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.