Netherlands May 2012 | Day 1

Hi all, this is Jessi posting for the Netherlands team – at least for today until the rest of the troops arrive On Day 1 a few of us – Greg, Juha, myself and my daughter Lucy arrived in Amsterdam a day ahead of the YPC team to make sure everything is in order for the week ahead. Thankfully our hosts are awesome, and super-organized – making our job too easy!

I’m having trouble uploading photos right now – I’ll try to get them up later, but for know I’ll fill you in on our day. One of our hosts Jemuel, an elder at a local church picked us up at the airport, helped us get checked into the hotel, and took us on a bit of a walk around Amsterdam. During a debrief over coffee & sandwiches at an outdoor cafe, he told us of the great impact Times Square Church is having here in Holland. Every month he receives packages of all the TSC sermons and duplicates and distributes them. He said there are many groups throughout the country that meet together faithfully to watch them and also the 10 AM live stream every Sunday. He’s seen many people grow in Christ as a result.

On our walk around the city, we saw, as we all know, that marijuana and prostitution are legal here. I learned that when I want a cup of coffee, I do NOT go to a coffee shop, I need to go to a restaurant. The “Coffee Shop” is where you can buy pot, they have free papers for rolling, and the baked goods are, well, you get the idea . . . . You only have to be 18 to get a “weed card” – basically a license to buy. But the government is supporting the opening of “youth coffee shops” where teenagers can smoke under supervision. But you don’t really need to go in a coffee shop to smoke – you smell it everywhere as you walk around.

The red light district is right there in the middle of the city – you’d never know you’re entering into it until you’d turn down a street and there you are. But right on the edge of it Youth with a Mission has a huge office headquarters & cafe with “Jesus Loves You” written in huge letters on the top of the building.

A lot of our planned outreaches for the week will be afternoon street ministry, inviting folks to come to the evangelistic services we’ll have in local churches. Jemuel told us that when they applied for permits, they were originally told it was fine. But then when he submitted the flyers which we’ll use – which metion something about the YPC being eager to share the love of God, and the local church services – he was told that this goes beyond the bounds of free speech, and the permit was not granted. Nevertheless, street ministry will go on, geurilla style – we just have to keep within certain guidelines.

The weather this week is uncharacteristically beautiful! Very warm, with not a cloud in the sky. The day ended with a lovely dinner of Chinese/Indonesian takeout at the home of Pastor Jan Barendse and his wife Alla (pastor of the church where Jemuel is an elder. Jan is the brother of our main host Stephan Barendse who is director of Teen Challenge Netherlands).  They shared a lot with us about the general attitudes of the people towards God, and it’s a lot like back home.  Many want nothing to do with God, and feel religion is to blame for wars, etc. Others, especiall the younger generation have a “that’s great for you, but not for me” attitude when you share the gospel”. And many embrace a “little bit of everything” kind of spirituality. And yet Opwekking (Dutch for Revival) conference will draw 50,000 Christians together (35,000 camping out for the weekend) for prayer, worship & the word of God. Many of those may be kids who are there with their parents, or to hang out with friends. We’re expecting the Lord to grip many heart and set them on fire for Him!!

To finish off the evening, Jan & Alla’s 10 year old son Rafael showed off his piano skills, and in turn Greg blessed them with some tinkling of the ivories

Photo of the Week | Colombia at 4AM, Netherlands at 6PM

Tomorrow is a big day for us. At 4AM an 8-person i61 Team is leaving for Medellin, Colombia. At 6PM, 3 people will be flying to Amsterdam. On Thursday the rest of the Netherlands team (all YPC members) will travel from New York to Amsterdam. Please remember to pray for them & the Alabama team, currently out in the field.

pictured: David, Colombia team leader

Photo of the Week | Fancy Shoes

Check out these huge wooden clogs from the Netherlands! Our next missions trip is to the Amsterdam at the end of May. It’s an exclusively YPC (Youth Praise Choir) trip. They will be reaching out to the youth through live music and drama.

Video of the Week | TSC Is Going Back To Europe!

Similar to the Scotland trip highlighted in this video, we will be sending a smaller outreach team to Europe this summer. The TSC Youth Praise Choir (YPC) will be working alongside Teen Challenge Netherlands reaching out to the youth of Amsterdam through live street music and drama. The YPC will also be participating in an annual event called “Opwekking” (Dutch for revival), which attracts over 50,000 people from across Europe to hear the gospel of Christ proclaimed through workshops and evening rallies.

Photo of the Week | Netherlands

Join the Youth Praise Choir (YPC) as they work alongside Teen Challenge Netherlands in reaching out to the youth of Amsterdam through live street music and drama. The YPC will also be participating in an annual event called “Opwekking” (Dutch for revival), which attracts over 50,000 people from across Europe to hear the gospel of Christ proclaimed through workshops and evening rallies. Please note: This trip is for members of the YPC only.

Netherlands 2010: Day 3

It was our final day and we have been blown away by all that God is doing here in Holland. Last night before dinner we stopped in a suburb of Amsterdam called Lisse to see a young couple that is working with a local youth ministry. We were shocked to see that they were called “The Gate”! In just two years the Lord has given them a lot of favor with the community and already local authorities have noticed a drop in crime and are releasing a public youth facility for them to use. Their passion for the Lord and evangelism is contagious, as an example, one of the things they like to do is stand in the streets with a large road sign that says “Prayer Helps”. It gets a mixed reaction but God is really using it to open up doors to pray with people.

The next morning we met a missionary from New York that has been doing children’s ministry work and dramas for over 20 years. It was great to hear her heart for kids growing up rough neighborhoods. She helped us come up with ideas for Luis and Myranda Morales, missionaries in Zambia, who are doing a VBS in a couple of weeks and were a little stuck.

From there we went around the corner to visit a South American couple who just opened a high-end ice cream/coffee house with the vision of reaching the youth. For several years they have been avid online followers of Times Square Church. They were excited to share what God has been doing in the area and were ecstatic that we had stopped by. To give you an idea of the dedication of these people, when they heard Pastor Carters message “Run for Your Life”, they made copies and distributed them all over the Netherlands—between 5 to10 thousand of them! They wanted to say thanks to the pastors and everyone at Times Square Church, for all that they are doing to spread the uncompromised Word around the world. For them it’s making a difference!

We’ve had an amazing time meeting such a dynamic group of Christians that have a heart to see the Lord move in the Netherlands.

Netherlands 2010: Day 2

In the office it seems like we have been talking about this event in Amsterdam for a year already, so it was great to finally see the grounds where it will be held. The place is HUGE! It’s like a giant park with tons of cut grass and trees. it has been specifically designed to host events like this one. Opwekking (Dutch for Revival) is an annual event that usually brings in about 50,000 people. In the summer the Dutch love being outside in the sun when it’s available and for a lot of them camping is a treat. Imagine over 18,000 people living in tents and small campers for a weekend! Today we went to meet with the event organizer and happened to catch the tail end of a similar smaller event as they were breaking down. It gave us a taste of what it will be like for the team that comes next year. It’s going to be amazing! 

In June of 2011 TSC Missions will be working with the Netherlands Teen challenge in the youth tent with music and as volunteers. The youth tent holds about 10,000 young people with workshops during the day and a main event each night starting at 10PM. Our hope is to ignite these youth that have a church background with a passion for the Lord and the desire to let the Holy Spirit take control of their lives!

The images from the 2010 event gives you an idea of what it will be like..

Netherlands 2010: Day 1 – Scouting Trip

We hit the ground running! We got to Amsterdam at about 9AM and went straight to the church and saw the work that the first ever BrickThink Team did–beautiful!! So impressed. Stephan is humbling; so given to the work and with such abandon and passion. It makes you want to do more to serve the Lord! Then we went on a whirl wind walking tour of Amsterdam, had lunch, more walking (love this city), drove 2 1/2 hours to the Netherlands Teen Challenge (The first Teen Challenge in Europe!) and saw the work that the team will be doing, had dinner with the operations manager and Stephan and his wife Marianne, drove to the hotel around 10PM–got rid of the stomache ache I had all day, took a shower and brushed my teeth thought I was exhasuted but got a second wind and now Tim and I are getting together to pray…all in all, a great day! (minus the crippling stomach ache).

Treg