Dancing for joy!

We have these little eggs that when you push them, they start singing a song in a duck's voice. Mimi (Laura's mom) got them for us a few years back. The past couple of days Bekah has pulled the eggs back out and with pure joy and soul has been bustin' some moves that would make Michael Jackson jealous. I thought you'd enjoy a couple slices of her dancing.

Lizzie's Brown Bear Reading

Slide Show of the Church Plant - Transforma

Report from Spring Retreat

Some of our preschool kids showing the poster board from their lesson on Sunday. The poster says in Croatian, "Jesus loves..." then they wrote names of their friends who need to know Jesus on the poster as a prayer. From left to right: Ian, Nia, Ema, Kaleb, Sara, and Ivan.

After each sermon we broke up into small groups for practical application and to pray for each other. A lot of great ministry happened in these groups!

Damir (one of the leaders of the church) with his friend/former employee/former drug addict Robi. Robi has recently starting attending church again and we praise God for that!

This is Dzevad (pronounced "Jay-vad") who is Nerka's brother. Nerka is one of our leaders - cell group intern and member of worship team. Dzevad has recently had a total life change thanks to Jesus. He and his girlfriend, Goga, came. It was a huge deal that they decided to come to the retreat!

Here's some of the group worshipping before hearing from Goran.

This year's retreat was a highlight for all of us! The theme was Freedom in Christ and we believe some people really began to find some new freedom which they haven't experienced before. We were actually over capacity at the house we rented. We had something like 35 people there total. We were really excited that 7 guests plus their children joined us this year. These were all people we've prayed for and are continuing to pray for as they're on their own journey towards Jesus. So, we'd say that overall the retreat was a HUGE success. We're looking forward to hearing more testimonies this week as to some specific things that went on in people's lives.

Thanks to all of you who prayed! I'll report more on this in an upcoming newsletter.

Spring Retreat

Please pray with us for our spring retreat. We're taking off today and returning Sunday. The theme is Freedom in Christ. Thanks!

CD Recommendation

I wanted to recommend to everyone my friend, Todd Warren's, new CD. He's recently produced a new one called "Breakthrough" and it has some great new grooves. What I enjoy most about Todd's music is his fresh lyrics and ways of expressing his deep relationship with Jesus. Click on the link below to purchase his album. It's well worth it!

http://cdbaby.com/found?allsearch=Todd+Warren&submit=

Easter Sunday at Transforma

Normally we meet in the city in a gray, blah building back behind a few night clubs and gambling facilities near the center of Zagreb. Don't get me wrong, I'm thankful for our building and all that it offers for us. Today, however, we planned a special service at 11am (in place of 5pm) for Easter out at Roger and Erin Massey's place in the village. The weather was 75 F and sunny...the grass was hyper-green, the flowers were in full bloom, the birds sang a prettier song, and the wind was blowing the other way (so that we didn't smell the chicken poop at the chicken farm next door :-). It was a gorgeous day! To top it off, the Lord gave me a new song yesterday in celebration of Easter and we all really enjoyed worshiping with it today. After our service at 11am, we had a big Easter feast complete with ham, chicken, green onions and radishes (Croatian tradition), and tons of salads to choose from. Then came the deserts...oh the deserts. Lots of guests came today as well...people with broken lives looking for freedom and healing. We think they found good company with us as we shared our stories with them and they saw that God can take a broken life and restore it. Overall, it was an excellent day and we thank God!

Leading worship (left to right: Maja, Juliana, James, Ivan)

Uncle Roger showing the girls his new spring chicks.

This morning the girls woke up to Easter baskets on the table. Happiness abounded.