And The City Is...Verona!

Well, we have some great news to announce, which is in some ways months in the making and in other ways years in the making. The target city for church plant number two of the Taking Christ to Italy project is Verona. In subsequent emails, we will be introducing you to this new city as we enlist you in praying us out of Ancona, where we have lived and ministered for over six years and preparing for the move to Verona.

In this email, I would like to share with you a few of the things that led us to the city of Verona. First, the Italian minister of the Apostolic Church in Verona made contact with us and showed us some of the spiritual needs of the city. The Apostolic Church is one of about four Italian speaking evangelical churches in this city of 270,000 people. The Apostolic Church is also the group in Italy that has provided the requests for us to have permission to be in Italy over the past six years. Elvio, the minister, and his wife, Paola, told us that they had been praying for more workers to come to Verona for a long time, in fact over a year ago they recruited the other members of the Apostolic Church to pray and fast with them about it. They saw our new team as answers to those prayers. He has been incredibly open to our new team, which is very strange for churches in Italy. They would love to help us get settled in the new city and find information for our new church plant.

Second, while the prayer/survey team was there we broke up into groups to explore the city throughout the day. At breakfast, a couple of us went into a coffee shop to get to know the workers. There was one woman behind the counter, who was very open and talkative with us. We asked about the spiritual condition of the people of Verona. She said there were many people who believed, but not many who went to church. She told us that she believed, but didn’t go to church, because she was not sure what she thought about the church, referring to the Catholic Church. She asked us more about what we were doing. We replied we were praying about choosing a city, out of four cities, for myself, my wife and a some friends to move to and start a new work there. Part of what we would be doing would be studying the Bible with people and being the Church, the way the New Testament describes it. She told us some of the great things about Verona and then told us before we left to come back and find her, if we chose Verona. She was the only person, out of the four cities, who told us to find her if we chose her city to move to.

Person after person, store owner after store owner, people continued to be friendly and talkative as we walked, prayed and surveyed Verona. Out of all the cities, it’s receptivity towards us and the new work seemed to be the most open. In some cities, to have conversations it felt like we were pulling teeth to get them to talk, or in other cities they simply answered questions, but in Verona the people there actually started conversations, not just continuing the ones we started. It was simply refreshing, to say the least. This was a characteristic which is foreign to us in Italy, in other words it isn’t normal.

While visiting the four cities that we surveyed, the people often told us what they thought of their particular city and the other cities we were visiting. Verona was the only city which people always had good things to say about. We prayed that God would use the people we met in the different cities to speak to us and had faith that He would. In Verona, we felt like the Christians there were asking for help and Eli (pronounced Ellie), the unchurched worker at the coffee shop, was interested in the new work that we were talking about doing. These people seemed to be clear voices in a search where we were praying for clarity.

One of the heartbreaking traits that we uncovered is that Verona leads the country of Italy in the number of divorces. This is a city that is famous for love, due to the semi-historical story of Romeo and Juliet (more on this in future months). This city of love continues to look for love in all the wrong places. The only love that will quench the thirst of their souls is the love of God, found through his son, Jesus Christ. We hope to be His witnesses in this new city.

Verona is a city of art, music, bikes, community and friendly people. Throughout the next many months we will mourn our life and friends in Ancona and greatly anticipate our life ahead in the city that God has directed us towards, which is Verona. Thank you so much for your prayers and encouragement as we have marched ahead in this new project for God’s kingdom.

A Decision is in the Works

Soon, we will be announcing the new target city for the Taking Christ to Italy project. Check back soon for details.

We're Back in Ancona

After a whirlwind tour of four prospective cities, we are back in Ancona. Our survey/prayer team had an amazing trip of seeking the Lord's guidance for the next church plant in Italy. It's not completely over just yet. A couple of the survey/prayer team members leave tomorrow, but the rest of us, with the help of the Ancona team are going to be compiling all of our data. We should have this available to our supporters and prayer partners in the next couple of days.

I should have all the rest of the pictures up tonight, so that will make it easier to pray through them. Upon leaving the four cities, we can see that the need for a church is great in all four places, however there were some interesting encounters and findings that help determine better the direction we will go. Whatever decision is made, be praying for God to work in all four of those cities and the people would be receptive.

Prayer and Survey Trip

From April 25-29, we will be leading a prayer and survey trip through the four cities that we have been researching and praying over to be the site of the upcoming church plant. Here are some tools for praying with us as we go from city to city. Thanks for your prayers as we go forward with this project. Email us if you have any questions (or comment below). mcrosser@teamexpansion.org.

History of Taking Christ To Italy

In 1996, Shively Christian Church and Team Expansion, (both in Louisville, Kentucky), joined forces to launch the Taking Christ to Italy PACE project. PACE is an acronym which stands for Pray, Activate, Commit and Enlist. Basically, the object of the PACE program at Team Expansion is to adopt an unreached people group for Christ and launch a plan to reach it. Shively Christian Church adopted the spiritual responsibility of Italy. Following the acronym for PACE, the local church is to pray for the project, activate a plan, commit to following through with the plan and enlist a team and the help of other local churches to make the plan happen.

The plan was bold, also simple in objectives, yet difficult in execution. First there would be a church plant in a Central Italian city. Then two more church plants, one in the North and one in the South. Throughout the church plants, there would be a leadership school developed which would help train Italians for ministry and initiate new works led by Italians.

In 1999, five couples formed the first team and started the early stages of fund raising. One couple, felt led to somewhere else as they were praying, which left four couples. These four couples, made it to the field between 2000 and 2001 in order to attend language school. These four couples were Jason & Heather Casey, Matt & Angie Crosser, Dan & Amy Cormode and Greg & Krista Milliser. At the end of 2001, the Millisers had left the field and a single man had joined the team and started support raising. The remaining three couples were finally in the first target city, Ancona. Phase One of the Taking Christ to Italy project had begun. By Summer 2002, the Cormodes had left the field. Marcus Van Dorn made it to the field in 2003. Over the years, there were many short term groups and interns. One couple and one single man which participated in these opportunities were called by God to join our team and arrived for language school in 2005. Brian & Heidi Rotert and Josh Furnal were these recruits. By Summer 2006, all five family units were living and ministering in Ancona. This is the history of the Go Ancona team.

In the Fall 2006, a spiritual wind was blowing. Several couples and single people had been feeling led to be missionaries in Italy and had contacted various people connected to Team Expansion. Jason Casey, team leader for the Go Ancona team and Eric Derry, Vice-President of Mobilization at Team Expansion, both started thinking that maybe it was time to start looking at the second phase of the Taking Christ to Italy project; launching a new team for the second church plant. In December 2006, a forum was created and interested individuals began to be invited to join in the discussion and dreaming that was happening. Out of these initial discussions several ideas surfaced and a potential leader for the new work emerged. After much prayer, conversations, evaluation and reflection I applied and was approved to be the team leader for the new Go North team.

Once we know what city to which we will be going, the name of our team will be changed from the temporary moniker "Go North" to "Go (city name)". We have been doing research and taken trips to consider potential cities. At the end of April, we will be leading a Survey/Prayer Trip with Eric Derry. Coming on this journey will be a couple representatives from some of our supporting churches, as well as some potential recruits. As we have information or pictures to share we will link them here. We desire your prayers as we seek out God's direction for this second phase of Taking Christ to Italy. We walk in faith to a new place which God has prepared for us. Join us in prayer, financial support and encouragement.