The Vineyard Amsterdam Church Plant

I've done it now....

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 03:42:40 GMT

After years of saying that I would never start a blog (time should be spent doing other, more worthwhile things), I've gone ahead and done it anyway. Please visit us and read about our adventures at:

PickerillAmsterdam.blogspot.com

Also, check out our teammates:

NashAmsterdam.blogspot.com and ChristensenAmsterdam.blogspot.com

We love your prayers. Our kids should be starting school in Amsterdam just two months from yesterday!!!

We remain excited about our support-raising getting finished up. If you haven't yet supported us, we'd love to have you on our team! Go to the support page of www.VineyardAmsterdam.org to find out how...

If you'd like to pray specifically for us, here are a few requests: First, for our support-raising to be finished by the end of June so we can purchase our plane tickets for the first week of August. Second, for the Lord to prepare the perfect apartment for us in Amsterdam. I'm praying specifically for a 2 bedroom apartment with an 'extra space' like a large loft or attic, as well as a garden or something green near-by. Finally, please pray for these next 6 weeks, especially that our kids will have a healthy and sweet transition from being in the States (with their families & friends) to being in Netherlands.

Oh, one last one: Pray for our work visas to go through. Pray for favor over our applications and that there would be no problems or delays in the visa process.

We are grateful for you, our friends!

3 months to go!

Thu, 01 May 2008 13:25:17 GMT

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

Introducing Team Amsterdam!

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 20:22:52 GMT

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

Merry Christmas!

Mon, 24 Dec 2007 01:10:06 GMT

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!

VineyardAmsterdam.org

Fri, 02 Nov 2007 18:01:50 GMT

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!