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Powerful lyrics

On December 15 my son had a concert at a small cute theater in town. He plays in a chamber orchestra, and during Christmas they usually play Christmas songs. Not this time though. They played Händel, Bach, and Ravel. They are very good I have to say and my wife and I enjoyed. Then 10 girls came on stage, singing some songs,and one song that really struck me was "My tribute" You see, Christian songs with typical Christian lyrics in Sweden are just played in churches or during Christmas time, and yes we are having Christmas , but the song is not a typical Christmas song. The lyrics are: "How can I say thanks For the things you have done for me Things so undeserved Yet You gave to prove your love for me The voices of a million angels Could not express my gratitude All that I am and ever hope to be I owe it all to thee To God be the glory, to God be the glory To God be the glory, For the things He has done With His blood He has saved me With His power He has raised me To

November

November 3-- Picking my son up at church. They had a big youth camp in church and it seams like they didn't get enough sleep!! November 4--Making a radio program, a program filled with inspirational music, Living hope.. November 7-- A combined service in church today. Great with communion, and great time of fellowship after the service in our nice cafe. November 13--Picking our Pastor up and we all drove to a small town around 25 km south of Malmo, to visit great friends. Had a wonderful meal, a great time of fellowship and prayer... November 14--Today our Pastor spoke in the main hall, so it was a combined service today as well. Great preaching, really good and after the service we had a meeting with all the leaders from our different language groups.. Today it was fathers day in Sweden so we drove home to my father for a visit! November 15--Made 3 radio programs with our pastor today. Great joy really and lots of wonderful music. Later on we had a discussion about a inducti

KOREA

North Korea suddenly attacked South Korea. It is not the first time and it is unfortunately not the first time there were casualties. Please pray for Korea Pray for peace Pray for advice Pray for the families effected Pray for the leaders

October

October 1-- Friday and It's during Friday's our radio program Living hope is broadcast. Love doing this radio program... October 3-- Sunday and the first Sunday of the month and then we are all together in the main hall, all different languages groups, to have a service together celebrating communion.. October 9-- Cleaning day in church. I could not participate, not yet feeling fit from my cold. But Our Pastor and I did 3 radio programs! Enjoying doing that really.. October 10-- Sunday and time for service. Our Pastor spoke today in the main hall, from 2 Peter. A great service with great worship music and also baptism! Wonderful. After the service we had a leadership meeting. All the different leaders from our Culturally diverse groups gathered and had a meeting. Wonderful to hear what God is doing among our groups.. October 17-- Sunday and a special day.. Our Senior Pastor is retiring. A farewell service for him.. October 18-21-- Spend time in Austria. Up in the mountains.

September

September September, generally a beautiful fall month in Sweden. In the end of September the leaf start changing color and the chilly winds sets in.. September 4-- Had a short meeting with our pastor in his lovely flat downtown Malmo.. Planning next Sunday service... September 5-- Sunday and time for service.. Our Pastor spoke mainly from Acts 6:1-18. Being very present with the very presence.. A great service and a nice time of fellowship.. Today we had a leadership meeting for all our different Diverse cultural groups. Great meeting, lots to discuss.. In the afternoon we attended a Iranian service. Did not understand a single word but the presence of the holy spirit was obvious... a late lunch at IKEA after that.. Tired but a great day in Church... September 7--Spend the evening in front of the computer, as always, fixing photos, and other updates for our website and newsletter. Love doing it.. September 11-- A very special day for us all to remember. Nine years ago now... Today

Trust!

Have you been in a situation when people around you ( workplace, school, church etc) know more about something you do, when perhaps it should be the other way around? I think we all have, and it is perhaps no big deal. Irritating though... But, have you ever been in a situation when a leader discussed you, your situation, your future plans to others first and after a while to you? This must be the absolute worst thing a leader can do to violate trust and to loose respect... What do you think? To gain Trust and respect a leader must( According to John C Maxwell) Maintain integrity. *Openly communicate vision and values. *Show respect for employees as equal partners. *Focus on shared goals rather than personal agendas. *Do the right thing regardless of personal risk. *Listen with an open mind. *Demonstrate compassion. *Maintain confidences. True isn't it!!!

August

August 1--- The first Sunday of the month all different diverse culture groups were together, having communion. A great time in church today.. August 6-- Taking our son to a Church youth camp, around 70 km north of where we are living. Great place, great atmosphere and he will certainly have lots of nice memories from this camp.. Later on during evening time, picking our pastor and his wife up a the train station, driving them home and spending some nice time together. August 7-- Driving to IKEA. Our Pastor needs things to their new apartment. Having a nice time shopping and a good breakfast at IKEA!!! in the afternoon, fixing song books for a wedding at church. August 8--Today we had a child dedication. Little William was dedicated to God and his parents, grandmother and friends thank God and gave their testimonies. Pastor Terry Hoggard spoke about Strategic renewal, from Ephesians 4:17-24 Evaluate - Identify

JULY...

July 3-- Watching the world cup with our Pastor. Good time together and a wonderful game July 4-- Sunday service, Our pastor spoke about "Summer Rhythm/Strategic Renewall" That it is great with summer and to slow down, recharge your batteries, but on the same time open the door to: *Stir Passion *Shift Perspective *Shape Plans Great service and nice fellowship. In the afternoon we went to a 4th of July celebration arranged by "The American Women's club" here in Malmö. Our Friend and chef, Jeff Brown did a BBQ. Wonderful weather,great food and a nice opportunity to connect!! July 10-- Wonderful and Hot summer weather. Spending all day at the harbour, with nice cool drinks and interesting conversations. Planning for the future. July 11-- We where all together in the main hall this hot Sunday morning. A nice time of worship, followed up with a great testimony from a Iraqi guy. Pastor Terry Hoggard continued to speak about Summer rhythm/Strategic renewal, this Su

Vote-catching

For some days now it's been the "Pride" Festival in Stockholm Sweden and I guess at many other places around the world. I have nothing against homosexuals, but a special festival to show off their sexuality! I 'm not fond of that. Sorry for you who like this kind of event,but that's my opinion. What I also find interesting is all these politicians who want to be a part of this parade. I guess especially this year since it is election year and it is important for them to show they care... Strange though that during the big Jesus Manifestation that took place in Stockholm in May 2010, where over 250.000 people gathered, hardly any leaders from the political parties attended. When our Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt got the question if he was aware of this BIG event in Stockholm, he did not know ANYTHING... Well, I guess he and all the other party leaders think they will get more votes during the "Pride Festival". If the party leaders want to find out

Pray Continually

I recently heard a sermon from Pastor John Ortberg, online from Menlo Park Presbyterian church. The Title was: " With", a Series: Prayer: Does It Matter? He started by quoting 1 Thessalonians 5:17, "Pray continually"... After I heard that message I was reminded that very often, we attend to try to fix things all by ourselves without praying. We often feel guilty for not take time to pray for the things we really need to ask. Pastor John Ortberg challenged us to do all things we usually do,together with Go d. Bring God with you when you read the newspaper, watch TV, Go to your office, Go to a hockey game etc. Talk to God, have a great time together with him. He can handle without us, but we cant be without him!!!

CHANGE

Many people want to change the world, but they never really consider changing themselves. When you look at TV you will find programs such as 'Extreme home make over, 'Change your garden', 'What not to wear', '10 years younger', etc. People are hungry for change. They spend a huge amount of money on their homes, cars, gardens, clothes and on "fixing their appearances". Not only money but A LOT OF time as well. They willingly go through a great deal of painful surgery to look better, slimmer, and younger. Nothing wrong in trying to look good, have a fancy home and so on but it is the balance on how we spend money and time. The real change people are longing for doesn't come from outside, but from inside. Do they know, however, that they are just one decision away from the real change? It is the decision to invite Jesus Christ into their hearts. It is only when we follow Jesus as our personal savior that the real change can begin. Take time

June

June Slowly slowly summer is coming to Malmö Sweden!! *June 6-- Sunday and the national day of Sweden. All different cultural and language groups where together this special Sunday service and national day of Sweden..It sure was a good service *June 10-- Thursday, I met my student I'm mentoring. Had a good conversation about staying focused on the different tasks in life. Great time together.---- Please pray for us, that our goal settings and time together will be fine. *Bible seminar June 12 & June 13 We had a Bible study on Saturday and Sunday, about the Firm Foundations of Biblical Faith by Pastor Ronald Hunter from Coer d' Alene Church of the Nazarene, Idaho USA. During Saturday we went through different sections like : The Doctrine of Faith The Doctrine of GOD The Doctrine of Man The Doctrine of Salvation Great teaching and great fellowship. On Sunday Pastor Ron Hunter continued with his teaching. Pastor Ron Hunter Jr and Juliene Munts led us in worship and at

June 6

Sunday June 6 The national day of Sweden and we had a lovely service in church today together with all the different culture & language groups. Pastor Sam from the Chinese group read from Revelation 5:9-13 and prayed for us. Ahmed one of the leaders from the Iranian group prayed for his group and also for Sweden and Malmö. So did Pastor Israel from the Spanish speaking group and Pastor Daniel from one of the Romany groups in our church. Our Pastor Terry Hoggard from the International Fellowship is in the USA visiting relatives and could not be with us this morning but sent us greetings. Pastor Ron Hunter from USA, who has a special relationship to our congregation, invited us all to a bible seminar next Saturday. The Chinese choir sang and the lyrics were shown in many different languages. Anders Wennerström , one of the leaders in church preached about Thomas and doubt and at the end of the service Pastor Nils-Eric Claeson took care of the communion. A Koreanteam from YWAM who wa

May...

May *May 2--My wife attended a women's prayer meeting. Great fellowship but also lots of concern. ---- Keep praying for them.. *May 4-- I'm going to a Mentor meeting. I will meet a new teenager *May 7-- Our Pastor is in again from Brussels. A nice meeting lots of planning, and lots of new ideas. Great fellowship *May 8-- Going the the hospital, visiting a Brother in Christ struggling with Cancer. There is nothing wrong in relaxing, and go home to the Lord. But sad anyway... Did 4 radio program with our pastor today! wow more than 2 hours in the studio!! Great!! as he said: Working in a team is twice the joy, half the sorrow!! *May 9-- Sunday and time for a nice Sunday service. Great preaching, from the book of Habakkuk. After the service it was time for our monthly CDC (Culturally Diverse community) meeting. Great time, good decisions with our different leaders. We are going forward!! *May 11--Short meeting, planning for a bible seminar in June, and connecting with a Au

Shopping

What do people usually do during their weekends? There can be many different things really, but very many love shopping. In Sweden shopping is perhaps not that great as it is in New York, London or Paris, but here shopping has developed into something almost unique. People travel from all over the country to a small village named Ullared, where they shop 'til they drop. It is a very affordable place to go to and people line up for hours. There is a live TV that you can follow on Internet and people will do almost everything to get caught on that TV while lining up for hours before they can enter the big mall. They even made a reality TV show out of this last fall where viewers could follow different families and their trips, vacations going shopping. Shania Twain has a song about shopaholic. It goes like this: We live in a greedy little world That teaches every little boy and girl To earn as much as they can possibly Then turn around and Spend it foolishly We've created

Friends

Tell me who your friends are, and I’ll tell you who you are. This is a common saying, proverb, from where I don't know but I bet you heard it many times before. I guess it's true sometimes and for someone, but if you for instance would say this about Jesus, how does that make sense!? Jesus hang out with a lot of " sinners". It was tax collectors, prostitute, etc. Jesus said when accused by the Pharisees for spending much time and eating with sinners " It is the healthy who need a doctor, not the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners" Mark 2:17 Did Jesus turn out like one of the sinners!? No.. If we spend time with people with bad influence, spending time at not appropriate places, we can get effected in a , for us bad way. However, it could be the other way around. We could by our way of thinking and living effect them. People in general don't do what we say, they do what we do. I heard a story of a pastor who asked his congre

April

*April 2 - Good Friday and a early morning service. Very traditional Swedish service, but went to see some new internationals joining this morning. After the service we took one American couple out for some coffee. Great fellowship. *April 4-Sunday and time for church again. We where all together in the main hall listening to a guest speaker. After the service it was Easter Buff'e GREAT food GREAT fellowship. *April 5- Monday and a holiday here in Sweden. Time for the women to have their prayer meeting and for us guys, movie time! *April 10- Saturday and in fact the best day to record a radio program. Lots of nice worship music! *April 11-Sunday and time for the bible study on the gospel of Mark. During evening time nice fellowship with a wonderful chocolate cake!!! Thank's Ruthanne!! *April 17- Saturday and a very busy day. Canceling some stuff because of the major volcanic eruption in Iceland. Our Pastor can't come so we have to change our plans for Sunday. Calling

Not slip

During Easter time, Ive witness that a lot of people are seeking God and through different sermons they willingly receive Christ. That's awesome, and seams so easy but is it? I had hard time for many years to receive Jesus in to my life. I was fighting back all the time when I was told how easy it is and how great it will feel afterwards. Just say after me! please receive him now! I don't think this is the right strategy to get Jesus in to your life, to fulfill the dream of your spruce, parents, friends or so. You really have to feel ready. God is with you always and he loves you unconditionally! isn't that amazing!!? So even if you reject him, work against him, he is there for you, loving you UNCONDITIONALLY. I did not understand that before, now I know better. The bible tells us : If you confess with your mouth that"Jesus is Lord", and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9 My sheep listen to my voice, I k

March

* March 8, The women's Prayer group meet at our place. Crowded but fun they say!! *Sunday March 14, All together in the main hall, listening to one of the leaders at the Swedish church. Great message and after the service nice fellowship time with friends in the cafe. *Friday march 19, a short meeting with our pastor at the church, heard a story from him hard to believe. This is something you have to see and hear at the same time... WOW he got bitten by a human in church!! *Sunday and time for the Bible study on the Gospel of Mark continues. Working on the newsletter and website. Trying to find good relational pictures! *Saturday March 27, Time for a Bible seminar. Great breakfast and great message. Two hours of good biblical teaching After the seminar Nice fellowship at Burger King *Sunday March 28 a full day in church! First our nice International gathering. Great message as usual from our pastor. After the service time to have a meeting with our group named "Cultura

February

February 5, Picking our American Pastor/Friends and his wife up at the train station.Taking them to their new apartment, downtown Malmo. Great place, great view! Please pray that their big step moving up here to Malmo, will be a good experience. *Saturday and time to go to IKEA. spending 5 hours!!! in IKEA. Great time though with nice friends. Buying a lot of stuff for our Pastor and his wife's new apartment. *Sunday February 7, Time for a full day in church. Listening to our Pastor talking about "Examining His lessons/ Embracing His lifestyle" in the main sanctuary. After that a Great "Cultural ministry meeting". Lots of concern for our Romani and Iranian groups. After this time to put all furniture's together. Well the day did not end up here. At 9.00 p.m. Time for Burger and the Super Bowl game on TV. Tired!!*S* Please pray for all the leaders in this different cultural groups, pray for strength to go on and for guidance. *Monday and still some furnit

January 2010

January and a new exciting year in front of us. New and interesting challenges for us at the "International Christian Fellowship". Time to start planning and leading the services, updating website, planning activities etc. Great fun... *January 10, our American Pastor was in town, not speaking , but leading the service. Annual vision service, and many internationals came. Great fellowship with not to forget! Free lunch for everyone!!! *On January 16 we attended a meeting at a International Church here in Malmo. A team of seven young students from different university in Korea came and shared there vision. They performed with traditional dances and drama. After the service we had a great fellowship with spicy Korean food! Awesome to have a table tennis table were we had fellowship. Nice opportunity to win some games!!!*S* *Sunday January 17. Our former youth pastor, David Sirviö was speaking. Good speech, and many people showed up. It all began with kicking worship music in o

Polemic on the Jews???

In one of the biggest morning papers here in Malmo, Sweden you could read on January 27 about the situation for around 3000 Jews in and around our city. Last year 79 crimes against Jewish residents were reported to the police in Malmo. These crimes were antisemitic graffiti sprayed on the walls and vandalism on Jewish synagogues, cemetery etc. Fredrik Sieradzki of the Jewish Community of Malmö, said in the article that he does not feel safe and for his family's sake they have to move away from Malmo. Jews are harassed and threatened while walking around in the city, and when I read the article it feels like in Germany during the early 1930s. So what do the police and politicians in Malmo do to stop all this? On January 28, the mayor of Malmo, Ilmar Reealu said in an interview to the newspaper "Skanska Dagbladet", that the situation for the Jews in Malmo depends on the situation in Israel. The violence they showed during the conflict in Gaza was disproportionate, and t