CURRENT NEWS AND PRAYER REQUESTS
Update from November 25, 2023: Looking back with thanksgiving and forward with anticipation... and teaching and preaching in Sweden!
Praise God​ for this past week at Holsbybrunn, Torchbearers Sweden where Greg preached and taught for a week on Romans and we both talked and counseled staff and students. We heard wonderful stories of lives changed and of a postiive impact. Thank you for your prayers!
Please pray:
In December we will be at Torchbearers Romania for two weeks of teaching.
We are in earnest promoting a Bible conference on the weekend of February 9-11 with Charles Price as our speaker. See the website here www.conferenzacristiana.it. Greg has contacted over 150 churches in Italy to publicize this event. Please pray for us as we prepare publicity, contact pastors and churches, and promote the conference, develop the website and our program
Angela has just finished translating a book,The Saving Life of Christ, into Italian by the founder of the Torchbearer schools, Maj. Ian Thomas for publication later this year. Pray for its fruitful reception throughout Italy!
Greg's California college teaching is going well with students from Orange County and Santa Monica with many opportunities to talk about Christ. He has classes on Bible as Literature, World Religions, and Philosophy.
Greg leads an initiative to build a Christian center in collaboration with Torchbearer International (www.torchbearers.org) with three other couples, Sam and Joan Fiore, Domenico and Jennifer Ripepi, and Matt and Rahel Malone. Pray for the development of a good team marked by mutual love, trust, and respect. We are making key relationships with other potential teammates, veteran missionaries, and other Italians who want to see this happen. Pray for more contacts within Italian churches and church leaders in northern Italy
We are asking God for full financial support so we can devote ourselves full-time to ministry in Italy. Also pray for individuals committed to join with us in regular prayer for the vision of ReachItaly.
Production of Nel Principio Bible teaching videos and website. This website will serve as a Bible teaching platform in Italian, a much needed ministry here. We are looking for a good studio type environment to record videos and appropriate people to help with the production.
Pray for our Italian church friends Levi, Etel, and their six year old son, Samuel. Levi was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer. Pray particularly for his wife, Etel, who needs to turn her life over to Christ.
We are involved with Italian believers who have special counseling needs. Pray for wisdom in the moments to say a word of guidance and encouragement.
We are aware that we are salt in a world with very few believers… pray for natural opportunities to arise to talk with our neighbors and other acquaintances about the Lord.
--Pray for Rocco who wants to read the Bible together with Greg
--Pray for Salvatore, a real estate agent who has received literature from us. We are praying for his salvation.
--Angela as she teaches English to 13-year-old Neomi.Greg's academic article on Eve has been published in June in the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society. You can download a copy here
ANSWERED PRAYERS (AND RECENT NEWS)!
We are thankful for a wonderful time with a church in Piacenza where Greg preached in Nov 12.
Thanking God for a great trip to Bodenseehof in Germany where we met with Peter Reid, the General director of Torchbearers, and Charles Price, our conference speaker who taught there.
Great opportunity to preach at Milan Bible Church with warm responses (Oct 22, 2023)
Greg had an opportunity to build his own guitar in September with a Torchbearer leader, Luke Brunner, in Switzerland. It is not quite finished, but Greg had an amazing time with Luke, and two others.
Greg shared on Genesis 1 and introduced Philippians to the youth at Punto Lode church on the weekend (Sept 29-30). A wonderful time of teaching and sharing!
Angela gave her testimony at a church evangelistic service on Sat, Sept 16. It went really well and several unbelievers heard the gospel.
Praise for finding a great place for our February Bible conference and forward movement. The conference is for Feb 9-11, 2024 near Milan! You too are invited!!
Praise for successful surgery for our friend Levi who has had a tumor on his pancreas
Thankful for a good August full of travel. Angela and I looked for several potential sites for our conference this next February and had a good break in the alps and northern region of Italy.
Praise for a good and safe trip this past week (July 29-Aug 7) to see Angela's family and celebrate our nephew and niece's college graduation and another niece's birthday.
Praise for a great worship service in July where Greg preached on Jacob wrestling with God in Genesis last Sunday
Greg and Domenico had a great time at an Italian brethren church retreat on July 8-9 where many churches were represented. Our goals were simply to meet more people and church leaders who active in ministry in Italy.
Greg taught Philippians in the first week of June at Torchbearers Romania Spring School and met with the European Director of Torchbearers, Ebbe, to solicit support and direction for our work in Italy.We are praising God for a wonderful time meeting with students and staff and teaching Philippians at the Torchbearers Romania Bible School. We discussed future ministry opportunities and discussed our plans for the coming year. Thank you for your prayers for this important time of ministry and planning.
We helped area churches as they conducted evangelism campaigns in local parks. We made a few good contacts and had good fellowship sharing the gospel
Praise for fruit from Greg's part-time teaching at two community colleges in California via Zoom from Italy this past spring. In addition to World Religions, I teach two Bible as Literature and two philosophy classes. It is exciting teaching the Bible and Christian perspective to the unchurched and I have many out of class opportunities to talk with students about their spiritual lives.
Greg's academic article on Eve was just published by the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society. You can find a copy to read for free here!
Met Swiss Torchbearer ministry team at Chasa Perspectiva and discussed plans for Italy
Several opportunities to share our faith with unsaved family members! Pray for salvation of Angela's family.
Praise for excellent survey trip to the Veneto and Alto Adige regions of NE Italy. We were able to connect with old friends, meet and get to know a ministry in northern Italy, and explore ideas for our future location.
Praise for great weekend in early March with friend Domenico on the coast below Rome working with young Sikh and Hindu immigrant laborers and encouraging an Italian missionary who works with them. I preached in a church of about twenty and had unusual freedom and was encouraged.
Praise God for preaching opportunities in Rome and Milan including a wonderful time in a church where Greg did an internship 30 years ago.
Praise for opportunities to meet one on one with various Italian church leaders in this past month. Greg has had over half a dozen coffee breaks or lunches to talk about the spiritual life and ministry concerns in March.
Thank God for an encouraging time with the Torchbearers England ministry team in early March. It is exciting to help devoted young people explore their gifts and become more aware of the spiritual needs of Italy