In September Phil was with Karl and Claudia and their team in Magdeburg, E. Germany. Together with Karl they met with his church team and continued to go through ICM’s Coaching Guide. This material is designed to help guide teams through the process of aligning their vision with their values, and how this impacts their effectiveness as a church. Working with various teams around the world, it is clear that this often requires change as a team discovers the gift mix of their team and how they can best function together to reflect Christ in their community.

Karl’s leadership team reflects their international focus, with team members from Germany, Nigeria and Cuba. Most of the population of Magdeburg reflects their eastern German roots and are either avowed atheist, or non religious at best. However, there are international students and other  seekers that their church is uniquely equipped to reach. While Europe was once a sending force of missionaries around the world, it has truly now become a mission field. What is perhaps most difficult is that the majority of the population does not see their spiritual need or is looking to fulfill this need in other ways.

Since they first began a mentoring relationship back in 2002 (when the Jeske’s lived in Berlin), Karl has traveled with Phil and the team to the various fields over the years. In addition to continuing to pastor this church, in the next season of their lives Karl will be travelling a bit more helping other teams internationally within ICM’s Ministry Coaching Network (MCNet). Thank you for your prayers as they raise funds and establish a new organization to facilitate this.