August 2013

Thurman Newsletter

Dear Ryan,  We hope this email finds you doing well.  Our family is great, we had a really special summer getting time up in Payson and a trip to Oceanside to play at the beach.  We begin this new year refreshed and energized for the work in front of us.  The Work of A2J is on solid ground with a great team and we are excited about our growing role in Europe.  You can read more about this below.   Thanks for all your love and support it is a strength to us personally and to this ministry! We are grateful, Ryan and Noleen

Update from Germany  It's been ten years since Noleen and I were invited into this redemptive story, this is about God calling a German Jewish Holocaust survivor, (Hanna) to return to the area of the profound wrong done to her with the message incarnate in her life that Christ transforms people in such a way that we are able to love our enemies. God heard those early prayers in the Eifel , and a ministry of reconciliation sprang from them that is still ongoing and being extended. Three years ago I traveled with eleven others from Gemünd to Köln to Lodz, Poland where the transport from Köln delivered Hanna's parents to the ghetto here, where they spent the last six months of their lives. We then went by van from Lodz to Chelmno - about one hour away. It was at Chelmno that Hanna's parents died. There we had a simple Jewish ceremony - the Kaddish - to remember and honor them   last month I was able to rejoin 8 of the 12 of us who took this trip three years ago in Gemund (the town of Hanna's birth) and we were part of a ceremony laying down the Stolpersteine (stumbling stones) in the main walk way through the town. We prayed the Kaddish again to honor and celebrate Hanna's parent's life and ask God's kingdom to come in fullness here. You can click the above movie to see a slideshow of this event.  You can also purchase Hanna's new book here God continues to lead Noleen and to a greater role in Europe.  This October, Lord allowing, Noleen and I will attend the annual Antioch Network Gathering, it will be held in Volkenroda, Germany.  This will be a key time for us to discern our future in Europe together.  you can click this link to read more about the upcoming October Gathering Loving of our City  Before the summer began A2J was able to partner for the second year with City Serve in Hope Fest.  We were able to pray with many of the guests that came to this event.   (click video to see highlights) Every Monday morning at 8:30AM at the A2J Prayer House a few of us pray for our city.  We would love for you to stop by and join us if you can. A2J Prayer House address:  115 N. 12th Ave.    The A2J Team While I was in Sarajevo, Bosnia 12 years ago I stumbled into a little store near the 'grand bazaar' and I found one of Eugene Peterson's books, I have no idea how it got there but I knew it was meant to get into my hands, in it I came across this quote, "The essential thing in heaven and earth' is that there should be a long obedience in the same direction; there thereby results, and has always resulted in the long run, something that makes life worth living." I am often asked why my family and a team of others have chosen to relocate and live together in the heart of the city with all its brokenness. I believe it is to bear witness to a way of life in Jesus that isworth living. The early followers of Jesus were known as Witnesses and those who belong to theWay. We like them are learning from Jesus the importance of being in a place and embracing it with its particular needs and knowing the people, their names, their families, their pain and their hopes and living with them in such a way that we can bear witness to the LIFE and goodness of Jesus. Partner with us   The Vision A Movement and Way of Life with Jesus: Calling people pursue a distinct life of discipleship and mission that transforms individuals and communities The Mission Starting and supporting intentional discipleship communities networked locally and around the world