On our way to Berlin

Today has proven to be quite adventurous already. The morning started with errand runs to get medicine at Target, going to two banks to get documents notarized, exchanging Katie’s iPhone (she dropped a bowl on her old one and cracked the screen-R.I.P.) and making sure everything fit into our bags. We arrived at RDU Airport and to our surprise, the entire staff of Chapel Hill Bible Church was also pulling in to send us off. They were extremely helpful in getting our luggage into the airport- 7 suitcases, one guitar and various carry-ons are a bit too much for Katie and the boys and me to handle.
Check-in started off on a bad note with us being charged for bags we had been told on the phone would be free to check. Not cool, but we are grateful that we had money allotted for this in our budget and that Megan L. from our staff team was on hand to take care of the charges.
After some group pics (I’ll post them when they get sent to me), hugs and some tears, we went through the joy of security check (we probably used more baskets for our stuff than anyone else, ever!) only to receive a call from our airline- the flight was canceled.
We scrambled back to the checkin counter where I got to practice the art of standing in line while observing other passengers grumble about their misfortunes (my favorite is when someone grumbles in a language they think others won’t understand and I happen to be there and catch every word). I tried to only release the occasional huffs and puffs to fit in and show my disapproval of the airline’s decision to cancel their flight without consulting me.
The good news is that, barring another very unwanted phone call, we will be headed to the old continent in a few hours. We will land in London, yell out congratulations to Chelsea FC, and head on over to Berlin. It will be our home for the next 14 months. We are eager to be there and pray we will have a very uneventful rest of our journey there.

Commissioning at church

Today was a great day at church. Not only was our musical worship time great and the sermon really challenging, but it was also really sweet for us. I sang “Noch ein Liebeslied” with Nat Stine, our balling Music and Worship Minister, and the Berlin Team was recognized on stage and prayed for. One of the Sunday School classes then provided us with a nice reception with snacks.
It was a sweet morning for us. We are so blessed to have CHBC as our home church.
Check out the link here to watch a video we showed this morning.

Fully Funded!

I got a phone call this morning from church notifying me that we are now fully funded for our time in Berlin!  What an encouraging phone call that was.  We will now not only be able to be in Berlin for 14 months, but will also be able to provide language classes for the whole team, do a team retreat, attend conferences, etc… (see this post).  We are so grateful to the Lord and his people for the support and encouragement we are receiving.

Some of you have recently expressed an interest in partnering with us financially on this mission.  Even though we are fully funded, there is still room for more financial gifts.  The students that are going with us are also fund raising and they have not all yet met all of their goals.  Your gifts will ensure our students are able to be in Berlin and invest fully in relationships there without wondering how long they’ll be able to stat there.  Also, any additional funds we receive will be used to further ministry initiatives in Berlin (help fund outreach opportunities, for example).

I’ve been teaching Elijah Psalm 23- The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not be in want.  Thank you Lord for that truth.

All Hands on Deck!

This Sunday marked the last big thing before all our energy and attention turned towards getting ready for Germany.  We arrived around 11 pm last night from a weekend in South Carolina where I got to do the wedding of former “youth” from my old church.  It was a huge privilege to get to share in that moment with him and his (now) wife.

Today has been a full and good day.  The boys spent seven hours with some friends from church (THANK YOU!!!!!) while Katie spent most of the day working in the boys’s rooms- going through their closets and drawers- trying to decide what to trash, give away, store and take with us.  Our living room is a wreck with boxes and bags all over the place.  But that is the nature of the beast.

I spent most of the day running financial errands.  We’ve spent several hours on the phone over the last two weeks and today calling our banks, insurance companies, service contracts, etc…  The big task du Jour was trying to find a bank with cheap wire transfer fees (give me a shout if you know of one for under $35).  This is due to the fact I will be working in Germany but being paid from the U.S.  Good times, trying to figure all of this out.

Tomorrow is work in the yard day- weeding, laying out mulch, etc…  Katie will continue to work inside the house while I work outside.  If you are bored and want to work up a sweat this Tuesday (and live around Durham), come on by the house around 2 pm.  I’d love to to hang out and spread some mulch.

 

Financial Update

As I am sure most of you know, Katie and I (and there interns going with us) have been fundraising over the last several months.  This has been a very new and exciting experience for us.

The excitement is due to several reasons.  1) We’ve reconnected with some people with whom we’d lost contact, 2) It has been encouraging to see people get excited about what we are doing in Berlin, 3) we’ve been overwhelmed with the financial support we’ve received from people wanting to partner with us, 4) we’ve seen and experienced God come through in providing for what he has called us to do.

As of today, we have raised around $93,000!  This is absolutely amazing!  To make this really digestible, this number covers flights to and from Berlin for our family, German lessons for the boys here in NC, my salary and benefits (health and life insurance, retirement funding, etc…) and ministry expense money (e.g., to take people out to dinner/coffee for ministry related purposes).  This means we are fully funded for the basics of our full budget of $116,000.  So what makes up that $23,000 gap?

Here are the big ticket items:

• Language School- I am hoping to raise funds to pay for and intensive German course in Berlin for Katie and me and the interns going with us.  This will be a huge boost to us being able to communicate effectively with people in Berlin in their language.  Total cost: $10,500.
• Staff Conference in Nairobi, Kenya- The staff of Mavuno churches (Berlin, Nairobi and other church plants in Africa) will be headed to a Mavuno conference in July for training, encouragement and fellowship.  I have been asked to attend and would love to see and experience how Mavuno Church in Nairobi operates.  I’ve been told it is an intense time of training, planning and equipping for ministry.  As the worship pastor of Mavuno Berlin, this would go a long way in helping me understand the model whose implementation I will be helping lead.  Total cost: $1,700.
• Berlin Team Retreat- Team retreats are a great way to forge unity and momentum in any organization.  One of the hopes I have for our team in Berlin is that we will be able to take a trip together exploring some of Europe while learning to work together and support each other.  The idea is that we would rent a large vehicle (some sort of van for 10 people) and head south towards Rome.  The trip would obviously be a blast but would also include purposeful team building opportunities.  Unity and purpose often come from shared experiences, both triumphs and set-backs.  This would be a great opportunity to start our time in Europe as a strong team.  Total cost: $3,000.
• Staff Family Retreat- The Mavuno church staff family gathers once a year on the Indian Ocean to celebrate what God is doing through the ministry of Mavuno Churches.  Our family has been invited to join the celebrations and to meet other staff families from other Mavuno churches.  This would be an incredibly rich experience for our family as we make connections with African bothers and sisters.  Total cost: $4,000.
• The rest-  The remaining $5,000 or so are for miscellaneous expenses, including IT support (If my computer needs to be repaired/replaced), money to ship belongings to and from Germany, funds for Berlin Team meetings (meals/snacks/coffee for those gatherings), etc…

So there you have it.  We are excited about where our fundraising is and are eager to finish strong before we leave for Germany in 13 days!  Please celebrate with us what God has already done.  And we ask that you also consider helping us finish this budget.  Maybe you and a friend or small group can tackle one of the items listed above.

To give, send a tax deductible check to

Chapel Hill Bible Church, 260 Erwin Road, Chapel Hill, NC 27514.

Please write Berlin-Dinsmores on the memo to ensure it gets correctly appropriated.

Camera. Lights. Action.

In preparation for our commissioning on May 27, our WorPT (Worship Planning Team) at church decided we should make a video of the Berlin team to show that Sunday morning.  You know, rather than having us on stage with a mic and saying something (think boring) we are producing a video that will not only communicate why we are going to Berlin, but that will also serve as the first of many videos to come from our team.  Caroline will be shooting and editing that video that she and I scripted together this afternoon.  I will post it after we show it at church on the 27th.

Learning Turkish?

You may or may not know this about me… I am a language geek and fanatic.  It blows me away that you and I can communicate feeling, intent, doubt, action, facts, opinions, etc all by using words and sounds we agree mean certain things.  But the minute one of us starts using different words and sounds, all meaning is gone for at least one of us.

I remember the first semester I got a 4.0 in college.  It was not when I was taking trigonometry and studying sociology.  It was when I was taking Greek, German, French and Spanish.  Believe it or not, I loved it!  I found myself in my academic element.  A year or so later, I was studying at the University of Vienna in Austria and started to learn a bit of Czech (My dad and I travelled throughout Scandinavia for two weeks and my Bible and my Czech language grammar book accompanied me).  Yep, I am a language geek.

One of the many things that excite me about our move to Berlin is the opportunity to improve my German.  I look forward to learning new words, phrases, and idioms as I learn to better communicate with the people I am going to serve.

My “thing” for learning languages is not just an intellectual interest of mine, though.  I believe God has not only given me a gift for it but has also given me a glimpse of how I can use my language skills to minister the gospel to people.  I remember spending a summer in Myrtle Beach, SC in 1997 where I shared the gospel with people in English, Portuguese and Spanish.  It was then that I realized that, if only I would make the effort to learn someone’s language, I had an open door to share the gospel with them!

What does learning Turkish have to do with this?  Berlin has the largest Turkish population in the world outside of Turkey.  They bring a great culture and language and amazing food to Berlin ( I LOVE Döner Kebab).  I am eager to learn at least the basics of the Turkish language that I may develop friendships with Turks in Berlin.  I pray that this would in turn open an opportunity for me to share the gospel with these Turkish friends.

Please pray for me and for our team that we would have facility with learning German (and Turkish, for me).  Please pray especially for Gabe and Elijah that they would learn German quickly and that they would make good friends quickly.  They are brave little boys and I am confident God will use them in Berlin to advance his gospel.

Thanks, danke, sağ olun.