Wednesday February 18, 2004
Greetings friends!
I'm back! Thanks so much for your prayer and encouragement during my time in Athens. It was so very much appreciated. God was definitely at work in my life, and in the ministry while I was there.
I had the privilege of witnessing the excitement of "N", a Christian Refugee that's working with us, as he shared with Scott McCracken the director of the ministry there, about a new open door we had been given. There is a hotel in Athens that has been operated by an Afgan for Afgan refugees. Some Christian refugees and others on the team had tried to go into this hotel to minister to the refugees there, and share their faith with them. The owner of the hotel was not at all pleased about this, and had bared us from entry. Well, the hotel was recently taken over by new management. The Afgan man who now owns the place, while he doesn't really like Christianity, he hates Islam, and would prefer to have Christians in his hotel as they seem to be better people. So he has invited us to go in and show the Jesus video, preach to the people there, hand out tracks, etc. What a great open door! It was very encouraging to see the excitement in "N" as he shared this news.
As God continues to be at work in Athens, He's also been at work in my life, guiding and preparing me for things He has for me in the coming months and years. Before coming on staff with International Teams, I was working in the software development industry. Some were surprised that I seemed to be turning my back on that background, although I have certainly drawn from experiences I gained there. In the last few months, a number of opportunities have come up within International Teams to put those skills to use again. God has also been continuing to develop my passion for working with people, seeing believers grow in their faith, and move into what God has called them to do. There are opportunities here to go out with short term teams, and do just that. In the KW area, International Teams is also beginning to work with Refugees that are settling in Canada, so there are opportunities for me to get involved in that sort of ministry too.
Please be praying for me and the leadership here, as we work through how my role will be shaped in the coming months. We've got lots of ideas, and are pursuing the idea of combining some of these things. Please pray that we would be where God wants us to be in this, and that those around us would get excited about where God is taking us.
Hopefully in the next week or so, I'll be trying to get out an email with more on my trip, and what's coming next. In the meantime, you can check out some pictures from Athens at
http://photos.yahoo.com/bruwaene
Have a great week! I'll look forward to talking with you again soon.
For His glory,
Steve.
