We held a meeting in Madrid at the seminary to develop the strategy for participation in evangelistic partnership missions through International Crusades (IC). Invited to the meeting were the Spanish regional coordinators for IC. The meeting was convened by IC's Spanish national coordinator, Pastor Jose Carmet.

The following marked with an X were in attendance.

A great deal of time was spent in reviewing the strategies of IC vis a vis other organizations and campaigns. A three year strategy was adopted:

The meeting was held with a great spirit, especially considering that there was not interpreter and all but myself spoke Spanish, so there was a lot of "lento, lento" [slow, slow] and repete [repeat]. God's spirit provided a wonderful translation at the heart level.

In November of this year, the last campaign in partnership with Alabama will be held. We need to lift up that campaign in prayer. Also, there is a cooperative campaign with Spanish young people and Alabaman youth to go together to Africa. That, too, need to be lifted in prayer.

Much work remains to be done, for the next three years. God seems to have great plans for Spain in partnership in the near future. Praise the Lord for allowing us to serve him.

I had a fine meeting with three experienced crusaders, all from S. Africa, now living in England and ready to put out the word for participation in campaigns all over the world. While there are a few issues that need to be discussed when I return, they have planned an introductory coffee on May 1 in London. (This means I will not be in Dallas for the IC week-end, however.) There will be a significant effort to do a couple of mail-outs to 300-400 churches and individuals to come hear about crusade evangelism. The meeting will be held at Stopsley Baptist Church.

They believe they can get 3 teams for Hungary at a minimum. The plan will be to grow the involvement year by year for people, teams and churches participating from England.

The meeting is especially good timing since Eddie Cox has invited me to come talk to all the volunteer coordinators in Europe the next day and that meeting will be held north of London. That will dovetail nicely with the retreats for Hungary and Holland (assuming we can get that on their agenda).

The meetings in Rome were surprising, to say the least. I met at 4:00 PM with the logistics team from Italy for Christ (IFC). They were very excited about the possibility of a large number of people coming from Argentina, the USA, Spain and other countries to partner with local churches for follow-up and outreach in November 2000 as part of the Jubilee evangelistic campaign.

We then went to the Trastevere Baptist Church and were surprised (actually, disappointed) to find only one pastor, one missionary (bless Dudley's heart!) and 2 laymen (Ettore, from a 3rd church, and Vittorio, from the same church as the pastor) in attendance, after all 6 Baptist pastors had been invited.

Additionally, the president and visionary of Italy for Christ cancelled at the last minute. I was sure trying to listen to what God was saying! I listened very carefully, hoping it would change, but the message continued very clearly that there should be no IC campaign in Italy in 2000. I must tell you how disappointed I was, but at the same time, there is peace that the Lord clearly communicated that neither the churches were ready, nor was IFC ready to connect with IC.

That said, there were some significant developments ....

Two churches have asked me (not wearing an IC hat) to see if a musical ensemble could be available in November 2000: 12 -15 singers and 4-6 instrumentalists (about like we had in Portugal).

Also, there is a huge need for people to come to evangelize during the year. It could be a great opportunity for young people, senior adults, families or anyone. More information is available at http://www.ifcjubilee.com. This might be a great project for FBC, McKinney, since we have had a relationship with Trastevere. John led that trip and he could bring a group of forever young. Grant might want to have a stream of 3 or 4 young people here all summer. Just some ideas.

If Myron does not think this is right for our church, I will contact Gary Moore in Houston and see if he would like to do it. Also a possibility would be a college ensemble from DBU, Baylor or MH Baylor. Maybe even an all-singles ensemble. There you go, Frank!

I feel a real need for your prayers: for physical stamina and for the meetings in Amsterdam tomorrow (Tuesday). It may go well, but I have some (I hope minor) concerns.

I am one of the most beautiful hotels in the World, the Cavalieri Hilton in Rome. It is perched high on a hill over-looking the vast eternal city, Rome. IC was poised to bring many, many people to share. But they are not willing. Not the lost. The "found." Jesus wept over Jerusalem. Surely He weeps over Rome as well.

Me too.

I stand amazed and humbled as I watch God at work! I asked many to pray for the meeting in The Netherlands today. I was somewhat fearful that there would be a meltdown and that it go as far down so as to have only 2-3 churches participating.

Thank you for praying, for God heard you (in advance) and we have a happy, happy problem. Our meeting was in Hoogeveen, a small town about 2 hours north of Amsterdam. (Those 2 hours driving were after 2 hours fly and before 2 hours driving back!) We now have 17 churches requesting teams and another 8 praying about what they should do. Additionally, most of the churches are hoping to have large teams of 8-10 people.

In our previous discussions about preparation, there had been a strong belief that a retreat was not right for this county. In my opinion, this was only one person’s preference. I was wrong. The group today confirmed that the Dutch do not like to spend the night away from home! So another plan has been developed, to have a 3:00 PM to 9:00 PM (this might be able to be expanded) meeting on two back-to-back days in different parts of the country to get maximum involvement. Tentative dates will be April 26 & 27, or early June. The final date will be determined by the week of Feb 22.

The churches here are doing a very innovative plan with the Operation Andrew cards. They are promoting this for many churches in addition to the ones receiving teams. That is starting within the next 2 weeks.

In addition to the teams, there is a strong, strong, desire for a small singing group (preferably black or gospel) and 2 - 4 strong soloists to travel around. Any professional athletes can be used as well.

We are going to need to get some additional funds here to cover the printing, etc. I received a complete accounting for all the money spent thus far (I had given some earlier). Also, we may have to fund or help fund the "retreat" meals. There will not be any other needs for support. There is a retreat center for the travelers to stay in during all or part of the time.

One other word, word was received that Larry Hughes, IMB missionary working in Eindhoven will be receiving a team. They are working with refugees from all over the world.

Finally, let me say again how humbling it is to find oneself standing before a burning bush. Holy ground. Right there in Hoogeveen.

As I left the brand new air terminal, I felt as though I had stepped into a New York Christmas store window: snow and ice had humbled the limbs of trees, shrubs and grasses with a flocking of sparkling ice and snow. Mystical Budapest immediately grabbed me again. Its strange mixture of oriental, Slavic and the west plays a siren song on my heart strings every time I come. The smells, the sights, the people, the architecture are a Chinese banquet of variety. I have a strange connection here. I don't know why.

At my preliminary meeting with Tivadar Macher, the IC coordinator here, was a grand reunion. I gave him a modem, so that he can get on line in preparation for the campaign.

The meeting at Tivadar's church had 100% attendance of the 5 churches who will receive teams. Each church would like to have 4-6 people.

The meeting began with a wonderful prayer time as each church laid its needs before the group. There was great interest in the Operation Andrew and it is expected to be used comprehensively on every church. It will be the bedrock of preparation for the campaign. Prayer ministry and a special Friendship Service for the people on the Andrew cards is also planned.

The group will use a name for the campaign and lessen the presence of the term International Crusades, since the word "crusade" has such negative connotation here in Hungary. One of the possible names is Inter City (which has connection with "IC") and another is Jesus: One hope for Hungary and also Good News Hungary.

The group also reaffirmed its belief that God would have IC back for another, larger campaign in 2000, during the month of October or early November. That one should include Americans. Each church participating this year is going to ask 3-5 other churches to be prayer partners for this campaign. Then, those churches will be invited to observe during this year's campaign and also invited to attend the report and victory rally.

The group expressed excitement over the fact that there will be people from countries other than America participating here. They believe that they will be able to find interpreters for the team from Spain and other, non-English people.

The retreat has been rescheduled to be a week earlier, May 6-8 (Thu-Sat). It will be held at a retreat center about an hour out of Budapest. The group was enthusiastic that a good number will be in attendance.

The group elected its General Coordinating Committee and one has already appointed its local committee. The other churches will be putting their committees together within the next 2-3 weeks. IC should have church information sheets within 2-3 weeks. The local committee book has been translated into Hungarian and has been distributed to all churches. IC will be receiving a file for use next year with a month or so.

It was a warm, wonderful time, as we saw God's patient hand leading these dear brothers into a visionary strategy for reaching their own country.

Thursday is a "day off", so there will be no report until after the meeting Friday in Zagreb, Yugoslavia.

My nephew met me at the train when I pulled into beautiful Zagreb yesterday (Friday). We met with the leader of Croatian and formerly Yugoslavian Baptists, Joseph Horvak. He is such a gracious gentleman and has agreed to be the IC representative for Croatia. He will be attending the workshop in May.

He was so enthusiastic about the concept of inviting other nations to participate. Also of letting him and his people decide how to do a campaign in his country. He was equally pleased with the organization displayed through the material that Francisco has prepared. In fact, he was enthusiastic.

I have met with some of the IMB personnel here in Banja Luka, Bosnia and will see more before I leave. I had hoped to have a meeting Sunday evening with the IMB volunteer coordinator, Jim Allen, in Zagreb, but it did not work out. I was able to call him and visit on the phone on Monday morning.

We had a great meeting tonight! 17 churches showed up and are ready to go. The date they have asked for is early October 2000 or late September. There will be 20 - 30 churches participating.

The meeting was wonderful. Bill Hill (from McKinney, who has been in Scotland for a week) spoke, as did the pastor where our church went last October. We found many who had wonderful connections from years ago.

They believe they will also take some teams (2-3) this year to other countries, specifically Hungary.

We had all ages there from teenagers to one lady 94 years old.

The night was wonderful.

This tired puppy is hitting the sack and heading home tomorrow.