My BU Roommate is a Disciple and a Hero

by Jay Kelly

I always knew Sokoun was a special brother. I loved our discipling relationship. I led the bible talk group and was supposed to be his leader, but it seemed that I learned more from him than he learned from me. His heart was always very passionately connected to the lostness of those around us. He shared his faith more than me; he prayed longer than me. He was one of those people that are hard to lead because they are always running ahead of you in the areas that matter most. Sokoun was a groomsman in my wedding 20 years ago. I'm proud to be his friend and brother for the last 20+ years. I'm still praying to be more like him.



Check out his inspirational story on TIME and CNN

Hello from Kiev, Ukraine's International Leadership Conference

by Jay Kelly

Click here to see video blog on YouTube

The City's Mission Town Leader Men's Retreat

By Jay Kelly

The churches of the United Kingdom

On our recent anniversary trip, Lynne and I were privileged to not only visit the Kiev church, but also the Birmingham, England church led by Andy and Tammy Fleming.  We spent four days with them, including a two-day retreat with all the leaders (most of them lay leaders) of the United Kingdom churches (and those of Scotland and Ireland as well!).  Here's a clip of the retreat (some of you will recognize Malcolm and Penny Cox, Mike deSouza, and the Flemings), with a little "shout out" to Seattle:

The leaders of those churches have struggled and overcome in their quest for a more mature kind of unity between the churches (not unlike what we've forged here in the Northwest family of churches).  It was a GREAT honor to add our experiences to theirs on how to build respectful yet humble unity, and how to build the local works with "costly stones."

Lynne and I both feel that in the days to come, we will be building more ties with these churches--stay tuned!