Back to Work

Well, I'm just finishing a five day process of moving back to the States. I flew from Zurich to Chicago, then to Florida, now I'm driving back to Chicago. Whew! It makes me tired just thinking about it.

I just got back online, and one of the first things I found was a note from Hauke in Germany about summer projects. Turns out the Germans have a ton of projects this summer! they will be going to places like Latvia, Spain, Serbia, Armenia and even the USA.

Latvia and Armenia are humanitarian aid missions, the Spain project will follow the Camino de Santiago, and the Serbia project involves a group going to the student Olympic games. They even have some students going to the University of Indiana in Bloomington, Indiana, in the USA!

Bus tour rationale

Last night I talked to Hauke Burgarth (he leads the communication team of CfC Germany), about why the Germans did the gottkenne.de bus tour, and he said,

"We heard the slogan of the atheists, that they wanted to talk about 'the God thing.' And we thought: 'Great, we're kind of experts for this question.' Our goal was to underline that we're not enemies, we just have different opinions."

I also saw on the German website that Dr. Andreas Bartels, the project leader, said that they met all their goals during the 3 week tour -- traffic to the gottkennen.de website jumped dramatically, they engaged people in conversation about God, and they enabled Christians in cities where they bus went to join the conversation.

Here's a website with lots of further info about this tour (it's in German): http://tour.gottkennen.de/presse.shtml

No God vs Knowing God

I'm getting a bit more info about the German bus tour. Last month there was a big bus tour put on by an atheist group -- a bus emblazoned with the words "There is no God!" traveled around Germany promoting their message. This bus sparked similar campaigns in Holland, the UK (with a picture of Richard Dawkins prominently displayed) Canada , Spain and elsewhere. Here's a link to the atheist campaign: http://www.buskampagne.de/?page_id=30. Scroll down and you can find photos of the bus in different countries.

The message on the bus directed people to the gottkennen.de website, where they could discuss spiritual issues. As the bus traveled to different cities in Germany, the people on the bus engaged in many discussions as to whether or not God exists, and what difference it makes.

Here's a link to photos on the gottkennen site: http://tour.gottkennen.de/gallery/main.php?cmd=album&var1=06-13_Muenchen/

A German bus tour

I just got an email about something interesting the German ministry is doing. They have put together a bus tour called "GottKennen.de." This phrase means "Knowing God," and they have plastered it along the side of the bus.

They went to several cities and were interviewed by the press. We even saw a big article about it in the Badischer Zeitung, which is a regional paper covering the area where I live.

When people click on gottkennen.de, it takes then to a site where they ask questions about spiritual things. I have quite a bit more information on this, but it is all in German, so it will take me a while to figure out. I'll keep you posted on what I find out.

A glass of cold water to those who thirst

Several years ago, some people with Agape Spain bought a cottage in the village of Ligonde, which lays astride the Camino. (I'll refer to the pilgimage route as "The Camino," which means the path, or the street. This is how it is commonly referred to in Spain.)

Depending on the year, thousands of people a day may pass by. Often they are thirsty and hungry, so Agape Spain arranges for people from Agape, as well as churches, to live at the cottage for week long periods and minister to the people who pass by. They offer free water and coffee, and a meal if one arrives at the right time. If a pilgrim arrives early enough in the day, they can sleep at the cottage for free. And the beds and linens are clean and bug-free -- which is not always the case at other places pilgrims sleep!

And, of course, they are available to talk about spiritual things with those who have questions, or are in some way seeking spiritual reality. Many people are interested in knowing more about God -- indeed, even those who begin the trip as an adventure often find their thoughts turning to God.

This week I'll be talking to Rex and Gema Wynn, who are staffing the cottage, and telling you about some of their experiences. Meanwhile, I'm posting some pictures of the cottage, which they call "El Fuente del Peregrino." (The Pilgrim's Fountain).

You can see a Spanish team staffing the cottage, then another photo of a couple of pilgrims (OK, the one on the left is my daughter), and some cows I met along the trail.

El Camino, or, The St. James Way in Spain

This month Agape Spain begins its summer ministry on "El Camino de Santiago." This is a famous pilgrimage route across northern Spain that got its start in the Middle Ages. It winds up in the city of Santiago de Compostela, where the cathedral is reputed to have the bones of the Apostle James in a small box under the cathedral.

Nowadays it has become a popular tourist destination -- people from all over Europe, and the world, hike the route for anything from a few days to a few months. I have a friend here in Germany who is biking the route beginning in Germany, he does a few hundred kilometers every summer, as part of his vacation.

Lots of people do it for the adventure, some do it as an escape from something, and many do have spiritual questions. They usually stay in "albuerges" or small inns, which they find along the way. I'm posting some pictures of the route, and tomorrow I'll post more about what Agape Spain does in a village called Ligonde.

Calling all Projects!

This is going to be a "filter blog," to use the technical term. Basically, I plan to review blogs from people on summer projects, commenting on them and providing links so you can read for yourself. I also want to talk to project leaders.

The big challenge is finding all these blogs. With projects in many countries, and no centralised summer project office to even know where they are, I have to track down each one individually and find out who is blogging. That is my goal this week, to begin gathering information.

If you are reading this and know of an Agape summer project anywhere in Europe, let me know about it! Where is it at, when will it take place, how can I get in touch with them?

And if you will be on a project, and either plan to blog or know sombody who will do so, link me up! (Even if it is not in English)

Help for Romania

Today I helped people in Romania, albeit in a very small way. Our church has a "Help for Romania" day, where everybody brings in things for shipment to people in poverty in Romania. As we are moving back to the States, we have several bags of things we no longer needed, so we put them on the truck.

This parallels one of the German ministry summer projects, which I'll write more about next month, when it takes place. They collect goods from all over Germany and take it to Latvia, another nation where people are struggling to survive in the post-communist world.

It's great that those of us in wealthy Western countries can help people struggling in nearby nations.

What is this all about?

I'm about to begin life as a blogger. Last summer I dabbled with a blog, as I hiked El Camino de Santiago in Spain with a group of teenagers, but this summer I'm tackling it more seriously.

Every summer Agape Europe sponsors "summer projects," where groups of people -- usually high school or college kids, but not always -- go to different places to live out their faith in God and help people see that God is real.

Over the next couple of months, I'll be staying in touch with these projects and writing about some of the things I learn. So till next time . . .