April 18, 2005

Plans change . . .

The past six weeks did not bring the travel to Romania and Ukraine that I had anticipated. In order to use ministry resources most wisely, my teammates and I decided others would have more value to offer/gain on these visits than I. So I was landlocked in Budapest to prepare for our upcoming Alliance board meetings in the U.S. in May.

Turns out that our teammates and consulting colleague Tom Clegg did just as well without me! Tom was a super help to the Romanian and Ukrainian church planting leaders that we are attempting to resource this year. When Tom consults with church leaders he always asks them a surprising but critical question . . . “Who cares for you?” He believes (and I agree) that people can’t multiply if no one is caring for their hearts!

Here’s a picture of Tom in discussions with Romanians Gavi Moldovan, Ioan and Ioana . . .

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He was such a help to them, they’ve already invited him back. Here’s what Gavi wrote to Tom in an email . . .

“It was a blessed experience to be with you . . . for two days in Oradea (Romania). I want to thank God for the way Jay planned this meeting to be a help for us as a team, involved in saturation vision here in Romania. I really needed such a time to be challenged of my own values and vision. Thank you brother Tom for the time spent together.”

And here’s a photo of our teammates with Valeriy Alimov and his wife in Kiev, Ukraine (see my March 18 entry). Valeriy is the leader of a church planting initiative in Ukraine that hopes to plan at least 30 reproducing churches each year.

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Pictured are Scott Friderich, Tom Sponsler, Valeriy and wife (whose name I don't know), Jay Weaver and David Toth.

Thanks for reading my blog! Please check out our Prayer Wish List at right. Oh, and if you’d like to read Tom Clegg's great book Lost in America, check out that link on the right as well.

Posted by Lee at April 18, 2005 03:45 PM
Comments

Lee,
Great pictures of trips to Romainia and Ukraine. We have heard that Ukraine may open up to Americans visiting without visas. For us here in Moldova, that will be a big plus. Blessings, Harriet for Moldova Facilitation Team

Posted by: Harriet Caldwell at May 3, 2005 03:51 PM