Dear friends,
It finally happened!
After three years of waiting and postponing and Zooming, CONNECT, our big event of the year for student ministry training, took place during the last week of July.
Leading up to the conference, however, was a battle for the ages. Ok, maybe a little exaggeration, but you get the idea. 🙂 Not only did we have to face our usual stressors that come with organizing an event of this size, especially after a three-year hiatus, but we also had the continual sideline distractions of visa issues (not ours specifically) and banking challenges, which seemed to come to a head this summer. But God! One early morning right before Connect, Dina read this verse from the Psalms during her daily devotional time. It says, “Behold, God is my helper; the Lord is the upholder of my life.” (Ps 54:4) What an encouragement it was and still is to us.
Though many stressors remain, especially in this tenuous time in Europe, God helped us with the SFC banking situation after a two year battle and just in time to pay the facility we rented for the conference. Whew! But most importantly, God met us at CONNECT in a profound and powerful way! One student had a supernatural encounter with the Holy Spirit and received a call to plant the first SFC group in her nation!
]Since we’ve last written, the ministry has taken either Blair or the three of us to Albania, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany and Sweden, not to mention our beloved Belgium. We thank the Lord for his help in upholding our lives, and we thank you for your prayerful and financial support and your friendship.
Merci mille fois! (the French equivalent of the expression “thanks a million!”)
Blair & Dina & Josiah
Blair praying for university students of Europe during the Pentecostal European Fellowship conference in Stockholm last week.
Connect 2022
“This was my 10th Connect, and probably the best ever!”
That is a quote from an evaluation form we received at the end of Connect and evidence of the grace of God! After three years, we had a lot of rust that had to be worked out logistically-speaking, but by the end of the week, the general consensus was that it was a phenomenal re-CONNECTion! We had about 110 total attenders (down from about 170 in 2019), and about half of those were there for the first time, including our first participants from Croatia.
Lediana and Henry were first-time attenders from Albania. Here they are sharing about how they met Jesus as young students, and how the Lord is calling them to keep reaching out to students in their nation.
They received a boost to their outreach goals by participating in the Reaching Today’s Student course, which was taught along side The Gospel in a Secular Context, New Testament Backgrounds and Literature, and Foundations for Christian Coaching. We’re especially grateful to Dr. Amy Anderson and Julie Markese, PCC, who traveled from the USA to teach the New Testament and Coaching courses, respectively. Thank you, ladies! We’d also like to thank our colleagues Winnie, Emily & Jay, and the team from Angelo State Chi Alpha who helped with the kids and youth. We couldn’t have done it without them. Thanks so much, guys!
A former SFC-Belgium leader was our evening speaker. As the CEO of his own cancer research entity AND a pastor-in-training, Jean-Pierre Latere was a great encouragement to students and leaders alike as he urged us to be “Catalysts for Jesus.”
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Jean-Pierre and his brave assistant EJ, giving a scientific demonstration on catalysts.
The annual tradition of setting up the Connect Office. Always grateful for our hard-working & helpful SFC team!
As we mentioned at the beginning of this letter, God met us in a powerful way at Connect. It was a much-needed confirmation that the Lord has great things in store for the students of Europe this year and beyond, through the ministry of Students for Christ-Europe. Thank you for being part of the team!
Introducing…
Elizabeth Hope Langley
Born on 2 July 2022 to Callie and Stuart and big sister Felicity, she raises our status to grandparents of four girls!
We are very thankful for a healthy mom and baby, and that Dina was able to make a trip to Florida to be with them for the birth of Ellie.
Claire and Caleb with Chloe and Addie squeezed in a quick visit to Belgium in July, arriving the same day Dina flew home from Florida. On the morning of the day they left, Evangeline flew into BRU for a 3-week stint to serve in co-leading the youth program at CONNECT. “Auntie E” had about an hour to meet her newest niece and hang out in the airport before the Johnsons proceeded through security. These kind of meet-ups bring a whole new meaning to “airport connections”!
Uncle Si has just begun 10th grade, and hopes to complete his high school courses early so he can focus on preparing for the next season of life which will, in some form, involve music and computers. What a blessing it has been to see him grow in leading worship on the piano during this last year. He recently led solo at Vie Nouvelle in Ransart, Belgium (below). For those who are interested, here are a couple of video links of a service where Josiah helped to lead worship before Blair preached, en français, and a song from his first jazz recital in June.
Please pray…
We’re thankful for opportunities to serve as we rely on God’s help (Ps 54!):
- Blair’s travel schedule has increased considerably these last few weeks.
- Challenges in Belgium regarding non-profits, banking, and visa issues make for lots of meetings with lawyers and notaries in addition to requiring much administrative energy.
- Mentoring/Coaching/Preaching continues to be a huge part of our day-to-day activity with more opportunities and requests for help than we can realistically undertake.
- We meet regularly with a small team to envision the future transition of SFC-Europe leadership. This won’t be for some time yet, but we desire to transition well and to see the next generation lead courageously!
- Our five adult children (and their families) are all doing very well in their scattered corners of the world, but we miss them. Thank you for your prayers for us and our family.
Because of Jesus,
Blair & Dina and Josiah
Taken recently at a wedding reception held at a domain in beautiful southern Belgium for the daughter of former landlords who became dear friends. If you look closely, you can see that the building dates back to 1395.