madrid but my favs or in barrio de Salamanca and La Moraleja.
3. Cafe de la Oriente – a good cup of cafe con leche next to the Palace gardens
4. La Mallorquina – Great pastries in Sol. You cannot eat just one of napolitano de crema.
5. La Campana – Unbelievable Bocadillos de Calamares just outside of Plaza Mayor. Also only for 2 euros.
I know you may have your own favorite places so feel free to post.
Posted on April 2, 2010 - by Larry - 2 Comments
Italy – a new exhibit in the Gallery
This month I want to highlight some photos in Italy. This is from a friend who lives and works there. I hope you will take a moment to check out this showing in my gallery. If you have an interest in partnering in Italy please let me know. I believe God is doing some great things amongst the Italians.
Posted on March 12, 2010 - by Larry - 2 Comments
eXtreme Walk
One of my best friends during our time in Spain was a guy by the name of Paul Cox. We normally got together for coffee once a week to share life, pray for one another and hold each other accountable. He is up to some new things lately. I recently talked to him about eXtreme Walk. Check it out!
What exactly is eXtreme Walk?
eXtreme Walk is a formative 10 month cross-cultural church multiplication
and discipleship experience.
Formative: Our prayer is that the Lord will form you in new and immense ways to be totally His. We hope to inspire you to catch a global and local vision for making disciples and multiplying churches. We want you to be malleable clay in the hands of the Lord.
10 month: The first three months are devoted to intense language
acquisition and culture learning on location. The following seven months
are for you to learn from local church planters to multiply local
churches. This is a spiritual, relational, and incarnational ministry.
Cross-cultural: Through eXtreme Walk, you are sent and received into a
community with different values, customs, and worldviews. This community
has different strengths and weaknesses than your native community. Church
multiplication: Through evangelism and discipleship, eXtreme Walkers work
to start worshipping bodies of believers that start other worshipping
bodies of believers.
Discipleship: In eXtreme Walk you will both learn (from local church
multipliers) and teach (persons in the local community). This will provide
you with multiple opportunities to both grow as a disciple as well as make
disciples. We hope you will give prayerful consideration to leading other
young missionaries on eXtreme Walk after you return from your first
eXtreme Walk experience.
Experience: Learn hands on by observing and doing, with the freedom to
learn from failure. This takes initiative, responsibility, humility, and a continual focus on Jesus.
What will I do on XW?
eXtreme Walk is an opportunity to learn from and serve alongside local
church planters. What you do will involve being trained by the locals to
share the gospel and make disciples in their culture, language, and
community. Sharing the gospel can take many different forms – all of which
depend on prayer for effectiveness. Embodying Christ’s love along with
local Christians is a major part of this. You will live among the people
you seek to reach with the wholeness that Jesus brings. Making disciples
involves investing yourself – your time, your energy, your life – into a
few faithful, available, and teachable disciples. Our prayer is for you to
share the gospel extensively and invest yourself intensively in a few
people while the local workers and other missionaries invest in you.
Paul is now the Director of Recruitment for One Mission Society. If you have an interest in eXtreme Walk then he says give him a call at 317.888.3333 or send him an email at pcox@onemissionsociety.org
Posted on February 27, 2010 - by Larry - 0 Comments
Church Planters in Kiev
I went to Kiev Ukraine this past December and met some great people. A month or so ago I wrote about how a church planting book by Ed Stetzer is used at a seminary in the Ukraine. Today I would like to tell you a little more about that school. The school would like to find a few churches that would be interested in partnering with them in their church planting program. If you have a heart for training church planters then this may be a great place for your church.
The Church Planting Program at Kiev Theological Seminary continues
expand. The program has 31 men at the present time, the students have
planted 25 churches, and they have graduated three classes. Our students
come from Ukraine and the former Soviet Union. They have or have had men
from Belarus, Russia, Moldova, Lithuania and Azerbaijan. Next year they will
will be getting some more students from Russia through the cooperative
efforts of an imb worker who is wanting a group of students trained as church planters.
The KTS program is intentional about planting churches. The men must
start a church or be on a team that starts a church before they
graduate from the seminary. The school does not want them to just study church
planting and not get an opportunity to put it into practice.
Church Planting courses are taught in a modular format. Students
come for two weeks and go back to the field where they put into
practice what they are learning in class. This way the men are able to
plant the churches in their own communities and they have the training
and support of the Church Planting Program… a strategic goal for
expanding the Kingdom.
If you have an interest in this please let me know at larry@theupstreamcollective.org. I would be glad to introduce you to the director Joel Ragains or visit his site here.
Posted on February 7, 2010 - by Larry - 0 Comments
Jet Set Trip Weekend
Our jet set trip really should be a planes, trains and automobiles trip. We have used all three today to get from Germany to Italy.
Really impressed with the team from The Berlin Project. This is an initiative of Redeemer in NYC. As we talked with their pastor and listened to his story he has such a heart for that city and is working hard at planting other churches in Berlin. I like church planters that want to plant churches that plant churches. Here is there site but it is in German.
We stopped by Milan this morning on our way to Turino and was able to visit Jason who is a friend of mine who lives there. We should have his video up in the next day or so on our Upstream Blog. He has a great ministry with atheletes in Milan. You will want to check out his video.
Tomorrow we are going to meet with some new contacts here in Turino for us. We will let you know how that goes.
Meanwhile we are going to enjoy at least three great things about Italy:
Espresso
Ice Cream
Food
Posted on February 3, 2010 - by Larry - 1 Comment
Copenhagen – Day Two
This week I have been able to spend some time with Grady here in Copenhagen.
Grady is a photographer and his wife is an artist and writer. They both are incredible examples of artists who are living out their lives as salt and light in any community in which they live.
We have had several cups of coffee this week in Copenhagen. You will find a great post that he wrote while here this week here.
I asked him “Why Copenhagen? As I have been here over the last few days his answer makes total sense.
Copenhagen is a city full of artists. They feel a kinship to the arts. They believe that this is a part of the world that as a family they could live long term and really connect with people and have a ministry through a relational context.
I also asked him about where do they desire to live in Copenhagen? He says they are looking for a place that strikes a balance between being close to where artists spend a lot of time such as galleries or cafes and to where as a young family they can develop relationships. Intentionality is important in missional living.
If you are interested in learning more about their ministry you can send an email to info@theupstreamcollective.org
For a look at some of his work please visit my gallery page.
