Greece Update

Week One News

Warning--this is a couple pages long--
Parakalw (Hello) from Greece, I have a few minutes and I want to give you guys an update on what’s going on here in Porto Astro. It is currently 1530 on Friday and I am sitting outside a makeshift office on the Porto Astro property. The good news: there is a wireless network that was just set up at the camp. The Bad News: it works hardly ever and is as slow as the Internet during the Dial Up Days. I wrote this email last Wednesday and haven’t been able to send it til now because of internet server problems.

*The Property: PM is located about 2 hours north of Athens on a bay on the Aegean Sea. It consists of six acres of rock. We are sleeping in tents (although we have twice gotten the opportunity to sleep on the Morning Star, the 70 ft sailboat used by the camp to evangelize). Everything is powered by a couple generators since it is not connected to the city power grid. We are trying to drill for fresh water, but have been unsuccessful so far. Thus we ferry water across the bay every couple days in the mornings. The goal of Hellenic Ministries is to reach Greece for Jesus, and this property is one good way to evangelize and build up/train leaders in Greece. It is a sports camp which has a couple of powerboats (for wakeboarding/skiing/tubing etc), jet ski’s, and other fun things. It is one of the few places in Greece that has these things to offer.

*Greece: 11 million people, but only 20,000 Evangelical born-again believers in Jesus. The country is 97% Greek Orthodox, but from what all the missionaries here have said, Christianity is for most a cultural tradition and not a living vibrant faith.

*The Weather: Freaking hot. Always hot. Only getting hotter. The Aegean Sea is quite refreshing and there is quite a bit of shade at PM so that is nice. And don’t worry Mom I’m not getting burnt. Much.

*What We’ve Been Doing: Jake, Vanessa, and I got into the property last Thursday and got straight to work after unloading all our stuff. For a few days, we just worked our butts off getting the property ready for the first camp. There are endless work projects and things to do so there is never a shortage of jobs. The first camp we put on was a Refugee Camp that went from Sunday til Wednesday. We hosted about 45 refugees, primarily from Iran and Afghanistan, who are living in Athens because they got misplaced. Most were Muslim and didn’t know Jesus as Lord, but through the camp the gospel was preached and there were many testimonies as to lives being changed and people finding new hope. There were tons of kids, and probably my favorite part was simply seeing the joy and excitement that we could offer to them while they got away from the incredibly worries of everyday life. While many of them do not even have a place to stay, while they were here they didn’t have to worry about that. Along with preaching the gospel, we were able to simply love on and serve them through waterfront games, rock climbing, a magician show, soccer (football), cards, meals, and much more. It was neat to bless some of the less fortunate people, to serve them as God would like us to, and to see people come to know Jesus. God definitely answered some prayers!!!

Rhythm: The camp has a good healthy sense of rhythm. While I won’t go into the details, everyday we have communal meals and communal time praying and worshiping God. At least once a week we have a day off to rest and be rejuvenated, which is quite wonderful (today was our day for that). I really like the routine and rhythm of PM.

*What God’s Been Teaching Me:
-Working to see the church more unified-ok here’s a big one. I think God is giving me a direction to pursue. I’m not sure if this is something in the immediate plans or long term plans or both, but I feel God leading me towards working on being a uniting agent in the church. And by church I mean all of God’s people. I have been reading in John 17 and Ephesians 4, and I see that the church is supposed to be connected and united, not broken and divided. I don’t presume to think that denominations should all end and come together as one big church. I think it is normal and natural for people to have differences in many of the non-essentials of the faith. However, if the body of Christ could be healed of it’s spirit of competition then the church could grow up in love and more truly represent the Father. Matthew 5 says “Blessed are the pure in heart...” Rich are those who are pure in their motivation, in their heart. Rich are those who desire to only love God and see him glorified. I think this verse applies to the church as well. If our individual churches were more concerned God getting the glory and his work getting done, then the world would be in a better place and God’s kingdom would be closer to the earth. Unfortunately there is a spirit of competition among churches. There is a tremendous sense of pride that hinders the body of Jesus from reaching more people and spreading blessing. What would happen if churches would be networked and could all share resources? What would happen if churches from all denominations were seen working together for the same purpose and same goal? The church would be closer to being one in purpose and mission as Jesus prayed in John 17; the church would more accurately reveal the Father in Heaven (Jn 17); the church would be able to bless so many more people with the influx of resources that comes from being connected instead of broken; the body of Christ would simply be more effective in being Jesus’ ambassador to the world and seeing his kingdom come. The sky is the limit. While I feel people of all ages would desire to see this happen, the younger generations in particular are hungering and thirsting for the brokenness and hurting and dysfunction in the body of Christ to end (or at least go down). It seems the church is trying to do it’s work with it’s hands tied together. What if we could model this type of unified church in our cities? What if we could encourage this spirit of openness and humility to other churches across the US? What if we had some sort of gathering/conference, casted a vision for pastors and then provided the start for greater networking/sharing of resources? Perhaps I’m just sheltered and the church is actually a lot better at this than I am aware. If that is the case, then praise the Lord, we’re in great shape. But if it’s not, then I think it would be a worthy cause to pursue. We’ll see what happens, but this is something that the Lord has placed on my heart since I’ve been here in Greece. I’m continuing to seek Him out.
-Expect Big Things From God-God wants us to ask for big things. God wants to work in big ways. He wants to reveal Himself to this world. I’m learning that it’s ok to ask big things from God and have faith he will work.
-”The Lord Knows”-this has been the common theme for the camp. There have been so many circumstances and situations, both with myself and with others, where things have just worked out absolutely perfectly and we couldn’t have planned it any better. I am so confident that the Lord is guiding each and every one of us and that his plans are perfect. Along with that, God is sincerely asking me if I really believe he is good. If I truly believe he is good and truly loves his people, then I can trust him with my plans and future even (especially) when I am not sure of what I should do. If I’m seeking him out and trying to be obedient, then I don’t need to worry about anything. (I know these things all seem so simple and basic, but it seems it’s the basic foundational truths of the faith that are the ones so easily overlooked to our detriment)


*What’s Next: Our next camp is the pre-teen one which starts this Tuesday and goes thru Saturday or so. We are busy preparing for that camp, as well as working on improving the camp more and more. Sometimes I get tired of doing manual labor and the thought of hard work all the time in super hot weather until the middle of August is not exciting, but usually that thought doesn’t last too long.

Please pray as you feel led. In particular for the camp to be a true extension of God’s work in Greece. Thank you so so much for your thoughts/prayers. It is so encouraging to know that you all are doing that and it definitely makes a difference!

I would love to write more but I am short of time. I’m not taking any pictures, but Vanessa is and she does photography for a living, so when I get the chance I will put a few up (but don’t get your hopes up on that happening in a timely fashion). I would love any email updates from you (While I cannot promise I’ll respond individually, know I’ll read them). Luke, thanks for the nooma videos, especially the “kickball” one. Really spoke to me. Nikki, I just started reading Gilead and I’m excited to continue. I’m praying for many of you.

Peace,
Doug