STORY
After meeting and marrying before their senior year at Evangel University in Springfield, Missouri, Robby and Tracy Bradford moved to Mayville, Wisconsin in June 1991, where Robby served as an associate pastor at Christian Life Fellowship and Tracy taught in a public primary school. Even though they both felt a calling to Christian ministry outside of the United States, they also believed that they were gaining invaluable experiences that would better prepare them for their future work abroad. While in Wisconsin, Robby pursued an M.A. from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois.
In 1998, Robby and Tracy moved to Indianapolis, where Robby served on the staff of his home church, Lakeview Church (www.lakeviewchurch.org) as Single Adults Pastor. After 10 months on the job, the church’s annual missions emphasis came, and God spoke clearly to the Bradford’s that it was time to move ahead with their plans for ministry in Europe. Robby applied with Assemblies of God World Missions and was appointed to teach at Continental Theological Seminary (CTS) in Brussels, Belgium (www.ctsem.edu). After raising their support, the Bradfords left for a year in Albertville, France to learn to speak French in November 2000 and finally arrived in Brussels in November 2001.
While teaching Bible and theology at CTS and serving as the school’s dean of students, Robby led students in ministry throughout Europe and found himself preaching and teaching in Bible schools, churches, and national church conferences throughout the continent. During their travels, the Bradfords became more and more aware of the growing diversity in Europe. Realizing that international professionals, as well as immigrants, offer a great hope for a spiritual resurgence in western Europe, the Bradfords began to pray about planting an international church in one of the cities of Europe.
In the summer of 2005, the Bradfords moved to Hilversum, a city located 12 miles (20 kilometers) southeast of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. They partnered with Sebastiaan and Eva van Wessem, a Dutch-Austrian couple who were former students at CTS in planting Hilversum International Christian Center (www.hicc.nl). Also joining the church planting team were eight others coming from the USA. Together, the team of 12 saw a speedy emergence of the English-language church. In the summer of 2007, Robby handed over the role of lead pastor of HICC over to Sebastiaan. The congregation was running 250 people in the summer of 2007, composed of people from nearly every corner of Christianity and over 35 nationalities.
In the summer of 2009, the Bradfords will again begin an international, English-language congregation in Paris, the European Continent’s largest city, with over 12 million inhabitants. Targeting the western and southwestern suburbs, they believe the potential for such a congregation is enormous. The Bradfords are hoping a team of 15-20 will join them in this effort.
