Nollaig Shona Duit

Christmas greetings from the USA! Where I'm enjoying Christmas with my 11-month-old grandson, James. (And his parents and great-grandparents. But with the baby in the room who's paying any attention to them?!)

Looking back on 2018, I'm deeply grateful for what the Lord has done to get me to Ireland to begin this new role as international Theological Education Specialist with Serge and EPC World Outreach. This year has been filled with my move to Dublin and learning more about what it means to serve the church here, as well as connecting with networks of colleagues in theological education all over the world. This year I've traveled to Poland, Greece, Kenya, the Czech Republic, India, Panama, and even California. I've been able to teach Galatians to college students from the US, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland in Serge Ireland's 'Encounter' summer program. I've taught biblical hermeneutics to MA students in South Asia, biblical theology to participants in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland's Accredited Preachers Course, and taught a New Testament Introduction course and two more on the narrative of God's mission from Genesis to Revelation to Fuller Seminary students online in various parts of the globe. Right now I'm in the midst of planning my first trip to Burundi in February to teach Bible interpretation to pastors at Hope Africa University. And I'm just beginning a project helping to establish Theologians Without Borders (TWB), a new initiative promoting mutuality and equitability in partnerships between Western seminaries and theological schools in the developing world. (If reading that list makes you tired, trust me, I'm tired too. But happy.)

The Lord makes all this happen by working through so many of you who pray, give, encourage, and help in other practical ways. By his grace I'm fully dependent on your partnership. And you make it easy for me to ask because of your generous hearts and deep commitment to the growth of God's Kingdom. Thank you!

“Joy to the world! He comes to make his blessings flow, Far as the curse is found...” As we celebrate the birth of Jesus, God-with-us, this is my small way of saying thank you, thank you, thank you for your gifts to me of friendship, prayer, and support as we partner together to share the love and grace of God ‘far as the curse is found.’

Nollaig Shona Duit (‘Merry Christmas!’ in Irish)

Thankful in Ireland!

Thanksgiving greetings from Ireland! Our Serge Dublin Metro team celebrated together yesterday, with a handful of Irish friends drafted in. I was in charge of the sausage-pecan-cornbread dressing. I knew I couldn’t get cornmeal in the local shops to bake the cornbread so last weekend I launched out on a quest for polenta to use instead. Who knew that would take three days to find?! I also ended up making my own sausage mix from ground pork and seasonings, for that authentic USA flavor I was craving. (Trust me, it was worth it!) And just in case I have a hankering to make a pumpkin pie sometime this season – haven’t found canned pumpkin on these store shelves either – I bought a pumpkin when they were available before Halloween, baked it and froze the puree for future consumption. Putting my cooking-from-scratch skills learned in Ethiopia to good use!

It may not be easy to get all my American holiday favorites in Ireland, but there are so many reasons to be thankful for what the Lord has done this year to bring me here and to lead me into this new ministry in global theological education. This Thanksgiving I am very, very grateful:

• For the many of you who pray and give to help make all this possible
• For a cozy apartment in Dublin (and the sale of my house in Virginia)
• For opportunities to connect with others working in God’s kingdom and to make plans for future theological training: at the Evangelical Leadership Forum in Poland in May; the Serge Africa regional retreat in Kenya in August; the Fellowship of European Evangelical Theologians in Prague later that month.
• For the chance to teach and train emerging leaders in Bible study and biblical interpretation: Serge Ireland’s ‘Encounter’ program last summer for university students from the US, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland; at the South Asia Institute of Advanced Christian Studies in September; the monthly cohort in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland’s ‘Accredited Preachers Course’; and the courses I teach online for Fuller Theological Seminary
• For supportive and encouraging friends and co-workers in Serge, in EPC World Outreach (wonderful ‘family gathering’ in Greece in July!), and at Dún Laoghaire Presbyterian Church
• For God’s kindness to me as I learn to live on my own in this new season of life – all the ups and downs you would expect, but I can certainly see how very good God is to me in the midst of it.

Another thing I'm thankful for is my trip to Panama the first week of November for the triennial meeting of the International Council for Evangelical Theological Education (ICETE). Many of the people involved are colleagues and friends I worked closely with during my years in Africa. I was at the ICETE meetings in 2009 (Hungary) and 2012 (Kenya), but skipped 2015 (Turkey) due to all my complicated transitions. So it was the first time I’d seen many of these people since I left Nairobi in 2013. Such a lovely sense of homecoming to be together again!

While in Panama I also agreed to give a few hours of my Theological Education Specialist role each week for the coming year to Theologians Without Borders (TWB), a new initiative promoting mutuality and equitability in partnerships between Western seminaries and theological schools in the ‘Majority World’ (meaning Asia, Africa, and other less-resourced regions). This is a need I’m passionate about as a result of my own experiences in Ethiopia, Kenya and India. Think of the ways that short-term mission trips from the US or UK, always well meaning, can sometimes inadvertently serve the needs and interests of the go-ers more than the receiving community. That happens in theological education, too. TWB will help encourage ‘fair trade’ in these relationships in various ways: offering a matching service between Western seminaries or individual educators and theological institutions in the Majority World; providing cultural orientation for Westerners who’d like to teach short-term in Majority World theological schools; helping  Majority World scholars also have opportunities to teach short-term in the West without needing to leave their Majority World institutions permanently (thus reducing brain drain). A brand new initiative – we’re just creating it as we go. But the major players in evangelical theological education globally have affirmed the need for something like this and their desire to see TWB succeed. So we’ll see what God does next. Please pray for Theologians Without Borders and Executive Director Ian Payne (New Zealand)!

Much to be thankful for. For American friends, I hope your own Thanksgiving celebrations this weekend are rich with family, friends, and grateful hearts. And thank you again, all of you, for what you’re doing to partner with me and with theological training for emerging leaders in God’s big world!

International Council for Evangelical Theological Education

2018 International Consultation
Panama City, Panama (29 Oct - 2 Nov)

Reunited and it feels so good! So lovely to be with friends and colleagues from all over the world, especially those I've known in Africa. I supervised the final stages of Seblewengel's master's thesis in Addis Ababa about 15 years ago, before she went on to become the first Ethiopian woman to earn a PhD in theology. Now she teaches and serves as a graduate program leader at the Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology, where I used to teach. Just one of numerous friends I was able to reconnect with in Panama. 

 

One special event at the Panama meeting was dinner celebrating a new book, Challenging Tradition: Innovation in Advanced Theological Education. It’s on global, multicultural approaches to theological research (not just ‘how it’s done in the West’!) and I was honored to be invited to contribute a chapter. A privilege to work with these thinkers and innovators from all over (above). 

 

And I'm very thankful this year for my Serge Metro Dublin team
and the brave Irish friends willing to join in our Thanksgiving feast last night!

Namaste from Ireland!

Namaste (hello) from Ireland! This was supposed to be my September update from somewhere in South Asia. But because of increased sensitivities in that region we decided it was better for me to wait and post this once I got home to Ireland. I’m also not going to mention the institution I visited.

But I was in my happy place, my annual trip to spend the month of September doing biblical hermeneutics with a new crop of emerging leaders. The first time I came here was in 2005, again in 2008, and I’ve been visiting every year since 2014. So this lovely community has become part of me over the years. I know nearly all the current students, I stay in the same apartment each time, walk alongside the same colleagues (several of them former students!), shop in the same places, eat the same foods, and attend the same church and home group. In Ireland my friends and teammates were saying, “So sorry that now you have to go to [that country] and make another big cultural transition.” Nope. It feels like an old shoe. It’s Ireland that still feels new and different! But what really feels wonderful and familiar is being able to pick up relationships with these young leaders and with colleagues and church friends. I get to see them grow personally and spiritually from year to year. And I’m the beneficiary of their sweet welcome each time I come back. (And food. Sometimes former students or their wives bring me special foods they’ve prepared and want to share with me. Yum!)

One exciting addition this year was a new partnership between this institution and an indigenous outreach organization. As a result, ten of the thirty students I got to know have spent years in primarily M*sl1m or H!nd* areas and are now having a break for study and further leadership development. Their presence made our group discussions all the more stimulating and immediately relevant to local contexts. And I felt the responsibility of helping prepare them to use God's word well as they move forward. Certainly daunting, but a great opportunity.

Being in one place for the month of September also gave me a chance to catch my breath after a wild spate of travel from the end of July through August. First I went to Greece for EPC World Outreach’s ‘family gathering', held once every few years. Both R&R and a chance to connect with other EPC people doing similar things. Then in mid-August I was in Kenya for Serge Africa’s regional retreat. It was my first time back to Kenya since I left in 2013, so that was sort of a big deal. I was a tiny bit apprehensive but there were some sweet reunions with friends and colleagues. And I gave a talk at the retreat on Serge’s value of ‘ministry from vulnerability.’ (Yes, learned of necessity through the events of the past few years, so I might as well share what God's taught me!) But my primary purpose for being there was to make plans for future partnerships where I can come help on the theological education side in places where Serge teams are doing a variety of other things, mostly medical work. I'm planning to do this in Burundi in February 2019. And we’re hoping to do something in the Democratic Republic of Congo “after we figure out what’s happening with Ebola in our area right now,” they said. (I figure the people who are in a position to make statements like that are the real missionaries!)

At the end of August I went to Prague, Czech Republic, for the biennial meeting of the Fellowship of European Evangelical Theologians (FEET). Since I’ve worked widely in Africa and have spent time in South Asia and did my PhD in the UK, I have some sense of what’s happening in theological education in those regions. But what I don’t know much about is what’s happening in Central and Eastern Europe. This conference gave me a chance to listen and learn who’s doing what where so that I can be an informed resource for Serge as needed. And of course, Prague is a fabulous place to visit – so I won’t deny I managed to enjoy it!

Sure, this much travel is challenging. But I’m just so thankful to be back in this sort of role after a gap of several years – and so appreciative of those of you who pray and give to make it possible, thank you!! – that it doesn’t feel draining. (OK, it did feel a bit draining at 2:30 am in the Dubai airport during my layover. But there was Starbucks.)

And most importantly, I get to see these amazing South Asian leaders grow in our month together, and then from year to year, in their knowledge and character and their ability to read and interpret the Bible. “May the God of peace… that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen” (Heb 13:20-21). Such a privilege to be there as it happens!

Since I travel in South Asia on a tourist visa it's good to do touristy things. Which is why those of you following my social media saw me having so much fun.
It's a sacrifice, but I'm always willing to serve ;) 

Sizzling Irish summer!

Hello from Dublin! Where I’m surviving the heat wave and drought, thank you very much. We’ve had two straight weeks of sizzling temperatures in the high 70’s and even some low 80's. According to Met Éireann, the Irish Meterological Service, “A heatwave occurs where there are 5 consecutive days or more with maximum temperature over 25 degrees Celsius [78°F].” Seriously. I am not making this up. Heat advisories are in effect, there are mandatory water restrictions, and the whole country has flocked to the seacoast to cool off. Fortunately I only need to walk about ten minutes from my apartment to the nearest little beach. The first time, I couldn’t make myself go more than hip-deep into the 57°F Irish Sea. There's a reason so few of those people in the photo above are in that water! But the second time I plunged in and discovered that it's not too horrible once you get used to it. I’m certainly enjoying the long sunny days, though. It gets dark about 10:30pm and brightens up again around 4:30am.

Besides the weather, the other big news is that we have 21 university student interns in Encounter this summer, the short-term discipleship and outreach project that’s an annual partnership between Serge Ireland and Christian Unions Ireland (the Irish equivalent of InterVarsity). We’re delighted to have more Irish interns than Americans this year, by a slim margin of 11 to 10. A number of pastors and ministry leaders throughout Ireland are Encounter alumni, so it’s exciting to imagine how the Lord might use these Irish interns in the future.

The Encounter students arrived in Dublin on June 7 for a weekend of cross-cultural orientation. We’re actually dealing with three countries here – the United States, mostly Protestant Northern Ireland (part of the UK), and the ‘post-Catholic’ Republic of Ireland (where I live) – so there are plenty of cultural boundaries for everyone in this group to cross. I was asked to do five hours of intercultural training for them the first day, bringing back a flood of memories from my long-ago years with InterVarsity’s short-term mission programs in the US and Kenya.

Then we all moved to a YWCA center in Greystones, a small harbor town about a hour south of Dublin, for two weeks of intensive discipleship training and individual spiritual mentoring deeply rooting our identities in God’s gracious adoption of us as his ‘sons’ (Gal 4:4-7). Last year I was a mentor for two of the interns, but this year I was asked to lead the daily Bible study in Galatians and give one of the discipleship talks. Those of you who know me well know that teaching the Bible is my happy place! So I thoroughly enjoyed studying Galatians each day with these eager young people. I’m so grateful to God for that opportunity – and to all of you who partner with me so that I can be here doing it.

For the following two weeks the Encounter interns were out in teams of 4-6 serving churches and local ministries across Ireland. They helped with youth groups and ‘holiday Bible clubs’ (VBS) for kids, served meals to the homeless, helped stock food pantries, and painted and cleaned. Last Friday they all came trooping back to Greystones for a weekend of debriefing, telling their stories, and joyful togetherness and worship. Then lots of tears saying goodbye to our Irish interns Monday morning as they went home to summer jobs and other responsibilities. The Americans had a few days this week of rest and renewal, then today they headed out in new teams for another two weeks of service in various locales. They’ll end with a final debrief weekend on the north coast of Ireland July 27-31, but I won’t get to join them this year because of other travel I’m doing (see below…).

In addition to Encounter I’ve been busy with the Presbyterian Church in Ireland’s Accredited Preachers Course I’m helping to teach. Look at the distribution of Presbyterian churches across Ireland and you’ll see why it’s so exciting that for the first time ever this course is being held in the Republic of Ireland rather than in Northern Ireland. I feel privileged to help train lay preachers for these far-flung churches in the Republic – considered the least evangelized English-speaking country in the world. And I’m mentoring another woman lay leader who wasn’t quite ready for the Accredited Preachers Course. I am simply in awe of what God is doing in Liz, and of her wide-open enthusiasm for his Word as we work through an overview of the Bible together.

I finished teaching my spring online course for Fuller Theological Seminary in June and am now part way through my summer course, on ‘Missiological Hermeneutics’. Which is just a fancy way of saying ‘reading through the whole Bible with a focus on the overarching storyline of God’s mission.’ Hopefully the students come away with a bigger and more comprehensive understanding of the mission of God to rescue and restore his fallen creation. It’s a lot to take in. But once you grasp that big story of who God is and what he’s up to, it changes everything.

And meanwhile this beautiful weather has been a gift from God for me, as I’m currently in the middle of the least pressurized four weeks I’ve had for the last two or three years. All the effort of getting connected with Serge and EPC World Outreach, developing this new Theological Education Specialist role, raising missionary support, getting ready to come to Ireland (including last year’s six-month stay), putting my house in Virginia on the market to sell, then moving to Dublin, finding and setting up a new apartment, prepping for Encounter and my Fuller courses and the PCI Accredited Preachers Course, has left me… well, tired! It’s absolutely lovely to have a few weeks where I can slow down, catch my breath, hang some pictures on the wall, go bike riding, and curl up on the sofa with a library book. It also gives me time to reflect on how grateful I am to the Lord for bringing me to this place and to this ministry, and for allowing me to be a small part of what he’s doing in Ireland and beyond. Thank you, thank you, thank you, partners and praying friends!

But about ten days from now my schedule picks up again and it will be go-go-go until the end of September. Here’s the itinerary:

• 24-30 July - EPC World Outreach ‘Family Gathering’ (Greece)
• 5-14 August - Serge All-Africa Retreat, to plan for future theological education projects (Kenya)
• 24-28 August - Fellowship of European Evangelical Theologians conference (Prague, Czech Rep)
• 1-26 September – Teach biblical hermeneutics at the South Asia Institute of Advanced Christian Studies (SAIACS, Bangalore, India) 

Please pray that I stayed attuned to the Lord throughout these events, that my heart is open to whatever he wants to do in and through me, and that God’s purposes are accomplished through it all. More news from India in September!

Hello from Ireland!

Greetings from… Dublin! At last! Well actually, Dún Laoghaire (pronounced 'Dun Leery'), the harbor town just south of Dublin where I’ll be based for the foreseeable future. Let me catch my breath for a moment and I’ll tell you what’s been happening in the month since I got here.

After just exactly the sort of frantic scramble you can imagine getting my house in Charlottesville ready to sell and packing up to get on the plane, I arrived in Ireland on April 4. Apartment hunting generated a massive case of sticker shock. Evidently I parachuted right into the middle of Ireland’s housing crisis, with low supply and rising prices being the lead item on the nightly news. (You can read about it here and here.) But God is good and found me a lovely apartment at what’s considered a reasonable price for the area. Since then I’ve officially become the IKEA queen, unboxing and building bookshelves, tables and beds. I’ve also been prowling the local charity shops looking for bits and pieces to fill my kitchen. I now have at least a functioning place to live and am happy to move on to the real work.

It’s been wonderful reconnecting with the Serge Ireland team and friends at Dún Laoghaire Presbyterian Church. Have you ever had that experience where you were deeply disappointed about something and had to go to Plan B, but then later found out it was God’s Plan A? That’s how I feel about coming to Dublin last year for only six months because I didn’t yet have the missionary support I needed to stay long-term. I was frustrated and felt that God’s plan for my life wasn’t moving forward as fast as I wanted it to! But now I’m enjoying the bounty of those six short months. So lovely to arrive to familiar faces and places, to know where things are and how to get around, and to have a basic understanding of how to do life in Ireland. It’s always exhausting to adjust to a whole other country, absolutely, but a good bit less so this time because the Lord arranged for me to have that preview last year. Please remind me about this the next time I’m complaining that God isn’t conforming to my plan!

As you know, I’ll be traveling frequently as international Theological Education Specialist for Serge. My first trip is May 19-24, to Poland for the European Theologians Network meeting at the European Leadership Forum. Sounds a bit grand, but it’s really just a chance for me to find out who’s doing what in theological education on the European continent, since my previous experience has been in Africa, India and the British Isles. Please pray for ‘divine appointments’ in terms of who I meet and have opportunities to talk with, since I’m going into this meeting knowing hardly anyone.

One of the joys of being based in Ireland – besides it being just a great place to live – is the chance to connect with the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. I’ve been asked to co-lead this year’s Accredited Preachers Course, a monthly training cohort for lay leaders who serve as pulpit supply in the denomination’s under-resourced churches. APC met for the first time last weekend and I fell in love with our diverse bunch of nine enthusiastic participants. My part is to take them through the story of the whole Bible over the next eight months, while my pastor Chris Kennedy teaches them how to preach it. The PCI has also asked me to mentor one other lay leader who wasn’t quite ready for this course. Liz and I met yesterday for the first time, and I think we’re going to have way too much fun together.

Serge Ireland’s summer program for college students, called Encounter, starts June 7 and we’re all in a flurry getting ready for that. It’s a partnership between Serge and CUI, the Irish counterpart of Inter-Varsity. We’ll have 20+ students from the US, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland – that in itself a significant intercultural experience for all of them. I’ll be teaching some of the cross-cultural training the weekend they arrive, then leading a daily Bible study through Galatians during their two-week discipleship course before they go out in small teams to help local churches. Lots of prayer for the students, and for me and the other staff, please! We're completely dependent on the Spirit's work in the hearts and lives of these young people as well as our own.

Other than that, I’m teaching my New Testament Introduction course online for Fuller, trying to calm down from the adrenaline rush of an international move, and looking forward to having guests. Two young friends from Virginia are coming this week, then daughter Caroline and son-in-law Will will be here the first week in June on their way to a summer break in the US from teaching in Rwanda.

Thank you so much for the prayer and financial support from so many of you that make it possible for me to be here. I am very grateful to God for this opportunity to serve, and very grateful for your partnership!

First session of the PCI's Accredited Preachers Course last Saturday. And my first time teaching
in an Irish context. So excited to be here!

Before...

During...

...and after. Still a bit spartan, but definitely liveable. Thank you, IKEA!

And thank you, CUI friend Louise Hacking, for helping me wrestle the pieces of that day bed together.

 

 Ready for guests!

On my way to Ireland!

Exciting news!! God has done it! As of this week 100% of the financial support I need to leave for Ireland is in!!

And the Lord did it through so many of you. I am the grateful beneficiary of 16 Presbyterian churches and 58 families and individuals giving regularly (monthly or yearly) to this global theolgical education outreach, plus many more of you giving as you can. Along with those of you who've been faithfully praying to get us to this point. I feel stunned, humbled, thrilled, and yes of course, blessed. Thank you so much!!

So what happens next? I have my ticket in hand to fly to Dublin on Tuesday, April 3 – just about 10 days from now. Can’t wait to start my new role as international Theological Education Specialist with Serge and EPC World Outreach, helping train emerging global church leaders for Christ-centered, biblically-informed, grace-driven ministry. From my new home in Ireland I'll travel out to teach in theological institutions alongside Serge's church-planting outreach in Africa, Asia and post-Christian Europe.

But first I need to get my house in Virginia ready to sell. It goes on the market this coming week. So right now my life looks sort of like this:

Well maybe not exactly. But I’ve been cleaning, scrubbing and polishing so hard that my phone doesn’t recognize my fingerprints anymore. Evidently I’ve scrubbed them off!

The big moving-downsizing yard sale is done, but there’s still the final sorting and packing. And then getting on the plane a week from Tuesday. And once I get there, finding an affordable apartment in the Dún Laoghaire area just south of Dublin (probably my most urgent prayer request right now). And settling in. And listening for what God wants me to do next in this work. I definitely need your prayer! Thanks!

Please pray also for my sensitivity to the spiritual needs of Irish people I meet, and for the Lord to open doors to friendships in my new home base. See below for a reminder of some of the social changes and challenges to gospel faith in the Republic of Ireland.

So excited – and honestly also a bit daunted – to be at this point in the journey. “The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy” (Ps 126:3)!

So-o-o close!

We’re at 96%! So-o-o close to the finish line! Maybe like me you’ve spent the past week watching Olympic athletes swoosh across one finish line after another? That’s the image that comes to mind as I think about being so close to the total financial support needed for my new ministry role overseas. God is good and we’re nearly there!

As you know, as international Theological Education Specialist with Serge and EPC World Outreach my desire is to help train emerging global church leaders for Christ-centered, biblically-informed ministry, with a focus on our shared experience of God’s lavish grace in the midst of our weakness and sin. After serving for many years in Ethiopia, Kenya and India, the current plan is for me to be based in Dublin, Ireland, and travel out to teach in theological institutions alongside Serge's church-planting outreach in Africa, Asia and post-Christian Europe. (Wait, new to this and don’t know the story? No problem. You can click here for a 3-minute introduction to this work, or here for the ‘back story’ of how I got to this point, or here to watch my African students talking about the importance of their theological education.) I spent March-August 2017 in Ireland exploring what God might do with this new ministry. Then this fall and winter I’ve been in the US waiting for God to provide new supporting partners.

Are you one of the people who graciously listened to my story, prayed for me, gave generously, housed and fed me as I’ve driven up and down the mid-Atlantic, and/or encouraged me onward as I try to answer this call? Thank you for holding my hand through a challenging process! I've been saying I'll feel comfortable buying my plane ticket for Ireland when my financial support level hits 95%. Looks like we're at that point and a little bit more!

I skyped with Serge’s member care director yesterday and we agreed to press forward and make my travel plans. I’m so excited! I'm hoping to leave for Dublin as soon as the first week in April – checking now on airfares and what works best for Serge Ireland.

 

I’d love to get on that plane at the beginning of April with 100% missionary support to cover the next few years of ministry. Would you please pray that that happens? Thanks! The remaining need is $289 per month or $3,472 per year in pledges of continuing support. One-time gifts are great, too – thank you! Since these get divided over three years in the support calculation it takes $10,415 in one-time gifts to equal $3,472 per year in pledges.

As you can imagine, I'm itching to get back to Ireland and get started. Besides my usual connections with Dún Laoghaire Presbyterian Church, new Irish friends, and Serge colleagues in the Dublin area, here are some of the things on my calendar for the next six months:
 

• Mar 26-Jun 8 – Teach New Testament introduction online for Fuller Theological Seminary (this income contributes toward my missionary support)

• Apr 21-Nov 10 – Help teach Bible interpretation for the Presbyterian Church of Ireland’s accredited lay preacher training course

• May 19-24 – European Theologians Network of the European Leadership Forum in Wisla, Poland

• June 11-22 – Lead a study of Galatians for Irish and American university students in Serge Ireland’s 8-week summer program

• June 18-Aug 31 – Teach missional hermeneutics online for Fuller Theological Seminary

• June 27-29 – Tyndale Fellowship New Testament Conference, Cambridge UK

• July 24-30 – EPC World Outreach quadrennial workers’ gathering in Greece

• Aug 8-13 – Serge Africa regional retreat in Kenya (planning for future ministry)

• Aug 24-Sept 21- Teach biblical hermeneutics at the South Asia Institute of Advanced Christian Studies (SAIACS) in Bangalore, India

But first, over these next few weeks I need to get my house in Virginia ready to sell, start looking for an affordable apartment south of Dublin (a major challenge, according to the article in this week’s Irish Times), and sort/sell/pack/store everything I own. Yes, I'm feeling somewhat overwhelmed… OK, seriously overwhelmed. I really need you to pray for me. Thanks!

I also feel grateful to the Lord for the ways so many of you have helped get us to this point. “This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God” (2 Cor 9:13). Thank you so much – you're a great team!