What is a Missional Community?

A friend passed this video along to me.  I know often lately you have been hearing me from me talk about Missional Community instead of home group, small group, or life group.  Here is a video from one of our partner churches in how they explain what a Missional Community is.  I know that our prayer is to see something similar to this happening all over the city of Tartu.  We want to send out God's people at Risttee to go make disciples who make disciples.  The video is 15 minutes, but don't let that scare you.

Seasons of Change

Hello everyone,

I hope to get you caught up on what has been happening with Liina and I, but of course I am sure one picture has already spoken more than a 1000 words.


January

Yes in a way that only God can do, through a friend's prayer time and a prophetic e-mail from states, then after a pregnancy test to confirm, we found out that Liina was pregnant in the beginning of January. It has been a feeling of awe and amazement to moving to moments of shock and fear. Because of some personal situations that have been happening here, we have been slow to announce Liina's pregnancy except to a few people. But now we are excited to let everyone know and after an ultrasound this past week, in an unbelievable fashion, it looks like we will be having a healthy little girl in the beginning of September. Liina is now 23 weeks in and beginning to feel more uncomfortable as this little bundle of joy continues to grow and kick. She seems to be quite active already. We look forward to September and another new chapter in our lives.

Also in January, I really struggled this winter with sickness. Sometimes I felt like I was never not going to be sick. Liina was quite concerned about this because it felt like if someone would just sneeze I would be sick the next day. Every week I had one type of sickness or another, but after several trips to the doctor and several cycles of antibiotics, the conclusion was drawn that I have chronic tonsillitis. Because of this, I was scheduled to get my tonsils removed out in April hopefully, but because of some irregularities with blood work this did not happen a couple of weeks ago. I will have to update you later on this topic.

Ministry wise, we have been seeing a steady growth in numbers from month to month in our Risttee family. From much prayer as a staff together, we have set a goal to see God grow our Sunday morning gatherings to average 100 and then to see all of our Missional Communities double this year. This means seeing our 12 groups multiple and grow into 24. This will be a process for us as in order to grow we need to be investing more and more into see not yet believers come to Christ, but also to see new leaders spring up to help lead and take responsibility. Also, we had a winter camp for Risttee. It was a great time to come together and talk about what it means to be family. You can watch HERE a highlight video that I made for the camp.

Also in the end of January and into February, Craig and I shared a series at Risttee on fathers, but more importantly how God is our father. I know that this was a challenging series for us as many in our Risttee family had a bad father or a father whom was never around or just was a name on a paper. The concept of God as our father was a foreign concept. I know that God through his Spirit drew many of his people to himself through this series. Through preparing these talks, I learned a lot about myself and the relationship that I have with my earthly father and heavenly Father. This series impacted my life very much especially knowing that I will becoming a father in the autumn.

February

In February, I was able to go with a group of guys down to the Czech Republic for a conference on how to create gospel communities. The speaker was Steve Timmis who brought a new and fresh perspective on church planting and also how the family of God should live. He co-wrote the book Total church and is one of the pastors at the Crowded House in England. This was another time of encouragement and heart challenge getting together with other guys that have a heart to see new churches planted in their countries. I know that God used this event to move me in some new directions and to plant some seeds in me that are starting to grow.

Also in February, Liina finished up her six month residency in a family clinic. I know that it was a challenging experience as she began to take all of her knowledge and turn it into experiences. I know it is always difficult when you get patients that don’t fit into the boxes of information that you know. I see that these challenges are helping her to grow. I know that with anything that you begin to study, the more deeper you dive into things, the more you feel like you don’t know so much.

March

In March, I had some personal hardships come up with my family so I made a quick trip back to the states to see how I could help and be of encouragement especially to my dad. It was a great time for us to catch up and re-connect again. I don’t know if it is age or just personal growth, but I realize that it is getting harder and harder to leave my dad after spending time together. Hopefully if things work out, he will be able to come and visit Liina and I for Christmas. We will have to wait and see.

When I got back to Estonia, because Craig was gone, I was able to help with the Global Leadership Summit which is a part of Willowcreek church. John Burke came for a day to give a day of lectures to leaders on how their church looks like and how God lead him to start a new church in Texas. He was the author of the book, No Perfect People Allowed. I helped with setting up the facilities, running the slides and helping with any things on the technology side of the event. I had an opportunity at different moments to ask him some questions that we are facing at Risttee. He had some great words of encouragement along with some great advice from personal experiences. I know he challenged the 100 leaders that took part of this event.

April

In April, life was pretty busy with Craig and Peep gone for a couple of weeks. I was helping to hold down the fort so to speak as I watched over the Sunday morning gatherings. Also Liina and I got more involved in one missional community to help co-lead with another couple. It has been great for us and also keeps us quite busy with getting together often to live life together. Whether we get together just for a meal, play games, hang out in town, or just to be together, God has used this group to really encourage me and help me to continue to grow in areas that I need. It is great to have a group slowly feel more and more like family and to begin to speak truth and love into my life including the kids that we have in our group. In the picture below is Villu and Tiina with their kids whom are part of our missional community. Definitely because we are together and hang out together, I can say that God used their 3 year old daughter Agnes (left in the picture below) to warm me up to the idea or to begin the thought process of what if we have a daughter. A friend reminded me that having a daughter is exactly what God knows that I need in my life. I know that God put Agnes into my life to soften my heart and to open me up. God is amazing in how he uses a 3 year old to speak love into a 33 year olds life.

Over the Easter weekend with our missional community, we had a Greek food party. We all collected different recipes together. We went to the store to buy everything together. Then we meet together and begin to cut, mix, and cook everything. We used this time to invite our friends who are not yet believers. Those that came and help us make food together and of course feast together really enjoyed it and are already asking when are going to do this again. We hope to come up with more ideas of how to be family and invite our friends to come and feel apart of it. A friend told me that statistically in the states, a not yet believer needs to get to know 4 - 7 believers before he makes a statement of faith. I am seeing that to win people to Christ here in Estonia has to be a group effort not just an individual effort especially when it comes to helping make disciples. Here are some pictures of finished masterpieces. Unfortunately, there is no way to e-mail smells to you yet.

Easter was a another great time for our church to take time to remember, but to spend time celebrating that Christ was raised from the dead. Our young people wanted to celebrate it in a unique way with our band. Click HERE to see a video that brought much energy to start out our service.

In April, we had a friend Todd Morr come from Soma communities to help us with a couple of training's on Prayer and Spirit dependency. It was great to spend time with him talking about different ideas to help double our missional communities along with discipleship and training for this next year. He had some good insights and challenges for us. One of the nights, Liina and I hosted the training at our place. It was great to see a room of 30 leaders and potential leaders wanting to grow and continue to learn how to help make disciples who make disciples. I think that the biggest challenge from Todd was on the aspect for us as Risttee church in terms of church planting. He asked us what would it take to plant a new church in every city, town and village in Estonia? To be honest we didn't have an answer, but over the past few weeks we have taken that challenge and are beginning to figure out how to an answer that question. These past few weeks we have been re-evaluating what we are doing as a church and also with our role descriptions. We are also evaluating how effective and efficient we are as a staff and as a church. It has been a challenging time and a convicting time as well. We can often be very busy doing ministry but see that we are not being very effective. It is easy to get sidetracked by many different things. Through this process we see that we need to grow in certain areas and change how our staff works together and which responsibilities we take on ourselves. My role will be transitioning from being focused mostly on our Sunday morning gatherings to being more focused on helping our missional communities grow through discipleship. We are still figuring out the practical side of how it will really work, but I am excited for this new chapter and challenge. I know it will be hard, which will force me to become more dependent on God's Spirit.

May

It has been after much prayer and many conversations that this decision has come. I have been very thankful for the financial systems that Josiah Venture has provided over these past years in a time of need. Also they have been a great partnership with us here in Estonia. Though they have been great, I feel that I am moving in a bit different direction in life and they have also have felt this. We have mutually agreed that this change is the best decision for them and also for me. Though I am leaving them financially on the 31st of May, our paths will continue to cross as we will still be networked together on various levels. JV will receipt donations toward my ministry until May 31st.

As for where God is leading Liina and I at the moment, we feel a smaller organization would be a better fit for us. I will no longer be involved in youth ministries on the national level as my time is totally focused on helping the growth and care at Risttee Church. Also for Liina and I, with a smaller organization, we will get some more personal care that a larger organization can’t always provide because of the size along with receiving the same level of financial accountability. Also, being with a smaller organization will allow us to save money in some different areas.

I will be transitioning to the organization, Going UP Ministries-America, which was set up by my friend Craig Hamer, whom I have worked along side of these past 10 years and now at Risttee church. This is a non-profit organization that was set up to provide financial support systems to missionaries in Estonia and to assist with the vision of church planting here. This organization has an amazing board of overseers looking over it and who are passionate about Estonia and what is going on here. All donations that you send to this organization are tax deductible.

Please start to mail your checks to:

Going UP Ministries-America
3726 Four Mile Run Road
McDonald, OH 44437

Also, make your checks out to: Going UP Ministries-America

In the memo line, please leave it blank. For tax purposes if you put something here or put my name or Estonia in it you will not be able to get a tax deductible receipt. Instead, please put a piece of paper in the envelope with the check saying that it goes towards Chris & Liina Brock.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at: brockc9@yahoo.com or write me at this address: info@goingupamerica.org. If you write to the info address, you will receive a response in 24 hours.

I know that this will take a little time and effort to make the changes, but I thank you for your continued prayers and financial support. After so many years of preparing the hard rocky soil, we are seeing the fruits of our labors that were started 10 years ago. More people are coming to Christ and new churches are beginning to be planted around Estonia. I am excited for what God has in store for Liina and I. We have been part of an awesome journey of which your grace and generosity has made it possible. Thank you very much.

Chris & Liina Brock
brockc9@yahoo.com

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

Liina and our City Christmas Tree...


Town Square filled with activities for families.

Dear friends & family,

With the celebration of advent in the city square to Christmas, we managed to get through another busy time of the year. We definitely had a white Christmas as we have had snow since November and then have been hit with several snowstorms. One of the biggest snowstorms decided to arrive Christmas Eve dropping around 15" - 20". We are still working on digging ourselves out. Luckily for the holidays, we made it to Võru where we celebrated Christmas with Liina’s family. This year Liina and I helped prepare the Christmas meal, so we added a little American culture to it. We cooked a turkey, made some mashed potatoes and gravy, tossed green salad, and Liina finished it off by making a carrot cake. Liina's father even found some cranberry sauce to finish it off. Liina’s family was quite happy with the results, so it looks like we will continue to be charge of the holiday meals. The other days we spent playing Mexican train, cross-country skiing, and catching up. I know that Liina’s family celebrates Christmas during this time for me, but we look forward to celebrating Russian Christmas on 31 December with Liina’s family again. Liina's mom will take care of this one which will be filled with another night of celebration, fireworks throughout the city, along with watching the Estonian president's speech to the country about his plans for next year. Oh, and not to forget we change to the Euro on 1 January.

Main University building...

This year, we held the Risttee Christmas service at the Athena Theater. Because of availability, we celebrated one day before the traditional Christmas eve services. We did take a risk this year feeling the venue was a little small and had 2 services on the 23rd. Up to the evening it was a little scary thinking everyone would show up to one and not the other, but this was a great decision as both serviced were quite full. We never would of have enough room with just one service. As a Risttee family, I know we were all excited to see so many of our friends, neighbors, and classmates come to Risttee for the first time. Our prayer is that this service opens the door for us to have future conversations. From experience, I have learned that anytime you want to reach out to friends who are not yet believers, the weirdest things happen. For instance, right before our first meeting, we lost all the electricity because of a short-circuit in a power source, but in the end God worked it all out for His good. I was encouraged to hear from my friend today who came with his family that he felt it was quite a homey atmosphere. I pray that he will come again and possibly his wife who is not yet a believer. Our main theme for the evening was focused on "What is home?". It was great to hear different stories about what "Christmas" and "Home" meant for different people. In the end, my friend Peep would say it was great success.

Finalizing the program and sound.



Band leading us in Holy Night!

Rewind!!! October...
The past few months have been super busy building up to Christmas. In October, Liina and I celebrated our 4th year anniversary. Liina was gracious to let us celebrate it a week earlier allowing me to to a training in Romania. We were able to take a few new guys to Romania, which was put on by the Romanian M3 network, along with a couple of elders from Soma Communities, Tacoma. It was a great chance to get to know these younger guys whom have great potential to become future leaders at Risttee. We were able to spend a couple of days in Bucharest, but the majority of our time was spent in the beautiful city of Cluj. It was a grueling 8 hour drive by car, but we managed to arrive safe. We almost died twice, but comparatively we were with a really good driver. You could say Romanian driving is a little bit crazy, so we opted to make the journey back to Bucharest by overnight train. We managed the classic european trip: planes, trains, and automobiles. The training was a good review of things, but I know it was very helpful for the younger guys to really grasp the missional model and gospel mind-set we are working towards at Risttee. I know as leaders we were hoping for something a little more, but I think it was probably in the end exactly what we needed. Since the trip, we have been busy as a leadership to really stay on track during this transitional time for us as a church. It has not been an easy transition, but we know it is the path that we need to take. Change is what keep us from getting comfortable.

Hanging out at a park in Bucharest...

The People's House - second largest building by surface area...

In the the end of October, Risttee also celebrated its 4th birthday. We did it by celebrating the family of Risttee. It was another blessing to see and hear of how so many lives have been changed and how lives have been challenged as they encounter God and His gospel. We also had many visitors that Sunday, which made for a really full room. God has truly been faithful to us.


November...
In November, I helped out Craig run all the technical things for the Global Leadership Summit in Estonia. It was a little crazy at times, but all the sessions seemed to run fine. I admit that I was quite exhausting weekend for me, but I truly believe this is one of the best conferences for leaders in Estonia. Willow Creek Association really does an amazing job of getting the best leaders and speakers from around North America to speak. I know there is still a lot of information from this conference to discuss and put into action as leaders. I look forward to seeing how God continues to use this conference in Estonia. Leadership and character development are never an easy process.

Also in November, Liina and I started helping out with the Big Sister, Big Brother program here in Tartu. It has been a cool experience. I have a cool 14 year old guy. It has been great to just hang out with him and talk. In the beginning there was some awkward circumstances, but slowly he has begun opening up more and more about his life. I am happy to be his sounding wall. It is also a great time for me to listen and work on my Estonia with him. Liina has a 17 year old girl who struggles with many different challenges. Liina is doing her best with trying to help, connect, and serve this girl in what ways she can. I know that things have been difficult, but I am proud that Liina keeps pursuing her and working hard to keep this relationship going. We will see what God does with these relationships in the future.


Thanks
We want to thank you again for all of your prayers and support. We want to thank the many of you who sent us a Christmas card. They always came in the mail on the days we needed a little boost of encouragement.

Chris & Liina

September update

New Prayer Request
For Chris as he has his annual health check-ups
For us as we start a new Risttee missional community
For Risttee as we continue to grow, learn, and mature about what is the gospel really?

The season of fall has come quickly...
Well it seems that fall decided to come overnight. We went from our super record breaking warm temperatures to cold, windy, and rainy. Already over the past 2 weeks the leaves are starting to put on their display of an amazing artist. There is color everywhere. I understood the change of seasons last week when I came out from home and saw my breath in the morning air. Luckily, these past few days the sun has begun to shine a bit. There are still though the diehards sitting outside the cafes with their coats and hats on sipping on their espressos soaking in the last few moments of warmth from the sun.
For us the reality is now that fall is hear, winter is right around the corner. I know I was not here last year, but many are hoping winter will be a little less harsh.

Answered Prayer Request
For Liina as she begins her residency on 1 Sept.
Liina is settling into her residency program. She has really enjoyed the doctor and team that she is working with. It will just take some time as she begins to take all of her book knowledge and translate it into real experiences. It is kind of a small world for her as she is studying under Peep's (Peep is pastor of Risttee church, my close friend, or you can say my boss) mom who is a amazing family doctor. I know this was an answer to prayer because Dr. Saar really loves and cares about her patients. She always wants the best for them. I can say this also from experience as she is my family doctor and has taken care of me through out all of my medical needs these past few years. I know Liina really appreciates working for a doctor who wants to help her learn and grow.

For Chris as he continues to focus his role at Risttee church
With my role it is still in process. I am still working on the program side of our Sunday morning gatherings. With now being caught up with things, this is not taking all of my time each week. Lately, I have been able to help produce some videos for our services and also do some graphic design for some things coming up in the future. We are also working on a new website, and are in the process of launching our missional community groups over the next couple of weeks. You can say there is always something that needs worked on.

For us as we begin to reach out to the needs of our neighbors, community, and city.
Personally, two weeks ago God answered this prayer in some interesting ways. I finally had a conversation with my neighbor who lives on the same floor as us. Liina and I were down at one of the playgrounds in town watching our friend's kids. I saw our neighbor there and said hello. After several minutes of strange looks, she walked over and said hello and then asked me if I was her neighbor. Luckily, I did not say what I was thinking "Um yep, I am the strange guy that lives right next door and has been saying hello to you these past 5 years." We simple started a conversation and found out she has a lot of things in common with Liina. They are from the same town and went to the same school. We don't know where this will lead but are in continued prayer to see if she would be open to coming over for dinner sometime in the next couple of weeks.
Two days after that conversation another neighbor passed us in our stairway and said hello to us and also told us welcome back. We admit this was another shocking moment. Maybe we need to leave more often and come back for our neighbors to notice us. At least we realize now all these years that when our neighbors pretended to be invisible as we passed by, they really did see us and hear us. But if that was not enough, I was walking to work and a different neighbor was outside waiting for a ride. I said hello like always, but was sure I would get the normal response of deer in headlights look. Nope, shocked again. She said hello and I even got a smile with it. Wow! God has been so good. Thank you for all of your prayers. It has taken so long to make any breakthrough with our neighbors, but maybe there is finally a glimmer of hope. Maybe the door has finally cracked open enough we can peek in.

Answering a new need...
Our church is expanding to help take care of a new need. We are realizing as a church there is another sub-culture in our city especially with the University. We found out there are over 600 international students who are attending this year. The couple that was helping be a spiritual light to this group has recently moved away. In the past we have been involved a little bit because we offer english translation at Risttee. We have a FM transmitter so international people can sit anywhere in the audience with headphones and feel part of the church. They don't have to feel that they are ever interrupting the church service. We don't want them to be only sunday attenders, but we want to help them connect and feel part of the Risttee family. So Liina and I are helping start a new missional community group that will be english based. It will be interesting as it will be a group mixed with estonians and international people. As we start the group this week, we will already have people from Germany, Cameroon, China, Japan, and Canada. It shall be an interesting group as we help them continue to grow with their walk with God over next year they are here. You can be in prayer for us we begin to listen and figure out what their needs are so that Liina and I can shepherd them and help them feel like they have a family away from home. We are excited about this new journey as God gave us a picture of what this looks like in Africa as we worked with a very international community of people with Hands at Work. Another way that God was preparing us for what lies ahead for us here in Estonia.

Bear Week...
Our church had Bear week last week, which is an annual outreach to the university students. It is a week filled with free food, crazy city games, evening board game nights, and a cafe. We had a small team from Atlanta come and help us. I know that many contacts were made and the team has some amazing conversations as students waited in line. I believe we handed out over 1,250 pancakes, 500 cups of hot chocolate, and 300 cups of coffee. We hope that this was a blessing to many students as there are over 20,000 students attending the different universities in Tartu. Click here for Pictures.

Thanks...
Again, we can't say thank you enough for your continued prayers. Thank you for partnering with us as we continue to follow God's leading in our lives here in Tartu, Estonia.

Sincerely,
Chris & Liina

Newsletter Aug 2010

Hello Family and Friends:

Prayer Request
For Liina as she begins her residency on 1 Sept.
For Chris as he continues to focus his role at Risttee church
For us as we begin to reach out to the needs of our neighbors, community, and city

An African Summer...
Well as we arrived back to Estonia it was quite rainy and cold compared to the states, but it soon transformed into one of the hottest summers in the last 130 years. You have to realize that our normal high temperatures in the summer are around 80 F but this summer the temperatures ended up being around 95 - 97 F. Yes in the states you have air conditioning just about every you go, but we have never needed before until now. Liina and I ended up buying a little fan to help us sleep through the nights. With this first month back we spent much time with Liina’s family. They were extremely excited to have us back and kind of kidnapped us for awhile. We did not mind, since we stayed in one of their apartments till August since we had rented our apartment out till then. It was nice to relax and get adjusted back to Estonian life. I can’t say that it has been an easy adjustment, but I have an amazing peace about being back. I have missed our church family very much over this past year away.

Living Permit...
As we got back, I needed to fill out paperwork again for my Residency Permit. The system has changed again since we were away. I thought that I did everything that needed to be done according to the website but once we started talking to the migration lady apparently everything I did was wrong and she made sure that I knew I was wrong. We saw that we were getting nowhere fast with this lady and we were not going to get any help from her either. Frustrated we went back and re-did the paperwork how she wanted it done. The next day we went back but had a different lady. From the first moment she said hello we knew that this was going to be a pleasant experience. She was very helpful with us getting everything done exactly how it needed to be. She said I should find out if I get the permit or not in a month or so. Surprisingly less than a week later we received a letter in the mail saying that they granted me a residency permit for 3 years. This was great news knowing that we will not have to go through this process every single year anymore. God shocked us again with his grace.

Only Answer...God
It has been cool for Liina and I to get reconnected with her friends. As they are all transitioning from school to differently residency we have had great conversations. It has been fun to just be with them and hear how their lives are going. Though many of our friends are still quite transient, we are trying to make sure we connect as much as we can when they are in Tartu. We don’t know how God will continue to open the door for us with them, but we see God already working in our friendships and also as we talk about our experiences in Africa. So many times we have tried to explain the unexplainable things that God did there. We simple say it was a God thing. It is cool to see people who don’t believe in God say of course it was a God thing, how else could these things you talk about happen.

What Now?
I know many of you have been asking, so what now? I know that we have not been able to answer that very clearly, but hopefully I can bring a little clarity to you so you know how to continue to pray for us.
Liina will be starting her residency program in family medicine next week starting on the 1 September. At the moment, it looks like it will all work out for her to study in Tartu over this next year. I have to admit that I am very excited that we get to stay together this next year instead of being apart for months at a time as we would have to live in different cities. Now Liina’s second year we will know that we have some months apart but will deal with that when the time comes. For now, we will just enjoy our time together.
As for me, I have decided to stay at Risttee “Crossroads” Church. Again I have found myself entering a situation at the exact moment that I am needed. God has amazing timing with where he has been leading me. It has been great to be back in the office working together with Craig again. If you don’t remember, Craig and I moved to Estonia together 8 years ago now. At the moment, I am working very closely with Peep with creating the series and all that happens on Sunday Mornings. I am helping with the putting the different series together, creating the different element pieces that we want to incorporate, thinking of the set design, technical team, scheduling the bands, set-up and tear down every Sunday, and running the program on Sunday mornings. It has keep me very busy the past couple of weeks as I am in the learning curve again. Another responsibility in September will be getting ready for our missional communities. These are like small groups, but they are more intentional in how they function. As a team we are in the process of transitioning from small groups to missional communities. We are very excited because they have unlimited potential. As always when we are doing something new there is always a learning curve and we know we won’t always get it right. We are thankful for God’s leading. God has really been bringing our team together in some amazing ways. We are excited to see what God will do in September with his church, Risttee church.

Thanks...
We want to again thank everyone that has been praying for us and the decisions that we had to make over these past couple of months. We see that the process of how God took us to Africa and back has been the exact same process of coming back to Estonia and what he clearly wants us to do. As I was talking with Craig last week, life is about hearing God’s little whispers in our ear, then following them in obedience. Though the whisper seems to be small, the impact can is huge. As Liina and I have been following some new whispers from God, we hope to tell you in the future of some new and exciting things God is allowing us to become involved in along with the people he has been bringing into our lives.
Sincerely, Chris & Liina

A slice of humble pie...

This past year has been a year of firsts! Liina and I have done and experienced so many things together. Whether it be seeing a city, trying new food, or meeting new people, it has been an exciting journey. One new first thing I wanted to introduce Liina to was miniature golf. She was not sure at first, but jumped in with both feet. What can I say, she is a natural putter. She killed me at the game. Just another day of Liina serving me up a slice of humble pie. I think next time I will have to practice before I try this again. I am not practicing to win, but just to have a chance to stay even. She never ceases to amaze me.

ATL or Hot-lanta....

We contemplated whether to head down to Atlanta or not, but we are glad that we did. It was more of a vacation to spend time with a couple of friends than to fill it full of meetings. It was another weekend of refreshment as we only had another 2 weeks till it was time to leave. We spent time with one of our past interns Brett, who I consider more of a younger brother. We were able to glimpse into a day into the life of Brett Shields. All I can say is that I love this guy and hope one day he will make his way back to Estonia. Also we tracked down Logan another one of our interns from last summer, whom we adopted as our daughter. It was so great to spend time with them and see where God has been leading them. Though things don't always seem to go exactly how planned, it is cool that they both know God has them right where he wants them. His plans work out better than our own.
Also, we were able to stay with Brett and his family. After 4 years, it was great to finally meet his parents that he has talked so much about. I know it was little crazy for him as two different worlds came colliding together, but it was awesome. His parents took us out on their boat and it was great to hear how God has been working in their lives and looking back, they are amazed how far God has brought them. It is awesome how they are pouring their lives into so many 18 - 20 year olds, who need a little kick in the pants I would say.
The last highlight is that Brett has started to play drums for the Mandy Miller Band. It was great to see him play and do something that he is so passionate about. Also, it was great to see him find a band that fits him and he fits them. I know that if this band continues, it will play a huge impact in so many peoples lives. I know through the worship night there was joy along with tears. I enjoyed her raw and passionate worship style. You can check out their website here. She was another encouragement to some people that she will never know. I know that wherever we find ourselves, if we are passionately, faithfully, obediently following Christ and compassionately serving others, we will never know the ripple effect of encouragement we are for others around us, whom we will never know till heaven. Thanks again ATL for another awesome weekend.