Why America Needs Heroes

A Review of Night at the Museum 2

Today is Memorial Day. It is a day that is, unfortunately, not even noticed over here in Europe. Memorial Day is a time when all Americans everywhere reflect on the sacrifices of American Servicemen and women in the name of freedom. It is also a day to be reminded of all the things that are right about America.

For example, our family saw a great movie last night here in Budapest: Night of the Museum 2. I highly recommend it. What is more compelling than the kid-friendly plot is the way American heroes are actually portrayed as, in fact, American heroes. I recently saw an Oliver Stone movie with my 17 year old son Ben which spotlighted what is wrong with America. Halfway through the movie Ben spurted out one accusatory word that summed up the movie: “Propaganda.”

With Oliver Stone’s movie as a backdrop, it makes Night of the Museum 2 an uplifting film as it portrays American heroes in a positive light: heroes such as Amelia Earhart, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, the Wright brothers, the Apollo space missions, the Tuskegee Airmen, Albert Einstein and more. Even General Custer is given a comedic role that allows him a quasi-shot at historical redemption.

Unlike the Oliver Stone movie, lines between good and evil are clearly drawn in Night of the Museum 2, (albeit the script is simple). The bad guys are shown as bad (including the notorious American Al Capone) and the good guys are good. There is no blurring of the lines between good and evil, or even a denial that good and evil exist, which is a world-view commonly found today in movies, government, universities and coffee houses.

And the movie is great fun! And I was not expecting its pro-America message. No movie is perfect. But Museum 2 is family-friendly and could be used as a home schooling American history lesson. And in this time when our President is apologizing for America, it is refreshing to be reminded of America’s great contribution and leadership.

“America is great because America is good,” is a quote attributed to French historian Tocqueville. But if America becomes a highly centralized mandated society, then we will no longer have a need to be good. American ingenuity and problem solving will no longer be required; rather a child-like reliance on big brother government will be all that is needed to survive.

Why take risks when the government will take care of us? Why pursue new frontiers when a stimulus check will arrive tomorrow? Why problem-solve when Washington promises to pay our rent and put gas in our car? We need heroes, risk takers and entrepreneurs who don’t want a stimulus check but the chance to solve problems, create solutions, forge new frontiers without government interference. All that is needed from government is to get out of the way. Big government negates our need for heroes; yesterday’s heroes may have no replacements. We are moving into an era when big government both creates and “solves” all of our problems.

Recently my 8-year-old son Quentin had a fever. We asked him what would make him feel better. He wanted his two big notebooks containing his baseball card collection and he wanted to listen to the Kansas City Royals and St. Louis Cardinals baseball game over the internet (while wearing his Atlanta Braves baseball hat). What can be more American than a boy’s love for baseball? As a boy growing up my heroes were Freddie Patek, John Mayberry, Amos Otis, Frank White and George Brett.

God bless the USA and our heroes, especially those servicemen and women who gave their lives and who make America great! The next time you hear America’s National Anthem, please stand, take off your hat, put your hand over your heart, say a prayer and shed a tear for those who willingly died to make America great and to extend freedom across the globe!

Czech it out!

Here is a short video about our weekend with Christian college students in the Czech Republic. It is heartening to see this work of God in a country that has become hard to the things of God.

Can I brag on my kids?

Liz shooting up and over the team from Zurich in the championship game.



This past weekend our kids' basketball teams (ICSB: Intl Christian School of Budapest) traveled to Salzburg, Austria to play in a high school basketball tournament with other intl schools from Vienna, Salzburg, Prague, Bratislava and Zurich.

Both of our teams won the tournament! Both Liz and Ben were named to the all-tournament team (like last weekend's tournament) and this week it was BEN who was named tournament MVP. Also, Liz gave her testimony at a chapel service at the tournament how a season-ending knee injury last year drove her deeper in her faith. Her testimony led to several great gospel conversations with players and coaches.

Whereas we praise God for who He is and what He has done for us at the cross, we also give Him thanks for His many blessings as well. Here are some pics from the weekend:



Ben shows his MVP-winning form as he powers up against Vienna Christian.



Liz sharing at the chapel service at the tournament.




EB with her two MVP children: Ben awarded his at the Salzburg tournament and Liz at the ICSB tournament.

Basketball and more basketball

This past weekend was the highlight of the school year for our family. It was our kids' school (ICSB: Intl Christian School of Budapest) annual highschool basketball tournament. Schools from Austria, Hungary and Ukraine played in our tournament.

Would you allow a proud father to boast? Liz (Sr.) team won the championship and she took the honors for the tournament offensive player award as well as was rewarded a spot on the all tournament team. Ben (Jr.), for his explosive offensive performance, was also named to the all tournament team.

This video is Ben's highlight video:



This video is Liz's highlight video:



This video is a summary of Liz's championship game:



Thanks for sharing our joy with us!

Support Summit for National Staff: “The harvest is plentiful and the laborers are few,” and the number of donors is small.

One part of the summit was to divide up into small groups and discuss different issues regarding the ability of our national staff to raise their funding. In this picture we see evangelical leaders from these countries: Croatia, Romania, Ukraine, Poland, Slovakia and Albania. “The harvest is plentiful and the laborers are few,” and the number of donors is small.

There are European Christians who are trained, motivated and ready to work hard as laborers in Eastern European and Russian harvest fields but don’t have the friends and contacts necessary to raise their support.

And what about the Christian wealth in America of which barely 3% goes to Christian causes? The numbers of Christians are lower and giving percentages are lower still for His church across Eastern Europe and Russia. What do we do? Do we persevere in faith to embrace Christ’s mandate to make disciples of all nations? Or do we consider it a hopeless situation and just let everyone “go back to their nets”?

We believe in a big God. And we believe He is in control. It is HIS mandate to take the gospel to the world; it is not merely our idea. But we are called to be His ambassadors even though we might not fully understand why as a ministry we are currently on this path.

With this as a backdrop 30 missionaries with Campus Crusade across Eastern Europe and Russia gathered here in Budapest for 3 days last week to discuss this problem and brain-storm possible solutions. We asked primarily two questions: “What can we start doing today so that within a generation the Eastern European Church takes ownership of the work of the gospel within her borders?” Also, “How do we help our European missionaries make connections in the USA (where most of the world’s Christian wealth is found) to raise their support?”

Join us in prayer please as we seek answers to these questions. Much of my job description for the next several years will be generated by this conference although this is not a problem that will be solved quickly. Solutions will require BIG changes in the culture on both sides of the Atlantic. But we move ahead faithfully confident in His provision knowing the Lord is more concerned about this than we are.

Please pray that the gospel will go out unhindered across Eastern Europe and Russia. Please pray the Lord will give us faith-filled and new ideas to address these issues. Please pray for the funding for our indigenous missionaries across Eastern Europe and Russia. And pray for our hearts that they will always be His and that we will persevere through trial.



One evening the whole conference came over to our house where EB had dessert and coffee ready for us all! Here Beni from Albania and Eugene from Moldova dig in!

Poland: What a ministry privilege!

Wow! What a great week we had in Poland! While our other 4 kids went to their own conference in Slovakia, we went further north. EB, Quentin, our good friend and Atlantan Brent Harrison and I went to our Polish ministry’s Christmas student conference. It was held in the mountains of southern Poland. It was truly one of the great ministry experiences of my life.

I can still remember Billy Graham speaking on Matthew 9:37 (“the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few”) at a Christmas conference I attended in 1983 as a college student. God used his talk to change the direction of my life. What a privilege to be before a group of Polish students a generation later to communicate the same Biblical truths. Poland is a very conservative, God-fearing country. But personal knowledge of God (John 17:3) is very rare in Poland with less than 1% of the population being evangelical. There are more Jehovah Witnesses than Baptists in Poland.

Over the course of 4 days I spoke 4 times to the main session and helped lead two other seminars. The theme of the week was STEWARDSHIP. I used the Christmas story (Matthew 1:18-2:23 and Luke 2:1-19) and examined different characters to highlight different aspects of stewardship. I was able to dig deep into the Biblical story of Christmas, which is surprisingly unknown among European young people. I did this as I was teaching on four aspects of stewardship: stewardship of God’s gift to us (baby Jesus), relationships (Joseph), money (the Magi) and our very lives (The Great Commission). By week’s end I was emotionally spent but what a great way to pour out yourself!

The talks and seminars generated small group and one on one discussions. Here Brent continues answering questions after our “men only” seminar. EB is counseling a Polish college student who attended our relationship seminar.

The young man in the middle, Raphael, came to Christ at our “American Café” outreach that I participated in a year and a half ago in Krakow. Rafael gave his testimony at this Christmas conference. Another girl also gave her testimony (not pictured here) who came to Christ after my talk on the first night about the meaning of Jesus coming to earth as a baby.

We gave each student at the conference a copy of John Piper’s book, “Don’t Waste Your Life.”

The students expressed their appreciation to us with this gift of a Polish ceramic tray.

The cold Polish countryside.

“Why does a baby born 2000 years ago in a barn to a poor Jewish teenage girl continue to captivate hearts and minds even today?”

While they were there, the time came for her to have her child, and she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. Luke 2:6-7



EB and I, with the help of a translator, were able to share with a group of Czech students about the real meaning of Christmas.

Thanks for praying for us and encouraging us on our recent trip to the Czech Republic. It was a privilege to be able to share the Christmas story and the gospel to a group of college students who have grown up largely ignorant of the story and message behind the religious symbols.

We were there as guests of an evangelical Czech ministry called KVZ which is run and staffed by Czechs. This ministry is similar to Campus Crusade and has its roots with Campus Crusade but it is separate from our ministry. Even in this statistically atheistic country, God has His people in place who are proclaiming His excellencies. The wonderful KVZ staff were very hospitable to EB and me and they are taking care of the follow-up from our outreach.

I laid out the Christmas story from Matthew chapters 1 and 2 and Luke 2 as if I was telling a story. I was introducing characters, recounting what they said, and what their words and actions meant. It was a perfect lead in to sharing the gospel. “Why does a baby born 2000 years ago in a barn to a poor Jewish teenage girl continue to captivate hearts and minds even today?”

EB was able to share how we as a family observe and celebrate the Christian message of Christmas in our home. It would have been something most every Christian family in America could relate to but it was new and different for most of these Czech students. What made it even more relevant was that EB shared about her own Czech heritage and how her great-grandfather had immigrated to Kansas from a town not far from Brno.

These are some of the Czech students who attended.

When we had a Q & A time, most of the questions were about the genealogy tables found early on in both Matthew’s and Luke’s Gospel. It was a very precise and analytical group of students yet they were cordial and friendly audience.

Before we spoke we went out for dinner to an authentic Czech restaurant. I thought I ordered a potato pasta dish yet this is what I got. I recognized cabbage and onions. And on the right was some meat with fur still attached. However, I still ate it. Not sure what it was though.

In the public square of Brno, Czech we visited their Christmas market. Christmas markets are a very popular holiday tradition across Europe. A Christmas market is a series of outdoor little wooden kiosks selling all things related to the holidays, from Christmas ornaments to hot wine.

We found this guy selling flasks that looked like ram’s horns. He looked just like an extra off the set of "Lord of the Rings." He didn’t speak a word of English but he didn’t mind posing for a picture with EB.