Walls and Gateshttp://wallsandgates.squarespace.com/journal/en-US2009-11-25T20:28:55ZSquarespace Site Server v5.8.3 (http://www.squarespace.com/)Happy Thanksgiving!http://wallsandgates.squarespace.com/journal/2009/11/25/happy-thanksgiving.htmlTrey and Elise Atkins2009-11-25T09:16:45ZAs an American, I have always had enough.  During Thanksgiving, I could recount the visible and physical blessings God had provided.  Times are tougher.  The future looks bleaker.  Our family, like millions of others, is facing a tough 2010.  In this setting, Thanksgiving has become more real than traditional.  Can I be thankful in the absence of material blessing?

Yes, of course, is the Sunday School answer.   But, I am not looking for the right answer from my mouth, but to experience a thankful heart in my life, even if times are tougher than normal.  I would like to say that all I need is God and I will be thankful.  My guess is that is much easier to say on this side of difficulty than in a real experience of nothing.

So, this year, I want to wish you Happy Thanksgiving based not on stuff, or big account  balances, or a bright future, but because we know the one who knows and holds the future.  May that be enough for each of us this Thanksgiving.

Check out this article on the theological nature of Thanksgiving by Al Mohler.  Good stuff!

]]>Believe it or Nothttp://wallsandgates.squarespace.com/journal/2009/11/17/believe-it-or-not.htmlTrey and Elise Atkins2009-11-17T13:14:41ZLast year, we keep you closely informed about our visa status.  This year, we have not done so.  It is the same thing every year - new requirements that are really hard to meet and we push right up to the deadline.

We are there again.  Monday, we won't have a legal ground upon which to stay in Croatia.  We need a "permission" paper from the police.  It says we have turned in all the needed paper work and are waiting on the police.  This year, the difference is that we have not turned in all the needed paper work.  Our organization is working hard to put it all together, but it is a very difficult and costly new requirement.

Ask simply for God's will to be done in this.  It does not make sense to us for Ryan to change high school in the middle of his senior year.  However, God is not going to be caught unprepared for whatever it is He allows to happen.  His peace has guarded our hearts.  Ask for that to continue.

]]>Sect of the Devil - Baptists!http://wallsandgates.squarespace.com/journal/2009/11/5/sect-of-the-devil-baptists.htmlTrey and Elise Atkins2009-11-05T19:25:58ZA wonderful story and video of God's work around the world.  It fills me with hope as we look to work in areas that seem impossible!

]]>Encouragement!http://wallsandgates.squarespace.com/journal/2009/11/5/encouragement.htmlTrey and Elise Atkins2009-11-05T08:04:20ZWork in Europe is hard at times.  Governments are fickle, at best.  Response has been slow over the past decade or more.  However, there seems to be a growing responsiveness to the gospel in this part of the world.  Of course, almost any response equals massive growth!

I got the following message from one of our central European team leaders yesterday and wanted to encourage you with it!

we had 22 at the church start Sunday night (including kids) and 25 at the Bible study last night. Saturday we had a "party" with volleyball, pumpkin carving, games, homemade pizzas, etc and had around 40 people. It is awesome to see God doing things around ...us. We have two new believers at the Bible study."


Be encouraged.  God is doing wonderful things and people are hearing of His love and the sacrifice of His Son for our sins.  Pray for this new church in the country of the Czech Republic.

]]>Team Leader Training and Visashttp://wallsandgates.squarespace.com/journal/2009/10/25/team-leader-training-and-visas.htmlTrey and Elise Atkins2009-10-25T20:47:30ZI would appreciate your prayers over the next four days.  Thirteen of us will converge at a small town in western Hungary to have the first team leader training meeting that I have led.

  • Pray for wisdom, safe travel, and that we would be a great encouragement to one another.


  • Remember to pray for Elise as well as she holds down the home front.


It seems like we just did our annual visa prayer request saga, and that one did not finish until last April, though the visa ends on November 23rd.  So far this year, the process has gone very well; however, there is one new requirement that is expensive and requires a lot of work in other countries.  To put a positive spin on this requirement would be to call it crazy.

  • Ask that our support personnel and leaders in other countries can help put together the needed paper work to satisfy the police for another year.


Last, Bret seriously sprained his ankle last week.  It was the third time in three weeks and this one got it good.  Or bad, I guess describes it better.

  • Pray for his healing and for the doctor visit he has on Tuesday with a local orthopedic doctor.
]]>Exhausted, but Contenthttp://wallsandgates.squarespace.com/journal/2009/10/4/exhausted-but-content.htmlTrey and Elise Atkins2009-10-04T06:24:59ZAnytime a week goes by and I don't post anything here, you should pray extra hard for Elise, the boys, and me.  When a month goes by, fasting, sackcloth, and ashes might be called for!  It is an indication of not having any margins for healthy living.  Those margins have been taken by two things: reorganization and a health "event."

I have a friend who went through several reorganizations within his company and the memory of his stories have been most helpful.  Thanks to Kent for sharing!  I have to say reorganizing has been challenging, but at least the people I am blessed to work with have the very best of intentions and really do care about the people out here.  I am still on the fourth budgeting phase, and fear it is not the last!

  • Pray for patience, grace, and love in every communication and decision during this time.


  • Pray for us all to be focused on the main thing of sharing God's love.  There is more response throughout central Europe than I have ever seen or heard of before.  Rejoice in that, but also ask that nobody would be distracted by reorganzing.  Simply put, the lost really don't have time for our distraction.
]]>What are We Teaching?http://wallsandgates.squarespace.com/journal/2009/8/30/what-are-we-teaching.htmlTrey and Elise Atkins2009-08-30T19:36:59ZTimmy Brister posted this great YouTube of Matt Chandler speaking for a couple of minutes about how many of us do not understand the gospel or the nature of God, but have more a religion of moralism.  It is powerful stuff!  Click the link to Brister's blog above or check out the YouTube below.

]]>Prayer and Facing Atheismhttp://wallsandgates.squarespace.com/journal/2009/8/30/prayer-and-facing-atheism.htmlTrey and Elise Atkins2009-08-30T11:00:33ZCheck out this great link from iMonk, which points to a reality we face every day.  I would encourage you to follow several of the links within his blog post as well, if you are interested in ministry to atheists today.

Atheists here are different than what I grew up with or found ten years ago.  iMonk says this is true in America as well.  Not only are many much more serious and socially acceptable, but the others are amazing on the apathy end of the discussion.  They just don't care.  Pray that God would give wisdom in overcoming these barriers.

]]>Encouragment in Prayerhttp://wallsandgates.squarespace.com/journal/2009/8/30/encouragment-in-prayer.htmlTrey and Elise Atkins2009-08-30T05:17:20ZI sent this to our team in central Europe and thought it might be an encouragement to you as well.

 

This morning I woke up earlier than I like.  It has given me some time to reflect and pray that I don't normally have.  This letter is simply intended to be an encouragement to prayer in general and to our month of prayer in particular.

Yesterday, I got a little facebook note from Tom Blackaby, with whom we had the joy of serving with as jmen, during seminary at a local church, and on church staff in Canada.  Tom said, "Prayer is not meant to be a religious activity or duty we perform, it is a means by which we come to know God Himself." I want to make sure that heart is being communicated to you during our month of prayer.

The C3 Month of Prayer is not about getting from God.  It is not about a checklist or formula we follow to achieve some good and desirable result.  It does not impress God, nor somehow earn more favor with Him.  It is not about impressing anyone with your piety and personal holiness.

It is about knowing God better.  That alone is more than enough.  This week I have shared in the prayer guide about some answers to prayer God has already given; however, it is more than enough that we know Him better.  What a gracious and good Father we have.  He discloses Himself to us.  He longs for us to be His children, resting in His peace, joy and contentment.  Keep praying.  Not for the results, but for the joy of knowing the Creator and Savior!

Check out this link for more on the ministry God has given Tom and Kim Blackaby.

]]>Month of Prayer Invitationhttp://wallsandgates.squarespace.com/journal/2009/8/13/month-of-prayer-invitation.htmlTrey and Elise Atkins2009-08-13T11:07:36ZAugust 15 - September 14 the larger team we serve with in Europe will be focusing on a month of prayer.  And, you are invited to join us.  You can do so in several different ways.  Choose the one that will work best for you.

1.  Follow along here on the blog.  The requests will be of a more general nature and a lot of it will be encouragement to pray and to enjoy knowing God.

2.  Join our prayer team and receive email updates and documents that will give more specific infomation on what to pray for.  All you need to do is send me your email address (mine is trey.atkins@gmail.com), you will be added to the prayer team and get the updates.

3.  Send a request that I add you as a friend on facebook and ask me to add you to our facebook group.  This is the place that will have the most specific and up-to-date information.  You can find me by searching for "Trey Atkins."

]]>