Sunday, July 4th
The public ministry arm of this trip is over, but ministry continues.
The public section began this morning at The Lighthouse Center, Pastor Guzman. It is an Assemblies of God Filipino congregation that is “turned on” in worship and to the Word. For a while I was rubbing my eyes to be sure I was really in Brussels, Belgium and not back home at Life Church. The worship and the flow of the Holy Spirit was definitely reminding me of home.
Pastor Guzman did not tell me how to turn the service to him after I ministered the Word, but when I motioned for the worship team to come, he stepped forward and whispered in my ear, “You go ahead and do the altar service.”
That took a load off of me. During the worship time I had heard the voice of the Lord direct me to pray for the sick. I wanted to be sure that was the direction and when the Pastor spoke to me it was a confirmation. At that moment a release came. I will not be able to write all that happened but suffice it to say there was confirmation after confirmation that this service had all be orchestrated by God’s divine plan.
I had been encouraged to contact a couple of pastors to fill in the Sunday morning, but I just did not have a release to do it but when Missionary Bill Schwartz told me he had suggested me to Pastor Guzman, I knew instantly that I was to accept the invitation. It was a divine connection and an extension of the Kingdom of God.
Well you do have to eat and so we enjoyed a “Hector Chicken” lunch and hurried home to catch the 8:30 worship of Life Church on the internet and was able to participate in the first half of the sermon before departing for the evening and final service of the Belgian International Pentecostal Holiness Convention with Pastor Mauricio Salazar and representatives from two other congregations.
And so my day ended, with a great Greek Meal and fellowship in the evening sunlight at the Brussels’ Park, a couple of blocks from the stadium where the Tour-de-France climaxed for the day.
Now all that is left is spending personal time with the missionaries, pastors and friends on Monday. Yet this is often the most important time in this ministry God has opened for me to Pastors and Church leaders in the nations of the world.
Thanks again for your prayer,
Dr D
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Saturday, July 3, 2010
BELGIUM: THE FIRST THREE DAYS!
July 1-3, 2010
Sometimes “time” goes so fast and your schedule is so cramped with things to do in preparation and the mind just skips a beat! What beat? The “Blog Beat!” So here we are........
The flight over was uneventful except for the 9 hour layover in Atlanta, but I took advantage of the time and laid out the structure for a new message called: “Connection Power.” So at least the time wasn’t wasted.
I arrived at 8:10 AM on Thursday in Brussels. Their entry process is a breeze compared to other countries. No documents to complete and the customs people just watch as you pass them. Maurico Salazar met me and we were off and running – to the BED! I had not had but 2 hours sleep since Tuesday morning at 7:00. So a quick nap was in order – but the problem – I was so tired and sleepy I could not stop with a “nap”and spent most of the afternoon falling asleep and waking up only to do it again until supper.
Now when you are in Belgium, you MUST have a Belgium Waffle! So after the meal, Mauricio, Betsy, his daughter, and Obed, his son, and I headed downtown to wrap our lips around the best waffle in Brussels! We were sitting at the sidewalk tables indulging and heard the sound of a band. We looked up the street and saw a parade heading our way.
We later discovered that it was the annual celebration of entrance of Charles the 5th from Spain into Brussels from which he reigned while alive. It was unique! All horses, people and vehicles were typical of that period of time. They passed so close that sometimes you had to move to keep from being “sprinkled” (really I didn’t need to participate, I have been baptized) and anyway this was a “horse sprinkling”! The only camera I had with me was my new iPhone 4. Man did it take good video – you will have to see it to believe it!
On Friday morning after 12 hours of sleep (but it was 11:00 AM) Mau (as Maurico is called) told me it was breakfast time. and then we were off to meet a couple of missionaries: Bill & Gretchen Schwartz, who will be moving to Belgium in the next 6 months and Ronald & Margaret Turner from Romania for lunch at Pizza Hut. However it was just 30 minutes after completing a Mexican breakfast: A tortilla with eggs sunny-side up covered with catsup and refried beans. So I only had a Pepsi to drink and enjoyed the fellowship.
I spent the afternoon doing office work – better sermon preparation for the services on Saturday and Sunday. I wanted to get to sleep but when it is still light at 10:30 and 15 minutes later it is just turning dark – but that isn’t all of it – it gets light at 4:30 AM – full light! Added to that is the 6 hour adjustment and you now face another problem. Trying to get you body to cooperate with the newly introduced facts which say it is bedtime. I did not succeed until 3:30 AM and then it was revile at 7:00 and into the car and off to the Church at 7:45 for the graduation service at 10:30.
This was an thrilling experience. I learned that Logos Bible School (which is a two year Bible training school under Covenant Life University) has 60 students that have completed the two year program and many more who have been theire for at least one year since it began. Today, in the service were 6 pastors in attendance who had graduated from Logos and they counted at least 6 more who were not present who are pastors or in active ministry. They represent about 15 churches that have been started by these graduates.
One pastor has 5 Churches he has started or are under his ministry. One student was hired by the Church of God to be the supervisor for Europe for there inter-cultural ministries and spoke to me today and said he and his wife wanted to enroll in CLU by internet and complete their degree. An African pastor to an African congregation here in Brussels also approached me and communicated the same desire.
At the Luncheon the Regional Missions Coordinators for Eastern Europe, David and Linda Fallin were talking with me and the door for placing CLU in Hungary is swinging open as well as Romania. In addition, Logos is going to add the remaining two years of curriculum and become a full extension campus of CLU.
One important item I forgot to state: Many students from Logos are now back in their home countries in Africa and beyond in ministry. So you can see that Life Church through CLU is impacting the world!
Tomorrow morning I will be speaking to an Assembly of God Filipino congregation and then will complete the IPHC (International Pentecostal Holiness) Belgian convention tomorrow evening.
God bless and thanks for your prayers.
Dr D
Sometimes “time” goes so fast and your schedule is so cramped with things to do in preparation and the mind just skips a beat! What beat? The “Blog Beat!” So here we are........
The flight over was uneventful except for the 9 hour layover in Atlanta, but I took advantage of the time and laid out the structure for a new message called: “Connection Power.” So at least the time wasn’t wasted.
I arrived at 8:10 AM on Thursday in Brussels. Their entry process is a breeze compared to other countries. No documents to complete and the customs people just watch as you pass them. Maurico Salazar met me and we were off and running – to the BED! I had not had but 2 hours sleep since Tuesday morning at 7:00. So a quick nap was in order – but the problem – I was so tired and sleepy I could not stop with a “nap”and spent most of the afternoon falling asleep and waking up only to do it again until supper.
Now when you are in Belgium, you MUST have a Belgium Waffle! So after the meal, Mauricio, Betsy, his daughter, and Obed, his son, and I headed downtown to wrap our lips around the best waffle in Brussels! We were sitting at the sidewalk tables indulging and heard the sound of a band. We looked up the street and saw a parade heading our way.
We later discovered that it was the annual celebration of entrance of Charles the 5th from Spain into Brussels from which he reigned while alive. It was unique! All horses, people and vehicles were typical of that period of time. They passed so close that sometimes you had to move to keep from being “sprinkled” (really I didn’t need to participate, I have been baptized) and anyway this was a “horse sprinkling”! The only camera I had with me was my new iPhone 4. Man did it take good video – you will have to see it to believe it!
On Friday morning after 12 hours of sleep (but it was 11:00 AM) Mau (as Maurico is called) told me it was breakfast time. and then we were off to meet a couple of missionaries: Bill & Gretchen Schwartz, who will be moving to Belgium in the next 6 months and Ronald & Margaret Turner from Romania for lunch at Pizza Hut. However it was just 30 minutes after completing a Mexican breakfast: A tortilla with eggs sunny-side up covered with catsup and refried beans. So I only had a Pepsi to drink and enjoyed the fellowship.
I spent the afternoon doing office work – better sermon preparation for the services on Saturday and Sunday. I wanted to get to sleep but when it is still light at 10:30 and 15 minutes later it is just turning dark – but that isn’t all of it – it gets light at 4:30 AM – full light! Added to that is the 6 hour adjustment and you now face another problem. Trying to get you body to cooperate with the newly introduced facts which say it is bedtime. I did not succeed until 3:30 AM and then it was revile at 7:00 and into the car and off to the Church at 7:45 for the graduation service at 10:30.
This was an thrilling experience. I learned that Logos Bible School (which is a two year Bible training school under Covenant Life University) has 60 students that have completed the two year program and many more who have been theire for at least one year since it began. Today, in the service were 6 pastors in attendance who had graduated from Logos and they counted at least 6 more who were not present who are pastors or in active ministry. They represent about 15 churches that have been started by these graduates.
One pastor has 5 Churches he has started or are under his ministry. One student was hired by the Church of God to be the supervisor for Europe for there inter-cultural ministries and spoke to me today and said he and his wife wanted to enroll in CLU by internet and complete their degree. An African pastor to an African congregation here in Brussels also approached me and communicated the same desire.
At the Luncheon the Regional Missions Coordinators for Eastern Europe, David and Linda Fallin were talking with me and the door for placing CLU in Hungary is swinging open as well as Romania. In addition, Logos is going to add the remaining two years of curriculum and become a full extension campus of CLU.
One important item I forgot to state: Many students from Logos are now back in their home countries in Africa and beyond in ministry. So you can see that Life Church through CLU is impacting the world!
Tomorrow morning I will be speaking to an Assembly of God Filipino congregation and then will complete the IPHC (International Pentecostal Holiness) Belgian convention tomorrow evening.
God bless and thanks for your prayers.
Dr D
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
