Final Email

Our remaining time in Italy is short now.   Yesterday (Sunday) was an amazing day.  Kristie preached at a church in Casorate.  Danny Podesta and a couple from Genova, Mei and Tullio, who have become very good friends in a short time drove all the way from Genova to be present and support Kristie.  As expected she did a fine job.  She was introduced as a pastor from Virginia – a title she was not at all comfortable with – but from what I hear she represented Virginia Baptist very well. She had “Happy Birthday” sung to her 4 times yesterday…3 times in English and once in Italian.
I participated in 3 services yesterday.  I brought the sermon at the Italian church in Milan.  I also got to hear two of the youth we met in Virginia (Daniele and Michael) give testimonies.  We also met Simone who has been baptized since his trip to Virginia.  I brought the welcome and actually participated in a baby dedication at the Romanian Baptist church and Kristie and I together brought a welcome in the Spanish speaking South American church.  It was a blessing to be in each of these churches but I was particularly touched by the Romanian service.  Although I understood very little of the language, the spirit of life and love was unmistakable.  Prior to the baby dedication, several individuals and groups, including children, stood and shared songs, poems and words of blessing.  Having the opportunity to ask a blessing over these two beautiful Romanian babies was no doubt one of the highlights of my experience in Italy.
In the midst of all these services we also found time to have lunch with the members of the Italian church where they gave us gifts from the church and from their country.  Afterwards we took another walk around the city with the pastor and some of the young people.  Of course there was a strategic stop made for some Italian Ice Cream.  At the end of the day the pastor took us to Pizzeria where I had the best pizza I have ever eaten. 
Danny remained here in Milan overnight and will be spending our last full day with us. It has been great to see how God has used the past two weeks as an opportunity for Danny to connect with not only his own church, but also the churches in Rapallo, Casarate and Milan.  I feel certain this is a direct result of Danny’s heartfelt desire to engage youth all over Italy with a genuine understanding of what it means to have a relationship with Jesus Christ.  There is no doubt God’s work will continue in this place!  By the way, for the team of who is coming from Webber this summer…the group in Genova is primed and ready.  The phones began ringing off the hook this week.  Danny has more requests from people who want to host you than what is needed.  The entire church is VERY ready to receive you AND you will be blessed in your time with them.
 Danny and I will be going out for a proper Italian breakfast at a local coffee shop while Kristie enjoys some extra sleep.  (You should find a picture of our apartment attached.  This is an apartment owned by the church in Milan.  It has made for a great home this past week.) Then we will all go to Como Lake.  Returning in the afternoon we will have lunch with Martin Ibarra (pastor) and prepare for our trip home. 
We depart Tuesday from the airport in Milan at 10:40am on Delta flight 75.  We will arrive in Atlanta at 3:40pm where we will meet up with the other 2 teams who have been in Italy as well. (They are flying out of Rome).  We depart from Atlanta at 7:20pm and arrive back in Richmond at 8:52pm where we will meet our precious boys at the airport.  We will stay the night in Richmond with the Smiths who have taken such great care of Caleb and Noah.  Wednesday we will drive back to Charlottesville and begin to recover from our jet lag. 
Once again our emotions are many.  Kristie and I have been changed by our experience here in Italy.  We have made friendships that will last an eternity.  We have great expectations of what God will continue to do through the Baptist churches in this country.  We have already said if it can be God’s will we would like to return one day to see first hand what God is to do.  Of course if this is to happen, we expect the boys will be with us the next time.    We also pray it may work out for many of our Italian friends to visit us in Virginia and continue this relationship long after the official Virginia/Italy partnership is over.  Once again we pray a blessing over all of our Italian friends, your families and your churches.  We are truly one in the body of Christ.
For those of you back home who have diligently prayed for us and kept up with our experiences here, we appreciate you.  You have truly been a part of this trip.  Thanks especially to Pastor Dan and the Spring Hill Crew who took care of unloading 3 pods of our furniture and other belongings while we were away.    Kristie and I would not have been able to do what we did without the grace and power of God and our connection with the greater body of Christ to which we are all connected.  (There is that connection principle again Martin!)  We love you all and look forward to seeing you again soon.

Greg McCormick
Associate Pastor
Spring Hill Baptist Church
Office - 434.973.7473  
Cell - 434-960-8318

4th Email

Hello all,
We have finished one of three sessions today and had a wonderful lunch.  Our morning session was with primarily youth leaders and pastors.  we were pleased with the passion at which these Italians shared their views and ideas of student ministry.  This afternoon we will meet with youth leaders and students to discuss the development of youth ministry in the church.  We have already met two of the youth who were with the group at Webber last summer.  After the afternoon session we meet with youth to plan out their involvement in worship tomorrow.  Kristie and I will be preaching at two different churches at 10:30am tomorrow.  Please be in prayer that God will use the message in a meaningful way for those who hear it.  And please say an extra prayer for Kristie who is a bit nervous.

God Bless you all,
Greg

3rd Email

Today is a day of both joy and sadness.  We will be leaving Genoa (Genova in English – just in case you have noticed different spellings).  Kristie and I were more blessed than we ever imagined.  God was at work in all of yesterdays sessions.  The Sunday school teachers have a passion for teaching God’s word to children and young people.  It is amazing what they are doing already with such limited resources.  They appreciated the encouragement and reinforcement of their teaching ability.  We are hoping to provide many more resources for them this summer through the connection with the Webber group which will be coming over in July.  The young adult session was FULL.  There was no room to fit anyone else.  We talked about missions.  There was excitement about what step to take next in reaching out to the community around them.  They plan to continue this discussion at the next Young Adult Meeting.  The Adult Bible Study was the last experience for us with the entire church.  We discussed with seven different styles of evangelism.  Members readily participated in the discussion as to how they could apply these styles of evangelism in their everyday lives.  As our final session came to close they surprised Kristie by bringing her out a birthday cake (her birthday is Sunday).  One of the members told us as we left the church last night that he has a list of people he prays for regularly and he was putting us on the list to pray for us in our ministry, our family and all God has planned for us.  We have truly been blessed in this place.  We leave Genoa via train in approximately two hours and head to Milan where we will be met by Martin Ibarra for the another week of service and blessing.  As sad as it is to leave our new friends in Genoa, we are also looking forward to what God has in store for us with Martin in Milan.
Attached pictures are of some of the walking around Genoa we did between sessions on Tuesday as well as some pictures of the Bible Study.  In one picture you will see Tullio teaching Kristie how to make Italian Spaghetti.  There is also a picture of Christopher Columbus’ house.

Thank you again for your continued prayers,
Greg McCormick

2nd Email

A Picture is worth a thousand words…Enjoy
We finish up in Genoa today with SS training for teachers, a session on Missions for the Young Adults and an Adult Bible Study on Evangelism.  Tomorrow morning we head to Milan.

Greg McCormick

1st Email

Hello all,
We sent an initial update when we first got here, but it would appear that it did not go through. 
We arrived safe and sound at Milan airport Friday morning to be greeted by Danny (summer intern that worked with Greg) and Mark Ord (pastor we are staying with in Genova through Tuesday – I have included a picture – he is the one with no hair).  They then drove us 2-3 hours to Genova.  Clair (Mark’s wife) had lunch for us when we arrived to their house – ham, salami, bagels, special bread made only in Genova –very good! – salad of tomato/cheese/olive oil, homemade soup, peach tea, hot tea and Italian coffee.  This was to be only a foreshadowing of the eating we are to do while we are here.  We then had a LONG nap as we slept only 3 hours on the 9 hour plan ride over.  Friday evening we went to local pizzeria where we met approximately 25 members of Genova Baptist Church and had the best pizza EVER.  I have included a picture here of some of the group at the restaurant from that evening.  Everyone is VERY welcoming and friendly.  The language barrier has not been a problem.  Many people speak English and those who do not are readily translated by someone who does know English.  One thing that stands out is that this church is so multicultural.  At the pizzeria we were eating with people from China, Korea, Philippines, Greece, England, Peru and Italy.  I met one guy (Dario) who is attending seminary here in Italy and writing his Thesis on the Southern Baptist Conflict over the past 30 years.  He was a visiting student at Baptist Theological Seminary in Richmond for several months and knows some of the same professors as I do.

Saturday afternoon we lead our first seminar on Welcoming Youth into the Church.  The seminar was a very interactive experience.  There were approximately 30 people there of all ages – children through senior adults.  Everyone seemed to enjoy our time together and pastor received several contacts during the day saying how much they learned and enjoyed.    We went to Danny’s mom and dad’s for dinner last night where we had a 5 course meal!!  I do not have time here to describe all the food, but was indeed fit for a king.
Please be in prayer for us today.  I am to leave shortly for the church where I will be giving the sermon and hopefully Kristie will be doing the children’s message, but Kristie did not feel well during the night with upset stomach and feelings of nausea.  We are hoping she will be able to make it this morning.  Thank you to all of you who are remembering us in your prayers and please continue.  We love you all!

Greg McCormick