ANNOUNCEMENT: Kihms Move to Hungary for 3W

We are very excited to announce that Dan, Christy, and Sofie Kihm will be moving to Hungary to be more strategically-based for their role as Europe X Coordinators. Europe X is a new church-planting network that was launched in by the Three Worlds team in April 2018. It is for churches in Europe that are committed to creating a church-planting DNA in a post-Christendom context. The Kihms will be tracking with pastors, churches, and their church plants. They will also work alongside the Hungary Church of God, where we have three pastors all in their 30s and two churches plus a new outside-the-box church-plant.

Budapest has become a strategic location for our Three Worlds work. The Church of God in Hungary regularly opens their facilities to events for the whole region. The Budapest Lectures were established here to create a place of connection for pastors, and we recently launched Europe X there as well. It is an inexpensive city that centrally located and is only a one- to two-hour flight on a low-cost carrier to all of our Europe X and church-plant locations. The Kihms will continue to be the main 3W contact people for Holland where they served for 5 years! They will also continue their work with the Agape Faith United Church in Bulgaria, and the two young churches in Northern Italy. Along with the appointment of Nathan and Stacy Tatman (3W-Associate Regional Coordinators), the Three Worlds team is positioning itself for a large emphasis on church-planting with the next generation of leaders.

They will relocate to Budapest in the summer of 2019 as our Europe X duties expand and their change in location will be recognized at the Church of God Convention in Orlando. Please lift up the family as they look to find a home and Sofie settles into a new school.

New 3W Missionaries: Introducing the De Franciscos

We are very excited to announce that Alejandro and Carmen De Francisco are joining the 3W Team to serve as missionaries to Spain, as well as assisting us in Europe and the Middle East. The De Francisco's will be starting the Church of God in Spain and planting a congregation in Madrid. They have a vision to plant a network of healthy, self-sustaining, self-replicating congregations across Spain. Along the way, they will be raising up and training leaders for these congregations and making sure this network of churches will be fully integrated into the fellowship of the Church of God across the region. The De Franciscos will also serve across the Europe and Middle East region as the Three Worlds team’s consultants for healthy church plants.

Alejandro was born in Cuba, growing up as an atheist under Cuba’s communist regime. Carmen, born into a devout Jehovah’s Witness family, grew up as a Sandinista in Nicaragua. Their paths crossed in the 1980s when both received university scholarships to study in the Soviet Union, he for a degree in physics and mathematics and she for a degree in Russian language and literature. The couple eventually sought political asylum in Spain, where Alejandro’s father was living, later immigrating to Miami in the United States in 1991.

For the next ten years they served in that church as lay leaders, growing in faith. Alejandro found enormous success as the art director of the Latin American edition of PC Magazine and later PC World. But in 2001, God brought a new calling, one that caused them to leave everything behind to plant a Hispanic church in Tampa, Florida, alongside Oak Grove Church of God. And so Alejandro and Carmen stepped out in faith into what has now been fifteen years of planting Hispanic churches throughout Florida, including ten years on staff with Florida Church of God Ministries.

As Global Strategy missionaries, you ca support them and the church-plant in Spain by giving now online at http://chogglobal.org/living-link-donations/#defrancisco. You can also mail a check to Church of God Ministries, Box 2420, Anderson, IN 46018, with De Francisco, Project # 42.10097 in the memo line. To learn more about the ministry of the De Franciscos and how you can support them financially and in prayer, contact Debbie Taylor at DTaylor@chog.org or 765-648-2129.

3W Seminars: Children and Family Ministry

This month, Three Worlds is excited to host a team from County Line Church (Auburn, Indiana) to lead seminars in Paris and Rome on Children and Family Ministry.  The team includes Nathan Tatman, 3W Roundtable participant and Mission Advancement Pastor, will be joined by Mary Ellen Rayle who is County Line’s Kids Ministry Pastor, and Chelsea Buckwaler who is the Kids Ministry Assistant.  The team will present the seminar at the Church of God congregation (Eglise de Dios) in Paris on March 21-22, and then again for Italian Church of God congregations in Ostia on March 28-29.

Joining the presentations in Paris will be Ken and Keli Oldham, 3W Middle East.  The EDD in Paris was planted by Michel Fegali, a Lebanese graduate of the Mediterranean Bible College, and it consists largely of believers from Lebanese, Egyptian, and other Arabic speaking backgrounds.  The congregation worships in French and Arabic each week, but their children’s ministry is offered only in French.  The EDD pastoral ministries have recently been handed over to a young Lebanese born believer, Samir Salibi.  The Oldhams have been getting to know and encouraging Samir via Skype video conferences over the last year.  With the work the Oldhams are doing with congregations in Egypt and Lebanon, and the weekly children’s ministry program they offer to Egyptian children in English, this is a great opportunity to begin creating relationships for future partnership and mutual support between the Church of God in France and the Middle East.

We asked each of the County Line team to answer a question about the upcoming seminars for this post; here are their questions and answers.

Nathan, as a Missions Advancement Pastor who has been actively supportive of the approach of 3W in Europe and Middle East, what excites you most about the future of the Church in our region?

"I am very excited for this next season of ministry and church life within the Europe and Middle East Region. Over the last four years I have seen exponential increase in connectivity amongst churches and leaders, a hunger for partnerships with pastors and churches in Europe, Middle East, and North America, the next generation of leaders adding a voice to the local church, and health beginning to permeate in these congregations. The church in North America must take notice of what is happening as we are in the midst of seeing God do some amazing work in and through His people and the local churches. I believe the foundation has now been laid for these next years to see these once struggling churches and isolated leaders to flourish in the gifts, abilities, and ministries that God has designed for them." 

Mary Ellen, your approach to Children's Ministry is family-centered; what are one or two things you hope to encourage or inspire the congregations in France and Italy to do as they minister to the next generations?

"One of the best opportunities the Church has to reach more people for Christ is through children and families. I am looking forward to meeting with the congregations in France and Italy to share my passion about the great power we have when the family and church unite in shaping  faith development and nurturing spiritual growth.  I want to encourage them to think about creative and meaningful ways to include children in their worship and church life.  I hope leaders will consider prioritizing ministry to children and families in their planning with the potential of impacting more people for Christ.  And ....we hope it is fun!  We are bringing some engaging ideas for Bible stories, memory projects, crafts and games that will help all of us, kids and adults, learn to look with fresh eyes and listen with understanding ears."

Chelsea, you are the youngest on the team presenting next week; what are you most looking forward to experiencing as you interact with Christians in these different cultures?

"I am so excited for this opportunity and eager to see how God brings everything together. I can’t wait to meet and build relationships with the people in France and Italy. God has placed on our hearts Bible stories, activities, and teaching methods to share about Children’s Ministry. Although we are coming to share with other church leaders from different cultures, I know that we will be learning from them how they do ministry and interact with each other.  I am very thankful and honored to be a part of this workshop and look forward to sharing my heart for family and children. I have grown already through preparation and prayer over the last several months. God is amazing and doing great things and I can only hope to be a light to the people we meet in Europe." 

Three Worlds is so thankful for the partnership and support offered by congregations like County Line.  We are hopeful for the seminars in the next two weeks, and we want to invite you to pray with us for the equipping and inspiration that will take place in each location.  Pray also for the Church throughout the region to intentionally, creatively, and powerfully work to pass the faith on to the next generations.

Patrick and Jamie Nachtigall

This website is run by Patrick & Jamie Nachtigall.  We are Regional Coordinators to Europe and the Middle East for Global Missions of the Church of God (Anderson, IN) and leaders of the Three Worlds Team.  We serve this region with our friends seeking to prepare the Church for global ministry in the 21st Century.   Our Personal Bios are below: PATRICK  NACHTIGALL

Patrick received his B.A. from Anderson University and his M.A. from Yale University in the field of religion. He has lived in Latin America, Asia, and North America and is now the Regional Coordinator for Europe and the Middle East for Global Missions and leads the Three Worlds Team. Patrick has traveled to 60 countries around the world and has written on issues relating to religion and globalization for a number of periodicals.

The author of three books, Patrick likes to explore the global shifts occurring in religion. His first book Passport of Faith: A Christian's Encounter with World Religions is used in a few different colleges and seminaries around the world and his second book Faith in the Future: Christianity's Interface with Globalization was named one of the Top 40 books of 2008 and 2009 by World Magazine. His latest book is entitled Mosaic: A Journey Across the Church of God and is a 6 continent journey around the world and reveals the complex landscape that churches and Christian organizations must struggle to navigate at the dawn of the 21^st Century.

JAMIE NACHTIGALL'S BIOGRAPHY

Jamie was born in Washington but grew up in Cairo, Egypt. Like Patrick, she is a TCK (third-culture kid) and has always felt more at home on an airplane than in any one country.

She attended Anderson University where she pursued a degree in English. During her college years Jamie spent several summers overseas working in Hong Kong and at Mother Teresa's Home for the Destitute and Dying in Calcutta, India. Prior to that, she worked with disabled adults in Seattle and Portland.  Most recently she served as the Membership Coordinator for both the Yale University Art Museum and the Yale Center for British Art and along with Patrick lived and worked in Hong Kong for nearly 10 years.

Jamie loves travel, and cross-stitching. On average, she reads more than 35 books a year.  She also enjoys working with the disabled.  Patrick and Jamie were married in 1997 and their son Marco was born in Hong Kong in 2003. They spent 10 years as missionaries in Hong Kong and assumed the Regional Coordinator position for Europe/Middle East in 2010 and started Three Worlds.

Meet the Langfords: New 3W Teammembers!

Zach was born in Port Charlotte, Florida and was an active member of 6th Avenue Church of God in Decatur, Alabama (Ken and Keli Oldham's church) when he got interested in international ministry.  After going on a mission trip to Guyana, Zach traveled to the U.K. to work with the Church of God and felt God calling him to England.  He returned for the summer in 2008 to work in the church in Birkenhead (Liverpool) for the summer and that was the beginning of a great love affair between Zach and England as well as the U.K. churches.   In 2010, Zach married Audrey Denmark and they moved back to Birkenhead to continue working as a pastor with the church there.

Audrey is a TCK (Third-Culture Kid) who spent some time as a child in Cairo, Egypt attending the same school that Jamie Nachtigall attended.  She has a B.S. in Early Childhood Education and a B.S. in Elementary Education from University of Alabama and has worked as a teacher and as a Lead Clinical Assistant.   She has also worked in rural Mexico, Belize, and Northern Ireland on mission trips.

The paths of the Langfords and Three Worlds kept passing as we traveled to the U.K. to lend support to the churches in London and Liverpool.  We were deeply impressed with their level of integration, their analytical skills, and their deep faith in what is one of the toughest mission-fields we have in this region: the tough, working-class neighborhood of Birkenhead.  We invited them to our 3W Seminars and they helped organize them.  Audrey accompanied Jamie Nachtigall to help introduce the Oldhams to Egypt on their first visit, and Zach has spent time in Germany meeting the Church of God there and cooking for Patrick and Marco. We also invited them to join our 3W Staff Meeting in September of 2011 and they fit right in with the rest of the crazy team.  They felt God calling them to long-term ministry and that led to this opportunity for them to join the 3W Team. The work of this couple has been deeply impressive and we are thrilled to formally have them on our team.

Zach and Audrey have committed to moving to England to serve with the local youth and church in the Liverpool area as well as regionally with the 3Worlds(3W) team.  Zach hopes to continue to support Egan Road Church of God as well as help with research and development of the 3W church planting initiative.  Audrey will begin developing an MK/TCK Member Care Program for 3W as well as continue to work with the youth at Egan Road.

Meet the Kihms: New 3W Team Members

Daniel and Christy Kihm are our Three Worlds missionaries to Holland.  Daniel grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio and holds a B.A. in Bible & Religion as well as an M.Div. from Anderson University.  He also attended Cincinnati Bible College.  For the past 7 years, Daniel was the Senior Pastor at Maple Grove Church of God in Anderson, Indiana.  Daniel has had extensive experience leading teams overseas and has traveled to Haiti, Peru, Guatemala, Hungary, Romania, Greece, Honduras, Grand Cayman, India, Mexico, Australia, France, Italy, Jamaica, and Morocco.  He also was a part of XZ Berlin's 2010 Urban Mission Experience.

Christy was born in Albany, Indiana and has been working as an Admissions Counselor at Anderson University.  She has a B.A. in Secondary Education and a Masters in Business Administration from Anderson University.  Christy has traveled to Israel, Honduras, Tanzania, Brazil, Costa Rica, Greece, and has co-lead groups with Daniel to Grand Cayman, Hungary, Romania, India, Honduras, and Australia.

Both Daniel and Christy love being in positions where they can mentor and encourage people in their lives and ministry.  On the Three Worlds Team, the Kihms will be based in Holland working with the young, emerging leadership in the Church of God congregations near the Belgium and German border as well as in Holland.  The Kihms will also be assisting the XZ Berlin team from time to time, and helping us lay the foundation for a major Church planting and church support initiative by Three Worlds.  We are very excited to have them join our team!

By the way--the Kihms are expecting their first child this summer, so there will be 3 Kihms on the 3W team.

Kelley and Rhonda Philips

Kelley and Rhonda are the highly respected veterans of the 3W team.  The Philips began their ministry in northeast Florida in 1981, working in the field of youth ministry. Kelley, a commercial pilot, made a career change in 1990 by accepting a full-time position as youth pastor at West Park Street Church of God in Jacksonville, Florida, and received his ordination in 1993.

Kelley made his first trip to Russia in 1991 with a group led by Josh McDowell. That same year, the Florida Youth Fellowship responded to an opportunity to begin an exchange program with students from Chelyabinsk, a city of 1.5 million people located in the Southern Ural region of Russia. The exchange program was a tremendous success and generated a need for a career missionary family to develop a church in Chelyabinsk. Kelley and Rhonda began working in Chelyabinsk in October 1993 with their two children, Lee and Lindsay. They served in Chelyabinsk for eight years. Today, there is a vibrant, growing church in that city.

Kelley and Rhonda—who now have four children: Lee, Lindsay, Natasha, and Christian—accepted the role as regional coordinators for Europe, the Middle East, and the FSU (former Soviet Union) in July 2002 and moved to Berlin, Germany.

In July of 2010, they handed over the position of Regional Coordinators to the Nachtigalls so that they could focus exclusively on the innovative XZ Community in Germany's Capital city.  They also serve as an important part of the 3W team raising up a new generation of globally-engaged Christian youth, emerging leaders, and help to create CHOG inner-connectivity.

Meet the Simpsons

David & Kathy Simpson have been serving as missionaries to Bulgaria.  Their roles on the 3w team has them helping grow a new generation of leaders in the Bulgarian church as well as in the rest of our region. As a young teenager, David Simpson spent three years in Egypt, where his parents were Church of God missionaries. Today, Dave and Kathy (Rankin) Simpson are from Warsaw, Indiana.

Kathy shares that "like Dave, my heart has been moved by the needs of people in far away places. We were able to travel to Eastern Europe in 1991 and 1992. Since then, I have been drawn to that part of the world. I'm excited about the opportunity to work alongside Bulgarian brothers and sisters in strengthening the church and sharing the love of Christ."

Dave and Kathy met and married while at Anderson College (now University). After graduation, Dave worked as a program administrator for the developmentally disabled. After completing graduate courses in psychology, public affairs, and administration, he managed human resources and marketing as a bank vice president. Kathy's interests led to a career in hospice and a master's degree in social work from Indiana University. Dave and Kathy have two adult sons, Nathan and Ryan, who live in Indiana, and a foster daughter, Cate McGurn Caland, who lives in France.

Kathy has used her gifts in the music and teaching ministries of her local congregation. Dave has served in youth ministry and teaching. After almost thirty years in management, Dave felt called to step beyond lay ministry. Resigning from his job, he accepted a position as youth pastor and began the ordination process. In 2004, he completed a master's degree in theological studies from Anderson University School of Theology.

We are proud to have them on the 3W team.

Meet the Oldhams

Born in Anderson, Ken grew up in central Indiana, the son of Rev. William & Lucille Oldham. Ken’s parents met and married while his father was on a Tri-S trip from Anderson College to Lucille’s home country, Guyana, South America, where his grandparents Rev. Ed & Meriam Oldham served as missionaries in the 1960’s  Ken first gave his life to Christ as a child, but found sincere renewal and commitment to the Lord while attending summer camp at Camp Pollock in Louisiana.  During the next year, Ken experienced the Lord’s calling into full-time Christian service.

Keli also grew up as a PK to parents Rev. Frank & Patricia Camper, who served several denominations.  Growing up in Detroit, Keli gave her life to Christ as a young child and grew up with a tender heart for urban ministry service.  Keli intended to live her life in service to God and her community, and initially prepared to study social work.  Keli changed her major to Family Science with the intent of serving in ministry settings.

Ken & Keli attended Anderson University where they met.  After graduation (both, BA ‘95) and marriage, they served as associates at the Scott Memorial Church of God (Chattanooga, TN 1995-1999) and the Riverchase Community Church (Hoover, AL 1999-2003), before taking their current role as lead pastors of the Sixth Avenue Church of God in Decatur, AL (2003-present).  As pastors, Ken & Keli have a passion for the global church and leadership development, leading many cross-cultural trips, speaking at retreats and conventions, and serving in a variety of summer camps and state ministry leadership roles.  Ken & Keli are blessed with three children: Gracelyn, Titus, & Ezekiel. We're thrilled to have them join the 3W team where they will be serving as pastors of an international church in the Middle East as well helping the Three-Worlds team achieve its goals throughout the Europe and the Middle East.

Aaron and Nicole Varner

Aaron and Nicole Varner are current team members of the new XZBerlin (www.xzberlin.com) community and  regional Three Worlds (www.three-worlds.com) team. XZ means "Christ-Centered" and comes from Χριστός (Greek for "Christ") and Zentrisch (German for "Centric" or "centered"). Aaron was born into a family who has deep roots in the Church of God. Both of his parents (Collet and Nancy Varner) are ordained ministers and still worship in a Church of God congregation.  After the Varner family moved from his birth-state, Indiana, in 1994, Aaron attended high school and then completed his undergraduate work in Business Administration (Warner University) in Central Florida.  Nicole (Beckler)  grew up in Wichita, KS and, after graduating high school, majored in Family Studies at Kansas State University.  After Nicole left home, her parents (Pastor Bob and Lori Beckler) moved from Kansas to Lake Wales, FL to become the Senior Pastors of Aaron's home church (South Lake Wales Church of God)...and that's how the Varners officially met in 2006.

Although the Varners are still relatively young at 28, they feel that their life experiences give them an unbelievable opportunity to relate to people from all age groups and walks of life. They have already had previous experiences serving as elementary school teachers, youth leaders, mentors to college students, developers and leaders of young adult small groups, and facilitators of senior adult Bible studies.  Not to mention that between the two of them, they have visited over 30 countries enabling them to connect and relate to the global-minded individuals that make up Berlin, and on a greater scale, Europe as a whole.

Both Aaron and Nicole have been commissioned through the Church of God and began serving with the XZBerlin team in Berlin, Germany on September 1, 2010. Although focusing primarily on the innovative XZCommunity in the heart of the German capital city, the Varners also serve as an important part of the Three Worlds team raising up a new generation of globally engaged Christian youth and emerging leaders and helping to promote connectivity within the Church of God.