A Look at the Bigger Picture

This past Thursday found me in Veles once again. I was sitting in the taxi with three of the women from the church here, my dear friends, my sisters.
We were winding our way up the narrow, brick covered streets on the side of the mountain, so typical of Balkan towns. In a sudden flash I was taken out of that moment and in my mind saw a picture of a larger expanse of time, reaching back into the past, stretching into the future.

Looking back in time I saw the years of war, the devastation, the suffering, all the places satan has wrought havoc. Walking these streets, sitting in these homes, talking to my friends, I can see the affects of it in their daily lives. The broken relationships, the economic disaster, the suffering that war brings.

Then I saw the hand of our loving Father, how through it all He never left. He has been pursuing all this time, planning for how He will bring healing, planning to draw His children to Himself. I saw how He invaded the lives of the people who are now my brothers and sisters here. He chased them with His love, overtook them, and now they are His.

And then I saw how I got placed right in the middle of this whole story, something I consider to be a great honor and privilege. I get to share what Jesus has done in my life, and watch Him do the same for them. I help show the way to plug into Jesus as their source of life. I pour into them out of what God has poured into me, I tell them about who they are. We push each other to build a stronger relationship with our Heavenly Father so we can walk more fully in the inheritance that has been given to us.

Looking at the bigger picture I see how little by little the transformation has been coming. From a place of slavery, they have begun to find their position as daughter's of the king, princesses. This has led to a realization of the authority they possess, which has caused them to begin changing the circumstances they are in as they start to exercise that authority. Fear has collided with perfect love and thus turned to faith. Provision and healing came as fruit. The pain of past hurts has been met with redemption. God is gently putting his finger on areas of bondage, bringing freedom. Sorrow and discouragement has been replaced with hope and joy. The expressions on their faces are different now than they were a year ago. They are beginning to stand up and take the position that they were given, to be leaders who affect the lives of the people around them in a way that brings life. Together we have faced cancer, financial difficulties, relational problems, lyme disease, and many other major life issues. And all of these things have had to bow to the name of Jesus. Darkness has met the light, and the darkness has had no choice but to flee. And I am confident this is just the beginning. I begin to realize there is no limit to what can be accomplished when I believe God to do the impossible.

I looked forward and I saw where this will all lead. These women will be, and already are, wives of the leaders of the growing church in this country. What they learn and start living now, they will go and spread to everyone who they meet. And thus I saw it spreading throughout the whole country of Macedonia, throughout the rest of the Balkan region and into the whole world. In the end, I saw the kingdom of God advancing like an unquenchable fire, restoring the brokenness of generations of devastation, bringing new life and hope. I saw Jesus riding forth like a warrior dressed for battle, not content to see his bride continue living in bondage, and there is no stopping Him. And so I prepare my heart to receive more of His love, and to continue being a part of what He is doing. Nothing compares to the beauty of it.

Prayer at the Lake

In August we set aside a weekend to go to Veles and camp near the lake with Glasnost from Skopje, and our church plant from Veles. We spent the time fellowshipping together, praying and worshiping. One afternoon we did a cookout.


Grisko hard at work at the grill as usual.




One evening we all gathered for a time of focused worship and prayer around the campfire. The Holy Spirit showed up and as we prayed and worshiped, and people shared what they were hearing God say I could feel the bonds of unity growing stronger, the darkness being pushed back.



Boshko, the young man from Gevgelija who recently got saved was baptized in the lake.



A bunch of us slept on the ground one night under the stars. The fresh air, and the clear sky were absolutely delightful.

Veles, Macedonia

It all started on my first trip to Macedonia in 2008. For a couple of days I was sent to a city about an hour from Skopje, known as Veles. We went from house to house meeting and praying with people. During those few days, and on my next trip to Macedonia the following Spring God planted in my heart a deep love for the people in this city. I was asked by the leaders to come back and help with the ladies in the young church there. This call of God was confirmed in many unmistakeable ways, and was a large part of my decision to move here.

The church in Veles is a plant of one of the churches I am a part of in Skopje. They are very young, the oldest member being 25 years of age. Most, if not all of them have gotten saved in the past few years. The majority of the church is men, but there are five girls. Magde is 20 years of age, married to Ane, one of the elders. Magde and Ane have 2 children and are expecting their 3rd. Daki is 23 or 24 I believe, married to Mace, another one of the elders, and they have one little boy. Brigita is 20, married to Ivica, with a little girl, and another one on the way. Pina (pictured above with me) is 25, married to Viktor. Milka is 22, and the story of how she met Jesus is an amazing testimony to how God pursues us with His love. God has given me a deep love for each of these girls, and they are a joy in my life. My desire during the time God has given me with them is to pour into them everything that God has poured into me in the past few years so that they can be equipped to then go and pour into the many new believers that will be coming into the church in the coming years. At the moment Jenn and I travel to Veles about once a week to meet with the girls. My hope is to raise my level of involvement once we finish dealing with the visa issue, and as my language skills continue to develop.

God is moving powerfully in Veles, and the surrounding regions, where there are several church plants in the works. The level of hunger and thirst for God is an inspiration to me. Coming from a background where most people have at least known of Jesus their whole lives, and take this knowledge for granted, it is refreshing to see the way these young people come to God with a fresh zeal for Him and His word. It challenges me in so many ways to stop and think about how much of what I believe is simply religious tradition and how much is really the pure truth of God's word. It has a way of stripping away everything but Jesus, which is beautiful in the end. I have always wanted to go to the hard places, the places where trite answers, formulas and opinions of man don't work, because that is where the raw truth of the gospel is revealed, where Jesus shows up in power and does miracles. This is one of those places, and Jesus is showing up and meeting us, and it is beautiful.

In the mean time, we are facing some serious attack. Daki, who I mentioned before had surgery to remove a tumor from her brain was in the end diagnosed as having cancer. She is currently awaiting treatment. Please pray with us for healing.

One of the biggest obstacles to me ministering in Veles is language, because so few of them know English there. Trying to work through an interpreter seriously inhibits my ability to build personal relationships. This is one of my biggest motivators in language learning. Please pray with me that God will give me grace to learn quickly, a super natural ability to understand, and finances for classes .

Urgent Prayer Request

I am sorry for the recent lack of posts. Over the holidays I have had more limited access to internet, and have not found the time to make blog posts. I have several in process at the moment which will tell more about what I am doing here. In the mean time, an urgent prayer request has come up. One of the things we do here is to go to Veles, a nearby city, on a weekly basis and spend time with the four women in the church there. One of them has recently been having problems with her head. We found out today that she has a tumor and they will be operating tomorrow to remove it. We don't know many more specifics at the moment. She has a small son who was recently in the hospital for other health problems. Please pray for Daki, and her husband Mace, and their son Martin.