The Turkey Whirlwind Tour November 3, 2006
Posted by Steve in : Weblog , add a commentI am blogging to you from Turkey — we were invited over here for a five day whirlwind tour of some churches to understand their long term planting and growth strategies and look at long-term partnerships. I am tired but excited — we flew through London so it so about 20 hours of planes, trains and automobiles but we arrived safe and sound. Turkey is an interesting, complex melting pot of nationalities and culture, intertwined with a rich and vibrant history. From Constantinople to its modern day pursuit of entry in the EU, Turkey sits in one of the most strategic places in this world — and I get five days to explore it!
Today after meetings, we headed out in the 40 degree rain to see the Blue Mosque and the 1,500 year old roman cistern. While I had been to Istanbul before, I only learned today that the Emperor who commissioned the Blue Mosque was 19 when they had the commissioning/groundbreaking ceremony in 1,609. Wow — what leadership at such a young age. The cistern amazed me at the incredible engineering almost 400 years ago — what an engineering marvel! Anyway, tomorrow, we have a full day of meetings then a late afternoon run through the Grand Bazaar!
