Vision of Vision – a preview of 2012

Posted by Nick on December 3, 2011

Dear partners and friends,

Our wonder-filled “vision of visions” blossomed beautifully in 2011, and revealed new and exciting opportunities for us in Poland, Lithuania, and other places. I can understand the thrill the apostle Paul must have experienced as he returned to familiar places in Asia Minor to strengthen the work the Lord accomplished through him and Barnabus, and Titus, and other faithful servants (Acts, Chapters 13 -20).

With the encouraging outcomes of 2011 behind us, we eagerly look ahead to the opportunities that abound for CCI in 2012. Here’s a taste of the things we are believing the Lord wants to do through us next year:

Continue to coach and mentor small groups champions (Iza, Andrew, Maciej, and Vaclovas) in Warsaw, Gdynia, and Lithuania
Translate our new “Relational Evangelism” book into the Polish and Lithuanian languages (to be free downloads on the website)
Translate our “Growing Up Into His Likeness” book (foundation-level discipleship for new and old believers) in Polish and Lithuanian languages (to be free downloads on the website)
Translate our “Small Groups Development” manual into Greek, German, Sweedish, and Spanish languages (pushing steadily towards our goal of 40 translations)
Continuing to support Dave and Jess Quak in their “Living Temple” small groups church plant on the Gold Coast in Australia
Continuing to support Gary and Aline Douglas in their small groups consultancy work at Llanelli, Wales
Continuing to support Elijah Samuel in his small groups training and development work in Nigeria, and the rest of Africa
Support Wale and Emma Oladipo in their exciting vision to plant a small groups based church in England (look out for more news soon)
A return visit to Poland and Lithuania next April-May with a focus on developing small group skills in “evangelism” and “discipleship”
Ministry with an “interested to know more about small groups” church in Germany! – initial discussions are just starting!
Possible visit to Wale and Emma in England, Gary and Aline in Wales and Monica in Finland as part of our visit to Poland, Lithuania and perhaps Germany.

Nick Truscott, our Senior Associate Director, continues to do a cracker job from Abu Dhabi in the UAE in providing CCI with the finest communications support – without Nick, his technical expertise and firm friendship, CCI would only be a figment of my imagination.

Beryl and I continue to commit all that we are and have to building a universally accessible small groups, evangelism, and discipleship resource facility – that offers its resources in many languages to God’s global harvest workers at no charge.

Lastly, Beryl and I say to you … we could not have travelled this far without your love, encouragement, and kind support – “Thank You”. Do you have it in you to stay with us for one more year? I believe I have enough energy in me to reach out and seize the opportunities the Lord will grant us in 2012.

Wishing you and your family a blessing-filled Christmas and New Year.

Bill & Beryl

In response to user feedback….

Posted by Nick on November 15, 2011

One of the great things that we like is to get feedback from people who visit the CCI website about things that can be improved, or are not working, or ideas and suggestions.

One of the most frequent comments received is that the site didn’t show up very well in smaller display screens – e.g. a laptop or notebook. So while I (Nick) do actually design on a great big 24″ screen, I have been playing around to see how we might do this better to take into account all these different size displays. And then Tim Hyde, a Baptist Minister in the UK – who also happens to run a web ministry, designing wordpress themes particularly for churches, launched a theme called XI. Very trendy name I know . However it’s biggest feature was that it automatically resizes itself (images, texts, boxes, pretty much everything) depending on what screen the website is being view on – even down to mobiles and iBooks.

So after testing it out on a couple of other church sites I have been building I decided to implement this on the CCI website and, so far, I am very pleased with the results and hope that those of you who visit the site regularly will send us your feedback if you have any complaints, criticisms, ideas or other suggestions of how we might improve things – we just want to make our site as good as it can be for you.

And just for your information, here’s a few stats from the website (some of which are mind blowing!) – the last time we shared anything about our website visitors was back in August, so these figures are from 1 August to today:

Almost 1,500 visitors to the website from 86 countries since 1 August
45% of those were unique (first time) visitors to the CCI website.
Over 60% of visitors to the site are reading Bill’s blog (kewl!)
The English version of Small Groups Development was downloaded 260 times (making almost 790 downloads this year)
The Russian version of the Small Groups Development manual has been downloaded 160 times since it was put on the site – that is just amazing!

And on our facebook page, we have had over 2,400 visitors since the page was launched on October 18 – unbelievable. Even though we only have around 40 people who ‘like’ us, it’s amazing that so many people have found that little page on FB and are finding our website from there.

These website statistics are very encouraging to us (me as well as Bill and Beryl) and confirm – like we didn’t already know – that we are not in control of how CCI’s work and materials will be used by God. If we only measured the impact of this website by the number of people who contacted us, or who had signed up for the blog, or are on our mailing list, or who “LIKE” our FB page – we could easily be disappointed, or upset or discouraged. But the fact that we can see that what we are sharing and have to say is being read by many many more people than we could have imagined is just such a wonderful blessing and encouragement – and we especially want to really thank ALL OF YOU who visit the site regularly, share posts and articles with your friends, comment on posts and give us feedback. Thank you, sincerely.

And so, in case this is your first visit, or you haven’t yet connected with us to receive regular updates… a couple of unabashed plugs!

If you are not yet subscribed for the blog… Subscribe to the CCI blog

If you have a facebook account, please “LIKE” CCI on Facebook

Finding Mazeikiai’s “Timothy”

Posted by Nick on November 6, 2011

Beryl and I had hoped for an easier time with our last assignment at Mazeikiai. But that wasn’t to be. As we landed at Riga Airport, I sensed pain in my left foot. When we arrived at the home of our host family I removed my shoe to discover that the reason for this pain was gout. My foot was swollen and it was painful to walk. The gout attack was not new to this old veteran – I’ve learnt much from the numerous gout attacks I’ve experienced over the past 10 years.

Vaclovas and Marija, and Beryl and I, worked our tails off to prepare well for the commencement of the small groups conference on Friday night, and we were careful in bathe our efforts with prayer. Let me set the stage for you for what happened: Beryl came down with a head cold and her constant sneezing forced her to stay at the apartment. The outside temperature was 5 degrees. The heating system in the church had not been repaired in time (repair men were still on the job). Power disruptions left us in the dark on four occasions . A hammer drill was used several times on the outside of the conference room wall. Three times, mobile phones rang. A constant flow of people streamed in and out of the room during the three hours of the Friday sessions (the entry door was one metre, adjacent to my shoulder). Several young children were allowed to free-range within the room, and a water pipe burst open in the upstairs room where we were enjoying a snack break.

: Antonas and Dana

: Training Conference Group

: Vaclovas and Marija

Unusual for me, I remained calm … I battened down the hatches and hung-in until the storm was over. Even though the disruptions continued throughout Saturday, the conference was a huge success. I thanked the Lord for saving me from losing the plot. Throughout the nine hours we were together, everyone remained riveted to what they were hearing. For twenty years, the church had waited to hear truth that would “set them free” to go and grow. They had the heart, but not the know-how.

The “reading between the lines” comment I made in my previous news update did not come from an unsound mind. Are you ready for some amazing news? It became increasingly evident to Beryl and me that Vaclovas would make a great “Mazeikiai-Timothy” that the church so desperately needed. The church is led by only one person, Marija’s father. Her “motor mechanic” dad became the pastor of the church by default when the former pastor of the church decided suddenly to return to Germany (20 yrs ago). Marija’s dad is an amazing man – he has done his best. But he has done it alone! Vaclovas has a humble and tender pastor’s heart … an ideal “Timothy” candidate who is ready to rise up to the challenge.

It is now 6:30, Sunday night. Beryl and I have just returned from a last meeting with Marija’s dad, Antonas, and her mother, Dana. We thanked this wonderful “man and woman of God” and shared with Antonas our thoughts and observations concerning his church, including our recommendation that Vaslovas be considered to direct the development of small groups in his church. We thanked Antonas and prayed for him.

Beryl has just finished packing our bags. We leave for Riga Airport at 9:30 am tomorrow (Monday), bound for Frankfurt – Singapore – Brisbane (arriving 7am, Wednesday). My foot has almost recovered, Beryl’s health has improved, and we have completed our assignment at Lithuania … “Mazeikiai-Timothy” has been found!

“Thank You, Jesus” … thank you, dear friends for your kind support.

Bill and Beryl J

Apologies for the delay in posting this update – due to technical difficulties. Nick

“Journey’s End” at Warsaw

Posted by Nick on October 27, 2011

Two days ago (on Tuesday) we concluded the last session of small groups development training with Christian Fellowship South’s AM group. Soaking in a hot bath that evening was a great way to reflect on the many, many great things Beryl and I experienced in our 34 days at Warsaw. What made this fifth visit to Warsaw more worthwhile than the previous four? We took a lot of people on a “journey” that has changed their lives!

On our earlier visits, I facilitated seminars on small groups development with crowds of people in attendance. For hours I “tossed out” sound universal principles and told inspiring stories of how to go about establishing healthy communities of small groups in churches. Yes, seminars can send-out many people feeling excited by what they’ve heard, but, a seminar’s influence for lasting change is usually shallow and short lived. Jesus didn’t look for the quick “one-off” seminar event approach to growing His disciples – He took them on a life-transforming journey.

My earlier seminars in Warsaw were “events” that prepared God’s people for change, and this visit, which focused on training, provided the “journey” experience that has brought about lasting change. Training with each of the six groups (50+ people) was punctuated with many “ah-ha” discovery moments. Many “ordinary” Christian foot-soldiers have stepped forward, past their fears, to accept the challenge to become the leaders Christ desires to develop within them.

Although the end of our Warsaw journey has come; for those we left behind, their journey continues. We know that what the Lord has begun to do in us, He will continue His work until it is finally finished on that day when He returns (Philippians 1:6).

On Wednesday afternoon, Pastor Adam Sawicki (pictured with his wife and five children) arrived from Gdynia by car to drive us to his town, situated four hours North of Warsaw, on the South Western coastline of the Baltic Sea. How did we feel? Great! As new adventure with the Lord was just about to begin!

Thank you for your kind support during our Warsaw time – you’ll be hearing more from us soon, I’m sure.

Bill & Beryl