Final Day of Spiritual Emphasis Week

Today was the final day of Spiritual Emphasis Week. We had an incredible time with the students and so many shared with me how much they had been challenged and blessed!!! We also had a special time of worship tonight - great to be with the students for the final time. It is late here, so we will post more later...

Day Three and Four Con't

Ariyana: The group is becoming apart of the BFA family. Randi has been assisting the band with the clarinet section, Steve is running daily with the cross-country team. Josh, Joseph, and Jonathan are helping the chapel band, and I am assisting with the volleyball team.

Wednesday - we taught the New Testament to the 8th grade class, they are so receptive to learning the word of God. Last night we hosted a small group meeting for the middle school students. They were so excited to have a time dedicated just to them, they rushed the stage during praise and worship which made us all excited. They just love singing and playing and asking the most random questions. The students and staff have welcomed us with open arms. We have students coming up to us just to talk to us and ask us questions.

Thursday - Steve spoke in chapel today. He challenged the students to begin looking for a faithful, available and teachable older individual to begin pouring into them. They were shocked to find out that it would only take 37 years to reach the world for Christ through one on one discipleship.Tonight we are kicking off the biblical manhood/womanhood series. The seniors will be attending that time, we are excited about getting real with them.

I have personally enjoyed everyday here. I have been staying in the "Vitt" girls dorm, we had a dance party 2 nights ago and the girls loved it. We had a chance to play some American Christian music. I have also enjoyed teaching the bible overview to the 8th graders. There is something about seeing the light bulbs go off in a child's eyes when they heard the word of God in a new way. I am currently praying for more opportunities to talk to a few girls that the Lord has laid on my heart.

Day Three and Four - Spiritual Emphasis Week

Steve: We have had a great couple of days! Last night we led the Junior High in worship and a time of teaching. The energy of Junior High students is something that is very contagious! The students and faculty have been very receptive to the teachings. I have had countless students and teachers approach and talk about various joys, praises, and challenges in making disciples. Praise the Lord for allowing us to see the budding of fruit during our time here!

Josh, Joseph, Richard, Ari, and myself (Steve) have all been teaching the Bible Overview in various classes throughout the school. I had one parent tell me that their child had come home and went over the Bible Overview with them! I continue to be amazed at how God uses the 20 sentences of the Bible Overview to teach people, even those who have been studying the Bible for years and who have attended Bible schools.

The team all ate at different dorms tonight. Josh and I ate a dorm called HBR. The twenty-four guys in this dorm were the most testosterone driven guys here at the Black Forest Academy. They have a tradition of throwing the Spiritual Emphasis Week speaker into the creek. I had been told all week this was coming so I made sure to dress for it! As they threw me into the creek they shouted, “we baptize you in the name of the HUGE, the BUFF, and the RIPPED!” The guys say that is what HBR stands for, but it actually some German words I can’t pronounce. Truly a unique experience, I have never been placed in the category of huge, buff, and ripped, but now I am.

From 7:30-9 pm on Thursday night the team taught Biblical Manhood and Biblical Womanhood to the High School Senior. Joseph, Josh and Richard taught the men while Ari and Randi taught the women. Great night – the seniors really connected with the material.

Keep praying for us! Friday is the final day of Spiritual Emphasis Week and we have our regular morning time and extended period of worship during the night. God is good!!!

Day Two - Spiritual Emphasis Week

Another great day with the teachers and students of the Black Forest Academy! During our time this morning we did worship and taught the Great Commission. In the afternoon we taught Bible Overview in two different classes, the team played various sports with the students, and the team split up to have dinner in three different dorms. More updates are coming so keep checking back...

Day One of Spiritual Emphasis Week continued

Steve: We had a great start to Spiritual Emphasis Week. Today I taught on the only thing Jesus said he would make them - "fishers of men!" The students were attentive and loved old Karate Kid clips - I have never heard people laugh so hard at Mr. Miagi. Josh, Joseph, and Jonathan led a great time of worship and Ari shared testimony. In the afternoon several of the team members taught Bible Overview in a class. We had a great morning!

In the later afternoon had the joy of running with the cross-country team through some of the most beautiful country in the world (mountain, castles, and llamas)! We had dinner at one of the boys dorm with 24 guys (Ari and Randi ate at the girls dorm). These guys literally have lived all of the world - Korea, South Africa, Bosnia, Russia, France, Spain, Australia, Palestine, the Stans, all over Eastern Europe, and numerous 10/40 window countries. One guy was even from Thessalonica. I am amazed at the number of these students that speak 2, 3 and even 4 languages. Exciting to think about all that God can do through these students and the staff of the Black Forest Academy!!!

Day One of Spiritual Emphasis Week

Josh Smith: Spiritual Emphasis Week began at Black Forest Academy this morning. A couple hundred very American-looking students filed into the auditorium and did some very un-American things. To begin with, they sang. Loudly. They also laughed continually at silly jokes and 20 year old movie clips. Then they filed out respectfully. Later, they asked questions in classes and thanked their guests (unprompted) for sharing with them. After school, they played intramural sports in such a way that one might have been convinced that they were more interested in having fun than dominating the field. I was pretty convinced that these were the Stepford Kids.

After a few hiking (mis)adventures, we walked to share dinner at a couple of the many dorms spread throughout Kandern, home of BFA and several missions organizations. Of course, after dinner the students all pitched in to clean up and serve their guests tea or coffee before warmly inviting us to conversation and to play games. We were amazed at the diversity of the students. These are "American" kids who have grown up in several countries, rarely having spent any time at all actually in the States. They are American, and yet they aren't. They find American culture very strange. The thing that unites these multinational nomads is their status as "Third Culture Kids," or "TCK's," called such because they don't really feel like they belong here or there. They've created a third place, and they share it together here in the fairytale beauty of Southern Germany.

I think it explains the Stepford anomaly we'd been experiencing. I told my wife earlier today that it's just too early to tell whether these kids' behavior is spiritually or merely culturally motivated. It may be revealed that the warm and sterile environment of an American Christian school insulated within a paradisiacal forest village has created a couple hundred really nice kids. It's certainly possible to be so immersed in a thing that you don't realize it's there. My prayer is that God will use us to reveal to them the reality of every person's need for deep and radical salvation, and to cast a vision for living that glorifies God, not by our own righteousness or politeness, but by the blood of Christ, which then sends us on mission for Him. We may need to convince them of their need. Once they truly understand the gospel, the fact that they are unfettered by many of the debilitating social sins their stateside counterparts struggle with will give them a great jumpstart on their true sanctification, and that is a great mercy God has granted them.

At any rate, they sure are pleasant. I'm certain this trip will continue to be a joy as we serve out the rest of the week.

Visiting Basel, Switzerland

The team spent Saturday afternoon visiting the city of Basel, Switzerland which is about 30 minutes for the Black Forest Academy. During the evening we went to an annual festival in the town where BFA is in Kandern. The team enjoyed some good fellowship with Hans and his family as well as eating some local German food. We headed back to our rooms about 9:30 pm local time to get a good night sleep and hopefully knock out the jet lag!

Tomorrow we are heading to church where Steve will be preaching. Only 5% of Germans attend church, please be praying that God will allow our team His favor as we serve here!

Germany Trip - Sept 10-20, 2010

The team made the quick connection in Amsterdam and arrived at the Black Forest Academy in Germany. The team consists of Steve Winstead, Ari Rimson, Randi Crowder, Richard Robinson, Josh Smith, Joseph Prielozny, and Jonathan Troutman. This is a picture of the team just outside where the men are staying. The women are staying in the women's dorm and Steve is staying with Han's and is family. Please pray for us - tomorrow we will be attending and preaching at the Black Forest Christian Fellowship.