Crossroads Bible Church, Team Holland 2006 Official Blog Site
Dates of our trip: July 12--July 30, 2006.
The team has been assembled and preparing since January, 2006.
Departing Flight Information July 12: British Air Flight #2192, Departing DFW 4:20PM. Arriving London Gatwick 7:20AM. Connecting flight from London Heathrow, British Airways flight #434 to Amsterdam Schipol arriving 1:45PM.
Return Flight Information July 30: British Air Flight #8110, Departing Amsterdam Schipol 7:00AM, arriving London Gatwick 7:10AM. Conntecting flight from London Gatwick, British Airways flight #2193 to Dallas/Fort Worth arriving 2:30PM.
You can also use the links on each of these sights to find out even more information!
In order to prepare for the nature of direct outreach in a postmodern culture, our team read the book "How Should We Live Then" by Colson & Pearcy. It's an excellent read for an introduction to worldviews, their effects and their results.
Some of the most influential books on the subject of postmodernism would be by Francis A. Schaeffer, including "The God Who Is There," "Escape From Reason," & "How Should We Then Live" (which obviously influenced Colson). If you're interested in some basic quotes on postmodernism, you can get them here:
2003: Brent McKinney, Rob Edwards, Deb Stevenson, Jess Semmelbeck, Liz Stevenson, Alicia Garcia, Jude Miniat, Christy Thrasher, Abby Lorenc, Cristina MacGilvra, Matt Eaton, Justin Bascue, Faith Oldenburg, Kayti Edwards, Kim Church.
2006: Brent McKinney, Steve Davis, Debbie Schmidt, Michelle Davis, Thomas Egbert, Schuyler Crabtree, Kayla Russell, Alex Ehrich, Keila Lorenc, Bailey Price, Olivia Schmidt, Maria MacGilvra, Alicia Garcia
First and foremost, this trip is 17 days long and for many team members it's the longest they've been away from home. We'd love to hear from you, so feel free to check back often and comment by clicking on the spaces beneath each entry!
Secondly, pray for the team members and those they'll come in contact with. This ministry is entirely relational...and each day we'll simply be waking up and trying to find someone to share the Gospel with. We'd truly appreciate your thoughts and prayers!
Finally, when this team left, we were short of our financial goals. If you're so inclined to donate, simply go to the church website and click on "contact us," send an e-mail saying you'd like to contribute, and you'll be given the necessary instructions.
Saturday, July 22, 2006
It really does rain in Holland…
It’s Saturday evening.
I’m sitting on an air mattress in the scouting building listing to Muse.
A new cd I bought in Amsterdam.
Pretty good stuff.
I’m all clean now after having to take an early shower this afternoon.
The ride across town in the pouring rain was quite the experience.
A few of us on the team helped members of Youth Contact with a car wash today.
We started around ten this morning and finished up around four this afternoon.
We were scheduled to finish at four but would have liked to go longer.
However the rain really made it difficult to dry the cars.
Yep.
Rain.
We finally got rain.
So once we cleaned up the carwash supplies we had to bike across town to get back to the scouting building.
Everything on me was soaked.
But the rain has definitely cooled things down.
It’s been a busy week.
On Thursday we took a trip to Amsterdam on our day off.
Went to the Van Gogh museum
Hard Rock Café for lunch.
Cool little Italian place for dinner.
We got to explore the city a little bit.
Our friend George hit on a girl we all thought was a guy.
But turns out it really was a girl.
I almost got hit by a car.
I forget who, but someone almost got hit by a train.
All the girls couldn’t stay out of the H&M’s.
I bought some cd’s.
I got to say, getting off a train in a European city can be an amazing experience just in itself.
The day in Amsterdam was fun but hard to really explore if you don’t have a plan of attack.
The streets go everywhere and they all look the same.
Also the city just seemed sort of dirty.
I like Alkmaar a lot better.
Last night was our late night in downtown Alkmaar.
The team got all dressed up in their “European” attire.
For me that was just jeans and a t-shirt.
Kind of like my American attire.
It felt like prom.
But instead of a limo we rode our bikes to town to go dancing.
Everyone had a pretty good time.
Mish and I danced a little bit too.
I actually really enjoyed it.
We made sure we got everyone out of the clubs before 1am.
And everyone was right on time.
We had a well thought out method to the madness.
Today: carwash.
Tomorrow: church followed by a baptism in the lake.
Pretty sweet.
So here’s what is going on in my head right now.
It’s my impression that the church in Holland doesn’t have a whole lot of resources to help with discipleship.
They have opportunities for evangelism but not much that would encourage new believers to a deeper walk with Christ.
New believers, especially around my age, come to Christ and start going to church.
But within weeks they are disinterested and stop going.
Really sounds like America.
Seeing this has really made me rethink how we do missions.
I think our trip here has been very effective.
But I have to ask.
Is there something we could do that would be more effective?
Something we’ve never done before.
Something radical.
I really think there is.
But hey, I just kicking some ideas around right now.
Thank you for your comments and encouraging words.
It’s good to hear from everyone.
Everyone on the team is doing well.
We are having a blast.
Continue to pray for strength.
For rest.
For our hearts and the ones we come in contact with.
Pray that we would walk in Spirit and Truth.
Peace out,
Steve-o
victim of suburbia 8:39 PM