attachmentThings are starting to shape up for the upcoming missions trip to Italy, headed by Bob Kilpatrick Ministries. As some of you know, this is our second trip to Rome/Naples, where we will do worship/musical training, speaking, and performing in support of the evangelical churches in those areas.

We will be arriving in Rome on April 29, and after a day or so of acclimating to the time change, we will hit the ground running with a very ambitious schedule that will take us through May 11.

Our group of ten will split into two teams (a Recording Team and a Concert Team).  The Recording Team will be working with Italian songwriters selecting, developing and recording original worship material for inclusion into a CD which we hope will have a nationwide (international?) release.  The Concert Team will do a series of piazza outreach concerts on Friday and Saturday in Rome and also travel to Naples for additional outreach concerts.  On the two weekends, we will also have worship conferences during the day in both Rome and Naples, respectively, and participate in worship and speaking at a few churches on the two Sunday mornings that we are there.

I know—sounds busy.  But I concur with Bob, who points out, “We can sleep in heaven.”  We believe this is doable because we will be working with the Italian musicians on both teams, sharing the vision as well as the fellowship.

I am not entirely sure what my role will be at this point,  though I suspect I might be speaking in Naples.  I have the skill set for either of the teams, so we’ll just have to see where the greatest need exists.   As we learned from our trip last year, we just need to be flexible.

Prayer Needs: Please pray that our team would gel (lots of new faces on this trip, so we need to get to know one another quickly. And our unity is as much a witness to the evangelical churches here as it is to the rest of the public).  Pray that we also gel with the Italian musicians (the language barrier will be a challenge as we rehearse with them, and record them).  Pray for our host churches, that we would be fruitful for them and serve them well.  Pray for the outreach concerts, that they would be well attended and lead to open doors.  And pray for the families of the team members (we have people coming from northern California, Seattle, and even Alaska on the team).

I recently shared with someone that I’m using this decade of my life to learn how to have extreme passion for what I do, while being personally disconnected from the results of it.  In other words, I need to learn to give myself fully to something, while at the same time not attaching the results of it to my identity or self-worth.  It seems dichotomous, but I am more convinced than ever that this is the way of Christ.  So please pray for me, that God will use me in large and grace-appointed ways, as he once again takes me out of my comfort zones and fulfills His (not my) purposes on this trip.  And thank you once again for your support!