by Rusty Moore, Jr., MentorLink International Board Member –
What a joy and a privilege it was to be a part of the launch of Days with Jesus (DWJ) in Italian at the Congresso Missionne in Bella Italia! It was an amazing opportunity to re-connect with many of our friends there. I stayed several days and nights with a couple who own and operate a Christian bookstore and pastor a church where I spoke the first Sunday of my trip and enjoyed the sweet fellowship with church members there.
(The Exhibit Hall at the Expo Conference Center in Montesilvano; Rusty in the blue shirt.)
We logged 2,500 kilometers (1,500 miles) on our rental car making day trips to neighboring countries, and then on to the eastern coast of Italy for the Congresso Missione, a national mission congress/conference focused on informing, challenging and training the Church in Italy to a vision for mission.
For the better part of four days, we were all united around God’s Word,
in fellowship with one another,
singing and praying for God’s glory
to be revealed through the power of the Gospel!
What a joy! What a privilege!
Dr. John Piper was the keynote speaker for the Congressomissione missions conference. He wrote an article after his time there in Europe.
We hosted a table and booth for MentorLink, along with dozens of other ministries in the exhibit hall. We distributed flyers for the DWJ materials and handed out over 150 DVDs of DWJ in Italian.
The response and receptiveness to the MentorLink tools and resources were very encouraging.
There were 1,500 evangelicals from all over Europe attending this conference. We met and connected with pastors and missionaries from Italy, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Albania, Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, and several other countries. Some traveled by bus as many as 26 hours to attend the conference!