Monday, December 20, 2010

Cookie Outreach




Alex Buchhop, one of our RB women, organized a Cookie Outreach to the area around the church.
People backed, packaged, and distributed the delicious cookies. The cookies were passed out at streetcar stops, on the streets, and in the parks.
The pink slip contains a Bible verse, Isaiah 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Along with the verse, we included an invitation to a service at RB.
The group photo represents most of the people who participated. It was a united effort and was a lot of fun.
People in the RB building and in the parks were so surprised to receive a gift without a catch.
We pray that God will use this effort and bring fruit to the seeds that were planted.

Christmas Dinner kids











Even the kids got in on the action. The little guy in the kitchen is Luke Goering, Pastor John's youngest.
And the other photo is a family that was invited and enjoyed the evening.

Christmas Dinner @ RB


On Friday, Dec. 3, we had our RB Christmas Dinner with almost 70 people attending.
RBers invited many guests who were not-yet saved.
We heard some good feedback about the atmosphere being loving and accepting.
We pray that God will bring fruit to the seeds that were planted.
All three of the home groups came on Thursday and decorated RB. They did a great job.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Fellowship at the retreat




Meals are always a great time for sharing lives with one another.
In between teaching and meals, we left blocks of time open for hanging out together.
This retreat did a lot for drawing RB closer to each other. It was an awesome, blessed time.
One important point: the teachings by Mark and Dave were in English, but Toby Heussner did a great job of translating into German for the few that needed it. Toby is the guy with glasses in the right photo.
Can't wait until next fall!

Nature walk during the retreat

















Tina Liefke led about a dozen RBers on a walk in the rain around the retreat property. She stopped ocassionally and shared a meditation from the Psalms. It was awesome being in God's creation and hearing His word read.

Pastor Dave at the retreat


Pastor Dave also blessed the RBers with a lesson about planting seeds in peoples lives.
Here is Dave with Maria, Calvin, and Jonathon (he was one of two children at retreat).
We were blessed to have Dave and Mark at the retreat.

Pastor Mark at the retreat


Here is Pastor Mark sharing with us his passion for Christ. He shared parts of his personal testimony which touched many of our hearts.
Mark also encouraged us to show people the love of God through good deeds.

Rock Berlin Retreat


During the first weekend of November, RB went outside of Berlin for a retreat time. Almost all of the 25 RBers attended, even though the weather was wet and cold.
We had times of music worship before each teaching. The teachings were presented by Pastors Mark Darling and Dave Lennander. They flew over from the states for a ten day visit. Their contributions to the retreat were awesome.
It was a great time of fellowship, learning, challenges, and encouragement.

Last birthday photo


John-Paul Larson, a RB leader, is very creative. He made a birthday card inserting Dieter's face in the body of Jimi Hendrix.
The term Dirty Dieter comes from a drink that a local bar makes. Dieter has never sampled it.
The party was a big success and everyone had a great time. Germans love to celebrate birthdays and enjoy good food and conversation.

Another birthday photo




One of Lucy's friends from her German language class is an artist. He drew this portrait of Dieter for the birthday bash.
Yuki is from Japan and has been to our home a couple of times, along with his girl friend. We pray that God will cause growth in the seeds that were planted in their lives.

Birthday


We also had fun playing Wii games. The Goerings brought their Wii game from home and everyone enjoyed bowling, tennies, and other games.

More birthday photos


Another game that was played during the birthday party (and after services) is electronic darts.
Here is Lucy showing a couple of guys how it is done.

Dieters 60th Birthday


On Sunday,October 10, Rock Berlin celebrated Dieter's 60th birthday after the service. There was plenty of food and games.
One of the fun games at Rock Berlin is the foosball game. We call it kicker. It is very popular and is played every week after our service.
Here are some Japanese guests and Mahmood, a RBer from Iran.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Intern Tobias Klement


Within a few days of returning from the states, we had a theology student do an internship at RB for one month.
He is Tobias Klement, the brother-in-law of Pastor John Goering. Tobias had many things to do, like helping with music worship, give the teaching one Sunday, clean parts of our church rooms, and help oil the wooden floors. I think his knees were sore when he left Berlin for school again.
Tobias was a huge blessing to RB and to me. He is a young man with a heart for God's body, the church. We look forward to see how God uses Tobias to bless His kingdom.

More Babies!!


While we were in the states in August, another baby was born. Here is the pic of the Larson family with little Elijah. The grandmother in the photo is Maria's mother, who lives in Russia, but came for a visit when Elijah was born.
The smiling dad is John-Paul, one of our RB leaders.

Rock Berlin Crash Course


This fall Rock Berlin began moving toward creating membership at RB. We started with the RB Crash Course, during which we explained our beliefs and vision for RB.
In this pic, Pastor John Goering is leading us in prayer before starting our first class.
The people in this pic are a portion of the 20+ RBers who attended the Crash Course over a two week period.
It was a very encouraging time for RB.

We took time to visit Lucy's family in Connecticut. Here is Lucy with her mom and sisters. We had an enjoyable few days seeing many of Lucy's relatives, which includes lots of nieces and nephews.
After Conn., we headed back to Ohio and after a few days, returned to Berlin. It was an exhausting, but also invigorating trip. God gave us many great memories to bring back and encourage us.

Lucy was able to catch up with a few dear friends. Here she is with Jan Price, the director of the Sunday School program at Linworth Rd. Church.
It was so uplifting to visit these churches and to be able to visit with many old friends (unfortunately, not all).
We cannot thank enough the churches and individuals that support us. We are grateful!

Another weekend we visited Grace Point Community Church where Dieter had the opportunity to share during their services. We also had the blessing of participating in the dedication of Grandson Elijah Bailey.

After Minnesota, we headed back to Ohio.
At Linworth Rd. Church, our home for 18 years, Dieter had the privilege of sharing from the Gospel of Mark and giving an update on our ministry in Berlin.
It was wonderful seeing our friends from LRC.

After the service we hung out with our hosts, Karen and Chuck Edwards, and with the Darlings, Kathy and Mark. In the back is Sabine Rabe, one of our Rock Berliners, who happened to be in the states visiting her friend Austin.
The Edwards took good care of us. And it was our first opportunity to meet Kathy Darling. Mark Darling is the one who invited us to move to Berlin
After Ohio, we drove west to Wisconsin and Minnesota.
In this pic we are standing outside before the start of The Rock Friday night service.
It was a great time worshiping with the Rockers in Minneapolis.
Here is a photo of the entire Schade clan.
It was a blessing for us all to be together. This was a first.

August in America


One of the first things we did in the states in August was to attend the Schade family reunion at Dieters parents property.
Here is a pic of Lucy and Dieter with their kids and grandkids. Pretty cool!
They drove in from Connecticut and North Carolina. It was an awesome two days!