We love flying over the North Atlantic to Europe.  There's something about the trip that grips our hearts.  Perhaps it's the Great Circle route that often takes us over southern Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and into northern Europe.  Perhaps it's the thought of new adventures with old friends on the continent where God has called us.  The flight never ceases to excite us.  It always feels like we're going home.
       From the eastern USA, North Atlantic flights usually take off somewhere between 4 and 10 pm.  This allows them to cross six or seven time zones and land in Europe between 6 am and noon.  It also means you fly into the night and somewhere along the route you welcome the dawn. 
       We love watching it approach.  While others have their shades down trying to sleep or are half way through watching their second movie, we can't keep our eyes off the horizon.  It starts with a gradual shift from black to gray.  Then there's a point of pink in the sky that makes its way north and south until the entire skyline is a rosy orange.  The horizon gets brighter and brighter until at last the sun bursts upwards and blinds you momentarily - so strongly that you can't tell if your tray table is up or down.  It makes you glad the plane is on autopilot because you know the pilots are blinded as well. 
      To greet the dawn - it's an experience to relish every day.  When light approaches, the darkness must give way.  The Apostle John wrote, "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." (John 1:5, NIV)
       We have great hope for revival in Sweden - one of the darkest of the earth's spiritually dark places.  Sweden  - the least religious country in the western world.  Sweden - where 20% of churches have closed in the last 10 years.  Sweden - so loved by atheists, it's considered their #1 country.  Sweden - now classified as a lost  people group by missiologists.
       When the sun comes up, the night must flee.  In the spiritual darkness of Sweden live bold, courageous Christians - Swedes and international immigrants who stand in faith believing God will have the last word in their country.  They walk by faith, take great risks, understand the power of prayer, worship fervently, and shed tears for their neighbors.  And they are also asking for help.
     We are blessed to jointly serve both Converge Worldwide and the EFCA/ReachGlobal - two organizations with deep Swedish roots who are known for their skills in church multiplication.  In Sweden, we will work hand in hand with New Life Church and their pastor, John van Dinther.  Their vision is to plant 20 churches in Stockholm County and facilitate 10 more in university cities. 
       There are many who sense that a genuine awakening could be on the horizon in Sweden - a dawning - from black to gray to rosy skies to a bright sun-in-your-face morning.  What would it be like to have a new day of revival in a land so dark they've forgotten that they've forgotten Jesus?
       We are humbled and honored to be called.  On the evening of October 15th, we will board a plane and fly east - into the dawn.