Merry Christmas!

Warmest Christmas greetings to you! As I think about Christmas this year, I remember what John the Baptist proclaimed, „Look the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” God had opened John’s eyes to the reality of who Jesus is and why He came to earth. Now, more than 2000 years later, God is still revealing to men and women who Jesus is and why He came.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

The Polish writer Henryk Sienkiewicz authored a well-known novel titled: Quo Vadis? This Latin phrase means "Where are you going?" Each year we devote a day for university graduating students in YTL ministry to ask this question from them: "Where are you going with your life?" We only invite those students who are interested about joining full-time mission work either with YTL as missionary staff or they are considering other type of ministry as their future. 23 students came to the "Quo Vadis? day" last Friday! These students a few years ago were nonbelievers and now they are willing to give up their future carrier for the sake of the gospel! Seeing non-believers coming to Christ and becoming life-time laborers of the gospel are the heart and essence of our calling! What a privilege to see that happening in such a great number! Each of them has a unique and wonderful journey with Jesus! 

Five of these 23 students are already decided that this next year they'll submit their application for staff with YTL. This is a wonderful news and a wonderful challenge. Because of the legal structure in Hungary we can't bring people on staff (and they can't start raising their support under our name) unless we start paying them from the first day. As you know, each of our staff has to raise their own financial support and they will not have their support raised probably within the first year or so. That means we have to have some seed money to bring these people on staff until they are able to raise their own financial support. Please, pray that the Lord would provide the financial resources necessary to bring these young committed Christians on full-time mission work. The prayer that Jesus commanded us to pray regarding the Great Commission is the prayer for laborers: "pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest" (Lk 10:2). We have the potential laborers, but we don't have enough resources - yet!

Fall Student Retreat

At most retreats in the past we had a speaker and we followed the traditional setting of students sitting in rows, and the teacher delivering the message from God. Not this time. It was complete participation on the students' part as the format was very interactive. Andy Atkins from the UK led a Bible study for the whole group. We did not sit in rows, but in small groups the whole time. There was a brief teaching part, followed by a series of related questions, and the students turned to one another and tried to do some expository Bible study on their own. Following that part came a brief teaching and summary. They wrote parts of their own teaching session. And when listening to Andy their minds and hearts were already engaged! I believe students took home a lot from the passage they studied all weekend long: Acts 20-17-38. Paul's comments to his leaders from Ephesus. 

   Andy, our speaker said: "any movement, that places God's Word as a central part of their existence has the potential to last for a long time!".

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today my words are full of  thanksgiving to God because He is the only reason for me to know you and to serve alongside with you. I know I can make an endless list with praises and thanks, but always the first thing in my list need to be: THANK you JESUS for gives me Your Eternal Salvation!

 

Ministry opportunity in Speak Out

YTL campus weekly meeting in one minute :)

A conference in Turkey

I couldn't believe when I got a call from my Area Finance Leader. He invited me to the Global Operation Leaders Conference. I was so exited. The conference was close to Ephesus in Turkey at the end of September. This conference opened my eyes to the world. I could talk with finance leaders from other part of the world. Everything was so interesting. I think I could step out from my Eastern Europe Area and watched a bigger picture. I really enjoyed it. The sightseeing in Ephesus was an extra blessing for me. We could walk where Apostol Paul walked. The tour guide told the stories from the Acts :)
My last two days in Turkey was in Istanbul. It is a big, modern city with losts of historical part. I was in the Blue Mosque, Aya Sofia, Topkapi Seraj. Turkish is so friendly and kind nation. In the Big Bazar the bargain was a requirement. I am not two good in it, but I developed :)
Here is some pictures. I hope you will have opportunity to visit this beautiful country.

Here is a new "I am not shamed..." story. Enjoy!

Two "I'm not ashamed" story with students who share the gospel. Enjoy them!

Weekly meeting in High-school minisry

Trip to Albania

I will travel to Tirane, Albania on Sunday for a week. Of course, I do an audit for Albanian ministry. This country is a small one in Southern Europe with 3 million people. Albania has an muslim background, but during the comunism they were an atheist country. Nowadays the Christianity is growing. The CCC ministry celebrated their 20th anniversary last weekend. It will be very interesting to know better them and help in theri finances.

My ministry in my church

I think I do not often write about my church. However, I spend most of my evenings in the church. 

Home groups

In the last two year I' m one of two mentors for home group leaders. They can come to ask advises with group problem. Home group leaders meet in every months to share their experiences, pray for each other and they get short training that me and an other mentor plan for a year. So, I visit regularly five home groups. All of the groups are different in their age, family status. I really enjoy to know more the member of home groups and help for the leaders. 

Alpha course

The Alpha course covers the basics of Christianity. It answers questions like: Who is Jesus?, and Why did he die? The Alpha course usually lasts 10 weeks, with a day or weekend retreat in the middle. Each week, guests gather for about two and a half hours. They share an informal meal, sing a few songs, listen to a talk on how Christianity approaches the question at hand, then gather into small groups for discussion. The talks each week act as a springboard for small group discussions. We started the course eight years ago. There are three or four small groups in each course. My responsibility is leading a small group and give one or two talks. My favorite topic is "Why and how should I tell others?". I talk about evangelization :) It is good to see how God open the participents' heart and mind and how they find their way to Jesus. 

My little niece, Réka

We had a nice family celebration when Réka had a baptism. She is five month old, Pistike is 2,5 years old. Réka was so cute and she didn't cried, just when the pastor watered her :) The pastor shared the gospel. I am happy my family listend the Good News. Please pray for them to know Jesus, maybe through Réka and Pistike.

Pray for Speak Out!!!

Although SpeakOut camp is 6 weeks away, it's already obvious that we are looking at the largest camp ever.

• 159 Christian volunteers (46 of them are American volunteers) signed up and went through the qualification procedure to serve at the camp. They dedicate a whole month and raise support to be able to serve at SpeakOut.
• Already close to 300 non-Christian campers signed up to come to the camp when we are 4 weeks away from the registration deadline.
• We will be sending teams from the camp to Albania, to Romania, to Slovakia and to Siofok (another city in Hungary).

Why is it so significant?

These days the most valuable assest people have is TIME! Life is so busy, people are distracted with the things compete for their time and they are less and less willing to dedicate even short hours to ministry in churches or missions. It is outstanding that 159 Christians volunteer dedicate a WHOLE MONTH to serve with us and they are willing to raise money to cover all their costs! Why so many are choosing to serve with us at SpeakOut when in Hungary this project requires the greatest commitment both in time and in finances? Why is it that year-to-year more and more Christians (students and adults) are willing to make that commitment? It is an evidence of God's abundant grace choosing the nobodies and the insignificant. We are humbled and scared by this responsibility!

Pray that every volunteer would be able to raise their support! Pray for health for volunteers and the campers. Pray for the thousands of personal gospel conversations we will have.

"I'm not ashamed" -story

In Romans 1:16 Paul says that he is not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation. We've recorded (and continue recording) short (max 2 minutes-long) stories of people who had been saved through YTL because there was someone (a staff or student) who boldly initiated toward them and clearly explained the gospel to them. These stories represents people who were coming from non-Christian background and without a bold, initiative Messenger they wouldn't get saved. We are launching this story-telling series (titled "I'm not ashamed") to encourage Christians not to be ashamed of the gospel because it is the power to save and change people's lives. 

Spring Retreat

We had great weekend with 130 students at the Lake Balaton. Our speaker was Keith Davy, topic was: walking in the Spirit.

Student Summit

When I was a student 15 years ago, there was a plan to collect all the student leaders from Eastern Europe to worship God together and gain momentum to go on with our calling of fulfilling Jesus’ Great Commission. It took 15 years, but the “dream” came true:)

A few weeks ago we had our first Eastern European Student Summit! Almost everything was done by students, and more than 300 of them came to Hungary to worship, pray and brainstorm how they could be the leaders of reaching their peers for Christ. The students shared their vision, their heart for God and their creativity to reach Eastern Europe and Russia with the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

Many students said that the conference changed their lives and their view of God and missions. Please pray that God would make sure that they don’t forget this and really do commit their lives to serve Him – even as full time missionaries in the Harvest!

Purple Day

One thing I notice with youth is that the standard for holiness is becoming more and more blurred. And now, I am talking about those students who strive to walk with God.

They are so powerfully influenced by the spirit of or times, that their criteria to make their choices, especially those that are relational choices, is not solely based on God's standard. They are so strongly influenced by the „emotionalism" and individualism of the day.

So, that is why we have the PURPLE DAY every winter. A day to try to set it straight. It is a day devoted to talking about dating, sex, marriage, character, holiness, roles, boundaries, principles, blessings for a whole day with students. We talk to them through talks, through seminars, through panels, and small groups. And at the end of the day, each student will be hosted by a family for dinner, and a family room, in a home, through a relaxed conversation.

Please pray with us, that God’s will could become a

little clearer for many!

Happy and Blessed Easter!

"Be not afraid. Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen!" Mark 16:6

My church

Here is a short video about my church. I hope you got a taste from my spiritial home :)