Weekly Update
September 22, 2008
FRIDAY
Above: On Friday morning, Ben dressed up in the Hungarian traditional black and white attire to take part in a Miners Day Celebration in the neighboring village of Rozsászentmarton where he is attending first grade.
Above: After the official ceremony ended, the kids had a fun time goofing off with class mates. Ben is doing an exceptional job in first grade. He often comes home with the highest mark (a gold star) on class work and has had no problem understanding what is going on in class.
FRIDAY NIGHT
Above: Our teen outreach continues to gain momentum. Currently, we are offering a time of clean fun together. In the next few months we will transition into set times of studying the Bible in these Friday night gatherings and also starting our winter soccer program in the public middle school.
Above L to R: Győző and Peti. This night is not just for teens. Peti is the husband of one of our church members, Eszti. They have three kids and Eszti is pregnant with their fourth. Peti does not attend church but is open to attend our Friday nights together.
SATURDAY
Above: On Saturday, we packed up two cars and headed into Budapest for an English Camper reunion party. Cathy was kind enough to take the grill master role.
Above: Campers sharing about what they have been up to in the summer. We held our reunion party in a coffee shop that we helped to build years ago when we first arrived in Hungary. It was really neat to see the various changes to the coffee shop and that it continues to be used for various ministry events.
SUNDAY
Sorry, no pictures from our worship service on Sunday.
Imagine pouring out a whole container of floor varnish in a closet and then sitting in the closet with the door closed. Lightheaded yet? Our church was greeted with strong varnish fumes from refurbishing work that was happening on the second floor of the building. Unfortunately, this caused some to have to walk out and back into service and led to various disruptions. At the same time this was the first night of a new time transition, moving our worship service up one hour from 5:00 to 4:00. Although we attempted to let everyone know, there were visitors that came at 5:00 surprised that we were in the closing minutes of service. With the fumes, and late arrivals, Dezső related to me after the service how he had to re-explain his introduction that lead to the meat of his sermon three times. It was sad, but we were able to laugh afterwards and hoped that the portion of his message in Romans that was repeated would bear fruit. On top of all of this, our worship leader Miki was serving with another church planter in another village. This meant that we had no music to back up our singing worship time...so we sang a-cappella. I say all of this not with a complaining heart, but with joy that those that attended were still able to worship God. Through the fumes, through distractions, through the a-cappella, those few that came wanted more of Him.
In our class on faith in Christ and baptism, Érzsi seemed to gain a greater understanding from God’s word about the background of baptism. We were seeking to make clear that baptism is not the creation of the local church, nor is it the badge of membership to a denomination. Unfortunately, confusion and false ideas abound when the subject of baptism is brought up. Érzsi initially thought it was a rite of passage from one denomination to another. I guess it doesn’t help that we are called a ‘Baptist’ church. For someone with no church background and a limited overview of the Bible, it is understandable how she misunderstood what baptism meant. Thankfully, she is able to explore God’s word in this class with us and discover the reasons for baptism.
Our church is in a time of testing and I ask you to pray for us. There are members who are in need of work. There are members who are working through hard heart issues. There are members that are young in their faith. Please pray for God’s blessing on us and that He would establish a mature, fruit bearing church that has a redemptive influence in this world.
Above: On Friday morning, Ben dressed up in the Hungarian traditional black and white attire to take part in a Miners Day Celebration in the neighboring village of Rozsászentmarton where he is attending first grade.
Above: After the official ceremony ended, the kids had a fun time goofing off with class mates. Ben is doing an exceptional job in first grade. He often comes home with the highest mark (a gold star) on class work and has had no problem understanding what is going on in class.
FRIDAY NIGHT
Above: Our teen outreach continues to gain momentum. Currently, we are offering a time of clean fun together. In the next few months we will transition into set times of studying the Bible in these Friday night gatherings and also starting our winter soccer program in the public middle school.
Above L to R: Győző and Peti. This night is not just for teens. Peti is the husband of one of our church members, Eszti. They have three kids and Eszti is pregnant with their fourth. Peti does not attend church but is open to attend our Friday nights together.
SATURDAY
Above: On Saturday, we packed up two cars and headed into Budapest for an English Camper reunion party. Cathy was kind enough to take the grill master role.
Above: Campers sharing about what they have been up to in the summer. We held our reunion party in a coffee shop that we helped to build years ago when we first arrived in Hungary. It was really neat to see the various changes to the coffee shop and that it continues to be used for various ministry events.
SUNDAY
Sorry, no pictures from our worship service on Sunday.
Imagine pouring out a whole container of floor varnish in a closet and then sitting in the closet with the door closed. Lightheaded yet? Our church was greeted with strong varnish fumes from refurbishing work that was happening on the second floor of the building. Unfortunately, this caused some to have to walk out and back into service and led to various disruptions. At the same time this was the first night of a new time transition, moving our worship service up one hour from 5:00 to 4:00. Although we attempted to let everyone know, there were visitors that came at 5:00 surprised that we were in the closing minutes of service. With the fumes, and late arrivals, Dezső related to me after the service how he had to re-explain his introduction that lead to the meat of his sermon three times. It was sad, but we were able to laugh afterwards and hoped that the portion of his message in Romans that was repeated would bear fruit. On top of all of this, our worship leader Miki was serving with another church planter in another village. This meant that we had no music to back up our singing worship time...so we sang a-cappella. I say all of this not with a complaining heart, but with joy that those that attended were still able to worship God. Through the fumes, through distractions, through the a-cappella, those few that came wanted more of Him.
In our class on faith in Christ and baptism, Érzsi seemed to gain a greater understanding from God’s word about the background of baptism. We were seeking to make clear that baptism is not the creation of the local church, nor is it the badge of membership to a denomination. Unfortunately, confusion and false ideas abound when the subject of baptism is brought up. Érzsi initially thought it was a rite of passage from one denomination to another. I guess it doesn’t help that we are called a ‘Baptist’ church. For someone with no church background and a limited overview of the Bible, it is understandable how she misunderstood what baptism meant. Thankfully, she is able to explore God’s word in this class with us and discover the reasons for baptism.
Our church is in a time of testing and I ask you to pray for us. There are members who are in need of work. There are members who are working through hard heart issues. There are members that are young in their faith. Please pray for God’s blessing on us and that He would establish a mature, fruit bearing church that has a redemptive influence in this world.
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