It is finally fall in Tirana. That is one good thing about living in Southeastern Europe near the sea, we get a lot of Mediterranean weather, our winters are shorter and our summers are longer.
This fall has been a crazy one, lots of travel, conferences, and our home church’s 25th anniversary. Here are some highlights…
(Above: Albanians at the JV fall conference)Earlier in September we had the chance to bring five Albanian youth ministry students and leaders to the Josiah Venture Fall Leadership conference. This year instead of flying everyone to the conference, we drove. This was the second time that I have driven from Albania to Czech. It is a very beautiful drive up the coast of the Adriatic Sea. This conference for me is always a highlight of the year. I thoroughly enjoy being at both the conference and the JV Council meetings. The theme for this year was Passing the Baton of the life of Christ. I had the privilege to lead a seminar on discipling guys. We learned a lot, and we have a lot to apply in each of our settings in ministry here in Albania.
(Above: Pics from the 25th)
Another highlight of this fall was the 25th anniversary of our home church, Grace Church of DuPage. We are so thankful for this church. In both of our lives this church has played a huge role in our spiritual growth and development. I (Justin) have many great memories of Grace Church as a young child all the way up through my college years, and I am so thankful that the Lord led Gretchen to be part of this church when she was a freshman in college.
The 25th anniversary weeks were a great time of remembering all that the Lord had done at Grace Church of DuPage. We were so grateful to have been able to come back to share in this celebration. One of the things that stuck with me was on the Sunday morning of the anniversary we had a guest speaker (Alistair Begg), and he said something along the lines of it is good to remember all that God has done, but now it is time to stop looking in the rear view mirror and start looking out the windshield.
(Above 15 pictures: great times with Justin's family in Chicago and Gretchen's family in Virgina)
Back in Tirana:
We have been back in Tirana now for a few weeks. Youth ministry has been busy and continues to grow. We are now meeting on Saturday evenings at ‘The Refuge’ (the youth center). We are getting around 40 students each Saturday and have had many new visitors. We are studying the Parables of Jesus. It has been a blessing to be at the youth center, we are so thankful for that place! It has helped us create and cultivate good spiritual community and a place where discipleship and growth happens.
Albanian Youth Network Conference:
November 20-22 Justin has been asked to be the keynote speaker at the Albanian Youth Network Conference here in Tirana. Two times a year this network brings in youth workers from all across the country to be encouraged and trained. Justin will be teaching “Christ’s Strategies of Ministry” that has been developed by SonLife Ministries and Josiah Venture. Please pray that we would be able to connect with other youth workers from across Albania, and pray that God use this time to train up youth workers, a huge need in the region!
(Above picture: Our series in youth group is "The Stories from Jesus-The Parables")
1 comment:
What a small world. I am pretty sure I know the Albanian to your (Justin) right (my left) in the first group picture. Does his name happen to be Erion (sp?). I believe I worked with him in Korce. He even visited the states and stayed with my pastor in CA. Glad to see you guys are doing well!
Post a Comment