“I have never taken the Bible seriously. But because of your message tonight, I will start reading it," a Bosnian student said to me after my talk.

This mosque stands proudly at one of the major intersections in Sarajevo.

This represents a pictorial history of Sarajevo for the past 25 years. Sarajevo hosted the 1984 Winter Olympics. (The tower in the photo is displaying the Olympic rings.) Yet when Communism fell, Yugoslavia plunged into a civil war. The Croats, Serbs and Bosnians all were at war with each other. Sarajevo was one of the places hit hardest during the civil war. Both Christian and Muslim cemeteries are found throughout the city.

The room was stifling hot. The fact that the room was filled with people did not help to cool things. Even though it was evening, it had been well into the 90s earlier in the day. The windows were open but it just brought in the heat, noise and dirt from the street. Most everyone was trying to cool themselves with little hand fans made from paper. My shirt was soaked in sweat. Air conditioning was a luxury no one remotely expected. I had been speaking for almost an hour through a translator. I thought, “Too long; maybe I should just stop.”

But as I looked around the room all eyes were on me; the body language of my mostly Muslim audience said, “Keep going; we are listening.” I could not believe it! It was under these conditions I was lecturing on the Authority of the Bible.

To be in a Muslim country and to speak on this topic and share Christ was a dream come true and a highpoint of my life as a missionary!

I was in Sarajevo, Bosnia. Bosnia is part of the former Yugoslavia with nearly 4 million people and at most 500 born again believers throughout the entire country. Mosques can be found throughout the city of Sarajevo the way Southern Baptist churches pepper a small town in Georgia.

Friday noon prayers at a mosque in Sarajevo. What 11:00 am Sunday is for American Christians, noon on Friday is for Muslims.

Campus Crusade has teams that rotate in and out of the city on one year cycles (STINT) as well as an extra influx of manpower during the early summer. I was asked to come there and speak three consecutive nights on three topics, “Creation vs. Evolution,” “Truth vs. Relativity,” and “the Authority of the Bible.” Instead of just presenting facts, I tried to connect with the heart of my audience, telling personal stories and showing movie clips to help illustrate my points.

“They came because they wanted to hear about the topic; no one is forcing them to be here,” one of the Campus Crusade staff told me. “They don’t hear this truth about the Bible or Jesus in their mosques, on TV, or from anywhere. They equate Christianity with MTV since both are from America. Or they equate Christianity with the crusades of the middle ages or the Serbs who rained shells down on their city during the Yugoslav civil war in the 1990s.”

During the Q & A time, one older man, who sat on the front row during all 3 lectures, said, “I have been searching for God for 25 years. There are 2 big hurdles keeping me from the Christian God.” He went on to cite classic Muslim arguments from John 14:16 (does Jesus predict Mohammad's coming here?) and the apocrypha writing, “Gospel of Barnabas,” which presents a very Muslim Jesus. Through God’s grace, I was able to give the Christian view (and the accurate historical view) of both topics. When the meeting ended, he was quickly talking with several of our summer missionaries.

One of the many Muslim cemeteries in Sarajevo. It is a reminder of all the Muslims daily that enter eternity without Jesus Christ.

During the Q & A, questions were asked implying a myriad of misconceptions ranging from the Trinity to exactly what happened in the Council of Nicea in AD 325, damage largely propagated by the movie, “The Da Vinci Code,” and snatched onto by Muslim apologists. I found it incredulous that the majority of Muslim arguments against the Bible are rooted in misinformation, urban legends and down-right lies. For many Muslims (not all) their style is to deny, deflect and to argue with a loud, intimidating voice. Only a few of the objections raised dealt with the content of what I had shared; rather many were pre-packaged arguments against Christianity.

Scott Moffatt (right), a life-long friend and staff member with Campus Crusade in Jacksonville, FL, brought his wife Katrina and 4 kids with him to Sarajevo for the summer. Here he is witnessing to Delvin after one of my talks. Delvin is a Muslim and has been associating with our work there in Sarajevo for years. Everyone likes Delvin but he is stubborn toward the God who loves him. Pray for Delvin!

When Paul preached in Athens in Acts 17:32-34, there were 3 reactions: 1) some sneered 2) some said, “We shall hear you again about this,” 3) and some men joined Paul and believed. This was a passage we could certainly relate to last week in Sarajevo.

Teams have labored in Sarajevo for years with little fruit. Yet many feel that is about to change. Here are two men who came to Christ just this past month through our work there. Ahmed (left) from a Muslim background and George (right) was saved from a background of drug abuse and organized crime. Pray for both of these guys!

When the lecture session finally broke up, conversations continued at a nearby outdoor café late into the evening. A college student nicknamed “Bookie” came up and hugged me and said, “I have never taken the Bible seriously. But because of your message tonight, I will start reading it.” One of our staff serving in Sarajevo who witnessed to Bookie during the past month said that Bookie is close to receiving Christ as his Lord and Savior.

After one of my lectures, a group that had sat in the back came forward to talk to me. They were believers from the local "Seventh Day Adventist" churchplant. Their pastor told me, "Anytime the gospel is being preached in this town we try to get there and encourage our fellow Christians." When Christians are the minority, denominational differences are quickly set aside.

There is a beauty, a simplicity, even a purity that continues to attract me to these Balkan (Southeastern Europe) cities where Christ is not known to contend for the gospel among Muslims and other lost students. Thank you for empowering us to do just that!

Men playing chess with life-sized pieces at a park in Sarajevo. The men watching were quick to either cheer or boo at each move made by the players.

This is me with both the Sarajevo summer team and the STINT team made up of mostly students from the Atlanta area. They faithfully shared Christ often to hard hearts in a tough setting.

Hungarian Celebration Dinner in Atlanta serves up a fruitful response!

After the Celebration Dinner we (EB, me and the Hungarian Campus Crusade staff who helped with the dinner) spent a day at the lake with our friends the Edwards. From left: Andras, Ibi, Csilla, Mara, Gene and Barbara Edwards, George (in the back) and EB.

On May 14^th in Atlanta we had our 2^nd straight Hungarian Celebration Dinner! The crowd was about the same size as last year (approx 185 attended), yet the amount given was more than double! We received that night $65,000 in cash gifts and pledges going straight to the Hungarian ministry! (This was not for EB and me in our personal support.) We are grateful to the Lord and for all those who joined us that evening! The money raised that night, plus another generous gift that came in just recently, has been a HUGE lift for the Hungarian ministry. Going into next school year, they will be in the best position financially since Campus Crusade started in Hungary!

For this year’s Celebration Dinner we put a greater emphasis on prayer. A 40 day prayer and fasting chain led up to the event and during the dinner a group was also praying. The Lord chose to honor those sacrifices of prayer.

I continued in the States for another several weeks; EB was with me most of that time. We did follow-up work from the dinner and attempted to open more doors for our Polish ministry. We will be bringing more Polish staff to the Kansas City area in the fall.

EB and I were also able to spend time with my family in Arkansas over the Memorial holiday weekend. Our kids, still in school back in Budapest, did surprisingly well (almost too well!) in our absence.

This is my dad and my brother in law, Rick Elliott from Dallas, at my parents' house in Heber Springs, Arkansas. Read my dad's (Jerry Jackson) "conservative viewpoint" column at www.thesuntimes.com.

Later this week I will prepare a series of talks for an outreach I am doing over three different nights later in June. I will be helping our ministry in Sarajevo, Bosnia, by speaking evangelistically to their ethnic Muslim students that they have befriended. Please join me and pray for this outreach.

Next week I will be on vacation. I will spend it at home with my family and working on projects around the house!

Thank you for choosing to stand with us in our ministry here in Eastern Europe!

Strengthening the work of the gospel in Asia

A candid moment on the only man-made object that can be seen from outer space.

What ever became of that trash can? With the gentleness of a bowling ball bouncing down the steps inside a house, the stomach flu ravaged its way through our family as we prepared to leave. In the days leading up to our trip, first EB got it, then Quentin. The day before left Savannah got it. The morning our plane departed Elizabeth got it. Within site of the Budapest airport, Elizabeth became sick in the car. Fortunately the van trash can was available. She was sick again once we boarded the plane. Before we landed 9 hours later Rebekah became sick. We made it to our destination and to the empty apartment which was to be our home for the week. But before we could wash up and go out to eat, Ben got sick. However, God revealed Himself to us during this time of illness. For more specifics, please scroll down to the end of this posting.

Tired and sick while going through security at an Asian airport

“Little emperors” Our first full day in country EB was ushered into an apartment filled with young Asian mothers, all of whom serve as missionaries. EB taught on boundaries between family and ministry, as well as home organizing and loving husbands (the most difficult task!). Yet where she really struck a chord was her teaching on disciplining children. It is against the law to have more than one child in this big country. And since this one child represents both the future of the family and the parents’ retirement plan, most parents are afraid to do anything that might upset the child. Discipline is rare. Hence the term, “little emperors,” describes that single child. Christian families know that this is not God’s plan for children but are unsure of what to do. Therefore, they asked EB to return to them on a second day so they could ask more questions and secure more resources regarding Christian child-rearing.

Our large family with blonde hair, blue eyed kids, (along with our American friends' kids) attracted a lot of attention in Asia. Since Asians are much more outgoing than Europeans, our kids were overwhelmed with how often they were asked to pose for photos. I told Rebekah that now she knows what it feels like to be a movie star!

New country, same problem: I spent a day also with our national Asian staff. The 30 I met with are evangelizing campuses in a “small” city of 8 million that has almost 1 million students. These precious laborers must raise their own support. Even though the church is growing very rapidly in this part of the world, it is still largely a poor church. Additionally they cannot get visas to the US where 80% of the world’s Christian wealth resides. Therefore they must raise money from within the country. So our laborers there have a greater uphill struggle than even our European staff. I taught on how support raising is not begging for money and how we even provide a blessing for those who choose to give (i.e. Acts 20:35, Matthew 6:20, 1 Timothy 6:17-19). At one point my translator leaned over to me and said, “This is revolutionary!”

Motivating Asian Christians from the Word about support raising

Encouraging the heroes: We also spent two days with English-speaking missionaries serving in this part of the world. For security reasons, Asian nationals and the foreigners who work for our missions agency rarely mingle. This time was no exception. I spoke on the three most influential verses in my life: Romans 5:8, Romans 8:18 and Matthew 9:37-38. Even though we were all crammed into an apartment (again we dare not have a traditional conference setting for security reasons), some traveled from the far western reaches of the country, the equivalency of traveling from Seattle to Dallas, for this time together. Included was a team of missionaries from Romania, several of whom we know personally. I was genuinely moved to be around REAL HEROES of the faith, people serving in very primitive, isolated places who are working among some of the least evangelized people in the world. I thought, “Who am I to be speaking into their lives?”

Ben with the Asian Rod Stewart. I had to explain to Ben who Rod Stewart is.

“Happy Birthday to you.” While in the country, we had to use a new vocabulary of code words when talking about “company business” in order to protect identities and activities. At one point during one of our praise and worship times, there was a loud, forceful knock on the apartment door. Quickly Bibles were shut and put away and the song leader switched to “happy birthday to you…” Fortunately, it was only the building maintenance man checking to see if the phone lines worked, a man known well by the occupants of the apartment. Just a few weeks before, the authorities busted up a similar meeting, and separated the nationals from the foreigners. They hauled the foreigners down to a police station for questioning while seizing their passports.

Elizabeth tries an Asian delicacy, cow stomach, while Savannah registers her opinion on her face!

Free Market Communism: I was surprised at how clean and modern things were. Now granted, we were staying in one of the nicer parts of a large, large city. I asked the Americans serving there about the ever rising standard of living; I made some ignorant comment on how “Communism must be working.” They were quick to tell me that what I saw was the results of a giant step toward a free market economy, as well as the country putting on its best face for the upcoming Olympics that will be held in that country. The government, in order to appease the masses, had to turn the free market faucets on somewhat. The best way our friends could describe it, was the term, “free market Communism,” as confusing and contradictory as that term is. I laughed when I realized that in order for Marx’s and Mao’s dream to remain alive, a giant step away from Communism had to be taken.

Mao intends evil; God uses it for good: I found it so ironic that Mao’s picture is still everywhere in this country, including on most of the denominations of money, given all the pain, suffering and failure he caused his people. About the time I was born, there was a famine caused by Mao’s ignorance of farming (yet everyone feared telling him that he was wrong) that killed “at least 30 million people.” (for more details see the book review for “Hungry Ghosts” at http://www.fff.org/freedom/0697f.asp). Yet God has used the temporalness of Communism to weaken the strongholds of Buddhism that spiritually enslaved people for millenniums. Missionaries for centuries gave their lives for a people enslaved to Buddhism and unresponsive to the gospel. Yet Communism swept away much of the power structure of this occultic Eastern religion. And now, even though outlawed, Christianity is growing very rapidly within the spiritual vacuum created by the secularization of Buddhism and Mao’s governmental philosophy.

Back to Jerusalem: In recent years, a missionary movement has arisen among the underground church in this country. In fact, the goal is by the year 2020 that this country will send out more missionaries than any country in the world, including the US. They have taken upon themselves to take the gospel “back to Jerusalem.” The history of the Christian church is to push west. The church was founded in Jerusalem, and then expanded into Europe, North America and now to Asia. However, North Americans cannot take the gospel to most of the closed places in our world today, specifically the Muslim Asian countries. So the Asian church is picking up the baton and determined to carry the gospel “back to Jerusalem.” This passion for missions was not born in the comforts of wealth and freedom but was born in the persecution of Communism!

Easter under Communism: We also toured the capitol city of 12 million with good friends of ours from our days in Atlanta, who have been serving in this country as long as we have been in Budapest. While comparing notes about life and raising children on the mission field, their knowledge of the city and the language proved invaluable. We all attended an Easter Sunday service at a church that in many ways resembled one of the thousands of similar churches in America. Yet it grieved us that only those possessing foreign passports could attend this service. Yet we were assured that in house churches and in underground locations all over the city and in the country-side that the resurrection of Jesus was being celebrated. The Lord will be glorified in spite of natural man’s attempts to squelch it. OUR GOD REIGNS!

The Sufficiency of Christ: It was Friday morning, March 30^th, and I was spending time with the Lord. We were to leave for the airport to begin our journey in just a few hours. I begged God to take away the stomach flu from our family. Yet when I reviewed one set of my talk notes, I came across this Scripture from 2 Corinthians 12:9-10. Paul had a messenger from Satan, a thorn in his side, that he begged God three times to remove. Yet the Lord did not do it; instead the Lord told Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Paul comments further, “Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, insults, distresses, persecutions, difficulties (including the stomach flu) for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak then I am strong.” I then out of obedience thanked the Lord for the stomach flu, proclaimed Him sufficient in the midst of our weakness, declared “lesson learned!” and fully expected Him to remove the flu from our family THEN and NOW! Just then Elizabeth came into the room to tell me she had just thrown up. It was then I realized that the Lord was going to not heal but reveal. He would reveal Himself sufficient in the midst of our weakness.

When we arrived at the airport, EB asked if the flight was full. “Not an available seat,” the woman at the counter told EB. Our countenance sunk. We were hoping for some additional empty seats. However, when we got on the plane, there were two rows of three empty seats each near us. Those two rows became our “sick beds.” Both Elizabeth and Savannah, both weakened by the flu, were able to lay down and sleep pretty much the entire 9 hour flight. THANK YOU, LORD! There was also a sympathetic flight crew and plenty of airsickness bags, of which we used several! God chose not to heal but to provide abundantly in the midst of our sickness. Yes, other people’s sufferings are much worse than ours. Yet the Lord wanted to show our family His faithfulness through this sickness. And He did just that! Pursue not merely relief from your sufferings but pursue finding Christ sufficient in the midst of your sufferings!

More photos

Thank you for standing with us as God calls us to "even the remotest ends of the earth!"

Encouraging the body of Christ in Serbia!

Where on a world map would you look for a country that had only 700 evangelicals in its capitol city of 2 million people? What if I added that this country recently had a civil war and is now home to 200,000 Muslims?

Mark Orcutt (right) flew over from South Carolina to travel with me. Here he is speaking to a Serbian student in Novi Sad, Serbia, during a distribution of our evangelistic magazine, "Vox."

Would you place such a country in Europe?

The country I am describing is called Serbia. Serbia is in the Balkan Peninsula and is what remains from the former Yugoslavia. Serbia shares a border with Hungary.

Before the USA was attacked on Sept 11, Serbia was the world’s hotspot. Perhaps you remember such words as Sarajevo, ethnic cleansing, Kosovo, Slobodan Milosevic.

Last week I was there in Serbia in the capitol city of Belgrade: 2 million people with less than 1000 born again believers while the Muslims multiply throughout the country, particularly in the south.

I was with Mark Orcutt, a good friend from South Carolina, who came over just to spend the week with our family and join me in my travels and ministry. Mark and I spent many hours together processing all we experienced and getting to know each other better.

Errol (left) is our Serbian country director for Campus Crusade; Mark is on the right. Goran (middle) is a psychology student who is not a Christian (yet) but enjoys hanging out with the guys in our ministry in Belgrade. They are holding up copies of the evangelistic magazine we distributed. I think it is great when our ministry attracts non-Christians!

It was asked to come to the city of Belgrade to train their new missionaries and to encourage the laborers there. Campus Crusade has 7 missionaries there, 4 are Serbian and 3 Romanian. Just north of Belgrade is the city of Novi Sad. Campus Crusade has there a team of 5 American young people witnessing on the campus. One day we helped them pass out an evangelistic magazine that our ministry created and gathered evangelistic contacts for them. The magazine looks great and is very professional!

One student approached me who was helping our American missionaries hand out the magazine. He said, “Do you remember me?”

“Yes, I do,” I replied. “You came to an outreach I spoke at 2 years ago here in Novi Sad. Your name is Evan.” Evan told me how my message impacted his life and a short while later he came to faith in Christ. Our team of Americans has helped him grow and now he is helping them reach out to other students. It was great reconnecting with Evan!

Evan, in the light blue shirt, through our ministry in Novi Sad, Serbia, went from a lost student to a Christ-centered laborer!

We returned to Budapest in time for a great outreach done each year by Campus Crusade’s high school’s ministry. “Battle of the Bands.” Amateur bands from around Budapest get a chance to perform live and compete for prize money. Entry fee is to fill out a spiritual interest survey from which our high school staff can do follow up. I have not heard yet on numbers but I saw the gospel clearly communicated between acts and I saw young Hungarians in attendance who otherwise would not have gone to a church or any “Christian” event. What a strategic outreach!

Back in Budapest, these Hungarian students attended "Battle of the Bands." Though they probably would not attend a church service, at our outreach they heard the gospel.

Thank you for your enthusiasm and your partnership in our ministry. Please keep praying for us and those impacted by the work of the gospel here in Eastern Europe!

"Therefore, having been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Romans 5:1

March Madness in Budapest!

Wow! What a few days! Our kids’ school (ICSB; International Christian School of Budapest) hosted a basketball tournament where we invited International High Schools from across Central and Eastern Europe. Friday and Saturday had around the clock high school basketball games for both girls and boys as the tournament progressed.

The teams came from Salzburg, Austria; Vienna, Austria; Kiev, Ukraine, Bucharest, Romania and our cross-town rival, the American International School of Budapest (AISB), where embassy families and business executives send their kids. While most of the high school athletes were American, the rosters from these schools contained kids from places such as Belgium, China and Iran.

While the high school boys from our school took second in the tournament to local rival AISB, our ICSB girls went undefeated in the tournament and won the girls division! The crowd was rowdy, school colors were everywhere, the pep band was energetic and the gym was loud! This tournament is certainly the highlight of the athletic year and generates the most school spirit! EB and I haven’t had this much fun as sports fans since college days at Ahearn Fieldhouse.

Our Elizabeth, AS A SOPHOMORE, brought home a whole shelf-full of awards, including: From 100+ athletes, the coaches voted her: 1) Most Valuable Offensive Player, 2) onto the all-tournament team. She was also 3) high scorer and 4) brought home the championship trophy! We are so proud!

The championship ICSB 2007 Lady Bulldogs basketball team!

On a cultural note, we had to adjust to a new way of refereeing. In America, we expect the refs to be objective outside observers of the game. In Europe, where authority is emphasized and individuality is discouraged, the refs make it clear that they are in control of the game and they will favor their calls toward the losing team. This is an attempt to make the contests fairer. Frustrating to our American minds but a fact of life here in Europe all the same.

Rebekah and her friend won an award for the best poster. Here it is!

"The mission outreach of these fellows is so superb. Thank you for letting us share with them."

The above is a quote from one of our Kansas City partners regarding our Polish missionaries.

Even though EB and I are back on a plane on Sunday for a week in Atlanta, I just returned 10 days ago from nearly 3 weeks in the States. Most of that was spent in or near Kansas City. While in KC, I was with 4 of our Polish staff trying to get them connected with churches and individuals in their attempts to raise support.

Our several weeks in Kansas City (and one weekend near Great Bend, Kansas) exceeded our expectations! Praise God! I was genuinely surprised how people made sacrifices and took risks to help out the Polish missionaries with me. These people ranged from high school friends I have known for a quarter century (I grew up in Kansas City) to people I did not know before this trip.

Authentic Kansas City Bar-B-Que with our new friend Brian Doerr (2nd from the right) and four of our Polish missionaries [from left: Robert Kowalsky, Mariusz Kwapisz (country director), Marek Marcinowicz and Irek Lehwark.]

The Polish missionaries with me had the deck stacked against them. IMAGINE THEIR SITUATION! They were far from family, in a culture and country foreign to them, operating in their second language and, on top of all of this, they were support raising! Two of the men are still in Kansas City and will leave in a few days. However, when I left the US on Super Bowl Sunday, the Polish missionaries had already raised about half of the support they needed! That is good news!

Yet behind these 4 staff are another 95 Polish missionaries. And behind these Polish missionaries are our Romanian, Albanian and Russian staff. Then there are the national missionaries from the other Eastern European countries, most all of whom live financially in ways Americans would not.

Europe is the only continent in the world where the Christian church is not growing. If we are to see true Biblical Christianity come again to Europe, like it is in Asia and Africa, the first thing we must do (after emerging from prayer and fasting for Europe) is to sure up and empower what “remains of the wall” (think Nehemiah): that is, our European national missionaries.

God has not given the American church great wealth so that she can be comfortable. I believe that the Lord wants the American church to step beyond the bubble of American evangelicalism and engage her world. And as she goes to the remotest ends of the earth, she is to be salt and light to her neighbors as well.

Some of the lovely Kansas City ladies who attended a coffee that Kari (far right) hosted in order to benefit the Polish ministry.

The fact is that very little of America’s Christian wealth gets to the foreign mission field. This is not, I believe, because the American church is greedy. Rather I believe she lacks opportunity. Whenever the Holy Spirit orchestrates Eastern European missionaries to be seated at the same table as American Christians, an instant bond usually takes place; a bond that, more often than not, results in prayer and financial investment.

Mariusz sharing his life and ministry with Larry and Phyllis Vogt and Marian DeWerff of Ellinwood (Kansas) Baptist Church.

One reason books like “The Purpose Driven Life” and “Wild at Heart,” are so popular is that the flipside of American affluence is often boredom and a lack of purpose. Yet the Bible is full of offers to live lives of meaning and purpose. (Matthew 9:37, Matthew 16:24-25, Matthew 28:18-20, Luke 6:35, Acts 1:8, etc.)

Reconciling the world with the Creator is what drove Jesus to leave His home, travel to a foreign world, communicate the love of the Father and even lay down His life so that others might commune with the Father. The missionary cause is so great that even Jesus Himself left everything to pursue it. Surely it is worthy of our pursuits too.

Even though the cause of Christ cries out for those who will leave behind all that is familiar for the sake of the gospel, one can still make a difference and not leave one’s zip code by praying, sending and giving.

The foreign mission field does not need sinless saints leading perfect lives revved on caffeine and adrenaline. Rather we need wounded warriors who are so moved by a God who justifies by grace through faith, that they count Him as their greatest treasure, greatest passion, and greatest pursuit.

Repent from small dreams and come dream big dreams with us. First Europe and then lets see where the Lord leads us!

We were able to spend a few days with EB's mom who lives near Great Bend, Kansas. She lives on the farm her grandfather homesteaded as an immigrant from the modern-day Czech Republic. Here she is showing the Polish men the hogshed that she is renovating into guest quarters for her ever-growing family!

It was interesting to see what the Polish men noticed while visiting the States. They commented frequently on the creatively designed buildings (one pictured here), the large cars, wide and maintained roads, including the interstate system as well as "miles upon miles of large, beautiful homes."

When I arrived back home in Budapest, EB had a party waiting for me with our children, extended family and best Hungarian friends! For a few hours I forgot that I hadn't slept in a couple of days!

The Joy of Giving!

Dear Partners in Ministry,

Every year at this time, more money is given to charitable causes than any other month. And with the economy strong, we may see more money given to charity in December 2006 than any month in history. That is wonderful! America is the most generous country on earth!

My ministry is about giving. I see both sides. I see a country that the Lord has blessed with abundant resources, unlike any country ever in the history of the world. Yet I frequently see many missionaries living at near poverty conditions. So I would like to present you with three reasons why we should give generously.

1) The Lord commands that we give generously: Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote to Timothy these words, “Instruct those who are rich in this present world…to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed,” (1 Timothy 6:17-18).

2) The cause of Christ needs laborers: In my travels across Eastern Europe I see doors opened wide for the gospel but no one is there to go through them. I see missionaries who want to bring the gospel to their countrymen but just don’t have the resources to support their work. I see excellent outreach strategies that never get past the proposal stage. There are many reasons why this is so, but always top among those reasons is a lack of funding. In one of the most influential New Testament passages to me, Jesus says, “the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few…” (Matthew 9:37).

3) The words of Jesus: “It is more blessed to give than to receive,” (Acts 20:35). THIS VERSE IS RADICAL! Many of the national missionaries I work with are scared about asking American Christians for financial support. I answer by showing them this Scripture; they are a blessing to their donors! It is more important for the donor to give than it is for the missionary to receive! I believe that the biggest competitor to missions is not Muslims, secularists or foreign governments; it is materialism. When we give to the cause of Christ we are choosing to divorce ourselves from the idol of materialism. Giving, if done in the right spirit, is a high form of worship to Almighty God!

But the sad fact is that very few Christians are giving. The “Rule of 3s” helps to explain this: 1) the average Christian gives only 3% of their income to Christian causes 2) only 3% of Christians tithe and 3) of the money that is given only 3% goes to the international mission field. Yet most Christians complain of financial problems. Is there a connection? Imagine where the cause of Christ would be world-wide if merely half of us tithed!

However, I must say this: EB and I have received undeserved attention for the financial turn around of our ministry in Hungary (they still have needs but are now pointed in the right direction). We don’t deserve credit; YOU do! When we began to help our Hungarian staff, we went to THOSE ALREADY SUPPORTING US! And you all gave generously again and introduced our beloved Hungarian staff to your like-minded friends. Even recently in an email I quoted our Polish director that it will not be a happy Christmas for many of our Polish staff families due to poor support. And YOU took the initiative (I never asked). Over $20,000 thus far has been given to our needy Polish staff. Wow! YOU MAKE EB AND ME LOOK GOOD! Keep up the excellent work; you are an example to the cause of Christ everywhere!

EB and I want to live with a “kingdom mentality.” If you will be giving extra this Christmas, then please consider the needs of national missionaries (with ANY Christ-exalting ministry) before our family’s needs; also EB and I would like to recommend Samaritan’s Purse (http://www.samaritanspurse.org) Through their humanitarian work, they get the gospel into areas that mere evangelists and church planters cannot go.

Giving benefits you, it empowers the missionary and brings the Lord glory. Name another use of money that does all that! Giving generously is a WIN-WIN-WIN opportunity!

Serving with you,

Matt and EB

PS: this is a link to a talk I heard by John Piper. No other theologian has influenced me like Piper. This is classic Piper and it is a “go into all the world and lay down your life for Jesus” message. http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByScripture/10/11_Let_All_the_Peoples_Praise_Him/

Do not seek a painless death; seek a purposeful death.

Warsaw's Tragic History & the Death of the European Enlightenment

I was caught off guard with how modern Warsaw is. Plenty of reminders that I was in Eastern Europe (including cold and grey winter weather) yet Warsaw has skyscrapers that Budapest doesn't have.

It was July 1944. The Polish resistance, outgunned and outnumbered, was battling the Nazis for control of Warsaw. The Poles looked up and saw on the opposite side of the Vistula river, which flowed through Warsaw, the Soviet army lined up on the banks. The Poles cheered! “They have come to rescue us! They will cross over and drive out the Nazis!” But the Soviets did not cross. They stood there. Watching. And waiting. They waited until the Nazis greatly weakened themselves by pounding the Polish resistance and destroying Warsaw. Once both the Poles were decimated and the Nazis exhausted, then did the Soviet army make its move. The Nazis retreated leaving death and destruction behind. Hence, the Soviets postured themselves as the liberators of Warsaw (much like they did in Budapest). Little did the Polish people realize that they were about to be enslaved by the Soviets for the next two generations.

250,000 Poles died during World War II as the Nazis and the Soviet armies battled over Warsaw. Before the war, Warsaw had a Jewish population of 400,000. After the war, there were virtually no Jews left. During my brief tour of Warsaw, I saw a wall that marked a boundary of the former Jewish ghetto. And many of the same emotions came over me that I felt this past summer at Auschwitz: emotions of terror, disbelief and disgust mixed with anger. There is nothing left of the 400,000 Jews that lived in this city 65 years ago. (Wikipedia’s page on Warsaw is a great, quick resource about the World War II battle for Warsaw: www.wikipedia.com)

This wall in Warsaw is essentially all that is left of the Jewish ghetto built by the Nazis.

The Soviets desired to colonize and make slaves out of Poland and all of Eastern Europe. On the heels of the Jewish holocaust, the Soviets either killed or shipped to the Siberian Gulags all the intellegencia of Poland, regardless of religion. (The Soviets did this as well as in the other Eastern Europe countries). They didn’t want any skilled workers, thinkers, entrepreneurs, leaders, problem solvers, or wealthy people in any of their European colonies; all they wanted was a mindless working class of slaves that they could manipulate and extract goods from on behalf of the Soviet Union.

Like our Campus Crusade staff in Hungary, our Polish staff can all tell stories from the previous generation of relatives that simply vanished or family that were ruthlessly killed. I stayed with Robert and Beata Kowalsky, a Campus Crusade Polish staff couple with 3 beautiful young girls. Of Robert’s father’s family, only Robert’s father survived the battle of Warsaw as a 15 year old boy constantly on the move to avoid capture; the rest of his family was captured and killed. Beata’s grandfather was shipped off to Siberia because he was a blacksmith and the Soviets didn’t want him making bullets or weapons for the Polish resistance.

The Enlightenment began when on a wintery day in 1618 Rene Descartes sat next to a fire and articulated the words that not only changed Europe but world history: “I think therefore I am.” At that point an era began where the shift of authority was no longer based on the Bible and the church but based on human wisdom and reason. Man set out to build an earthly utopia that was void of God and any other authority except man himself. The Enlightenment didn’t end, I personally believe, until the fall of the Berlin wall in 1991. That symbolic act was the curtain closing on the final scene of the European Enlightenment that chronicled man’s multi-century failure to build a utopia on earth.. The harder man tries to build a man-centered Christless utopia, the more tragic are the results.

The quest for societal utopia is all but gone (albeit the Muslims today think that a world-wide society based on seventh century Arab culture is the answer). Unfortunately the vacuum left by the Enlightenment in Europe is not being filled with a return to Jesus Christ; it is being filled with Post-Modern thinking that embraces a world view that is nihilistic, fatalistic and materialistic. Shopping malls have replaced universities (which had replaced churches) as the center of society. The pursuit of materialism (i.e. the pursuit of self) is what occupies the modern European mind. The tragedies of World War II are told today by the grandparents, listened to with one ear by pre-occupied parents and pronounced boring by the children. Unfortunately, the words found posted in Auschwitz by George Santayana take on a special meaning: “The one who does not remember history is bound to live through it again.”

These are the Kowalsky girls. Their parents, Robert and Beata, are on our Polish Campus Crusade team. I work closely with Robert in addressing the financial needs of our Polish ministry and staff. Above, these girls are (from the left) Carolina, Victoria and Eunice.

I almost forgot! Thanks for praying for Elizabeth! Here she is flanked by her mom and grandmother in a Budapest doctor's office moments after waking up from surgery for having her wisdom teeth pulled. There were no complications and she only took pain medicine the next day.

How can a God who is all loving send someone to hell?

We had a birthday recently. Rebekah turned 10 years old. She got one of the best presents an American kid living overseas could receive: Oreos!



Savannah, EB, Rebekah and Elizabeth (Liz).

I was drinking cappuccino in the dining car of the train that was taking me from Budapest to the Czech city of Brno, where I was scheduled to speak that night. We were passing rolling hills and small villages along the Danube river in the northern part of Hungary. We even passed the Visegrad castle perched on a high hilltop above the river. I remember praying, “Thank You, Lord, that I can take Your message of reconciliation into a country where You are largely ignored. What an awesome privilege. I certainly must have the greatest job in the world!”

The Czech Republic is a country of 12 million people, yet has the same ratio of evangelicals as Poland: ½ of 1 percent of the population. In spite of the rich Czech history of the Moravians and the Hussites, the Czech people have shown little interest in the gospel since the fall of Communism. Yet when I arrived in Brno and met the staff of this student ministry (a group aligned with but not a part of Campus Crusade for Christ), my heart was encouraged. These Czech missionaries are working the campus at Brno, along with several other universities inside of Czech. Also EB’s mom’s family comes from Bohemia, which is modern day western Czech; my wife and children all have Czech blood.

After touring the city for 2 hours, I gave my presentation to 60 students on “If God is all-loving and all-powerful, how do we make sense of the evil and suffering around us?” After my talk, which was translated into Czech, I fielded some questions. When that was over, several students wanted to ask me questions one-on-one, including one young lady with tears in her eyes. “How can a God who is all loving send someone to hell, even if that person sincerely searched for God?” I took a deep breath, smiled and attempted answer to her plea.

“First, I appreciate your heart. It shows a tender spirit. I understand this is a difficult issue. It is for me too. Second, God created hell because many people want nothing to do with God. They shake their fist at God or ignore Him their whole lives. When they die, they merely get what they have spent their whole physical lives pursuing…separation from God. Therefore God would not be just if He didn’t create hell.

Third, I believe no one deserves heaven; rather we all deserve hell due to our rebellion against God and His incomprehensible holiness. So the fact that heaven is even an option for us is an indication of God’s grace toward mankind. And God maintained His just nature not by merely waving off our sin but by extracting in its entirety the penalty for our sin. Therefore even though there is a hell, God is still the Most Just Judge and the Greatest Love in the universe. (I didn’t but I should have at this point quoted Athanasius, an influential Christian theologian, when he said back in the third century, “What kind of person must He have been to bring us the salvation that He alone could have and did bring to us?”)

Fourth, I believe in hell because Jesus teaches about hell. And I trust Jesus. I may not always understand Him fully but I trust Him. Fifth, in a direct response to your question, I believe the Lord will move heaven and earth to get the gospel to those who truly seek Him. I reject the idea that God is unable or unwilling to get the gospel to those who honestly seek Him. In fact Ronnie (my pastor in Budapest who speaks frequently to this student group) travels to Iraq several times a year to meet with 13 Iraqi pastors. 11 of those 13 pastors came to faith in Christ because Jesus appeared to each of them individually in a dream and said, “Follow Me.” No Four Spiritual Laws, no TV preacher, no Jesus film showing. The Lord is prepared to do whatever it takes to call His sheep to Himself.”

She smiled, wiped away a tear, thanked me and left. I’m not sure if my words were helpful to her or not. But the staff there said I connected well with the students and even said they are anxious to have me back again.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Matt

A view of Brno, Czech.