As you all know, at Three Worlds we are interested in 1) engaging young people in cross-cultural ministry 2) Supporting emerging, empowered, and accountable young leaders and 3) creating CHOG inner-connectivity. All that we do is run through that prism, and thus far, we are off to a successful first few months with the launch of our Three World Seminars, our internships, as well as some new connections that are developing throughout our region from France, Bulgaria, and Hungary. As part of our strategy, we will be introducing all of you to a number of emerging, young leaders. It is vital that we utilize the young talent that we have in the church. One of the big lessons from Mosaic was that there are multiple generations of leaders missing from most churches, and often we don't recognize the talent that is right in front of us.
We are thrilled to have with us Darren and Amy Adwalpalker from South Bay Church of God in Los Angeles. I met the Adwalpalkers while traveling for the Mosaic project and was deeply impressed with their ministry and talents. Between Three Worlds, Spread the Word, and the good people at South Bay Church of God, we will be hosting the Adwalpalkers for 2 weeks here in Europe. During there time with us they will:
1) Learn about the church in the post-Christendom setting of Berlin.
2) Darren will preach at Braunschweig Church of God here in Germany.
3) They will teach at the Fritzlar Bible School on issues related to multi-cultural ministry.
4) They will join me (Patrick) in London as our "outside experts" for our 2nd Three Worlds Seminar where they will be talking about how to reach out in multi-ethnic communities.
Now a little bit about Darren and Amy. The Adwalpalker planted two Spanish-speaking churches in South California. Darren now serves as Senior Pastor at the South Bay Church of God, a traditional church that has become bilingual and multi-ethnic under his leadership. When I was there they had a Guatemalan Associate Pastor, an African-American youth pastor, and a Chinese children's pastor. Darren is American, but his father originates from India. Darren speaks Spanish and English fluently.
Amy is from Orange County, CA and served as an ESL teacher for adult immigrants and now writes about those experiences. Darren is an ordained minister and Amy is a licensed minister with the Church of God. Both Darren and Amy desire to see multi-ethnic ministry and emotional health characterize God’s church. Darren and Amy earned Bachelors Degrees from Wheaton College, (Sociology and Ancient Languages, respectively) and a Masters Degrees from Biola University (Intercultural Studies and Applied Linguistics, respectively). Both are excellent speakers and teachers.
This March, Amy and Darren Adwalpalker celebrated 10 years of partnership in ministry and marriage. They have been blessed with two wonderful children, Josiah (5) and Hannah (2).
We are looking forward to spending time with them and gleaning from their wisdom.