2 for 1

on the weekend something happend that i have been waiting a long time for:
a lady said she is interessted in moving into the hope house for a few weeks while she looks for an apartment. eve is a homeless wanderer who has now decided to make bremen her home. she is living on the streets but is cleean and sober. i really like her, she's fun to talk to and open...

then, at church willi came up to me and said the same thing! he is a friends of hans, also living on the streets. he finished his therepy in august and wasnt able to get into a half-way house. he is also clean and looking for an apartment.

so now is Gods part.. who should we take in? there isnt really room for two (maybe for a week, but not longer). i am praying that only one of them comes by to meet the rest of the house members and that we all have peace over the decision.

man verses machine

i am supposed to preach tomorro. its been giving me a hard time all week, being why i havent blogged. i have been doing very little of anything, in fact, other than working on my sermon. well, actually, on my topic.. it took until this morning to settle on one. finally, i began to work.. and i have been working on it for over 15 hours now.. pretty little powerpoint presentation, with fotos and videos and lots and lots of info.. great material. and i was autosaving every five minutes.

so at first i wasnt too worried when the program crashed.
but then, it somehow didnt automatically recover my data like it claims it does. and, try as i might, i couldnt get it back. bye-bye sermon.

i am really at the end of my nerves right now. i am trying to write this in a somewhat neutral way.. i hope its working.. but i am really angry at the moment... especially since no one from my house full of computer freaks (half the church is over tonight playing computer games) came to help me restore it when i asked them to. even if they hadnt have been able to help, it would of been nice to feel some support. instead, they are all laughing and joking around about the racecars they are driving......

the JFI issue

JFI stands for jesus freaks international, the movement that i work with here in germany. i'd like to just give a small impression of what is going on right now, and ask y'all for prayer.

there is another movement in germany called "wort und geist" ("word and spirit") out of röhrenbach (thats in the bavarian forest, near where i first lived in germany). w+g is an extremely charismatic movement with a rather heavily slanted teaching. i havent heard enough of their sermons to state my opinion of them here. anyway, w+g has started to split apart the jesus freaks. the church in nuernberg split, leaving one third of the freaks, the church in hannover completely withdrew from JFI, (their pastor being morti- my regional leader and insurance agent). other groups are fairly sure to follow suit. we are lucky in bremen, that our group hasn't been affected. one w+g guest speaker came and tried to cause an upset, and the first person to stand up and say something back to him was our shyest member! after her, the others got up, too, and began correcting what he said that did not match the Bible, and calling on him to apologize for derogotory remarks.

the origional jesus freaks church (and also my "home" church in germany) closed. they got to the point where there were only 45 members and about 20 attending (bremen has 23 members), down from several hundred when i lived there. they realized that the church just wasnt going forward, and that a feeling of depression was bogging them down. the elders decided it was time to back up, release the members to other churches, and wait on God. i pray that they start anew in a few months, because i know many of those 45 won't feel comfortable in other churches. this break may end up as strengthening, but it sure looks dark. also alot of the hamburg freaks are good friends of mine. (this is where i had my internship..)

in the blog world there are alot of negative vibes going around concerning JFI and our elders. most of it is just a few frusterated people, but they are spreading hurtful comments, rumors, and half-truths. there are alot of hurt feelings and many rash words being typed. again, several of my friends are getting critisized heavily.

a konzil has been started to deal with questions troubling the movement, and to look for answers. i think they are asking the wrong questions, but its a start. it is being done in a very diplomatic way: every freak group is asked to handle the questions in small groups and send representatives to a regional meeting. after three regional meetings (one for each question), representatives from the region and the regional leaders will be sent to the main-konzil to meet with the elders of JFI. the questions are
1. what is a jesus freak
2. what are we- movement, denomonation, or network?
3. what should leadership look like?

warning: prayer helps

tonight was the freaks night to run the christian bar. and, true to style, we opened with a prayer session. the drift of the prayers was unanimous: we all prayed that the bar be blessed financially through our shift (we are all volunteers and see the bar as a ministry) and that we would have a lot of walk-ins (the bar is on a main access street to the fair) who would be curious about the Bible verse on the lackboard and open to conversations about God. well folks.. we prayed it, so we shouldnt of been surprised.. the bar, which usually is a quiet retreat for a handfull of regulars, was packed the entire night with walk-ins. many of them asked us questions about God, the Bible, and our faith. and we made a whopping 400e! (the bar hopes to make 200e a night). and despite the fullness, we didnt get stressed or behind, and we had a great time together and worked well as a team (even poor doro, our veggetarian who got to make burgers).

the moral of the story? expect results.

missed train blessing

something about me and the streetcar lately.. this morning (at 2:30am) i watched the night-line pull off in front of my nose. as i sat there, with a stabbing pain in my chest and the frantic desire for air (yes, i ran from the o:bar to the main station after that train..), feeling a bit angry, i looked around the station.. it was pretty full for that time of night because of the city fair. and then i saw dirk. thats a punker-junkie that i havent seen in about six months. kruemel and i had just talked about him thursday and were wondering if he was dead or what. i'd say he's in his early thirties, and more interested in evil than God, but a really nice guy, and he used to come to street group and freaks occassionally. despite being rather drunk, he noticed me and recognized me immediately, and ran over and thrust his arms in my face, "LOOK! see anything??? NO! because i am 99,3% clean!" he is scarce because he moved to bremen north, he said. we didnt have long to talk, because his friend wanted to keep going.

an hour later i finally sat in the night-line, and dirk and his friend (whose name i should know) got in and sat down by me. it was a rather interesting conversation that followed.. we covered everything from brunch till death, but i'll spare the details here. the most important thing to share with y'all, is that dirk needs prayer for a new start in life.. pysically, emotionally, and spiritually.

streetcar conversations..

the way things seem to happen..
i was on my way home from cafe chance last night and got into the streetcar 10. there i saw a regular guest of the jesus freaks with his metel-head friends. so i greeted him with a hearty, "they even let your kind sit in here?!" and he started to laugh. his friends, however, didnt find it funny (seeing as how they dont know me) and one girl really turned on me.. i assured her it was a joke, and he explained we are friends, at which point she then decided i was way-cool to pull something like that. uhm, ok.. she then wanted to know all about me, what i do, how i know danny.. so i started telling her about street work and the jesus freaks (obviously to dannys embarassment). she kept asking questions and repeatedly saying "how cool," so i invited her to church sunday. at first she was kinda turned off, but after i said we meet in a bar at 4pm, she started to think it is "so cool" and thought she could make it. then she wanted to know all about what we believe and how we "do" church. danny eventually decided she wasnt just making fun of us, and chimed in and said he'd bring her sunday. so, pray that they come! i think this girls got a pretty open heart- what you wouldnt expect if you just saw her on the streets, with her black clothes and makeup.

free legal mp3s

lately God has given me a lot of FREE music, that has not only blessed my wallet, but also my heart. and it would just be selfish not to share a few links... so...

first, pfingstpanzer.. german christian punk. not for the light of heart. but very cool when you need to scream your heart out to God. its praise and worship.. a little different. oh, and most of the texts are in german..
http://pfingstpanzer.unreal.at/

obadja.. i have linked them before.. its the "heartcore" band i travelled with recently on convoy. yup, heardcore worship.
http://obadja.com/

jansalleine is singer-songwritter style. he's a jesus freak and alot of his songs are worship.. but some are just him writting about life. also mostly german.. but hey, i live in germany.
http://www.jansalleine.com/judcsc/musik.htm

this one is NOT GERMAN: psalters (link stolen from my brothers website).. they kinda sound like something you'd expect to hear in the middel east or at a middleages festival.. or around alot of hippies.. but very cool.
http://www.psalters.com/Home.html

streetcar cross-hearing

on my way home from a meeting at the offenbar on the tram, a guy sat down across from me and started talking. i was listening to my mp3 player and didnt hear him.. but he was persistent, so i took off my earphone. he said "i bet you're listening to korn." i said no, pfingstpanzer- german christian punk. the guy (mid-30s, very well dressed, beer in hand) couldnt believe it. thus started another cross-hearing...(why do these always come when i am dead tired and not looking for them?)

i'll spare yall the full version of our conversation (mainly because i am too lazy to translate it). it is on my german blog though, so you can read it there... given you read german..

it started with the ten commandments and ended with me calling upon the importance of grace..in between we hit on things like "why do people have to die" and various other things.. it was an 18 minute train ride.. he is a pastors son and lost his two-year old son because it was too cold in the apartment..

its amazing how many people in europe have been dramatically hurt by the church and throw this frustration back at God.
i could understand this mans anger- his son diesd because he couldnt pay the heat, and his own father, a pastor, did nothing. and then, well-meaning christians told him that this death was so that he would think about God! thats hard. i hope i was able to at least get through to him a little, that God doesnt want us to suffer.

news briefs

1. my ugly sofa has qualified for this months home-makeover special.. many thanks to ebay for the new red cord sofa cover :-)

2. my friend sibe from switzerland who was here to visit has been praying about whether or not she should move to bremen. i didnt know that this was one of her reasons to visit! she has a heart for the same ministry stuff i do (but for switzerland) and has thought about taking a time-out from her job and living with us in the hope house and being part of our team, to learn a bit more about how to do what we do.. i think it'd be really cool to have her here.. so pray for clarity for her!!

3. cafe chance asked me to come in an hour early yesturday for a conference. they have offered to do "super-vision" with me for my street-work, which is cool.

not so cool is that they are trying to put me in a box i dont want to be in.. the cafe is from 7-9 and we need an hour before and half an hour after to clean up. from the beginning i have said that i can't stay that long, because the work on the streets before is very taxing. sometimes i do stay, but generally i go at 8:30. now they are saying they'd like me to stay, because some of the others who work there don't understand why i leave early. i dont get it.. alot of the others come at 7 or later, i get there at 5:45.. and they come from either a day off or from some non-social work type job. thats a whole different ball game than spending 10 hours with street people! i do make sure i am not leaving one person alone, but if there are three or more people there, and i feel drained, i go. (usually most of the guests leave at 8:05 directly after the short message- thats the first moment they can get bread to take home, so they wait till then and then skidadle) so why can't we just tell the other people who work there, why i leave? the boss wasn't really understanding me either. she says i should maybe just come once a week and then stay till 9:30. but i am not talking about being too drained in the WEEK, but on that NIGHT. ok, so i am ranting a bit, but i am upset. this comes after listening for months to them refer to me as a "half-coworker" although i stay more than half the night and come twice a week (no one else comes twice a week).

361grad bremen

today there was another meeting of the film-committee i am on. i realized there seem to be a lot of people who dont know that i am involved in this project, so i thought i would say a few words about it.

after the sucess of my film for the punk projekt (Verein fuer Akzeptierende Jugend Arbeit eV) with the younger punk girls, i was contacted by the local PBS station and asked to join a circle of local filmmakers to produce a monthly tv show about the issues surrounding imigrants.

we meet once a month, and this month my film project was up for discussion. (i recieved a grant for almost 600e from the senat for aliens to make a 15 minute film)

uli helped me design flyers and posters to get peoples attention.. unfortunately it isnt working.. i still havent found the 30-45 actors i need! the film has to be finished by the first week of december.

i can you tube!

this is a video i made for the freaks service... its an add for "Jesus" (a power drink and passion drug...)

sticky streets

at street group tonight we covered the streets of viertel with packet-stickers... of course, we covered the stickers with Bible verses, Jesus statements, ect first. pictures say more than words....

200% disciple...

You scored as . Philip 100% Thomas 100% Peter (Simon Peter) 67% James the Lesser 50% Judas Iscariot 50% Andrew 42% Thaddeus (Jude, aka the good Judas) 33% John the Apostle 33% Simon the Zealot 25% James the Greater 17% Matthew 8% Bartholomew 0% Which One of Jesus' 12 Disciples Are You? created with QuizFarm.com

happy day

o frabuous day, calloo callay he chorteld in his joy..

happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you,
happy birthday dear MOM
happy birthday to you!!!

and herewith i wish you a very special day, full of all of your favorite things, and especially
GODS RICH BLESSINGS

counseling seminar

wow, what a weekend!
from friday till tuesday i was at the counseling seminar of the jesus freaks. the topic this time was street work! i wasnt as excited about the seminars, because they were basics and things i already practice. but thats ok, it was nice to have everyones attention focused around the kinda stuff i do for a change. usually there are about three of us there that are street workers, and the others do counselling in their church. it was encouraging to be able to see a bit more support than usual and more interest in what we do. it was also good to see eddie (my old mentor from hamburg, the drug counseling head guy) who gave his lecture and the others.

the topics of the lectues were addiction and addicts; relapses; sex addiction (from a catholic monk!); demons; profile of the b3 team in muenster; self-defence basics (non physicle); self-defence advanced (included some physicle); small groups "experiental excercise." the information wasn't new, but it was a good time for reflection.

the highlight of the weekend though, were the conversations. anyone suprised to hear me say that? with one of the monks i was able to have a really cool conversation about "the calling" and personal struggles in ministy, with the other monk i talked about the differences in protestant and catholic theology and the effects of various aspects of both on us personally. when i though of monks in the past, i thought of old men with serious faces and very few words.. these guys were different. one 25, the other 32.. both extremely funny, good looking, outgoing, and nice. and they really gave me a good picture of the catholic church.

one evening, a girl i had never talked to before pulled me aside and we ended up haveing an awesome conversation about the exact things that have been twirling through my head in the past few weeks.

i could go on... but its not that important who i spoke to about what. main thing is, it really boosted me up. so now i am back in bremen and ready to put it all to good use...

sibe

my friend sibe from switzerland has just checked in to hotel hope... hehe. she got in at 7 am, i got home at 9 pm.. but i'd left her a key and a letter and my train card. i think she survived the quiet time. she is spending a week here to just recoup from life and have someone to share with. she lives in the italian speaking part of switzerland and is the oldest and only woman in the church there. she is only 22!! so i am very much looking forward to spending time with her and showing her around bremen and talking. she already met hans.. he forgot that i was out of town and showed up for counseling.

ps: happy reunification day germany!