3rd Quarter - October 2018 Update

The worldwide EMI Directors, gathered in Woking, England

In September, Brad attended EMI's annual Director's Conference held this year in the United Kingdom. Each year, EMI's worldwide office directors come together at one of our office locations to have a week's worth of meetings on a wide variety of important topics, ranging from vision casting and goal setting, to dreaming and brainstorming about how we might expand and grow, to practical discussions on how to better carry out the calling God's given our ministry, to praying for each other and the world and church we serve. God began leading EMI into a variety of new areas several years ago and some of those visions are just now being explored - expanding our services to help ministries all the way through construction, as well as figuring out how we might serve communities and the church in all places, including the United States. We also have been sensing God's direction in having us explore all sorts of new funding models, including the Business as Mission and Business for Mission platforms that could allow us access into countries where we currently wouldn't be allowed entry. Overall, the meetings were very helpful and encouraging, and feel like they will serve as a launching pad for EMI's growth and expansion in the coming years.

To beat jetlag, a few of us trained into London on arrival and
got to tour the State Rooms at Buckingham Palace.

Our meeting room - it was a Church of England
guesthouse that was perfect for our time together.

We had some free time built in to keep our head exploding
from too many meetings...so some of us borrowed some bikes
and biked 33 miles into central London from Woking. It was
beautiful weather and one of my favorite things I've ever done
in the UK...if only Alisha could have been with me!

Another picture along the cycling route - the UK is beautiful!

At Emirates watching Arsenal in the League Cup - you knew
I'd make it to at least one game, right?

Wrong! I made it to two! This was at Kenilworth Road for a
League One (3rd from the top) match between Luton Town
and Charlton. We probably set an all-time high by having 9
Americans at a match at Kenilworth Road!

Lots of walks along the canal - definitely a must-do if you ever
make it over to England. Too many Americans only ever go
to London when they travel over to the UK!

We couldn't have scripted this - the path along the canal was
closed right where we were to cross a bridge back to our
guesthouse. Any detour would have added 3-4 miles to our
already 5-mile walk...until this group of musicians came along
and offered us a ride across in their small boat. Then we joined
them at their camp as they sang us a few songs and shared some
of their home brew. We just couldn't stop smiling - what generous
and friendly guys!

We spent a fair amount of time navigating the
London Underground (Tube)...

...and visiting some dear friends, Mike & Marietta Woods!

Overall, it's just a great group of people that I feel blessed
and honored to work with!

On paper, if you look at EMI's Nicaragua office, you could make the argument that it is our most thriving and surging office. In less than two years in operation, we've hired 4 local staff, taken on a lot of project work, and expanded our leased office space. But in actuality, the office is really struggling. In the past several months, the countries years-long stability has been threatened due to a deepening political crisis. We had to evacuate our ex-patriated staff for a while this summer to allow time for things to calm down. Things have calmed some in the country, but the crisis hasn't been fully resolved. Staff-wise, while we have added some new staff, we've also lost three staff families to a variety of issues, and the office director has changed twice. As it stands, the office doesn't have a director and there isn't currently someone interested and prepared to step into that role. As a result, part of my job recently has been to be much more involved in the day to day operations of that office until we can find a new leader. In early November, I will be traveling down to the office there in Managua with our CEO to meet with the staff and help them continue to operate. The political unrest has also taken a toll on the project work too as many ministries have pulled out of the country. We are committed to our work there though and are doing everything to keep the office open and thriving for many years to come.

Three of our Nicaraguan staff - Lester, Roger, and Jorge.
Without these guys, we wouldn't have an office in Nicaragua!

This past year has been a time where both Alisha and I have felt God working in us as individuals and as a couple in ways that far exceed anything we've previously experienced. We have always counted our marriage as the biggest gift God has given us, and that continues to hold true. This year, we have each felt like God wanted to peel back another 'layer of the onion' in our understanding of who He is and how He wants us to live out our lives as followers of His Son, both individually and together. We all know that growth doesn't come without pain, so it's been a challenging year of discussions and reading and praying, laughing and crying, and just deepening our awe and wonder for our God who loves us so much that He gave us this beautiful gift of our marriage that we both treasure more than anything in this life. Before this year, I think we both would have rated our marriage a full 10 out of 10...and yet, God wasn't satisfied with that nor with our relationships with Him. He always wants us to go deeper, and there's no limit to the depths we can go in this lifetime. We share this hopefully to encourage anyone who follows along with our journey to never be satisfied with your relationships despite how good they might be - and we feel this is especially true first and foremost for our personal relationships with God, but secondly, for the amazing gift of our marriage. Even when we're involved in ministry, we need to be sure we're prioritizing the important things first - God, marriage, family, then ministry!

After 23 years of marriage, somehow, it just keeps getting
better and better! I couldn't love this woman any more than I
do...and yet each year I keep saying that it's better than it was
last year. This isn't the best picture of either of us, but I love it
nonetheless because we both look giddy in happiness...which is
how we truly feel about each other!

Prayer requests:

1) Please pray for the growth initiatives we're working on at EMI, that God would lead us into the future He wants for our organization.

2) Please pray for our Nicaragua office, that peace would fully return to the country and that our office there can get back to serving the ministry opportunities it was surrounded by just a few short months ago. Also pray for a new leader for this office.

3) Pray that Alisha and I would continue to grow in our depth of understanding of God's love for us as individuals and as a couple. God's love is unimaginably good!

And a few more pictures...

Alisha and I flew back to Oregon to participate in this year's
EMI Network Conference, held at George Fox University. What
a beautiful campus. We had nearly 180 people attending, including
a number of GFU students. Next year's location: Chicago!

The EMI staff team at the conference. Great group!

Our old friend and my former boss Mark Dew came up from
Medford to attend the conference...another treat for us.

EMI Canada Director Greg Young attended architecture school
at U of O nearly 30 years ago and hadn't been back for a football
game in all those years...so we took a short break from the
conference to drive down to watch the Ducks with my parents!
Ducks won 30-27 over their bitter rival Washington, in OT!

It was a bonus treat to see my parents and brother Bret. My
parents celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary earlier this
year! Alisha and I are excited to follow in their footsteps someday!

Jonah and Brodie are still up to their lying
and cheating ways...it's part of the referee's
code of honor! :)

For a school project, I took Jonah up into the Rockies to scout
out a place for him to paint a natural setting for his sophomore
school personal project. He's becoming quite the painter...
a skill definitely taken from his mom's side!

We had a fun day hiking for his project.

Back on Labor Day weekend, Graysen and I flew
out to visit my parents and attend the Ducks' opener.
I also got to spend time at our former church in Medford
speaking to the missions committee and giving an
update on our work with EMI. Great weekend!

It's a tough choice on Graysen's favorite stadium - Old Trafford
in Manchester or Autzen Stadium in Eugene...

Throwback to 2013 at Old Trafford

I never forced our boys to like the teams I like...I've been very
clear they are free to support teams other than the Oregon
Ducks and Manchester United. They only have to say the
word... and then sort out other living arrangements and their
mother and I will fully support their choices (though obviously
not financially).

If you've stuck with the blog long enough, here's a little treat -
a rare photo of Alisha and I playing Xbox (Fifa 2018). How
do I know this is a rare photo? Because this is the only time
Alisha and I have ever played on our Xbox! One game,
Manchester United (me) v. Tottenham (Alisha) - we tied 1-1.