In his poem 'To a Mouse', the Scottish poet Robert Burns wrote that 'the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry'. And while this may tempt us to toss planning out the window, the opposite should be case: because the friction of life so often interjects into our plans, it requires constant focus and attention to get done what is necessary. 

For Christians, however,  not only are we called to be led by the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:14), but all of our activity takes place under the banner of the Great Commission Jesus entrusted to his followers: 'Go and make disciples of all nations' (Matthew 28:19). It is under this canopy of mission that we undertake all that we do. Following is a brief update on what's been going on.

We have developed a three-prong strategy for gospel advance with a focus in Europe: we helped develop a curriculum for training leaders, pastors, missionaries, and church planters (Project 215), we train leaders at intensive boot camps (Project 224), and we are working to establish a full-time training school in Europe (the 2020 Vision). 

We are integrating several of these components into a part-time school of ministry which will include both online learning, video conferencing, and residential weeks. I'm aiming to launch this by October, with two residential weeks next year. This is the background for the following activity report: 

• In February I was in Ukraine, working with our pastors and introducing a concept called 'clusters', which provides ongoing relational encouragement for those on the front lines of ministry.
• In May I'll be in Krakow teaching at gathering of pastors and leaders from across Europe. The theme of the conference is evangelism; I will be inviting participants to grow in their leadership capacity by participating in the school of ministry.
• In July I'll be working with students and campus ministers at a boot camp in Marseilles. This annual event gives us an opportunity to train the next generation of leaders who are currently working on one of the most challenging, difficult, ministry contexts on planet earth: the university campuses of North America.

This is a brief overview of some of the key projects we're involved in and what is funded through our CBU Global Partners. If you have not yet joined this team of people dedicated to gospel advance, you can do so today.

Finally, I've left off what is personally the most important calendar event of the year: in April, along with Jean and all our girls and Mom and Dad, we'll be in Nagoya, Japan, for the wedding of our oldest daughter. We'll giv you a big report when we get back. 

Blessings!