Outreach

*Sorry this post is a little long but I wanted people to have a better idea of what we did for this outreach*

First, thank you for your prayers. This outreach was born out of prayer and it truly was awesome to see God moving in our midst in response to those prayers.

The body of Christ coming together:

Balazs' mom, younger brother, and his girlfriend came down to be a part of this outreach which really was a huge blessing and a new thing for this family to serve the Lord alongside one another. Praise Jesus! A team also came from the bible college to help us. They brought some Americans, a British, an Australian, a Ukrainian, and two Hungarians. That in itself was awesome. We were quite a diverse group! Also, a couple who were a part of our church but had to move to Budapest a few months ago for work came down as well. Many people from our church came out to help as well. It was so cool.

One of the things that blessed us beyond words was another pastor from a different church in the city (he, Balazs, and a few other pastor's meet regularly to pray and work together) brought his family to help for the day. His wife brought all of the things needed to do another craft, they allowed us to borrow their bouncy house and their professional sound equipment. As if that is not awesome itself, nothing says Jesus more than a pastor of another church sharing the gospel with people and inviting them not to his, but to our church. Seriously?? This is just an example of how Jesus worked that day!

Program:

Friday afternoon when the team arrived we set out to the park and some of the guys started to play music and talk to the kids in the park. Others played soccer and the girls had a girls youth group in the park. We handed out invitations to all of the families in the park as well. After a while some teen guys came up (from the school Balazs shares in) and asked if they could free style and beat box with us. After hanging out with these guys and sharing Jesus with them they asked if they could come back the next day. Balazs told them they could perform on the mic if they would not cuss. They showed up the next day and did a great job. Both have promised to come to church.

After the park, I made spaghetti & we had dinner together and prepared some of the crafts and other stuff for the next day.

Saturday we began with prayer and worship before having lunch prepared by one of the ladies from our church and Balazs mom. After that, we headed to the park and set up. We stayed at the park from 1 until 6 or 7.

We had face painting (very popular!), we made Mother's day cards (it was the following day here in Hungary), we made pasta necklaces, gospel bracelets, magnets for the refrigerator, and used foam to make all sorts of stuff. We had a bouncy house, organized games (baseball, parachute games, soccer, etc). Balazs, his brother, one guys from the team, and two guys from the church played some awesome live music. Balazs also shared the gospel on the mic several times over the afternoon.

Outcome:

While we of course do not know all that God did in the way of planting seeds, moving hearts, etc., we know God was with us!

Many of our team were able to go around and talk with the parents standing around waiting for their kids. We shared the gospel and invited them to church and let them know we would be having church in their neighborhood come September. Nearly every person was receptive and extremely grateful and surprised that we came out to bless them (for free!). Many showed interest in coming to the church once it moves out to that area of town in the Fall.

We really felt the presence of God with us all through the planning, organizing, and actual program. It was super cool for us as a church and we look forward to doing more before we move the church there.

*On a side note, a few days before the event, the pastors mentioned above that pray with Balazs laid hands on him and prayed for this event and all gave their blessing and encouragement that we move the church out to that part of town. We have been burdened for this area for quite a while now and have been praying for it for some time. There are 8 schools, 6 preschools, hundreds of block style apartments, the university, old folks homes, etc. and not a single church amongst thousands of people. Not even a Catholic temple. So, we are now looking for a buildings in order to move the church there in September. Please pray that God would lead us to the right building that we can afford.

Thanks again for being a part of our outreach with your prayers!

Ministry Update

Wanted to give a quick ministry update and ask for some prayer for the upcoming things. We are super excited but it is a lot of work in the coming weeks and we need your prayers for Jesus to come near to us and to people we meet with.

Youth group:

Balazs and Andy *the Australian* took the boys to Slovakia for a youth conference where Balazs taught two sessions. Two weekends later they took the boys to the Calvary Youth Conference and again Balasz taught two sessions. The boys are really getting serious about following Jesus and we are so blessed to be a part of their lives. All of the youth kids have at least one (most of them both) parents who are not believers. Please pray for God to use these kids in the lives of their parents.

Church: *Prayer*

We have really felt led to bring the church together through prayer. Especially with all of the upcoming events, we must see together that it is only with the empowering from God that we can do anything. Because of this and the dynamics of our church, we will be providing childcare for the next two weeks to enable more people to be able to come and pray. If it goes well and more are able to come, we may do childcare every week. Please pray for our church to be burdened for prayer.

Outreach:

We have 2 major outreach events coming up in the next couple of weeks. First, April 24th we, along with 4 other local churches are hosting a concert at the largest event center in our city as part of the Cultural events for the year (Pecs is one of the 2 cultural capitals in the EU this year, this is a BIG deal). We are responsible for cleaning the entire center along with other stuff. Each church will fast and pray for a day the week before the concert. Please pray that this concert and the gospel being shared at this event opens hearts to saving faith in Jesus.

The second outreach is May 1st. A team from the bible college will come down to help us host a kid's festival where we will have a bounce house, craft tables, games, face painting, and a band playing *Balazs & others*. We will share the gospel with the parents who come as they are waiting for their kids. We have done this type of outreach before and it was great. Please pray for all of the planning and organizing we need to do and for permission to be given by the police station. Please pray for our church to be totally involved, for them to invite people to come, for them to take ownership of this outreach. Please pray for the church to grow in their faith and trust in Jesus through this event. Please pray for people to come to know Christ and for people to come to church.

We have some other plans coming up for church retreats and prayer days, for a recipe exchange outreach with women, for a church women's retreat, and other events. None of this will be possible without prayer. Please pray with us for these things. This really is a big step forward for us and for our church. Please partner with us in prayer. Thank you!!

Embracing bitterness on the road to finding freedom

I am going to share something many of you may not know about me. I am an amazing builder. I build fantastic walls that rival the likes of the Great wall in China, the walls of Barcelona, or the great walls of Cairo.

The only difference is my walls surround my something much more valuable...my heart. I will not go into why I do this, but suffice to say it is a very effect protective mode that I embrace any time I am in danger of being hurt. I find it far easier to shut off any emotional connection than to deal with whatever it is that is threatening me. Clearly this pattern is not glorifying to God. Nor trusting in His ability to escort me through the circumstances I find myself in.

Through a series of events, God has been speaking to me loudly about this issue. Roots have a funny way of finding ways through seemly impenetrable places. Case in point, my heart. For the past couple of years, we have been dealing with something that I thought I had been handling very well and because of my wall, I was able to deceive myself. This past week however, I have seen how some roots have made their way in. Roots of the most destructive type. Roots of bitterness. In my case unforgiveness. Hebrews 12:15 talks about the roots of bitterness and how they spring up and cause trouble, and by it many become defiled. One thing we are learning as we minister, is that bitterness is very destructive in the life of a believer and in a church. Because of the walls I create though, I didn't even realize I had been hurt and that over time that hurt turned sour and bitter. I thank Jesus that He has shown me this before the reaches of this are too great to overcome.

I am teaching this week in the prison on bitterness and forgiveness. It is funny how God always teaches me far more than I teach anyone else. I do love that about our relationship with Him. He wants us to be conformed into the image of His Son and He is relentless in His efforts if we are willing.

I think in general I am a very forgiving person, I don't hold grudges easily and I usually just let go. One of the ways that I knew I had been changed by the saving power of the gospel is that I let go of all the anger and bitterness I had held onto for years in the matter of a day. I was free. I realize now of course, that holding onto it did nothing to change the other person, it only put me into a prison and held me there choking out any chance I had at being free. But then Christ entered my life and I was able to let it all go. I have tried to remember throughout my walk with Jesus that as I have been forgiven much, so must I also forgive (Col 3:13). For the most part, I have been able to do this but then God is showing things like this in my heart right now and it breaks me. It reminds my of the depth of my sinful heart and brings me to my knees in repentance.

I realize than in order to clean out the roots that have taken hold, I must let the walls down, accept that I have been hurt, go immediately to the only One who can comfort, heal, restore, and then... let it go and walk in the freedom that comes in forgiveness.

I share this with you in the hopes that you will search out your own heart and ask God to reveal any roots that have taken up residence. I share this as a way to be healed (James 5:16) and ask you to pray that God would do a work in my heart. I share this with you to ask you to pray that the work that the Lord does in my heart would open up floodgates in our midst here and allow a deep work of forgiveness and healing to be done. I share this with you so that He may be glorified as we all witness the power of a sinner being set free once again through His grace.

Rest Day

Yesterday was one of the best day's of rest we have had in months. We try to take every Monday off as a free day/family day. This means, the church knows we are basically not available that day, phones are turned off, and we try to get refreshed and ready for the new week ahead.

Yesterday, we left around 9am, packed a picnic and headed out. The weather was beautiful (low 70's)!! We started out at a local farm showing the kids all of the baby animals born recently, sheep, horses, pigs, rabbits, etc. Then we went to a nearby lake and let the kids ride their bikes on the bike path. We chose a spot along the way and had a picnic lunch next to the water. We put the kids down for naps on the blanket and we talked and prayed while they slept. On the way home, we even stopped off at a park to play! After the kids went to sleep we watched a movie, prayed some more and went to sleep. It was a great day.

We feel refreshed and ready to start the week! Praise the Lord!

Pastor's conference

Just wanted to ask for prayer for Balazs as he left today for a pastor's conference with all of the other CC pastor's in Hungary. He will be there until Saturday. Please pray that God would speak to all of these men and that Balazs would return home refreshed, built up, and with fresh vision and direction for the church here in Pecs. Thank you!!

On a side note, we are so thankful that Spring is here! Today is the first day it is warm and beautiful. Our hearts are rejoicing and we (Ok, mostly me) were almost screaming when we saw a butterfly this morning! Nothing make you appreciate Spring and the wonders of God's seasons more than a long, cold winter. In the words of E, age 3, Thank you Looord for the sun and spring! AMEN!

Fellowship.Community.Friends

The heart and soul of church. This past Sunday after church a few families headed to a spiritual retreat center near Pecs ran by an American couple who recently began attending our church. The purpose was to celebrate the birthday of a man whose wife and kids are part of our church. It was a surprise for him (quite the organizational feat). He was so shocked that we all gathered together to celebrate him. It was awesome. We BBQ'ed, ate way too much, played cards and spent the night out there. The next day we ate way too much again, hiked, and headed home. It was a great time and we felt so refreshed just being in the company of such great friends. Here are a few pictures of the trip. Speaking of great friends, this is the Australian couple who have become great friends and are teaching us what genuine friends, community, fellowship are all about.

Women's Bible study

So tonight, I will meet with 5 other women as we study the book of Hosea. Amazing stuff in there. Most of you know ministry can be tough some times and both B and I are really challenged right now. If all else was stripped away, church and all of its stuff with it, what would it be like? What would be different? God is not interested in what we do for Him, how well we do church, any of our religious tradition. He wants steadfast love and the experiential knowledge of Him(Hosea 6:7. It's a good reminder as we are currently seeking God about how we spend our time, energy, etc. What is most important to God? How do we apply the gospel to our daily lives? What does it look like to lead others to the daily application of the gospel in their lives? We want more of Jesus. Holy Spirit work in us!