food for fish

This is a copy of the letter we will be sending to people. Let us know what you think.
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The Lord has done much in our lives since Travis returned from Poland in August of 2004. Both of us are now in our second year of the INTERNational Training Program (ITP) in Gresham, Oregon, as well as in our final year at the Oregon College of Ministry (OCM). Through the ITP we are being equipped for hands-on and practical ministry to young people and others in our own generation. As part of this intern program we took the opportunity this past July/August to go to U-turn Poland, an annual youth camp for Foursquare Europe (each year a different country is host), that, by no accident, was in Zakopane, the same town I served in just over a year ago. In addition, through OCM we are being equipped with practical biblical training to enable us to serve God and be servant leaders to a broken world.

Over this past year God's calling on our lives has become confirmed, we are to be pastors, to sheppard His people and serve them. We have a vision to see people become equipped to lead and serve in God's kingdom. Because of the mentorship, training, and equipping we have received through OCM and the ITP we now have a heart for mentoring, training, and equipping our generation. Specifically the Lord has given us a vision and heart for our generation in the nation of Poland.

So, what will we do in Poland, when will we go? That is the question. We want to build a training program in Poland, it will look different than the ITP, but God's heart is the same; to mentor, train, equip, and release the Polish people to do the ministry themselves, plant churches themselves, and bring God's full glory in freedom. This training program will be a place for Americans, Poles, and eventually anyone to experience ministry, hands on, and receive the same kind of mentorship as Paul did for Timothy. We believe there will be restoration for both the local Polish people and the interns themselves just as we have seen in our lives since being in the ITP. In the future we want to have the same kind of quality practical Bible teaching as OCM is providing. And ultimately we want to see the Polish people take on the vision themselves.

In order to see this come to fruit we have a multi-year plan that we know will require patience and prayerful consideration. Of course we will continue building our relationships with our Polish friends in Poland, including at least an annual visit until we move there. We also want to begin building a relationship with the Polish community here in the Portland, Oregon area. In the meantime we hope to recruit Polish Christians from the Portland, Seattle, and other areas and certainly Poles living in Poland into the ITP here in Gresham so that we can start building a team of people (including some non-Poles) to go to Poland when God opens the doors and says "go". We consider this time to be the conception stage, when the vision is fully birthed we will know.

We have a couple of opportunities on the horizon that do require some outside resources. The first is in November, we have been invited to attend the first national Foursquare conference of Poland. It takes place on November 11th and 12th, our entire trip would be from November 10th to the 16th and include a stop in San Francisco where a former Poland missionary and one of the Polish girls we worked with are now, as part of our intentions to build stronger relationships with our Polish friends. Total cost for this trip is about $2,300 for both of us. This is a key event for us to begin building strong relationships with the national leaders in Poland and to capture the full vision for Poland. The next event on the horizon is U-Turn Germany, taking place this coming summer. This camp is when we see nearly all of our friends from Poland, and make new ones; it is also a key event for building our strong relationships even stronger. After we are in Germany we hope to travel back to Poland for a week to simply help and fellowship with our Polish friends. Estimated cost for U-Turn Poland is $2,000 each, this is a part of the ITP and so much fundraising is available for this.

So, again, we thank you for your prayers, financial support, and spiritual support through this entire process. If you have any questions you may contact Travis or Alexis with the information below. We pray that you too will know God's calling in your life, weather it be local or global, we know the Lord has amazing plans for each person and that it takes for each of us to trust Him and Listen to Him.

In Christ,
Travis & Alexis