Partnering with our Church in Atlanta to Share the Gospel among Albanian College Students and Hungarian High School Students.

In mid-October a team from our home church in Atlanta met me in Tirana, Albania, to witness to the mostly Muslim students of that city.

Our main purpose was to come alongside Campus Crusade's student ministry team of Albanians and help them initiate with students and share Christ.  Here Paul Martin (right) shares his faith over espresso at an outdoor cafe. 

Two years ago Bruce Horacek (far right) came to Albania with a church team and led "Robert" (left, grey shirt) to Christ. On this trip, Bruce returned and teamed up with Robert to share Christ with other students

Renis (right, red t-shirt) is an intern with our campus ministry in Tirana and he spent several days translating for me (white t-shirt).  Here we are talking with two young men; one of whom ("Andrew", 2nd from left) was willing to talk about Jesus even though he had been raised in a Muslim culture.

Hammerin' Hank Garmon is shown here having a spiritual dialogue with a gathering of interested Albanian students.

Sherry (far right) and one of our staff ladies, Angjelina (next to Sherry), witness to 3 Albanian college girls, several of whom expressed atheism as their belief system.  With Angjelina's help, Sherry was able to clearly lay out the gospel for these girls and made 3 new friends in the process.

At the end of the week, the team from Atlanta traveled with me back to my home in Budapest. There we spent a day being guest lecturers of English in a local high school.  These are the students of one of the classrooms where we taught.  After a full day of classes where we taught English, we invited students to meet us at a nearby McDonalds where we could talk more openly about our faith in Jesus.   Students came, the gospel was shared and contacts were made for our full-time Hungarian high school staff to follow up with.

At the end of the week we had a big party at our home in Budapest to celebrate all we saw the Lord do: in Albania, in Hungary and in our own hearts.  We invited over some good friends among our Hungarian Campus Crusade staff.   EB had her favorite Hungarian cook make authentic goulash, cabbage rolls and chocolate palicsinkas while EB added her world-famous fruit tea and lemonade.  No one left Hungary hungry. 



Three Hungarian men who are stalwarts of the work of the gospel among students in Budapest.  From left: Adam Czibulya, Gabi Madarasz (holding his son "Gaboo") and Andras Galambas.  



Teaching Matthew's gospel to young believers in the Balkans

Recently I taught at a Bible college near Belgrade, Serbia.   Over the course of one week, I taught all the way through Matthew's gospel.   I felt rushed, given our Sunday school class in Budapest has been working through Matthew's gospel for 5 years.  But I loved this week and considered it to be a great privilege to be entrusted with imparting God's Word to these students. 

Here is a class picture.  These students came from 4 different countries in the Balkan peninsula (SE Europe): Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia and Montenegro.  Very few had names I could pronounce or easily translate into English.  So I gave most of the students nicknames, which they pretty much embraced.  You can guess which one in this pic I named "Tebow."

"Tebow" on the far left comes from Bosnia, a country that is predominately Muslim.  "Dragon", blue sweatshirt, center left, comes from Montenegro.  The total number of Christ-followers from both countries could not fill the sanctuary of most churches in America.   Most of the students at this school are first generation Christians; they come from atheistic, Muslim or secular homes.  If Christ is to be widely known across the Balkans, it will take a new generation of faithful, passionate, and Bible-centered Christians.   For me, my week at this school was more than just teaching Matthew's gospel; it was pouring into the next generation of believers in a land where Christ is not known. 

A week in Egypt



Sunset at the Pyramids

These little girls were really frightened to be on this camel led by a bedouin. 

I really like this photo.  There is a lot of personality, hard work and culture in this photo.

Unbelievable.  Seen on a highway in Cairo. 

After one of the discipleship training classes I taught, these Christian students posed for a pic along with chocolate bars I brought from Hungary. 

To walk where Jesus walked...

Looking down on the site of the ancient temple in Jerusalem from the Mt. Olives.   Today's view confirms the prophesy from Matthew 24:1-2 when Jesus said, "You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”  (The gold dome is a mosque.)

This is the wailing wall; not the wall of the actual ancient Hebrew temple but a wall that surrounded the temple compound of Jesus' today.  It is a site today of prayer and reverence for Jews today.

Someone explained the Israel flag to us.  The two blue stripes represent the water that piled up on either side as Moses led Israel through the Red Sea. 

Certainly a high spot for EB and me in touring Jerusalem was the Garden Tomb.   While most religious sites in Jerusalem are noisy, tacky, comercialized and venerated, the Garden Tomb was quiet, clean, and beautiful.  It is a likely site for the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.  Here EB and I stand at the entrance to the tomb in the garden.   "Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid."  John 19:41

Near the Dead Sea east of Jerusalem in a valley between two desert mountains is the oasis of En Gedi.  We hiked through the oasis and came to "David's Waterfall."   In 1 Samuel 23:29 it says that David hid here from Saul.

On our way down to the Dead Sea we stopped alongside the road at a monument marking sea level elevation.   But in order to get to the shore of the Dead Sea we still had to descend nearly another 1400 ft.   The shore of the Dead Sea is the lowest place on the surface of Earth.

Along the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee near the ancient site of Capernaum where Jesus called His first disciples (Matthew 4:18-22).  It was on the way to the Sea of Galilee where we got lost on the highway and actually found help from the maps in the back of our Bibles!

While in Jerusalem, we were there on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath.   Since in Judaism it is forbidden to work on the Sabbath, this elevator was programmed to stop on every floor, since pushing an elevator button is considered work.  I was reminded of the words of Jesus, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath,"  Mark 2:27.

A typical street sign in Jerusalem is in three languages.  The topic is Hebrew, the middle is Arabic and the bottom is English.

Before we traveled to Jerusalem, we did a "support raising" training in Budapest.  Ellis Goldstein, our friend and the director of all of Campus Crusade's support raising training, flew here from the States, along with Dave Dickens, to teach at this training.   70 missionaries from Hungary and several surrounding countries attended this 2 day training.  Here is EB leading a "breakout session," on gift giving and visits to our ministry partners.

Here Ellis trains our staff and several evangelical pastors located in Israel.   It is a privilege to come along side the body of Christ in Israel when Christ-followers comprise less than 1% of the population.   From our vantage point, we must walk by faith that God is not finished yet with Israel.   We did the same ministry partner training in Israel that we did in Budapest. 

As our kids get older, EB is able to do more and more ministry with me.   She has alot to offer, particularly younger moms and wives.   This month we celebrate 24 years of marriage.  I thank God for my life partner! 

"Inviting all we can find to the wedding feast" Matthew 22:9

In the parking lot behind our church here in Budapest, an outdoor market pops up every Saturday morning.  Rising in the background are "Commie Condos", typical urban housing for Hungarians.   It is here that a small group of us fanned out in the crowd and invited people to our church's Easter service and engaged in spiritual conversations.

Here EB talks with a Hungarian young mother.

EB, along with our good friend Grant Olson, speaks to a Hungarian couple about the meaning of Easter.

It is amazing how a dog and two young kids can be a conversation starter on a warm sunny spring day in a park!

Here I am (center) on a Budapest campus sharing Christ with a college student.  With me is our good friend and long time Hungarian staff member Mara (Kis) Madarasz. 

ICSB basketball tournament

In February, our kids' school, the International Christian School of Budapest, hosted its annual high school basketball tournament.   Cities represented by teams at this tournament included Budapest, Salzburg (Austria), Kiev (Ukraine) and Bucharest (Romania).   For two days solid there was wall-to-wall basketball at the gym at school.  Right before the awards ceremony, I was asked to give a five minute devotional.  I spoke on how high school athletics lead me to faith in Christ.  A gym full of European coaches, athletes and parents heard me speak.

Even though our girls' team did not win the tournament championship, Savannah played some fantastic basketball and was named to the all-tournament team.   Here is a highlight video that her proud daddy put together.

Thank you for sharing our joy and enthusiasm...

Coming Alongside Other Missionaries

EB and I spent a week recently in Spain at a Cru conference for our STINTers (Short Term INTernational service of one year or two).   All of our Cru STINT missionaries from Africa, Europe and parts of the Middle East attended this conference.  EB and I went to help by providing coaching and encouragement to our STINTers. 

In 2005 I met Craig when he was a student at Florida State when I spoke at their fall retreat.  I remember having lunch with Craig and he was considering becoming a Christian.  He made that decision that weekend and now 6 years later is serving Christ in a country that is hostile to the gospel.  

EB spent a lot of her time encouraging single women and young mothers on the mission field.    Having raised our kids in a foreign country, she was asked many questions.   One young mother, having moved with her husband and kids from Texas to Prague, cried, "I just wish my kids had a yard to play in."  Pictured here is Angela Davis.  She and her husband Jim are doing very well serving the Lord in Italy. 

It was nice to spend a few days in the warm sun, blue sky and ocean breezes, away from Budapest's cold, grey winter.   As we came alongside our missionaries we also were encouraged.  We heard their first hand stories of what God is doing from London to Johannesburg to Central Asia.    Thank you for serving us so we in turn can serve some of our co-laborers in God's harvest fields.

Happy New Year!

Our family thanks your family for your love, encouragement, prayers and generous giving that makes our work possible here in the mission field of Eastern Europe and Russia.

(from left to right) Liz, Savannah, Quentin, Matt, EB, Rebekah and Ben

Kosice and Tirana

Kosice, Slovakia

Our ministry there had a music/cafe outreach.  This is a quick video I made from the event.

AMERIKA:  the map on the wall in an English classroom where we guest taught for one day.

The high school English classroom where we guest-taught

An actual sign in northern Hungary:  "Just don't miss the turn to Miskolc!"

What I saw at the market in Albania

Some of the most vibrant, colorful, tasty and fresh produce I have ever seen, I saw at an open air market recently in downtown Tirana, Albania.  But there were also some things as a westerner I found odd...

"Sorry, you are 3 telephone lines over the legal limit."

Top Row:  Sheep heads

An eel hanging from a hook outside a shop selling fresh fish

your choice of tropical song birds

Your choice of turkey, duck or chicken.  Buy live and eat fresh!

"The Other Side of the World is Not So Far Away..."

In September, EB was part of a Campus Crusade team that traveled to the Russian city of Krasnoyarsk (where Matt was in June).  She helped put on a women's conference through a partnership between our ministry there and a local Baptist church.   EB spoke several times to several hundred women on topics ranging from home decorating and organizing, as well as child-rearing.  As has become her custom in recent seminars, EB arrived a day early to shop in the stores and markets.  She then uses items available locally to demonstrate how to beautify and organize a home easily as well as how to cook efficiently and cheaply. 

Communism silenced or killed off Christian church leadership.   That makes it hard today for this generation in Eastern Europe and Russia to find good teaching in their language and culture, including such topics as Biblical perspective of money and raising children.   That is also why in this city of 1 million people, the largest Protestant church has only 800 members.

At the same time EB was in Siberia, I was in Orlando, Florida; quite literally on the opposite of the planet, 12 times zones away either direction.   In Orlando I was helping to train the newest missionary class with Campus Crusade how to develop their financial support.  The missionary class was divided into 5 different workshops were the training took place in a classroom setting.  I am pictured above (lower left) with the workshop where I assisted.   

 

These missionaries will fan out across the globe with the gospel, with their support teams behind them praying and providing for them.   Some will go into very sensitive locations which is why several faces were blotted out in the above picture.   My heart is have this quality training available to our staff in Eastern Europe and Russia which is why several European staff have joined me at these trainings so they too can learn to teach others in our part of the world.   

July in Argentine Winter

“Her hair was four inches from my face and about to make me throw up. It was crawling with bugs and smelled like it hadn't been washed in months.

I was likely the first white person she ever saw.  She was a Toba, the native Argentineans who were extremely discriminated against by others. They lived in a neighborhood, full of trash and dogs. Their cramped houses with many people stuffed inside were made from scraps of metal, tarp and plastic. They could not leave the neighborhood without being in danger;  they were hated because their skin was a little darker. 

 

There was one small church, barely holding on because it didn't have money and very few people attended. The pastor worked at a construction site for 8 hours a day, had a seventh grade education and didn't have any resources to preach other than the Bible itself.  Please pray for these believers.”

  from Rebekah

Walking into the Toba village, the only thing I could focus on was my step so I wouldn't walk in dog feces, trash or animal carcasses along the dirt roads. Our team was led into a one room building with two bare light bulbs and a concrete floor: the church. The pastor introduced us to the staff of four women: the majority of the church. Then we went out and invited all the children we could find to a VBS program. 

As the children walked in, I thought that it was going to be too much. They were rowdy and disrespectful. But once everyone was seated and quiet, something in the room changed;God’s Spirit began to move.  The kids were enjoyed themselves. We sang songs, played Argentinean games and told the story of the Prodigal Son. I could tell the children loved it because of the giant hugs they gave us and their ear-to-ear grins. 

We returned the next week.  The pastor told us there were 30 new adults and teens at the church because of the VBS we put on. It was inspiring to see how many lives were changed because of three hours we spent encouraging children.  God continues to use “the least of these.” 

from Savannah

Savannah and Rebekah participated on a missions project to Argentina this July with MK2MK, a ministry within Cru for missionary kids living outside of their home country.   There were 20 kids on this project, mostly Americans, who came from 14 different  countries.  Their activities for the summer included street evangelism, conducting VBSes for local churches and doing acts of service (such as cleaning and painting) at Christian rehab facilities near Buenos Aries.