WHY you received this Email - Please READ

Last night I talked with my good friend (scott cochran) and he asked me why he had received an email from this blog. I then realized that I did not explain this concept to all of you. There are ten people on our email list. YOU are one of them. I am hoping that you will take time to read the blog when it is sent to you. Then we are hoping that you will send the link to others who will find that particular blog of some interest. This will help us to get the word for missions and outreach without inundating people with unwanted emails. Thank you for your service to this ministry in our church.

How do we reach 16-29 years old Americans outside the church?

Recently, I started to read "unchristian". Kinnaman who worked for Barna Research has a passion for describing what the 16-29 year old Americans think about us (Christians). A quote that he believe sums up what this group thinks about Christians, "We have become famous for what we oppose, rather than who we are for." Here is some research that stood out.

Some negatives

87 % believe that Christians are judgmental a lot or some of the times.
75% believe that Christians are too involved in politics a lot or some of the times.
70% believe that Christians are confusing a lot or some of the times.

Some positives

76% believe that Christians have good principles and value system a lot or some of the times.
71% believe that Christians are friendly a lot or some of the times.

I tend to see missions as only an international endeavor. It is important for the American church to realize that there is a mission field in our backyard. It is the next generation of American youth. Have we made the effort to speak their language, hear their complaints and serve their needs. The irony is, we will spend large sums of money to address real issues for international missions, yet we have a different standard for the youth we live near. The church needs to see missions as "both and", not an"either or" proposition. I commend David and Gabe the authors of this book for showing me how to think about the next generation. We (CRPC) will be committed to reaching the needs of 16-29 years old.

This is a test for phone updates

Brad and Stacey in Vienna

Such a movement has already begun in Germany. Young German nationals are planting churches in urban centers. across Germany. Austria is still a long way off. There are very few Austrian pastors, and even fewer young Austrian church planters.Of course we're here in Vienna to plant New City Wien. Yet my great desire is NOT to be the front man of one church plant 10 years from now, but to raise up a generation of Austrian and international leaders, and in time to move into the background, to train and coach, to help launch--you guessed it--such a movement here in Vienna. Tomorrow I fly to Berlin to gather together with dozens of leaders from Germany's church planting movements to attend the City Mentoring Conference. A handful of us from Austria and other countries will be there, as well. I've been a part of church planting conferences in the US before, but have felt "on my own" to contextualize what I've learned. So I'm especially excited to glean from nationals who have been actively church planting for several years now.It's a short conference (1 day), but a jam-packed day all in German is a recipe for mental fatigue for me. Pray for my mind and heart to assimilate all I need to learn. Also pray for good connections with current leaders and especially with any future leaders interested in church planting in Vienna.

Ghana Mission Trip

August 31, 2009 six men from CRPC flew together to do a work in Ghana. We went to product test a piece that would help oral cultures train children with Bible stories. There were no words only 16 cards with pictures. Our goal was to test 4 groups of children ranging from 8-12 years old. Each of the groups consisted of about 200 children each. Each group was tested on their ability to put the cards in order and tell the stories by memory. What we saw was amazing. The average score in one village on the pretest was 7.12%. The average score at the end was over 85%. Our partner in ministry OneHope plans on taking the research that was accumulated and develop this product globally. For next year they will distribute 1 million different sets of cards. In 2011 they plan on producing another 3 million sets to be sent all over the world.