The coming two days I'll be on a joint retreat of the Transformations.NL platform and the Evangelical Alliance. No agenda, just seeking God, sharing and hopefully some fun as well.

There are no Americans in Bagdad

Iraq's former Minister of Information, Mohammed Said al-Sahhaf ("we have everything under control"), surrendered to the Americans this week. They nearly didn't recognise him because his hair had turned completely grey over the past two stressful months in hiding. Denying reality is a good survival technique, but the day of truth can turn you pale in no-time.

Played 'Settlers of Catan' with a group of friends. It's a 'game of discovery, settlement and trade' and has become very popular over the last years. Unfortunately I lost and Paul de Pender gained the ultimate victory with 12 points.

Had a long and inspiring talk with Evert Jan Ouweneel about Utrecht and God's work among young people and students. He's a clear thinker and sensitive to God's Spirit - a quite rare combination that he inherited from his well-known dad. Ouweneel Sr. owns three doctor's titles (highest university degree in theology, biology and philosophy), but one and a half week ago also led 27,000 young people at the EO Youth Day into a prayer for the filling of the Holy Spirit. Check out Evert Jan's website Websophia, his prize essay with suggestions for a reformation of the Dutch political system, and an academic course for managers on 'the seven main sins of the westerner'.

Met with a group of internet specialists in Doorn to talk about the technical infrastructure needed for a possible Lighthouse-type strategy in Holland. It's still in a brainstorm phase.

Karolien and I spent a sunny weekend in the surroundings of Lochem, a historic city in the east of the Netherlands. Having no kids around and even managing not to talk about them, was refreshing for our friendship. With thanks to my parents for serving us in this way.

This morning I met with the board of Joel Ministries. We talked about the need to more clearly define Joel Ministries' reformational agenda. There is a lot of renewal going on in the Church, but not much really needed reformation. Many Christians pray for transformation, but have probably no clue what exactly they are praying for. And if we knew, would we still really want it? Our board raised some good questions which we will pursue further in September.

It took quite an effort to get the Dutch edition of Joel News out this time. I compiled some testimonies of the '10 days for Holland'.

This weekend Karolien and I will be on a mini holiday without our kids. Let's see if we manage to talk to each other without mentioning David, Peter or Joel Ministries...

The torchbearers

Several years ago Rick Joyner had an experience of meeting Jesus who carried a torch in His hand. Joyner relates:

As He stopped He extended the torch to me, indicating that I should take it. “This is yours,” He said. “I started this fire, but you must keep it going.” As I took the torch I was surprised that it was so light. This made me think that it must also be extremely fragile. “It is neither light nor fragile,” the Lord said, answering my thoughts. “It has more substance and more weight than the earth itself. This is the light of My presence. If I was not close to you, you could not hold it. If you drift from My presence it will become heavy. If you drift very far from Me you will have to lay it down. Then someone else will pick it up to carry it.”

As I looked more closely at the torch I saw that it was breathing—it was alive! “This torch breathes the air of heaven, not earth. No power on earth can put its fire out if the torchbearer will walk in the heavenly realm. Its brightness and power depends on the life of the torchbearer, on how close to Me they walk.”

“This light of My presence is also what you call ‘a movement.’ I Am the Living Truth, and truth that is living always moves. Life always moves. As long as you are in the River of Living Water you will be moving.”

Then another voice behind us started speaking. “Even the torch itself can distract you from following Him.” I turned to see who was speaking and was surprised to see a man dressed in simple monk’s clothing. He had a serious but not uncheerful face. When he saw that he had my attention he continued. “In your times you will be one of many who will carry this torch. You will know the torchbearers when you meet them. You must encourage and help one another. Because none of you can stand alone, you must join with other torchbearers. When walking together you can break the power of any evil that confronts you. Together you will be able to set multitudes free from the gathering darkness, even nations will walk in the light of the torches that are now being given on the earth.”

The monk who was walking with us added, “In Him we live, and move... God is always moving. The Holy Spirit is always moving. When He moved upon the formless void, the chaos, He brought forth life, and He brought order. That is His purpose—to turn the chaos that evil has made into the ordered purpose of the life of the new creation. To walk in true life is to walk in a continually new creation. Then you will walk in the power that can bring order and purpose to lives that are in chaos. This torch has been the source of every movement of the Spirit on earth. The leaders of these movements were all torchbearers. The movements that stopped moving, and therefore, stopped living, did so because their torch was laid aside. If you are going to endure to the end you must stay close and you must not stop.”

"You will carry heaven to earth, and compel men on the earth to seek heaven. This will draw many to our Lord. If you take this torch, and then lay it down, someone else will take it up, and you can be used to do much evil.” “How would anyone who has seen the Lord, and carried this torch of His presence, be used to do ‘much evil?”’ I protested. “This torch will give its bearer great influence. Those who have carried it and then laid it down often do so because they begin to esteem the influence received from it more than His presence. As they drift from Him and the torch becomes too heavy for them, they lay it aside and begin to substitute their own words for His Words. This is how the doctrines and traditions of men begin to eclipse the influence of His Spirit over men. Even the torchbearers can be in the most danger of failing to the fear of man. All will fall who do not love the Lord more than sin and wickedness. All will fall who do not love the truth more than they love the praises of men. None will fall who love the Lord and the truth more than the idols. All who do not walk in the fear of the Lord will worship idols.”

Even in the manifest presence of the Lord and in the heavenly realm, these words were sobering. I gripped the torch much tighter. As I did, I felt so much energy flowing through me that it was as if every cell in my body was awakened and ready to spring forward. I thought of Romans 8:11, “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you.”

Seven-fold ministry in Switzerland

The DAWN meeting in Zürich went well. We discussed many things like: How would an apostolic structure for transformation look like? What is the role of prayer movements in such a process? What are the most influential elements to change a nation? What exactly will we use as a definition of church? These issues are not new, but need ongoing interaction and re-thinking.

In terms of future planning we decided to have a cluster of meetings in Bergen, Norway, in January 2004: a European consultation on city reaching, a Scandinavian consultation on church planting, a Norwegian DAWN conference, a Norwegian national prayer conference and a DAWN team meeting. For the coming time we have some work to do on the European research project that aims to map the key church planting developments.

On Saturday night we watched 'Bruce Almighty' (insert), a movie about Bruce Nolan, a 'human interest' TV reporter who is discontented with almost everything in life, despite his popularity and the love of his girlfriend. At the end of the worst day in his life, Bruce angrily ridicules and rages against God - and God responds. He appears in human form and challenges Bruce to take on the big job and see if he can do it any better. This leads of course to hilarious situations and even provides some good food for thought. How would you for instance answer 1.3 million prayer requests? Watch the movie and find out. Even Brian Mills laughed his way through.

After the DAWN meeting I spent a day at Wolfgang and Mercy Simson's place, which gave opportunity to reconnect with them and Chris Daza, John Mulinde and Eno Demiral. We talked extensively about the Rhine Project, a possible test-case for apostolic reformation (spiritually cleansing an area through strategic prayer, getting an apostolic body in place that throws the territorial demons out, and reclaiming the land by planting churches and reforming society). We also visited the Rheinau monastery that could function as a possible prophetic-apostolic centre in the region.

I brought an interesting book home: 'Healing like Jesus. Introduction to Christocentric healing' by Daniel Hari. He is a Swiss evangelical pastor who effectively ministers to esoteric people, and managed to write a book about it without any evangelical jargon.

Talked to Noel Richards on the phone who plans to gather 500,000 young people in Berlin in 2005 to worship Jesus in the Olympic Stadium.

Will be off to Switzerland for a team meeting of the DAWN European Network over the weekend. On Sunday evening and Monday I plan to meet up with some friends (Eno Demiral, Chris Daza, John Mulinde and Wolf Simson). Back Tuesday morning.

This afternoon Hugh and Norma Davies of EUReview & Call to Prayer paid us a visit. They're a nice eldery American couple who mobilise prayer for developments in the European Union, like the new draft constitution.

One of the issues we talked about is religious freedom. To be honest, I never pray for religious freedom. The main reason is that it is not so good for the extension of God's Kingdom. And although it's important to pray into the foundations of the European Union, the same could be true for the new constitution. At the moment there's a whole discussion going on whether God or Christianity should be mentioned in the constitution or not, but though it would be great to have Jesus mentioned as our Source of Wisdom, the truth is that the Church of Jesus Christ can never be limited by any earthly constitution or by religious oppression. The real question is whether we are willing to pay the price or not. Under the anti-Christian constitution of for instance the Roman Empire and modern-day China, under often severe persecution, the Church was and is thriving. And in the midst of an idolatrous system of government, God was able to raise up Joseph, Daniel and Esther. But they were set apart, prepared for 'such a time as this'. Are we?

Had my first driving lesson. The instructor was very encouraging - "you need at least 60 lessons," he said. Karolien's response: "For the money it would be good to get your driving license at the first exam, but for my ego it would be better if you'd have to go for a second time." Anybody out there to cheer me on?

Can a nation be delivered from mafia crime, human trafficking and blood feuding? Yes, says a group of young people in Albania, who launched a national campaign called MJAFT! (ENOUGH!).

Prayer cycle pilgrimage

Here are some pictures and comments of my prayer cycle prilgrimage from Maastricht to Echternach last week. The first track (Egmond-Utrecht-Maastricht) I completed last year. See the archives of July and September 2002 for the full story. Although I didn't include the spiritual footnotes in my blog, I had prayer times in Egmond (where according to one interpretation of history Willibrord and his team set foot on Dutch soil), Utrecht (his missionary base) and Maastricht.

DAY 1: Maastricht-Vaals-Moresnet Chapelle. Maastricht is the city of Servaes, a missionary from Armenia who founded a base for the gospel in this city in the 4th century. Engraved on the doors of the basilique is the text "open the gates for the Deliverer". A good place to pray for open doors for God's Kingdom in this region. Vaals is the highest point of the Netherlands, right on the boundary with Germany and Belgium. Last year, at the start of the '10 days' we took a prayer team to this 'mountain' to proclaim God's word over our nation. In the evening I reached Moresnet-Chapelle in Belgium where I took time to reflect on the cross of Christ and spent the night in a Fransiscan monastery. The monks were very hospitable.

DAY 2: Moresnet Chapelle-Eupen-St.Vith-Ouren-Wilwerdange. A shower caught me on my way up to the plateau of Hautes Fagnes. No way to hide, I was soaking wet and discovered that my cycle bags weren't water-proof either. Luckily there was a cosy restaurant at the top where they served warm soup. The way down to Waimes and St.Vith was fast and the sun was coming back. In Ouren I prayed at St. Peter's church at the border with Germany and Luxemburg. I spent the evening with Johan Koopman, a Dutch missionary to Luxemburg who lives in Wilwerdange. It was good to hear his perspective on one of the most unreached nations in Europe.

DAY 3: Wilwerdange-Clervaux-Wilwerwiltz-Vianden-Wallendorf Pont. The weather was great today and I quickly reached Clervaux. Several years ago I walked Luxemburg from west to east and from north to south, making a cross over the nation. Clervaux was the heart of the cross, though today it's still also a centre of withcraft. In Wilwerwiltz I visited the little Willibrord chapel that God used prophetically back in 1997 to show me it's time to "dig up the spiritual wells". The chapel contains a statue of Willibrord and a well that he dug about 1300 years ago. The Lord led me to sort of connect the Netherlands and Luxemburg in prayer during these '10 days', having faith that both nations will open up for the gospel. Via Vianden with it's massive castle I reached Wallendorf Pont where I camped at the shore of the Sauer river.

DAY 4: Wallendorf Pont-Echternach-Luxemburg city. In the morning I reached Echternach, the destination of my pilgrimage. Willibrord founded a monastery here, like in Utrecht, that functioned as an apostolic base for the region. He was buried in the basilique, surrounded by Celtic ornaments. Every year on the Tuesday after Pentecost the famous 'dance procession' takes place to commemorate the apostle of the Frisians (Netherlands) and Luxemburgers. This year all the Dutch bishops will join in the procession. From Echternach I followed the cycle path along the former rail track straight through the forests and meadows to Luxemburg city. When I reached the train station, my faithful cycle gave up. Just in time...

'Holy, Holy, Holistic' is the title of an article in Time about the way German convents and monasteries are marketing themselves as New Age spiritual retreats for paying customers. Upside: monasteries have something essential to offer for spiritual seekers. Downside: zen, qigong and tai chi are bad sources, while the Christian tradition of meditation is so rich.

This week Time has a special on 'Searching God in Europe'. It gives a fair overview of the decline and opportunities of the Church, and ends with "the faithful can take heart, too, from the knowledge that, while their God may not be in the E.U. constitution, He's still all over Europe."

It's interesting to observe how God is 'arranging' things. Unity between protestants and catholics has always been a bit complicated in the Netherlands (and not only here). Over the last few years as we prayed about this, the Lord made us realise that we have the same 'founding father', an Anglo-Celtic missionary named Willibrord (insert). When he came to the 'Low Lands', he established a beachhead for the gospel in Utrecht, which has been the 'apostolic centre' of our nation since. This week is a special week, because God seems to connect some dots:

- Last Saturday 200,000 Christians gathered in Berlin for the first combined catholic-protestant church gathering, the biggest event of its sort in Europe (yes, I know it's pretty ecumenical, with syncretistic tendencies, but still, God is in the business of reconciliation).
- The national prayer campaign '10 days for Holland' between Ascension Day and Pentecost is coinciding with the biggest prayer effort ever in the Dutch catholic church: 500,000 catholics are challenged by their leaders to join in 9 days of prayer for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Both campaigns end with a (not combined) prayer concert / celebration on the 10th day, Saturday 7 June in Utrecht.
- This week I will continue my prayer and cycle pilgrimage in the footsteps (or rather horse footsteps) of Willibrord from the Netherlands to Luxemburg.
- This week's edition of Visie, the main Christian magazine in Holland, published an article on 'breakthrough prayer in your own neighborhood'. One of the people they interviewed was a pastor in Zuilen, one of the poor neighborhoods in Utrecht. He's a man of prayer and God is using his family to change the spiritual climate in this neighborhood. But in this same neighborhood, without anybody knowing or realising, catholic nuns started a non-stop prayer and worship base. It seems to me God is leading both protestants and catholics in the same direction. Unity in the Spirit is closer than we think.

In memoriam: Annelie Nel-Barnard

A friend of mine, Annelie Nel-Barnard from South Africa, passed away last weekend. I met her in Russia in October 1999 on a training conference for intercessory leaders where we both taught. She was one of those rare people with both a gifting in intercession, warfare and spiritual mapping, and an extremely fruitful church planting ministry. One of the networks she started in Mozambique has grown to 4500 churches with each a membership of between 100 and 500 people. Still she would not write too much about this in her newsletters, her heart was to serve and give all glory to Jesus. She told me her vision was to train young church planters and intercessors in Europe. But after she left Russia, she didn't make it back to Europe, because of severe money and health problems. In one of her last e-mails she wrote:

"During the past months I suffered a great deal with my health and nearly lost my life at several times, so I do not write this letter to you easily. As many of you know, a very big part of my ministry is training people to destroy the kingdom of darkness through interceding by the truth of God's light. Some time ago, we met someone that, as he calls himself 'the anointed and appointed of God'. He gives himself out to be an evangelist and asked me to help him with counselling and deliverance in certain areas of his life as he came from an occult background. He stayed with us for three months. During those three months I started experiencing very bad health problems. Today I know that he was a 'son of Lucifer' sent with the mission to kill and destroy me through voodoo and witchcraft. I only realised that my suspicion was true and what had exactly happened when we got a phone call from a pastor friend from Korea telling me that I have been poisoned and bewitched. He even gave me the name of the person who did it and described him to me in detail. The pastor did not know this person involved. A week later I received a similar call from pastor Benny Hinn from America. Some other great anointed people of God in South Africa and America confirmed it, and tracing this person's life also confirmed it.

"Doctors did not find the source of my problem physically in spite of x-rays, sonars, ultrasound and other tests. So we started working on the problem spiritually by breaking the curses and the effect of the poison. We had to deal with many dark things that God has revealed since. Finally the worst was over and I am on the way to recovery. I still use oxygen and a wheel chair to help me recover, but I am getting stronger.

"Why am I telling you this story? Harry Potter, written by a powerful witch, is putting the power of darkness in the mind and mouth of every little child who reads it, or watches it! I know witchcraft and each and every spell in those books are real powerful spells! In real life they are widely used by satanists and usually go with human sacrifice. The way to deal with a curse or spell is not to receive it, but to renounce it in the name of Jesus and to return it to where it is coming from! Please my friends, receive this warning from someone who cares about you and your children. May the trials that I am going through be a warning in time from Father to you and a very ignorant Christian community."

Somehow her death keeps me pondering... To what extent can satan hinder God's calling on our lives? Did we stand on the gap enough for Annelie? If being on the cutting edge means putting our lives to risk, are we ready to do it?

Some pictures of our family outing last week. David likes his new sunglasses and flower picking in the polder.

Peter enjoys camping and quality beer (and don't tell me we don't raise our kids properly ;-).

To plant or not to plant - the female perspective

At Andrew's blog the discussion about church planting terminology is continuing. Rebecca remarks: "All of these metaphors are so male. Planting - inserting something other into the virgin earth. Ignite - burning up all combustible material. They are like the term 'winning lost souls', which makes me cringe. It's that territorial, colonizing mind-set illustrated by the medieval crusades. What about reconciliation? What about a metaphor that doesn't talk about taking over, burning up, or digging in? What about a metaphor that truly gets at the root of the matter? People don't need to be colonized or gardened. How will they be reconciled?" Andrew responds: "Thanks, Rebecca. A great book is 'The Nations Called' by Pieter Bos in which he does away with the military terminology and brings out God's romantic desire to be in covenant with the nations he loves. You would like it."

Rob Lewin also offers an interesting reflection:

1. Trying to name this at all creates conflict in the new 'post-whatever' wineskin. The community of believers who gather, no matter how small, rarely require their communal action to have a name. The group will name itself, but the beginning, generating action - they won't care about. They just love people and like being together with people of Jesus. Leaders with one foot in the old wineskin, on the other hand, they need it. "I must name my activity. Am I a firestarter, igniter, an ember gatherer, or what?" The reason we feel so compelled to name it is that in the old world naming=marketing=selling=success=money. If, however, I don't take money from this enterprise, don't need it to 'succeed', and am not looking for anything 'bigger or better', and won't need to use this on my resume, then why name my action. I can be comfortable with serving others in Jesus' name.

2. Naming the action in the old wineskin was also the career description of a lone, strong, square-jawed, cowboy-esque, male leader bringing his 'vision' for a new church to an unsuspecting population. And while passionate individuals are always needed to 'genesis' new groups; those groups in the new world won't endure being one individual's success story. Gone are the days of 'my church' and welcome to the days of 'our church'. And gone are the days when men were the only 'igniters.

3. Ember Gatherer. Jesus has already been at work developing embers in everyone. For a very long time. Gathering what God has already begun is the 'church planter job'. This role of gathering is the opposite of what we were taught in the 'old wineskin'. "You must hunt!" Men hunt, women gather. Hunting also allows me to perceive myself in a semi-executive role ministering to a nation, region or whatever. Note growth of arrogance. Sorry. Standing like Moses over the Red Sea and commanding "Come, people, through all my strategic thinking, marketing, and planning to the Lord your God" died at least 10 years ago. Leading has been serving for 2003 years minimum, and won't change anytime soon. Often, naming my job is a trick of avoidance to keep from doing the serving, caring, gathering; the real work and life of the Kingdom.

I asked Karolien what she thinks about the issue. She responded: "I have nothing with 'church', but I like the word 'planting'. I associate it with renewal and multiplication. New life." But would you use it to describe what you're doing? "No, I would use a different term: home caring. Taking care of and nurturing a family, a concept that I would extend to the neighborhood." I guess it's a typical male/female difference of approach. Men are more functional and goal oriented, women are more relational and process oriented. The postmodern mindset is definitely more female.

Had a break with the family. On Wednesday and Thursday we visited missionary friends in Oldenbroek and did some 'test camping' with the kids in Elburg. Great camping site, great fun, though not much sleep. On Friday I took David on a cycling trip from Utrecht to The Hague, through the famous Dutch polder landscape. In the evening a family picknick on the grounds of the Amelisweerd estate. And yesterday we cycled from The Hague through Hoek of Holland to Maassluis. Spent the afternoon on the beach, playing with sand and water. David was very excited, he was rolling through the sand like a young dog.

BTW, have you ever cycled two meters below the sea level? Try a cycling holiday in Holland, the eldorado for cyclists. At the tourist information website you can plan your route. Accomodation for the night is never a problem, thanks to the 'Friends on Bicycle Foundation', where over 2100 people agreed to open their house to passing cyclists for not more than 15 euro per night (yes, this really is Holland). I'm pleased to see that cycling and house church go so well together. ;-)