What a weekend

This past weekend was such a blessing! So I thought that I would share with you what took place to keep you updated.

PFORZHEIM

On Friday afternoon, Erwin and I left Herborn to drive down to Pforzheim. This is where he is currently serving as the youth pastor of a FEG (Free Evangelical Church). I got to know Erwin at the beginning of this year, as he was my translator in Düsseldorf. Since then we have stayed in contact and he has asked me out a few time to come and share God's word with his youth. This particular Friday night, they had a special event with some youth from another church as well. There was around 40 youth in all and it was an honor to be able to bring forth a Gospel message. I do believe that the Lord spoke to many of the youth that night. I had the opportunity to pray with one of the young men and to encourage and challenge him in his walk with the Lord.
On Saturday morning, Erwin invited a few of his co-leaders and one of the youth (the young man that I prayed with the night before) to come over for a breakfast and a time together in God's Word. Erwin asked if I would share some things that have been very important for me in my walk with the Lord over the years. I originally had in my mind a few topics to share, but we really never got out of the topic of the Word of God and how important it is in our lives. We were all really able to open up and to share, ask questions, and pray for one another. That was really an encouragement. Erwin and I then drove home to Herborn and enjoyed a great time of fellowship during the car ride.

CC HERBORN

This past Sunday, at CCH, we had a Thanksgiving service with the whole family! The service was mixed with worship, a short devotion from Pastor Edmund, songs with the Children's Ministry (as you can see), testimonies that we submitted on the church's web site, and some personal testimonies as well. Oh yeah, one of the other great part of the service was a little video that the Children's Ministry put together, asking the children what they were thankful for. You can actually watch it on our church's web site. We were super stoked to see and barely hear both Katie and Aliyah be in the video. Both speaking in German! You got to check it out, even if you do not understand the German language, it is still so cute!

Now this next story is a little humbling, but I thought that I would share it with all of you more of a testimony of what the Lord does, so far our expectations. This picture to the left is a picture of me and a man that I had met after the morning service, named Peter. He has never been to our church before. In fact, he lives about an hour and a half north of us, in the city of Münster. After the service, I was outside, enjoying the weather, and talking to some of the people. One of the sisters in the church then came and brought Peter to me and introduced him to me. She told him, "Don't worry, he can speak German, so feel free to just talk to him in German." So Peter began to introduce himself, tell me where he was from, and why he wanted to talk to me. I cannot remember how, but somehow he was introduced to our church's podcast and he began to listen to the messages. Well this particular Sunday, he was in Wetzlar (a city about 15-20 minutes from Herborn) and he told his wife, "I have got to go to CC Herborn today, because I need to meet Joey Roper!" He went on to tell me how he has been listening to my messages through the podcast and how he is extremely blessed by them. Well, as you can imagine, I was completely blown away! Here is a man, whom I have never met before, and yet the Lord has been using me to speak into His life through His Word! How amazing is our GOD! May the Lord continue to speak to Peter and bless him as he continues to listen to God's Word via podcast during his drive everyday! PTL!

CC SIEGEN

On Sunday night, I had the blessed opportunity to teach at CC Siegen. A little after spending time in prayer with Rebecca at home on Sunday morning, I got a call from a friend of mine who is one of the pastors at CC Siegen and he asked me if I would be able to step in and teach for the Sunday evening service there! What an honor it was to do so! CCS is like the CC Costa Mesa of all of Europe, or at least for Germany. CCS has been here for over 20 years and the Lord has and still continues to use them in a mighty way! I do praise the Lord for all that He is doing through CCS! One of the treats for that night was to be able to be there when Andrea Kölsch shared how the Lord is calling her on from there, for a season. She will be leaving on Wednesday, October 5th, to fly to Santa Barbara, CA to go and serve there for at least 3 months. She is still waiting to hear back regarding her visa so that she can stay there longer, but she is stepping out in faith to see what the LORD is going to do! Andrea is a dear sister in the Lord, who has been serving at CCS for over 20 years as well in the area of worship. She is really gifted. She is simply stepping out and going to see what the Lord is going to do! I knew that when she began to share what was going on with her, with the church, that the message was going to be perfect for her.... and it was!

 I thank the Lord for that opportunity that He gave me to share His Word throughout this weekend. Whether it was to a group of youth, a small group of men, or with a few hundred people in Siegen, I am completely honored and humbled by it all! To HIM ALONE BE THE GLORY!