special guest

Had our first sunday gathering at The Forest this morning. We also had our first guest speaker, Joe Zickafoos. Joe is the director of Radiate Student Ministries in the UK. He was a campus pastor in the US for over 20 years before being called to Scotland.

I've really valued his insight, experience and passion for students as we begin the process of building a student ministry here in Edinburgh. He navigated around the idea of being "born again". For many, it's a scary phrase, often times stereotyped as fanatical and crazy. It was a great refresh on why I am a born-again believer.

Spent the afternoon with Joe and a couple from Eikon. We're taking Joe out with Tony and Yvonne tonight as a thank you for sharing....he turned 50 this past week as well.

Our "network groups" begin this week. Look forward to leading one as we explore issues through short-film parables.

policy party

That sounds fun, doesn't it?:) I invited my program over for a potluck this evening and had a good turnout. One of my good mates Matt who graduated from the program this past year came along to impart some wisdom to all who were stressing about readings, assignments and grading patterns.

The high-point, or low-point depending on how you saw it was when a couple of girls came along and were asking why I was part-time. I kindly shared with her that I was helping start a church here in Edinburgh. In front of the entire group, literally within 30 seconds of meetings she asked, "So tell me more about this Eikon thing."

Good, I like this, an opportunity. But then she started with this question: "I'm a lesbian, so what do you think about homosexuals?" Ouch, a contentious subject right off the bat. "So you believe that the Bible should be translated literally?" One question after another, she wasn't beating around the bush. There was this sudden hush over the group. She was pickin' a fight and people sensed it. I navigated around the topic as much as I could and told her I'd be glad to discuss it further at some point.

I have to confess, it threw me off in front of the group, and upon reflection I with I could have responded better to some of the immediate questions.

I'm excited though, and I see this as a genuine opportunity to have a respectful and honest conversation about these issues that she richly deserves. She definetely had her opinions about Christianity. I loved it though. So straightforward, so gut-level honest. After all, this is what Eikon is all about: creating a space for people who just want to talk and get some straight answers. I gotta respect that.

The rest of the evening was great. I met another guy named Thomas who's from the Netherlands. Great guy. He recently spent 6 solid months traveling around South America. Impressive. He ended up sticking around till 1 am.

I love being around students. I love the hunger for learning. It's contageous and I get the sense that I'll have some great opportunities to share the love of Christ with them in the future.

To confrontational moments and good conversation.

the sunday night event

was awesome! It was such an entertaining evening!

If we had to guess, about 75% weren't from Eikon, so cool. So many people that got their first glimspe of what we're about. About 7 or 8 students showed up from my program, which I was pretty excited about. Yvonne brought a lot of students from her program. It definetely was a mix of ages, but the majority were 20 somethings.
We started around 7:15 with a "Pub Quiz." That's kind of turned into our go-to entertainment in the beginning. They are so popular over here and they're one of the best ways of disarming people. Mike and Claire did a great job with that.
We then had dancing the remainder of the evening.

The new space was far better than any of us anticipated. With the lighting set-up, the sound system kickin, the tables arranged with candles, and the bar stocked with food and drink, the ambience was just what we wanted. At the end of the night, I walked up to Mike and said, "we're actually using this every week now. It's not just a one-time thing." It finally kind of set in we were in a new location and no longer going back to the hotel. Ahhhhhh.
It revealed such a sense of growth and destiny for this ministry. Trying to measure levels of success is not always an easy task in the early years of a ministry, but this past sunday was like a spiritual injection for us.

kids in a candy store

Huge props to Tim Sutherland and BGMC for getting us the funds to purchase a new sound system. We've been operating off a small bose system. Mike and I went in this past week to order the system.....kids in a candy store.

The timing couldn't be any better since we've got the dance this sunday night and then are kicking off the new location on the 30th. We got wireless everything! Props to Mike Laberge for knowing what to get us.

Also, another cool thing we found out was that we're going to able to use The Forest's concert lighting system. They were going to charge us for rental and require a lighting technician to be paid to run it.

They're now letting us use the lights for free. Pretty sweet, they're not cheep. They trained me yesterday so we won't have to pay a guy to run the lighting.

For being 8 months old, Eikon is techin' it somethin' serious.

Cubbies

One of the things I wine about is it not being able to watch my Cubbies. Especially when they are tied for first in September.

I sit by my computer at 2am watching the game on a tiny screen with nobody to scream with. Pathetic, I know. But the Cubs have this way of sucking you into this false hope that one day they will win.

I found this on youtube just now, man I wish I was there to see them come back in the 9th earlier this week.

Living Room

Had a great gathering this morning. Tony continued a series on Eikon's new operating system. Today's was on the "living room".

Myself and two others went to this thing called a "church crawl" hosted by the Christian Union (largest campus ministry in the UK). About 15-20 other churches showed up and basically gave a 2-minute spiel on what their church is about. You then yelled out your church name at the end and people chose which church to go check out.


It's a great idea to get local churches the opportunity to connect with a student ministry. But I gotta confess, it was uncomfortable seeing all these churches, to some degree, competing for Christian students. Nobody would ever say that, but there was that feeling. I thought of saying that we sacrifice albino cows every other sunday to mix things up a little, but that thought only remained a comedy bit in my head.

Anyways, some students chose us and we had a good time with them.

After the gathering, we all walked over to our new location to have a free lunch for students and Eikoners. It was great and I have to say, it felt good to be in there.

I met a girl named Beth who is an exchange student from Washington DC who happened to hear about us from National Community Church. Pretty cool for her to walk in and feel like she's already got a family waiting for her over here.

I sat there for a moment trying to soak it all in with a great group of people hanging out and having a good time.

This week we have creative meetings with all Eikoners at the new location as well as clean-up teams all week. Should be an exciting week approaching our Ceilidh party this coming Sunday!

Back to School

So excited about getting back into the final year of my master's program.
I met new students in the program this year. Again, so culturally diverse, which leads to lively debate in lectures.

I'm being elected the student representative for the Postgraduate School of Social and Political Studies. That'd only be interesting for you to know because one of the things I get to do is arrange social events. Perfect, considering they'll all get invites to Eikon events:)

Here are a few courses I'm taking. Sorry, I'm just excited:
-Justice and Fairness in International Negotiation
-Peacebuilding in Postconflict Societies
-Comparative Policy in OECD Countries.

Sweet!

overwhelmed

We have been overwhelmed by the response from everyone.

Can I say it again? Overwhelmed. The Lord continues to bless us in large part because we have such a huge support network.

I can't tell you how many emails we've gotten from people who have said how excited they are with what's going on with this ministry, and here's some financial support. There are a number of new supporters.

As others continue to prayerfully consider financially supporting this ministry, Kate and I can't tell you how blessed and amazed we are by those who have.

You REALLY ARE a part of this ministry. You're an extension to what the Lord is doing in and through us for the people of Edinburgh.

Once again, overwhelmed!

creativity

We have videos for each value at Eikon: acceptance, hope, honesty, creativity and change. I put together a creativity video a long time ago but was never happy with it. Here is a recent creativity video I put together. Took me forever!

Props to my brother Jon for the song, he did it. By the way, Jon can I use that song?:)

It's Official: Eikon is Moving

So excited to finally share with Eikoners that we're going to be moving locations! The timing is such a God-thing because we're rolling out the next phase of Eikon, called Eikon 2.0

Tony shared this morning that we've outgrown our current space. It was a small space to begin with, but has served us well. We're limited though. We're limited in size, in freedom to creatively use the space, and in finances.

We have built a great relationship with The Forest Cafe, and will be renting the hall above their cafe. It is located next to the university, has more seating and we're getting ample freedom to turn it into our own. We have so many creative people in Eikon, it's going to be an amazing opportunity to bring everyone together and begin to accelerate this ministry. Moving locations will be a catalyst for more growth.

There was a sense of excitement in all of us today. You really felt it.

We plan to officially move September 23rd and have a party. The following sunday will be our first gathering in the new location. That's only 2 weeks away!

So much to do.

We need your prayers and encouragement more than ever as we gear up.

We showed this video earlier today

dawry's mill

Maxwell has the most amazing house. It's from the 18th century, about 15 minutes from the city centre and has the most exquisite garden. We spent the evening over there. Kate sat in this swinging chair and was off to another world within minutes. We shared a meal, talked for hours and laughed.

We battle claustraphobia often being in literally the center of Edinburgh. You just can't escape humanity, and it gets exhausting to be honest.

Nice to get away from the madness.

awwww

Come on now, isn't that nice?

Even though there is a photographer in our family, we never seem to have pictures of ourselves.

one side to the other

Had a fun morning.

I went from grabbing coffee at The Forest this morning in a t-shirt and jeans and do some filming for Eikon's upcoming move, to a lunch at the New Club with our eccentric Scotsman landlord Sir Maxwell. I got home, threw on a suit and tie which I love to do every so often, a walked into a completely different world. Talk about going from one end of the social spectrum to the other.

We talked of our plans for going to Jerusalem in October. So excited about that trip. Jerusalem is definetely on my top priority for places to visit before I die. Somebody told me tongue and cheek that I better visit some other places before I go to Jerusalem.

I sat outside with the castle directly in front of me, the sun shining down in 75 degree weather wondering out loud to Maxwell, "how did I get here?"

The only answer I came up with was that it would take more faith to believe that it's all been pure chance and luck than to confess that this is too orchestrated to be absent of the divine.

how'd ya hear

I love hearing about all the ways people are starting to hear about Eikon. There were about 8 students that came for the first time this past week. I talked with one of the girls who happened to bring everyone. She looked up churches online and found somebody had recommended Eikon as a "church for people who don't like church." She liked the sound of it and invited a bunch of her friends that were now going to university in Edinburgh. We may not just be about that slogan, but it certainly has some truth.

I came across this website the other day that talked about Eikon being a safe place for the gay community. I'm encouraged to read that because it communicates to us that we're showing the kind of acceptance and grace to everone, no strings attached.

Mike said that when he was at a conference a few months ago, he was telling someone about Eikon and they said, "oh, I've heard of that church." He wasn't sure where, but just had heard of it. That, to me, speaks to the "buzz" we're deeply trying to create.


These are all ways we're finding encouragement in the midst of so much we want to develop and improve on.

next

Within 10 minutes of walking Jay and Jill to the airport bus, Chad and Kim Sasser arrived from Texas to embark on a 3-year journey.

Kim is getting her PhD at Edinburgh University and are both looking to get involved with the art and music community in the city, something we're very much excited about. They have come expressing an interest in the student ministry side of Eikon.


They will be staying at Hotel Schmidgall until they find a flat.

It's one of those couples where you just get along with immediately. Their heart for ministry, music, education and humor all seem to align with Kate and I. It'll be so nice to have a married couple over to spend time with.

Looking into their eyes, it's like deja-vu for us. You arrive in the morning fresh off thirty uncomfortable minutes of sleep on an 9-hour flight. In a daze while sitting at a cafe, Kim said, "I can't believe we can say we live here!"

I feel the same way.

U.S. Americans

It always makes me sad when I read stats that Americans are terrible at geography. Over 80% couldn't find Iraq on a map. Wow! I have a friend that I was talking with recently who couldn't name more than a handful of states in the US (she was american). I feel bad for this girl, but somebody showed me this video of a miss america contestant the other day and found it pretty funny.

Perhaps it's because I studied international relations in college, or that I live abroad. I just think it should be a genuine responsibility for people to have an awareness of where various countries are located throughout the world.

I can't tell you how many times I've met people from other countries and see their eyes light up when I asked them something that showed I had made an effort to learn something about their culture.

The world is only getting smaller, and the velocity of growing interconnectedness with other cultures is scary.. A little geography knowledge goes a long way.

It inspired Jay, Jill, Kate and myself to do geography tests. We ended up spending a few hours testing ourselves and comparing our scores. Dare I say, it was really fun.

Africa was almost impossible. Here is the link, it's a great way to test your knowledge and improve your geography skills.

Click HERE to test yourself

Here is this poor girl from South Carolina

jay and jill

Been really great to have Jay and Jill Diloreti visit us the last few days.

I met J and Jill when I was in Copenhagen in 2001 and we then lived in proximity to each other in Ft. Myers, FL. They now live in Austin, Texas. Really appreciate their friendship over the years.

We've had Kate's friend Sara staying with us for a few days, as well as Osama, a former Master's Commission student who has moved here to help Eikon for a year.

Sorry, we're full.