Spain Celebration Night at Buckhead Church

Tonight we had our 2nd "Spain Celebration Night" at Buckhead Church. We do this about 3 times a year, and it's just a chance for all mission teams (who have gone or ARE going to Spain), their supporters (people who have helped them raise money or supported them in prayer), and other special guests to come together to celebrate what God is doing in SPAIN! Tonight we were blessed to have several special guests with us all the way from Vilanova/Sitges! Sarah Andrews was here with her grandparents, parents and some of their friends, and Eugenio was here with Samuel from AFC! It was so fun to see them. I got to sit with Sarah in church this morning too, so what a fun way to spend the day!


At the beginning of the celebration, we did something we haven't done before, which was to have a video conference with our friends in Spain! First up was Isma, Eva and Isaac in Vilanova. Personally, it brought tears to my eyes to see their faces and get to hear their voices LIVE! We all got to get in front of the camera and say hi, and then Isma gave us an update on their church and how they were affected by our most recent trip there. Next up was Pepe and Mari, all the way from Sevilla! Julie did a great job translating in Spanish for them (and Sarah A. translated back what they said into english for us), and they just looked so happy, and so did Dave Karger and his team, who just got back from their trip to Sevilla! Pepe gave us a great update as well. It's so obvious God is doing big things in both places over there!

Next, Dave gave an update on their trip to Sevilla and then he showed a cool video that they've done in their church recently, to open up a series Pepe did called "Libre". It was amazing! Then, we saw a great slideshow of their trip, played to the song "Love can build a bridge" (I think that's the name). Next, I (Carolyn) gave an update on our trip to Vilanova/ Sitges, and we showed one of their recent videos about "the empty chair" (excellente!). Finally, we ended with a slideshow of our trip, played to the song "Everlasting God". We appreciate all that Dave did to put those slideshows together!

Then, Julie talked about the prayer requests for both churches (and we got a card with the general requests on them to take home), and each person there was then told to take individual prayer requests (or two) off each table and write a prayer letter to that person (or those people) to let them know that someone in Atlanta was praying for them. Each person took that name home with them too, so we can be praying for them every day! Both teams (when we were on these trips) really tried to pay attention to the personal prayer requests you told us over there (or ones we read on our prayer journey, like at the Sitges church) and we wrote them down, typed them up when we got home, and made copies to put on the tables tonight, so I hope you feel our prayers because we ARE praying hard for each of you! We'd like to keep a "prayer journal", so we can keep track of the prayers that are answered over the years, so please send those updates and any other prayer requests to me (Carolyn) at: cnorton@na.ko.com .

Finally, after a few words from Jenny Strange, David Walker led us in a great closing prayer and then we took this group picture, just for all of you who couldn't be here (click on it to see a bigger version). It was an amazing night! We did FEEL like you were all here in spirit with us, and we certainly felt God's presence through the entire event. I am so blessed to be one of many people chosen to journey with you and see first hand how you are working hard to further God's Kingdom and spread the light of Christ to others in Spain! It's the coolest thing I've ever been a part of!

I'll leave you with this verse, that seems to sum up so well what you're doing over there:

“…All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God… So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal..”

(2nd Corinthians 4:15-18)

Keep running the race and be encouraged that ARE bringing glory to God as you do so! We all love you soo much and are praying for each of you and your churches!

God Bless!
Carolyn