Full Speed Ahead

Today marks the first day that Angie and I are both full-time team members of the Verona team. For the past seven months we have been moving forward through a gradual transition which has seen great benefits. Yesterday was our last day on the Ancona team, which leaves us singly focused for the first time in many months. So, we go forward and I hope to lead this new team, still forming, into Verona and follow the great commission and bring many into His kingdom.

We will still be living here in Ancona for the next three months before we return to the USA for recruiting, promoting, training and support raising. However, today we are driving to Verona to spend a day showing the interns, that have been here in Italy, the city that God has called us to next. I plan on posting something from our latest journey soon.

Approaching Liftoff!

We are approaching the liftoff for this mission. At this very crucial point in the life of our new team something is getting ready to happen. At the beginning of next month, our team will have two of its first few team members finally focusing solely on this new work. For the past seven months, Angie and I have been transitioning off of our old team, Go Ancona, and out of the work here in in Ancona, Italy. However, we are doing the final checklist for liftoff. At the end of this month, July 2007, Angie and I will cease to be on the Ancona team. Starting August 1st, 2007 we will be 100 percent focused on the Verona team and the new work. Part of this will be team building and recruitment, part of this will be on promotion, part of this focus will be on research of Verona and networking with current ministries; and finally part of the move from Ancona to Verona. First we'll pack up all of our things and put them in storage here in Ancona. God provided a great solution for our team. Then we will return to the states in order to promote, recruit and prepare for coming back. As soon as our first team member(s) is(are) ready we'll head back to Italy and begin the first onfield phase of language/culture acquistion. The new team members will be focused on that while we minister to them, researching the city and working on resources for the new work. We are looking at returning around May/June of 2008.

Return to Verona

So, we are heading back to Verona for a third visit (my fourth since I came here with Cliff Murphy, but we were only here for four and a half hours). This time we are taking the on field Ancona team with us. Since both Go Ancona and Go Verona are part of the same "Taking Christ to Italy" PACE project, it makes sense that the Ancona team would be involved with the research of the target city. Their field experience will be incredibly insightful as we seek to remove the enemy's grip from this city, while we seek out the spiritually needy.

We hope to spend some time in personal prayer over the city and getting to know the city better. It is quite an experience to transition from one home to another. One day, we will feel as comfortable in Verona as we do in Ancona, yet Verona will never replace Ancona in our hearts, just as Ancona never replaced Tulsa either. Our hearts have room for several "homes" especially since they all pale in comparison to our final heavenly one. And it is that home with our God that we want to share information about, within each city that we happen to find ourselves.

The Others Have Arrived.

Well, we picked up John and Ann Blackburn last night. Then today, I went and picked up Trudi Logan and Eric Derry. Trudi is from one of our supporting churches, Edmond Christian Church. Eric is the Vice President of Mobilization at our Home Office of Team Expansion. Today we will start slow and lookover the schedule, have a language class for the survey team and a dinner with them, our Ancona team and some of our Italian friends. Then retire for the night and get ready for the briefings and prayer in the morning, and then traveling in the afternoon.

New Team Expansion Global Podcast

The new Team Expansion Globalcast is out and the first one features the new church plant in Northern Italy. Jason Casey, team leader for the Go Ancona team, interviewed me regarding the new church plant. You can download it here, at www.thcrossers.com/gonorth/globalcast4-11-07.m4a. Or if you subscribe to podcasts regularly, I would recommend you subscribe to the Globalcast, that way you won't miss out on any of the featured ministries around the world. Go here to get information for subscribing to the new Globalcast.

Coming up.....

We are only about a week and a half away from a prayer and survey trip we will be taking to help determine what city God is calling our new team to. In the next few days I will post information about the prayer and survey trip, as well as some tools to help you join with us in praying.

Also, this marks the release of Team Expansion's first Global Podcast. Yours truly was the interviewee and Jason Casey (Leader for the Ancona team) was the interviewer. It is all about the new work that is underway. I hope to post it here soon for you to check out. Also, I will post the new feed for all the new Team Expansion podcasts.

I love technology and the interaction with supporters that it gives us missionaries.