Faithful giving to the Thrive Campaign has enabled The Orchard to build up Christian leaders in Albania by sending Dave B. and Pastors Jared and Matt to share their knowledge, experience, and special gifts as pastors. On October 9-10, Dave and Pastor Jared were in Durres, Albania for the Radstock Coaching Workshop. Its purpose was to teach coaching techniques to Christian leaders who can then use them with men who are planting churches or starting ministry for the first time. A retired EFCA pastor and missionary to Albania for fifteen years led the Radstock workshop. The workshop teaches a con ..read more

And we have hit the end. Today was our last full day in Greece, nevertheless exciting as all the rest. We explored all over Athens. We hit all different tourist attractions, like typical Americans. Those places being the Acropolis, Areopagus Hill, the ancient neighborhood Plaka, and the highest point in Athens. The Acropolis was filled with tons of ancient wonders, and it was a very humbling experience to see all the extravagant architecture. Areopagus (Mars) Hill was another place that really astonished us because we read about it earlier this morning in Acts 17:16-34. (Check it out!) At ..read more

Tuesday was our final morning at Porto Astro.  We’ve all got our problems with goodbyes. This Tuesday morning was no different. A beautiful August morning, we began our day by packing like the proper, responsible adults we are, making sure we hadn’t left behind a bedsheet. Of course, the excitement of the early morning was quickly subdued by the atmosphere of Porto Astro, calming us all down to merely nervous anxiety as we ate breakfast. We said our goodbyes to our Egyptian friends, watching them sail (well, motor) slowly away on the handy pontoon boat. We took a few more hours to quadruple ch ..read more

Hey everyone!!! I’m here to give you an updated report on our EVERY MOVE. On Monday, I woke up at 6:30 AM. I slowly lifted myself off my mattress and the sun immediately hit my eyes. NO I’M KIDDING, no one in Porto Astro gets up at 6:30 AM! Anyway, it was our last full day of camp, and The Orchard team made the most of our last hours here in Porto Astro. While most of us were trying to give our 1000000%, we are very, VERY exhausted! This week’s leadership camp has really tested our ability to establish close connections with those who come from a completely different culture than us. Howev ..read more

Happy Sunday! After doing dishes, cleaning bathrooms, and cooling off in the sea, we headed to Chalkida, the city nearest Porto Astro, for the late afternoon. We hiked along the “goat path,” a narrow, rocky walkway, which was an adventure to say the least! The bus was running on Greek time, so we got to spend 30 minutes by the water, taking photos and throwing a frisbee. The view along the drive was breathtaking! Bright blue water contrasted with forest green and sandy-colored mountains filled phone screens as we tried to capture the marvel of God’s creative handiwork. After walking along the ..read more