Dear praying friends,

Our teammate, Jennie Jones, developed a guided prayer guide/retreat for our team for the time between the years, a liminal space observed in a lot of German businesses between Christmas and New Year’s. It is a time where everything in the city seems to slow down a lot.

Working through the prayer guide has been good for my spirit. One exercise was to look back and list highlights of 2025. We really had a lot to be thankful for. Another exercise is to list some of our hopes for 2026.

I am not always a fan of New Year’s Resolutions. I think they often result in unrealistic goals and massive disappointment when those goals are not fulfilled. But… on the other hand, I do like setting goals and dreaming about what might be.

In 2026, I have some personal goals - like finishing some of the songs I have been writing and finding a way to perform. I have also noticed that over the years as our ministries have changed and some workers have come and gone, my friendship circle has changed a lot. I would like to maybe grow that circle a little, which is a challenge for me. I love what I do and who I work with a lot, and am also a bit of an introvert.

We also have some dreams for Envision Berlin. We keep making baby steps toward being able to be self-sustaining through our creative ventures, and then something happens (like Home Minsitry Assignment, government beurocracy, illness, partnership changes, etc.) that set that back. We do hope that in 2026 we can make some strides here.

And, of course, we want to see the community we are building expand. In the community where our gallery/office space is, less than 1% of people go to church. Recent studies show younger people are more spiritual than previous generations, but also have some strong resistance to “Church.” So - our really challenging job is to invite them into a community that is rooted in Christ, and help them become a part of a faith community - help them restore some of the relationships broken through the fall (man with God, man with man, man with self, and man with nature) - and disciple them to be followers of Jesus. It is a challenging journey, but we are excited about this amazing mission God has given us.

We can’t do it without you. Your weekly prayers have broken down barriers that we could not have imagined coming down. Your faithfulness in supporting us by bringing our requests to the Father is a real source of encouragement for us. Thank you!

I am looking for a way to encourage people to pray and communicate that level of prayer support to our team. I might even communicate it to some of our developing community as people make decisions for Jesus. Here is my thought - what if people prayed for our ministry for 10,000 hours in 2026? This email goes out to over 400 people, so if everyone on this list prayed for Envision Berlin for 30 minutes a week, we could accumulate 10,000 hours.

If I developed an easy way for you to report that you prayed for us, would you use it? Could you help us get to 10,000 hours of prayer next year?

Also - thank you to those of you who support us financially.

We could really use some financial support as our construction project comes to a close so we can finish that project well. If you are looking for a year-end giving project (on the last day of the year!) - could you please give to our project to reach out to the artist community in Berlin by clicking on this link? (Recent studies show that the same generation that is more spiritual trusts creatives more than pastors! Crazy to think that God was placing us in that realm a decade before the latest studies came out. :) )

All told, to get our space remodeled and equipped for office sharing and showing art that will lead us into deeper conversations our goal is $125,000.00. Please feel free to share about our project with your friends. Here is the link to the video we made about it that you could forward to them (please don't post on social media.)

Thank you for praying for us! God Bless you as you start 2026!

Please let us know how we can be praying for you!

Blessings,

mike