Trip to Ukraine

Today 7 of us from the church here in Eger will leave for Ukraine for the weekend. This will be our church's first "mission trip", and we are excited for what the Lord has in store.
Ukraine is a place that I have always prayed for - my family on my mom's side moved to North America from Ukraine, and when I first came to Hungary, my plan was actually to stay in Debrecen for a few months, and then move on to Ukraine. The Lord had other plans for me, but Ukraine's always had a special place in my heart.
For some time now our church leadership has felt that we would like to begin doing some ministry in surrounding countries, possibly in Ukraine - so for us, this is the first step in that direction.
We will be going to the Hungarian speaking region of Ukraine, right along the border, and working with Dankó Józsi, a guy who works with Eastern European mission doing social work, and has started a Golgota church in Berehove (Beregszász in Hungarian).

We have a few goals with the trip. One is that would like to be a blessing and help to Józsi is what he is doing. On Saturday we will go with him to a gypsy settlement and a boarding school for street kids (internátus) - where we will do music outreaches similar to what we do here in Eger. On Sunday we will lead the church service in Beregszász.
Another goal is that I would like people from our church to see what real poverty is like, with the hope that it will change how they view the world. When I was 18, I took a trip to the Dominican Republic to do evangelism. We went into slums where I saw extreme poverty - and it had a big impact on my whole way of seeing the world. To this day I remember it often, and it made me realize how much I actually have - I began to appreciate my material blessings more; it made me complain less, and be more thankful. I think that everyone should have that kind of experience - it changes you.
One other goal with the trip is to "get our feet wet" in Ukraine. We feel like this is the first step for us to take in getting involved in ministry there, and after we do this, we will wait for God to show us the next step.

Here are some things you can pray for, for the trip:

• Smooth border crossing - that it would be fast, and that there would be no problem with customs because of the donations we are bringing. That all the papers with the cars would be in order, and that we would be able to cross quickly and smoothly.
• For the 2 outreaches on Saturday afternoon - that the Holy Spirit would give us the words to speak, and that the whole time would be anointed and effective.
• We aren't exactly sure of how everything will go - so please pray that we would be flexible and led by the Spirit.
• For safe travel and for the cars to run well. My car isn't running as well as it used to, and neither is Jani's - so please pray for them!

I hope to take pictures of our time there and post them here once we've returned.
Thanks for praying!

Volunteer Day

Today our church participated in a nation-wide volunteer day, organized by the Reformed church. A team from our church took part, and we worked together with some Reformed believers and some boy scouts to fix up a playground in a poorer part of the city.
We planted trees, painted, and fixed up the sand area, which amounted to about 3.5 hrs of work.
Nate enjoyed helping out and playing, and was even filmed by the city TV station, who told me that he was the "perfect advertisement" for the campaign! Good job Nate!
It was good to get out in Jesus name and do something practical to bless our city.
Here are some pictures:

World Heart Day Outreach

Yesterday we had an all day outreach, in connection with World Heart Day.

Hungary has one of the lowest life expectancies of European countries, and heart disease is the biggest killer.

A woman in our church, Ági, has a heart problem, and she came up with the idea this summer that for World Heart Day we should organize an outreach with some doctors, in which we take basic readings and the doctor gives consultation, and through this we can share with these people about the importance of both taking care of their hearts physically, and giving their hearts to God spiritually.

We also created a flier for the day, which on the one side had information about how to have a healthy heart, and on the other side talked about the other aspect of the heart, and shared the Gospel message.

Another aspect of this idea which makes it good, is that there are many problems in the Eger hospital, so anything we can do to help the sick in the city is welcomed by the population, as well as by the local government. What we found during the outreach was that many people were very glad to be able to talk a doctor for a few minutes, as they don't often have this opportunity.

The response to the outreach was really amazing. In the morning we set up our tent next to the marketplace, and had a continuous crowd from 8 until noon, which never let up. We measured body mass index, blood presure and blood sugar readings and then Krisztián, our doctor gave consultation and prayed for them.

We are sure that many more people would have taken part if we would have had the capacity to take them. Hopefully next year we can have more doctors and more helpers, as there is definitely potential to reach even more people through this type of outreach.

In the afternoon we went to the city park, and had music and continued the outreach. We had fewer people come in the afternoon, but there was still a steady flow the entire time.

The whole program was a lot of work, but it was great to see how many people from the church stepped up to make it happen.

Today at church we had a new faces who we met at the market yesterday, and we were able to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with many people throughout the course of the day, while at the same time doing something beneficial for the city.

Please pray for those who we got to talk with and pray for yesterday, and for those who received the fliers!
Here are some pictures of when we were at the market in the morning:

Music Outreach

We had a music outreach tonight in the city park in Eger, which is known as the Bishop's Garden (Érsekkert).

It was hard to know what to expect. We have done similar outreaches before, and it's hard to know how many people will stop, or how to do the evangelism, but tonight it went really well.

Instead of having a whole band, we just made it very simple: 2 people, one playing guitar and singing, the other playing a drum.

We were able to talk to a lot of people and share our faith, including a group of kids who hung out for the whole time of the outreach.

Please pray that God would work in the hearts of those who heard the Gospel message or got Gospel tracts.

Here is a picture - although poor quality - of Laci sharing the Gospel from the microphone during the outreach:

College Outreach

The Eszterházy Károly College in Eger is not a major university, but it is certainly up and coming, growing and getting more popular each year. The school now has around 10,000 students, and the campus is spread out throughout the city.

When we first started the church in Eger, we had quite a few college students attending, but as they graduated, many moved away. We have wanted for some time to do outreach to the college students here, and this year God opened a door for us to do that.
A guy in our church named Sanyi goes to college in Budapest, and is involved with Campus Crusade there. Campus Crusade in Hungary is an organization that I really love, and they have been very effective in leading students to faith in Jesus. One of their main outreaches every year is to go into dormitories and hand out "Survival Packs" (Túlélő Csomagok), which are binders with stuff in them for the students, such as calendars, schedules, note paper, and articles about Christianity, as well as a Gospel tract.

Part of passing out these binders, is that there is a questionnaire in them about issues of interest to youth, including relationships and of course faith. On the basis of the answers to the questionnaires, we can easily see who it is who is interested in knowing more about the Gospel, and we can later contact them and invite them to meet with us personally. This has proven very effective in the past for Campus Crusade, and I know many people personally in Hungary who came to know the Lord through this.

Since Campus Crusade is not active in Eger, they allowed our church to distribute the Survival Packs here. We included our church flier/tract, and went into the dormitories this past week to hand them out.
Out of the 400 binders we got from Campus Crusade, we have already passed out 320. We will still go into some more dormitories here in Eger, but we were able to do the biggest part on Monday and Tuesday. It was a lot of work, but a good number of people from the church came to help out, and we were able to take 3 teams through the dormitories on both days, and get the Survival Packs into each room. We were also able to have some good conversations and share with the students about Jesus and about our church as they filled out the questionnaire.

The next step is to contact those who are interested in knowing more about a personal relationship with God. Please pray for us, that God would lead us in this, give us wisdom, and that many would come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior through this.
Here are some pictures of us in the dormitories:

Prayer Request for Saturday

Saturday is World Heart Day, and we have planned an outreach in which we will do free check ups and consultations downtown in the marketplace with some doctor friends of ours. We have also made a flier to hand out, which on one side has some information regarding having a healthy heart, and on the other side talks about the other aspect of the heart and the need to give your heart to Jesus. Also, as the doctor would also be a believer, he could talk to people about the importance of putting their faith in God as well.

We originally hoped to have a few doctors come out, but of those we invited, only one is able to be there.
Today, this doctor, Krisztián, called and said that his daughter has been quite sick, and if she is not better by Friday, then they won't be coming on Saturday!

Please pray for his daughter, Adél, to get better - both for her own sake, and for the sake of the outreach!
Thanks!

Busy Summer

We just got back last night from Vajta, where we were for our annual summer conference with the other Calvary Chapels from Hungary. The conference was GREAT. The topic was renewal, which I believe was really from the Lord, and God spoke to us, and began a work of renewal in many of us and in our churches that was very much needed.
I (Nick) spoke at the conference on the topic of renewal in service, and our worship team lead worship a few times. One of the highlights of the week for us was that Balázs got baptized on Friday, and we were able to see a significant change in his life, and his desire to walk with the Lord.

From Vajta, Andy and Kim Farquarson from Newcastle, Australia are here in Eger right now, and they will be serving with us for the next 3 weeks. Their presence here is a real answer to prayer, and they are real servants, helping us so much in many areas - especially with our English Camps.

Speaking of camps, our Kids Camp starts tomorrow. This camp is for primary school aged kids, and it will be held in our church building. We hope to share the Lord with the kids and their parents, have a good time, and teach them some English. We would ultimately like to see our children's ministry get working again, and hope this will be the start of that.

As far as our big English Camp goes, we have been having more and more sign-ups come in, and are up to 70 campers. We are really looking forward to camp this year, and are trying to cover it in prayer, asking God to do great things in the kids' hearts.

Please join us in praying for these things! Thank you!

Szihalom Children's Program

Last Saturday we did a Children's Program in Szihalom, and it went really well.
Quite a few kids came out - many more than we've ever had at any of our children's programs we've done in Eger.

I think that part of the reason is that there is never anything going on in villages, so when there is a program like this, everyone knows about it and everyone comes out. In Eger there is a lot of stuff going on all the time, and its hard to get the word out about a program like this. In Szihalom, we just print out a few posters on our printer, and within a day, the whole village knows about it and is talking about it!

The other day, I went to Szihalom to meet with Balázs's head master (he still goes to school in Szihalom every day), and as I walked down the hall, everyone knew who I was, because we've made a reputation for ourselves in the village!

We're glad about this open door in Szihalom, and are praying for the Lord's will and direction in what to do, and how, in the future.
In the mean time, here's a little video we made about the Children's Program:

Clothing Drive

Yesterday, our church did a clothing drive in Szihalom, a relatively poor village near Eger. There are some people from Szihalom in our church, and God has opened some doors there for us to reach out to the village.

This is the 3rd year we have done a clothing drive here, and each year we have been able to provide more clothes, had more people come, and been more effective in sharing the Gospel message along with the free clothing.

More and more in the church, we see that people have a desire to serve and to do things for others - and this is good fruit, and the evidence of the Lord's work in their lives.

Please pray for the village of Szihalom - that God would bless these people and that they would come to know His great love, and that He would show us what our part as a church is in that.
Please also pray for the Children's Program we will do in Szihalom on Dec 6.

Here are some pictures and a video from the clothing drive:

Weekend Outreach

We had a team here from the Bible College in Vajta this weekend, helping us out with various outreaches.
4 of them came, including Dusty, who has been here before and who was a big help to us at our summer English Camp. Dusty made good relationships with some of the kids, also leading 2 girls to the Lord who now attend our church. So, when some of the English Campers heard that Dusty was coming to town, they were excited to see her.
The outreach started on Friday - we planned an English Camp reunion out in the Szépasszonyvölgy, where we go in the summer to do church events like roasting fat over a fire - but we got rained out. However, some of the kids were able to meet us at the local mall, and the team hung out with them.
Saturday, we put up posters and handed out fliers in town which had Bible verses on them, as well as the church information. In the afternoon we went to Heves - a nearby town, where some kids come from to English Camp every year, and did a reunion there. A few kids showed up, and it was nice to see them and follow up a little.
Saturday night, the team went back out on the street with some people from our church and passed out more Bible verses and talked to people about the Lord.
All in all, it was a good weekend, and we certainly accomplished our goal of getting God's Word onto the streets and into people's hands, and of course spreading the word about our church as well.

• Please pray for those who heard about the Lord this weekend, through conversations on the streets, the fliers, and the posters, that God would water those seeds, and they would bear much fruit!

Post English Camp

The English Camp went really well this year - Praise God for that!
With more kids this year, there were some new challenges, but all in all it was a joy, and the kids and teachers all had a great time.
The Gospel was preached and seeds were sown. A number of the campers made commitments to Jesus, and the youth from our church who attended were strengthened as they were able to share their faith with their peers - many of whom are their classmates in school.
On the last day of camp, we passed out invitations for the students to bring their parents to church on Sunday, and today the church was full and people were having a hard time finding seats! I shared an evangelistic message from Ephesians 2:1-10, and we gave Welcome Packets to the parents and copies of Why Grace Changes Everything and More Than a Carpenter to the kids who came.
Praise God for a great camp, and for those who committed their lives to following Him!
Please pray:
- For the kids who were at the camp and who heard about God's love for them
- For those who came to church today and heard the Gospel Message
- For those who made commitments to Jesus at the camp
- For those who nearly made commitments, but are still counting the cost

Prayer Request: English Camp

Tomorrow we will start our 3rd English Camp here in Eger.
This year we have 80 kids coming, which is the most we've ever had - almost twice as many as last year.
We have barely enough teachers, and have even had a few problems - which God has worked out graciously. Shane's wife's dad will have a serious heart surgery on Monday or Tuesday, and we were really counting on their help to teach. Obviously they need to go and be with their family during this difficult time, but we weren't sure how we were going to cover without them here. But God is faithful, and he provided us with two girls from Debrecen who have taught in similar camps before, and are able to come for the exact amount of time that Shane and Marianna won't be at camp! It worked out perfectly - praise the Lord.
Please pray that God would use this camp in a great way. Previous camps have been very fruitful, and we're excited to see what God will do this week.
Please pray for us to have wisdom and sensitivity in how we share the Gospel.
Please pray that these kids would be impacted, and that their hearts would be receptive to the seed of the Gospel.

Intelligent Design Presentation Outreach

This past Thursday we organized an outreach here in Eger with our friend Geof Stimack, from Denver, doing a presentation about the scientific proofs for Intelligent Design and Biblical Creation.
We've done this outreach before, and always drawn big crowds from the city; this time was no exception, as the hall was packed with both Christian believers from local churches, as well as many non-believers who were just interested in the topic. We had a whole group of kids from a local high school come, where some of the youth from our church study. They mentioned the presentation to one of the teachers, who recommended that all the students should attend! Praise the Lord for that!
This is a great way to do outreach in Eger, because people here pride themselves on being cultured and intellectual, so they love to come and listen to lectures. This topic is also very powerful, because if we can prove from science that there must be a creator, then the obvious question is Who is this creator? and Why did He create me?, which are natural ties in to the Gospel.
Here's a video of the presentation: