Appearances can be deceptive...

The ski season has officially begun here in southern Spain. Rooms are filling up in the hotels of the Sierra Nevada, and last night's TV news showed lines of people queuing in the snow for the chairlifts that take them up to the ski slopes. Two hours further south, the sunshine in Malaga can sometimes give the impression of a different season, but we can see the snow on the mountains, and the chill in the air is a clear confirmation that winter has arrived. It's windy, it's cold, and it's often rainy. It's time for a new background picture on this blog!

For some weeks, they've been putting up the Christmas decorations here in Alhaurin de la Torre (and the life-size nativity stable in the pedestrian shopping street) but tonight is when the lights will be lit for the first time. Yesterday, I walked past the town hall, and I saw a crew of men working to put up the enormous Christmas tree that looks so pretty in all the night-time photos.

In the cold light of day, however, you can see that there's no tree there at all. It's just a construction made from a metal frame and covered with strings of sparkling lights. But when darkness falls and the lights go on, our iconic Christmas tree looks magical - like something from a movie or from New York's Central Park!  Yes, appearances can be deceptive, and things are not always what they seem. In my Bible this morning, I was reading about how Jesus challenged the religious people of his day - because they "looked good" on the outside, but their lives were just a sham and God could see that their hearts didn't really belong to Him. It's much more important to love and obey God in the small things, than to have a life that looks impressive on the outside but is as hollow as our Alhaurin Christmas tree on the inside.

Finally, speaking of Christmas trees that are not what they seem, I thought I'd pass on this fun idea for your Christmas table. All you need is an apple, a carrot, some cocktail sticks or tooth picks, and a selection of delicious fruit, such as grapes, strawberries, kiwi and melon. It not only makes a charming table decoration, but also a delicious healthy dessert after a substantial Christmas dinner. (Remember you can click to enlarge this or any of the photos.) ¡Felices Fiestas!

Three strategic weeks...

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Seldom have three weeks sped by so fast. The Strategic Leadership Course (SLC) was an intensive time of equipping missionary students to be more effective and strategic in their next steps of ministry pioneering. The group was a mixed bunch of people with very diverse ministry visions and calling. For example, there was a Dutch lady who has pioneered a ministry reaching out to street prostitutes and working against the problem of human trafficking in Latvia. Also in the group was a Malagasy lady who has a heart to reach out to the hundreds of thousands of backpackers every year who spend a number of months living and working in Perth, Australia, and a young married couple from Switzerland who are preparing to pioneer a new ministry in their capital city, Bern.

In one-to-one times, I was linked with a couple from Scotland who work with KKI and have pioneered a ministry reaching out to gypsy children in Romania. And I also met weekly with a German lady who has established a wonderful ministry in Mozambique, teaching African people to produce natural medicines (made from plants that grow locally) and thus to save some lives among the many people who die every year from diseases like malaria or dysentery.

The course finished today, the students presented their written projects, and we took time to pray for everyone and commission them to be strategic in their next steps in pioneering. This evening, I've been filling in all the paperwork for the University, and tomorrow we'll be taking everyone to the airport for their journeys back to their own homes and ministry locations. Thanks for your prayers during our three weeks of investing in the lives of these dedicated missionaries.

SLC has begun

Our students have arrived from different parts of Europe and beyond, and our 3-week SLC training course began two days ago. SLC stands for "Strategic Leadership Course" and it's all about equipping people to be effective in pioneering new mission expressions in the towns and cities of the world. However, some of the students are saying that SLC means the "Salt and Light Course," because Matthew 5: 13 - 14 is the theme that God has given us for this year's school. We've been prayerfully reading these words of Jesus, and considering what it really means to be salt and light in the locations He has called us to. Or, as another Bible version expresses it: how can we express the colours and the flavours of God in the world around us?

Linking the nations... and the generations

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Our KKI European regional conference has just come to an end, and we look back with thankfulness at a time when God was at work in our midst. One of our values in KKI is "linking the generations," and we really saw that in action during these three days of conference. Young and old worshipped together, prayed together, laughed together and cried together. The oldest person to take the microphone was in their sixties, and the youngest presenter onstage was nine year old Emily. (see photo) Last night we had a powerful time of prayer and commissioning, when the older ones in the gathering (the parent and grandparent generations) spoke out prophetic words of releasing and encouragement to the younger leaders (the 16 - 25 year olds) in our midst.

But this conference wasn't only a time of linking the generations, it was also a time of gathering and linking the nations. People had gathered from the northern, southern, western and eastern corners of the European continent, and it was a time of sharing together in God's heart for the young people and families in this part of the world. This morning, we experienced a very touching time when the people of Germany and France reached out in friendship to each other: asking forgiveness for the historical animosity between their nations, and committing to work together to bring the love of God to the nations and generations in Europe.

While some people were already heading to the airport, and others were loading up their cars for the long drive home (driving to different parts of Germany, Switzerland, France, Poland and the Czech Republic), we gathered at lunch time as a European leadership team to evaluate the conference, to give thanks to God, and to read the written feedback and testimonies handed in by those who have been with us for these last few days. And, believe it or not, we even looked ahead to 2013, and scheduled dates in our diaries for the smaller conference that will happen around this time next year.

I'll be flying back to Spain tomorrow morning, together with a family that is coming to be with us in Malaga for the Strategic Leadership Course. One of our German hosts is also staying an extra night here in Altensteig, so that he can pick us up at 3.30 in the morning and drive us to Stuttgart airport. We'll arrive in Málaga around 10 am, and hopefully I'll find I can slip easily back into speaking Spanish again. During this conference, I've had to change languages constantly -  speaking mostly English, French and German.

Here in Altensteig, we've been staying in the JMS Mission Centre. (That's my room, shown by the white arrow in the picture above.) This was a bit of a trip down memory lane for me, as I first stayed in the JMS during a summer outreach in 1983, and then visited again in 1997 when a friend was attending a media training course with YWAM in Altensteig. This afternoon I took advantage of the dry weather and went for a walk around the steep streets of Altensteig's old town and castle; this also brought back many memories from my two previous visits to this pretty Black Forest town.

Thank you for your prayers during these days of regional conference. As we listened to people sharing testimonies this morning, we were very encouraged and thankful to get just a glimpse of all that God has been doing in our midst, and we know that He will continue to work in people's lives as they return to their homes, churches and ministries.

Dare Conference

After two very cold and snowy days, meeting as a KKI European leadership team in the south of Germany, I have to confess I was not disappointed to discover that the snow was nearly gone by the time we reached Altensteig on Wednesday. Our final meeting to prepare the conference had been in an Alpine Lodge at the top of a mountain. In blinding snow and freezing winds, we had to take a cable car and then a chairlift to get there, and I felt almost too cold to pray by the time we reached the top. So it was a relief to discover that Altensteig, two hours northwest from there, was sometimes sunny and sometimes rainy, but never as cold as it had been down in Kempten.

We're now in the third day of the DARE conference - a gathering of people who work with children, youth and families all over Europe. There's a good representation from Germany, France and Switzerland, as well as people from Spain, Romania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, Finland and the UK. The theme of the conference is Dare to Serve. On the first day, we were re-challenged with the importance of daring to serve out of a constant awareness of God's presence. The next day we looked at how essential it is to serve, even in small and seemingly insignificant ways in our own small corner of the world. And today's theme was "Dare to Serve the World" an invitation to reach out and demonstrate the love of God across Europe, Africa and beyond.

During the afternoons, we've offered a wide variety of interactive workshops. Yesterday I had more than thirty people in the workshop I was offering about using coaching skills to help people be excellent in their ministry and their personal life. Although I presented the workshop mainly in English, it wasn't long before we had groups around the room practising the newly learned skills in four or five different languages. My brain got a good workout as I had to switch constantly from English to German, and then to Dutch and French. The feedback from the workshop was very positive, and one or two people are thinking of signing up for the one-year coach training programme that we're offering next year.

Today, we presented a workshop about the Planting Together vision: of taking teams of young people to plant trees and share the gospel in all kinds of other ways in Africa. Again, we had more than thirty people in the workshop group, and it was encouraging to learn that many of them are seriously praying about taking outreach teams either to Tanzania or Senegal during 2013.

Two more plenary sessions lie ahead - tonight and tomorrow morning. These corporate meetings have been times of worshipping God together, hearing great input from guest speakers as well as KKI leaders, praying for each other and responding to God's call to DARE to serve Him with passion and purity. Thanks for your prayers during these last twenty four hours of the conference.

Off to Germany...

By the time you read this, perhaps I will already be in Germany. Even though we turned the clocks back last night, it will still be dark when I head for Malaga airport at 4 o'clock tomorrow morning. By 9 am, I'll already be in southern Germany. I'll be spending a couple of days near Munich, where I'll be meeting with the other members of the KKI Europe leadership team (that's the three guys who're with me in the photo above.) Then we'll drive to Altensteig (see the other photos above) in Germany's Black Forest region, which is where our KKI Europe regional conference is being held this year. It seems that snow and ice are a strong possibility for much of the week, so I'll be taking some warm winter clothing with me. Thanks for your prayers during this week of meetings and conference. It will be great to reconnect with some of our KKI workers and young leaders from all over the continent.

The big breakfast

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I knew that hanging my washing out at 11pm was rather a risk.... but I thought maybe it would get a headstart on drying in time for packing my suitcase today. Fortunately I was already awake at 6 am this morning when I heard the next downpour beginning. In pyjamas and bare feet, I was able to run out onto the terrace and rescue my clothes from the rain before they got soaked again. The rain didn't last too long, though, and I was able to hang my laundry out again a few hours later. In fact, a helpful wind was blowing and the sun was already shining by the time I got into my car and went to pick up the ladies that I was ferrying to the big breakfast at our church this morning.

Romanian and Moroccan ladies were among those I drove to our church premises, which are in the Capellanía shopping centre in the middle of town. The church was already a hive of activity, as some fifteen or twenty helpers had prepared the food, laid the tables and were ready to begin welcoming our guests. Among the helpers were our group of 10-16 year old girls, who had been working with Ada all week to rehearse a dance that they were going to perform for the ladies after the breakfast.

A typical Spanish breakfast is to eat bread with olive oil and tomato, perhaps with some jamón serrano (Spanish smoked ham.) We gave this an international twist today, when my Canadian friend, Rite, gave a demonstration of how she makes her famous salad dressing with olive oil and honey. In true Jamie Oliver fashion, she stood upfront and mixed her olive oil, honey, apple vinegar, mustard seeds, etc (there's a Biblical interpretation for almost all of these ingredients) in order to make a huge bottle of the dressing. The ladies discovered that putting this dressing on their bread was even more delicious that just using olive oil on its own. We always give the ladies a little gift to take home with them, and this time the gift was a decorated serving bottle and the recipe (in Spanish, of course) so that they could make the dressing at home for themselves. (See photo above.)

The breakfast was a time of much conversation and friendship with all these ladies from Spain and beyond (while their children had their own breakfast and a special programme of activities in another room) and then the morning ended with a musical programme, including songs performed by church folks, and the dance performed by the girls group, before our "taxi drivers" got ready to drive all the ladies home again.

Their take-home gift included invitations to future events - such as church services and the special Christmas concert, as well as the Alpha course that will be beginning fairly soon. Please join us in praying that some of these ladies will be open to coming to one or more of these events and finding out more about what it means to know and follow Jesus.