Gentse Feesten and More

The Work Begins

2010-07-31T08:43:00.001+01:00

Some have asked, "What do you do now?" In visiting with some national friends yesterday evening, one of them (when hearing about the work of the festivals) asked, "Do you do that all of the time?"

Some would think that we have a one-push effort and that is the big thing we do. Certainly the Gent Festivals Ministries take a lot of planning, preparation and work. It is hard to describe all that encompasses. It is a major opportunity to connect and sow seeds and we do not want to miss or minimize it. It is a lot of work and a major focus of time, talent, attention and effort.

But it would be impossible to operate at that level for 365 days of the year. Why? We are not sure even a young person could keep that pace indefinitely. Plus, people are not that open to contact outside of special days. It is a rare time when people open themselves up to new things and new experiences. Defenses go down and doors open that are not available most of the rest of the year. So we go all out for those days.

It is a big deal!

But there is still work to do after the end of the festivals. The real environment for experiencing life-change happens in ongoing relationships. It is as we share life daily that God opens and invades the hearts of the people. So what are we doing now? We are trying to find ways to continue to build possible relationships that developed during the festivals ministries.

That too is a lot of work. August in Gent is still vacation month. In comparison to as full as the streets and plazas were during the Gent Festivals they are as vacant in August. During the festivals it is almost impossible to take a step without running into someone. In August you could almost drive a truck sideways through the streets and not hit anyone. But we are out trying to follow-up on the sowing of seeds.

Now is the time we try to determine the quality of the soil. During the festivals we sow seeds broadly without much effort at determining the quality of the soil. (We do keep our eyes open for obvious rapid germination) During the festivals we trust the power of the seed. Within the seed of the Gospel is the power necessary to change lives. Our job is to be sowers. We take to heart the teaching that he who sows sparingly will reap sparingly and he who sows abundantly will reap abundantly.

Now we look more at the soil and try to invest energy, time and effort in the lives that are apparently good soil (or at least demonstrate the ability for more rapid germination and cultivation). We still sow seeds but spend more time in cultivation and care.

So we drink a lot of coffee with people and spend a lot of time in trying to develop deeper relationships and have longer and more meaningful conversations. The challenge is finding the folks. Pray we will be able to connect where God is sprouting seed. That is what we are doing now. Looking for little green shoots.

Sunday 25 July

2010-07-25T13:47:00.001+01:00

No blog yesterday. Sorry. We took the Arkansas Festival Team to Brugge for a day out and some souvenir shopping. They needed the time off and have been working hard.

It helped me (John) as I am trying to get over a bad cold that has made the ministry even harder.

Today (Sunday) was the joint, outdoor worship service hosted by several of the Evangelical Churches of Gent. There was a play about some of the evangelical history and an evangelical message. A few of the not-yet-Christians we have been meeting chose to attend but not sure how well they felt connected.

Ministry is not over. We shared cookies with security workers, police, sanitation workers and firefighters. We made arrangements with the firefighters on post at the festivals to take a box with bags of cookies back to the main station so that all the local firefighters can receive a "thank you" gift. We will be doing the same for the sanitation workers as well as the tram and bus drivers.

The festivals end Monday (actually Tuesday morning for the party-all-night crowd) but there is still much to do in making contacts and making plans for follow-up.

We will meet the Arkansas Festival Ministry Team at the hotel at 05:45 tomorrow to help them get to the train.

We are looking forward to a little more sleep and cleaning the apartment so that it does not look like a cookie vending machine exploded inside. Gotta go grocery shopping too so we can get back to a more routine eating and lifestyle.

Still more to come . . .

Friday 23 July

2010-07-23T18:06:00.001+01:00

Well it "Belgiumed" this morning. That means it rained and in fact it was a thunderstorm with hard rain.

The party-all-night crowd thought it was fun at first. Then the lightening and cold rain. In a half hour the cold rain helped to begin wiping out the money they had spent to get drunk. Drenched and chilled us too so we quit a little early today.

John got the Georgia team to Brussels. They fly out early Saturday morning. Lucy helped the Arkansas team keep going with the ministry to the sanitation workers and then joined a partner church in their outreach for the afternoon.

Still lots to do before the end on Monday. Actually there is much to do even next week.

Will update much more in our 1 August Prayer Update.

Thursday 22 July

2010-07-22T15:17:00.001+01:00

A quote from the "A-Team" goes, "I love it when a plan comes together."

A better one might be "I love it when God shows up and demonstrates His glory." That happened today.

Since this is a public forum, it is not the place to share details but here is the summary.

Unbeknown to John, Lucy prayed this morning that this would be the day we would connect with people who could become a group here. John has been praying that we would be present and aware where God has created divine appointments.

Today God answered prayer as only He can. During the morning coffee outreach, John encountered one of the service industry people with whom we have been connecting. We will call him Harry (Not his real name) Harry asked John if he would be at their usual meeting place at noon. John told him that was not the plan for today but that we would be meeting them tomorrow. Harry told John that Harry's wife was coming to meet him for lunch and that Harry had told his wife he wanted her to meet his American friend.

Even John (suffering from a cold, being pretty exhausted and not always spiritually aware) could tell this was a divine appointment. So John rearranged his schedule to make the appointment. Remember that God often asks us to adjust our plans to meet His.

To make a long story short, John did meet with Harry and his wife. It was a divine appointment (even Harry and his wife agree) and they agreed to meet soon to talk about how God can be a part of our lives even in the tough times.

It was a God moment and obvious (even to those who do not follow God) that He was working here.

THIS is what the coffee and cookies are all about!

More to come.

Wednesday 21 July

2010-07-21T15:54:00.001+01:00

July 21 is the national day here in Belgium (sort of like July 4 in America). Lots of places are closed so that means there were more people free to attend the festivals. It also meant there were less people available to work in the Coffee Outreach.

A quick guess/estimate indicated there were twice as many people who were at the location of the Party-All-Night area. Not only was the number greater but more people were less in control. As the festivals progress, the participants have less sleep and the alcohol poisoning increases. All that means people have less ability to be self-disciplined and self-controlled. That means the security guards and police have more to do.

In spite of that and the threat of rain, we had some great opportunities to engage people in conversation and tell them how God can change their lives. Overall, our teams felt more comfortable and had better opportunities to share. A couple of team members gained real insight into the magnitude and depth of the lostness and challenge here.

Today was also day 2 of the ministry to the sanitation workers. With this group the practice is to touch the same people, multiple times in the week as opposed to the other group where we are trying to touch as many as possible once per week.

The familiarity helped and many were glad to see us and waiting for us. The relationships and opportunities are growing. A local partnering church provided brownies and that was a big hit.

We also spread out across the city to touch smaller groups of other service industry workers. We had teams in four places simultaneously. God provided enough laborers for the harvest to do this effectively.

The festival participants are not the only ones growing more weary by the day. Long days with little rest in the warm weather takes its toll on those ministering as well. Both volunteer teams are being troopers and pressing through. The overall willingness to "do what it takes" helps us continue to implement the strategy of the ministry activities.

Pray for protection (spiritual and physical) as well as health and strength. There are still several days of ministry ahead.

Hot

2010-07-20T15:28:00.001+01:00

That word describes a lot of today.

Temperature wise it is quite warm. Officially this is the warmest first half of the year since they have been keeping records. Certainly it is not blazing hot (or as hot as it is in America). But being on your feet doing ministry from 6:30AM until 2:30PM with only one short sit-down break takes the toll. Having non AC means trams, buses and buildings are hot. It means the bedrooms are none too cool in the evenings so sleeping is a challenge. Fortunately our volunteer teams have AC at their hotel.

Hot also describes some of the great opportunities we are getting to share about God. At team meetings people excitedly share "God Stories" about how He opened up opportunities to tell His story and how the volunteers are being obedient to step into the situation. I had the opportunity to share the Good News three times today with people who were open and capable of making a decision for eternity. Accounts like that flow every time we get together.

Hot also describes the opposition. One does not have to be very spiritually aware to see how the enemy intervenes to try to stop the effective spread of the good news. Attacks come in many forms (for instance I have not been successful a fighting off a sapping cold and the Second Festivals Ministry Team missed their flight and spent a long day flying.

Thanks for the prayers. Step them up. It is hot here.

A Long Day

2010-07-19T21:14:00.001+01:00

Flexibility is the key. It was today. It seemed like little went as planned. Certainly there were challenges but also great opportunities.

Missed flights, missed connections, partners not understanding the process were just a few of the challenges.

But in all that we had some amazing conversations. Some went very far and to the heart of the Gospel.

Pray for obedience and insight for tomorrow.

Day One Ministry

2010-07-19T04:54:00.001+01:00

Sunday is a day of rest but also a day of connecting. With 1.5 million opportunities in only 10 days it is impossible to let a day or moment slip by without being intentional in reflecting the King.

We were joined by three nationals and another American as our Georgia Festivals Ministry Team did ministry to tram and bus company workers. (Well we did have connections outside of that community - When God opens hearts and opportunities we are obedient to follow).

The weather was great and we divided into two teams with the smaller going to the train station (being the smaller exchange point) and the larger going to the major control/exchange point at "South".

Got to touch almost all of the workers as they changed shifts. Everyone had good connections and conversations. Some had deep connections and conversations and a few had significant (to the point of getting to the point) discussions. Overall it was a great beginning.

Today (Monday) is going to be even busier. Hitting the streets at 6:30AM to serve coffee or hot chocolate to the crowd that has partied all night. Then we will grab a quick breakfast before hitting the streets again to touch the sanitation workers. Another team will get thank you cookies to the tram and bus service center that was not open on Sunday. That is a new ministry this year.

Still have opportunities to touch police, fire, Red Cross and security workers. Also have to head midday to Brussels to meet the Arkansas Festivals Ministry Team. They arrive in the afternoon and will get them to Gent and settled in. Georgia Festivals Ministry Team will be going non-stop in ministry from 6:30AM until at least 3:00PM and maybe even longer. And this is just day 2.

Monday and Tuesday will be hot and sunny. Wednesday is the National Festival Day (like American 4th of July) and another ministry day. But, they are predicting thunderstorms so we will see how to adjust and continue.

What shape is Jello? Jello is fluid and takes the shape of the mold. That is ministry here. We need to be fluid and fill all the opportunities available. Not impossible with the great team we have. Great spirit, great attitude, great heart serving a Great God.

Ministry Orientation and Flanders Sings

2010-07-18T05:27:00.001+01:00

Yesterday was the orientation to the ministry areas. Took the Georgia portion of the team on a long walk through the ministry areas and got the layout of where we will be ministering and what we will be doing.

Cannot begin the Gent Festivals Ministry without taking in the parade (always a way to preview the craziness and scratch your head wondering what people are thinking) and Flanders Sings where you stand elbow-to-elbow with thousands of your closest friends (you better be friendly being that close for that long) and sing at the top of your lungs for 36 songs.

By the way, the beer showers are free and none of our team drank even if they do smell like beer. Ministry is messy.

Today is first day of ministry to the tram and bus company. We will worship this evening with a partner church. It is about 51 degrees this morning and yesterday we were in the rain showers for a while. Monday and Tuesday is supposed to be warmer (highs in lower 90's) and Wednesday is supposed to be stormy. Never sure when you hear the weather forecast. Gotta love having a job where you can be wrong so many times and still get paid.

Monday ministry begins at 6:30AM and the Arkansas Ministry Team arrives in the afternoon. Gonna be a long day for them (and whoever else is serving here). What jet lag? They get to sleep for a few hours. By the time they are ready (body clock) it WILL be time to get up for ministry. Glad most of them are young too.

Now is the time to pray intensely for open ears and hearts. Also pray for protection and health. Long days wear on the resistance. Praying for team members to securely strap on our armor is good. It will be needed. This kind of effort does not go unnoticed.

Not the end . . . only the beginning . . .

Now it begins

2010-07-16T20:44:00.001+01:00

Walking through town today it is hard to miss that the Gent Festivals begin tomorrow. Things are a changing and the people are coming in.

The Festivals Ministry Team from Georgia arrived this morning. Took them to the hotel to dump the luggage and ran by a sandwich shop to get a sandwich to take with us to the church to pack cookies. Between our cards and those of our partnering churches we had cards for 4,000 bags. We ran out of card before running out of bags and cookies. May never know how many bags we have but our apartment now looks like a cookie warehouse.

The Georgia team is a great group with a great attitude. They are excited about what is going to happen and wanting to be the best vessels possible for God. God wants our availability and they are certainly making themselves available.

Tomorrow (Saturday) will be the in-country orientation and festivals orientation. Lots to do to get everyone on the same page. We will not always be in the same place but need to be on the same page of ministry. We will then tour the ministry sites and get ready for the beginning. Ministry starts on Sunday and goes every day for the next week.

Sunday we will be focusing on reaching out to tram and bus personnel. Pray for us as we are actively on the streets from 5:30 to 8:30AM Eastern time.

We will do our best to give you the details of what God is doing and how you can join us in prayer.

Day -1

2010-07-16T04:22:00.001+01:00

Back from Madrid. Plane was 1 hour late leaving but we still got out of the airport ahead of the rush hour traffic. No wrecks or construction along the way. The traffic was heavy but the trip took the same as a weekend day. Truly a God thing!

Hit the ground (or Gent) running. Trip to get food for the team coming in on Friday. Went to two homes to pick up cookies and arranged the delivery of others for the cookie sack assembly which begins today (Friday) at 9:00AM. Hit places in Eke, Zwijnaarde and New Gent before getting back to the apartment.

So good to be able to understand and communicate more effectively. It has been a long time since we studied Spanish.

One load of clothes done and suitcases put away (they can't live out in our small apartment because the team is here for dinner tonight).

First Gent Festivals Ministry Team is in the air (as I write) and headed to Brussels. They will have a long day of travel and packing cookies.

When we look at the days ahead it is easy to feel overwhelmed with the size of the task and amount of things to do. Beginning from tired does not help. But God is a big God and able to do more than we can ever hope, dream or imagine. We do not want to dream small or only attempt the man-sized.

People are more attracted to God when they see Him at work in the present. Over the next 11 days we want to live in a way that demonstrates God's love, glory and provision. More than that, we want to give people the opportunity to connect with Him in a personal way so that they too can experience as well as see the greatness of God.

True, the size of the task seems overwhelming. But that just means the opportunities are great. Glass half empty or half full? Does not matter. What matters is God allows us to tell His story and reflect His glory. NOTHING is better than that. It is a big job and a big privilege. We are so thankful for the opportunity to be a part of what He is and wants to do.

Stay tuned. It is just beginning.

God at work

2010-07-08T16:10:00.001+01:00

Just got word that our ministry T-shirts have been printed and are being hand-delivered to shipping. Will be shipped this afternoon. Thanks to all who have worked so hard to make this happen. God is the initiator and provider but He used some great people to design, print, and ship the shirts.

Sunday we leave for Madrid, Spain. Some have asked about our "getting away" just before the ministry begins. First of all, the temps there will be near 100 each day, not great get-away temps. Second it is our annual meeting. It is being cut short this year because of the funds but we will see colleagues we have not seen in a year. Always a great celebration and encouragement.

We come home on Thursday and go straight to work (literally). Before we can unpack we will be picking up cookies and getting last-minute supplies for the first Gent Festival Volunteer Ministry team that arrives Friday morning. We have a great plan to help with their jet lag.

Please step up the prayer for the daily ministry efforts and for us to make contact with the people God is drawing to Himself. Pray for open ears, hearts and minds.

Lots to do

2010-07-03T07:27:00.001+01:00

The universal comment on the Gent Festivals "Intentional Acts of Kindness Cookie Outreach" seems to be about the amount of work involved.

We remember the amount of work invested last year. The preparation and distribution of 1,300 bags of specially wrapped cookies with notes of thanks took a lot of time and energy. We worked with local partners and an American team of 5 to accomplish the ministry.

In praying and planning for this year, two thoughts seemed to dominate. First, how can we touch more lives and touch them more effectively? (Here culture and capability play a part). Second, 4,000 seemed to be a number that became evident. Why 4,000? That came from our Prayer Partners.

James reminds us that we have not because we ask not, and we have not because we ask for the wrong motive. We asked our Prayer Partners to be involved because: 1) Prayer is the foundation of all we do and essential for guidance and direction; 2) The task was much bigger than we could handle; 3) God always answers prayer and almost always in ways that makes Him look good and/or advances His Kingdom; 4) The need here is overwhelming.

There are places in the world where people are hungry. Many are physically hungry because they lack the necessary daily supply of essential food. Many are also spiritually hungry because they see the utter hopelessness of their situation. They are physically and spiritually poor.

But how do you touch lives where physical poverty is minimal. Yes 20% of children live at or below the poverty level. Did I mention the "poverty level" is a number set by the government and does not mean you are homeless and have no food? Did I mention that many of these are children of immigrants that may not be here legally? (Recently three families of squatters who had illegally moved into a home were evicted by the owner of the home. In the three families there are 27 children)

But why 4,000 attempts to touch lives? It is 4,000 because that is the number of bags Prayer Partners provided. It is 4,000 because much less than 1% of the people here have no personal relationship with God. And there are 6 million Flemish with 450,000 living in our immediate area. There is lots to do because there is much need. No, not physical need.

We are reminded not to fear the threat of death that causes physical loss of life. We are to fear a death that produces eternal separation from God. Hundreds of thousands are faced with that kind of death. That means there is lots to do.

So it is not about our ability (although we do what we can and only do what we can do with appropriate quality) but about the need. And there is lots of need, thus lots to do.

The race is on

2010-06-29T07:28:00.001+01:00

In a culture where decisions and actions are measured in calendar time and not minutes and seconds, it is hard to describe what "ramping up" looks like.

Here is an example. In America, on 4 November there was a national election. The results indicated there would be a massive change in government faces and policies. Yet by 20 January the next year, there was a government in place. The thought of this not being able to be accomplished never crossed anyone's mind. (At this point I will not offer editorial comment on what did cross the minds of many). But there was a major political shift in about 11 weeks. No bloodshed, no negotiation, no nationwide protests, just a new government. Americans make things happen.

In June 2007 there were national elections in Belgium. There was a "landslide" victory and everyone thought the person receiving a massive amount of votes would certainly be able to form a stable coalition government. Since then there has been no stable federal government. Due to the continuing conflict, in June 2010 there were once again federal elections. Once again there was a winner with a massive amount of votes. He said he hoped to form a government by 1 September. For now no one is placing bets on that being the case.

Quick and definitive decisions that lead to rapid actions are not generally a cultural phenomenon here.

So ramping up to action looks different. We have been led to increase the Intentional Acts of Kindness Cookie Outreach from 1,300 bags to 4,000 bags. Instead of one volunteer team of five we will have two volunteer teams of 13. This is certainly a challenging but not unthinkable task in our sending culture.

In our living culture, it could well be equated to putting people on every planet in the solar system at the same time. No one would imagine it. "What could you possibly do with all those cookies?" "A thousand cookies was a tremendous amount, 4000 seems ridiculous."

I suppose a group of wanderers marching around a heavily fortified city seemed like little threat to the residents of that city. One man's death changing eternity seems unimaginable. Building a boat to ride out a flood when it had never rained seemed like a flight of fancy or act of lunacy. Get the idea? There are things that seem unimaginable.

But that is just where God wants to work. He wants us to walk where we cannot imagine. Faith is stepping out of the boat and not seeing the waves but the hand of the One who has a greater vision.

One of our local friends was commenting on how much work all of this is. My response was, "If one person falls in love with the One Who loves him so much it is certainly worth the effort."

We ramp up not just to get bigger. Bigger is not better, better is better. We ramp up because of the magnitude and urgency of the task. There are millions of prisoners of war here. They are being held captive by one who want to subjugate and brainwash them. They are held captive by one who knows no love. How can we stand by and let even more be taken captive?

Ramping up is not a option, it is the only choice many will have.

Thursday 23 July

2009-07-23T05:05:00.001+01:00

Yes I know Monday was not the 29th even if it felt like it.

The Flemish have a phrase that says they are busy from early in the morning until late at night. It is phrased in such a way as to indicate that it is a habit or continuous action. We could certainly use that to describe this week. But to date it has been an amazing week.

Here is a typical daily schedule. We leave the apartment just after 6:00AM to go to a church to prepare for the morning outreach to the crowd that has partied all night. We usually leave that church around 7:00 to go to the ministry area and are there until after 9:00 before returning and cleaning up for the next day. Everyone is having amazing conversations there. Even our English speaking team members are having meaningful spiritual conversations since many of the younger crowd speak English. I could go on about the conversations I had but here is a synopsis of one yesterday. I engaged a young man in conversation by offering him a cup of coffee or hot chocolate. He accepted the coffee and asked where it was from. I told him it was from God and I was just delivering it in His name. He told me he was an atheist and asked if I would still give him coffee. I told him it was no problem. That seemed to amaze him and get his attention and he asked repeatedly why I would give God's coffee to an atheist. After more chatting I asked him how he was absolutely there was no God. He told me he was not 100% sure so I explained to him he was an agnostic. He agreed. Just moved him one step closer to God. In a little while one of his friends joined us. The new agnostic told me his friend was an atheist. But he (the agnostic) began a very good presentation for the existence of God to his atheist friend. The basis of the argument was there had to be a God because I had given him coffee, said it was from God and he believed me. Plus it was really good coffee. It was amazing to watch.

After the morning outreach we prepare for a intentional acts of kindness cookie outreach to the sanitation workers. We usually distribute 40-50 gift sacks of cookies, tell them about their origin and just thank them for their hard work. So far no spiritual conversations but we are becoming well known as the people with the cookies and they are looking for us at lunch time. Everyone is glad to talk with us. One man told me he really wanted to move to America. I told him I had left a place free for him. His colleague told him he would not last two days there during hunting season since my friend was wearing a pair of bunny ears. The colleague said several people had thanked them for their hard work. I asked if the others had thanked them with cookies and he admitted our thanks was sweeter.

Following that we prepare to distribute cookies to the tram and bus drivers. On Monday and Wednesday we we distributed 350 bags for a total of 700. They too are pleased and surprised. On Monday I told a lady at the ticket counter she needed to be the first to get a sack. I told her they were all good but some more than others and I was an expert, just look at my waist. When we went back on Wednesday she said she wanted to ask a "dumb" question. She said she was baptized into the Catholic church but it had no meaning for her. She wanted to know the difference between evangelicals and Catholics. The deacon I took with me gave a brief explanation and promised to bring her some material that explained the differences.

We close the day with another outreach of four hours joining a church in serving crepes and coffee to passers by. Yesterday I had the opportunity to present the plan of salvation to a young man and he wants to continue to meet until he can fully understand it and find a personal relationship with God. Needless to say the highlight of the day.

Then we do team debriefings and get something to eat. Just a typical day but they are great days. Why, glad you asked. We are on the crest of God's answers to your prayers. The movement here is because of what you are doing there. Keep it up and so will we.

Gotta go. It is 6:00AM. More later.

Monday 21 July

2009-07-20T20:54:00.003+01:00

Great day today! Everyone had several meaningful spiritual conversations at the coffee outreach to the party-all-night crowd. One guy remembered me from last year and we got to go farther this year. He told me his life would be much easier if he had a faith like mine. Got him to start longing for a better life. I was paired with two guys from the Netherlands and they learned something about conversational evangelism. Even the English-only team members got to have some great and meaningful conversations. Prayer is opening the doors to the hearts. Keep it up.

We passed out cookies to the sanitation workers. Members of a local church joined us and provided all the cookies. They had 80 bags. All the sanitation workers were surprised. Not every outreacher connected with conversation but I had some great ones and got to joke around with a bunch of guys and girls. I am hoping they can see that Christians are real people and can connect with the average person. I really look forward to being with them again on Wednesday. No spiritual conversations but they did not treat me as an outsider.

In the afternoon we distributed 350 bags of cookies at two of the major tram and bus stations. Got to brag about the cookies and tell them the bags were from Americans. They were really surprised. Even more so when we told them to save the boxes and we would refill them on Wednesday. We left our believer contact talking to his colleagues about cookies, church and faith. Gotta love that. Last year he was too shy and this year he is excited about the outreach to his colleagues.

Dined tonight with some former missionary friends. He wants to do some outreach with me (John) so we will do some unplanned and God-directed outreach Wednesday evening.

Tuesday is the national holiday or independence day here. Gonna take the team to Brussels for the day and catch the fireworks at night if it does not rain us out. Another long day but it will refresh us for the push into the end of the week. Stay tuned for more of what God is doing.

Monday Morning July 20

2009-07-20T05:00:00.001+01:00

Today will bring many opportunities. We are participating in a coffee outreach to the party-all-night crowd beginning at 7:00AM. After that we will be doing our cookie outreach to the sanitation workers around noon. Some friends from a local church will join us for this. Finally in the afternoon we will be doing another cookie outreach to the tram and bus drivers.

So far we have over 800 bags of cookies to distribute. These come from one church, our colleagues and all Lucy has baked. Another church has promised to provide cookies and workers to help with the sanitation workers. Just got word yesterday that another church may help with a few more bags of cookies.

You have helped by providing the bags. Our friends are amazed at them. There is nothing like them here and they comment on how pretty they are. They are also excited about how many you have provided. The gifts of bags are speaking clearly to local believers about being community and the desire to be light in the darkness.

Pray for strength. Today will be a long day on the street and it is only Monday.

Yesterday we took the team to worship at De Burg, the church providing the cookies for the tram and bus drivers. After church we had a nice lunch on the Korenmarkt and then came back to our apartment to bag more cookies.

We will try to keep you posted through this blog about the latest news, prayer requests and how God is moving.

Sunday July 19

2009-07-19T07:35:00.001+01:00

Yesterday started out gray, cool and a little windy. We took the team to all of the pleins (major places where people gather during the festivals). There really are festivals since each place has its own stage, organization, agenda and activities. Each caters to a different crowd although people flow into and out of the different areas during the day.

The reception for the Feesten was Friday night. Only VIP's allowed. Some events start on Saturday morning but most wait until the parade which begins at 2:00PM. We watched the parade and the police reported we were there with about 30,000 of our closest friends.

After that we split up. Some went for rest and they guys hit the rest of the areas and grabbed a pakje frietjes (order of Belgian french fries to go).

Most regrouped at 6:00PM to watch the Scottish Bagpipe and Drum Corps concert. Everyone was present by the time Flanderen Zingt (Flanders Sings) began. That was three hours of wild, crazy, Karioke-style sing-a-long. The 37 songs are being sung during the summer festivals all across Flanders that began on June 26th and go through the middle of September. Last year about 200,000 people sang the same songs. There are favorite Dutch songs, some in regional dialects from the five Flemish regions, a few French songs and several American rock and roll songs from Elvis to current bands.

At one point as we were standing in the crowd being jostled on all sides, (picture a friendly mugging) Gary asked me if everyone from the feesten was on this plein. Even though there were several thousand there, I assured him that many of the other pleins were equally packed. They are not expecting the typical 1.5 million visitors over the 10 days but it looks like it will be well over a million again (unless something drastic happens). Many think partying and drinking will help keep the swine flu at bay. Some are already sick but it is not from the flu. On the way home passed a guy sitting in his own vomit and looking confused. No swine flu symptoms though. Maybe a mask would have helped slow the drinking down. I'll mention that to others.

Most of us got home just before the rain began to fall but the concerts and parties went on all night. They newspaper reported that there was still a good crowd in town at 3:00AM in the rain. IT IS PARTY TIME!

Today is worship and bagging more cookies. Tomorrow we head out before 7:00AM to do outreach to the party-all-night crowd, distribute cookies to tram and bus drivers, sanitation workers, police and security guards. We will also have bottles of water to give away. May not go until dark again tomorrow but quite sure it will be more than a 12-hour day. After that, it will only be seven more just like them. IT IS PRAY TIME!

Gotta go round up the team and get them to the church on time. (Could be a song in there somewhere)

Friday July 17

2009-07-17T20:23:00.001+01:00

Bagged 496 bags of cookies and got the rest of our team settled into their local accommodations. Gonna hit the streets tomorrow with more water and intentional outreach. Hoping for good weather and good conversations.

Wednseday 15 July

2009-07-15T15:15:00.001+01:00

Since Monday the stages and other stands are going up on the different locations of the feesten. I (John) headed out this morning with a backpack full of water bottles. The purpose was to pray on some of the pleins and to offer bottles of water to the set-up workers. That proved to be a challenge today for several reasons.

First the crews are being driven pretty hard by their supervisors and the schedule. Many were not stopping for breaks and even working through lunch. In some cases they have to finish so the next crew can come in. In other cases they have the streets blocked and that is only approved for a limited time.

Another issue was language. I ran into several crews whose primary language was French. They spoke a little Flemish and no English. Another crew that I did give water to was a challenge. They were all eastern European. Did speak a little Flemish and were very surprised by the offer of free water. I told them it was a gift from the evangelical churches in town. Not sure how much of that they understood. But they did seem really appreciative and each one told me thanks. None of the people on the pleins speak standard, academic Dutch so it is a challenge for those of us who are merely "technically proficiant" in the language.

On other pleins there is "controlled" chaos. (May be bordering on uncontrolled chaos). Each plein has an approved survey plan and it is detailed down to millimeters as to where thing are supposed to go. The problem is that not every crew has a copy of the plan and not every plein has a supervisor onsite when crews are setting up. On one plein I saw a crew trying to push a fully constructed platform tent into a new position with a forklift. The plein supervisor decided it was not in the correct position. (The tent is about 50x40 feet, canvas walls and has a wooden floor built under it) While they were pushing it with the forklift the rental company was trying to put the bar equipment in the tent. It was not a great situation and some of the words exchanged are not for publication (fortunately you would not understand the Flemish - but Flemish are rather blunt and straight forward in their communication).

We do think the water will be another way to connect. Today it was not so hot and there was a good breeze. On the warmer days it will be a bigger draw. We will continue to distribute water to the service personnel during the feesten.

Our full team is in Europe. Two are here with us and three are in Paris. Everyone will be here on Friday. Lucy has chemo tomorrow and I will go out after that if she is feeling all right. Friday is cookie bagging day and getting the team organized and settled in. The feesten begin officially on Saturday.

There is A LOT TO DO!

Gearing Up

2009-07-10T06:10:00.001+01:00

The city is gearing up for the Gentse Feesten. The Gent Jazz Festival is currently going strong. It runs for a week before the Gentse Feesten. The first night's main entertainer was B.B. King. The newspaper said his entourage showed up at the hotel with 104 suitcases. They booked 42 rooms for the 50+ members of the crew. It included two guitar specialists and a baggage handler (guess so with that many suitcases). Did I mention he was here for only one night? He looked pretty good for an 83 year old diabetic.

As we headed for the hospital yesterday we had to change from a bus to a tram at the train station. All of the bicycle racks out front are gone. The newly remodeled train station (when finished in 2012) will have covered parking for 10,000 bicycles. Right now there is only parking for 5,000. With a chunk of them gone we could actually see the park in front of the station. Don't worry, the bicycle racks and bicycles are just being moved to the center of the city.

Other preparations? Some of the streets are being closed to auto traffic. Hotels are getting full. I checked on our team reservations yesterday and they said most of the rooms are booked. There is no need to reroute the trams through the city center. Usually they do not run through the Koren Markt from mid-morning until after midnight. With the major construction going on the trams have not been going through since April. However, there is a push to get some construction done so the cafe's can put tables back on the sidewalks.

More people and publicity to been seen is another indication. Saturday is the Flemish National Holiday so after that, it will be full speed ahead with the building of the stages and other attractions.

As for us, we are still baking cookies and getting ready for our volunteers from America. Gotta make a run to get bottled water to distribute to the set-up crews and some more cookie supplies. Our supporters in America have provided an enormous quantity of gift bags for the cookies. We are excited and overwhelmed by your support.

It kind of reminds me of an approaching hurricane. The winds start picking up and it feels stormy but you know the strongest part is yet to come. That is the feeling here. Lots of preparation, it is getting hectic but it will really get busy by the end of next week. And then the storm of over 1 million visitors hits. Lots to to and lots of opportunities.

Gearing Up For 2009

2009-07-03T13:34:00.001+01:00

The blog is now open but preparations have been going on for a while. In essence they began last year during the Gentse Feesten but have been ramping up since this spring.

In addition to serving alongside Flemish believers during the morning coffee distribution and one church's crepe and coffee outreach we are beginning a new ministry this year. It is being called the Intentional Acts of Kindness Cookie Outreach. (Okay someone can come up with something catchy here).

Each year during the 10-day festivals the city of Gent receives 1.3 to 1.5 million visitors. (Current population is 240,000). The vast majority of these visitors are not from the immediate area. However we discovered several groups composed of mostly locals on which to focus. Each day there are around 500 drivers needed to operate the trams and buses in the city. With the night and festival buses there is service 24/7 for the 10 days. Another group of people, that is in essence invisible, is the sanitation workers. Last year they removed 124,000 metric tons of festival trash in 10 days. Finally there are the local police and private site security guards that work hard to keep the atmosphere fun, sane and safe.

Our goal is to give them a small bag of cookies as a "thank you" for their extra effort. Included with the homemade cookies will be a note of thanks from the group/church providing the cookies. We hope this will open the door to conversations about how God changes lives and blesses. We also hope it will help people see Evangelical Christians in a new, positive light.

Our American prayer partners have provided thousands of the gift bags for the cookies. But providing the cookies is a monumental task. If we provide bags of two cookies on three days to the tram/bus drivers we will need a minimum of 3,000 cookies. That does not cover the 200+ administrative workers.

Then there are the 300 sanitation workers and 500 police and private security people. Are you getting an idea of how many cookies this is. Plus, Flemish do not normally bake cookies so teaching them to do so and getting enough to provide the goal of 9 to 10 thousand cookies is really a God-sized endeavor.

So for now Lucy is baking cookies and teaching others to bake. John is busy in recruiting local partners to help with the baking and distribution.

Plus we are making the final preparations for our team from North Florida who will be coming to serve. A lot to do.

Test

2008-09-02T04:26:00.002Z

Death Valley

2008-08-02T18:45:00.002+01:00

I am old enough to remember the old TV show "Death Valley Days" sponsored by the 20-mule team borax product line. That's ancient history for most of you.

As we rode into downtown this afternoon (Saturday) I was reminded of that TV show. So much of the story was filmed in the desert where there was nothing around. True Gent looked like Gent, including gray skies and some rain. But after seeing the crowds and all the setup from the Gentse Feesten it looked a little bare.

It reminded me of how much we "get used" to things and how the abnormal can quickly become the normal. It as "business as usual" and we had forgotten what usual was like. We are created to have a relationship with God. A broken relationship should feel abnormal but many have gotten used to that feeling so it now feels normal.

Unfortunately people are getting back to business as usual too. During the feesten people are more open to chatting and talking with strangers. But on the tram the only people talking out loud were three teenage girls of African descent. (By the way I must be becoming too Belge since I thought they were talking way too loud). The Flemish did not speak or only in hushed voices to the people they already knew.

Please pray that we can stay connected with some folks that we met and help them not fall back into their usual life. God has such an extraordinary life for us. It is so much better than the feesten if people will just give Him a chance.

Now that the scenery looks like something is missing pray that people will see the Someone who is missing. We know Him and want to help make Him personally known to those in our city.

This is the last posting in this blog. But you can always check out our regular blog by clicking on the blog link on the website.

The Last Day

2008-07-29T16:03:00.002+01:00

The last day of the Gentse Feesten was devoted to the "empty wallet" market and the AA Gent football (soccer) team.

The empty wallet market is an attempt to get as many vendors together in one place as possible so they can sell out and you can end up with an empty wallet. We did not go since it was raining and had other things on the agenda.

We did climb the Sint Baaf's Tower. Pictures are on the picture page. It was rainy at first by stopped by the time we got to the top. Not particularly sunny and clear but not too bad for Belgium. The tower is only open during the Gentse Feesten.

Sint Baaf's Plein is dedicated to the AA Gent Football Team on the last day of the festival. We were disappointed that there was not a flag flying in top of Sint Baaf's when we were there. The reason was they were waiting for the official team flag to fly.

Last year AA Gent played in the finals for the Belgium Cup. They lost to Anderlecht in a close match. The Anderlecht president would not renew the team trainer's (think head coach) contract for more than one year. Guess who offered him a three year contract. That's right AA Gent. The motto here is wait until next year. They are expecting big things and already 80% of the season tickets are sold.

Other than the football frenzy the last day was quite with many of the other venues not having major performances and some markts (the bloom markt for instance) did not open.

Now we do our formal evaluation and get ready for the team for next year. There are some great opportunities for ministry and ministry evangelism. Pray about how you can participate in the Gentse Feesten 2009.

Zondag

2008-07-27T07:27:00.003+01:00

Sunday is here. It is supposed to be a day of rest and will be much less hectic.

There is a community worship service in Baudelopark at 11:00AM (if you want to attend). The original weather forecast was for rain but it looks like it will be nice for at least the first part of the day.

The coffee outreach in the mornings finished on Saturday. There is a small group going this morning but most are getting ready for the service. We have been inviting many non-believers to this event and hope some will attend.

The pannenkoeken (crepes) and coffee outreach also finished Saturday. After working there we put our feet up for a few minutes before hitting the streets again. Finally got home before midnight and to bed after midnight.

The last day of the Feesten is tomorrow, Monday. We will be out and about seeing how it ends and where we can go from here.

It will take some time to evaluate all that we have experienced. We will give you that as we can.

Hanging On

2008-07-26T04:15:00.002+01:00

The enemy was very strong yesterday. Everyone who participated in the outreach commented on it. There was a real sense of open warfare.

Today will be a long one. We hit the tram at 6:30 this morning for the last coffee outreach. Since the enemy was very evident there yesterday it will be interesting to see if there are victories today or if he is even more evident. It is a spiritual battle and as we attempt the release of some of his captives he is not a happy camper. Everyone at the outreach sensed the open warfare yesterday. There are some pictures on the pictures page of past days at the Vlasmarkt Coffee Outreach. Check them out.

This is also the last day for the pannenkoeken (crepes) and coffee outreach at the Burg. Satan has been evident there as well. He does not like God's children trying to interrupt his plans. Pray that we will be able to stand strong in the battle since the war is already won. That is from 2:00 until 6:00.

Then from 8:00 until after midnight we are downtown with other activities. The participants sense the feesten are winding down so they are getting a bit rowdier at night. Pray for us to bring some salt and light into the environment.

Sunday is the community worship service in Baudelopark. We have been inviting people to attend and since it is in the open we are hoping others will see how much joy there is in following God.

We will keep you posted as time and energy allows. Prayer is the sustainer at this point.

Keeping Up

2008-07-25T04:15:00.003+01:00

Life right now reminds me of the endless hours I spent on the treadmill losing weight to be able to come here. Losing 50+ pounds meant many hours just walking in one place. By the way now I do 14.5 Kilometers (9 miles) in 30 minutes 3 times per week on our elliptical machine. The principle is the same. Lots of sweat and effort and mostly the same perspective.

Since Tuesday we leave home by 6:30AM and usually don't get home before 7:00PM. From about 7:00AM until 9:30 or 10:00 we pass out coffee and hot chocolate to people who choose to party all night. The vast majority are drunk but there are also the security guards, taxi drivers and others who are in the area. So far each day each of us has had at least one (often 2-3) very good spiritual conversations with someone. Lucy even had the same woman come back to her two days later to continue the conversation.

During the middle of the day we continue to survey the ministry opportunities for future Gentse Feesten.

Then we go to another church where we work to serve pannenkoeken (crepes) and coffee for four hours. We also take the time to have other spiritual conversations and invite people to come for a visit on a Sunday. (There are no paper plates and plastic forks here so we wash dishes and cups after every person eats) Then we have to walk across town to catch a tram home. We take care of our necessary business (like today is garbage day and we have to get that out), answer emails and try to remember to write here before falling into bed for a few hours.

It serves to remind us how hard it is here to find people who will even listen to the story of God. But we are reminded daily that God is opening doors and hearts so they are there if we will be faithful. I reminded a young lady who is a new believer, that we tell the story and God does the converting. She is fearless and wades into the midst of the drunks, but then she does lack some experience and gets discouraged. Another young mother has a heart for telling people about the Good News and we were talking about that just yesterday. Then one man became very angry and almost abusive and brought her to tears. Unfortunately that speaks directly to my carnal nature and makes it hard to remember my primary focus.

No moral or catchy idea here. Just the news. Gotta go brush something, wash something grab the trash on the way out so I can stand ankle deep in trash (watching not to step in other things) with my feet sticking to the beer-soaked cobblestones and tell people how much God loves them because He does. I remember that I was not too different than that many years ago and I am here now because someone cared enough and took the time to tell me about a better way. How will they hear unless we tell them?

Service

2008-07-23T04:30:00.002+01:00

Joshua's famous quote about "Choose you this day whom you will serve. . ." may need to be updated for this century. It may need to be choose this moment or second. We live in an almost instantaneous society. Time is now counted in nanoseconds and even shorter periods of time.

We were off at 6:30AM yesterday to serve coffee to the people who choose to party all night. In one section of town the bars close at 8:00AM and some people stay there all night an listen to way too loud music, drink and dance (plus other things) in the street. We were a part of about 30 people (22 young adults from Texas) who were passing out free coffee and hot chocolate to the crowd. We did get a chance to have some spiritual conversations with people and some were sober.

Lucy talked with one person who slept all night and just came out for the free coffee.

The responses ranged from somewhat receptive/seeking (a very few) to indifferent (many) to antagonistic (a very few). But they saw God's love and Jesus at work. That they cannot deny. When one guy tried to pay me I told him we were doing this because God had blessed us and we wanted to pass along the blessings. He could not believe it was free. I told him it was not it had cost God His only Son so that he could get free coffee. Not sure how much he processed but He heard about God's sacrifice for him.

It was a very good chance to practice Flemish in a real world setting. One young man who is a construction engineer kept telling me how amazed he was at my Flemish. After one year he said I was doing real well. I patted him on the back and told him I was amazed that he was still standing. We laughed and had a good time. He told me he would see me again this morning. I hope so.

We spent the rest of the day with our Team Leaders showing them the ministry opportunities for next year. You too can be a part. Just let us know if God is calling you to help.

So we are off at 6:30AM again this morning to do the same. Then we will spend the afternoon (2:00PM until 6:00PM) giving free pancakes (crepes) and coffee to anyone who will stop by for a visit and perhaps a chat about God. We are serving with the pancake outreach Wednesday through Saturday afternoons. Pray for that and the other groups who are doing street evangelism this week.

By they way, who will you serve this moment? If you do not constantly decide you will be like the person on the commercial and lament "Wow, I could have had a V8." You will miss it. Choose now to serve someone and God will bring that person into your life.

Sunday - A day of Rest

2008-07-21T07:30:00.002+01:00

Sunday started out kind of sunny (for here) and warm. Due to the congestion we went to one of our favorite churches and the one we home-base from. De Burg is where we will spend Wednesday through Sunday working with local believers to serve free pancakes (crepes) and coffee in an effort to reach out to the festival attenders.

There was a guest speaker. He is the father of one of the young mothers who attends the church. He is originally from The Netherlands and has pastored there. He now pastors in one of the communites that surround Brussels. During his message he made a reference to Benjamin Franklin. He said that Franklin was an American statesman and he was aware that there were Americans in the crowd.

After the service Lucy was busy helping with the coffee and cookies service since the cell group we attend is responsible this month. I helped take up the regular offering and the missions offering since the people who were assigned did not make it. So after the service Jozef and I were counting and recording the receipts.

Most special speakers are compensated for their time and expenses. So as Jozef took the offerings to the treasurer I went to give the honorarium to the speaker. Since he has a sister who lives in America he wanted to strike up a conversation. It led to America, pastoring, starting churches in Belgium and Evangelism in general among other topics. Just some of the things pastors talk about since it is our life. Our chat took most of the next hour and was very enjoyable. At one point when his wife came by he introduced me to her. She said, "Oh you are one of the Americans." in English. Piet responded that yes I was an American, a fellow pastor and that I spoke Dutch so she could speak to me in Dutch. We chatted in Dutch although he too speaks English.

After the service as we waited for the tram we discovered that we had probably already experienced the high temperature for the day as it was cooler and the wind chill was making it even more so.

When we got home we got a message from some fellow Americans and servants who live near us. She was having back problems and wanted to know if she could come by and soak in our tub since they only have a shower in their apartment. So after we all ate she came by. We talked about the Gentse Feesten and things to do since they are only here for a few months. After her soak her husband came by and we chatted for a while.

Then it was out into the city again. The main thing on our agenda was the fireworks display at the Watersportsbaan. It is 30 minutes of fireworks coordinated with some original music written and performed by some Flemish young people. We thought it was well worth the cost of admission (free) however some of the other folks were complaining on the way out. We now speak Dutch well enough to understand why they were disappointed. It is amazing how expectations differ.

Once again we got home after midnight (it does not get dark enough for fireworks until after 11:00PM).

Today (Monday) is the national holiday (similar to July 4 in America). It celebrates the signing of a document of organization and installation of the first king which was done in 1831. It is supposed to be the coolest (temperature wise) national holiday in 100 years. As I write this it is raining on and off.

But we are out into the festivals again today to find ways to connect with some of the nationals. Lucy had a good idea yesterday and we will try it today. Keep checking the picture page for pictures. We will post as time allows.

Stay tuned . . . more to come.

It Has Begun!

2008-07-20T05:43:00.008+01:00

On Friday the keys to the city were officially turned over to the Honorary Burgemeester of the Feesten. But the official start was the parade yesterday. The parade starts in a older part of town with very narrow streets and winds its way through the heart of the city and out to the northeast. Basically it makes a very crooked and convoluted "U". As soon as we can we will post some pictures from the parade on your website. Here are a few samples.

The weather was supposed to be rainy and nasty. It did sprinkle a couple of times and was windy and cold. But the sun popped out occasionally and when it did it was warm enough to shed the jackets and enjoy.

The parade (according to one police officer I heard) was supposed to last 30-45 minutes. Don't know how it was near the end since we were towards the beginning. Coordination was a challenge and it took close to 2 hours for the final unit to pass by our location.

Next we went off to a cafe to do the Flemish thing of drinking a coffee or cold drink and being a part of the culture. Plus after standing for about 2.5 hours we needed to sit. By the way we saw the end of the parade (again) from the cafe as it passed by.

Next we made our way through several of the pleins (areas where there are stages and events set up). We were looking for an evangelism group from the Netherlands but they must not have arrived yet.

At Bij Sint Jacobs Plein we watched a concert of drummers. It is the oriental style drumming and very elaborate and entertaining. None of the drummers appeared oriental and most looked very Flemish.

We stopped to get and eat some friets (Belgium French Fries). You get them in a paper cone with one of several sauces. They did have Heinz ketchup but most of the sauces you would not recognize. We chose mayonnaise since this is the traditional topping. While we ate we watched a street performer who was juggling and doing stilt walking. He spoke to the crowd in English.

One effort this summer is Vlaanderen Zingt (http://www.vlaanderenzingt.be/) sorry the link is in Dutch. It is an effort to get 350,000 Flemish people to join in a sing-a-long this summer. On the website you can find the song list. It is 37 songs long. There were three choirs from the city that joined together to lead in the singing. Oh by the way, we sang all 37 songs over the three hour period. It was broadcast locally on TV and will be repeated on Sunday. We were on the camera a few times.

As you can see by the song list, the Flemish love American and English music. They also love to sing and celebrate in a large group like this. They switched easily into the French songs as well. Most Flemish speak at least three languages and four or five is not uncommon.

Some of the songs are dance numbers and have conga-line type dances. They did that as well. Of course you recognize what you have to do with the Village People's Y-M-C-A. You can imagine a plein packed elbow to elbow (and other body part to body part front and back) singing and dancing. It was a sight and challenge. The European personal space is much smaller than the American personal space.

We imagine there were several thousand (guess 4-5 thousand) people there. As the singing continued so did the drinking. So by the end there were some pretty rowdy people near us. But it was part of history and we got to participate. Three hours of singing, dancing and standing on your feet in a large crowd takes its toll. Not on the ones around us. The next concert started at 11:00PM and there are ones that start about 12:30AM as well. The crowd around us was partying and some were feeling no pain.

After 10 hours of feest vieren (feast celebrating and participation) we jumped on the tram to head home. Today it is church and then into the festivals again. This goes on for 10 days.

More to come. Stay tuned.

Marginal Living

2008-07-16T07:19:00.002+01:00

I can remember quotes and ideas but usually have a hard time remembering who said them. I remember a quote about living in the margin. One definition of margin is the empty space surrounding the important content. For example you remember the English course writing requirements where you had to have a specific marginal space on all sides. I had a seminary professor who actually measured it and you could see the red marks where he indicted the margin should be.

According to him, there should be nothing in the margin. All the content was to be inside. The margin was to be totally empty. A good definition of margin.

As the Gentse Feesten near (for which the weather forecast is rain - this is Belgium) there are people who will live in the margin for those ten days. First of all, the margins get physically smaller. European personal space is smaller than American personal space so packing more people into the same space is acceptable. The margins will get smaller as you walk down the street as people will bump into and jostle one another in the crowd. But that is not the margin to which I am referring.

But people will live in the margin (the definition of empty, outside the content bounds). Many of the values that society sees as important slip away during this ten-day festival. Some begin to sleep during the day and stay up at night. Many try to party all night as many nights in a row as possible. Other social customs and hibitions seem to be ignored. (They have indicated there will be no wilde plassen (public urination) allowed. Not an exclusively a male action but primarily. There will be a 60 euro fine if caught. I wonder if the drunks who do this frequently will remember that when they are totally wasted?

Passing out in the parks is still acceptable and there are places where throwing ones shoes (laces tied together) over wires across the streets is the rage. Modesty has a different level in Europe and some things seen in public here would not be seen in America. But that level declines during the festivals. It is not "you can see anything you want" but there are some things that you will not want to see.

It seems people leave behind the normal morals and actions. In essence they begin to live in the margins of acceptability. Why? Mostly because there are not fixed values. If man is the highest authority then man sets the standards and people can have different sets of standards. But if there are absolute standards then the margins are fixed.

Now this is not so say that hedonism and immorality run rampant like in some cultures where "carnival" means throw every bit of decency to the wind. And the vast majority of Festival participants are great people with good values. But more people live in the margins (outside of the normal social standards) during the Gentse Feesten than before and after. That is one reason some of the Gentenaars choose to take vacation and leave town for those ten days. It is just not the same as it was. Even some Europeans are finding it too extreme.

Living in the margin has become the norm rather than the exception. People have no problem setting their own standards. Just last week a policeman was in a fight and shot someone with his service weapon while off duty. Most police agents can not carry their service weapon off duty and he did not have permission to do so. The fight started because a guy on a motorbike cut him off while the policeman was on his bicycle. (Don't get me wrong bromfietsers (motorbike riders) can be a real pain. They are second only fietsers (bicyclists) in my book). But the police agent thought it okay to live in the margin and attack the young man (according to most news stories).

Just one example of the "if I think it is right then it is right" marginal living that plagues many first world countries.

Pray for us as we seek to be salt and light in this environment. Other local believers are trying as well but they are vastly outnumbered. We have a big God and we are praying for Him to do things that get attention during this event. We are asking that He use us to help change the margins for some of the folks this year. That they will choose to live in His love and not in their margin. That is the ultimate freedom and there is no hangover the next day.

A Race Against Time

2008-07-14T18:59:00.003+01:00

That was the title of an article in the Gentenaar (local newspaper) this morning. Some construction began as early as last Thursday but most of the stage construction and other major changes began this morning.

In many places as many as 80 people will work around the clock in more than a dozen places to get things ready for the official beginning this coming Saturday.

I am working on a sermon and Lucy has been trying to get other things ready since we will be going non-stop from this coming Friday morning.

It is hard to get one's mind around just how massive this festival (actually it is more than a dozen simultaneous festivals) really is. Last year more than 1.5 million people were a part of some or all of the activities. There are some people who begin sleeping during the day so they can party all night. Others fore go sleeping to party hardy.

God and eternity are not on their minds or the radar. Pray that we can help some find the ultimate and eternal celebration in Heaven. They are looking for happiness in all the wrong places. Pray that we can help refocus the attention of some.

We will keep you posted so check back often.

The Gentse Feesten (Gent Festivals)

2008-07-11T12:11:00.003+01:00

The Gentse Feesten (Gent Festivals) dominate our city for ten days every year. The enormous festival includes a parade, international music, dance, theatre and puppetry festivals, fireworks displays and much much more. There are at least 9 performance stages and activities on 12 different pleins (sites in the city). Plus there are street activities that span the spaces in between. Here is a link to some publicity pictures. The words are in Dutch but you can still look at the pictures to get an idea of what it is like.

http://www4.gent.be/gent/vrijetij/feesten/2005/publicatiefotos/publicatiefotos.htm

Mornings are quieter with some cultural events and tours of the different places in the city. Afternoons are more cultural and there are family friendly-events everywhere. Evenings are more devoted to concerts and the serious party crowd. Most pleins have concerts that last until 2:20 to 3:00AM.

More than 1.5 million people attended the festivities last year.

The festival was created in the middle of the 19th century by the elite people of Gent aiming to attract prosperous people to the city. From horse races, jousts, tournaments, hot air balloons and parades of giants, the festivities have gone through numerous changes before arriving at the format they have today.

No less than four separate international festivals add lustre to the overall festivities: the Blue Note Records Festival, the International Street Theatre Festival, the International Puppetbuskers Festival and the dance festival 10 Days Off.
Watch this site for our daily encounters and impressions of the 2008 Gentse Feesten.