Sunday, January 29, 2012
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Big Day
Yesterday was a pretty significant day in my life for 3 reasons:
On JANUARY 22, 2002 I arrived in Hungary on a train from Germany with the plan that I would stay here for 8 or 9 months. The Lord had other plans, he just wanted to get me here first before showing me what those plans were :-)
On JANUARY 22, 2010 our daughter Felicia was born. She was severely asphyxiated at birth and had to be removed with an emergency c-section. The doctors determined that she had suffered brain damage, and told us to pray for a miracle, because that is what it would take for this little girl to get better, but they told us not to expect that she would ever be 100%. We didn't know if she would survive for hours, much less days, but yesterday, by the grace of God she turned 2 years old, and she TOTALLY healthy. She is smart and cute and ahead of the curve developmentally - a true miracle, all to the glory of God. A testimony to His kindness and grace.
On JANUARY 22, 2012 we ordained Hernádi Jani as a pastor, a fulfillment of the vision that God gave us when we moved to Eger 7 years ago of planting a church and raising up local leaders, and eventually a Hungarian pastor whom we could hand the church over to when the Lord would lead us on to the next place. Jani will take over the church when we move to Colorado in March, and we are excited to see all the good things God will do through this church in the future.
January 22 is a day we will never forget.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Change - Változás
There are some pretty significant changes going on right now with our family and ministry that we would like you all to know about.
This coming Sunday, January 22, we are going to ordain one of our elders - Hernádi János - as a pastor, and shortly thereafter he is going to take over pastoring the church here in Eger and our church plant in Heves.
In March, Rosemary and I and our kids, including Balázs, are moving to Colorado, where I am going to pastor White Fields Community Church in Longmont - where our friend Pete Nelson is currently pastoring.
We will fly out on March 6 to San Diego and spend 2 weeks in Southern California before driving out to Colorado. Our first Sunday at White Fields will be March 25.
I have been serving in Hungary for 10 years now, Rosemary for 13. We love Hungary and the work that God is doing through Calvary Chapel here, and it is very hard for us to leave.
This all may seem sudden to some of you, but it has been in the works for about a year and a half. We have waited until now, because we didn't want to leave until the ministry here was at a place where we could hand it over and until Jani was ready to step in as pastor.
We are not leaving because anything is wrong - in fact things are going really well in our ministry here and in our family, and we are making these changes simply because we believe that this is God's will and direction for our lives and for the churches involved. When we moved to Eger 7 years ago, our vision was to raise up leaders and eventually raise up a Hungarian pastor that we could hand the church over to. We are sad to leave Hungary, but at the same time, we are excited and looking forward to all the God has in store in the future for our family, for the church in Eger and for White Fields church in Longmont.
The ministry of the church here will continue on. God has blessed this church with a lot of committed and gifted people who want to serve the Lord with their lives. English Camp will continue - we already have the dates for it: July 9-14 - and Lord willing, I plan to be here for it this July, hopefully leading a team from White Fields to serve.
We would be happy to answer any questions that you might have!