Phoning home

Ever since I (Chris) moved from my parents' house my mom has reminded me that they like to hear what is happening in my life. As the internet continues to shrink the world it becomes more and more simple to communicate across vast distances. I can't imagine what it would have been like when the ships first left this island for the new world. But I think I might have been better suited for the communication of that time. At least then three months without communication would have been like the blink of an eye. Now, as I look at the date of my last post, it seems like an eternity. And I suppose it is.

What has happened...

South Acton Street Party
Everything has comtinued to move forward. The issue with the date has been sorted. We are preparing for FBC Canton to arrive on 20 Sept. I have heard from several local believers that they are excited by this opportunity. As I write this post I am on my way to meet with Lavonne at the Community Forum.

iGo
We had an amazing month with 150 American teenagers partnering with us in July. There were innumerable faith conversations and 12 people expressed the first signs of choosing to follow Jesus. We are now in the process of follow up and discipleship with these people.

Babies...
Chris' youngest brother and sister-in-law had their first child this week. We are very excited for them. We can't wait to see them in November. Angie is doing really well. She hasn't been sick at all. No crazy cravings or aversions. Just tired and hungry:) The baby is healthy and growing. 19 weeks on. We did find out that Angie is a cystic fibrosis carrier so they are testing Chris' blood. No word yet but the doctoer wasn't too worried after the last ultrasound. We do know that it is a boy and we plan to...yes, I'm putting it in writing...we plan to call him Caleb Austin.

New Church...
A few weeks ago I (Chris) got a phone call from Lucy, our partner at World's End in Chelsea. Several of the teenagers that she knows and mentors have asked about starting a new church. They don't click with the forms of church that they know and, to be honest, are completely put off from church by them. Lucy was stunned and overwhelmed by the conversations. So we began a dialogue between ourselves as well as with these teenagers. I have met up with the group once now and today they drive back from a week away together discussing and praying over all of this. It amazes me that when I follow the Holy Spirit in every day life He begins to work around me in ways I could never imagined. I haven't made any of this happen. I simply find myself in the midst of God's plan.

Future...
Most of you will know that we have decided to apply for career status with our organisation. With the economic crisis our org has had to make drastic cutbacks. We have been unsure about how this would affect us but recently we were given unofficial word that things look good. We are confident that God has us in London for the next few years at least but we continue to pray that we will be aware of His direction in whatever form it comes. Currently we plan to

15 October...Return to the US (DFW)
19-24 October...Richmond, VA for interviews
December...Trustee approval
26 January...Angie's due date
2-4 March...Appointment (Tennessee?)
15 April...Return to London

We have spoken with a few of you about speaking at your church so we may see you there.

We are also looking for a car to use for those six months. If you know of any options please let us know. Love you all.

Urgent!

I just spoke with our contact at Acton Community Forum and she mentioned in passing a possible need to change the dates for the Street Party in South Acton on which we were hoping to work together. I am concerned because we can't change our date. It is the only time that our partner church can come to host the event. We are excited about the possibility of working with the Community Forum and don't want to miss this opportunity if at all possible. Please pray that God will sort this before we meet this Friday!

And don't miss the latest update just below.

Announcement

For those who have not yet heard, Angie is pregnant! She has had her first doctor's visit and we saw the heart beating strong. He even performed a bit for us. We expect the baby in mid-January while we are in the US. It's truly amazing how God sorts it all in the end. We couldn't have planned out a better timeline if we tried. We will depart London in mid-October for 6 months in the US, which will give us time to settle in and connect with a local doctor before the baby arrives. And then we hope to return to London at the end of April.

We still don't know what God really has in our future. We are as sure as we can be that He wants us in London, but we are still waiting for our approval to return with the company.

In the meantime, we have hit the busiest time of year for us in London. We have 18 interns here now, preparing for ~60 teenagers to arrive next week and another ~60 in three weeks. We are well excited about the potential for God's glory over the next month.

Chris will be leading the morning trainings during this time and walking with a smaller group in South Acton to connect with teenagers in the community.

We also connected with South Acton Community Forum a month ago to discuss the street party that one of our US partners will host in September. A few weeks after I received a phone call from them saying that they have decided to cancel tentative plans that they had for an event in August in order to partner with us in September. Praise God for invitations into the community!

Praise Him!

We received an email today with great news. The extension of our term was approved through 31 October. Next step, career aplication approval.

Quick Update

Thank you for your prayers over the past two days. We received an email yesterday letting us know that somehow our finish date was input incorrectly and, in fact, our term does not end until 04 August. That's great news. But please continue to pray for our extension until October.

Thursday, 03 June is election day in the UK. Pray that these elections will allow us to live in peace in this country.

URGENT!

I just received an email that could potentially cause quite a few problems. It has been our understanding that this term ends on 06 August. However, our file apparently lists 05 June as the end date. That's NOT GOOD! That is only four days away. Even if you don't understand all of the implications or workings of our organisation, I'm sure that you can see the urgency.

In addition, our supervisor requested an extension of our term last September, but apparently a formal petition was not recorded. And now the organisation is under financial strains, so all extensions are being strictly questioned. We have also begun the process to return to London as career, but with the financial issues, our supervisor and other leaders in Western Europe will have to advocate for us. We have great leadership around us who support us and are vieing for this, but everything is currently uncertain.

Thank you for your continued prayers despite the infrequency of updates over the past several months. The Art Exhibit went well. 50 - 60 people came to the Artists' Reception (most of whom we had never met) and another 20 or so came through the exhibit over the next few days. We will start a photography club this Saturday. Please ask God to stir the hearts of the teenagers that we have invited to come along, especially those who we have just recently met.

So many things going on. I'll keep our calendar on the right updated so that you can pray over the direction that God is leading us. We greatly appreciate you.

"Acclimate" is not a word in Britain...

Apparently you do not acclimate to a new environment in England, you "acclimatise".

Sorry again for the silence between posts. We have much to be thankful for and much to pray over.

Chris led a Seminar for Parents of Teenagers on Saturday. We had a low turnout, but we WERE competing with a Bank Holiday weekend and BRILLIANT weather! In the end, I was happy with it all.

From the seminar, we are starting a parenting community (with Tim and Sheila) that will meet for 6 weeks from 13 May (and hopefully continue on from there). I received a phone call from a parent yesterday who had received a flyer for the seminar and was very interested, but her family was away on the day. She asked if we had another seminar planned in the area. Currently we don't have another seminar in the diary, but I did tell her about the parenting community. She and her husband are now very excited to be a part of this community and wants to invite friends. I have had similar responses from 2 single mothers as well, not to mention the contacts that Tim and Sheila have.

So, all in all, it's rather exciting. It's all so new, but we have glimpses of great things.

You can see our upcoming schedule to the right. Please be in prayer over these things - not for our own fulfillment, but for the glory of God.