Ministry to Poland 2005
|
| Dear friends, |
Pre-trip Letter |
|
| I will be gone to Poland from
July 18 through 28. Arrive Tues, July 19. Teach all day Wed,
and Thursday at the SLOT Art Festival. The festival unfolds on
the grounds of the largest monastery built on European soil,
in the southwestern corner of Poland. This is a sort of
"Christian Woodstock" with five stages for live
music. plus dozens of actual art/music/photography workshops.
plus about 50 serious seminars/lectures covering theology,
philosophy, psychology, sociology. I will have the privilege
of presenting three or four lectures each on Wed and Thurs.
Plus I will be able to converse with dozens of the 4,000+ high
school, college, and post college students attending. I will
email you more about the subject matter of the lectures. |
| Thursday night I have been
invited to offer the message at the evening service for the
First Baptist church in Wroclaw (one of the two largest cities
in the west of Poland... about 800,000 population.) The new
senior pastor and his wife have been dear friends since 1998,
my first visit to Poland. I will be hosted by Adam and Mira
Otremba in Wroclaw, another dear couple. On all nine days I
will have the pleasure of the company of Krzsztof and Mela
Pawluslow. Krzysztof has been the brilliant primary translator
for us since the inception of our teaching ministry in 1998. |
| Friday we travel four hours east
to the southern most mountains in Poland. To a small city
called Wisla, at the source of the Vistula River (the largest
river running through Poland). This will be a national
conference of pastors, counselors, and other Christian
professionals, specifically set up for me to present the
Covenat Family history from the book of Genesis. I will have
about 16 lecture hours (divided in half by translation time),
presented also with PowerPoint slides already translated into
Polish. We will probably also have a speaking opportunity in
the Sunday afternoon service concluding the conference. This
will be within the community of an independent Christian
church and foundation, overseen by Drs. Henrik and Alina Wieja.
I hope to have much Q/A time as well as casual discussion of
these crucial scriptures. |
| Mon-Wed, July 25-27, I will be
presenting a broader range of lectures with models for healthy
respect in marriage, healthy family dynamics. child
development stages. understanding the emerging adolescent
stages. examining today's global adolescent phenomenon, and
the explosion of relational chaos among the world's younger
generation. With an overview of the sexual distortions that
are escalating, and a final emphasis on how truly healthy
relationships and models can positively influence young men
and women in this generation. |
| Please pray for the flights on
July 18, 19 and 28. And for health, good sleep, and coherent
teaching. And of course for rich, encouraging, authentic
fellowship with old friends and new. |
| Thank you for your support, |
| Jim |
|
| Dear friends, |
July 20, 2005 |
|
| It was quite the air travel
fiasco, since my three legs of the flight were stretched out
to four, and each flight left at least 100 late. all in all I
had to choose a flight from Chicago thru London to Poland,
rather than directly from Chicago to Poland (otherwise I would
have arrived a day late). God was good. I had a warm visit
with Paul and Valentine Jarosc at the airport in Warsaw. Then
was greeted warmly by Krzysztof and Mela in Wroclaw. Since I
only had 2 hours sleep over the previous 33 hours, I was
looking forward to a good night sleep. But first we had a late
dinner at Adam and Mira's home (where I am staying for the
first 3 nights). For those who knew about this, I was able to
deliver the much anticipated new Apple PowerBook to Krzysztof
that first night. And he is very, very excited. (special
thanks to Debbie M. for all her efforts in helping us get this
in a timely manner and in good condition. I have to say that
even when the airlines twice made me put my carryon luggage
into regular luggage compartment, I made sure to pull out the
powerbook and keep it with me at all times. |
| Thank you for your prayers for
sleep and strength. God did bless me with 6 straight hours of
sleep and an extra hour and a half just before my wake up
time. So I plenty of energy for my three lectures today. We
had good response and discussion especially following the
first two. The last subject of "homosexuality: beyond the
labels" was the most delicate, and the most confusing
subject for people to respond to. they had many questions
covering many aspects (too many for the 1hr. 45 min. time
frame). But it was good to present this, because I will
present it again (in a longer format) next Tues. in Wisla. |
| Please pray for continued
restorative sleep and freedom from the summer cold that felt
like it was coming on. Tomorrow I expect a good exchange on my
last two lectures. Plus I have two persona conversations
scheduled with a young man (struggling with depression) and a
young woman (hoping to overcome her inability to trust after
growing up in a family that abandoned her). Then a further
discussion with a young woman artist who wants to know how to
minister to a friend who is struggling with homosexual
confusion. |
| Then tomorrow night (6 pm) I
preach for about an hour at an evening prayer service. I just
got off the phone with Stan Blank, the pastor, who asked me to
present my story of Joseph and Judah (two divergent roads to
relational health). Please pray that the Spirit will guide
this teaching and open hearts to the grace that God has
offered to His people since the very beginning. |
| Anyway, the pace has seemed very
reasonable so far. Tonight we got an ice cream in downtown,
old town of Wroclaw. And grabbed a pizza before coming to K
and Mela's apartment to write this email. I will try to fill
you in on more as I have access to internet. As my last minute
chaos would have it I realized that I brought the wrong folder
with me (thinking I had my English outlines). So I will be
working off the Polish translation outlines for many of my
remaining lectures. with the exception of the power point
slides that I have for "Genesis" and "God's
Created Design" for healthy male/female relationships.
But that is not too upsetting since the Spirit often
interrupts and redirects me anyway when I am teaching over
here. |
| I do feel the impact of your
prayers. And it is a great encouragement to others here to
know that so many brothers and sisters in the faith are
thinking about them. I will write again as soon as I have
internet access again. |
| God bless you with His presence
and grace wherever you may be. |
| Jim |
|
| Hello Again, |
July 22, 2005 |
|
| Could not write you all
yesterday. The second day of the SLOT Art festival was very
rewarding. Had only two lecture slots, which went very well
and led to some important personal discussions. During my 1:45
lunch break, my friend Andrzej translated for me with a young
man who is seriously struggling with depression and has been
afraid to tell any of Christian friends. It was a long talk,
but with some good results for follow-up. My earlier lecture
was unceremoniously "interrupted" by the drum circle
outside pounding out a unison rhythm. There was no door on
this particular "lecture hall" so Krzysztof could
hardly pay attention to my lecture, his own thoughts, or his
translation. Looking back on it, it was kind of funny. We
somehow struggled through. After all, this is what SLOT is all
about: young people trying new things and everyone figuring
out how to get by. |
| The talk on homosexuality was
attended by some people really concerned about their friends
and family members. It was too short a time to cover
everything, but left them with a much more encouraging model
to consider and with some clarifying of alot of today's
confusing messages in our culture. |
| Last night was amazing. I was
asked to preach on the story of Joseph and Judah, the
"Tale of Two Brothers". It such a tremendous story
of God's grace and Judah's self-sacrificial love, that all of
us were very moved together. At the end about 25 separate
older men and women each shook my hand with intent, tearful
eye contact, saying thank you and praise God (in Polish). They
did not know English and there was no translator available.
But we knew we each rejoicing in this gracious story of family
love. Then I had the treat of dinner in the home of Stan and
Begousha Blank, the pastor and his wife, who are dear friends
from my first ever visit to Poland. Great fellowship. Even a
small glass of mead (honeywine) made in a southern village
near the border to Slovakia. |
| This morniing we had wonderful
breakfast discussion with a missionary women from Germany whom
I met last year in Wroclaw. She and her journalist woman
friend were very interested to hear the main points of my
approach to homosexual confusion. |
| Then Krzysztof and Mela and I
were on our way southeast to Wisla. It rained all last night
and most of the morning on the road. When we arrived (after 3
1/2 hours) in Wisla at this Millenium Hotel, I was immediately
delighted to see the unexpected faces of several dear friends
from Warsaw who are here for the conference. I guess about 100
people are here, and got through the Intro lecture and as far
into the first generation of Abraham as the birth of Ishmael.
Already we are having very intense discussion about the layers
of pathology and dysfunction that were being laid down by the
fearful decisions in that first generation. And we are already
discussing the amazing grace and heartfelt care of our
Covenant God as He stayed with his chosen family. Declaring
how important our family and marriage relationships really are
to him. |
| Just finished a two hour
informal frienship time in the caffe bar of the hotel with 3,
then 5 then 7 then 9 friends gathered around the two small
tables. Had many laughs with many stories told. I am looking
forward to two very good days. I pray for my mind to stay
clear and my words to be honestly received. This is a group of
people with alot of pastoral counseling and professional
counseling experience. They range from mid-20's to mid-60's. I
was concerned about leaving everyone depressed with the bad
news from this early account, so I began with the hopeful
message of God's Created Design. It was better way to start. |
| Anyway, I hope to send all of
you some picture of the SLOT festival and of some of my
friends, and the sights of southern mountains, but I am
running out of time at the front desk of the hotel. Please
continue to keep these days and hours in prayer. I have been
blessed by good nights of sleep, and hope for another tonight.
We go from 9am to 9pm tomorrow, so the pace has to be
tolerable for me and for Krzysztof and for the participants. I
always so excited and enthused to share this family history.
knowing that God's word never goes out in a wasted effort. |
| It is almost 11:15pm here. I
will sign off and get back tomorrow. You are all appreciated
so much. |
| Jim |
|
|
|
| It was only a little less than
10 hours ago that I last emailed y'all. If you up late now, or
get up early Sat., please, please pray for me. Even though I
allowed myself 9 hours for sleep, I probably only slept
solidly for about 3-4 hours. It is just about 9am here, and my
eyes want to close. In 30 min. I begin the first of FIVE one
and hour lectures! So, I know that the Spirit will wake me up.
And I have had times in the past with a similar lack of sleep
that do not bother me that much. But I need your prayers.
(Maybe I will just lead everyone in 3-hour silent meditation!) |
| Everybody else looked pretty
awake and excited at b'fast. I don't want to disappoint them
or the Lord in the presentation of these phenomenal truths. |
| Last night Krzysztof and I
discovered that I had copied the wrong Genesis file at home.
But he had the latest English version from last year, so we
got that straightened out. |
| Thank you so much for your daily
support in prayer. |
| Jim |
|
| Well, my friends, |
July 23, 2005 |
|
| Just a short note to let you
know that the Lord got me through the day. I chose NOT to take
an hour nap during lunch because I was afraid I would not want
to get up at all. So we made it through 5 hour-and-a-half
lectures, from 9am until 8:40pm. Just got done with three
"counseling/consulting" sessions with the aid of
translators. Now I will go to bed. it is 10:30pm. |
| I will let you know more about
how deeply moved people were from our teaching together today.
We got through to the fourth generation of the covenant
family. Tomorrow we conclude the family history part with the
reunion in Egypt; especially the roles of Joseph and Judah.
Then the last 2 hours of lecture will be covering application
and Q/A. |
| As always there will probably
NOT be enough time. I thought it was 16 hours total; it is
actually just a little over 13! But God will help the most to
be made out of our time. |
| I will write tomorrow. |
| Jim |
|
| OK, my friends, |
July 26, 2005 |
|
| I am so sorry for not emailing
you the past three days. Even though the hotel email was free,
the terminal was never free since Sunday when I went there at
my break times. I knew you were praying for me, and the Lord
did give me the energy and clarity to complete my 9 days of
teaching. |
| As I had written earlier, the
Genesis material was most foundational, and the response was
very encouraging. My turnaround to the second conference was
only 3 hours, so I had to collect my thoughts and address a
new group of about 40+ counseling trainees. This
included quite a few doctors and psychologists. Plus about a
dozen young adults in their early to mid-twenties. Over the
past three days we covered a basic foundation of child
development and adolescent challenges, especially in this
fast-moving, self-destructive global world environment. It
ended in a 2 lecture set to discuss the understanding of and
counseling to persons in conflict about homosexual confusion. |
| It is almost 12:30am now in
Poland. I will wake up at about 7am. I will write you more
upon my return. Would you please pray intently now about
people who return to normal daily life. to make sense of very
complicated issues. and please pray for my safe return and for
easier connections. I would like to be back soon. |
| Your prayers are very
appreciated. Our Lord is powerfully active in lives of people
in Poland. I was able to talk deeply to most of 20+-yr-olds.
Tomorrow we will spend maybe 4 ours in Krakow. Also visit
famous salt mines. |
| Be back by late eve, July 28 |
| Jim |
|
|
|
| So we ask for prayers today,
Wed., Poland time. We hope for good conversation and speedy
travel. Had a wonderful last breakfast with the family of
Henrik and Alina Wieja who are the most influential
Christian/professional couple in Poland for addressing the
health of body/mind marriage and family relationships. I am
blessed to have a growing friendship with them after only this
visit and my first with their foundation last summer. |
| So, I will share more when I
return. Thank you for your faithful support of our ministry. |
| Jim |
|
| My Friends, |
July 29, 2005 |
|
| I arrived safely in San
Francisco last night. Your prayers were very needed and
appreciated. My strength and health were held up for those
nine consecutive days of teaching, all the travel, and the
increasing hot weather in southern Poland. |
| I will write you more of a
report next week. My family is taking four days off to go
camping. |
| I will say generally that even
more than I had hoped for was accomplished in these
conferences. And it was important timing, since all these
issues are bombarding their country ever more increasingly
over the past year (as those of in the West were predicting
would happen). |
| Anyway, more news next week.
Once again, I thank you for your faithful prayers. Trusting
God's direction, and living under His grace, |
| Jim |
|
|
Contact
|
Church Office
408-867-1000 |
|
|
|
|