March Update

Winter this year has been long and cold, but as with nature, even in the coldest times, life goes on. These past three months in Szolnok have been quite exciting for us. The most spectacular thing was the new footbridge opening in January. The new bridge, the Tisza flower, (pictured on the right,) is the next step in a broad, ten-year economic development plan. I think it’s a great looking bridge and has some really great features like windows along the floor where you can see the river flowing under you. It’s main purpose is to connect the downtown and student dorms with the college campus, tourist traps, and sporting areas. It’s all part of the city’s grand plan for turningSzolnok into the next Silicon Valley. It’s a great idea and I think it’s a wise use of the city’s resources, but it’s still got a long way to go. This is a step in the right direction and helping to make Szolnok more than just that city between Budapest and Debrecen.

As for the less spectacular things, we’ve had some hard struggles. The biggest thing this past three months was Atilla and Aniko, a couple who started coming to our fellowship in November, loosing their five year old son, Sámuel, to a sudden case of sepsis meningitis. From start to end, the whole thing lasted only a day and a half, which made the realization of what actually happened all the more harder to accept. They were really struggling and, honestly, so were we. As many of you know, Nick and Rosemary experienced a miracle with their daughter Felicia last year and so I wasn’t worried when I first heard the news about him being sick. I prayed, asked others, and fully expected God to work. Then, Samuel died. I found myself really questioning why God let this happen. Suddenly, our little fellowship found it’s faith stretched. But, praise the Lord, we have all come through it stronger in the Lord and in each other. While questions remain and healing continues, we can see a hope and a joy in our lives that God is using to help heal us and draw others to Him through us. Please continue to pray for Atilla and Aniko to lean upon the Lord in this time and that God would form us into a fellowship that loves and supports one another even more.

Also, the situation with Calvary’s status with the government has continued to look bleaker and bleaker. As it stands now, we are likely to fall into the „religous fellowships” grouping. This is the third tier of the new government system and would remove our church status (we would be treated as a non-profit, not a church) loose funding for our social services (like homeless shelters and kindergardens,) we wouldn’t be able to receive tax donations like the historical churches, and we would loose our Bible college accreditation with the EU education system. All in all, potentially big blows to the legitimacy of Calvary in Hungary but nothing God can’t overcome. We are still praying that God works in a mighty way through this time and we would be spared these problems, but should He not, we are confident He won’t be limited by the Hungarian government’s rejection of us.

As for victories, there have been a few. I’ve been able to meet and establish a relationship with two of the other historical churches in Szolnok. In January, the city churches held an ecumenical prayer week and each church took turns presenting a message. During the week, the meetings were held in the Methodist building so I attended and helped them with handing out information, directing people, and greeting. It was a great chance to get to know the other fellowships in town and their pastors in a non-confrontational way. I was even introduced by the Methodist pastor to the Reformed, Lutherin, Greek Orthodox and Evangelical pastors. I am praying this will lead to better relationships in the future so we can all work together to further Christ’s kingdom in Szolnok.

We’ve also seen some ground taken in the areas of the college and city library. On Valentine’s day, Marianna and I handed out some gospel fliers at the college campus to remind the students of the greatest valentine’s day gift ever; Jesus Christ. While there, we got the contact information for the advertising on campus and received permission to put up 12 posters around campus! This is a huge privilage and we quickly supplied the posters. We also were given permission to put up some posters in the local library where I have been studying for our Sunday teachings and leave fliers for the church at a community board area. All together, it’s a very encouraging thing, but we know that even with this it is God alone who brings the increase. We are really praying these posters will lead to people finding a relationship with Christ.

As for future programs, this weekend will mark the beginning of our evangelism season. With the warmer weather and more people spending their free time outside, we have decided to begin focusing more on getting out and talking to people. This Saturday, the 9th, we will be hitting the street with some brothers from Budapest and my friend, Scott Fales. Our goal is to interest people in talking to us, then inviting them to a Spaghetti feed that night where we can present them with the Gospel in a non-confrontational way. The next day, we will go on the streets and do it again, inviting them to church that afternoon. I believe this is an effective method for reaching people in this community, but we will see. The key will be convincing people to join us for dinner where we can discuss their feelings about God and share His truth in a more relaxed way.

The summer English camps are coming up soon as well as the summer conferences. This year I will be participating in both Debrecen’s and Eger’s English camps. My plan is to try to encourage any kids from Szolnok I know to go and see if we can’t lead them to the Lord through it. This is quite often a very successful ministry and we are praying this year is no exception. The yearly missions conference in June is a highlight of the year for me as it is one of the few chances I get to fellowship with many of the people I went to Bible college with. It’s a sweet time of worship, discipleship, and fellowship and we are very much looking forward to it. Also, this year’s Calvary Summer conference speaker will be Gayle Erwin! Not only will we be able to fellowship with our sister churches; Egerand Szeged (Marianna’s home church), but also be blessed with Gayle’s teaching is huge and everyone is very excited.

We are also really excited about this summer because our good friend, Kristen Huffman, will be coming to visit us for three months! She has asked to see Hungary and what’s going on here as well as just spend some time with us. She will be arriving in June and staying until the end of August. This is a huge blessing for us and we hope it will be for her as well. We arealready trying to plan all the places we can take her and show her the great sights of Hungary. We also might have the help of Zach Nagatani for the Debrecen English camp. He is praying about it and trying to work out the finances, but I am sure that if he can come, God will use him in an amazing way. His heart for the Lord and servant’s heart will be a huge blessing to the work and demonstrate to many of these kids how being a Christian doesn’t mean you have to be boring and strange.

That’s all for now. I pray you all are blessed, growing in grace, and that all this information encourages you in your work for the Lord as well. God bless!

Praise Reports:
• Barnabas translated two weekends ago for the first time and did a great job!
• Barnabas’ fiance, Zsuzsi, will be back in Szolnok in June and desires to help with children’s ministry.
• The move to Sunday afternoon has been successful and everyone seems to be comfortable with the new time.
• Marianna’s neice started coming on Sundays!

Our Future Goals:
• Raising more support or income to sustain our family and the ministry here.
• More outreaches with the help of other Calvary churches in Hungary
• Begin discipling and raising up ministry helpers.

Thank you once again from the bottom of our hearts for your prayers and support. God is truly working and blessing us and we couldn’t be doing what we are doing without you all. May God richly bless your faithfulness!