JA Update #10 (November, 2011)

We just sent out our November update letter, regarding our recent field visit to Spain.  If you’d like to receive future updates, feel free to drop us an e-mail or to plug your email address in the yellow box along the right side of this page.  Our prayer requests for this month are below the break, along with several pictures from our time in Spain. Read more >>

JA Update #9 (October, 2011)

We just sent out our October update letter, regarding our progress towards ministry in Spain.  If you’d like to receive this update, as well as future updates, feel free to drop us an e-mail or to plug your email address in the yellow box along the right side of this page.  (We promise: No spam!)  Our prayer requests for this month are below the break, along with several pictures from recent family get-togethers, travels and outreach events.

Read more >>

JA Update #6 (June, 2011)

We just sent out our June update letter, regarding our progress towards ministry in Spain.  If you’d like to receive this update, as well as future updates, feel free to drop us an e-mail or to plug your email address in the yellow box along the right side of this page.  (We promise: No spam!)  Our prayer requests for this month are below the break, along with several pictures.

Please pray for us this month regarding the following needs:

1. Please pray as we continue setting appointments with potential ministry partners.  Pray that God directs our calls and conversations, and that he glorifies himself in the entire process.
2. Please continue to pray that God would be preparing a man for the role of pastor/elder at Mayer Community Church.
3. God has provided!  Please pray for our upcoming move from our house to a nearby apartment–that it goes smoothly.
4. Please pray that we have continued good health and energy for the ministry.

We love you all,
Dan & Anna J. Read more >>

JA Update #3 (March, 2011)

We just sent out our March update letter, regarding our progress towards ministry in Spain.  If you’d like to receive this update, as well as future updates, feel free to drop us an e-mail or to plug your email address in the yellow box along the right side of this page.  (We promise: No spam!)  Our prayer requests for this month are below the break, along with many pictures from our time in Pennsylvania. Read more >>

JA Update #2 (February, 2011)

Dear Friends & Family,

We are thankful for your prayers and your encouragement.  The month of January ended quite well as ministry goes.  The MCC Leadership Team held their 2011 Annual Team Meeting this last Saturday, and God answered many of our prayers for unity, wisdom, and clarity regarding future ministry opportunities.  Two exciting changes that have come out of this meeting: we’re going to be implementing a midweek children’s ministry, and we’re going to be re-establishing the team member term limits.

The first decision is exciting because it will give us the chance to minister to the large number of elementary school children in the area who return home every evening to parents who are caught in the clutches of alcoholism or drug abuse.  We look forward to showing these kids the hope that is found in Jesus Christ, and we expect that God will use this ministry to help transform lives.  The second decision is also exciting because Anna is one of the three team members who are going on “sabbatical.”  The time that she has spent helping as a member of this team, she will now be able to devote to a couple of ministries at the church towards which she has been feeling tugged.

And, our transition to ECM continues.  We have finished arranging our travel plans to PA for the end of February, and we are continuing to pray for God to provide the needed support.  We have a couple of specific prayer requests on this front:

1. That we would be able to raise sufficient support to transition out of our current positions this year.
2. That we would continue to minister well at MCC, and that the congregation would grow to love and treasure Christ more than anything else.
3. That the new children’s ministry is successful at sharing the gospel with children & that we would see many depraved little hearts regenerated.

Thank you all again for your faithful prayers!

We love you,
Dan & Anna Julian

JA Update #1 (January, 2011)

Scripture at La Sagrada Familia

Dear Friends & Family,

To the left is a picture of the doorway to La Sagrada Familia, a cathedral which has been under construction since 1882, and which is projected to be completed in 2026.  It is significant that some of the most visible words on the entrance to a building which is dedicated to the worship of God by Spain–and which is expected to take 144 years to build–read simply, “What is truth?” (John 18:38).  Without a doubt, this is the question that Spain has been asking for the last several centuries, and the question we hope to help them answer.

In July, we submitted our long-form applications and our doctrinal statements to the US sending section of European Christian Mission International.  Over the course of the next couple of months, we went through the various medical, criminal, financial, and professional background checks, and in October, we had the chance to interview with the candidate selection committee.  This interview went well, and in November, we received word that we were formally accepted as candidates with ECMI-USA.

We are excited to be on board with this agency for a number of reasons:

1. The agency started in 1904.  This means that the agency has been in Europe during both World Wars, the Spanish Civil War, the Cold War, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the disintegration of Russia, the establishment of the European Union, and the recent decimation of their financial markets–and we believe that this long history of service in Eastern & Western Europe has given the agency keen insight into the needs and mindsets of the European people.
2. Their Spanish team is strong and well-established.  They have a team of over 50 missionaries serving in Spain, which first entered the country before the Spanish Civil War, and then re-entered with the death of Franco and the reintroduction of democracy.  This history in Spain has served the Spanish ministry well, and the team has participated in planting a number of churches as well as establishing a state-recognized, gospel-centered drug rehabilitation clinic.
3. They are an international agency.  ECMI has sending sections in many different countries–for instance, the missionaries in Spain come from Australia, Brazil, England, France, Guatemala, Ireland, Germany, North America, Peru, Puerto Rico, El Salvador, Spain, and Wales.  And in this same spirit, they partner with other agencies for effective ministry in the field.  We like this broad, international perspective, and we think it works well in Europe.  It will enable us to minister as missionaries of Christ, rather than as citizens of the US (or some other nation).
4. They have an appealing vision for future ministry.  ECMI’s most recent 5 year plan strikes us as wise, forward-thinking, and energetic.
5. They are committed to evaluating themselves regularly, to implementing methods that work, and to setting aside methods that don’t.
6. They’ll take us.  This is important!
7. We like them.  In getting to know the agency, we’ve been very happy with the shared spirit and mindset that we sense with many of their workers.

Spanish Windmill (Let's pray there's nothing "quixotic" about our ministry!)

We would be grateful for your prayers in the following areas:

1. That God would provide us both with good health, energy, and wisdom as we begin the process of raising support and transitioning from our current positions.
2. That God would give us good favor with many potential supporters and that we would raise the needed support very quickly.
3. That God would be glorified in our efforts and grant us many decades of fruitful, effective ministry in Spain.

We’ll continue to post these updates on our website, but you’re interested in becoming a prayer partner in our ministry, fill in the yellow box to the right, and you’ll be added to our official mailing list (these mailings will include our updates, as well as timely prayer requests).  If you are interested in becoming a financial partner in our ministry, check out the options on our “Become a Partner” page (see the top of this page).

Thank you for your prayers and your support.

Grace & Peace,
Dan & Anna Julian