Germany's Headed to Vienna - EM 2008

OLE OLE OLE! Deutschland Deutschland Deutschland über alles!

Hahaha, all Germany is celebrating the victory over Turkey in the semifinals of the European Championships yesterday! Germany will face either Spain or Russia (these two play tonight to see who moves on against Germany) in the championship game in Vienna, Austria this Sunday night! Germany hasn't played in the EM Finals since 1996.
Last night instead of the normal Wed. night service, we showed the game on the big movie screen at church (remember our church building used to be a movie theater!). It was awesome to gather together as a church and enjoy the German victory. Many of the members invited their non-believing friends to come and watch with us in the church. In fact, one comment from someone impressed me. He said that this definitely breaks the 'spirit of legalism' amongst German churches. Normally something like this is not done in a conservative German church. Oh well, Calvary Chapel is known for breaking molds, hehehe ;-).

Here in Freiburg it was crazy - they estimated that over 20,000 people descended on the city center to watch and celebrate. It got pretty loud - chanting, singing, yelling, laughing, cheering, etc. I feel sorry for the outreach team from Horizon Christian Fellowship in San Diego who spent the night at the church in the city center - probably didn't get much sleep!

A few impressions below...