October 2010

Weekly Update

SATURDAY IN HERÉD
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Above: Kira with Betti and Anna (daughters of church planting partners Dezső and Miki).

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Above: On Saturday we traveled 10 minutes to the small town of Heréd to perform a children’s concert, and lead various activities for children throughout the day. We have been traveling to Heréd every Easter and Christmas for the past five years to perform our evangelistic puppet show in their public school. Once arriving, we saw many familiar faces and kids came to greet us saying, “I know you!”

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Above: Leading the kids in a song that talks about the life and ministry of Jesus and asks the question, “What more could He do for you to show His love?” This has been a popular song in our VBS for the past few years and before getting to this song, some of the kids in the audience shouted out, “Play the hit, play the hit.” We’re thankful that God has opened up opportunity to plant seeds in this town through our puppet ministry and through our VBS and now through this community’s children’s day.

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Above: Brigi (from Petőfibánya) and Merci (from Rozsaszentmarton) have consistently attended our VBS and enjoyed singing along with us.

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Above: Miki on balloon duty.

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Above: Allen with face-painting duty.

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Above: Erika (far right) ran our craft table where parents and children could put together “The Good News Tree”. The tree is composed of beads with colors representing different truths of the Gospel, and Erika did a great job sharing the good news about Jesus Christ with others through this craft.

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Above: Parents and kids participating in the craft.

PROUD OF OUR GUYS!

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Above: On Saturday, Dezső, Peti and Gabi recieved a certificate of recognition for completing one year of formal Bible training at Logos European College. We praise God for this opportunity for them to receive theological training and for their perseverance and hard work in school.

FRIDAY VOLLEYBALL and TEEN OUTREACH

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Above: God was gracious to allow us to rent the public school gym in Petőfiábana to continue meeting with parents and teens for volleyball. This is a great way to regularly meet with people in the community. Miki will be inviting some of these parents to a grill party on Thursday. Please pray for open doors as we seek to share the good news with them.

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Above: Ben and Ellie’s vegetable people.
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Weekly Update

THURSDAY VOLLEYBALL

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Above: Behind our house, families begin to gather for Thursday night volleyball. We were surprised how quickly the news spread about our initial meeting with a few moms from preschool and thankful for this opportunity to interact with the community.

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Above: Warming up before the others show up. This will be our last time playing outside and we are looking continuing this relationship building outreach through renting out the public school’s gym for use on Fridays.

MINISTRY UPDATE

Our team recently reevaluated ministries and our team focus for the next few months. This is a great season of the church as we see evidence of people maturing and have opportunities to invest in lives of new believers. There are currently six people attending foundation of faith/baptism class, and we hope to have a Sunday baptismal service in early November.

Part of our restructuring of how we meet together as the body of Christ involved a focus on discipleship. Last year we were meeting as a large group once a week for a small group Bible study. This year, we split into a group for men and for women who met once a week. Now, we have split the men’s group into three smaller groups of 3-4 men which allows for more participation of each member, more one-to-one discussion, more mentoring and deeper relationships. Each of these smaller groups of men includes a mature leader, a maturing believer who has potential for leadership and a young believer who is new to the faith. The groups were intentionally divided up this way to create opportunity for mentorship and passing on responsibility incrementally to allow others to develop in their giftings as they are equipped for ministry.

“And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”—2 Timothy 2:2

Four men from our church continue to attend Bible school through an extension course. One Saturday a month, they travel to the school to turn in their homework and to receive instruction in theology. We praise God for this opportunity for these men (some of them brand new believers) to immediately have sound theological training and at the same time be involved in church planting from the beginning. Please pray for Dezső, Peti, Gabi and Tamás to be enriched spiritually as they go deeper into His Word and that they may be blessed by our Father to become humble servant leaders who live out what they teach.

SZÉKESFEHÉRVÁR TEEN CONFERENCE

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Above: Roland readying to help as a driver for our trip to Szekésfehérvár where the teens from our church would participate in a Christian conference. Roland is a new believer who initially began hearing the gospel at our Friday night teen outreach. God has used these conferences in the past to stir the hearts of these teens and we were thankful for ten from our area participating. The theme of the conference was “Stepping Out”, and moving forward in faith in the calling that God has given to you. Many Hungarians struggle with fear and a feeling of inadequacy which stunts their Christian growth limiting their willingness to be bold in proclaiming Jesus Christ through their lives. The conference was structured in such a way that the teens would receive training on site and then go out to minister... some joined street evangelists, some went out for prison ministry, some to elderly homes and others to perform a evangelistic puppet show in the public square.

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Above: Peti entering the meeting place which was decorated with shoes that went with the theme “Stepping Out”. Peti commented that the conference was very encouraging in his own struggles with fear and hesitancy in various areas of ministry. It was fitting that this conference came just before we had called Peti to offer a brief teaching in church (for the first time) on Sunday related to what he was learning in Bible School.

SUNDAY WORSHIP SERVICE

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Above: Sunday was a day of firsts for those who are continuing to mature in their faith. Peti (pictured above) gave a brief message for the first time in our church and proclaimed the greatness of God’s love and it’s importance to affect the way we live based on 1 Corinthians 13.

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Above: Gabi was also given an opportunity to offer a brief message on the importance of God’s word in our lives and the importance of how we handle the Scriptures with healthy fear. What a joy to see both Peti and Gabi stepping out (with fear and trembling) to share with the body what they have been learning in Bible School. What a blessing to see these young men maturing and discovering the gifts the Father has given to them to build up the body.

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Above: Downstairs, Marcsi (Dezső’s wife) was also given the opportunity to teach the children for Sunday School for the first time. I can still remember meeting Marcsi years ago for the first time when she attended Bible study in our house with Dezső. To see her now and how Jesus has changed her is amazing! Praise Him!

P1040595 Prayer Requests:

• Please pray for the spiritual growth of those new believers preparing for baptism, Erik, Ricsi, Roland, Eszti, Győző, Tamás and Ági. All except one are able to attend church and meet weekly with a leader for Bible study.

• This Saturday, our church will be traveling to the town of Heréd to perform a children’s concert. Please pray for opportunity to share the Gospel through our craft that we will also be providing. Pray for those participating from our church to be expectant of God’s using them to bless others.

• Pray for elderly church member Érzsi who broke her leg a few weeks ago. Pray for complete healing and for God’s provision for her family.

• Pray for church planter partner Miki to have the strength, wisdom and love needed to continue teaching his weekly Bible classes in public schools to children with no religious background and many who come from broken families.

• Please pray for our financial situation as our support levels have continued to be affected by the hardship in the US and the dropping value of the dollar.
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Weekly Update



Above: Short film of kids of our children having some fun at our local playground. This playground was built a year after we arrived and we thank God for the fun the kids can have there.

THAILAND TRIP

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A few weeks ago I traveled to Thailand for a conference. This is one of the longest flights I have ever taken, although my previous travel to Taiwan comes close to this 14 hour trip. Praise God for HIs protection and grace in allowing me to rest to and from Thailand on the flight.

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Above: Yummy bugs for your dining pleasure. The taxi driver accidentally took me to the local's walking market and not the tourist walking market, and I was glad he did. It was full of interesting sights, sounds and tastes from the local culture.

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Above: An ancient temple still housing idols that the majority consider to be worthy of worship. "The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything." — Acts 17:24. The preaching of Paul still applicable to the nations today.

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Above: The vehicles used for Taxis in Thailand.

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Above: One of the highlights of my trip was running into these taxi drivers. This was not a random event, but God's sovereign hand at work to share the gospel with these men. As I was walking down the sidewalk with friends, one of the men with a grin began asking me if I needed a taxi ride. After responding with a firm no, he continued speaking in English, "Where are you from?" My friends and I stopped and just began talking about life, culture and dreams. God then opened the door to begin talking about religion as I noticed one was wearing an idol that dangled from his neck. He explained that this idol protected him and brought him good luck. Then the man began to compliment me on my shirt, saying he needed to tell his wife about it and have her make one for him. I smiled and said, "Let me give it to you... as a gift." He was very excited and taken back that I would offer my shirt to a complete stranger. He grasped his idol pendant and said, "See!" I said, "No, no, this is from a different God." This intrigued him and opened the door for a long conversation about Jesus Christ, who claimed to be "the way, the truth and the life", the only true God. As we laid out the good news of Jesus, who died for our sins and was raised on the third day as Savior and Lord one of the men said, "There are more and more who are believing in Him... I know that there is a church in my home town." This was another evidence that God was reaching out to this man and providing a way for him to be saved from sin and gain eternal life in a relationship with the Father. We encouraged him to consider Jesus Christ, to ask God to show him clearly if the gods of his ancestors were to be followed, or if Jesus was to be believed. At some points when we spoke about the love of God, His grace and the relationship He offers to us through Jesus Christ, he was nearly in tears. Please pray for Chiah and his friends to find salvation a new life of peace with God through Jesus Christ.

FRIDAY TEEN OUTREACH

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Above: Tomi who attended our VBS this past summer continues to come to our Friday Teen Outreach. Praise God for using this ministry to continue building new relationships with teens.

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Above: Group games to break the ice with the teens. Győző (center with hand raised) is currently attending our foundations of faith/baptism class. LIke other teens who attend our church, Győző brought a friend who will begin hearing about Jesus and interacting with the church (not the building but the people) as he continues to attend.

SUNDAY WORSHIP

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Above: Eszti, Miki and Dezső in worship practice before church on Sunday.

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Above: Kids learning about Genesis 1 and God's powerful work of creation.

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Above: Ben after playing with berries on a bush in our neighbors yard.

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Above: Happy birthday Sharon (Sep 25th). Teammate Brenda was kind enough to provide a gluten free birthday cake.

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Above: Some favorite family shots.
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