We walked around the city of Hanoi this morning and afternoon. Hanoi is definitely a different city than Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC). Hanoi is more of a governmental city, while HCMC is the business center of Vietnam. There is unquestionably more openness to spiritual things in HCMC. But as some of the team members […]
Vietnam Update 4
We landed in Hanoi this morning and we were greeted by some workers in the unregistered church (underground church). We quickly checked into the hotel and then went out for lunch. The place that we went to was a culinary school that was run by a person who was open to Christianity. It was encouraging […]
Vietnam Update 3
Last night we had a great service with an underground church. I preached from Joshua 5. I talked about how God is a God who provides change, covenants, and courage. It is so encouraging to see the Church here in Vietnam on fire for the Lord – their heart of worship and their passion in […]
Vietnam Update 2
Today was a day of saturating ourselves with Vietnamese history. It allowed us to experience the history from the perspective of the Vietnamese people. First of all, we had the great privilege and opportunity to visit the Vietnam War Museum. The story of the Vietnam War was told from the perspective of the Vietnamese… it […]
Vietnam Update 1
After our long flight from DTW to Japan and then Japan to Vietnam, we met up with the rest of the AMI team. There are about 10 of us here. It has been pretty exciting so far… by the time we got to the hotel it was already 12:30AM and we had to get up […]
Asia Trip With AMI
I will be heading out to the airport soon. The AMI Trans-local Team and some of the other leaders from the various AMI churches will be going to Vietnam and China. We are trying to open up doors for Vietnam and in China we will be visiting some of the AMI missionaries. I am excited […]
What a Night!
God is truly amazing! Talk about impeccable timing… we arrived at the hotel at 5:05PM. Yup, you guessed it – our flight was delayed again. We were on the tarmac when the plane’s engine shut down. In one of those “ah-ha” moments, I was reminded that this new church plant will never “take off” without […]
One Week and Counting
As we rolled into the Hilton Garden Inn for our last preview service, I was reminded that church is not a building or a place, but it is made up of people – God’s people. This was the beauty of the early church. Due to the persecution, they were scattered all over the known world […]
NU Church Plant Update – 9.10.06
When we heard the announcement by the flight attendant, I knew that we were in trouble. They canceled the flight to Chicago! We quickly lined up to see a Northwest agent to get rebooked onto another flight. After many calls to the pastors in Chicago and to Christina (she became my pseudo airline reservation specialist), […]
NU Church Plant Update – 9.3.06
This update was posted by Pastor Jimmy while Pastor Seth attended a married couples retreat. The date of our inaugural service is getting closer and closer – 3 weeks now! Each Sunday, the anticipation of what’s to come has been building. In some ways, it feels like the calm before the storm, or when you […]
NU Church Plant Update – 8.27.06
Wow! Last night was a special night. We had Pastor Keith (leader of AMI) and his family join us in our meeting. Pastor Keith blessed us by delivering God’s Word and sharing about what God is doing all over the world. It was a great time of fellowship afterwards as well. God is setting the […]
Fusion Youth Conference 2006
How long has it been since I spoke at a youth conference? This was the question that was running through my mind as I was getting ready to preach yesterday night. The worship was energy packed with colored lights, strobe lights and media presentations. The students were jumping up and down and singing their lungs […]
Chilling with the Board & Mentoring Groups
One of the phrases that we use within our leadership is, “The ministry is the people, and the people are the ministry.” It is all too common to be task-oriented when it comes to doing ministry. Since we have to get things done it is easy to take the relationship for granted. But a strong […]
NU Church Plant Update – 8.20.06
This past Sunday’s meeting was a little special because we had a lot of people from Ann Arbor join us for our gathering. We had the Board of Directors (people that I am mentoring) and Christina’s mentoring group come out to see what God is doing in this new church plant. The energy in the […]