Marc's Short Messages

Playing soccer with the Morroccan kids in our neighborhood is always a balancing act between coaching and being a policeman. Lack of identity, healthy parenting and respect are serious issues for this 2nd and 3rd generation immigrants. Out of the roughly 25 kids that play on the square outside our apartment, our two boys are the only 'white ones'. No surprise there's a rising populist voice in the Netherlands and Mr. Wilders might even win the elections. It's complicated matter. (No worries, we're not populist voters.)

Uploaded some pics to my Flickr account that I made while en route in SW Spain (wide Seville area) and South Portugal (Algarve up to Cascais).

My DAWN colleague Andreas from Germany is writing about the new forms of community he's exploring in his post-denominational phase: prophetic relationships, two-by-twos, weekly tele-prayers in pairs, and recognition groups. 

Tineke, who's part of our neighborhood prayer group, was baptized today in the lake near Tienhoven.

I'm currently reading Jeff Jarvis' 'What Would Google Do?', a business book with lessons from Google. Good stuff about social networks and a whole generation that grows up with global connectivity and information sharing.

I spent a few days in Portugal to pray and visit friends. It was good to meet Nuno and his family in Lisbon and spend a day with the nomadic Jones family who were camping on the shores of the Atlantic.

Met with Jonathan to discuss his possible involvement in the European simple church project. He and his wife just finished a CPx training in Kansas City and Cambodia, and are now preparing for ministry in Spanish speaking Europe.

David turned 10 and he's now the proud owner of a Nintendo dsi, a small game computer. For some reason he was 100 percent confident that he would get what he has been talking about for months. And it's quite impressive how he mastered almost every function within a day.

The May school holiday is coming to an end. I added recent Spring and family pics of the Weerribben wetlands area, Amersfoort Zoo, Doorwerth and Sint Jansberg to my Flickr account.