Poland Update October 2013

Poland Update

It has been a long transition for all of us working in Poland. I can assure you, though, that the Holy Spirit has not been sitting around, waiting for something to happen! Let me bring you all up to date on several items that I know you are interested in:

Poznan.

                Our work is going forward, and the Sweet Surrender shop is doing well. It is a spiritual oasis for many people who have become our “regulars.” We have excellent Volunteers on hand; they are providing innovative and Spirit-led leadership. The Giles and Traceys are a wonderful gift for our work in Poznan. We continue to have the strong support of our local Sweet Surrender team, who have become skilled both in serving our coffee and dessert specialties, and in sharing what God is doing in their lives. Our primary needs in Poznan continue to be future volunteers coming over the next years as they are needed. Help us find these people and guide them into service with us! And pray with us that people will volunteer in the future, and that people will step up with the financial support they need to come. The Sweet Surrender shop and property is in need of updating and upgrading of equipment and furnishings. We’d love for you to join the Work & Witness Team that will be coming in the near future. See the information below.

Krakow.

               Our work in Krakow continues to develop:  the traffic to the shop continues to increase as people discover this delightful place to come and share a cup of coffee, a sweet, and some conversation that can lead them to trust in the Lord, developing a personal relationship with Him. We are so thankful for our Polish leadership in this Sweet Surrender ministry. They are faithful and capable and love God in generous measure. We have also had great volunteers in Krakow over the years, leading to the opening of the shop. We are praying for additional volunteers to come to this ministry. Pray the Lord of the harvest to send workers! God has graciously been helped this ministry meet its financial objectives, but the costs of this beautiful building still face us. We are praying that those who are able to give will support this growing work.

Gdansk.

                The oldest of our Sweet Surrender shops is in Gdansk. Good people have supported this work through leadership, volunteers, and generous gifts. Although we prayed that the work would flourish and a strong shop and ministry would be established, it has not happened as we had hoped. We have not given up on this beautiful city and its wonderful people, but for the time being we have shifted our limited resources. We still own the Sweet Surrender shop and missionary apartment located nearby. While we are assessing our future ministry possibilities, we have relocated some of the coffee shop equipment to nearby Maalmo, Sweden, where a new shop is in its infancy. Our prayer is that the generous people who gave the finances for this equipment will know that it is not sitting idly. Look for news in the future about this new venture in Sweden. We are happy that the equipment is being used in this positive way. Pray with us as we make plans for the future for Gdansk and the grand re-opening some day of this Sweet Surrender shop. Thank God for those who have labored there over the years and, although we have not seen the fruit of our gifts and labor yet, we believe that our prayers may yet be answered in the years to come, God willing.

Work & Witness Team Invitation I would like to invite you to be a part of a Work and Witness project, "Sweet Surrender Coffee House-Poznan." Currently, we have a team coming from Plymouth, Michigan, and one from the Houston, Texas, area. If you would like to join one of these teams or organize another team, please email me for information! Rev. Robert W Skinner rwsloveitorbcrazy@gmail.com The Work &Witness Team at the Nazarene Global Ministry Center in Lenexa, Kansas, is always available to answer general questions. Feel free to contact them. (816) 931-1900 --Rev. Robert W. Skinner

Sweet Surrender Shop opens in Denmark!

On a related note, you will be interested to know that there is a great article about the new Sweet Surrender Coffee Shop that has opened in Denmark. Go to:  www.eurasiaregion.org and click on  "Fields" and you will find a hot link to the article from their publication Eurasia Snapshots. The shop is beautiful, doing well, and along with the great people from the Greve Nazarene Church in Copenhagen, our own Katie Fitch has been instrumental in bring about this new outreach coffee shop. Katie was on the "ground floor" at both Poznan and Krakow Sweet Surrender shops. Congratulations to all who have worked and prayed and given and helped bring about the newest Sweet Surrender Coffee Shop. Let's join them in praying for God to help them make good use of this great outreach opportunity.

Coming Soon!

Our great team of volunteers and the local staff of the Poznan Sweet Surrender Shop are very busy these days updating and upgrading equipment and facilities in the Poznan shop. I have asked them for a list of the most urgently needed things so that I can share them with you, our Poland Partners. We will have this list to send to you in the next two or three weeks. Our prayer is that you and/or others you may inspire in your local churches or circles of friends to help us finance these needs. We also hope you will take us up on the invitation to develop a Work & Witness team to come and work with us!

Thanks to you all for your prayers for Colleen and me and our boys during this transition from the CIS Field to Poland. It's been great seeing many of you in our travels in recent months. We hope to see many more of you in the future, either here in Poland or when we once again have a Home Assignment. We couldn't do the work we do without your prayers and your support for the fledgling work of the Church here in Poland. We are so excited to see what God will do in this great nation and with the resilient and faithful people here. God bless you all!

--Bob and Colleen Skinner

Meet Bob and Colleen Skinner and Family

Biography

Bob and Colleen Skinner are global missionaries for the Church of the Nazarene in the former Soviet Union.  They are living in Budapest with their son Joshua (15). Their middle son, Michael (19) is a sophomore at Olivet Nazarene University, Bourbonnais, IL. Their eldest son, Robby (22) is a 2013 graduate of Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa, Idaho. 

Prior to their current missionary assignment, they served in the Philippines from 1990 to 1994.  They were reassigned to the Ukraine District on the Eurasia Region in June 1994.  As of Oct 2009 they were appointed as partnership coordinator and advisor to national workers in Moldova and Armenia. In 2013 they were appointed to serve the Nazarene work in Hungary and Poland. They currently live in Budapest, Hungary, where Joshua is attending high school.

Bob was born and raised in Oregon.  He played college football while earning a degree in psychology at Boise State University in Boise, Idaho, in 1982.  Prior to his senior year in the university, he came to understand Romans 10, and answered “yes” to God about being willing to be “sent”!  He attended Northwest Nazarene College in Nampa, Idaho, and Asia-Pacific Nazarene Theological Seminary (APNTS) in the Philippines.  In 1990, he received an M.Div. in Missiology degree from Nazarene Theological Seminary.

Colleen grew up in the Philippines.  She is the daughter of long-time-missionaries-to-the-Philippines, Ronald and Neva Beech.  Her call to missions came in the third grade at a girls’ camp where her mother was the speaker, and she understood for the first time why they lived as missionaries in the Philippines.  She answered “yes” to God about being willing to go anywhere and do anything for Him.  She received two degrees from Northwest Nazarene College in Nampa, Idaho, in 1982.  She also attended APNTS in the Philippines.  In 1990 she earned an M.A. in Christian Education degree from Nazarene Theological Seminary.

The Skinners’ current vision is to see the work advanced in these Eastern European countries of Hungary and Poland. The work in Poland features the unique outreach through Sweet Surrender Coffee House ministries in the cities of Poznan and Krakow.

Skinner

Poland & Hungary

·         Bob

·         Born in United States

·         Ordained: 1990 by Kansas City district

·         Colleen

·         Born in United States

·         Ordained: 1995 by Intermountain district

·         Children

·         Joshua Ivan

·         Michael Paul

·         Robert William

·         General Information

·         Home District: Kansas City

·         Home Church: Overland Park

·         Summary of Service Record

·         2011 to Present – Hungary and Poland

·         1994 to 2011 – Ukraine

·         1990 to 1994 – Philippines

·         Home Assignment Dates

·         Jun 1, 2013 to Aug 31, 2013

It's been a year, but...

Wow! Look what God has done!

Dear Poland Partners,

It’s has been a year since we have communicated with you, and we miss you!  

As many know, a year ago God led us to a new ministry in Kent, Washington, where we now pastor the Nazarene church. When we left Poland, we left part of our hearts with the people we love and a work we believe in. So much was accomplished in the four and a half years we worked there, with God’s direction and enabling and with your prayers and support. During this year of transition we prayed for new leadership for Poland, and miraculously, the right couple…the best couple…has been chosen to oversee Poland ministries. We love them and have complete confidence in them. If your heart still beats for God’s work in Poland, we hope you will stand with them, as you did with us (see note at bottom).  With us, please pray for and support our friends and your new missionaries in Poland – Rev. Bob and Colleen Skinner!  

By the way, both of us had children that graduated from NNU this week, so we had the privilege of meeting with the Skinners to talk, dream, and pray about what God is going to do in the future.  It is exciting stuff!

With our love,

Ev and Rhonda Tustin

Pastor, Kent Church of the Nazarene

Missionaries Bob and Colleen Skinner are continuing the Tustins' list serve from which they will be sending brief updates to all those who are willing to pray and support the work of the Church of the Nazarene in Poland. The email address continues to be polandnaz@gmail.com.

Will you continue to help us by receiving information about the Nazarene work in Poland (brief emails with reference to the blog)?
     1. Please reply if we need to correct an email address.
     2. Please reply with corrections or additions to the name we have on your email.
     3. Please reply with unsubscribe in the subject line if you do not wish to receive this.
     4. If you know of other people who might be interested in the Nazarene work in Poland, please forward this email to them, asking that they send us an email with subscribe in the subject line.

Breakfast planning meeting May 10

Reaching Poland with the love of Jesus is vital. We hope you enjoy reading about the people and churches developing there. Ralph and Lynn Neil (Poland Ministry volunteers and retired NNU faculty) will continue as editors.

We are dependent upon your prayers. Thank you.

Update #16

Mission Corps Volunteers in Poznan

Meet Dave, Marybeth, and Makayla Giles

We are grateful for the wonderful volunteers who come to Poland to make possible the Sweet Surrender Coffee Shop ministry centers. The Giles family is one of our most recent families to volunteer. I asked Dave to tell us the story of how God led them to this ministry. I think you will enjoy reading their story and will feel better informed as you lift our volunteers to the Lord in prayer. Here is their story:

For many years Marybeth and I have each felt God calling us to work in full-time missions.  For twelve years Marybeth had taught overseas, where she met missionaries and was able to become involved in some missions work.  While I was a pastor in Maine, I continued to feel a pull overseas. After Marybeth and I got married, we both continued to sense God directing our steps into missions. Two years ago, while living and working in Tbilisi, Georgia, in the CIS, we met with Bob Skinner and spoke with him about our desire to work with the Nazarene church and of our interest in coffee shop ministries.  He told us about Rhonda and Ev Tustin, who had started a Coffee Shop ministry in Poland. After traveling to Poland to meet with Tustins, we prayed about coming to partner with them in Poland.  The rest, as they say, is history. We are very excited to be here in Poznan now, fulfilling God’s call to missions! The coffee shop provides the perfect opportunity to meet people socially and get involved in the local community in order to share our faith. 

We have been in Poland now for a short time and are thrilled to be a part of this growing ministry here. We work in the shop and have loved getting to know our team.  We love to think of and discuss various events to host in the shop in order to draw in more people from the community.

In December I helped collect and take donations to a needy family that lives in a village near Poznan.  Marybeth helped organize a visit to an orphanage. We took the orphans Christmas gifts and played games.

We are taking Polish language lessons and using some basic sentences while working in the shop. Dave divides preaching responsibilities at the church with another volunteer. Marybeth does some English conversation with English Club.

In addition to our continuing language lessons, our goal is to begin a conversational English class and Bible study as well as to make a monthly visit to the local orphanage. Please continue to pray for us and our ministries here. It is an exciting place to be, and we certainly feel God’s hand at work. Our prayer is that He will continue to guide and direct our steps as we find ways to minister, build relationships, and share the Gospel here in Poland.

                Thank you Dave, Marybeth, and Makayla, for answering God’s call in your lives to this very special ministry. We welcome you to our ministry team and look forward to all that God will do through you to touch the lives of many people.         –Ev Tustin

Work & Witness Copenhagen

                One of our Poland Partners wrote to me and proposed that if the Partners could come up with the $12,000 needed for materials for a Work and Witness team, he would do his best to field a team to go to Copenhagen as soon as is feasible. The team members would pay their own way for transportation, food, and housing but would need the additional funds for the project as required by Work and Witness. So if any of you could assist with funding some or all of the materials needed, let me know soon and we will help move the Copenhagen Sweet Surrender Coffee Shop forward.

                If you are in a church that would like to field a team, including the materials cost, let me know. I will put you in touch with those who will be scheduling teams for Copenhagen. Katie Fitch, who was instrumental in the development of our shops in Poznan and Krakow, will be facilitating this work. We are praying that the Lord will help raise up many people to participate in this project and push it to completion. Thank you all for your faithful support of the Sweet Surrender Coffee Shop ministry as it continues to expand.

Katie Fitch with a Danish Palace Guard in Copenhagen

Update #15

Dear Friends:


We have two immediate "update prayer requests" for you today. Both are pressing needs at this very moment. God is able and so we call on you all to join with us for these two needs:


1.  Snowstorm Strands Missionary Musicians

PRAYER ALERT! 

   Our Gospel Choir Director, Brian Fentress and his pianist, Jacek, went to Bulgaria to do a workshop. They were met by the pastor of the Razgrad Nazarene church yesterday. They are stranded in a blizzard in the Scar between Bucharest and Razgrad. They have not been able to move ahead, roads have been closed. Please pray for safety and the snow to clear. God can make a way...

2.  Sweet Surrender Copenhagen needs our help!

This is today's email from Katie:

Hi All! 

I updated my blog. Check it out- http://katieraesadventures.blogspot.com

   Things with the youth group have been really good. And things with my housemate I have been trying to work with have gotten better. We have finally connected, and I think that we are moving together in a good direction. But, things with the cafe group are not going as well. We are really at a hard place. We do not have the financial backing to be able to purchase a building. We also are in a desperate need for work teams. Truth is things do not look good at this moment. But, we continue to meet each week and try to figure out how we can pull it off. We are also planning monthly events to invite friends to and invest in relationships with friends outside of church. 

Please pray for us as we try to figure out what we can do to make this possible. Thanks!

Love & Prayers, 

Katie R. Fitch

Thank you all for joining us in prayer for these two needs. God knows the whereabouts of Brian and Jacek. Let's pray for their safe travel to their next place of ministry.

The second request if for our missionary volunteer, Katie Fitch, who responded to our invitation for her to go to Copenhagen to help pioneer another Sweet Surrender Coffee House. Katie has been very instrumental in establishing our works in Poznan and Krakow. We believe that God has a way, through all of us and many others, to help bring this new outreach endeavor to fruition. Let's all join her and the Nazarenes in Copenhagen in prayer for this new outreach ministry. And if God shows you how you can be a part of this through gifts or initiating a Work & Witness team to go and help them, so much the better. If you know of people who might be interested in this work but are not part of our Poland Partners, feel free to forward this information to them. God can do another miracle through us.

Finally, thank you all for your prayers in our transition. God is helping us!

Our love to you all,

Ev and Rhonda

Update #14

Hello Dear friends and supporters for Poland Nazarene Mission Partnership,

After much thought and prayer over the past several months, Rhonda and I have made the decision that it is time for us to return from the mission field.  The past year and a half have presented us with some very difficult family decisions to make, and those decisions have precipitated our move away from the field.  

We have already given our notice to World Mission leadership and begun the process of transition in Poland.  Please pray with us for those who will be charged with the task of leading the work the Lord has begun here.  Many of you have met these people personally.  They are precious people.

Our intent is to continue to be involved with the Poland Partnership as the Lord would allow. In fact, we would like to raise the banner again for your support:

Specific areas of need going forward....  

1 - Prayer.

2 - Mission Corps support staff.

a)  Bookkeeping and accounting  

b)  Coffee Baristas and Shop Managers to replace outgoing Mission Corps volunteers

c)  Ministry development (music ministry or pastoral).  

There are currently 8 Mission Corps workers in Poland and Denmark serving in these arenas who could be contacted for questions that anyone may have.

3 - Work and Witness.  

We need teams to help with the developing works in Denmark and Sweden.  We also are praying for a team that may come to replace the drafty, old windows in Poznan with new ones and a second project of updating the 50 year old bathroom in the ministry apartment.

4 – Financial: balloon payment due soon in Krakow.  

The total indebtedness is approximately $300,000 for a complete payoff.  $50,000 for the immediate payment needs will help us stay on track with our contract.  If you, your zone, your district, or your church could take an offering to contribute toward this payment, we would be most thankful. 

As mentioned earlier, this decision has come after many months of prayer.  We have a great amount of grief associated with the "letting go" process in Poland.  The people here have stolen our hearts.  However, the Lord has given us assurance that this is His will for the next season of our lives and given us a new assignment as Pastor/Shepherds at Kent Church of the Nazarene in Washington State.  The move there will put us within driving distance of both sets of parents.

Thank you for your prayers and support during these past six and a half years in Eastern Europe serving Christ with World Missions.  We have been blessed beyond words by your encouragement.   We now will join you and come alongside this wonderful ministry from the other side of the Atlantic.  

Grace and peace,

Ev and Rhonda

Poland Update Special Edition!

Dear Poland Partners:

     For some time now we have been working with the wonderful pastor and people from the Greve Church of the Nazarene in Denmark. They have been looking for creative ways to reach out to the people of Denmark with the gospel story of Christ's redeeming love. After much prayer and consultation, they believe that the concept that we have used in Poland, the Sweet Surrender Coffee Shop, could work well in Denmark where there is a rich "coffee culture" among the people there.

     Over the course of time, God led us to offer one of our key and most trusted volunteers, Katie Fitch, to move to Denmark to assist them in such a project. God graciously called Katie to this work and she moved to Denmark to work with the Greve Church of the Nazarene. The research and planning phases of this new adventure have brought the church to a place of readiness to move ahead this year, 2012. The following article contains the information that Katie has shared with her own prayer partners in her volunteer work. It occurred to Rhonda and me that our Poland Partners would not only want to know about this new "offspring" of the Sweet Surrender Coffee Shop ministry, but might also want to participate in this new venture for the Lord. There are ongoing needs and plans in Poland, but we believe that our Poland Partners are uniquely prepared to understand, pray for and support such a ministry as it expands to Denmark.

     I wholeheartedly commend this future Sweet Surrender Coffee Shop ministry to you and urge you to join this outreach endeavor in any way that God may lead you.

     Our prayers are with Katie and the Greve Church as the move forward under God's direction.

In His service,

Ev Tustin

From Katie:

Coffee is a way of life in Denmark!

When I (Katie Fitch) moved from working in the Sweet Surrender coffee shops in Poznan and Krakow in Poland to Denmark, I thought my coffee habit would decrease. It has only increased! I have discovered that there is a huge coffee culture in Copenhagen.

Katie Fitch with Palace Guard, Copenhagen

Typical Danish Transportation

I also discovered that while the coffee culture may be thriving, the churches are not. Churches are really struggling in Denmark, and we have asked God to help us find creative ways to reach people. Our plan is to combine the familiar “coffee culture” in Denmark with outreach.

Copenhagen Street Scene

The vision God has given us is a coffee shop / ministry center in Copenhagen. We can reach people where they love to be, drinking coffee and enjoying good conversation. Through a coffee shop ministry we can find unique ways to share the gospel, start Bible studies, and support non-profit organizations (such as donations to Nazarene Compassionate Ministries).

Greve Nazarene Church

The Sweet Surrender Coffee Shop project in Copenhagen is the dream of our people in the Greve Church of the Nazarene. We are working in concert with the Sweet Surrender shops in Poland and will adapt their ministry plan to fit the culture of Denmark. After months of dreaming and talking, we are ready to get things started! We have researched locations and have some good possibilities. When the right place at the right time is known, we will then prepare to renovate it to function as a coffee shop. Our goal is to open the shop in September 2012.

We are now looking for churches, individuals and groups who are willing to come along side us with support through prayer, monetary contributions, and Work & Witness teams.

What do we need?

·         Most important, we need people to join us in prayer.

·         Since our present financial resources are limited, we must raise needed funds.

·         Finally, we will need volunteers to work on the building.

Our present estimate is that we need to raise about $80,000 in order to be able to complete the renovation and open the shop.

We are looking for two or three work teams who will come and help us this late summer/early fall, 2012.

If you are interested in putting together a Work & Witness Team, please check out the following website for specific information:

http://www.workandwitness.org/projects/Projects/ProjectDetail.aspx?id=38115

For more information on how you can support us, please e-mail Katie Fitch at: katie_rae27@yahoo.com .

We are thankful that God has given us this creative challenge. We are praying that God will help us find those who will share the vision He has given us and join us as He leads us forward.

Thank You!

-Katie R. Fitch

Mission Corp Volunteer in Denmark

Please feel free to share this information with interested people. And if you would like to be added to Katie’s mailing list, please let her know by emailing her at Katie_rae@yahoo.com .