May 1st is here and we are officially 3 months away from our move to Amsterdam, God-willing! Half of our team, the Nash's and the Larsen's, are in Amsterdam right now, doing some more groundwork for our relocation and church plant.

Things are moving forward quickly, and we have been excited to see God's hand on the myriad of preparations that come with an international move. From support-raising to work visas, from housing there to selling/renting housing here, from finding new friends in Holland to spending time with old friends here... we are living very full lives!

Our biggest prayer request right now has to do with our support. We have gotten to almost 30% this past month, which is a miracle in and of itself! However, we have a lot more to go over the next two months. Please pray that the Lord would continue to call senders to our mission to Amsterdam!

To contact our team:
VineyardAmsterdam@gmail.org (Julia & Eric Pickerill)
ChristensenAmsterdam@gmail.org (Brooke Christensen)
LarsenAmsterdam@gmail.org (Roxi & Bernie Larsen)
NashAmsterdam@gmail.org (John & Amanda Nash)

www.VineyardAmsterdam.org

It’s been two months since our last update! We are less than four months away from moving to Amsterdam to begin our church plant. Our target date to relocate is August 1st.

I’d like to introduce you to two folks in the Netherlands who are awaiting our arrival:

Menno lives in Utrecht, a city that lies 45 minutes outside of Amsterdam. It is the Utrecht Vineyard (one of only three Vineyards in all of the Netherlands), who has welcomed us to come and church plant in Amsterdam. Menno is a pastoral leader at the Utrecht Vineyard. Click here to see a 30 second message from Menno: http://youtube.com/watch?v=20YRrZ0NRKw

Suzanne is a young woman in Amsterdam who found out about our church plant from her housemate! We are so excited to know that news of our arrival is already anticipated. She wrote this to us in an email: Hey guys, my roommate told me about your plans to start a Vineyard church here in Amsterdam. That sounds like something I could be really interested in! I am a Dutch Christian living in Amsterdam… I checked out your website, and it looks really good. It’s weird saying this, since I’ve never met you, but if there’s anything I can help you out with, I’d be more than happy to…

We are excited to be with these new friends in just over three months. There is much to do as we prepare for all of the logistics related to moving a team overseas. Let me fill you in on some of what’s keeping us busy:

Vineyard Amsterdam. In order for us to gain entrance into the country, we’re setting up a ‘stichting’, or non-profit foundation that will serve as our church. We are applying for work permits as employees under Vineyard Amsterdam. This process is cumbersome and complicated but we are being assisted by a wonderful Dutch Christian man named Theo who specializes in just what we need!

Team Amsterdam! We are meeting weekly (or more!) as a team to pray and prepare for the church plant. We are growing together, team building, learning about each other and encouraging each other during this very overwhelming time. We feel incredibly blessed to have such an amazing group of people preparing to move to Amsterdam with us. You can learn more about our team at www.VineyardAmsterdam.org.



As you can imagine, we need your prayers! There is a lot to do here as our time wraps up. Eric continues to work full time at the Columbus Vineyard. He is transitioning Joshua House out of Joshua House over the next few months. Our family is a bit overwhelmed with all that needs to be done in the coming weeks. There is a lot to do and not enough time, but we are really excited to see how the Lord will work to get things ready for us to leave in August. Please pray:

Financial Support. Our support has started to come in. So far, 15% of our monthly support has been pledged. We have a long way to go in a short time. Please pray for God to call His ‘senders’ to us over this next month.

Housing. We are looking for someone to rent our home in Ohio when we move to Amsterdam. Please pray for the right renter, and for the logistics of renting & managing our house to be smooth.

The Kids. What a great group of kiddos we have! Please pray for Connor, Lucas, and Gigi to have a sense of the Lord’s peace as we are doing so much right now. Also, please pray for their teachers & friends in the Netherlands.

1. The Mission… In a nutshell, over the next 5-7 years the mission is to plant and release a vibrant, kingdom centered church that will serve as a mission sending base for urban church planting throughout Europe. You can watch a video or read more about the mission at www.vineyardamsterdam.org.

2. Our Team… God has blessed us with a great team in Amsterdam to help us with this mission! There are several Dutch Christians who will be partnering with us. Additionally, we have a great team of 5 other adults who will move to Amsterdam to work full time with us on this mission. Each one brings tremendous gifts to help accomplish this mission.

3. Why Amsterdam, Why Now… Most Americans think of Amsterdam as a vacation hotspot, so why Amsterdam, why now?
o Amsterdam needs Jesus! Europe is the most secular continent in the world. Fewer than 15% of people regularly attend church in Amsterdam. Historic churches have been turned into museums, malls, music halls and mosques. Islam is the fastest growing religion in Europe.
o Amsterdam is losing its soul. Amsterdam takes pride in its Red-light district where drugs and prostitution are legal. The historic church where John Calvin preached sits just feet away from a red-curtained window where a young woman waits, for a price.
o Amsterdam is a doorway to the nations. People from 177 different nations live in Amsterdam, making it the most multi-cultural city in the world!
o Amsterdam is one of the most influential cities in Europe. Over 50,000 students attend university in this important cultural city.
o Amsterdam can be an important sending base for mission throughout Europe! With so many people coming to Amsterdam from around the world, there is a great opportunity to send church plant mission teams to share the good news of Jesus to other cities in Europe.

4. Pray… Please take 30 seconds and pray for us when you get an update from us. We cannot do this without you. Consider yourselves our prayer partners!
o We are on a short time-line to leave. Please pray for God’s grace to get the list of 1,000 details accomplished and to keep our priorities in order.
o Pray for God’s financial provision for our team as we start raising support over the next month. We need only 50 friends to support us at a level of $84/month.
o Pray for God to prepare the hearts of people in Amsterdam to partner with us and to be prepared for God’s message.

What a great year 2008 has started out to be! Not only will we be relocating to Amsterdam in just 8 months, God-willing, but we also finally have our team.

The Lord is exceedingly good to us! Coming with us to Amsterdam this summer & fall are:

Brooke Christensen... an artist and teacher, Brooke grew up in Morocco with her family. She's been a part of the Columbus Vineyard and Joshua House leadership for years.

Bernie & Roxi Larsen... Bernie and Roxi have 4 grown children. They enjoy missional traveling, diverse groups of friends, Africa, and really good coffee. Roxi's on staff with the Columbus Vineyard in the evangelism department and Bernie's works for the City of Columbus and has served as a leader at the church in many different areas.

Amanda & John Nash... (and baby Grayson, due to be born in the next several weeks!). Amanda is on staff as a pastor for Joshua House, and John is interning on staff as well. They've been leaders at Columbus Vineyard for years, having led short-term mission trips, leadership classes, and now pastoring small groups.

This group of people is God's gift to us. Their official bios & pics will be on the website soon. Please pray for us: with thanksgiving, for such a wonderful mission family to work with!

We look forward to keeping in touch more often now that our team is finalized. To sign up for our email list, please visit

www.VineyardAmsterdam.org

Under His Mercy,
Julia & Eric

How amazing it is this Christmas to consider that we will be in Amsterdam less than a year from now! Our departure date remains in mid-August. We will be spending a lot of our time this new year finalizing our team, planning the logistics of moving internationally, and raising support. We are very excited about what the Lord is doing!

Would you pray for the following things for us this new year?
1. Pray for our team, that the Lord will be growing us together in the midst of a very busy time.

2. Pray for our kids, that the Lord would give them grace for this process, and that He would speak to them about His call on their lives.

3. Pray for our families, especially our parents, that God would guard their hearts as they prepare to say goodbye to their kids and grandkids.

4. Pray for Amsterdam, for the Dutch Christians already there, and for the folks that God is preparing us to meet. Pray for the churches already in Amsterdam.

5. Pray for wisdom as we try to balance family, team, preparing, moving, work and normal life!

Thanks so much for following our trek to Amsterdam. May the Lord bless all of us with His extravagant grace this Christmas season!

This November finds our church plant moving ahead in full-swing. After over two years of planning, prayer and travel, we are finalizing our team this November and will begin to raise support with a move date of late-August, 2008. Please visit www.VineyardAmsterdam.org for information about the church plant. We will use this Live Journal to keep you up to date on our preparations over the next ten months. Thanks for your prayers!