At the end of October, I visited the Gulf Region of the Middle East to attend a conference with other agencies that are doing ministry in this part of the world. This is a place where the number of Christians is miniscule and where the evangelical church is still very much in its infancy. But God is working, and He is using dreams and visions to reach many Muslims.

While at the conference near Dubai, I heard a story from one of the neighboring Gulf countries about a Christian Filipino maid who awoke one night to some noise in the house. As she peeked out her door, she noticed someone standing outside her master's bedroom. She was scared and didn't say anything, but the next night she saw the man again standing at her master's bedroom door. On the third night, she saw the same person open the master's bedroom door and walk in. The next morning, the maid finally told her employer what she had seen and said it must have been a thief. The Arab smiled and responded, "No, it was not a thief. That was Jesus. For three nights, I've had dreams about Him and last night I asked him to take over my life."

In this part of the world, where God chose to reveal Jesus to humanity, He is revealing Jesus in ways that we cannot even imagine. There is hope in the Middle East and it is exciting to play a small role in this through our media efforts. But sure and check out something we are deeply involved in called OneHousehold.com.

Karen and I want to thank each of you for standing by us this past year. It's been a year of growth and renewal for us, and we know you've been there, praying and supporting us. Our prayer this Christmas season is that God will reveal the miracle of Christ to you in new and exciting ways.

Serving Him,

Curt

Curt & Karen Cole
HCJB Global
ccole@hcjb.org
www.colecurrents.blogspot.com
onehousehold.com

We are on the road again ...this time in our car! On our way back to Florida after six weeks at our mission's home office in Colorado Springs, CO. 1800 long miles from Colorado. Plenty of time for Karen and I to solve all the world's problems!

God has worked in so many ways in the past few months and we are rejoicing for the following answers to things we've been concerned about and praying for:

- As of November 1, Curt has a new boss. Wayne Pederson, former Director of Radio at Moody, is HCJB Global's new president. It was great meeting with him the past few weeks.

- Karen and I had a great trip to Spain in November for meetings with our North Africa/Middle East staff. We also had the chance to kid-sit our regional director's 4 kids for a week (they are German). We communicated with each other in Spanish, although the Spanish in Spain seems to be on high adrenaline compared to Ecuador! We didn't lose any kids and we think we got them to all their classes and other activites on time.

- Carissa, Bryan and Brandon all joined us for Thanksgiving in Colorado Springs. And for Christmas this year, we are all returning to Ecuador as a family. This has been the desire of our kids for a couple of years - so how cool is that?

Please pray for us as we begin the process of trying to rent our home in Florida so that we can move to Colorado Springs to serve our mission better. Our hope is that we can move by the end of the first quarter of 2009.

Mil gracias - a thousand thanks.

One Household - Home

We've got an exciting new initiative at HCJB Global. It's called One Household and focuses on media ministry in the Arab World. Check out this link:

One Household - Home

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Restoration & Refocus

Karen and I have often thought we had unlimited energy. But for the past few years we’ve been pushing the limit on what we can accomplish. The reality is God doesn’t expect us to be like the energizer bunny…in His eyes we are all pilgrims seeking to follow Christ, but sometimes getting tired on that journey.

We are coming off a time of mission-requested “sabbatical rest;” a time to restore ourselves and reflect on the future. We’ve not done anything wrong, but we have let the busyness of global ministry affect our health. It’s rather sobering to realize we hadn’t set proper boundaries in our lives, and we hadn’t recharged our batteries in a long, long time.

One thing has hit home in a big way - we can’t do it all. Sounds simple, but that’s been very hard for both Karen and me to realize. God has also helped me to see what I really enjoy more than anything is helping Christian leaders develop and grow to be successful. I am excited our mission will now be allowing us to spend more time in fewer places in the world, developing deeper relationships with both national and HCJB Global international leaders and mentoring them in their journeys. Ultimately this will mean less crossing of time zones and less fatigue, but more time (up to several months each year) in just a couple of our global sites.

With this time of rest has come a refocusing of what God has for us; a time to really hone in on what God has gifted us to do. I know you’ll be praying along with us as we work out the details. We’ll be working on this more in the next few weeks.

Deeply grateful,

Curt & Karen

Time in Colorado

Karen and I just returned from a week in Colorado. Several of those days were spent in the mountains at a management retreat with HCJB Global. We spent alot of time praying together about the future. We all know that God is moving in unique ways, but one of the things we really focused on was the movement and growth of the global south church ...primarily in Sub-Sahara Africa, Asia and Latin America. We believe that unless we find new ways of partnering with the global south church, we will eventually become insignificant in missions. That means adapting and changing ...something every western mission is struggling with.

I think it's OK that we are struggling with this ...because it's reality. God can certainly do it without us, but we believe He still has a role for HCJB Global to play, most likely by using our missional tools of health care and media to train and develop national leadership. Please continue to pray with us about these issues.

As an added bonus, we also got to see Carissa in Denver. She just moved into a new apartment, which is just a little over a mile from the charter school where she teaches. She had an awesome time in Sierra Leone. We warned her that Africa will steal part of your heart ...and it stole part of hers! Check out her blog in our links.

All for now ...Curt

One Million Households!

There are times when we work, work and work some more and see very little fruit. There are other times when things seem to be busting out all over! Well, after a long time of really wondering, things are suddenly going nuts with our Arabic multi-media ministry.

I was just recently in Europe and had the chance to hear first-hand what is happening in North Africa and the Middle East. We have been working diligently for many years in broadcast ministry, constantly evaluating, tweaking and researching. Just a couple of years ago, we wondered if it was really worth all the work.

Well now we know! We have new, unbiased figures from a secular media research firm that shows over one million households are tuning in to HCJB Global programming every week in this part of the world! That's mind-blowing, just amazing. Imagine a household - grandparents, children, Moms, Dads. Praise God with us that God is using our ministry in a small way to help impact these households in the Arab world.

In awe of how God is working ...Curt

Check out this link for more info:
http://www.hcjb.org/news/announcements/programs_touch_hearts_reaching_north_africa/middle_east.html

Cole Currents Summer 2008 Update

We received a note recently, congratulating us on our 16th anniversary with HCJB Global. It’s hard to believe that 16 years ago we packed a U-Haul trailer and our Mercury Marquis (Big Blue!) and headed south from Michigan to
south Texas for Spanish language school. A year later, in 1993, we were in Ecuador!

We’ve changed since this picture, our first prayer card from 1991. Karen and I are just a wee bit older (and sometimes we feel it!), but our excitement for missionary service hasn’t waned. In fact, we’re looking to a future that centers on global partnerships that help local believers use the tools of health care and media in their own ministries.

Of course, our kids have changed too. Bryan and Brandon will be college juniors this fall and Carissa is a 2nd grade school teacher in Denver. Bryan and Carissa are serving cross-culturally this summer. Bryan is in Quito as a team leader with Youth World and Carissa is in Sierra Leone, West Africa, mentoring teachers there still struggling after years of civil war. Brandon is even a missionary in his summer job, as many of the restaurant staff where he works are Latinos and Brandon is one of the few who speaks Spanish! He will also shadow a doctor as part of his studies in July.

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Seasons of Radio Planting

Welcome to our blog!

Yes, it's official. The Coles now have a blog and we're calling it "Cole Currents." We want to use this to keep you up to date on us, and let you know what is going on in our world.

As missionaries with HCJB Global, we deeply desire to make our lives of service to Christ. At present that means a commitment to partnership with our brothers and sisters around the world, helping them do ministry in their local context.

Thanks for checking out our blog. Let us know what you think.

Cole Courier Winter 2008

It’s always fascinating to me to see how people celebrate local holidays in different parts of the world. While in India this November, I happened to be there during the annual Duwali festival, which is the festival of lights. There are colorful lights everywhere, booming fireworks all night long, and it is really loud! This is also a time of gift giving and good will in Indian culture.
It was exciting for me to see the gifts that God has given our ministry in India as well. We have Indian staff near Delhi doing an outstanding job of partnering with groups around northern India. I even got to help dedicate a new radio production studio. Much of that work focuses on radio programs in different Indian languages, and also includes the installation of small radio studios in different parts of the country.

Check out the India pictures Curt took here on our blog!