January is almost over and already and I in shock that the month went so fast. Things have been moving right along and I am getting ready for a trip to Moscow this weekend to visit the Baptist Youth Leaders conference being held there by invitation. This past week saw us in Elstal, Germany for our last EBF Youth and Children's Conference with 45 participants from across Europe and the Middle East from 21 countries. This was our largest attendance in a long while. I was amazed at the response. A few countries are there because I had the good fortune of building some relationships with them and invited them to come. New leaders from Netherlands, Spain, France, and were just some of the 50% of delegates who were new for the first time!
Our theme (one that has been in need for a while in being addressed) was on Unity in the Spirit. This was particularly important as we had five delegates from Ukraine with us and while they were with us their country was in turmoil. We also had Shadia from Musalaha speak about the ongoing work of building unity between Messianic Jews and PalestinianArab Christian believers to encourage grass roots change and unity in an area that is very difficult. Tony Peck our general secretary and Helle Liht our assistant general secretary brought plenaries and Bible studies as well each of the days.
The Spirit was indeed with us and I must say that its great to see so many young leaders joining the conference and even now we have most young people leading the Executive Committee and I have become an "senior" advisor now to this wonderful young team!
I will be embarking on a two month study leave to work on my PhD and have an able team that will be filling during my absence as I try to clear off some work to get the degree done in record time!
Prayers are always appreciated!
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