Sunken Church

From our final newsletter:

Many of you have heard me tell the story of the sunken church in Ancona, the old church bythe port that fell into the sea and of how I feel God wanting to use that story to challenge the people of that city and of Italy to see His Body differently. That starts with me. We didn’t bring a whole lot back with us from Italy, but one of the things we did bring back were questions; questions about our faith, about the mission of the church and yes, the church itself. As we adjust to our lives in this new place, those questions continue to get formulated, answers are proposed and we move forward. We’re not foolish enough to think that we have to have everything figured out before diving in…but we continue asking.

After all these years spent in Italy, I am convinced of this, though: The Italian people do not need the form of church that we so often see in the U.S. They are looking for real, spiritual answers and will try anything so long as it does not smack of Christianity. THAT they already have. They want something real, something life-changing, something seen and true, something lacking power, politics and prestige, something they can sink their teeth into and something that allows them to experience the freedom that Jesus’ message was intended to give but which has gotten lost in the shuffle of centuries of traditions.

My hope and dream is to see that happen in the Italian churches and that the U.S. church will learn from the Italian example as well. To that end we will continue praying, promoting, encouraging, supporting and sending. You can follow along in the months to come at sunkenchurch.com. For everything you have done over these past years, thank you!

Thank You!

Thanks to all who contributed for our "Join in for Joplin" efforts. We filled, sealed, packed and sent 624 boxes full of clothing, toiletries, cleaning supplies, toys, books, food and household goods as well as dozens of shovels and tools, 11 wheelbarrows, a wheelchair and lots of other things. There were so many of you who gave of your homes, your time and your strength to see it happen - thank you! We also sent over $6000 to be distributed to the families that were displaced or affected by the tornado. Thank you for being willing to be used as a conduit of God's blessings in your life.

The truck was delivered a few days ago and my father-in-law went up with Al Houk and my oldest, Jacob, with a pick-up load of baby items that came in after the truck left. They volunteered Saturday and our now on their way back home. Keep praying for those in Joplin as they continue the long road of rebuilding...

JOIN IN FOR JOPLIN

Thanks for your interest in joining us to help the relief efforts in Joplin, Missouri. Several chuches in the San Antonio, New Braunfels and Austin, Texas area are pooling resources and efforts together to see non-perishable and household items put together and shipped to Joplin. Con-Way Truckload, based out of Joplin, has dropped off a 55' trailer at Community Christian Church's parking lot and we are now filling it up!

PLEASE NOTE, WE NO LONGER ACCEPT:

-CLOTHING

-BEDDING

-TOYS

-WATER

But we still need lots more

Here is the updated list:

Hamburger Helper
Cookies
Ketchup
Mustard
Mayo
Ramen Noodles
Chips
Snack Cakes
Coffee
Canned foods (Chef Boyardee type)
Instant Potatoes
Canned Potatoes
Spaghetti
Instant Rice
Jelly
Pudding cups
Canned meat
Canned chili
Canned vegetables
Canned fruit
Baby food
Breakfast cereals
Pop tarts
Breakfast bars
Sugar
Potatoes
Laundry Detergent
Trash bags
Dog & cat food
Flashlights
Batteries
Diapers (esp. size newborn and 5-6)
Soy based baby formula
Pull-ups
Baby shampoo, wash, lotion, diaper rash creme
Baby bottles
Nursing pads, breast pumps, nursing items
Band aids
Antibiotic ointment
Pain reliever
Cotton balls
Hair brushes
Kids' toothbrushes
Kids' toothpastes
Deoderant
Towels
Pillows - all sizes
Children DVDs
All sizes NEW underwear and socks
Shovels, rakes and tools - new or in good shape.

For an updated list from my home church in Joplin, go here: chcchurch.org

We have several drop-off points:

1. Community Christian Church
1750 McQueeney Road
New Braunfels, TX 78130
Drop-off hours: Monday - Thursday, 9-4 (not on Memorial Day)

2. Hodell Window Covering's warehouse:
1140 Lone Star Drive
New Braunfels, TX 78130
Drop-off hours: Monday - Friday, 8-5 (not on Memorial Day)

3. Castle Hills Christian Church
6209 West Avenue
San Antonio, TX 78213
(210) 344-7188
Drop-off hours: Monday - Friday, 8-4 (not on Memorial Day)

4. Southwest Christian Church, Austin
2116 Lynnbrook Drive
Austin, TX 78748
(512) 280-7922
Drop-off hours: Monday - Thursday, 9-5 (not on Memorial Day)

In New Braunfels, you can also place your donation in a box located at any of the three Dollar General stores, the two First Commercial Bank branches, Tractor Supply, New Braunfels Feed & Supply, Hoffman Floors, Brake Solution, Supplize and Dr. E M Perkins' office.

If you have any questions, please email me at jason.casey@hodellwc.com.

Weed Eating on the Bridge

During our week in Colorado Springs at MTI’s Debriefing & Renewal program, we were encouraged to use the metaphor of a bridge as we faced reentry into our home culture. On one end of this theoretical and yet all-too-real bridge is Ancona, our life in Italy, which we’ll label as ‘settled’. On the other end, off in a nebulous haze is a life in New Braunfels, Texas which we will one day also label ‘settled.’ In between is the actual bridge which has signs along the way marking the phases called ‘unsettled’, ‘chaos’, and ‘resettling’.

So I’m out today in our back yard holding something I’ve never used before or maybe once in Junior High: a weed eater. Just three weeks ago I was hanging with our small group as they talked about the intricacies of lawn care and I was too embarrassed or prideful to say anything, I just soaked it in, hoping their experience would rub off on me somehow by means of some miraculous form of osmosis. So back to today, fumbling with a 50’ extension cord, breaking the trigger guard (sorry Tom), damaging trees, cutting off one of Heather’s flowers and pausing to watch a Youtube video on how to restring the thing because I kept making mistakes. I feel like a fool, a prideful fool who should be able to do this simple task which every red-blooded suburbanite does a couple of times a month.

When you’re learning the cultural ins and outs of a foreign place I think you give yourself more grace because it is, well, foreign. But when you’re ‘home’ or what you keep telling yourself should be ‘home’ or at least looks like ‘home’, it’s all too easy to be short with yourself because you should already know how to do this.

In many ways, I feel like I’m learning a new language, new words, new expressions, new ways of doing things. I’m learning new rhythms, new meal times, new traditions, new holiday schedules, new songs. I still need to learn to let go of my pride and call up my neighbor, my family, my small group and ask for help, even if the question may surprise them in its simplicity.

Some still look at us a bit quizzically when they ask what we’ve been doing this month of April and I answer, “Settling in.” I try to make excuses and come up with things to make it sound like I’ve been doing something productive when in the end, what I’m doing with most of my time, is simply that, settling in. I can’t tell you how blessed we feel that nearly all of our supporting churches and individuals have continued supporting us through June to help us ease back in and set up a home.

In an hour we’re having a party for Jacob who became a teenager today. His big present was a Dad-made soccer goal which he found in the backyard this morning with a big red bow on it, sitting on a freshly mown lawn. The yard looks pretty good. All along the edges rests the cut, green evidence that I’m learning how to handle a weed eater; evidence that I’m taking another step across the bridge.

Ode to the Veterans

One of the factors motivating Team Expansion to begin recruiting teams to plant churches in Italy was a request by resident, veteran missionaries knowing that they were getting older and that new teams and younger recruits were needed.

Just months before leaving for the field, in 1999, Heather, Jacob and I visited Chuck Phipps who lived less than an hour's drive from Joplin where we were living. Chuck had served as a missionary for years in Italy. A kinder, wiser man is hard to meet. He gently and

warmly encouraged us and challenged us that day as we prepared to leave for Italy. Before leaving his home he handed me a worn and intricately decorated, leather-bound Italian Bible which I still have. Charles passed away in 2001 here in Italy while back visiting.

Another of the veterans was Jessie Lee Troyer who just passed away this week. We had the chance this last June to stop in and visit with Jessie Lee in her apartment in Bari (see picture at right) on our way home from a national gathering of Christian Church brothers and sisters. Always hospitable and sharp of mind to the very end, she was another one of the pillars that saw the current movement of Restoration churches off and running. She sent us off that day, the kids' tummies full of ice-cream, and our car crammed with a heavy box full of kid's Bible lessons.

Times, they are a-changing. Missionaries come and go and we're about to add our name to that list. But as I think about the news of Jessie Lee's death and the effect it has on the work in Italy, two things come to mind:

1. Thank you to all those who have gone before us, selflessly giving of themselves, pouring themselves into relationships, discipling, preaching, organizing, translating, publishing, editing, encouraging, disciplining, praying, leading and serving. We wouldn't be where we are today without you.

2. Lord, please strengthen those who continue on. Protect them, guide them and open up doors for Kingdom growth. Please take the seeds they have planted and watered and bring the Harvest. Please send more workers to the field. Raise up men and women to go and raise up churches to send and sustain them.

Amen.

Living Without Mary

A little over a year ago I began volunteering at the local Catholic mensa which is essentially a soup kitchen for the poor and homeless only instead of soup, they serve a two-course Italian feast of donated-because-they-are-nearly-expired-but-still-delicious-food. I began volunteering, having been convicted of not walking the talk, and I have learned. So. Much.

The mensa serves up to 68 ospiti, or guests, a day. About half of the ospiti are foreigners and all of them are colorful and unique. One of them is Mary. Not Maria. He goes by Mary. Mary is my age and most often wears skirts and short dresses. He wears big sunglasses over big, puffy lips and his hair is almost always a different length and color. Lots of jewelry and accessories make up the

rest of his outfit. Mary’s mood varies, but he often seems impatient, like he has somewhere else to be. For a little over a year, I see Mary every Tuesday. He shows up and sits quietly in the front office and waits.

Suor Francesca, one of the nuns that runs the kitchen, told me that he doesn’t eat upstairs with the rest of the ospiti because they make fun of him. So without fail they pack him a lunch to go in little, white containers, tucked in a little, white bag with a hunk of bread nestled on a neat, white napkin. He always thanks me when I hand it to him. I smile, which he returns and proceeds to walk off in boots or high heels.

The biggest lesson I’ve learned from the nuns and volunteers at the mensa doesn’t have to do with their delicious recipes or their incredible organizational skills, it isn’t even kindness, for at times they have to be downright mean and loud and direct to get things done. It is grace. It is the living out of Jesus’ words to throw open the doors to everyone. It is the ability to set down a plate of piping hot pasta in front of the Tunisian Muslim just as easily as before the Italian Catholic or the Pakistani Hindu.

None of the volunteers criticize Mary. No one makes him feel bad. They don’t judge him. They ask him to share his story. They give him concrete, tangible expressions of love and acceptance. They protect him. They allow him to simply belong as they give him hope and help him succeed at living.

Mary died last month. The headlines announced in very black-and-white terms that Ancona’s first trans-sexual died on the street, trying to catch a bus to the hospital. Just like that, one of the city’s most unique personalities, what most would consider an eyesore or an embarrassment, is gone and he leaves a void behind in a culture where centuries of tradition are clashing with post-modern ideas about gender roles and sexuality.

And now Tuesdays come and go, almost the same: a sea of faces coming in from the cold for a warm meal; names in a dozen languages, many I can’t even pronounce. Mary’s void simply and yet loudly takes the shape of an empty chair and it reminds me to accept people as they are, to look them in the eyes and see their worth and their need and love them like Jesus did. Only He can give them life and yet we are the vessels he works through. Thanks Mary for helping me see things a little more clearly.

Decisions...

It is decision time in Ancona. Let’s start off with the exciting one, shall we?

Some eight years ago while hosting a short-term group from the U.S., one of the students invited a tall, lanky Romanian construction worker they met at a park to come to an English party there were hosting. That worker, maybe 20 years old at the time, began attending various activities that our team hosted and we formed a friendship and found in him an openness, a sincerity, and a hard-working spirit that continues to impress us to this day. During the course of the last eight years, he got married to Simona and just recently celebrated the birth of their firstborn, Emanuel, this year. You may remember from previous updates that I’m talking about Daniel.

Daniel has grown in so many ways over the years and been our most faithful participant even though he had never made a public decision to follow Christ. He has been great at inviting others to come check out our gatherings and events. He has shown a natural knack and passion for calling and checking on people. When he sees a physical need he will do everything he can to see it gets taken care of, including getting others to chip in. And most recently, he has helped our community see the need to give and support those in need outside our beautiful Adriatic Ancona area by taking care of a very needy family in Romania.

Last Easter, I believe, was crucial for Daniel. While it is normal for Orthodox believers, even nominal ones, to make it to Mass on Christmas and Easter, Daniel made a decision for his little family. “We’re not going,” he said. He told me that evening that they see things differently and they aren’t going to just keep doing the same religious things because that’s what people tell them to do. He drew a line.

Whenever we talked to them about their walk with Christ, Simona was the one to put on the brakes. Daniel was ready a long time ago but wanted to be baptized together. Simona had doubts and questions. She wanted to be good and mature before deciding. This summer they returned to Romania to visit family and to satisfy their family they had Emanuel sprinkled in the Orthodox Church. As she was at the church she was going to ask her priest what he thought about her getting baptized but as she waited for him she realized she didn’t need anyone’s permission. This was something she needed to do for herself and didn’t have to do with religion or family, but herself before God. She drew a line.

Simona told this story to me and to Brian around their little dining room table Friday night. The Sunday before we had been talking about the characteristics of a disciple and the question was thrown out: have you ever made that public decision to follow Jesus and chosen to make him your Lord? Simona told us she wanted to talk about it which brought us to that conversation on Friday in their home. It was clear that they were ready so we called up the pool and set everything up. Sunday morning at 11:30, Daniel & Simona drew a line together. They confessed Jesus as their Lord and were baptized into Him. It was a beautiful moment, one that validates so much of what we’ve been talking about, one that confirms that disciple-making in Europe requires, to quote our friend Brett Seybold, tenacious patience.

Please pray for them as they continue their walk, that we will disciple them well and teach them to disciple others and that they will continue to find ways to use their gifts to build up the church in Ancona and beyond.

As a family we have also made a decision regarding our future. For a couple of years now, I have felt the Lord releasing us and preparing us to move away from our direct leadership and involvement with the first church plant in Ancona. In the process we have prayed about where God would have us go next. We have drawn this process out for a long time, for several reasons. We desire to honor God with our lives and be where he wants us. We desire to seek his blessing and find a sense of peace about where we head next. We desire to thoughtfully and carefully evaluate our family’s needs. We desire to evaluate the options before us and consider each cautiously and yet courageously. We desire to transition away from the team and church-planting effort well. We desire to be good stewards of what God has given us and taught us.

In the end, after prayer, reflection, tears, and conversations with advisors we have decided to move back to the United States. I will be working with Heather’s father in New Braunfels, Texas and we will spend the next few years processing our experience in Italy, furthering our studies, getting our kids caught up and boosted forward in their education (and specifically addressing Jacob’s special need for educational therapy) and finding ways to use our gifts and experience in the local church there. We are in the process of figuring out how we can continue being a support and encouragement to our co-church-planters here in Italy and hope to continue the relationships we’ve formed after these 10+ years here.

Our hearts are heavy at the idea of leaving this place which has become home. I’ve never lived anywhere as long as I’ve lived here, in this apartment, in this city. For me, growing up without many geographical roots, I find myself confused and somewhat afraid to pull them up, having found much strength in them. Leaving teammates who have become close friends and brothers and saying goodbye to our Italian and Romanian brothers and sisters is something that brings more sadness. Saying goodbye to this culture and this city is hard to even imagine. All this is tempered by a sense of peace that we know does not come from any earthly source. As painful as it may be, as surprising as it might seem, we know that we take this step of faith with the Lord’s blessing.

Please know that we take this step with eyes wide open for God’s leading. Please know that we take this step fully aware and very grateful for your partnership all this time. (Somewhat ironically and yet completely unrelated, just in the two months prior to our decision, three of our key supporting families and churches informed us that for financial and policy reasons they would have to stop our support – this totals $900/month as of the end of this year.) Please know that the team we leave in Ancona is moving forward with both ability and confidence under Brian Rotert’s leadership, committed to see this church community grow and wean itself from any American lifeline. Though they are sad we are leaving, I think it is important you know that they support our decision and the transition has been better than we could have dreamed. Please know that the other two teams (in Verona and Rome), though at the very beginning of their journeys, are also moving forward.

We will continue working with the team until the end of December and spend the month of January packing and saying last goodbyes. February and March will involve much travel as we visit supporters and Team Expansion’s International Services in Louisville. We will also spend a week at MTI’s Debriefing and Renewal program in Colorado. We humbly ask that you continue your financial support while we are getting settled until the end of June. For those of you that are able, we have some extra expenses like airfare and shipping that we could use help with. Please keep the team and church here in Ancona and in Italy in your prayers through this process. And from the entire family, thank you for the part you’ve played in all of this. We really, literally couldn’t have done any of this without you.

For Christ and for Italy,

Jason, Heather, Jacob, Haven, Harrison and Jenova