CSM 2008 is behind us and those of us who were present were incredibly blessed by the presence of the Lord in the community during that time. This year was a year like no other, and as is normal for the Lord, in the darkest hours, his presence is the sweetest. Some of the highlights of this year include:
A wonderful mixture of nationalities giving us the opportunity to welcome into our community new SFC workers and students:
Welcoming Henry and Ruut from Finland who are going to Thailand
Czech represented by Jason M and two Czech leaders
Chinese girl from the Netherlands, a new Christian
A young woman from Austria found the group in Ireland and came to CSM
A freshman came from Trondheim who is on fire for God
Charles having the vision to raise the money to bring 3 leaders from Liege
A young man from the middle east…
Joe’s death came as a surprise to us—we had been so united in prayer, including an all night prayer meeting (initiated and led by Steve Kramer) and fasting. Somehow we were sure he would be healed and return to Scotland, but the Lord allowed us to be together in our staff meeting at 5pm when the news was received. The assurance that nothing had escaped the watchful care of our Father in heaven covered the contemplative service that evening with George’s comforting words (hear it on the SFCeurope website) and the rainbow of promise in Belgium’s stormy sky that evening was a sure sign from heaven of His presence.

Having both Chuck Haavik (Spiritual life of a leader) and Brady Bobbink (spiritual friendship/discipleship) speak to the ICM and ICM-pro classes was incredibly rich, not only from content, but from their godly spirits and broad experience. If you are traveling and want some good mp3’s to listen to, download them from sfceurope.

Very special to us was the unexpected visit of Stephie and Hannes. As Sarah, one of the teachers in the Creative Ministry class left early to go to Joe’s funeral in the States, we were short of a teacher for making music…so we gave Stephie and Hannes a call and they came. Teaching a ‘new song workshop’ in less than 8 hours is a challenge indeed, but in the end, a song and a chorus were born and an inkling of what music to the Lord in cultural context is all about planted in the hearts of the students.

They also brought with them pictures that Diethard and Inge had taken while back packing with us in the Rocky Mountains this summer…I will post a few, so you can see that we really are alive and well.

Spectacular Scenery, wonderful fellowship, what a week!

Walking towards Rainbow Lake in East Rosebud Canyon

The second week of CSM (see previous blog for a definition of CSM) is upon us. Once again, God is doing His miraculous work of bonding our hearts together in an incredible community. As I sit here at the back of the class listening to Brady Bobbink lecturing on CS Lewis’s Four Loves, my eyes settle on the young couple from Finland going to Bangkok to do campus ministry. This is the first time that they have been with us in SFC, but their hearts have become part of our hearts, and they have been enfolded into our community. How do I know? This CSM has been marked by the death of a wonderful friend and colleague, Joe Zickafoose. He had struggled with cancer, had recently had a bone marrow transplant, but while his immune system was totally destroyed, pneumonia wrapped its cold hand around his life and claimed it. As we have struggled as a community to pray for Joe’s healing, have experienced the rollercoaster ride of hope and despair, fasting, praying and hoping, our friends from Finland, although they have never met Joe, have prayed, hoped, encouraged and mourned with us. Not only these two, but students and staff alike have been wrapped into a bond of love.

As we finish the last 72 hours of this years training of student leaders, we together pledge ourselves to live life to the fullest,–not to self fullfillment, but to see the community of faith among university students of Europe flourish. Thanks for praying with us for Joe’s family as well as SFC in Europe.

Actually its what we call our summer training of student leaders here in Europe, College of Student Ministry. (I know, we need to update it–its on the agenda for this summer!) CSM takes place here in Brussels at Continental Theological Seminary, a great setting on the edge of the city. Folks come from many parts of Europe for 12 days of training, fun, community, laughter–it is in fact one of the most exciting things that happens in our year. But, learning to love and live with people from lots of different cultural backgrounds makes us truly realize how truly ethno-centric we are!

For instance, as you go from one culture to another, people prefer different kinds of teaching styles. Some feel the professor should know the truth, lecture well using intelligent, complicated vocabulary, and students should not question his or her authority. Others take delight in questioning, arguing discovering truth for themselves, and professors enjoy the debate with them! Some learn by participating in a group, others by listening and taking notes. So how do we bring a group of adult students together and achieve our goals–so well that each student can take the information back to his/her university and lead their groups for a year! Hopefully they will enjoy it so much that they come back next year and bring others with them.

How we teach is only one little part of the whole multi-cultural learning process. Some prefer to eat at 8pm while the school feeds us at 6pm. Some nationalities worship loudly and emotionally–others are quiet and contemplative. Ideas out being on time, being polite, and sharing possessions are all culturally driven.

So while we go about each day for the next two weeks, everyone will be stretched in some way to love others who come from a different cultural paradigm. Amazingly, every year we leave with new friends from far away places, thankful that one more time, the Spirit of God did his thing and built us into a community of faith.

Yes, its the best time of the year!

Ah yes, this last month has been what I have called post-doctoral stress syndrom. Otherwise known as popcorn of the brain. It seems like once my mind was released from the discipline of thinking about one topic and one topic only (power) it has been trying to multi-task and cover every suppressed topic of the last five years. Consequently, sitting and writing more than two lines on a topic has taken an incredible amount of grabbing myself by the neck and saying “write!!”.

The brain relaxer– John and I did take a few days and spent it hiking in the Rocky Mountains (East Rosebud Canyon) with Hannes’ parents, made memorable by the chance to share life stories. Unfortunately our camera was left in the suitcase, but Diethard has promised to send us a CD as soon as he gets home, so then I will upload some photos. Incredibly gorgeous with the late snows and rushing melts.

But still nagging at the back of my mind is the question: Now what? I find themes from my dissertation threading their way through real life situations, convincing me that what I have researched is valuable for many who are struggling to practice redeemed patterns of power in their relationships, whether friendships or formal. So one of these days, I must pick up those threads once again and make them accessible to others. That is the challenge for this fall!

Walking the line!!!

I can hardly believe it is finished, but last week help me to realize that I have indeed come to the end of the process of getting that dissertation finished. I had the wonderful privilege of having friends, two daughters with me (the Stephanies), as well as John. I consider myself blessed indeed.

This last week John and I took a quick trip to Athens to visit a friend there. She lives on a noisy street only a few blocks from the Parthenon so we spent part of one afternoon just sitting on a bench watching stray dogs seek shelter from the sun, observing the magnificent ruins and talking about life, student ministry and the people around us. I found it fun to try to understand the Greek from my knowledge of biblical Greek and try to imagine what Athens must have been like “back then”.
We also attended the graduation of one of the students that has become a friend of K’s. Every hour, another group of about 30 students filed in with their blue gowns and funny caps (not quite as silly as the flat squares that we wear in the States), with the usual hubbub of parents and friends trying to take pictures and loaded with flowers and gifts.
But what touched my heart was the young woman that we were there for. Her small family was delighted that a friend had come and she was so pleased that someone cared enough to be there for her.
In this massive city, how many people wonder if anyone out there cares for them, or even if they are “worthy” of being loved. What an enduring part of human nature! Architecture, technology, knowledge, and civilizations come and go, but love is still a (perhaps the!) central need for a person’s well-being. No wonder Paul wrote to the Corinthians “If I speak with the tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal…if I give away all I have…but have not love, I gain nothing…Love never ends”.

You may have been wondering what I have been doing for a month without writing…the following is the abstract and acknowledgments that are the final projects of doing a dissertation.
Abstract:
Unlike the Trinity, the church exists in a framework of sociological constructs and relational dyads that are unequal in their distribution of power. Douglas’ Grid/Group theory, Giddens’ Theory of Structuration and Volf’s Trinitarian ecclesiology provided the theoretical basis to demonstrate the impact that the extensive changes in the German cultural context of the last century have had on church structures. Regardless of form, a church is challenged to practice redeemed patterns of power. To that end, a structural theory of dynamic asymmetry and a theology of redeemed power were explored that served to critique Weberian types of power and the “ideal” of egalitarianism, and to demonstrate that counter-rational investment of power make it possible to enfold cultural individuals as redeemed agents into a covenant community.
Appreciation:
To those who have empowered me to greater accomplishments than I could have achieved alone, I am truly grateful. German Pentecostal churches opened their hearts to me, candidly sharing thoughts and experiences on the potentially explosive topic of power. Judy and Sherwood Lingenfelter, my formal and informal mentors, kept me from fading away physically and emotionally with their hospitality and friendship. Sherwood, from whom I have received praise as well as timely and insightful critique, took the tangled strands of my massive research and with clarity set me on a path of attainable discovery.
The guidance and enthusiastic insights of Ryan Bolger and Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen enabled me to see the importance of my research beyond the local application in German churches. Fellow students provided a sounding board and the chance to articulate arguments over dozens of cups of coffee at Coffee by the Books
My children and their spouses were a continual encouragement with their emphatic “You can do it Mom!” Stephanie (Leder) carefully read my text, reminding me that the apostle Paul could have long sentences but he didn’t have a daughter editing his letters. And finally the greatest debt of gratitude goes to my beloved John, who knows my gifts and has encouraged me to become all that the Lord has created me to be; who is indeed a man who pours his life out for others, and I have been a recipient of his generous, loving spirit.

So it is finished. Thank you Jesus!

Today we heard a great sermon at Lake Avenue Church about the 5th Commandment: Honor your father and mother so that it may go well for you in the place where you are planted. One of the questions that we hear so often is, what happens when your parents have disappointed you and have been the cause of great pain in your life rather than being a blessing? And what happens does this imply obedience, as it appears in Ephesians where the Apostle Paul said, Little Children, obey your parents–and then he goes on to quote the 5th Commandment.
Pastor had some great insights, for instance, “honoring” takes on different shades of meaning as a person grows. For a small child it means obedience, for an adult it means living in such a way that brings honor and respect to the family, and when parents are old, it means caring for them in a respectful way. Furthermore, honoring your parents belongs to the “second” commandment–the first is to love the Lord with all your heart, the second is to love your neighbor as yourself. The first takes priority over the second, but when the first is adequately followed, the second is well fulfilled. So no parent can expect a child to obey against the character and nature of God.
Anyway, the sermon turned my thoughts and memories to my parents. My mother passed away six years ago next month and my dad a year and a half later. As I have been preparing the final drafts of my thesis, I have thought about the fact that without the encouragement, training and discipline from my parents, I would most likely not be here today. I seek to bring honor to them, even with them gone on to heaven, by the way that I live. They taught me well how to share (Mom and Dad adopted two children from Korea when I was 8 years old), they taught me how to work (Dad had a pharmacy that I worked at throughout my childhood years), they brought me to church and taught me how to love God, and they taught me how to live in community. My Dad and Mom were both involved in multiple organizations, and the neighbors knew that a cup of coffee was readily available when they knocked on the door.
The truly beautiful thing is that my great 8 children (including the ones that had the courage to marry into our family) challenge me to be the kind of parent that they can truly honor–and even more than that, to love.

This is John. I am a guest columnist. I am recovering from by-pass surgery. It is slower than I thought it would be but I am thankful the surgery was three weeks ago tomorrow. I don’t have any profound thoughts at this moment. I hope that’s OK. By habit I use stairways rather than elevators so as I was in the stairwell this morning at Providence Hospital, I thought, ‘all this stairway walking didn’t seem to have the desired result, aka. no heart problems!’ Oh well, I am sure it was good for my heart and body anyway. Thanks for praying for me….and use the stairways! John
And this is Anita:
This has been an interesting week–John impatiently waiting for physical normalcy, and I have been slaving away, re-writing the last chapter of my thesis while I have been editing the other chapters. So we are a silent interesting pair…its probably good that we were alone, as neither of us were great company!
Sarah and Daryl have been in Springfield and should be home this evening, after having had a flight canceled on Saturday due to “weather” (Yahoo weather said 10 miles visibility, 14 mph winds and no freezing temperatures, rain, sleet, hail or tornadoes?), and have been struggling to get here ever since.
On Sunday I took over Daryl’s class again–discussing Ecclesiastes. We talked about death (a big topic in Ecc)–and one thing that we decided was that it is the great equalizer–and a great teacher. So even as we sit here mired in our healing process, writing process, and missing the kids, we need to be reminded to enjoy today, and live it to its fullest…
So thats what we are doing.

I am sitting in the hospital room in Anchorage Alaska. Outside the weather is overcast and we have had snow flurries after a couple of days of sunny skies. Being the observer, rather than receiver of the bypass, I obviously don’t have the pain, except for the pain of watching someone experiencing pain, weakness, and helplessness–and the joy when progress is being made. The problem is that it is never just an uphill road. One hour we are rejoicing in progress, the next hour we agonize through pain, nausea, or the chills that seem to overcome him whenever he returns from a walk around the hospital corridors.
Hmmm, this is sounding more depressing than it should!!!–I can certainly count the blessings:
It is wonderful to be with Daryl and Sarah in Anchorage for this surgery. Wow, what do people do when they are alone through these things? Sarah works as a nurse in this hospital in the Emergency room, and some wonderful colleague donated two vacation days to her, so that she could be with me on Tuesday and Wednesday. Bless him!!!
This morning we were able to have a Skype conversation with the SFC team that is meeting at our house in Waterloo to plan this summer’s student training–CSM. We enjoyed getting to add our two cents worth, even if it was just “Great Job” and Amen to a task already well done!
What fun to talk to Mom Koeshall, who at 96 is rallying the troops to pray for John and me through what is a routine surgery…and how thankful we are for 5 bypasses that are clean flowing. Now to keep them that way.
These next couple of weeks, we will be recovering here in Anchorage. My goal is to finish my dissertation: all the charts finished up, edited, formatted, indexed, abstract written, and ready for publishing.
Hopefully we will both have time to scan through some of Daryl’s great library, play at least one game of scrabble per day, and see a few moose.
I’ll let you know how it goes!