Hey everyone!
I just ran across this article in Al-Jazeera. I gotta say, I'm proud that someone is at least talking about doing something.
This is my last week in Spain. I've got a bunch of little things and big things to take care of, but I know that, in something like 107 hours, I'll be leaving the country, and might not be back for a while.
This is hard for me. Many people ask where I "live", or where my home is. I usually say that it's here, in Barcelona. I say my parents live in Austin, that I was born and raised in Houston, Texas (a fact of which I am infinitely proud), and that I lived in Kansas for a few years in college. But my home, for the last three years has been here in Spain.
And it's almost never easy leaving home.
Grace and Peace,
Nate
3/29/2009
3/19/2009
Students at the University of Barcelona on strike.
Read this article. Google can translate the article for you here.
These are some students from my university here in Barcelona. They are protesting recent administration decisions. Yesterday, the protests turned violent.
Please pray that this is the last violence done in this situation.
More to come...
Grace and Peace,
Nate
3/09/2009
What's going on?
This is a picture of the medina in Marrakesh at night... Tasty!!!Hey... I'm sure some of you might be wondering what's going on. Welp, the brief rundown is as follows:
1. I'm trying to pack four months of masters program into two months. I've got classes four days a week, and an internship fifteen hours a week. This semester has been much more challenging that the last. My classes are "Ecologic Thought", "Alasis of Human Rights Doctrines", "Right of People and Rights of Citizens", "Ethics and Cultural Diversity", "Democracy and Representation", and I just finished my paper for "Gender and Politics". I am interning in an NGO that works in cultural assimilation and job placement, mainly for Moroccans, into the Catalan and Spanish culture. I'm working in the project development sector, where we create and manage field work, anything from environmental protection, to coops, to labor training, to beds for hospitals. I'm also developing proposals to solicit funding from organizations.
2. French and Catalan are still going on, though just once a week now because of my masters schedule.
3. We're halfway through our Alpha course, and it's very encouraging (as always). People are starting to open up, share more personal stories, and be affected. We're having our retreat next weekend.
4. I just got back from Morocco. I'll be sending out a newsletter shortly with more details about that trip. If you don't receive my newsletter and you'd like to, please click here to email me!.
5. Fundraising. From January to June, I need to raise $15,000. So far, about $4,000 has come in! Praise God! Please, if you are giving, keep on! If you like to give,please click here to email me! and find out how you can give.
So, that's the brief run-down. There's some other stuff too, but I gotta get crackin'. I'll try to briefly update more often. Please forgive my silence.
Grace and Peace,
Nate
12/14/2008
Interview with Matthew Alexander
I just watched this interview with "Matthew Alexander" on the Daily Show with John Stewart:
Click here to check it out.
The man interviewed is a former interrogator for the U.S. military. I really liked what he had to say, and the experiences he's had. Building relationships with insurgents in Iraq to acquire information, according to Alexander, works WAAAAAAAY better than waterboarding... Glad someone said that out loud...
Grace and Peace,
Nate
Click here to check it out.
The man interviewed is a former interrogator for the U.S. military. I really liked what he had to say, and the experiences he's had. Building relationships with insurgents in Iraq to acquire information, according to Alexander, works WAAAAAAAY better than waterboarding... Glad someone said that out loud...
Grace and Peace,
Nate
12/08/2008
Know Your Faith, Part 2: Or, Church Planting and Faith Community Development.
Hello everyone! Life has been interesting over the last few weeks. I turned 26 on the 5th of December (thanks to everyone who wrote and sent their birthday wishes!). It was a good time of friends, food and fire! Yeah, one of the candles (something like a mix between roman candle and a sparkler) shot sparks all over the place and lit the cake plate on fire! It was good though, and great to have so many friends together in one place.
So, in continuation of the “Know Your Faith” series, and this particular topic of Church Planting and Faith Community Development, I wanted to start off with the announcement that, after much prayer and counsel, we’ve decided to end the planting of a church here in Barcelona for now. We are going to let the vision die. Many have asked me with concern in their voices and sympathy in their questions, “Are you ok?” And I always smile really big, and say, “Yeah, I’m great! I feel completely at peace about the whole thing, and I’m actually very encouraged.” I get some pretty puzzled looks…
Why am I encouraged that we have decided to stop (some might say that we’ve failed) with the church plant here in Barcelona? Why do I feel at peace and completely content about the decision that we’ve made? Partly because of the support and counsel we’ve gracefully received from mostly everyone, from the folks in our group here, to my “bosses”, family, friends, as well as others here in Barcelona, even some pastors. Also—and this might seem a little strange concept—stopping the church plant actually allows us to develop the community of faith more than we were as an official church. Let me explain.
Here planting the church, for the past year and a half, there have only been two committed people in leadership: Fabio and myself. There is now a group of about three or four people who are committed to remaining as a small group, but no one else in leadership. This fall, with falling numbers in attendance on Sunday mornings, also Friday evenings, trying to maintain a prayer meeting, run an Alpha course, planning small group and Sunday morning services, as well as meeting with people, discipleship, Fabio with his full time job and myself as a part-time student, we were exhausted by the end of the week, and had to restart it all the next week. As we decided to take a break from Sunday mornings, dialoging with people about expectations and commitment, we found out that folks really didn’t want a church on Sunday mornings. Most of the people we work with are working just as much, if not more hours than we are, and have less and less time, money and energy to commit to anything, let along a church plant. While they like coming to the group, or Alpha, or whatever, they did not want to have to make a full commitment to being a part of a church. So, this is one, among other reasons, than we decided to stop with the church plant.
We are still doing basically everything else that I mentioned above and more.
Why?
Because we are about the people, the Body of Christ, the Church. My work goes on here for the time that I’ve committed (through June, 2009). We are about developing the community of faith, a vision of which church planting forms a part. We have learned a lot about what it might take to plant a church here in Barcelona (good for my future reference), but we’ve learned infinitely more about what it means to be and build up the people of God. I myself have had some hard lessons about shared leadership and submission, knowing boundaries with friends, and even the need to know and represent well my friends and the group as a whole. In these personal lessons, as well as the rest of this experience, I’ve received much, MUCH grace from friends and co-workers, and wish that I’d shown more grace in many circumstances. I know—now more than ever—that we are not perfect people, but God can work with us and in us. By His wounds, we are healed, by His Spirit, guided and assured.
I remember sitting down and having coffee with one of the most gentle men I’ve ever met not long after arriving in Barcelona. Miguel Juez is coordinator of all “foreign” churches for the Evangelical Counsel of Catalunya. His job is basically to be a pastor to resident aliens here in Catalunya and the churches they form a part of. He asked me if I was here to plant a denominational church. I said yes, and he asked me if I thought one year was enough. I told him I didn’t know, but didn’t see why not. Pushing the point that a church might not be as easily planted as I hoped, he asked what would happen if it didn’t work out, with the people that had started coming to our group. I told him that I’d hoped we’d invested enough love and presence in their lives, and that God would have so transformed them that, if a church plant didn’t actually survive, that these folks would go to other churches and infect them, to basically go and make disciples of all nations, to make the churches they’d form a part of mission minded churches. I would hope that the spirit of living outside the church walls, interacting with a dark world, shining light, will be as contagious and spread as rapidly as Ebola…
We’ll see what happens.
Grace and Peace,
Nate
So, in continuation of the “Know Your Faith” series, and this particular topic of Church Planting and Faith Community Development, I wanted to start off with the announcement that, after much prayer and counsel, we’ve decided to end the planting of a church here in Barcelona for now. We are going to let the vision die. Many have asked me with concern in their voices and sympathy in their questions, “Are you ok?” And I always smile really big, and say, “Yeah, I’m great! I feel completely at peace about the whole thing, and I’m actually very encouraged.” I get some pretty puzzled looks…
Why am I encouraged that we have decided to stop (some might say that we’ve failed) with the church plant here in Barcelona? Why do I feel at peace and completely content about the decision that we’ve made? Partly because of the support and counsel we’ve gracefully received from mostly everyone, from the folks in our group here, to my “bosses”, family, friends, as well as others here in Barcelona, even some pastors. Also—and this might seem a little strange concept—stopping the church plant actually allows us to develop the community of faith more than we were as an official church. Let me explain.
Here planting the church, for the past year and a half, there have only been two committed people in leadership: Fabio and myself. There is now a group of about three or four people who are committed to remaining as a small group, but no one else in leadership. This fall, with falling numbers in attendance on Sunday mornings, also Friday evenings, trying to maintain a prayer meeting, run an Alpha course, planning small group and Sunday morning services, as well as meeting with people, discipleship, Fabio with his full time job and myself as a part-time student, we were exhausted by the end of the week, and had to restart it all the next week. As we decided to take a break from Sunday mornings, dialoging with people about expectations and commitment, we found out that folks really didn’t want a church on Sunday mornings. Most of the people we work with are working just as much, if not more hours than we are, and have less and less time, money and energy to commit to anything, let along a church plant. While they like coming to the group, or Alpha, or whatever, they did not want to have to make a full commitment to being a part of a church. So, this is one, among other reasons, than we decided to stop with the church plant.
We are still doing basically everything else that I mentioned above and more.
Why?
Because we are about the people, the Body of Christ, the Church. My work goes on here for the time that I’ve committed (through June, 2009). We are about developing the community of faith, a vision of which church planting forms a part. We have learned a lot about what it might take to plant a church here in Barcelona (good for my future reference), but we’ve learned infinitely more about what it means to be and build up the people of God. I myself have had some hard lessons about shared leadership and submission, knowing boundaries with friends, and even the need to know and represent well my friends and the group as a whole. In these personal lessons, as well as the rest of this experience, I’ve received much, MUCH grace from friends and co-workers, and wish that I’d shown more grace in many circumstances. I know—now more than ever—that we are not perfect people, but God can work with us and in us. By His wounds, we are healed, by His Spirit, guided and assured.
I remember sitting down and having coffee with one of the most gentle men I’ve ever met not long after arriving in Barcelona. Miguel Juez is coordinator of all “foreign” churches for the Evangelical Counsel of Catalunya. His job is basically to be a pastor to resident aliens here in Catalunya and the churches they form a part of. He asked me if I was here to plant a denominational church. I said yes, and he asked me if I thought one year was enough. I told him I didn’t know, but didn’t see why not. Pushing the point that a church might not be as easily planted as I hoped, he asked what would happen if it didn’t work out, with the people that had started coming to our group. I told him that I’d hoped we’d invested enough love and presence in their lives, and that God would have so transformed them that, if a church plant didn’t actually survive, that these folks would go to other churches and infect them, to basically go and make disciples of all nations, to make the churches they’d form a part of mission minded churches. I would hope that the spirit of living outside the church walls, interacting with a dark world, shining light, will be as contagious and spread as rapidly as Ebola…
We’ll see what happens.
Grace and Peace,
Nate
11/22/2008
Know your Faith, Part 1: Or, stuck between the Crescent and the Watchtower.
Hello everyone! I realize it’s been a month. Sorry.
What have I been up to? Welp, I’ve decided to give some installments into the life of Nate, which I will do over the next couple of weeks, in a series (oooooo, a series!) of posts called “Know Your Faith”. To start these things off, I wanted to share about my experiences with Muslims and Jehovah’s Witnesses (JWs, not Mormons).
The following thoughts are based on my reading and interaction with actual, real people who are Muslims and Jehovah’s Witnesses. I do not profess to be an expert in Islamic or JW theology, I am only writing in regards to what I have experienced in countless hours of conversation and personal study. I would love to hear from anyone—Muslim, JW, or the average Joe or Jane—who might have anything to add or subtract. That said, on with the reflection.
Looking back over the last two or three years, I’ve noticed a trend: I always look to find and meet with Muslim men, and the JWs always seem to find and meet with me. Muslims are strict monotheists (maybe even more so than the Jews, given the focus on the transcendence of God). On the other hand, the JWs, who believe Yahweh (a.k.a., Jehovah), the Almighty, Eternal God and Jesus are two distinct gods (Jesus, in fact, being the first creation of Yahweh), and the Holy Spirit is the active force of God in the world, are bi- or polytheist, depending on how far your want to take the interpretation. Both faiths have a certain “gnosis”—knowledge—to them. That is, there are certain “things you need to know/do/say” to be “on the up and up” or “down low” or “in”. For the Muslims, it’s the Shahadah: “La ilaha illa Allah, Mohammad Rasul Allah” (There is no god but God, Muhammad is the Messenger of God). Just saying this makes you a Muslims, and therefore, “in” (granted, there’s the five Pilars, but as I said, I’m going off the conversations I’ve had). The JWs on the other hand, are preoccupied with orthodoxy, or “right worship/praise”. This includes the “orthodox” of The Almighty Yahweh, and, separately, Jesus, His only begotten Son, who died for our sins, was raised by Yahweh, and is now seated at “His right hand” (read here that Yahweh and Jesus are to be worshiped/adored in separate senses, because they are separate entities).
There’s a lot more in all of this than I can possibly write right now. But why am I writing about this anyway? What’s the big deal?
1. I have a tremendous amount of respect and love for Muslims and Jehovah’s Witnesses. For Muslims, they have an unshakable, untiring understanding of their faith and their world. God (“Allah” is just the Arabic word for God) created everything and everyone, and is the only thing worthy of worship and sacrifice. Every Muslim I have ever spoken to, whether they practice faithfully, or barely practice their faith will say to their dying breath, “La ilaha illa Allah, Muhammad Rasul Allah.” Many Christians I know and interact with are not this firm in their faith, or confession of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of their lives, much less their devotion to the Triune God. For the JWs, I know few people who are as studious, meticulous and well versed in Scripture, and who are so thoroughly convicted about what they believe is the correct interpretation of Scripture. It is awe-inspiring to watch my one of JW friends, Enrique, recite verse after verse, and cite scholar after scholar (most are Protestant, Evangelical scholars), knowledge that has come from a lifetime of devotion to Jehovah and His Holy Scriptures.
2. “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another,” (Proverbs 27:17). Let me be very clear. I am an orthodox/catholic/protestant/evangelical Christian. I believe in the One God, who is revealed in three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. How then, is it, that Muslims and JWs sharpen me? First of all, both of these faiths drive me deep into Scripture, prayer, and the heart of God. They make me examine thoroughly my own beliefs and experiences, and help me to articulate what I believe, read, and know to be Truth. They both push me into the history and tradition of the Church; the good, the bad, and the ugly history and tradition of the Church. And they are both quickly growing presences in the vacuum created by the failed “institutional church”. To quote Jack Nicholson from the movie “As Good as it Gets”, Muslims and JWs, “Make me want to be a better man.” They challenge me to be a man versed in Scripture, guided by the Spirit in everything that I say and do. They keep me on my toes, keep me fit, and keep me sharp.
3. This is the reality all over the world. If we as Trinitarian Christians cannot keep up, do not wrestle with and incarnate our faith, and sit around like bumps on a log, what will happen? If we don’t know how to respond to the Muslim religion or the Jehovah’s Witness heresy, or fumble our words when speaking to real people who are Muslims or JWs, what will happen?
Know your faith. Know our faith. The faith of our fathers and mothers. “We are not alone, we did not begin here.”
I’ll write more soon.
Grace and Peace,
Nate
10/14/2008
Ramadan, Masters, and “The Future” (Ooooooooo…)
Here's a new video I put together for the work the Covenant is doing in Spain. Check it out:
Time to update. Too much time always passes, and passes too quickly between posts. Working on it☺…
The month of September I spent like never before: participating in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Basic rules are no eating or drinking anything (including water) while the sun’s up, no smoking and no sex even after the sun goes down. Ramadan’s interesting, because every night is like a big party, people always getting together to break the day’s fast, talk about their experiences, and everything. It was pretty awesome to see and be a part of some days.
It also, literally, blew the door wide open to talk to soooo many people, Muslims, Christians, atheists, agnostics, whomever. I had many, many good conversations with some Muslim friends, about fasting, Christian/Muslim spiritual disciplines, purity, and of course, the Qur’an and the Bible.
For example, we had one guy come to an international dinner who is a Muslim from Senegal. I introduced myself and told him I’d heard he was doing Ramadan. After I explained that I too was participating, we spent nearly an hour in my room, discussing the Qur’an and the Bible. He was surprised that I, a Christian had even bothered to read the Qur’an, and that I, a Christian, would be doing Ramadan, and that I, a Christian, have a concept of purity, and that I, a Christian, etc… It was a good conversation, and I hope that there will be more opportunity to talk with him, as he lives outside of town.
Pray for me as I go to an Islamic Center to talk to the folks there, and that I would especially find a person of peace, who is open to studying the Holy Books with me.
I have also started a masters program here in “Citizenship and Human Rights: Ethics and Politics”. I’m VERY excited to be back in school, and nervous and excited about what I’m studying, which, really, I’ve never studies before. My classes are very challenging, and very interesting. Two in particular, are “Crisis of Rights and Civil Disobedience” and “Institutes of Political Participation”. Both have a lot to do with America and the West’s “behavior” over the past 8 years (basically since Bush was elected and 9/11 happened). Being the only American, I’ve been asked several times to share my opinions and understanding about certain realities and actions that America takes, either on the local or national level, by both private and public parties.
Pray for me as I try to be a light in my school, and learn how to afftect a greater change here in Spain in the public sector. Very interesting times we’re living in.
Lastly, I wanted to share where we are as a church, or “the future”. We’re not sure what’s going on, but we know that we’ve been pretty stagnant over the last three months. We’ve only had about eight or ten regulars coming for the past three months, so we are in a process of evaluation. We have decided to possibly stop having Sunday morning meetings, and continue with Friday nights, Monday prayer, and Tuesday Alpha group. We are not sure what’s going to happen, but we have seen some signs of life since we shared this possibility with the group. Many have reacted by taking a bit of initiative in saying “How can I help so that we can continue as a church?” I’ve been surprised, and, frankly, encouraged by the few responses like this. Fabio and me won’t be here forever, and I think the folks here are starting to, or will start, to take ownership of the church. It’s not about us. It’s about them.
Pray for our wisdom and discernment in figuring out what we need to be and what the people here need to be as a church.
Thanks. I’ll write more soon. Gotta get to French classes.
Grace and Peace,
Nate
Time to update. Too much time always passes, and passes too quickly between posts. Working on it☺…
The month of September I spent like never before: participating in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Basic rules are no eating or drinking anything (including water) while the sun’s up, no smoking and no sex even after the sun goes down. Ramadan’s interesting, because every night is like a big party, people always getting together to break the day’s fast, talk about their experiences, and everything. It was pretty awesome to see and be a part of some days.
It also, literally, blew the door wide open to talk to soooo many people, Muslims, Christians, atheists, agnostics, whomever. I had many, many good conversations with some Muslim friends, about fasting, Christian/Muslim spiritual disciplines, purity, and of course, the Qur’an and the Bible.
For example, we had one guy come to an international dinner who is a Muslim from Senegal. I introduced myself and told him I’d heard he was doing Ramadan. After I explained that I too was participating, we spent nearly an hour in my room, discussing the Qur’an and the Bible. He was surprised that I, a Christian had even bothered to read the Qur’an, and that I, a Christian, would be doing Ramadan, and that I, a Christian, have a concept of purity, and that I, a Christian, etc… It was a good conversation, and I hope that there will be more opportunity to talk with him, as he lives outside of town.
Pray for me as I go to an Islamic Center to talk to the folks there, and that I would especially find a person of peace, who is open to studying the Holy Books with me.
I have also started a masters program here in “Citizenship and Human Rights: Ethics and Politics”. I’m VERY excited to be back in school, and nervous and excited about what I’m studying, which, really, I’ve never studies before. My classes are very challenging, and very interesting. Two in particular, are “Crisis of Rights and Civil Disobedience” and “Institutes of Political Participation”. Both have a lot to do with America and the West’s “behavior” over the past 8 years (basically since Bush was elected and 9/11 happened). Being the only American, I’ve been asked several times to share my opinions and understanding about certain realities and actions that America takes, either on the local or national level, by both private and public parties.
Pray for me as I try to be a light in my school, and learn how to afftect a greater change here in Spain in the public sector. Very interesting times we’re living in.
Lastly, I wanted to share where we are as a church, or “the future”. We’re not sure what’s going on, but we know that we’ve been pretty stagnant over the last three months. We’ve only had about eight or ten regulars coming for the past three months, so we are in a process of evaluation. We have decided to possibly stop having Sunday morning meetings, and continue with Friday nights, Monday prayer, and Tuesday Alpha group. We are not sure what’s going to happen, but we have seen some signs of life since we shared this possibility with the group. Many have reacted by taking a bit of initiative in saying “How can I help so that we can continue as a church?” I’ve been surprised, and, frankly, encouraged by the few responses like this. Fabio and me won’t be here forever, and I think the folks here are starting to, or will start, to take ownership of the church. It’s not about us. It’s about them.
Pray for our wisdom and discernment in figuring out what we need to be and what the people here need to be as a church.
Thanks. I’ll write more soon. Gotta get to French classes.
Grace and Peace,
Nate
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