Survey Day 1

The day started with an appointment at Faith Baptist Church, Corona, Queens and Pastor Vincent Sawyer (the church is pictured below).


His church is on 37th Ave. and 105th St. Sounds easy enough to find, huh? Well, Brandie and I left the subway station and walked until we found 37th Dr. Not Ave. Dr. and we proceeded to walk all over 37th Dr. looking for 105th St. and the church. After some time and mounting frustration, I looked at the street sign again and saw that it read "Dr." We walked down to the next street which was 37th Rd. We started thinking, here is a drive and road....the avenue must be next! It was and we finally arrived just a couple of minutes late. We felt like we were navigating Athens again.

He invited us to the church for a q & a session. He has a wealth of information about ministry here in Queens. We ate Chinese delivered by a motorbike (like in Greece). He gave us the number of a real estate agent that is familiar with where we are wanting to live. We gave her a call and are waiting for her to call back...hopefully, we will look at a couple of apartments in the next couple of days.

After our meeting with Pastor Sawyer, we took the "F" train to Astoria. This is where the majority of the Greeks live and will probably be the focus of our ministry. Walking the streets here was like walking the streets in Athens. We were drank a frappe', Greek coffee, and a plate of assorted Greek cheeses and fruit. We also got to speak some Greek!!! This is what we've been looking forward to for several weeks!

We walked the streets and visited shops and started building some relationships (even though they are in the infantile stage). Today, we were able to answer many questions about living and ministering here. We look forward to another great day tomorrow. Please enjoy the pictures below.

Greek Pastries

Greek Newspaper

Christos made us Frappe's (Greek Iced Coffee)!

Brandie with Manhattan in the background from Astoria park.

Adam with Manhattan in the background from Astoria Park


The Queensboro Bridge

A Greek Sidewalk Cafe in Astoria, Queens

Traditional Greek Coffee, Cheese, & Fruit

A Greek Orthodox Church

Here is the inscription on this Orthodox Church: "The metamorphosis (change) of salvation." Salvation does change us (2 Corinthians 5:17) and we praise the Lord for His grace! This grace is not found in a church or anchored to a church, but in His Word. The fact that Orthodox Christians look for God's grace through their church membership motivates us to relocate here as soon as possible and reach them with the true Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ!!!

Arrival In New York

When we arrived at the airport in Indianapolis, we learned that our flight was delayed 2 hours. This allowed us to meander around the airport through the restaurants and shops. This worked out in our favor! I wanted to watch the Champions League Finals from Rome (Man U vs. Barca)...Europe's premier football tournament. Because of our delay, I was able to find a television in the airport and I watched the first half.

After boarding the airplane, we sat for about 30 minutes before we took off. I took the picture as we were landing at La Guardia. Pastor Tim Richmond, a church planter in Queens, picked us up at the airport and drove us to the hotel. After check-in, we walked the streets around the hotel and bought a couple of slices of cheese pizza. Wow! It was delicious. Now, we're beat and getting our plans together for tomorrow.

Survey Trip: May 27 - June 4, 2009

Tomorrow, we fly from Indianapolis, Indiana to New York for one week. The purpose of this trip is to locate housing and scout neighborhoods for the church plant. Please pray for our travels (from 3:00 pm to 5:15 pm EDT) and our children (they are staying with my parents here in Indiana).

We will blog daily during the trip...with pics!

The Twins Turn ONE!!!!

On Wed March 11, Adalyn and Abigail Crabtree turned one year old!!! I can not believe that they are already a year old. This past year has been so much fun seeing them grow and watching their personalities come forward! Adalyn has a very outgoing personality, while Abigail is more laid back but is very attentive to the things around her. They started walking about a month ago and are now into everything! They really do keep us all on our toes!

On Friday night they had a family birthday party in Indiana with Adam's family. It was fun watching them dive into their cupcakes! I have added a picture of the "Birthday Girls" for you to enjoy!

Happy Birthday Babies!

When Your Life Gets Rebooted

All Our Luggage The Morning We Left Athens

Has your computer ever rebooted? Ever done it on its own? We have a computer (a Toshiba) that we purchased in Greece that seems to reboot itself whenever IT feels the need to be rebooted. This can be frustrating, especially when I'm in the middle of something very important (which is usually the case).

I said that to say this....our life has been rebooted. I am posting our last ministry update letter. Please read it and pray for us.

As is often the case, when the computer reboots, it runs again...as opposed to just shutting down. When our family was faced with the option of rebooting our ministry or shutting it down completely (aka quitting), we chose, by the grace of God, to reboot and continue the ministry that God called us to many years ago.

______________________________
Dear Ministry Partner,

We would like to thank all of those who sent us Christmas cards and financial gifts at the end of last year. The financial gifts were much needed and we say “thank you” from the bottom of our hearts. We’d also like to express our appreciation to those who prayed for us during the riots in Athens. God protected us through some very difficult circumstances and we were able to make it back without a scratch! Since our arrival on December 12 we have driven over 5,000 miles reporting to some of our supporting churches.

The last quarter of 2008 was a very difficult period for the Crabtree family. Brandie and I have worked on obtaining some sort of residency since 2002 with no success. All of our children were born in Greece, but that did not grant us any favor in the application process and the girls were not given Greek citizenship upon their birth. During the fall of 2008, we made another application for residency, even making an additional appeal to the government and they denied us for the final time. We have exhausted all of our options. Without residency, it is impossible for us to stay and minister in Greece.

For the past four and a half years, we were required to leave Greece, a European Union country every 90 days. This was taxing on us both physically and financially. Another law change took effect January 1, 2009 that prevents us from spending more than 180 days (6 months) during any 365 day period inside Greece. This would prohibit us from leaving and re-entering Greece in order to stay legal.

This puts our family in a very difficult position. After much prayer and fasting, we have decided to continue ministering to Greek speaking people. After some research, we learned that there are more Greeks living outside Greece (12 million) than live inside Greece (10 million). The largest Greek community abroad is found in Astoria, Queens, New York (with over 65,000 Greeks). Not only do we see an entire immigrant community in need of Jesus Christ, we also see 65,000 potential missionaries that can live in Greece legally and not face the same residency restrictions that have plagued my family for the duration of our ministry (not to mention that they already know the language and culture). Our plan is relocate to Queens and start a Greek speaking Independent Baptist Church. We want to continue the ministry that God called to do many years ago. We go about this with the complete support and approval of Dr. Jerry Mullendore, Director of Beacon International Baptist Mission (formerly Evangelization in Eastern Europe) and Rev. Wayne Barron, the pastor of our sending church, South Side Baptist Church, Springfield, MO. Our goal will always remain the same: to plant self-supporting, self-governing Independent Baptist churches. One focus of our ministry will be equipping Greek families to do the work of the Lord with the intention of sending them back to Greece where we, as Americans, cannot live and minister (2 Timothy 2:2, “And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.”). Our plan is to remain involved in church planting. When Greece opens her doors to allow us to stay and minister, we will be on the first plane.

If you have any questions, please contact us (telephone: (317) 222-1952 or by email: mail@thecrabtree.org), Dr. Mullendore (mailing address: P.O. Box 5907, Johnson City, TN 37602-5907 or by phone: (423) 426-1196), or Pastor Barron (address: 465 S. Grant Ave., Springfield, MO 65806 or by phone: (417) 869-5496). Thank you for your support and confidence in us over the years and please keep us in your prayers as we strive to follow God’s call in our lives in reaching Greeks for Christ!

Serving Him,

Adam, Brandie, Emily, Adalyn, & Abigail Crabtree

Our Crazy So-Called Life

On December 12, we arrived back in the States after being detained in Greece for an additional 2 days. We were tired and worn out, but so glad to finally be on American soil again. Even though we were tired and half asleep, we hit the ground running!!! The following afternoon, we had a 4th birthday party for Emily. We are told it was a great party, but we were to tired to really remember it! The next week was a blur of trying to Christmas shop, Parties, Family and fun! From there we headed to Tennessee to see the other side of the family and celebrated the New Year.

Just after the first of the year, we hit the ground running! Well....Adam hit the ground running, because all of our girls started getting acquanted with the many germs that were circulating in America. Abigail got RSV had to be put on breathing treatments. Adalyn and Emily got the stomach flu. With Adam on the road, it was a fun time for me and the kids! Adam was in Florida when the kids all were finally better, so the kids and I decided to fly down and meet him there. We were able to get an Amazing deal on tickets, so on Sunday afternoon, my mom dropped me, Emily and the twins off at the airport for our trip. I know what you are thinking, and yes I was nuts, but we made it in one piece! We had a great time in Florida! We were able to see some old friends and had a great time. One of the highlights of our trip was going to Sea World. The church where we were staying purchased tickets for our family. Emily loved watching "Shampoo" jump and flip in the water! It was a great day! Thanks Monterey Baptist!

After Florida, the kids and I decided that it was time to stay put for a while in our little missions apartment that we are calling home for the time being. Adam did back to back missions conferences among a few other meetings. We were glad to have him home again after he was finished. We have been in several churches since and have had a wonderful time. Traveling is very tireing for the kids as well as for Adam and I! We are able to be in some great churches and have made some wonderful new friends, but I will be so glad when this all comes to and end and we are again settled!

I am writing this while going down the road heading to Missouri. We get to spend the next week with our home church family and we are really looking forward to a time of re-couping while we are there!

Until I type again,
Brandie

Blog Reboot Coming!

We will make some changes to our blog. These changes will take place by February 25, 2009. Thanks for your patience.

Adam