Two Days Out

First off, please accept our humble apologies for the delay between entries.  Life, it seems, gets in the way sometimes.

Many of you have wondered what exactly, we’ll be doing with Horizonte Church.  As we’ve noted before, we’re going on a “Connections” trip, one designed to strength the bond between Buckhead Church and Horizonte.  For this mission, we’ll assist our friends in Mexico with three main activities:

• A staff retreat
• A gathering for key volunteers
• A congregation-wide prayer event

Much like Buckhead Church, Horizonte has grown impressively over the past few years.  Martin Macedo, the church’s pastor, has added both services and staff to keep up with this expansion, and now wants to evaluate how things are going.  Our staff retreat will focus on this task, as well as re-energizing his people around Horizonte’s vision.  We are currently preparing discussions and team-building activities around this end.

The volunteer gathering will be an abbreviated version of the staff retreat, with one key addition.  Thursday night, we will split into groups of 8-10 people to conduct prayer walks around Queretaro.  We’ll go to relevant parts of the city to pray over its people, its issues, and its health in general.  Will we be on street corners telling people to repent?  Probably not.  But we will get a first-hand glimpse of the things our friends are dealing with and have an opportunity to ask God to intercede as He sees fit.

Finally, on Saturday, we plan on inviting the entire congregation to come to Horizonte and be prayed over.  We hope to interact in smaller groups with our friends and help them bring their issues before God.  We may also have stations highlighting the use of different senses (sight, hearing, touch) in prayer.

So, in a nutshell, that’s our trip.  Not a traditional mission trip in the sense that we’re building something physical, like a home or an aqueduct.  Instead, we’re building something spiritual and relational.

Please pray that its amazing. 

A Special Thanks

Whitney Krevere, former long-term missionary in Queretaro and wife of Julian, has been invaluable during our preparation for this trip, serving as an unofficial member of our team.  She developed the budget, kept us in touch with the Horizonte staff, and coordinated many of the activities discussed above.  Honestly, we couldn’t have done our mission without her.

Whitney will be in Queretaro with us for part of next week, but is returning home to help her daughter Micaiah with the first day of school.

Thank you Whitney!

Profiles

Jeremy is incredibly familiar with Queretaro, having lived there between 1997-2001.  He is fluent in Spanish and has a deep affection for the Latin community.

• Has several friends living in Queretaro, whom he hopes to see while we’re there
• Actively volunteers with North Point Ministries, where he has attended about 1 1/2 years
• Spends his spare time playing & watching sports, travelling abroad, and being with family & friends
• Attended Furman University in South Carolina
• Works as a seller with Grainger

Our August trip will be Jim’s second mission to Horizonte Church and third trip overall.  He looks forward to reconnecting with the friends he made in November 2006 in Queretaro.

• Engaged to Toni with a wedding date on January 17, 2009
• With his fiancee, has two households full of animals (two dogs, four cats)
• Has attended Buckhead Church for four years
• Graduated from the University of Michigan and is a huge college football fan
• Enjoys watching & playing sports, movies and reading 

Please keep us all in your prayers, especially over the next 10 days.

Blessings.

Preparations

In advance of leaving for Mexico, our team had several tasks to help familiarize ourselves with Queretaro, Horizonte Church, and each other.  Because we have a few first time missionaries, the Field Manual provided by Buckhead Church & North Point ministries has been invaluable in giving us a taste of what to expect leading up to and during our trip.  Through a series of seven briefings, the manual takes a team through practical and spiritual practices to prepare our hearts and minds for ministry.

Speaking of spiritual exercises, each missionary has prepared a daily devotional for the team to do while on  the ground in Mexico.  Much like here in the States, we will take time each morning to worship.  Rather than doing an Oswald Chambers or Beth Moore-type devotional though, we’ll be praying around a topic prepared by one of us.  Perhaps it will be prompted by a song, a particular reading, or a piece of Scripture.  Developing something personal was our only guideline in completing this task.

Our last bit of “homework” has been the cultural assignments, brief overviews on a variety of Queretaro- and Mexico-centric topics.  Basically, just a few important facts regarding our mission destination.  Look for some of them in upcoming blogs.

Profiles

Natalie is a native Atlantan, and has attended Buckhead Church for two years.  After working in Waumba Land (Buckhead Church’s childcare ministry) and being active in small group, she decided to embark on her first mission trip this year.

• Was baptized in November 2007
• Has a younger brother, who also lives in Atlanta with his wife & dog
• Travels extensively to Mexico, although this will be her first visit to Queretaro
• Loves college football, especially the University of Georgia
• Spends her downtime reading, socializing with friends, & playing tennis

Another first time missionary, Dave has a huge heart for volunteering, both locally in Atlanta and abroad.  His participation on our team was prompted by a sermon on the impact Global X & North Point Ministries are having around the world.

• Has been an active member of two small groups at Buckhead Church
• Is an uncle to two wonderful boys, Jacob and Christian
• Cites his evolving and growing relationship with Christ as the center of his life
• Works and volunteers in the video production field

Our upcoming trip will be Liz’s second mission with Horizonte Church.  Originally from Massachusetts, she now calls Atlanta home and regularly attends North Point Community Church.

• Has two beautiful twin nieces, Myla & Jacqueline
• Cites John 14:2-3 among her favorite pieces of Scripture
• Loves to travel, especially ocean cruises
• Leads a small group and teaches seminars with the Fellowship of Christian Airline Personnel
• Works for Delta Air Lines

Please keep Natalie, Dave and Liz in your thoughts and prayers over the coming weeks.

Blessings

Sunday Morning

Can’t believe we’re under a month away from leaving.  We’ve had some brief discussions with Horizonte regarding retreat schedules and are happily preparing cultural assignments (to get familiar with Queretaro) and devotionals for our trip.  For those that can make it, we’ll be attending the 6:00pm service at Buckhead Church today, an Andy Stanley sermon entitled “Letters to the Next President”.  Should be good stuff.

Profiles

Jennifer has attended Buckhead Church for five years.  Queretaro will be her first mission trip, which she attributes to God’s prompting.  Some fast facts about Jen:

• Shares an extremely close relationship with her family
• Loves her highly energetic dog, Rico
• Has five nieces and nephews whom she adores
• Actively volunteers at Buckhead Church
• Works in real estate in the Atlanta area 

Queretaro will also be Nick’s first mission trip.  He looks forward to working with members of both Buckhead and Horizonte churches, and to spend a week focusing on God.

• Grew up in Washington, D.C. with his parents and younger sister
• Attended Wake Forest University in North Carolina, studying finance
• Travels internationally for work (at an Atlanta investment bank)
• Lists his numerous friendships as his greatest pleasure in life
• Avid sports player and fan 

Please keep Jennifer and Nick in your thoughts and prayers as we travel to Mexico.

Peace.

Update: 7/10

As mentioned in our previous post, we held a team retreat in south Atlanta (Fayetteville, actually) about two weeks ago.  It took place at a house owned by the Fellowship of Christian Airline Professionals that has been wholly devoted to such purposes.  Big thanks to them and to LIz for setting it up!

The retreat’s purpose was threefold:

• Allow us to get to know each other better
• Individually discuss our walks with Christ
• Loosely plan our tasks with Horizonte

Between a delicious Mexican dinner and a lengthy home-cooked breakfast, we talked late into the night on a variety of subjects.  We shared, learned, and even threw down a little break-dancing, as the following link can attest to.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpRykJS0tSE

Anyone else impressed that Julian broke out “The Worm”?

Profiles

Speaking of Julian, here’s a few interesting facts about our break-dancing, futbol loving, taco-eating missionary originally from DC:

• Married to our team member Whitney and father to two beautiful girls, Micaiah (4) and Talya (2)
• Spent four years in Queretaro working with Horizonte as a long-term missionary
• Georgia Tech grad with a degree in Electrical Engineering
• Has a heart for discipleship and helping people grow in Christ
• Loves almost any type of sport or playtime, especially with Micaiah & Talya or with big groups of people

As you’re thinking about our trip, please keep Jules, Whitney and the girls in your prayers.

Blessings.

Beginnings…

In August 2008, a team from Buckhead Church will travel to Queretaro, Mexico to work with the staff and congregation of Horizonte Church for eight days.  This is our story…

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” – Matthew 28:19-20

Our merry little band of missionaries have been meeting for about a month now, preparing ourselves to go on a Connections trip to Queretaro.  “What’s a Connections trip?” you may ask.  In short, its a trip designed to strengthen the bond between our two churches.  Rather than doing a “building something” type of work project, we’ll instead spend maximum face time with our friends at Horizonte, praying for (and with) them and their city, as well as helping to facilitate a retreat for the church staff.  Our main focus throughout will be on our three common core values:

• Intimacy with God
• Community with insiders
• Influence with outsiders

In addition, we’re planning specific events for key volunteers and the congregation at large.  Our ultimate goal is to pour as much love as we can into Horizonte and its people over the course of eight days.

So who’s going to be doing this work?  Here’s our team:

Nick, Liz, Dave, Jennifer, Whitney, Julian, Natalie, Jeremy, Jim

We’ve got a fantastic blend of veteran and rookie missionaries, and those familiar with Queretaro/Mexico and those not so much.  Its literally amazing how well the group has jelled in such a short time and how open everyone has been to let God use them as He will.

We look forward to sharing our journey with you.  Blessings.