We have just a couple of prayer requests for this month.  Please pray with us:

1. That God would bring on many new partners over the next couple of months
2. That we would be able to complete this period of ministry and make the move to Spain in June
3. That we would glorify God in our work and rejoice in Him in our hearts

We are praising God for the following:

1. He has given us good progress in raising our necessary financial partnerships!
2. He continues to provide opportunities to proclaim the gospel!
3. He loves us with a steadfast love!

Yours in Christ,
Dan & Anna Julian

PS – You can now give online to our ministry with ECMI-USA.  Find out more at http://www.ecmi-usa.org/donate-now.

We’ve posted some pictures from the last month below the break.

For some context, the pictures come from the following:

1. For our 11th anniversary, we took a day-trip to Chicago
2. On the drive to Pennsylvania, we visited Eric & Christy Maurer
3. In Pennsylvania, Belfry hosted a worship concert to give us the opportunity to share our plans for ministry and to help us on our way
4. We spent a day at Gettysburg, visiting the battlefields and touring the cemetery

During our recent field visit, we had the opportunity to sit down with several of the workers in Spain. In the following video, Peter Knowlson of ECMI answers the question, “Why go to Spain as an evangelical religious worker?”  That video is available below the break.

We’d like to ask for your prayers for the following:

1. Our summer/fall travels to raise up partners in OH, PA, MT, MN, and AZ–Please pray for God’s glory, our safety, and a lot of success.
2. Our work to develop a ministry team of prayer and financial partners–Please pray that God would lead many to partner with the work in Spain.
3. Our hearts–Please pray that we would continue to rest in God’s love, to grow in our understanding of His grace, and to satisfy our hearts only in Him.

Praise God with us for the following!

1. Village Missions has selected a full-time missionary to serve at Mayer Community Church!  We are so happy for our dearly loved friends there!  This is a significant answer to your prayers.
2. June 2nd was our 11th anniversary!  We are thankful to God for a happy, healthy marriage and for these years together.
3. Our Jeep continues to serve reliably!  The most recent visit to the shop resulted in minimal necessary repairs–we thank God for reliable transportation!

Yours in Christ,
Dan & Anna J.

1. Pray for our meetings with potential ministry partners–that God would lead many individuals and churches to join with us in declaring God’s wonderful grace in Spain.
2. Pray for our health–both of us have been under the weather in the last two weeks, but it seems like we’re improving.
3. Pray for our spirits–that we would both remain continually joyful and confident in the grace of God in Christ!  His salvation is so good!

Praise God with us for the following!

1. The congregation at Whitton Avenue Bible Church formally voted to approve us as “sent” missionaries!  We are so thankful for the body there, and for our many faithful friends.
2. The attendance at Mayer Community Church has remained relatively stable during this transition!  The interim Village Missions associate pastor has sent word of a new attendee who placed her faith in Christ just a couple of weeks ago.

To give some explanation for the following pictures, the following was our itinerary:

1. Visit Dan’s grandparents & the Grand Canyon (Jan 12th)
2. Visit Lake Powell and the Zion National Park (Jan 13th)
3. Visit Dan’s folks and Yellowstone National Park (Jan 14th)
4. Preach at Grace Bible Church of Dillon, Montana (Jan 15th)
5. Visit the Hodgins in Denver & attend the National Western Stock Show (Jan 17th-19th)
6. Visit several family members and a church in Kansas (Jan 20th-23rd)
7. Arrive in Indiana (Jan 27th)

The trip was a bit busy on the front-end with National Parks, and a bit loaded on the back end with friends and family and partners, but the whole time was very enjoyable.

Thank you for your prayers!

Yours,
Dan & Anna J.

Please pray for us this month regarding the following needs:

1. PRAISE: Our field visit went very well—we enjoyed meeting the rest of the ECMI-Spain team, learning more about the ministry in Spain, and praying with them for the spread of the gospel.  We thank God daily for all of our partners, whose prayers and support made this visit possible!
2. That God would continue to add many new financial and prayer partners to our ministry team.
3. That we would do a good job sharing our vision for ministry in Spain and making the contacts that we need to make.
4. That God would give us wisdom in the many decisions we need to make as we transition out of our current positions of employment and into full-time ministry team development.

Please pray for us this month regarding the following needs:

1. Our upcoming field visit!  From 10/16-10/28, we’ll be visiting the ECMI team in Spain, meeting many of the workers, and seeing their various ministries.  In the middle of that time, we’ll have the chance to join the whole team for a few days of prayer.
2. Our sending church visit!  Just before we fly out, we’ll be joining Whitton Avenue Bible Church for services on 10/16, and Dan will have the opportunity to preach about mercy and redemption in the book of Ruth.
3. That God would continue to add new financial and prayer partners to our ministry team.

We love you all,
Dan & Anna J.

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.

1. Pray for our souls: Pray that we both love and pursue God first, that we grow in the grace & the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2. Pray for our health: We have both been under the weather with the flu (January) and sinus infections (February).  Pray that we remain healthy and able to put a lot of energy into our ministry.
3. Pray for our progress: We will likely begin our partnership development training at the end of March.  Pray that we learn well & that God blesses our efforts to develop a prayer and support network.
4. Pray for the evangelical church in Spain: It grows, but slowly, and it faces much opposition from without.  Pray that the Holy Spirit moves the Spanish church into a period of great unity in Christ.

Grace & Peace,
Dan & Anna J.

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

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, sign up on our Stay Up to Date page, 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