Last Month's Activities

October was a busy ministry month with a lot going on in many areas. Two annual meetings that I look forward to attending were the "Time of Refreshing" Conference in Leysin, Switzerland and the "Fellowship of International Churches Pastor's Summit near Vienna, Austria. Sandwiched in between these meetings was my Europe Advance, Church Planters Roundtable in Zurich. 

Time of Refreshing

The TOR "Class" of 2011

The "Time of Refreshing" Conference was attended by American missionaries living and ministering in Europe. Attendance was a bit down from previous years because of the economy. Many missionaries have left Europe this past year because of the loss or serious reduction of support to keep them on the mission field. I have experienced this challenge first hand this year. This was an on-going topic of discussion at the meeting together this year.

This conference is an annual blessing to American missionaries by providing a few days of "R & R" at no cost to them. Their room & board is paid by gracious donors from America. The only financial responsibility the missionaries have is to pay for their transportation to and from Leysin. Sometimes you just need a break in the middle of the battle. The Time of Refreshing Conference in Leysin provides one of those times.

Europe Advance / Church Planters Roundtable

Pastor Joe Champion

TOR ended on Friday morning and I drove to down from the Swiss Alps to Zurich to get the Europe Advance, Church Planters Roundtable (CPR) meeting ready. I transitioned from "attendee" to "Lead Team Member" as I helped get the CPR meeting ready to welcome Europe's future church planters.

Pastor Joe Champion, from Celebration Church, in Austin, Texas, was our guest speaker for the weekend meetings. Pastor Joe spoke extensively on the spiritual preparation aspect of church planting. He gave some great insights into what he found had to be done in order to have a successful church plant. We had 20+ potential church planters attend, who came from Germany, Switzerland, France, Netherlands and even a pastor from St. Petersburg, Russia.

FEIC Pastor's Summit
With the CPR finished, next up was a short flight from Zurich to Vienna for the Fellowship of European International Churches, Pastor's Summit. The ride from the Vienna airport to the Gutenstein, in the Austrian Alps was less than a two hours. Once you get off the autobahn and into the mountain roads, the scenery  turns incredible. The Fall colors were showing at the higher elevations. It was just beautiful driving through some of the small Austrian villages surrounded by the brilliantly colored leaves and pastoral meadows. God's creation is just amazing.

We had just under 50 missionary pastors attend representing their international churches all over Europe. International churches are defined as churches that have individual church services not only in the local language but other languages also. They use the same facilities at other times and days to reach those specific people groups in their own mother tongue. Most of the pastors are from the Assembly of God missions group but FEIC is open to connecting with anyone building God's Kingdom in Europe.

This was my third year to attend and every year there is a different "texture" to the meetings. This year it seems that many were in transition and saw the transition as completing the next step in God's plan for their lives and ministries. We had two worship teams come and bless us, one from Louisiana and the other from Florida. Both were "dialed-in" to the Holy Spirit and led us in tremendous praise and worship. Our prayer times were intense and so were the fun times. It was a great meeting. It was great to build new relationships inside this group every year.

Lawrence Blakeslee sharing at FEIC

Pastor Terry Hoggard asked me to share with the group about the goals of Europe Advance had for building the Kingdom. Plus, I was able to share about my new project that God has been "percolating" in my heart for the children's pastors and children's workers in Europe. I'll share more about it soon.

Overall, the trip was intense, effective, beneficial and worth the lack of sleep until I got back home and slept in my own bed. (We all understand this one don't we.)

The Upcoming New Year
It's hard to believe that we are at the threshold of a new year. Amazing to realize how fast time flies for all of us.It is going to be an exciting time for the Body of Christ to rise up in 2012. As people and nations recognize the fragility of countries, governments, economic systems and the easy loss of individual freedom. God is there, stable and available to get all of us through every test and trial, if we ask Him.

Blessings from Bonn,
Rev. Lawrence Blakeslee
Missionary to Europe & Asia

For More Information:

Europe Advance / European Church Planting
Fellowship of European International Churches
Pastor Joe Champion / Celebration Church
Power House Church
 
 

The Near Future

The last blog post was too long to add all this info. Here's a quick look at my upcoming schedule.

The month of July, I'm not planning on traveling. I have a ton of "catch up" writing and planning to do, plus just normal stuff that has been delayed.

The month of August I will probably take a short trip to Switzerland to minister there.

In September I'm looking forward to returning to Finland for a week of preaching around the country and at couple of men's meetings. My friend, who is also my publisher, Kimmo Janas, is doing the planning for that trip. It will be great to be back in Finland again.

For October it looks like I'll be in Vienna, Austria for the Fellowship of European International Churches (FEIC) Summit meeting (Assembly of God) www.feic.org again and in Leysin, Switzerland for a few days at the Time of Refreshing Conference with American missionaries.

Also in October, the Europe Advance Team will host another Church Planters Roundtable (CPR) meeting in Germany. I and the other Europe Advance Lead Team members have already started working on that event.

For November, I'm praying and believing God for the finances to attend a Leadership meeting with a couple of German pastors at Pastor Bill Johnson's Bethel Church in Redding, California. www.iBethel.org I'm really looking forward to visiting this church for the first time. Everyone I know that has gone has been blessed.

Since I would be in the U.S. already I might be able to have a early Thanksgiving with my sons and their families. This would be the first Thanksgiving we would have together in many years.

I recently received an interesting blessing that only God could do. I'll share it with you in the next blog posting.

Blessings,
Rev. Lawrence Blakeslee
Missionary to Europe & Asia

Further Info:

Fellowship of European International Churches
www.feic.org

Europe Advance
www.europeadvance.org

Bethel Church
www.iBethel.org

Time of Refreshing Conference

TOR Conference
It was great conference this year. The weak economy in the U.S. showed it’s affect on overseas missionaries. The missionaries only had to pay their own transportation costs to Leysin, Switzerland, but only about 45 attended instead of the normal 70 or 80 missionaries. All the other conference expenses are paid by various supporters. Even the TOR Team member attendance was went down to 11 from the normal 25 members. Rev. Bill and Emogene Kaiser have hosted the TOR for 20+ years.

God showed up and blessed us. The intensity of each meeting may have been due to the smaller more focused group. Nearly all of the missionaries in this group are like me, have independent ministries that are not directly connected to a larger, well funded denomination or organization. We’re like “small business” missionaries. Anyone that is self-employed understands the freedom that gives, along with an abundance of challenges. This group is no different. There’s nothing wrong with solid denominational backing and support. God bless them. It is whatever works for the individual and led by God - works.

Under One Banner
The conference meetings are not theology but relationship based. They are not about teaching, training or learning. It’s not about discussing the nuance of a particular scripture. It is about building relationships, personal and spiritual restoration. It is about networking with the Christian missionary community serving in Europe.

We stand with each other to praise, worship, laugh, and cry. We gather together under one banner – our Savior Jesus Christ. That is the purpose.

A Different Perspective
Bringing a group together like this always gives someone a chance to take another look at their own situation and the challenges they face. Quickly you realize that your “challenges” may not be as overwhelming as the person standing next to you. You might have lost 50% of your support because of the economy. But you could be standing next to someone in a life or death struggle with health problems. Your problems — suddenly became smaller.

All Were Blessed
All agreed that it was a more intense than previous meetings. Every one there knew and felt the pressure of economic problems world wide. This was the week that was… Markets worldwide were collapsing by the hour and the day. Everyone wondered out loud where it was all going to end up. But we all agreed that our trust had to be in The Lord. He is our provider. He is your provider.

All of God’s blessings to you and your family,
Rev. Lawrence Blakeslee
Missionary to Europe and Asia