Starting Off

This has been a very busy Sunday... starting off with Upstreet Summer Craze at 9AM (and can you believe it? I was the only 4th grade volunteer this morning. AHHHHH), worship at Buckhead Church at 11 - and then returning home with bagged lunch courtesy of Chipotle in hand to prepare for this evening's Estonia Mission Trip meeting.

On my checklist for what I wanted to accomplish today was to draft my support letter, as I am well aware of my need to get a team in place to support me for the trip, and start up my personal blog so that I can inform those that I invite about what we are up to in regards to trip planning, prayer requests, news from the field, etc. It's exciting.

Since this is my first blog post... a few things about Estonia. I'll make sure to post some new facts about the country with every blog posting:

“Where is Estonia?” The country borders Russia from the west and is one of the former “Baltic Republics” that split from the Soviet Union during the mid-1990’s (along with its southern neighbors: Latvia and Lithuania). Estonia has a population of about 1.4 million people and is considered one of the least churched areas in Europe (less than 1% are practicing Christians), which may be a byproduct of the rule of the Soviet regime.

Since this is a "first post" - I'll let you know what type of support I'm looking for. First and foremost, I need prayer support as any ministry effort is God-sized and God works through the prayers of His people. Cool, huh? It's like the KSBJ motto: "God Listens" - He pays attention to our requests and acts according to the dreams and hopes that He shares with us to share with Him. It also says that God cares about what is on our heart.

Second, I defintely need encouragement from you... so please feel free to send comments/notes to the blog or to my e-mail (chriswillis96@yahoo.com). This is especially important because spiritual attack is part of the game... for instance I was BURIED in a project in Dallas for two solid months before going to Croatia last fall and was working crazy hours up until the 11th hour to get a project out. The enemy is not happy when we are pursuing God's will and will look for opportunities for distractions... one of the coolest features of the Church is that we have the ability to be "Jesus with skin on" to others in the Church and encourage them when we are facing these types of issues... and give us perspective on life and what God is doing.

Third... is financial support. I have been asked to raise $1,800 for my portion of the trip, which covers traveling expenses going-to and when we are in Tartu (the city in Estonia where the University we will be outreaching to is located). If you wish to support me, please send the checks to me and write them out to "NorthPoint Ministries" with "Estonia Mission Trip" in the memo line. Do not put my name on there... it's not good for your tax purposes, and I want your filing of your support to the IRS to be smooth and painless :-).

More to come. I'm looking forward to the journey!!!!

Chris <><