Over the last couple of months I have been challenged by so many different things. The biggest thing that I have been challenged with is what is my role, what is my place here. My prayer has been "God what do you have for me here". In the midst of this questioning there has been many opportunities to meet people and visit churches. This is the first time in my life where I have had to "church shop" in the sense that there is a number of very good churches to get involved in and be apart of. It is up to me to decide and no one is telling me where to go. This is great BUT not always easy.

One of the very cool opportunities is to be able to help in some graphic arts with the OM team. As some of you may know I have a passion for graphic design and video stuff and it is really cool because I have been praying for an opportunity to grow in this and also use my passions in this area. My main responsibility here is to BCOM and making sure that my students are succeeding in there Internship, but this is also just a part of my ministry. This only fill some of my time, there is a lot of my time that is at my discretion. Most my time is spent in language learning right now. Come May it is go time for me and I will no longer have Language class 4 days a week for 3 hour a day.

My team and I had the opportunity to go with a church that is rather large here to a weekend retreat with the College age group. This was a very full weekend but we were able to really just have fun and meet some new people here in Vienna. We were just attending the retreat and not really involved at all in ministering at it which turned out to be very good because we were able to really bond with the people and really just be on the same page with them. I think that the retreat while good was very stressful for all of us here on the team as we all had lots of language homework and class right away on Monday. So this made for a somewhat hard week. We all survived though.

We are all in place right now of uncertainty with our visa situation. We have received some news about our visa applications and have been told that in order to qualify for our visa we need to have a monthly income of 1400 euro's. This is about $1900 US dollars. This puts us in the position of trying to figure out what to do next. We are still seeking the Lord in what to do and are able to stay in Austria up to 6 months as a tourist but would need to leave for possibly up to three months at the end of this 6 months. This is really not ideal but very easy as we are very close to Eastern Europe and have many contact that would gladly take 8 people wanting to serve the Lord. As exciting as this sounds as someone who would be leading this team into that I have some nervousness about this. I am so grateful in this time of uncertainty for a God that is so faithful and constant.

Please continue to Pray with me for our visa situation and that the Lords will would be done in this time. Please also pray for me as I am still searching for a church that I can be involved in.
Thank you and God Bless

"life is goin going Gone"

I have been amazed at how fast time goes when you are busy and know your not going anywhere for a while. For the past year I have been working toward one goal, going in one direction and looking toward one date. Some days it seemed to be so far away and some day's I was not sure that I would even make it. The closer I got to my time to leave the longer it seemed to take. And now the days seem to be flying by. This is good when there are certain days that are coming up that are important like my Girlfriend coming to visit. But the Lord has been really challenging me to be intentional in every day to seek Him and to see each day as a gift and not to be forgotten. When the days go by fast it is easy to forget the important things of why I am here and what God is trying to teach and accomplish in this time.

I have been in language school for 2 weeks now and have been going like crazy. It takes us 45 minutes to get to our school ever morning by train. On the way home it takes us an hour and a half. This makes for long days.

I am realizing how bad I am at English grammar by trying to learn German grammar. We are just started to get into the cases and so it has been a struggle to understand and stay with it all. But God is good and will carry m through and help me in this time of being stretched in learning the language.

I have been in this time of Language school and adjusting to Life here, looking for a church to plug into. This is a big prayer request that God would lead me to the right church where I could be used and also to meet people and be an encouragement. I love “the Church” and would really love to be involved in any way. Please pray that the Lord would guide and direct my steps in looking for a church.

I have mentioned this in my email that I sent out a few days ago but I have an opportunity to attend a leadership-training course in Turkey in May. This course has been highly recommended to me by my Field leader here in Austria. The course focuses on seven different area’s of leadership Vision, Communication, Shepherding, Management, Being a continuous learner, Pain as a leader, The need for God's Anointing. All with the goal of developing strong equipped leaders.

So as you can see it is an intense course filled with some amazing teaching. The Cost for this trip is $650 US dollars and then also the plain ticket to Turkey. If you would like to help in this you can click here to give through Bethany or you can contact me to find out how to give directly to me for the trip. You can email me at corysjourney@gmail.com

If you would like to find out more about the conference you can click here to go to the Leadership Matter Course website.

Life right now is busy and as a team we are learning about what it means to be the Body of Christ to each other and that our battle is not against flesh and blood but against rulers, powers, and against spiritual forces of wickedness and darkness. The battle is real but the Battle is won in Jesus Christ. Please pray for us a team that the Lord would knit us together so that we fight as a united front. Together we are strong but alone we are easily cut down at the knees. Please pray for me for Wisdom and God’s guidance in how to lead my team through this. In these times of not knowing what to do I am learning that that is when the Lord is most glorified.

I want to end with this a passage from Psalms 34: 4-8 I have been time and time again lead back to this Psalm in times of not knowing how or what to do.

I sought the LORD, and He answered me, And delivered me from all my fears. They looked to Him and were radiant, And their faces will never be ashamed. This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him And saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him, And rescues them. O taste and see that the LORD is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!

The Journey Begins

Well I have now been here in Vienna for over one week. It has been whirl winded time. I feel like I have been none stop since arriving. Which is Good as I was not so busy before leaving so it is nice change of pace. This last week has been busy with learning many things like the Public transport which is our only way of getting around. This has been so fun, I absolutely love that I can go everywhere I want any time I want for so cheap. This is a real life style adjustment as it does take longer to get places but it really slows you down and makes you enjoy the slower pace of life more. It has been fun to learn the train system as it is so intricate and extensive.
As for life here I am learning a lot about leadership and how much goes into leading a team. It has been fun and challenging in this new season. God has been faithful in giving me wisdom and help when I needed it. I still feel like I have not fully processed all that the Lord has done in just getting me here to Vienna in such an amazing way.
One of the things that we as a team do is on every Tuesday we study the bible. So this last Tuesday was our first Bible study and I was able to lead this first one. This was a really good and fun time of learning more of the word through the Body of Christ. We are studying Galatians and has been a good starting point for us in our growth as a team. If you remember please pray for us on Tuesdays that the Lord would really minister to us and speak to us through his Word. It is so Vital that we stay spiritually healthy in our walks with Him and this is a great way for us to bond and unify as a team.
I am looking forward to when I can speak the Local language of German here and be able to talk to people with out having to use hand signals and gestures to get what I want or express my self. We start language school on the 9th of Feb. which is really exciting. I am really excited to see God help me in this endeavor as language has been hard for me in the past and also I am not so good at my own which you could probably tell by read up to this point. Please be praying for me in this as it is so important to being able to reach people more effectively.
I know the Lord has much in store for me in these next months and year and I hope that you continue read and pray along with me as we walk together in what God has called me to.