Marc's Messages

Global Day of Prayer

A full day of meetings. Talked with Theo Aerts of Highway Media about publishing several books (including a few titles I'm working on myself). The team of Transformations.NL met to refocus for this year. Joop Gankema of Opwekking joined us to discuss the details of the upcoming Global Day of Prayer. On Pentecost Sunday we will have 40.000 people worship and pray in the open air, while worldwide some 100 million will join in. Should be fun.

BTW, we compiled a video cd about what God is doing worldwide in the prayer movement. It's free for people who send a donation for our ministry this month. Check out the Dutch information. English info will come soon.

Lost in Translation

We rented two dvd's for the weekend: Lost in Translation and Rosenstrasse. The first movie is a quite bizarre comic melodrama about two dislocated Americans in Tokyo discovering how alive they are when they can barely keep their eyes open. The ideal movie for a rainy Sunday afternoon.

Rosenstrasse is a street in Berlin where in 1943 Jewish men were rounded up for deportation to concentration camps and certain death. Based on a true story, their Aryan wives fought to save their lives. A moving and heroic story, told from a German perspective.

Fast, faster, fastest

LEGO is great stuff. This weekend we built a fast train track in our living room. David is the engineer, Peter operates the trains. The art is to build it in such a way that the trains make real speed, but don't crash out of the track.

Over dinner I told the boys that I own a pet flee called Little Pete. I keep him in a little box in my wardrobe. This flee is so small you can barely see him, but he can do little saltos in the air. When I showed it to them, they were impressed. Then I acted that the flee suddenly jumped out of the box into Peter's shirt, and I had to catch him again. Peter said: "I felt him tickle me, dad."

Stick to the vision

Today I met up with one of our contacts who carries a vision for a prayer/retreat/training centre in the Netherlands. It was good to share hearts and ideas. Over the past few years we've visited and come alongside several similar projects, and we found that it's quite important to stick to the vision God has given. It's easy to let the vision be compromised or sidetracked by people or money. But then we miss out on God's best - his grace, anointing and provision.

Keirsey Temperament Awards

The people at AdvisorTeam gave out their Annual Keirsey Temperament Awards to famous individuals who exemplify their respective temperaments. Donald Trump, Lance Armstrong and Mel Gibson are among the 2004 recipients.

I did the Keirsey version of the Myers-Briggs personality test several years ago and found it quite useful. It helps you understand your strengths and weaknesses, which can be releasing. There is a lot of information on the 16 personality types (temperaments) on the internet, from career advice to learning styles and raising kids. Also the temperaments in Star Trek and Sex in the City have been analysed. More here.

The eagles are coming!

Do you remember the giant eagles in 'The Return of the King'? Barbara Leite mailed me an encouraging report from their first Connect Portugal meeting. Maaike and Heidi were there and talked about eagles and revelation, the emerging generation bringing Portugal into her destiny. It was a stirring meeting in many ways.



Talking about eagles: today I've been working on the Joel News website, and a new nicely designed e-mail newsletter we will send out soon. Click here for a sneak preview.

Justice the Dutch way

This is only possible in the Netherlands: a bank robber was sentenced to four years in prison and (of course) had to restitute the money he had stolen from the bank. But the judge said he could detract the 'investment' he made to do the bank robbery: a gun that according to the suspect had cost him 2,000 euro.

The art of fungagement

Read an interesting interview in Intermediair with Elena Simons, social inventor, out-of-the-box lady and author of 'Fun with Muslims'. She coined the term fungagement, which basically means: be socially engaged and improve society, but please do it lighheartedly, without pushing strong opinions.

A few examples: at Saint Nicholas she went to a mosque to put presents in the shoes of the muslims while they were praying. In Amsterdam she put up boxes where rich people could put money in, and poor people take money out (where have I heard this before?)

What I also liked is that she intentionally hangs out with people that are completely different from her. While a social environmenalist by conviction, she joined the liberal conservative party. Why? Adventure, staying intellectually sharp, the challenge of reconciling paradoxes. At the moment she's working on a book with crazy flashmobbing-type ideas for social engagement.

The new Moszkowicz

It's probably derived from Donald Trump's The Apprentice - Dutch reality tv series The new Moszkowicz, where top lawyer Bram Moszkowicz selects a potential successor out of a group of ten young wannabees. Every week they face a new challenge, from court sessions and digging into judicial cases to personal presentations and handling the media.

When watching a few episodes I had missed, I realised that one of the reasons I like this program is that the young candidates are taken seriously, receive a quality experience and are being challenged to excell.



I wondered how this would look like in a church setting. Could we give young people a series of serious challenges and high quality coaching, so that new leaders will emerge? It bugs me that there's so much potential, and it's not being released, nor trained properly.

Reality is that most pastors and teams of elders don't dare to give a let's say 24-year old a serious assignment. In most churches you have to wait unil you're over 40 and then they expect you to 'find your own way', too often leading to trouble or lack of quality. How about master classes and leadership trainee programs? Why leave this to big companies, while the Dutch branch of the biggest enterprise in the world is suffering from lack of visionary leadership?

George W.'s reelection

Dutch daily De Telegraaf published a funny movie of George W.'s reelection. One of my good intentions for this year was to stop bush bashing on my weblog. But this was pretty unrealistic I guess... ;-)

Blogathon for tsunami victims

Ever heard of a blogathon? Darren Rowse is blogging every 15 minutes for 24 hours in one row to raise money for South-East Asia. Yes, that's 100 postings, so let's hope he won't develop rsi.

Wolf Fernandez is blogging from Indonesia, where he met up with Hengky, a young church planter I met in DAWN several years ago. After he survived the tsunami in Aceh he is redefining his life.

Leaders Day Utrecht (2)

I put the report, presentations and pictures of last Friday's Leaders Day online. General information on the Utrecht Leaders Day here.

Soul Streamlining

Had a cup of coffee with Martijn Moens to talk about some ideas related to a network of emerging Christian media professionals (writers, web designers, multi-media creatives, pr officers, etc.). In the afternoon another session with the board of Soul Survivor, where we made good progress in streamlining the organisation.

Need a personal coach?

Met up with Ton Kasteleijn for a walk in Rhijnauwen en to celebrate his graduation as a human resource specialist. He's quite good in challenging people in their personal development, so if you want to hire him for your company, drop him an e-mail.

Walk in Soestduinen

It's a bright sunny day. We took the kids for a walk on the frosty sand dunes of Soestduinen.

Leaders Day Utrecht

We had our second vision day for pastors and ministry leaders in Utrecht, and focused on the question: what does it mean to have one Church in the city? Overall good contributions, an open atmosphere and progress in the transition towards a new paradigm.

I also have a confession to make: I used PowerPoint to do a presentation on the city reaching process in Bergen, Norway. Yes, I remember I said last month that I had no intention to ever use this Microsoft program, but I decided to give it a go and use it in such a way that it really illustrated and supported my presentation. Looks like I'm slowly getting converted.

The Aussies are coming (2)

Met up with Geoff Armitage and Brett Davis from Brisbane. They are also involved in Youth Arise and would like to have a team from Connect Europe join their assembly in 2006. Geoff also told an interesting story about Pedro Fernández de Quirós, the Portuguese navigator of the Pacific who first called the area the "Great Southland of the Holy Spirit". Today the islands of the South Pacific (like Fiji and Vanuatu) have a strong Christian population and caught the vision to bring the gospel back from (literally) the ends of the earth to Europe and Jerusalem.

Life is communication (9)

This morning I had an evaluation of the training I did in communication and personal effectiveness (earlier episodes: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8). I'm glad we're finished now, because I already passed my point of interest somewhere halfway the course.

What was good for me: getting more insight in the dynamics (including the psychology) of social interaction and getting tools for more effective communication, listening skills, etc. The way the trainer helped us process this, was overall beneficial.

What was not helpful for me: the format of eight full days in just two months time. A format of four days with 2-3 weeks in between would have been more efficient, while also allowing for more reflection and application. Although I didn't mind the confrontational approach and group dynamics (that was helpful), I felt some irritation about the typical 'therapeutic setting' in which one has to 'act socially', and be politically correct for the sake of the group process. Also I felt the trainer was a bit prejudiced in how he approached me, which I didn't find motivating.

Today I read through some information of the Myers-Briggs personality test, and realised that part of my dissatisfaction also comes from the fact that the training did not optimally match with my preferred learning styles (see ENTP and INTP, I'm somewhere in-between these two profiles). Of course no training can fully match one person's learning style (or it would have to be personal coaching), but at least it explains why at times I get bored and turn my mind to other things.

Apart from the evaluation, we had a nice conversation about transition. Hans said that from his experience many psychological and physical problems are basically caused because people don't follow their heart. They don't pursue their real dreams, but stay in situations of unfruitfulness. Good observation.

Multiplying John Maxwell

Evangelical management guru John Maxwell will come to the Netherlands to train 5,000 leaders (check out his EQUIP program), and for some reason I've been asked to join the Dutch steering committee for this mega leadership development program.

I politely declined the invitation. Not because of the screaming marketing brochure they sent me, or that I dislike John Maxwell. We all know there's a big leadership gap in the church, and at least he's boldly addressing it. It's more fundamental: I believe God called me to multiply myself in others, not to multiply John Maxwell in others. Why would an apple tree join a pear tree development program?

A day and week to pray

Met up with several pastors in Utrecht to pray and prepare our upcoming Leaders' Day on unity. Also restyled and updated the website of the Dutch prayer movement. This week many Christians and Churches join the International Week of Prayer of the Evangelical Alliance.

DAWN Netherlands

I set up a simple website for DAWN Netherlands. Although DAWN Netherlands as an organisation ceased to exist three years ago, the vision for saturation church planting is still alive and thriving. If you can't read Dutch, download our European brochure in pdf.

The Aussies are coming

Met up with Donny McGregor of Youth Arise, a youth prayer and missions movement in the South Pacific. He's currently connecting into Europe and just took part in the youth conference our Finnish Connect friends set up between Christmas and the New Year. We talked about a closer connection between Youth Arise and Connect Europe, changes in the way we experience church, and the idea to mobilise young people worldwide to pray in the last weekend of every month.

Restyling Connect Europe

I restyled and updated the Connect Europe website. It's more dynamic now. I also moved my weblog postings and pictures of last Summer's Geneva event there.

The Dutch generosity (2)

Yesterday's radio and tv campaign, in which even the competing news channels smoothly cooperated, brought the total amount for South-East Asia on 112.144.000 euro. That's pretty good, considering the last national charity campaign for Kosovo that topped at 52 million.

The Dutch Daily ran an interesting article on Dutch generosity since the Golden Age. It mentioned that Dutch citizens give an average of 1 percent of their gross national product to charity, and the government adds 0,8 percent to that for development work. According to the Dutch Daily the tradition of giving started in the 17th century when Reformed merchants spent part of their profit to build houses for the poor and oppressed. The newspaper also observed that the Netherlands have a fine-mazed social infrastructure, which means that if something collective is going on, it will involve many people in a relatively short time.

Personally I believe the roots of Dutch charity go back to the 7th century. The Celtic missionaries who brought the gospel to our nation, proclaimed good news to the poor, inspired by Jesus and St. Martin of Tours. So it's in our apostolic foundations. And often the outworking is very practical - Dutch missionaries tend to work in logistics, communication, agricultural and economical development, orphanages, Bible translation work and relief.

I only watched 30 minutes of the campaign, because I don't really like the show, and am quite aware of the mass psychology of public emotions, and the hype created and maintained by the media. There are many factors why people run faster for Thailand than for Darfur. I hope I'm not the only one who was so politically incorrect not to ride the tsunami wave, but stick to the structural projects we've been supporting over the past few years.

The Dutch generosity

Today is the big day: a lot of radio and television stations unite to raise money for the tsunami victims in South-East Asia. Already 63 million euro has been collected on our national emergency account 555.

Why am I writing this? Not to show off my friend Tallskinnykiwi (well, maybe a bit) who for some reason thinks the Dutch are the most greedy people in the world. The truth is that whenever there is a disaster the Dutch are very quick to respond, and do so generously. We know from experience what the sea can do to people and what it takes to keep the water out.

No, the reason why I bring this up is because there is a strange dualism in the Dutch heart. On the one hand we value modesty and soberness, on the other hand we are so proud about our modesty, that we shout it from the rooftops. "Hey, look at us, we are so modest! We are one of the smallest nations, and donate most money!"

Time for a simple reality-check: 63 million at a population of 16 million is 4 euro per person, or 16 euro per family. Every believer who has developed the discipline to resource others with a fixed percentage of his/her income, knows this is pathetic. And what did Jesus say about your left hand not knowing what your right hand is doing?

So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.

But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.

Pilgrim on a bicycle

Restyled my portal page marcvanderwoude.nl, with a day-to-day report of my cycle pilgrimage in the tracks of Celtic apostle Willibrord, from Egmond to Echternach.

The beginnings of birthpangs

In his first 'weekly word' for 2005 Rick Joyner reminds us of Jesus' words in Mark 13,8 that earthquakes and famines are 'the beginning of birthpangs'.

As we proceed toward the end of this age, we can expect the shaking to increase until everything that can be shaken will be shaken, and everything that can be removed will be removed. However, we have a kingdom that cannot be shaken. More and more true Christians are going to stand out as a very different spirit than anyone else on the earth.

This does not mean we are callous toward the suffering. However, all of the suffering on earth is the result of the fall of mankind and our separation from God. The only remedy to the suffering is mankind's repentance and reconciliation with God. That is what we are here for - to help the world be reconciled to God.

Full article here

A fresh new look

To make a fresh start in the new year, I restyled and reordered my weblog. In a bright moment it suddently dawned on me how I could make banners, so I created one for my blog with a typical 'January feel' and also adapted the colours a bit.

Because the list of bloggers became way too long, I categorized them by geography (between brackets the area where people are blogging from). The Early Archives (my former blog) can be accessed under the search option. Also new is the list of websites of ministries I partner with. Finally I added a Creative Commons logo with information about copyrights.

The story of the river

Today I read Henri Nouwen's article 'Moving from Solitude to Community to Ministry', in which he included a story about a little river:

The little river said, "I can become a big river." It worked hard, but there was a big rock. The river said, "I'm going to get around this rock." The little river pushed and pushed, and since it had a lot of strength, it got itself around the rock.

Soon the river faced a big wall, and the river kept pushing this wall. Eventually, the river made a canyon and carved a way through. The growing river said, "I can do it. I can push it. I am not going to let down for anything." Then there was an enormous forest. The river said, "I'll go ahead anyway and just force these trees down." And the river did.

The river, now powerful, stood on the edge of an enormous desert with the sun beating down. The river said, "I'm going to go through this desert." But the hot sand soon began to soak up the whole river. The river said, "Oh, no. I'm going to do it. I'm going to get myself through this desert." But the river soon had drained into the sand until it was only a small mud pool.

Then the river heard a voice from above: "Just surrender. Let me lift you up. Let me take over." The river said, "Here I am." The sun then lifted up the river and made the river into a huge cloud. He carried the river right over the desert and let the cloud rain down and make the fields far away fruitful and rich.

There is a moment in our life when we stand before the desert and want to do it ourselves, says Nouwen. But there is the voice that comes, "Let go. Surrender. I will make you fruitful. Yes, trust me. Give yourself to me."

What counts in your life and mine is not successes but fruits. The fruits of your life you might not see yourself. The fruits of your life are born often in your pain and in your vulnerability and in your losses. The fruits of your life come only after the plow has carved through your land. God wants you to be fruitful. The question is not, "How much can I still do in the years that are left to me?" The question is, "How can I prepare myself for total surrender so my life can be fruitful?"

Church commuting by airplane

More people are commuting to church - by airplane, reports satirical newspaper Lark News. "An increasing number of families are eschewing local congregations and joining regional mega-church powerhouses."

"Sensing an opportunity, mega-churches have begun cultivating congregations over vast areas - as far as 500-700 miles away. Some have started private airplane services and built airfields to whisk people in for Sunday and mid-week services. Some 'church' airfields are busier than municipal airports on weekends."

Although this story is fake, the link between low-budget flights and mega-churches is not unthinkable. Already more and more business professionals are commuting internationally. They live in a country house in France or Spain, but work in Amsterdam or London, and just hop on a cheap airplane every Monday morning and Friday afternoon. There's even a guy who works as a policeman in the city of London, but lives with his family in New Zealand. He works long hours for two months in a row, after which he has two months off.

Lark News also published a nice parody on the emerging church.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! May 2005 be a special year of God's grace in many places in the world.

We're still sticking around in Enschede. David caught a flu over the past few days and is still recovering. Peter wishes every family member a happy new year, and consequently asks: "So, when will we eat another oliebol?" Oliebollen are a typically Dutch dough-based treat for New Year's Eve, and obviously he loves it.