The year 2020 was quite traumatic for much of the world and we are all looking forward to a better 2021. This year will be a special one for our family since it is the year that our son Marco graduates from high school and goes off to college. Consequently, we are looking for a change in position within Global Strategy. In June 2021, Marco will graduate and we will step down as regional coordinators for Europe and the Middle East after 11 awesome years. Our desire is to work in more hands-on ministry in the region after more than a decade working more on the administrative side.
We first began planning for this transition four years ago. We wanted to hand off leadership of our Three Worlds team in a healthy, well-thought-out manner that would ensure a smooth continuation of ministry. Within this time period, Nate and Stacy Tatman were appointed and commissioned to be associate regional coordinators. The Tatmans have been working alongside the 3W team since the very beginning. Nathan, as missions pastor at County Line Church of God, was part of our 3W Roundtable and has visited almost every country in our region multiple times over the past ten years. Nate and Stacy understand intimately what a special and unique team we have here in the Europe/Middle East region. We know that they will be fantastic regional coordinators, and we could not be more excited to see how they will lead the team in walking alongside the global church.
We are also excited that our region is modeling the importance of allowing a new generation of leaders to rise into leadership positions. You may recall that when we began as regional coordinators in 2010, we were, by far, the youngest regional coordinators. But the previous regional coordinators, Kelley and Rhonda Philips, believed in us and supported us as we stepped into leadership. In the past ten years, the countries in our region have also opened the doors to new, emerging leaders. It’s everything we have ever wanted and worked towards, going back to our ten years in Hong Kong working with youth.
We hope to relocate on the mission field, here in Europe and the Middle East, in July 2022. In the meantime, we hope to see many of you as we return to the United States and Canada to visit our supporting churches. First on the agenda will be getting Marco settled into college. He has been accepted to four different Christian universities and will be making his decision soon. Marco was born on the mission field, so many of you have literally watched him grow throughout his whole life. We so appreciate the love that you have shown to him over the years. We covet your prayers for him as he heads off into adulthood. He has so much promise. God has blessed us with a wonderful, mature, and tender-hearted son.
The past 11 years as regional coordinators have been a blast! And we are so grateful for our 3W team members, who have not only accomplished incredible things in ministry but are also our dearest family and friends. We are so proud of all that this team has accomplished for the Kingdom. They have truly been a dream team.
We look forward to seeing many of you in the coming year. We are also looking forward to seeing what missionary adventures God has for us in the near future. Thank you for walking on this journey with us for the past 21 years, and we look forward to more Kingdom work together.
