Marc's Messages

Top-5 postings of 2004

The last day of the year. A good moment to list the five postings on this weblog that provoked most comments in 2004:

1. Rick Joyner on Europe
Americans think the antichrist will arise in Europe, and Europeans that 666 will come from America. Let the true prophet rise, please!

2. No labels, please!
My statement of freedom from denominationalism and church politics.

3. Freedom of expression?
People get killed these days for expressing their opinions. Ongoing polarisation in the Netherlands.

4. Covenanting and DNA
The key discussion among young leaders in Connect Europe and 24-7prayer.

5. Bush hiring Jesus
Of course it would be unthinkable to miss Bush in this top-5. Politics, and especially religiously motivated politics, is a continuing hot item.

This top-5 wouldn't be my personal choice (except for number 2), but I will compile my own favorites another time. More top-5's here.

Winter in Holland

Yesterday Karolien and I went for a long walk on the icy and misty grounds of Singrave estate, near Denekamp.

Today we had some real snow and fun in the park.

Tsunami disaster in Asia

John Robb (IPC) and Victor Choudrie (DAWN) mailed around prayer requests and reports related to the terrible tsunami disaster in South-East Asia. I published them on our Joel News weblog.

The two shepherds

We're celebrating Christmas at my parents' place in Enschede. David and Peter dressed up as shepherds and announced the birth of baby Jesus.

Merry Christmas!

It's not likely that we'll have a white Christmas in the Netherlands this year (that only happens seven times a century, and then only a very light layer), so as a comfort I dug up this picture that I took a year ago in Norway. Have a blessed Christmas time!

Clean desk before Christmas

A busy week, because I committed myself to have a clean desk before Christmas, so I can make a fresh start in the new year. That means a lot of paper work to sort out, getting my financial administration up to date, sending out newsletters, and throwing things away. The good thing about cleaning up is that it creates space and rest.

Government prayer initiative

Rob paid a visit to the Ministry of Justice today to meet up with Maarten Verhoef, who heads up the government prayer initiative (Rijksgebed). He also met Minister of Justice Piet Hein Donner (insert), who is supporting the intercessors on his department. The past few weeks several national media ran reports about the initiative, leading to more Christians joining the various prayer groups.

Donald Trump, you're fired!

Yes, we admit it - Karolien and I got hooked to reality TV series 'The Apprentice', where 16 candidates compete to become the director of one of Donald Trump's companies. Every episode Trump fires one candidate, until there's one winner who gets hired instead of fired.

It's quite entertaining, but for some reason RTL4 didn't broadcast the two final episodes. Looking on the website I found out that Bill won the competition. He will oversee the construction of a new building in Chicago. A new show, 'The Apprentice 2', is running here.

I think it would be even more fun if the viewers could fire 'The Donald' himself by SMS if he makes a bad decision.

House of prayer in Venlo

Karolien went to the official opening of the (new) house of prayer in Venlo, while I spent a day with the kids. The Hardicks, the founding couple, also celebrated their 25th wedding day. Looking back, Bernard said there are three things in life that really matter: destiny, relationship and anointing. In other words: what is God calling you for, who is He connecting you with, and how is the Holy Spirit empowering you?

The people in Limburg love to celebrate the good things in life. Karolien told me she enjoyed an abundance of food and drinks. In my picture archive I found this nice shot of me, Bernard and Herman, having a good Czech beer at the house church consultation in Prague, November 2002.

Leadership and team roles

Had a meeting with the board of Soul Survivor at Paul Donders' place in Hoornaar. We talked about leadership and team roles. Interestingly Paul (insert), who heads up an international training and management consultancy firm, said that from his perspective an effective leadership team would be made up of two or three people. Two people can move relatively fast and are most effective in project organisations. Three people will move a bit slower, but bring in more creativity and are best for organisations and movements that seek a longer-term impact.