Fall 2025
One of my favorite Christmas songs has always been, “I’ll be home for Christmas”. I think that we all desire to be home for Christmas. There is something special about making it home from a long journey and to finally rest with friends and family recounting the ups and downs of the past year.
If I am honest, this time of year is always tough being away from the ones we love. This is even more pronounced this year, as I dropped off a family from our church at the airport for them to begin a new journey in a different place. This family had become family to us. Our brother and sister, niece and nephew, that have encouraged us and lived life with us for the past five years.
As I loaded another set of suitcases in my car, the memories flooded back of the life we have shared together. All the memories of celebrating with them at their wedding, children being born, and celebrating holidays together flooded by with the reality that another season with family was coming to an end.
It can be hard to anticipate what is coming when it feels like those who make a place home have to leave.
I realized in this moment that I had a choice to make. Knowing that the future might look different than the past. I could either set my mind to anticipate with joy what is coming or anticipate with anxiety what will come.
The German language has a beautiful word for anticipation. It is a word that cannot be separated from joy. Christmas in Germany is all about the ‘Vorfreude’ (literally the joy set before) that will come in the Advent season. The weeks before Christmas are marked by anticipating with joy; the hope, peace and love, that appeared that holy night in Bethlehem, when God came to dwell with us.
At Christmas we remember with joy that hope has appeared in the person of Jesus Christ. The light has shone in the darkness, and we can be sure that He will appear again. We are reminded at Christmas that regardless of whether we are home or still on a long journey, that one day our wandering will all be worth it. We can anticipate with joy, because we await an eternal kingdom, a home with our God and the family we have picked up along the way.
As Frodo once so well reminded us,
"I feel that as long as the Shire lies behind, safe and comfortable, I shall find wandering more bearable: I shall know that somewhere there is a firm foothold, even if my feet cannot stand there again".
May the coming weeks be filled with Vorfreude, regardless of where you find yourself, remembering that one day our feet will finally be home.
Merry Christmas to all our family both near and far!
Ministry Update
It has been a season of being on the move over the past couple months here in Berlin. Our church planted a new church in the East of Berlin in September. We are thankful for the group of believers that are meeting there and the leaders that are building up the church in a difficult place in our city. Our other church plant in Potsdam is growing as well. In fact, they are looking for a new home, to accommodate those that have joined the church recently.
CrossWay Church in Berlin is also on the move. We just added nine new members this past Sunday and three of these couples are seasoned gospel workers from restricted access countries who have come to Berlin to work with unreached people groups.
We also voted this past Sunday to move to a new location on the south side of Berlin. Not only will this new location help us mitigate some the financial risks and uncertainty of the city of Berlin not providing a long-term rental agreement at our current location, but we believe the partnership with a like-minded German congregation at this new facility will help us better accomplish our mission, vision, and values as a church. Ultimately this move will give us greater opportunity to become a self-sustaining church that lives out our desire to build up disciples in Christ who present Him to the nations.
We are thankful for the opportunities we have had to do this recently as a church. We hosted our fall retreat in October at a lake near Berlin. It was a great opportunity for our congregations across the city to come together and learn about how we can be people, a church, and a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Our fall classes were key ways we offered opportunities for discipleship this fall. Cherry just finished going through a study with the women at the church on Elijah. Our fall classes have seen individuals move toward faith in Christ, and we look forward to new baptisms in the coming year. As a church we preached through the book of Hebrews, a series on the Solas in November, and are finishing up an Advent Series this coming Sunday. We look forward to beginning Romans in January.
International Thanksgiving Dinner Recap
We also have had a number of outreach opportunities over the past month with our International Thanksgiving Dinner and Live Nativity as a church. These are events we host annually, and it was so exciting to see so many join us for these special events. Both events attracted many of our neighbors and those who do not attend church regularly in our area. I am thankful for so many from our church stepping in to lead and serve others through these events. In fact, our family did very little this year to make these events a success. It is encouraging to see such a culture of serving in our church.
We also continued with regular outreach over the past months at the Christian language cafe we help with as a church. We had our Christmas party Monday evening, and we were able to provide much of the food for the party. The street and brothel ministry with our gospel our partner, Alabaster Jar, has also had many opportunities to connect with women.
We have a growing team of men and women that work in this area on the front line team (women who engage women in the sex trafficking industry on streets and brothels) and prayer team (men who shadow our frontline team and provide security and prayer for gospel encounters).
Many of these encounters were made possible by the women from our women’s study preparing hope boxes for this ministry. This gives the frontline team something to offer the women and start conversations. We were also happy to partner with the parent organization of Alabaster Jar, Samaritan’s Purse, this year to be an official drop off location for Christmas in a shoebox. Our church family participated in providing over fifty Christmas boxes that will go out to children in different places with the hope of the gospel.
Finally, we enjoyed hosting our youth group for their Christmas party in our home this past Saturday and I enjoyed being with the kids in Reinickendorf again for their Christmas party this week. I was able to give them gifts with money that some of you had provided. Thank you for investing in these outreach projects!
Please pray especially for our Christmas outreach to those on the streets in the coming week and for our Christmas Eve Service, when we will have many visitors join us!
Family Update
The past months have been filled with special moments with friends and family over the past months. We are thankful for the moments God has given us as family and for those we get to share life with.
We look forward to moving from the house we have been renting just outside Berlin for the past six years, to an apartment in Berlin. The new place is very close to the girls school and public transportation. With the girls being older and needing to be more connected to the see as well as Chad’s ministry with the churches, we see this as an investment in the new season of life we are moving into.
Unfortunately, Germany has a weird tradition where many times people take their kitchen with them when they move to a new apartment. This means that we have some higher moving costs than normal. If you would like to give a gift to help with these costs, we would be so thankful. Once again, thank you for your investment in our family and the expansion of God’s kingdom in and around Berlin.
Grace and peace to you and Merry Christmas!
Prayer Update
Please pray for wisdom as we prepare for the move to a new location in Berlin (Church & Family) and for our church in Potsdam as they continuing searching for a new location.
Please pray for outreach efforts that have recently take place and will take place, that the Holy Spirit would work in hearts.
Please pray for us as we help train new deacon and elders for leadership in the coming year.