************************* Wendy<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Adrian<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Adrian<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Wendy<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Adrian<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Wendy<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Adrian<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Wendy<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Adrian<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Wendy<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Adrian<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Wendy<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Adrian<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Wendy<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Adrian<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Wendy<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Adrian<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Wendy<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Adrian<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Terry<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Adrian Terry Adrian<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Terry<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Adrian<\/span><\/em><\/strong> Terry<\/span><\/em><\/strong>
Adrian<\/span><\/em><\/strong>
Wendy, I want to ask you something now because it\u2019s been awhile since you\u2019ve had a chance to get a word in edgewise\u2014I suspect you might be used to that! (Laughter) How has it been for you with your husband\u2014obviously in the younger years, away a lot\u2014leaving you at home with the kids\u2014five I think?<\/p>\n
Yes.<\/p>\n
This is a very personal question, because my poor wife has the same problem.<\/p>\n![\"Wendy](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/298\/2008\/07\/Wendy_Virgo_2-782886.jpg\")
<\/a>Wendy<\/span><\/em><\/strong>
Oh, yes, she has five kids, too.<\/p>\n
And me traveling more for work, of course. But how did you cope being left alone, like she is right now, with five children and actually no car, I\u2019m ashamed to admit.<\/p>\n
Oh, right. Well, when Terry was away, usually it was abroad, so I did have the use of the car, which was very helpful.<\/p>\n
Well, she usually does as well. This is, in fact, the first time since we went down to one car that we\u2019ve been in this situation.<\/p>\n
Oh, right.<\/p>\n
Well, what about you? You were left at home; he was away . . .<\/p>\n
Well, our main focus is to build churches, which are really all one another in context, so we aren\u2019t left alone, in fact. I was very much involved in church life and very beautifully loved and served by the church that I\u2019ve been in now for twenty-five or six years. And, I didn\u2019t actually feel that I was left alone. Obviously, I missed Terry a lot when he was away, but life was very busy and very full, and I never felt solitary, if you know what I mean.<\/p>\n
Yeah, yeah.<\/p>\n![\"Terry](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/298\/2008\/07\/Terry-and-Wendy-Virgo_030508_013-779112.jpg\")
<\/a>And it has been great that as the children have grown up and now have their own homes (they\u2019re all married now) that I can travel much more with Terry. I think it is a new season. Terry always used to travel with another guy or a group of guys because it was part of his training of them and part of introducing them to our values and helping them to see how an apostle works and how to work with an apostle, and developing a whole understanding of apostolic work. So, to take a group of guys with him was very helpful and instructive to all concerned. But now we have a number of men who would be in that position, like David Holden<\/a>, Dave Devenish<\/a>, and so on, who would also take groups of people with them, teams I would say. But as they have developed teamwork as well, they are now going off with their wives because their children are also grown up. So it\u2019s becoming a bit of a pattern, I think.<\/p>\n
You\u2019re very much involved, right in the thick of things, then?<\/p>\n
Probably not as much as say, some people like Dave Devenish, who goes into a place for several weeks or months at a time.<\/p>\n
And he\u2019s taken his wife in those situations?<\/p>\n
Well, yes, that\u2019s the thing. It\u2019s quite a sacrifice, I think, at times. Tramping around places like Kazakhstan, places I can\u2019t even pronounce. But, actually, Terry now will be going to Australia for three months at the end of this year, and that will be a new adventure for us.<\/p>\n
But you went to America for three years, didn\u2019t you?<\/p>\n
Two years.<\/p>\n
Two years!<\/p>\n
Yes, yes. Actually that was a very positive time, too.<\/p>\n
Yes. So, I\u2019m going to move back to Terry for a moment now because your wife just mentioned this funny \u201ca\u201d word\u2014apostolic, apostle work. What about that? Because obviously there will be a lot of people who will, I guess, not really understand what that means for Newfrontiers.<\/p>\n
Yes. I think it\u2019s very important to say that we see different types of apostles, even in the Bible\u2014Jesus the great apostle; the twelve, unique obviously, in the book of Revelation.![\"Terry](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/298\/2008\/07\/image0-711864.jpg\")
<\/a> But then you see in Ephesians 4\u2014Jesus ascends on high and gives from his ascended position apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers\u2014so there\u2019s that ongoing ministry. He says this will be until the Church comes to fullness of stature, to a mature man. So, in a sense, this is an ongoing thing that God will continually give these varied ministries. So one isn\u2019t looking for more Bible writers. I think very often we from the reformed tradition have thought\u2014well, an apostle writes the Scripture and that\u2019s his role. But, really, I don\u2019t think that stands up to close inspection. Several of the twelve did not write Scripture. Several of the people who wrote Scripture were not apostles, so it\u2019s not really the point. The point is more church planters. Paul says as a wise master builder, \u201cI lay the foundation\u201d\u2014he traveled, he planted churches. We feel that\u2019s really what we\u2019re talking about\u2014modern day church planters. People who pioneer new ground, establish eldership, establish churches, and a fathering, ongoing care for those churches, strongly built on relationship, so that we\u2019re friends in the ministry, as Paul referred to people. Even at the end of Romans, in chapter 16, there are all these personal greetings to people. So we\u2019re building very relationally. We\u2019re building new churches, planting churches. And now v
\narious teams have been raised up doing apostolic work. [Ed: See post Apostles Are Meant For Today<\/span><\/a> for more information.]<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/em><\/strong>Right. So I guess in summary what you\u2019re talking about, for those people who have different vocabularies, is someone who can church plant and help establish churches. That\u2019s obviously exciting. I mean, there are 500 churches in Newfrontiers now, aren\u2019t there? Is that right?<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/em><\/strong>It\u2019s probably nearer 600 now.<\/p>\n
Wow! Last time I checked it was 400, so the number must be going up very quickly.<\/p>\n
Yes, it is. I\u2019ve been in touch today, just a moment ago, with Edward Buria in Kenya<\/a>, where there are now some 130 churches, which he has helped start, and we served with him and are very much in touch with him at the moment with the political tensions there. And then we have churches in South Africa, and indeed, around the world. So when you add them all up around the world, it\u2019s untold. It\u2019s difficult to keep up because Edward plants so many churches in Kenya. But we\u2019re also planting churches in West Africa, South Africa, and into Asia, and as Wendy was saying, Australia now, New Zealand. So we\u2019re planting churches very widely.<\/p>\n
You didn\u2019t mention anything about America, though.<\/p>\n
Yes, we are. I\u2019ve been to the USA, and in fact, we\u2019ll be at the . . .we\u2019ve been in March to the Leaders Conference, and then we\u2019re going again in June to our midwest family camp [ONEBLAZE<\/a>] held in Warrensburg [Missouri] just outside Kansas City, and then in August we\u2019re going across to the West, where we have growing involvement in Oregon, and in Idaho and Montana\u2014a number of churches that are reaching toward us. Quite a lot of these pastors are coming over. I understand thirty pastors are coming from the West to our Brighton Conference<\/a>, Together on a Mission<\/em>, in July, where there will be about 5,000 gathered there. But just from that part of America, we have thirty coming. So I would think there might be something in the region of sixty coming over from the US to our conference in the summer. [Ed: For more details see Newfrontiers events in the USA<\/a>.]<\/p>\n