Merry Christmas - Boldog Karácsonyt!

We had a great Christmas this year. The Christmas Eve service at White Fields was packed, we ate töltött káposzta forint dinner, which is a Hungarian tradition for Szenteste. Ocean cooked the stuffed cabbage for us, and it turned out great; one of the best we've all had, even compared to in Hungary. The nice thing about Hungarian food is that it is designed to be made from scratch, so you can theoretically make it anywhere.

On Christmas Day my parents came over and we had a big meal, opened presents and played and assembled things together. After they left some friends came over to play a board game to close the night. All around a great Christmas. Hope yours was great too!

 

Thanksgiving Video Update

This is a video we made for our friends and supporters over at Calvary Vista. They showed it as part of their Thanksgiving Eve service.

It was pretty cold outside when we made it - I thought I wouldn't need a jacket. I was shivering!

Calvary Vista supported us while we were in Hungary and they have continued to love us and support us since we've come to Colorado. We are thankful for them!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! What are you thankful for this year? How have you experienced God's grace and provision?

Pastor Chuck Smith Memorial Service and Tribute

A few weeks ago, during our series called DNA: The Building Blocks of Life, I spoke about Pastor Chuck Smith, who recently went home to be with the Lord (click here to listen to it).

Pastor Chuck was a man who was used greatly by God and left a profound legacy. His ministry had a huge impact on my life and on the lives of people around the world. 

A memorial service and tribute to Pastor Chuck is going to be held this Sunday, October 27th at 6:00pm MDT. The service is going to be held at the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA, but will be simulcast on the internet so you can watch it live wherever you are at on your computer, tablet or smart phone: http://watch.pastorchucksmith.com.

The story of what God did through Chuck is one that should be shared and heard around the world. I encourage you to tune in on Sunday night and listen to the stories and be encouraged and celebrate a life well-lived for God's glory.

Missional Mindset

This coming Sunday I will be continuing my series called "DNA: The Building Blocks of Life" with a study on Mission.

Check out this video of Tim Keller discussing characteristics of missional Christians and missional churches:

 

Feel free to leave feedback in the comments and let me know what you think.

Colorado Floods: How You Can Help

(Mirrored here from the White Fields Community Church blog)
In the last few days we experienced a historic and destructive flood, and so many people have been asking how they can help.
Here are some ways that we as the Body of Christ can shine light in the community:

Pray!

Pray for those affected by the floods, that not only would their needs be met and their hearts comforted, but that as a result of this time of crisis, they would remember how fragile life is and how temporary and fleeting possessions and the things of this world are, that they would turn to the Lord and find hope in the Gospel that goes beyond the circumstances and material things of this life.

Serve!

Jesus said: "Let your light so shine before others, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." (Matthew 5:16). We encourage you to serve people in our community in the name of the Lord. There are many ways to do that, starting with helping those in our congregation whose homes were affected, to helping neighbors or friends who were affected.As a church, we are working closely with Longmont EOC (Emergency Operations Center) and Convoy of Hope Christian disaster relief ministry to help in recovery efforts, which will begin in the next few days and continue probably for the next few months. We will be looking to put together work teams to be able to go in and help with repairs and clean up. If anyone has special skills, please let us know, so we can help you meet those specific needs. For a list of current volunteer opportunities click here.

Give!

We have started a fund, called "Colorado Relief". You can give to that fund online here. In speaking with the EOC, they are going to help direct us to use these funds to help particular families meet important and specific needs. This is a good option if you would like to help people in our community and aren't sure how, as this will go directly to helping flood victims in our area, without any of it going to overhead.As of now, there are no particular material needs that we or the EOC or the Red Cross have, so we encourage you to give to the relief fund and we use those monies for hurting families as they come to our attention through these organizations we are partnering with.

Last Day in Eger

Today we spent the day meeting up with people and winding down before we leave to go back to the US.

We got together with a number of people from the church here, took Natalie and Suzan to a confectionary and coffee shop (cukrászda), which they appreciated, being cake makers themselves.

Here is Felicia playing dolls with Poczok Judit

Here is Suzan and Natalie with Pastor Jani, Tünde and Julcsi.

Here in Eger before and after camp we've been staying with our friend Krisztina - the doctor who first held Felicia. God used her to save our little girl's life and since then we have developed a wonderful friendship with her. She's came out to visit us in Colorado and was there for Felicia's birthday in January. She was a gracious hostess and we had a good time catching up. Krisztina also came out to camp a number of times last week, as she has to each camp over the past 3 years.

We will leave Eger tomorrow morning on the train to Budapest, and then we fly out from there.

 

After Camp

Camp ended on Saturday; we had devotions and prayer in the morning, and then teachers met with their classes one last time. Then we packed up, said goodbye to the kids, and got everyone back into town - a process that takes about 3-4 hours.

We had a great team of servants this year and made wonderful connections with the campers.

After getting everyone into town, people from church showed the helpers around Eger and took them up into the castle. Rosemary and the kids, Natalie and Suzan all went up into the castle, but I ran into our Canadian friends Rob and Kitty who used to attend our church in Eger when they lived in Heves as English teachers. They were leading a team from their church on a trip to Ukraine where they did a camp for their denomination. They were in Eger to spend a few days sightseeing before heading home. We had a great time catching up; it was a wonderful treat.

In the evening, all the helpers got together for dinner and debriefing.

This morning we had church; I preached and we had a full service with many kids from camp coming out.

After church the youth group had their meeting - and even more kids from camp showed up. Kriszti, who leads the youth group here is doing a great job.

We also had a great surprise this morning that the Pápai family from Debrecen drove up for church to see us. We had a great time with them after church catching up.

 

Images of English Camp

Camp is over; the week flew by, but it was an excellent week - a lot of good ministry was done and the Gospel was preached.

Nate had such a good time at camp. On Friday night he was so sad that camp was almost over, that we let him stay up until almost midnight playing games with us in the coffee shop. The next morning he was so exhausted, we couldn't get him to wake up when it was time to go!

Natalie and Suzan did a great job teaching classes, crafts and archery to the kids. They loved the archery - it's somewhat of a national past time here in Hungary, so it was a good connecting point.

This year we had the greatest number of kids come to our testimony times than ever before. We don't make this part of the camp compulsory for them, but this year we had so many kids each day, that often times, kids who came late had to stand because there were no more seats. In spite of that, kids would stand on their feet for an hour listening to us tell them stories of how God had worked in our lives. It was great.

Here's a photo of Anil sharing his testimony. Anil was a medical student in Debrecen back in the day, when Rosemary and I ministered amongst them, and now attends Calvary Chapel in Syracuse, NY.

Erika from church here taught the kids how to do tie dye.

Rosemary spent time with pastors' wives Tünde from Eger and Anna from Nyíregyháza

 

You can find a lot more pictures of the camp on the official Eger English Camp Facebook page.

 

Jani's Story

We've been so busy with camp; I feel like I have so much to write, but so little time to do it!

For now I will just post this video of Pastor Jani sharing his story of how he came to know The Lord. I'm translating into English, which was interesting since part of the story was about me.

I love looking back and seeing the great things God has done, and I love being part of what God is doing as He is writing new testimonies of His love and grace in people's lives.

Gypsy Church Problems

Back when we started the ministry in Heves, which eventually turned into a gypsy church, I realized that doing ministry is that community, I faced issues which I never had to face amongst the white Hungarians in Eger.

I have put it in terms before of white people problems and gypsy problems. For example, in Eger, when people wanted to confess their sins or ask for prayer, it was things like: "I want to be more loving", "I'm struggling with unforgiveness", "I don't read my Bible enough", etc. These are all valid issues that should not be minimized. But amongst the gypsies, I met with all of these issues, plus a few unique ones which I never faced in Eger, such as: "I stabbed someone", "I'm a prostitute", "If I give my life to Jesus, do I have to stop stealing?"

When we moved to Colorado last year, Jani took over the ministry in Eger and in Heves, and he told me a few more unique "gypsy church problems" he has faced down in Heves:

A new couple showed up at church one day, and one of the guys who attended the church came up to Jani after the service and said: "if that couple starts attending this church, I'm going to leave." "Why?" asked Jani. "Well, because they did something to me once, and I have forgiven them, but I just don't really want to be in fellowship with them. "What did they do to you?", asked Jani. "Well, one night they lit my house on fire while I was asleep inside (rám gyújtották a házamat). That made me really upset."

Yeah. I think I would be upset too if somebody did that to me!

Another story he told me, was that one Sunday afternoon when he went to do church, there was a really loud party in a nearby house. "What's going on there?" asked Jani? "Oh, that's where the drug dealer lives, and he's having a big party." But after a while the music suddenly stopped. "What happened?" "They ran out of money on their electricity meter." After some shouting outside, the music started up again and continued on. See, the electricity company installs 'pay-as-you-go' electricity meters on houses of people who are not deemed trustworthy to pay their bills. That way, the person must prepay for their electricity use, and when it runs out, the electricity is cut off. That's not such a terrible idea, actually!

Ministry amongst gypsies is many things, but boring is not one of them.

Reunited

I arrived in Hungary on Saturday night; I actually love doing the long flight alone - it's so relaxing!

My friend Laci, pastor of Calvary Chapel in Dél-Pest, picked me up and we spent some time catching up. I always enjoy spending time with him - great guy with great vision, and The Lord is doing a great thing through him on the south side of Budapest.

It was great to see Rosemary and the kids again!

Nate and I got coffee in the morning; his was a milk actually. He's so excited being in Hungary. He's been speaking in Hungarian and been outgoing and friendly with people. He was looking forward to this trip for a long time, and he's having a lot of fun.

Natalie and Suzan got into Budapest by train Saturday night, when I was already asleep, so in the morning, we all went to church and then took the train to Eger, where we were picked up by Jani, Szabi and Kati. Jani and I took Nate and Felicia over to Dr. Krisztina's house, and then we joined the others at the orientation for the camp.

Orientation is something that Rosemary and I used to do, and we took it pretty seriously, but now Kati and Ilona were doing it - and I must say that I think they were more efficient and better prepared than we were! They made bound books of material for each level, and it seems that they have thought of everything. Essentially, they have taken what we handed them, and they have made it better.

From a leader's perspective, this is and should be the goal: to raise up people who surpass you in their accomplishments. It was great to see how the church here has done a good job organizing the camp for the first time completely on their own. Many people have stepped up to fill in the gaps, and are succeeding.

But, of course, good preparation is only one piece of the puzzle. What we also need for this camp to be a success is a move of the Holy Spirit, so that the kids would hear the Gospel and it would penetrate their hearts. Please do pray for that!

Speaking of being reunited, one thing I'm really happy about is that our Australian friends Andy and Kim are here at camp again this year, along with many other dear people who have served at camp before, like Geoff and Angela from Syracuse and Shane from Szolnok. One great thing is that a young man named Kristóf who attended camp for many years, whom we shared Jesus with for YEARS, seemingly to no avail, has given his life to Christ, attends the church now, and is one of our main helpers this year! Praise The Lord for that. Another young man, Balázs, who got saved through our first camp in Eger, and has been a staple and cornerstone helper for years, had to drop out because some family members have fallen seriously ill. We will miss him this year; please pray for him and his family members.

Anyway, I will keep posting on here about how camp goes, so keep checking in. In about an hour I am heading up to Felsőtárkány to set up for registration. Camp begins today!

The Comprehensive Gospel

This past Sunday at White Fields I preached on Galatians chapter 3 and how the Gospel is not just how you become a Christian, it is also the means by which we grow as Christians. The Gospel is not just the ABC of the Christian life, but it is the A-Z of the Christian life.

What often happens in the church is that we are good at preaching the Gospel of grace to the unconverted, but as soon as someone receives Jesus we give them a form of the Law - "Do this, don't do that." This is precisely what Paul was referring to when he said: "Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?" (Galatians 3:3)

Rather than giving people the law as a means to grow, the model that Paul exemplifies to us is pointing people to the Gospel in order to change their hearts. The law aims to suppress behaviors, but that doesn't bring about the heart change which is at the root of the behavior. The Gospel on the other hand is the power of God, by to bring about fundamental transformation of the heart. If one's heart changes, their behavior will inevitably follow.

I've gotten a lot of positive feedback about this teaching. Give it a listen:

 

Should Pastors Tithe?

I am a pastor. I tithe. I'm not telling you that to stroke my ego - I'm bringing it up, because over the years I have known a lot of people in vocational ministry (pastors, missionaries and other Christian servants who live off of donations) - and the question comes up from time to time of whether or not they should tithe, since the money that was given to them to live off of is from other people's tithes and donations.

Reading through the Book of Numbers the other day, I ran across this:

So you shall also present a contribution to the Lord from all your tithes, which you receive from the people of Israel. And from it you shall give the Lord's contribution to Aaron the priest. (Numbers 18:28 ESV)

This was written to the Levites - the priestly tribe - who lived off of the tithes of the other tribes. They were required to give a tithe of their income, even though their income was from the offerings of the other tribes.

I also believe that as a pastor I am called to lead by example, even when no one knows about it. This goes for giving, evangelism, and a number of different areas. I truly believe that giving to the work of the Lord is not only God's way of raising money and furthering the Kingdom, it's also his way of raising kids and furthering our spiritual growth - not to mention that it is a privilege. It is a simple fact, that a ministry like the one I'm involved in is constantly struggling with the things we would like to do, but are not able to do because of our limited financial resources.

Is this the Law? I don't believe it is. You don't have to tithe. That won't affect your standing before God. But generosity is a Gospel virtue. So is evangelism. This is how the Apostle Paul encouraged people to give to the work of God: he pointed them to the Gospel.

I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. (2 Corinthians 8:8-9 ESV)

Heading Home

Today was my last day in Eger. As excited as I was to be in Eger this past week, I was totally ready to go home this morning. I miss my wife and kids, and I realize that God has bound my heart up with Longmont and the ministry of White Fields, and entrusted the ministry here to others.

I went to Tesco and OBI, I needed to mail a few things and buy a few gifts, but the main goal was to find a way to take Túró Rudi back home to America. I picked up some Kinder Tojás and Kinder Szelet and then went over to OBI to get a hűtő táska.

Afterwards I met Dani in town for a coffee and then went up to say goodbye to Tünde and Julcsi. Jani came up to Budapest with me, along with Ilona and Judit. When we left Eger the weather was cold but fine, and about half way to Budapest it started snowing, and got worse and worse. I think it might be still snowing outside.

Here in Budapest I'm staying with Laci Németh, pastor of Golgota Dél-Pest, and Kyle Eckhart from Golgota Szeged came up to say hi and catch up. Great guys doing great ministries that The Lord is blessing. It was good to hang out and catch up. Laci lives near the airport, so he will drive me in the morning. My plane leaves at 6am, so we will leave early.

It's been a good trip. I'm so glad that I got to come and support Jani and Tünde and the church in Eger. Please continue to pray for the Hernádi family, for the city of Eger and for the work of God in Hungary, especially through the Golgota churches.

 

Church in Eger

Sunday morning I preached at Golgota Eger. It was good to see old friends and see things working well in the church. I especially noted that children's ministry and youth ministry are going well, led by Kriszti.

Shane led worship and I brought a message about the Kingdom of God from Matthew 5, Romans 13 and Ephesians 4.

Please pray for this church! It is good to see how they have accepted Jani as their pastor and surrounded the Hernádi's with love and support during this time of difficulty. Please pray that the church would be an effective tool for reaching people for Jesus in Eger and the surrounding region.

 

Thank You Video from the Hernádi's

 

Temetési Videók - Videos of the Funeral

Ez akkor készült amikor megérkeztünk és készültünk a temetésre, mielőtt megjöttek a gyászolók.

This was right when we arrived and we were setting up, before the funeral.

Jani beszéde. Ige hirdetésem után, Jani felállt és beszédet mondott. Nagy ütős volt. Nem tudom mennyire lehet hallani a felvételen mit mond, mert fújt a szél.

After I preached, Jani got up and spoke. It was powerful. It's a bit hard to hear what he's saying because of the wind.

Misi's Funeral

Today was the big day. I got out to the Szent Donát cemetery around 10:30 and the funeral began promptly at 11.

Shane did music, and I officiated and preached, all in Hungarian. I'm glad that I haven't lost any of my Hungarian after being in America for the last year. It was very cold out, to the point where I had trouble turning the pages in my notes, and after preaching for 25 minutes, my knees hurt.

After I spoke, Jani got up and shared a few words. Quite a few people were there - well over a hundred, and many people came who I had hoped would come but didn't expect to see there. The gypsies came out from the gypsy church in Heves, as well as members of the Eger church who I hadn't seen in a while and a number of pastors from other churches in Eger and from Calvary Chapels around the Hungary.

It was a sad event, and tragic to see such a small coffin. Many tears were shed, but not nearly as many as I have seen shed at other funerals in Hungary, because here the focus was on the hope of the resurrection. The Gospel was preached, people were called to consider the fragility and fleetingness of life and put their faith in Jesus to be saved. I believe that God was glorified.

After the funeral I went to pick up Julcsi, who was being watched by a neighbor, so Jani and Tünde could go straight to the church for the reception. After getting Julcsi, we went to the church and got to spend good time talking and catching up with the Hernádi's friends and family and many people from church.

Afterwards I went out with Dani to Egerszalók for coffee and then went out to dinner at HBH downtown; I got borjú paprikás - my old favorite, and then came back to the guesthouse where I got to FaceTime with Rosemary and the kids and then spent time talking to my hosts and their son. Really nice people, and, knowing that I was a pastor, they had a lot of questions about the Bible, and we had a great time together.

 

Eger - Friday

The day began with meeting Kati at the plaza. As I was trying to get there on time, I had to wait a while, because a load of firewood was delivered to a building down the street, and it blocked traffic until they could move enough of it out of the way. Ah, Hungary! I love these kinds of things actually :)

After meeting with Kati I went downtown and ran some errands. All along the creek is all torn up, because they are working to put in a bicycle path next to the creek. That's a really nice idea - only problem is it doesn't seem very practical since every spring - including right now - the creek floods and covers the bicycle path. Everyone I talked to in town seems to think that the plan is ridiculous and isn't going to work. It does kind of look like a mess right now - it is especially bad to see how much they aren't concerned about the environment and just dump construction waste into the creek. I watched one guy actually shoveling trash into the creek...

I went out to lunch again with Jani and Tünde and the went with them to buy gifts downtown and exchange some money. After that I went and drove by the places we used to live here in town while I talked to Rosemary and the kids on the phone. Nate remembers a lot from living in Eger; I think he would love to get to come back for a visit.

Here's a picture of the block of flats where we lived for our first few years in Eger, on Csiky Sándor utca. The house next to us, where a family used to live, is now apparently empty and has lost its roof:

After that I went to the Hernádi's and our friend Krisztina came over. Krisztina is the doctor who saved Felicia's life; she also treated Misi and has known the Hernádi family through us and through the church here. We had a nice time together catching up, and afterwards Krisztina came with us to the church and I taught a class about understanding grief and mourning and how to minister to people who are grieving the loss of a loved one. It was something that I had wanted to do for years actually, and I was really glad to get to do it. I didn't know hat Jani was going to be there, but it was actually nice, and he opened up about a lot of his feelings. It was a really great time together and I believe that it was useful for all who attended - which was a pretty good-sized group.

I stuck around the church and with the help of Ilona, Kati and Szabolcs, put the finishing grammar touches on my message for the sermon, which I'm going to do in Hungarian tomorrow. As I was working on it with them in the church office, I began to feel very sick. I'm not really sure what's wrong with me; maybe I'm just exhausted, but I'm really praying it won't cause any problems tomorrow at the funeral. The weather is supposed to be cold but sunny tomorrow. I don't have a coat, only a sweater, so I really hope it will be warm enough for me to get by without just what I have.

Please pray for the funeral tomorrow, that Gid would be honored, that the Gospel would be heard, and that The Lord would be with the Hernádi's. Please also pray that every part of the service goes well.

Here's a picture of the Hernádi's from today:

 

Eger - Thursday

This morning, after writing some notes for the funeral, I went to the plaza to see Gabi - our family's hairdresser for the 7 years that we lived here. Gabi not only cut Rosemary's hair and my hair, but she cut Nate's hair and gave Felicia her first hair cut. It's always good to see her and she always gets it right.

Later on I went out to lunch with the Hernádi's. They were busy today making arrangements for the funeral and the reception. Quite a few people are going to be there, from all over the country.

It the afternoon I came back to my guesthouse with the intention of working on the computer a bit, but jetlag caught up with me hard, and I fell asleep for a few hours. I spept so hard that I could hardly move when I woke up.

Around 5 I got together with my good friend Dani and we went and drank coffee and did some very necessary catching up. I am glad to see that he is doing better in every aspect of his life. When I think of Dani and many other people at the church, the scripture that always comes to mind is Philippians 4:1 - Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.

From the coffee house I went back over to the Hernádi's. Tünde was away at the church's women's book club, and so we had organized for me to meet with the elders to pray for the church and discuss things that are going on. One thing that has struck me while being here, and something I heard from Dani tonight, is that the church here, although small, is full of people who truly love each other, truly seek The Lord, and truly live out their faith. Their is quality. Today I was reading an interview with Greg Laurie in which he said: if you take care of the quality, The Lord will take care of the quantity. These guys have done a good job taking care of the quality and I'm proud of them and I praise God for it.

After we prayed for the church and talked, Tünde got home and I hung out for a bit drinking a late night coffee and talking. It was a great time of fellowship. Jani even mentioned that when I was here we didn't always spend a lot of time together with no agenda, just hanging out. We did sometimes, but everyone was always so busy. One of the blessings of this week is getting to spend a lot of quality time with the Hernádi's. That's important, because as they say: some people are like Ukrainian candy - they take a long time to open up :)