New Perrin Ministries Blog: Seeking Closure

New Perrin Ministries Blog: Seeking Closure - http://perrinministries.blogspot.com/2011/11/seeking-closure.html

New Watermark Freiburg (Church Planting) Blog

New Watermark Freiburg (Church Planting Blog): "Thoughts about Church Planting and Church Government" - http://bit.ly/oz8EWJ

Still Amazed!

New Perrin Ministries blog posted about our Easter weekend outreaches - "Still Amazed!"

http://perrinministries.blogspot.com

spring

Spring is my favorite time of year.  Winter is usually cold and dark in Germany.  The days are extremely short and dark.  But, in Spring and Summer, the scenery is so beautiful in the Black Forest, and this part of the country is known to be the sunniest (and therefore, the friendliest) part of Germany.  

The reason that this is my favorite season is not only the weather and flowers, but Easter! Jesus’ birth is celebrated at Christmas.  It’s a wonderful time that I feel we have really turned into something other than a celebration of Jesus.   But, Easter….it’s a celebration of just Him and what he did on the cross for us!  Not only did Jesus live a perfect life day after day, year after year, but after 33 years of this perfect life….he gave it up for us!  At Easter, he paid the ultimate price.  God paid the ultimate price for us, the riff raff of society. 

Jesus was beaten beyond recognition of even looking like a man- so we could have healthy bodies.  His blood that poured out at the cross was to make sure that we could be forgiven….that we could experience the unbelievable joy of being in the very presence of His father!  Jesus knew that if he sacrificed himself for us, that it would produce a harvest of believers that would span the course of time.  

On Easter, we celebrate when Jesus rose from the grave.  When he rose, he gave us hope!  I LOVE THIS SEASON!  It makes me cry every time I think of Jesus’ sacrifice and the joy in His resurrection!  He layed down everything for us…so that we could enjoy everything that God had given to Him!  That’s what the season means for me.  

People are so open to the things of God at Christmas and Easter.  Let’s tell everyone we know!   

Robin

Watermark Easter

We are going to have a huge Easter egg hunt and festival (carnival) for the at-risk kids in our neighborhood this Easter.  We are going to tell them about what Jesus did for them through eggs, juggling, carnival booths, clowns and balloons. Our church is in the middle of what we would call "the projects".  There are so many cultures represented in this area because of the large immigrant population. I can't wait to see what God will do with this outreach!

Free Bible Study Discussion Guides!

A few years ago Robin and I wrote a series of Bible Study Discussion Guides for a local church in Bonn, Germany.  The small group program at this church had become basically teaching groups (old school Bible studies).

In an effort to revitalize the small group program, we started writing our own curriculum, which was translated into German.  The purpose of these Discussion Guides is to both build relationships and learn spiritual principles.  The result was better than we expected!

We have an entire year’s worth of weekly Small Group lessons (52 lessons) in 4 main themes (including 26 lessons on Spiritual Disciplines). And we want to give them away for free.

Click on this link to download the free Discussion Guides (zip file): Small Group Discussion Guides (English)

Nice Valentine’s Day surprise

This morning we were treated to a surprise breakfast by the girls.  Omelets, fruit and walnuts (and a salad?) were waiting for Robin, Ryan and me when we woke up this morning.

They cooked and wrote us a sweet poem.  What great kids we have!

Jetlag

We were able to make a quick trip back to Texas for Christmas, although it didn’t exactly work out as we planned.  We had hoped to spend 10 days there, but since we were flying standby (can you say, “CHEAP”?) we had to wait until Christmas day to fly, leaving only 5 days in TX.

We flew from Zurich to New York to Austin.  We actually took advantage of a break in the storms that shut down the US east coast and messed up transportation across Europe.  And we were able to leave our van at a friend’s church, which is near the airport (saving us over $100)… thanks Desmond!

It was a very relaxing trip.  We enjoyed the warm Hill Country weather and got to see Robin’s family.  We were also able to visit my (Jon’s) dad.  And we ate as much Tex-Mex food as possible!

Ryan, Ashton and I were all set to fly back, but more winter storms forced a change in plans.  Because our Sunday services started up again on Jan 2, I had to get back to Germany.  The planned return flight was full, so we were forced to fly from Austin to Dallas to Frankfurt.  And because it was a last-minute change, our checked luggage (including a new guitar I was given for Christmas) didn’t make it.

We had to ride the train to Zurich (to get our van), which included delays and missed connections.  We finally arrived back home after 28 hrs of travel (normally only 24)… in planes, trains and automobiles!

The next morning we had a service.  It was all too much for Ashton, who didn’t get enough sleep on the trip back.  She ended up crashing on the couch in our coffee area after the service.  She grabbed one of the Kids Ministry puppets (a dragon) to use as a pillow.  We just HAD to take a picture of this… what a cutie!