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.

Joining the 3W team

At this time we are not taking applications to join the Three Worlds team as our positions are currently all filled.

Ministry Opportunities Coming Soon

We will be providing a number of ministry and internship opportunities in the future.  Please stay tuned to three-worlds.com for more information.

We're No Longer at Chinatimesonline.com

Welcome to three-worlds.com, it's great to see you!  You are now in the Three Worlds Diary where we will continue to write about our life, our ministry, our travels, as well as discussing geo-political issues and covering the international scene.  Thank you to all of you who have followed us on chinatimesonline.com for the last 8 years.  We are now moving to our new home at three-worlds.com.  Please reset your browsers bookmarks and get ready for a global view coming out of Europe and the Middle East.

We are now the Regional Coordinators for Europe and the Middle East for Global Missions and will be based in Berlin, Germany as of July 9th, 2010.  We are working with a team of missionaries that we call the Three Worlds Team (or 3w Team).  You will be hearing not just about us, but about our individual team members as well.  They are based in Germany, Bulgaria, the Middle East, and other parts of the region.  Mostly, you will be reading my voice, but you will also hear from the rest of the team members in writing, in audio, and eventually through video.  Three-Worlds.com will be our primary mode of communication about our work--although most everyone on the team has their own web pages, facebook pages, and other ways of communicating.

For those of you that have been following the Chinatimesonline for years (and there actually are many of you), this diary will be similar to the last one.  There will be considerably less China analysis (although that still remains my area of academic expertise), and more about Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.  At the heart of this website, however, will be our attempts to process the global shifts that are occurring in Christianity.  Three Worlds as a team and a website will be a place where we try and stay ahead of the curve of all that is happening globally in the world of religion.  Hopefully you will learn a lot, be inspired, get involved, and laugh a lot too!  Laughter is a big part of our Three-Worlds Team.  You gotta have fun too.

So welcome to Three-Worlds.com.  We are still building the website.  It will be months before things are fully looking how we want, but we start here.  Check out the photos, check out the news, and in time--you will definitely want to check out our podcast:  Gateway Berlin Radio.  So let's get this party started.

RED, GREEN, and BLUE: What Does it Mean?

Our Three Worlds Logo

The Three Worlds we refer to are the worlds of Traditional Christianity, Post-Christendom Christianity, and Non-Western Christianity.  In the Three Worlds of our region (Western Europe, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East), all three Christian worlds are present.

Above the "W" are three globes, each one facing Europe and the Middle East--the different colors representing the different cultures and races of the world.  If you look closely at the "W", you can see that the three worlds are the heads of 3 people--which represents the Trinity.

RED, GREEN, and BLUE:

Our ministry efforts are divided into three colors to represent the different facets of our work:

RED: The Persecuted Church and Evangelism

GREEN: The Environment and Health

BLUE: Education, Discipleship, and Business.

We hope to touch the world for Christ with endeavors in all these different areas.  Perhaps your gifts for ministry are red, green, or blue?  Let us know.

Ask to subscribe to our ministry e-newsletter The Three Worlds Journal by emailing us from this page.  We will email you (or send by post) all the latest news regarding the ministry that is occurring in our region as well as information about future opportunities to join us.

Coming Soon: Gateway Berlin Podcast

COMING SOON: Gateway Berlin Radio

Patrick Nachtigall and the Three Worlds Team will discuss issues of faith, evangelism, Christianity, global politics, and other issues of the day.  Coming to you “live” from the “McQuarium Studio” in Berlin, Germany, GB Radio will enlighten you, make you laugh, and eat up time out of your busy day.  Our podcast will be launching soon.  Stay tuned!