Dear praying friends,

As we get our new gallery and office sharing space ready to open (yes, we are STILL working on it) we are making some fun progress. The kitchen will be delivered tomorrow and installed this weekend. I hung some acoustic panels on the wall of what will be a small acoustic room over the weekend. Today several of us were assembling desks and chairs. The office sharing area is slowly taking shape!

This week we have also been praying a lot for our home state of Minnesota and wrestling with the implications of some of the things happening in international relations.

And this is something that really causes me to be nervous. The visa cancelations in the US often result in reciprocal cancelings for our international workers, and several countries where the Alliance has workers are now no longer issuing visas for Americans.

The raising tensions between NATO countries impacts us directly, in several ways. The dollar fell again this week against the Euro, which makes our day-to-day life more expensive (the dollar is down 12% from a year ago, which means our USD paycheck buys 12% fewer Euro's than it used to. That is $120.00 from every $1000.00 less that we have.)

Secondly, from comments we have at appointments, we highly suspect this is a source of our ongoing struggles to get visas for interns.

There is also another impact in a way that I can not exactly put my finger on, but is resulting in a change of feeling toward Europe and the spiritual needs here. Last week, three short-term teams cancelled their trips for next summer within 24 hours of each other.

Why does this make me nervous? Well, to some degree, there is an underlying nervousness about our ability to stay here long-term. We are only allowed to stay through the goodwill of the German government. But there is also a larger nervousness, and it is one that continues to feel the very real union of religion and politics in a way that is impacting people's sense of curiosity (and excitement?) about what God is doing around the world.

This is being felt by me (and others) in several ways. First, people seem to be losing sight once again of the incredible spiritual needs of people in the US and overseas. We slap labels on people that cause us to stop seeing them as precious image bearers of God, and our love for others (and the other) seems to take a back seat to us winning. When this results in people being spiritually miopic, the ongoing good news that is found in the message of the Kingdom of God is either miscommunicated (or not shared any more at all.)

Second, this "inturning" has catastrophic consequences on the ongoing work around the world. We are only here, and can only minister, because of God's call and the support of God's people. GCF giving right now (for those of you who are members of Alliance Churches) is at 80% of budget. When the world is in chaos, people are more responsive to the moving of God, not less. A chaotic, stressful world should motivate people to support overseas ministry even MORE.

So, this is long, and maybe a little pointed, but we really need your prayers - because things are getting increasingly difficult, and the uncertainty makes our day-to-day life harder (at the visa office and at the grocery store), but it also makes our long-term work harder.

Now, more than ever, we need you to tell people about our work and encourage people to intern with us, support what we are doing, pray for us, send a short-term team, leave money to us in their will (only kind of kidding, because I actually don't want you all to die...), send us a letter in the mail, let us know you are praying for us (!), and most of all - please (PLEASE!) recognize that in times like this God moves. He always does, and this is not a time to pull back from supporting your workers (even if they serve in countries you don't like). Keep us here and keep God's work moving forward.

Love you all, and am so grateful for your prayers.

Blessings,

mike