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.

Patrick's New Book Released

Patrick's third book Mosaic: A Journey Across the Church of God was released in June.

Does a reformation movement born in the nineteenth century still have a future?  Beginning at the cemetery where his great-grandfather is buried, Patrick Nachtigall sets out on a journey to see how the Church of God is facing six critical challenges.  From a megachurch in the flatlands of the Midwest, to an isolated churchin Siberia, to the Philippines where pastors deal with Pentecostal movements, to the Middle East where a former Al-Qaeda member comes to Christ, Patrick treks to six different continents to talk with Church of God people.  He seeks to understand the realities that we face in the twenty-first century.

Here is a picture of a very diverse movement where some congregations exist in a traditional Christendom world, others in a post-Christendom world, and yet others in a pre-Christendom Book of Acts world.  Patrick finds that we are a movement filled with holiness but desperately lacking unity.  So our future is an open question.

Mosaic is for anyone who wants to understand the macro trends that affect not only the Church of God, but the entire Christian church worldwide.  Visit the Mosaic website, purchase the book and post your opinion.

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.

Pictures of Egypt

Here's a picture of the Sphinx taken in 2009 on our last trip to Egypt.

Marco used to call the Sphinx, "the Shunk."

Marco eating an Egyptian pancake.

In Alexandria, Egypt on the Mediterranean.  It was a very windy day and Marco said, "This wind will blow me all the way to Sheba!"

With our super awesome friends Dina and Nada.

Pictures of Poland

This is a picture from Auschwitz concentration camp.  This is the end of the train tracks where the families were separated.  Men, women, and children were then walked to different crematoriums.  It's a terribly powerful piece of land.

The Polish countryside.

The town square in Krakow, Poland and the Cathedral where John Paul II was Bishop of Krakow.

Entrance to Auschwitz Camp 3

Cathedral in Wadowice, Poland.

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.