About this page

This blog brings you short updates about the people and ministries associated with Calvary Chapel Scandinavia (CCS). Tip us about good stories at csu@calvarychapel.dk or via Facebook or Twitter (twitter.com/ccscandinavia).

Sunday, August 31, 2008

Recommended Input on Marriage

Think you know all there is to know about marriage? Most likely not... To upgrade your insight on this, check out the teaching series recommended by Mike and Sofia Ortiz from Stockholm, Sweden:

"Hey to all of you couples from Mike and Sofia. We were really blessed to be part of the 2008 Scandinavian CC Conference and just wanted to send our love. We also wanted to encourage you all with a link to an awesome teaching series on marriage that will strengthen and stretch your relationships. We want to see God fortifying our marriages and blessing them with His protection, and at the same time doing all we can to learn how to be a better husband and wife..."

"Sofia and I go through this series once a year (every year since before we were married) and talk about some seriously tough stuff. But at the same time, God does an unbelievable work that only He can do in and through us. We are blessed like crazy every time we sit down and listen for God's direction and counsel. So we hope you guys will be too!"

"Click here to go to the website containing the teaching series. It is an 8 part series with Pastor Bob Coy from CC Fort Lauderdale at the helm, so be ready for some action! No joke! Be encouraged. Mike 'n' Sofia Ortiz."

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

An Open Door in Norway

Christian and Autumn Nagy have been given an opportunity to host a weekly Bible Study for high school students in Kvitsund, Norway. The first study kicks off this week.

The administrator of the Christian High School that Christian and Autumn Nagy work for in Kvitsund recently approached them to see if they would host one of the Thursday night Bible studies for the students that are hosted by a few staff families.

"We were so excited about it," says Autumn Nagy, "so we said yes!"

"Please pray for Christian and I as we take on this Bible study for the students starting already this week!!! Pray for wisdom on what to say to these students and that some students would actually come!!!," Autumn Nagy says.

The first study takes place this Thursday at 8pm. You can read more about the ministry of Christian and Autumn Nagy at their ministry website (although it has not yet been updated after their recent move from England to Norway).

Friday, August 22, 2008

Retreated and re-charged

This year, the Danish-American couple Morten & Leah Molgaard from Aarhus, Denmark attended their second Scandinavian conference in a row with their son Max. And the second one was just as sweet and refreshing as the first one, they say:

"We had a wonderful time visiting with old friends and making new ones, as well as hearing some great teaching from the Bible. We can definetely recommend the camp and look forward to it every year now as a well-needed retreat."

You can stay updated on the daily life of the Molgaards in Aarhus by visiting their family blog at www.maxmoelgaard.blogspot.com

Monday, August 18, 2008

Guys, Get Your Skype on!

Encouragement. Motivation. Accountability. Those are some of the benefitial attributes of the men's online prayer meetings, which take place once a month via Skype.

Originally started as a conference call among those who were planning the Scandinavian conferences, the monthly skype sessions have now become an open prayer time for all guys who are somehow connected to Calvary Chapel ministry in Scandinavia. Organizer Joel Wickström extends the following invitation:

"We want to encourage all of you guys to join our monthly prayer meeting. After two years of regular prayer time, our fellowship across the national borders has grown and become so much sweeter and closer than before. These online prayer sessions have helped keep us all connected throughout the year - instead of only hearing from each other at the conferences once a year. We've seen that praying with like-minded believers is a great encouragement as well as a medicine against isolation, which is very present at this part of the world. Lastly, the prayer times have given us a better idea of what the Lord is doing in different parts of Scandinavia and what to pray for more specifically. We would love for you to come and join our prayer time on Saturday mornings once a month."

So get out your calendars, guys - the Fall Prayer Schedule is as follows (all dates are Saturdays):

September 6th at 10am

October 4th at 10am

November 1st at 10am

November 29th at 10am

December 13th at 10am

If you would like to take part in some of these calls, please email your Skype username to joelwickstrom@hotmail.com. He will then call you on Skype at the above mentioned times.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

iTune in to Finland's Finest

As announced at this summer's conference, you can now download the weekly teachings by Pastor Bob Pecoraro in Calvary Chapel Finland directly to your iPod.

If you would like to subscribe to one of Calvary Chapel Finland's three podcasts, you can go to www.calvarychapel.fi and click on the link on the front page. From there, you can find links to all three podcasts which should automatically open your iTunes and bring you to our iTunes Store page where you can subscribe to the podcast and start downloading.

You can also find the podcast by searching in your iTunes Store for "Calvary Chapel Finland". Alternatively, you can find all the teachings on the audio page of Calvary Chapel Finland's website; but the podcast simply provides an easy and automatic way to get the teachings directly to your iTunes, iPod or mp3 player. Enjoy!

Friday, August 15, 2008

Relishing the Scandinavian Buzz

Pastor Kevin Fitzgerald from Crosspoint Dublin debuted as guest teacher at this year's Scandinavian conference. Before going back to Ireland, he asked the Scandinavian congregation to pray for his church's upcoming Family Week conference. As Pastor Kevin shares in this short greeting, those prayers were answered:

"Man, we're still 'buzzing' about the conference over there in Denmark! What a fantastic time we had! We're just back from our church retreat here, and... I really don't know where to begin! God was so faithful, and His hand was ALL OVER this retreat... And, given some of the things our church has been through in the past several months, it was such a timely event for us! It was simply an amazing time, and we are so grateful to all who prayed for us," he says and adds that the teachings given and received at the Scandinavian conference from Book of Daniel also left their mark of inspiration for the conference in Ireland:

"We had a guest speaker in the evenings, and myself and Barry led morning devotions all week... primarily from the Book of Daniel... (hmmm, I wonder why?)."

Find out more about the ministry of Crosspoint Dublin at www.crosspoint.ie

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Grimes Blessed by Son's Baptism

Still counting the blessings from their first ever Scandinavian Calvary Chapel conference, Barry & Lorna Grimes found God adding to the pile as their youngest son Jack was baptized at CrossPoint Dublin's family conference this week:

"We have just returned from our Crosspoint family week at a retreat centre outside Dublin. Although the weather was not as nice as in Denmark, the Lord gave us a very good day with hardly any rain last Saturday - while a few kilometres down the road there was the highest ever recorded rainfall for Ireland in August (76mm). We had a great week with our church family, and for Lorna and I the highlight was when our youngest son Jack was baptized on Sunday morning with 6 others," says Barry, who serves as an elder at Crosspoint Dublin alongside Pastor Kevin Fitzgerald, whom he and his wife Lorna accompanied to the Scandinavian conference last week.

"Lorna and I were very blessed to be at the Scandinavian conference. We did not really know what to expect, but it greatly exceeded our expectations. The teaching was excellent and the fellowship was very special. It was great to be with God's people in Scandinavia and to see what He is doing there," he says.

Friday, August 8, 2008

"The Blessing was Mutual," says Siegen Team

Toward the end of the 2008 conference, parents and conference planners alike were lining up to thank God for the incredible work that Sabine, Wendy, and Katharina from Siegen, Germany did with the Children's Ministry during the 5 days of the conference. Managing to teach and entertain kids of many different languages and ages, the work of the Siegen girls allowed many parents to concentrate and focus on the Word of God during the adult teaching sessions. Sabine returns the gratitude:

"We had a hard time going back, not just because of all the traffic, also because we didn´t want to leave Denmark. It was a really great time, and we are just so thankful that God used us as a blessing for the kids and the parents. It was totally Him who gave us the ideas and made everything work - we could see and feel that! God bless you and all what you are doing up there in Scandinavia!"

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Pastors Felt the Viking Love



A new feature at the 2008 conference was the Viking Games, which saw one international team and teams from Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland battle it out against each other in various fun disciplines. One of the disciplines that left a mark was the highly popular "Shoot the Pastor", where each team got a chance to shoot water balloons at their pastor of choice, who was left fighting for his dryness on a moving swing.

Each team was awarded points for a hit, while points were deducted if any shots hit the pastor's head. In a final twist of fate, the Viking Games ended with a reversal of roles as the pastors had a last chance to deduct points from the teams by taking shots at the team captains. Pastor Stan Block describes the feelings he went through while trying to dodge the incoming water balloons:

"Frightened, terrorized, heart racing! I now understand the feelings of villagers as they would see the boats in the distance with no place to run or hide. I was grateful for the moments when my three partners [pastors Kevin Fitzgerald, Glen Nudd, and Brenten Powers] were called on to take their place in the line of fire instead of me! As to the opportunity for revenge, I regret that our aim was off so much of the time, to have left them all with no points would have been perfect but it was some consellation to drive the Swedes back to Stockholm in disgrace. May the Games live on in the coming years and may other foreigners experience the same Viking hospitality shown to us! All said, I felt sad to say goodbye and that speaks to the depth of relationships that were built in the four days."

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Canadian Pastors Savor Scandinavian Fellowship

Pastors Glen Nudd and Stan Block from Rocky Mountain Calvary Chapel have arrived safely back in Calgary, Canada after attending this summer's Scandinavian conference (see photo). Pastor Glen sends the following message:

"We made it back safe and sound with great memories of the 2008 conference. The Lord reminded me of how precious and life-giving fellowship is. Our hearts were ministered to deeply by the desire by so many to not only attend the conference this year, but to squeeze every drop of encouragement and teaching out of our time spent together. It was a true example of “…not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25). Thank you all for a great conference."

Baptized at the Conference



17 year-old Emil Broegger was baptized on Saturday morning at this year's Scandinavian conference.

A few hours after sunrise, Emil Broegger opened his Bible in front of a small crowd of people who had come down to the waterfront to see him make one of the most important public statements so far in his life; to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. He shared with his fellow conference attendees what God has done in his life, after which he and Pastor David Guzik walked out into the morning waters. A few moments later, Emil returned to the applauding audience on the shore with a big smile on his face.

"I have been wanting to get baptized for a long time in order to show God and the world that I desire to live 100 pct. for Him. The conference was a great occasion for this, since I preferred to be baptized among like-minded believers from a ministry that I feel connected to. Although it was early morning temperatures, it felt awesome to be immersed in the water," Emil says.

The baptism of Emil Broegger was the second baptism in the history of the Scandinavian conferences - as Emil's older brother Samuel had the pleasure of being baptized at the conference in 2006.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

From Latvia with Love

American missionaries Brenten and Lena Powers were able to come to the Scandinavian conference for the first time this year with their kids, Caleb and Lilly. Now back in Latvia, here's what they have to say about their time at the conference:

"We were greatly encouraged and refreshed by the fellowship with our brothers and sisters from Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Ireland and Canada. Although Latvia is technically not a Scandinavian country, we found that many of the issues we face in the Baltics are similar to the rest of Northern Europe, and we found ourselves received and knit to this group of believers. Overall, we were all really blessed with the Acts 2:42 environment; 'continuing steadfastly in the teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayers'."

You can read much more about the Powers' ministry in Latvia by visiting their blog.

Monday, August 4, 2008

The 2008 Conference in Pictures

Click on the photo below to view or download pictures from the 2008 conference in full size:

Scandinavian Calvary Chapel Conference 2008

Download the 2008 Conference Teachings

You can download all the teachings from this year's conference by clicking the following links:

Daniel 1 - Joel Wickström
Daniel 2 - David Guzik
Daniel 3 - Stan Block
Daniel 4 - Daniel Jacobsen
Daniel 5 - Theis Broegger
Daniel 6 - Kevin Fitzgerald
Daniel 7 - David Guzik
Daniel 8 - Aaron Pratt
Daniel 9 - David Guzik
Daniel 10 - Kevin Fitzgerald
Daniel 11-12 - Glen Nudd

Record-breaking Attendance at Scandinavia's 10th Calvary Chapel Conference

With more than 70 adults and 15 kids involved from 10 different nations, this year's Scandinavian conference broke all previous attendance records. At the center of it all was God's Word, which was powerfully and passionately taught by a long line of guest speakers.

The work of bringing sound and thorough Bible teaching to the Scandinavian people received another encouraging morale boost at the 10th consecutive annual gathering of believers who are either active in ministry or in prayer on behalf of the nations of Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland. Hosted at a remote campsite near the Danish town of Roskilde, this year's conference took its attendees through a 5-day journey of The Book of Daniel as guest pastors such as David Guzik (Siegen), Kevin Fitzgerald (Dublin), Glen Nudd and Stan Block (both Calgary) taught alongside local ministry leaders.

The conference stretched from Wednesday evening (a day earlier than normal, since this year's conference had been expanded with one more day) to Sunday at noon. Because of the high attendance, some of the attendees had to sleep in tents, since all the rooms and indoor beds were full.

"This is the first year we've ever had this problem - but what a great problem to have. We may have to start looking for bigger locations for next year's conference," says Daniel Jacobsen, who was one of the four people that helped plan and stage this year's conference in Denmark.

"It was an incredible blessing to see so many people uniting around the King's business here in Scandinavia and seeing them all be blessed by the teaching and the fellowship at this conference. I'm sure many new friendships and ministry connections were made," he says.

For more info about this year's conference, go to http://www.calvarychapel.dk/