Sankt Nikolaustag

So there are many versions of Santa Claus around the world, however Sankt Nikolaus of German tradition holds about as close as any other tradition does to the actual Saint Nicholas of Greece. St Nicholas was a 1st century greek bishop known for his kindness and generosity to the people. I guess so, since he was a bishop and a Saint. There are several legends that have evolved from alleged events of this man's life to become what the world now knows of as Santa Claus/Kris Kringle/St Nick and other variations there of. In Germany on the even of December 5th children place their boots/shoes outside front door to wake up to small gifts and candy left by Sankt Nikolaus. In fact, Sankt Nikolaus came to visit me too on this evening! (See pictures below)

Yesterday I visited Bonn to walk around the Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas Market). It was pretty awesome! At first I only saw a huge Christmas tree reminiscent of the "Riches Great Tree" (originally named) of Atlanta. These happen to be all over the place here at intersection corners, by churches, just about anywhere they can put one. Anyway as I was walking through the old town of Bonn I turned a corner in the back of the city where the Beethoven Statue is and there it was, huge and spread throughout not only the market place but down the side streets connecting to. I took many pictures and walked around enjoying the Christmas spirit of Germany!

In other news, Thanksgiving in Germany is the 1st week of October. I may have mentioned it before in an earlier post. This also means that, what I would consider the 2nd biggest holiday in the states, just happens to be another day in the German life. Although there was a kind of celebration in the air as this was the end of my 2nd course in German. I also meet with some friends to talk exclusively in German. In a combined culmination last week felt to be one the strongest weeks in my German yet! I had a few full on conversations, even if I did dominate most of the conversation limiting the vocabulary used. I am hoping that by Baseball Camp next year I will nearly be fluent at least enough to carry my own.

Other exciting information that has come together in the last few weeks:
Baseball Camp plans have been moving right along. As it looks now we are planning to have 130 kids at baseball camp with 10 teams. We also have ordered the equipment that we need for camp next year. Akadema and Reynolds and Reynolds are working hard to get things shipped out to us as soon as possible. Planning meetings have begun, posters and sign up sheets are being created and passed out! We can't wait to see it all come together! For next spring we are looking at new ways to connect with baseball campers in the winter and springs months leading up to camp! My prayer is that when my time here is complete that there will be a steady improvement and impact as a result of the Lord's work as He has placed me in this community!

Following His Call

Herbst Ferien (Fall Break)

So the Month of October has been great! Many things have happened. Where to start?

Well I don't think I mentioned anything about the planning for our trip during the fall break. There is a church in Alabama that Ralf (Pastor of CGS, local church) has had a good relationship with the Music minister there for several years. In fact a few years ago he brought a choir group here to Siegburg. Ralf and his wife Tina visited this church a year or so ago and they were very impressed with their involvement in their own community as well as throughout the rest of the world in missions. We planned to take the youth leaders from CGS there to share ministry perspectives with each other as well as plan a project together. We had a cool Skype meeting, Ralf and I with two of their ministers to kick it off. Then the asst Music Min. and myself took it from there. I had a good time emailing him back and forth as we planned our time together!

We had also been talking with a guy about a half hour from us about coming to play his team in baseball. The finally came through. We organized a team to go to their so called "sandlot" which turned out to be one of the nicest fields I have seen in Germany! Aside from their limited space and subsequential awkward shape, it looked better than a lot fields in the states. We played two games against their team and for the most part we played better, but they had a secret weapon who scored their only 3 runs in a 0-2 and 0-1 set of games. It was a bummer we lost both, but we sure had a ton of fun! Some of our guys might join their winter camp in January.

I also had my 28th Birthday in Germany. It was really cool what both the youth and some of my other friends,  that I have been able to make while I am here did for me! It was a great birthday month! Making sure I was equipped with warm Germany style winter clothing was a common and generous theme.

So back to the Herbst Ferien. It was pretty surreal to be going on a trip to the United States as a visitor. As I said before we took a team of 9 including myself and the pastor to FBC Montgomery, AL. We were there for a week to plan and organize as well as observe some of the different ministry programs that were reaching out to the community.

First of our flight over was a little scary. I think we flew in American Airlines first plane ever. Then the first thing that we did landing in Atlanta was of course got o the best Restaurant in the world. Then our week was packed full of time at the church or other of their associated ministries such as the caring center and all their different ESL programs. There in Montgomery is a military training base for pilots and officers. They provide that training for all other military offices not just US. There are a lot of military wives that don't speak any english and so during the year there they can come to FBC M to learn english. They also provide a community ministry called the Nehemiah Project that reaches out to all the kids in low income area providing after school programs and sports for kids that would otherwise never have the opportunity to do so. This is the answer to the universal call to "get our children off the streets."

Next summer we hope to come back with a team of youth to join this outreaching church in their ministry to Montgomery, Al. As we were there we heard and saw great generosity among the members of this church, of which we hope to exemplify and replicate among the church here in Siegburg. This visions and paths of this church is similar to where CGS is and hopes to be in the future.

 Over the past couple of weeks through my time with FBC Montgomery and as Ralf and I continue in our conversations about FBC Bryan, and Synergy, my ideals of ministry and philosophy as it pertains to churches working together. I have always believed in churches going to the same location on missions each year to build relation, but church partnerships to the degree that we have discussed this over the past few months takes that concept to a new level. This is something that I think truly takes ministry to a new level. Not just to the people and community around both churches but also for both church congregations. I can't wait to see where God leads me in my time here in Germany, but even more so to see how He uses things that He is teaching me here, in the future!

Tonight we went to a ceremony in the city Reichspogromnacht. It was the night that the Synagogues were burned down and they arrested all the jews. There are fountains in place of those synagogues now and every Nov. 9th they meet there by the fountain and then we walked to the cemetery where they buried all the jews in this area. It was a very interesting and important night to be a part of. Below is a picture of the fountain from tonight.    

Following His Call

For those who have been in Siegburg this is right in front of C&A. 

Revival in this Town

This weekend we had the Baseball Camp Revival. It was an amazing time with everyone! The weather was great and we were able to secure a place that was perfect to host the revival. There is a club field that is directly across the street from the military base that hosts baseball camp. There, we have a meeting room, outdoor tables and place to grill. The grounds crew, a man, his daughter and her husband, were so friendly to us and are excited to see what happens next with "Baseball Camp."  We had approximately 25 players show up not counting the student leaders/volunteers and in all, with parents and volunteers there were around 40 people that joined us this past Saturday afternoon.

I may have said this before, because it has been on my heart a lot lately, but one of my main goals involves all the many people that we have made contact with over the past 3 year in baseball camp. It is to continue to build that connection throughout the year. It is incredible the amount of people that baseball camp can reach and no not many of them are going to immediately start coming to church, however if we can maintain a consistent connection between the church and those of Baseball Camp, at minimum, they have a consistent connection with followers and believers in Christ. My prayer is that this consistency would penetrate their hearts and lead them to the church and ultimately to Christ.

My Challenge to you is to be praying about this with me as I seek to be more creative as the winter seasons approaches and temperatures drop. This makes it very challenging to do any outdoor activities. An easy fix to this would be wiffleball in a gym or large meeting room. You would think in a place where outdoor activity weather is not easy to come by there would be an abundance of gyms or indoor platz. There are some, but the great demand for those places makes it nearly impossible to find a place. We spoke with a lady with the city and she said there is no chance at all for this year to get into a gym. Crazy, huh? I know that the Lord will make a way and so I ask that you pray with me for a place that we could go to on occasions in order that we might be able to maintain a consistent and reliable connection with both the players and their families.

In addition, I am praying that my time here is effective not just when spent at baseball or church events but the many people that I meet outside of church would be reflected to the amazing work that Christ is doing in Siegburg. There is one guy from the military base that is very interested in being involved in what happens next year at baseball camp. He is soldier located at the base in Siegburg and is very draw to the work that we are doing. For now it only stands on a social/community interest, but I pray as times are spent together with those of the church he would see the truth and the light of Christ and His saving grace!

Following His Call

Nick

Time to Hit the Books

Well, I have my school schedule where I will be involved in the PE class at the Christian school in Siegburg and I have started German class with the city. Today marks the first complete week. My first German class was last Wednesday. I learned 7 questions: Wie heissen Sie? (What's your name?) Wie alt sind Sie? (How old are you?) Was arbeiten Sie? (What's your occupation?) Woher kommen Sie? (Where are you from?) Sind Sie verheiratet? Und haben Sie Kinder? (Are you married and do you have kids?) Welche Hobbys haben Sie? (What are your hobbies?) Was sprechen Sie? (Which languages do you speak?) Today I had towrite about my family. Meine verlobte (Fiance), Meine Eltern (Parents) und Brueder (Brothers) und Schwaegerin Sister-in-law.


Outside of school Baseball has been great! We had 2 Saturdays in a row that we got a group together to play baseball. There was about 15 players each time and that was awesome! Many of these were not students from the church, which is awesome! This past Saturday we played in a tournament in Lubbecke with all the other Synergy camps. Syngery if you don't know, is the organization that has assisted all the many baseball camps that happen in Germany each summer! We took two teams to the tournament, and older and a younger team. The Older team took 2nd place for the second year in a row, which is amazing! The younger team went undefeated, taking 1st place!! It was a great weekend and we introduced the idea of a baseball league. This is in the mind of some of the players and many of the volunteers and pastors. We aren't sure when / if it will all come together. Maybe this spring and maybe in the coming years! We shall see.

I also met a youth pastor from Bruckeburg named Jacob Ferguson. He is an American from Ohio, I believe. He has been here in Germany for two and a half years. He has played a major role in organizing youth camps, retreats and concerts in the Bremen area. We talked for a few minutes, exchanged contact info and hope to work together throughout the year.

Aside from baseball, many of you know, but some of you  dont, that I have many years of sign language experience, specifically in reference to contemporary Christian Music. When I was serving as the youth pastor at Northview Baptist Church, God brought to my attentiont hat I need to always use the talents He gave me and so I began a class there. Here in Germany He is opening opportunities for me to use this talent again, in the schools. In addition to the PE classes I will be assisting with a couple Chapel services on Tuesdays. Next Tuesday I will be introducing sign language as a form of worship to the Chapel Services at the Christian school in Siegburg.

Continue to pray for me as God  open new doors and opportunities for Him to work through me.

Following His Call

Summer Break

For those that do not know, the first week of the German summer break is the week that we do baseball camp. It makes deciding when camp is going to be easy. Really it is because we know that people are going to be going on vacations and other things throughout the rest of summer break and so the best time to catch as many people as possible is the first week. However, now that camp is over and BIJ on Tour is over, summer break really begins. A lot of people will be on vacation, but many others will not. My hope is that we can take advantage of this time and provide opportunities for students to play baseball and stay connected to the church.

This past weekend I had the opportunity to go visit the pastor and many of the students of the camp in Bramsche. It was a great weekend! At the sametime an old college buddy of the Pastor (Holger) had come to visit from the states for the first time in 17 yrs. We were all able to spend some time together talking and visiting some German history around the northwest part of the country.

Friday I joined a baseball game with the youth in Bramsche. This is their fourth year to complete baseball camp, starting just one year before us here in Siegburg. They have some very talented players. One of the students that I met, had the opportunity to go to Michigan as an exchange student. Being at a small northern school he was able to play all the available sports. Saturday we had the baseball reunion service which invited all the campers back to the church for a small worship and connection time. I am hoping that with my time there this weekend and the connections that were made the Lord will open up other opportunities to expand this sports ministry here.

One thing that I would ask that you be praying about, I found out this weekend that  for a church to have a youth pastor here in Germany is not very common. "Most churches only have one pastor". There are certainly churches that have youth pastors and desire to have youth pastors. This to me sounds a lot like the US in the late 80's early 90's. At this time there was a huge movement building up the idea of how important ministry specific for students is within the health of a church. I would love to see youth ministry grow and develop here as it has in the states. Of course, once this has hit my brain juices have been flowing on how that might get jump started.

Following His Call

Nick

It is Finished

Camp is Over.

Ralf was quick to say that on Saturday. I think he was looking forward to it. : ) haha Camp was Great! Now everyone has arrived back in Houston and gone their separate ways. All except Maribeth and myself. Today we relaxed and took the train to Aachen walked around took many pictures, got Amereno (Cherry based) instead of Amaretto Eis, which was perfect because she doesn't like tart, fruity things. It was beautiful and a nice day.

Sunday we had a great meeting talk about this years baseball camp, what we liked what we wanted to improve as well as about next year. As long as the Lord still has it in His plans all parties are rearing and ready to go. It was also a great time of fellowship with both the church and other campers families. This lunch took place at the church which is great because it physically connected those who had never been to the church before to the church and hopefully we will some of those faces again.

Saturday was an awesome final day of camp! Closing cermonies included awards by coaches, to the winning teams and "The Bigs" rapping a couple of their songs including E3 (possibly not the title). Saturday of Camp there is always a tournament and a cookout. The church always does a fabulous job cook a large variety of meats, steaks, sausages, chicken, this year ... eggs. The tournament is always a toss up and anybodies game. There were a lot of great plays made as the weeks talent peaked at the end. The Sand Gnats and the Blue Claws ended up taking the cake in the end.

Thursday and Friday were both days of recovery. Thursday was recovery from the craziest hail storm I have ever seen in my entire life. Many Germans said the same. The track looked like it was covered in snow and the winds were hurricane like. I was helping holding down a large tent and the wind picked me up and bent the corner of the tent to pieces. Friday was recovery from playing the Nightmares on Thursday night. We almost won!! I think it was a victory that we made them try a little toward the end of the game. Final score 8-10.

I can't believe that camp is over and that the team has already been and gone. The rest of the week we have to relax and prepare for BIJ on Tour, the youth retreat. This weekend will be a lot of fun!! We are headed to Berlin to see Sarah Grossart get married and then head back on Sunday! It is going to be a great week and I am looking forward to the rest of the Summer. 4 more weeks!

Following His Call!

Its on!

This might be a short post, but here it is:

It has been a great time of preparation and getting camp started. On Wednesday our first team from the church arrived to go asleep and wake up bright and early be back at the church at 7:15 to head to the schools and set up the batting cages. It was a great carnival. Some of the players from previous years connected with their coaches. Relationships are carrying over from year to year now and it is exciting to see the connections growing. There were several teachers that were interested in having us coming again during the year to bring our baseball equipment and teach baseball. This is now possible that I will be here for the next year. Other doors are opening where the Lord is making connections between the community here and the church in Siegburg.

Friday and Saturday were spent setting up camp and finalize all the details while the rest of the team arrived late Saturday evening. They too then had an early morning the next day as camp started on Sunday. We had the church service at the base, lunch and then tryouts. Tryouts went great! With camp filled to capacity we pushed 108 kids through tryouts in a matter of an hour and a half! Parents showed up to hit in the cages while they waited for tryouts to finish and then we had "Opening Ceremonies"

It is now Tuesday evening and the first two days of camp have gone incredibly smooth! We have had no schedule issues and everyone is moving right on beat. The first day always comes with a few adjustments, however, with 80% of the team being returners it has made it very easy to roll with the punches! Each team looks great and even our weaker teams are playing very well. Its impressive to see how much is coming back to the players so quickly as they have gotten a chance to loosen their rusty arms. It will be interesting to see how the teams pan out. Each year the beginning of the week is a completely different look from the end of the week.

BasiX was great tonight, and I hope that the "heat" that we have had hasn't sent too many people home too early. We will have it again tomorrow and Friday. Be praying for this time. It is a youth service for the campers and their families and anyone else that we may invite. This is a major connecting point between the baseball camp and the church. Pray that the hearts of the non-christians are softened and opened to the Word of God.

The Calm Before the Storm

Today was a great day. At the christian school down the street we had a school festival where we set up the batting cages and a lot of the students that had been to baseball camp before had a chance to show off their skills to the rest of their soccer playing classmates. About 1/3 of the school is estimated to come from a non-christian background or have any connection with the church at all, so events like this are a great opportunity to reach out to other students and their parents that haven't been involved with baseball camp. There were some other cool things at the festival today. Someone had made a catapult using bicycle tire as the springs. Each class made their own derby cars to race down the hill of the parking lot. Those were really cool!

Earlier this week we were able to accomplish quite a bit. Monday all our baseball equipment came in on a pallet. We unpacked it and then Thursday we organized it numbered it and cleaned up the storage room that we use at the school. We did have a couple of days that allowed us to catch up on some rest, but on Thursday morning before heading to the school to organize all our equipment, Jonathan and I went to first register my address, check, then we went to apply for my residents permit. It was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. There are a few documents that I need to submit in order to finalize but I am well on my way to being settled in.

Last weekend at BIJ (Believe in Jesus), Friday night youth meeting, we had a night of prayer. This was an exciting time where the students could go between several different stations that provided various postures and topics for prayer. It was a great night of connecting with God! The following day Maribeth and I went with Ralf and his family to a wildlife park that was at a small German castle. We saw some bird shows wolves fed and counted 161 steps to the top of the castle to look over the Eifel region.

The week before we had several meetings preparing for the next year. We met with the school to talk about my involvement. The idea is that I would spend a couple days a week at the school in their sports and English classes. Again on friday I actually attended a couple of those classes just to get a good idea of what I might be doing in the fall. The schools here are on year around schedule, which is why they are still in school but they also have several breaks throughout the year. IN the sports class I got my butt kicked in soccer, but it was a lot of fun and all the students had a lot of fun as they were practicing for their school tournament.

Though we were able to get a lot accomplished this week we have had a good bit of down time to rest up for the next two weeks. Starting Monday we are hitting the ground running we will be at 3 different schools this week giving a little preview to baseball camp. Wednesday night our first team from America will land go to sleep and get up early to join us for the third and final school before setting up camp getting things rolling for BBC '13. I have already talked to a lot of kids that can't wait for Monday morning the 22nd to get here.

It has a been a great time so far! Maribeth and I really appreciate all your prayers and support as we continue to reach out the community of Siegburg here in the Rhineland of Germany.

Follow His call
Nick

Here .... We ... Go!!

So it has been a week in Germany and already it has seemed like we have been here for a month. Maribeth and I arrived last Tuesday night in Dusseldorf where we were picked up and drove back to the town of Siegburg.

Siegburg is a small town on the outskirts southwest of Cologne just west of Bonn (home of Beethoven). This area is where I will be spending the next year in ministry reaching out to the community and other churches. Here I will be working with the German partnership of FBC Bryan, Christus Gemeinde Siegburg. This is an evangelical Christian church with hopes of missions and out reach deeply rooted. My two main goals for this next year is to see the baseball ministry grow out side Christus Gemeinde and see a healthy youth and college program grow and develop from where it is now.

Today (Monday, July 1st), Maribeth and I had a meeting with Ralf Doehring (Pastor) about our goals and plans for the next few weeks and the whole year. There will be tons of opportunities that are coming our way and our aim is to utilize my time to optimize those opportunities. One Opportunity that we talk about today that I would like to see happen is with a church in Bonn. They have a baseball team of sorts and a field and have expressed interest in doing things with Christus Gemeinde. Hopefully, we will see many opportunities like this one come to surface where we can establish good relationships between many churches in the area working together.

Sunday, Ralf brought Maribeth and myself before the church to present us and pray for our time here. Everyone has been very welcoming and receptive to both Maribeth and myself, ask to pray for us both for our time together in Germany, but also for our time a part, as Maribeth will head back to Dallas on August 6th. Yesterday evening we also met with the college group 180* and talked about the future of the goup and our contribution as we will be joining them each Sunday. Maribeth will be a big contribution to that group for the time she is here and has already made great connections and friends with girls from that group as well as the youth group, which meets on Friday.

I was informed that our shipment of equipment would arrive in Cologne in the next couple days and I am so excited to receive and put to use all the equipment that we were able to get from Akadema. For those who don't know, Rick Witt, who was apart of our camp last year, connected us with a great Christian company that produces baseball equipment. Kris and the guys at Akadema have been so generous to supply us with 4 teams worth of equipment and more to come!

It has been adventure getting here from moving all my stuff to Dallas, driving my car to Atlanta, sitting through a 3.5 hr rain delay at Turner Field, catastrophes at the Dallas greyhound station with our bus never showing up, to the long 17 hr trip from Houston to Dusseldorf. We have had some excitement and disappointments, but this is just the beginning and we can't wait to see what happens next! Stay in prayer with us, as we continue this journey. And of course, if God places it on your heart to support our efforts here, please send your support to FBC Bryan, tx with designation to Nick in Germany.

Following His Call

Nick

 Using the batting cages at a town carnival

 MB and I in Linz

 Ready to hit the Skies

Passing Germany

And the Beat Goes On

Today Ralf and I were able to contact a baseball equipment supplier in hopes of buying our own equipment. As of right now we borrow equipment and that is only for the one week of camp. There are a few things that the church owns, but the goal is to own all the equipment in order that we no longer have to pay to rent equipment in the future. The most immediate and most beneficial perk is that during the year we will be able to do more baseball type events with more equipment. That was really exciting to get that ball rolling.

Also in the mail today I got my new passport! I can't believe it has been 10 years almost since I went to Nigeria. If you don't know (Bradley), in March of 2004 I was in Nigeria on a missions trip with Vision 2 Hear and World Care ministries. This was my first overseas missions trip and what a road it has been since then. I was very sad to give up my old passport with all my VISAS and stamps.

Next step now is to make sure that I have my ducks in a row to get a residence' permit in Germany so they don't kick me out after 90 days. From everything that I am ready and with the German church double check everything with me it appears that it is something that won't be too difficult to do and will be processed there in Germany. Between that and getting my stuff moved out of my friends house and into storage, I am well on my way to spending the next year of my life in Germany!

Please continue to be praying for my loving and supportive girlfriend Maribeth Gillis. She just turned 28 tuesday!! She has been such a support and aide, allowing me to pursue what I truly believe is God's calling on my life here and now. We are working hard to build a firm foundation in the Lord that our relationship would not be shaking through this next great challenge in our lives. She will spend the first month and a half with me there and then head back to Dallas to impact the young minds in her local school system!

If you would like you can goto the Baseball Camp website to read more from the German perspective (if you can read Deutsch) and look at pictures of what all is going on. www.baseballcamp-siegburg.de

I am very excited about everything that is going on and how the Lord is bringing it all together! Continue with me in Pray as the Lord does great things in the lives of many Germans!

Following His Call

Nick

Preparing For Germany

Guten Tag

So you might ask "Do you even know German?"

Nope. But I am learning. Through my job at Best Buy I was able to get an accommodation with Rosetta Stone for a year. I have been working hard on learning the language in my spare time through that program and it has been a lot of fun. I expect to rapidly excel once there in Germany. I hope. 

Right now I am focusing on what to do with my stuff. I hoping that there might be some unused attic space and other nooks and crannies I can hide my stuff for a year. The Lord will provide. Other than that, I have submitted my passport renewal form. It HAS been 10 years since my first time to Nigeria in High school. 10 years out of high school! Wow. 

We continue to have great meetings in preparation for this summer's camp. Our team is nearly complete and ready to go. 

Please be praying for a couple in Germany whose wife has stomach cancer. They are very key leaders in the church and will be out of commission for a while to figure this thing out and see where the Lord takes them. 

I want to provide you with updated information of how the ministry is going. My goal, once in Germany, is to write once a week, but never less than once a month. You can also reach me on Skype @ nickolasdylan, or if you have an iPhone you can always iMessage me, just make sure your text message send button is blue and not green. 

Today I am finishing my support letters and mailing those out. If you have any questions as to how you can support the ministry in Germany or specifically about my current roles and situation, please contact me by email at NickPoole.4@gmail.com (don't miss the dot between the “poole” and the “4”) or by phone at 979-820-1393!

Following His Call

Nick