5 Photos and a Video

The Lord chose to reveal His hand to us during my time in Kansas City in February with 4 Polish missionaries. I was nervous going into this trip because my efforts before hand did not generate the opportunities I had hoped. But the Lord took our 5 loaves and 2 fish and turned it into an abundance! Some real heroes stepped forward and made sure these Polish believers had plenty of opportunities to tell their stories and present their needs. And Christians joined up with these Polish missionaries so they could return to their assignments and families in Poland and share the gospel without the pressures of inadequate finances. We thank God for how He blessed their support trip to the States and how Christians in Kansas City rallied behind these Polish Christians.

Here they are at KU basketball game with enthusiastic KU alumnus David Wurth (left). From left next to David is Natalie Balcer, campus staff in Gdansk, Then next to Natalie is Robert Kowalski, Polish Director of Development, Maciek (Mike) Derezinski, Polish National Campus Director, and Wojtek (Wayne) Tubek, CFO for Campus Crusade for Christ in Poland.

Late February, EB joined me, along with Quentin and Rebekah, in the Czech Republic and spoke with me at a retreat for Christian young people. Czech is statistically the most atheistic country in Europe, which is the most atheistic continent in the world. Therefore this was a unique opportunity. If the Church of Jesus Christ is to be healthy again in Europe, then she will need, among other things, to be financially responsible for her pastors and missionaries. One of my messages was about good financial stewardship. I was able to give each attendee a copy of the book, “Your Money Counts,” a gift from Crown Ministries in Kansas City.

We got a dog! For the first time in nearly 20 years of marriage, we have a pet! She is a Havanese, was born in December and we named her Reagan. Rebekah is her primary care-giver and is learning the joys of house-training!

Here our kids are with their dates to the Valentines’ banquet at their school. Liz is pictured with Peter Mullett, whose parents work in Budapest with the Evangelical Free Church. Ben took Michelle Martin, whose parents work with American Baptists for World Evangelization (ABWE) here in Budapest. The four of them are each good basketball players and can be seen in the highlights video I linked to below.

Thanks for loving us and walking this journey of faith with us. There is nothing more glorious, more assuring that knowing we are no longer slaves but adopted sons and heirs of our Father God! He invites us to call Him, “Papa!” Galatians 4:4-7

Below is a link to a 6 minute highlights video from last weekend's basketball tournament. The video features both the girls and boys teams from our school, Intl Christian School of Budapest. There were lots of cheers and some tears as both our girls and boys teams played in but lost the championship game. It was particularly hard this year for Liz has she had to watch the entire tournament from the bench because of her recent knee surgery.

Teams came from here in Budapest as well as Kiev, Vienna and Salzburg to play in our tournament. This tournament is one of the highlights of the school year! (Ben is wearing the green jersey, #21 and can be seen in slow motion defensively batting the ball into the stands. Michelle, Ben's date to the Valentine's banquet, is the one also shown in slow motion sinking the 3 pt jumper.)

“I am Legend,” Atheism, and the Theology of Zombies

This past weekend I took my teenage son Ben to see the movie “I am Legend.” Will Smith movies involving humanoids are always a little tongue in cheek - movies like “Men In Black,” and “Independence Day.” But I found “I am Legend,” disturbing, even downright scary. Not suspenseful like “Signs” but just plain ole scary.

I think it was the zombies that made it so disturbing. I confess I kept my eyes closed during most of the warehouse scene. I did see the part however when the zombies were all clustered together in the corner with their backs to the camera jostling for just the right spot away from the light like bats in a cave or bees in a hive. For reasons I don’t understand, that just creeped me out.

The zombies were creepy because it was as if the Divine Spark (I mean this in the “image of God” sense) that occupies humanity had been lifted from these “night seekers.” The zombies were human without the human element. Even though outside of Hollywood zombies don’t exist, yet in a Darwinian world, zombies would be quite plausible. If humans are only flesh and blood, mere products of biochemical reaction and mutations, spiritually dead and perhaps even soulless, then zombies would no longer be a genre of fiction but part of the evolutionary line. After all, it was the zombies that thrived and nearly killed off the weaker race in the world portrayed by "I am Legend."

Fortunately, I am not exposed to a lot of zombie movies and I don’t know how the zombies of “I am Legend,” compare to other zombies, or Rob Zombie for that matter. As a teenager I saw both “Dawn of the Dead” and the “Omega Man” at a drive-in on the same night. By the way, the “Omega Man” and “I am Legend” are both adaptations of the 1954 novel by Richard Matheson, a guy I never heard of until I began reading up on “I am Legend.” (Right now “in my head” I can hear Dolores O'Riordan of the Cranberries belting out the chorus from their hit song, “Zombie.”) Sorry for this side track. Back to the train of thought.

"Omega Man" movie poster, Dolores O'Riordan of the Cranberries and Rob

There were also some strong positive spiritual elements in “I am Legend,” specifically the ending. (Warning: Plot Spoiler). When Will Smith’s character Robert Neville discovers the cure that would make the zombies human again, the zombies continue their assault on his Plexiglas-encased basement laboratory. Robert Neville kept screaming, “I can cure you! I can save you!” But the zombies didn’t even know they were sick and were intent on killing the only one who could make them whole again. Perhaps this is a stretch, and I am certainly not equating Will Smith to Jesus. But for me it was reminiscent of Jesus when He says, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings and you were unwilling,” Matthew 23:37.

Moments later Robert Neville does give his life so that the human race can be preserved. And the cure was in the blood! Again, you can accuse me of reaching. But Caiaphas’ words of substitutionary atonement rang in my ear, better “that one man die for the people and that the whole nation not perish,” John 11:50.

Surely an atheist may say, “But wait! Will Smith’s character said he didn’t believe in God. This movie illustrates that it does not take a belief in God to do great moral acts.” Perhaps so. But the fruit of atheism, particularly in the last century, was responsible for more deaths than any other world view and the body count greatly exceeded the Crusades and Inquisitions, both of which will always be perennial black eyes on the Christian church. But, and this is important when we dialogue with the critics of Christianity, the Crusades and Inquisitions went against the teachings of Jesus Christ of the New Testament while Nazism and Communism were the results of natural selection of the atheistic worldview. Selfless acts of self-sacrifice are few and far between in a “survival of the fittest” world.

Even Fredrick Nietzsche, who 100 years ago, gave us the phrase, “God is dead,” also predicted that because God is dead, because man no longer has a use for God, that the 20^th century would be the bloodiest in history. He was right. Atheism can only bring us death.

Nietzsche: "God is dead"

“I am Legend” ends with one man giving his life so others could live. In light of this another point needs to be made: Have you ever noticed that the themes of redemption and atonement are so prevalent in our movies? These themes resonant with the human psyche as if we were pre-programmed with a leaning toward these ideas. This is the point John Eldridge makes in his book, “A Sacred Romance.”

And Jesus Christ’s laying down his life for sinners and His enemies is the epitome, the highest expression, the ultimate example, of the ideas of redemption and atonement which seemed to be scripted onto our souls. Why do we today in our modern age simultaneously express redemption and atonement in our art yet ignore it in the Incarnation? Reimbrandt, Michaelangelo and others did not struggle with this contradiction; however we seem to embrace this contradiction. It is as if this story of Jesus is written on our hearts yet in our modern society we cannot face it or acknowledge it -- as if we are like Will Smith wandering in the dark warehouse; we know what’s there but we really hope we don’t find it.

If we take the Christ out of Christianity then we merely get another man-centered, works oriented religion; a Savior-less religion is zombie-like spirituality. Something is there, certainly, but we know it is not spiritually living. Perhaps this is why Jesus, facing the physical death of one of His good friends, says, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies,” John 11:25.

"...One from every tribe, tongue and nation..." Rev. 7:9

Campus Crusade for Christ's Eastern European and Russian staff conference.

Flags from the countries represented at our conference.

We just returned from an incredible week! It was Campus Crusade's staff conference for Eastern Europe and Russia. This conference happens only once every three years and was held just a couple hours’ drive from Budapest. It was a week of great Bible teaching, worship, celebration, fellowship and rejoicing over what God is doing in our part of the world. 1200 laborers from 13 time zones representing many languages and many cultures. I wish you could have been there!

The most valuable resource we have is our staff. I would like to introduce you to some of the loved, valued, national missionaries that I get to work with. Perhaps you will meet them directly someday.

This is the team of Romanians serving in the city of Timisoara, Romania. I am in the yellow sweater in the middle.

Toshe, who is a Hugh Grant look alike and an accomplished concert pianist, is from Macedonia and this is his teammate Tomo.

On the right is my boss and his wife, Larry and Debbie Thompson, the director of Eastern Europe and Russia. Next to them is Larry’s boss, Steve and Judy Douglas, Campus Crusade president.

Eugene from Moldova (on the left) talks with Ionel, one of our Romanian staff who is serving in Serbia.

Robert Kowalski (on the right) with whom I work closely, is the Polish director of development, and his wife Beata, talking with a friend.

This is Erol Ilijazović, country director of Serbia, and his wife Tanja.

This is Sandu Onu and his wife Tanya, from Moldova.

Here I am with Dima and Svetlana Brovko from the Ukraine

Three very eligible bachlorettes: (on the left) Vesna from Serbia, Amalia from Romania, and Svetlana from Bosnia.

Quentin, hamming it up for the camera, right before a song during the children’s program.

For the teenagers, there was a special week just for them about a 20 minute drive away. It was put on by Campus Crusade’s MK2MK (MK = missionary kid) ministry, which is, in my opinion, one of the best things Campus Crusade does. In this photo our Savannah (far right) waits with her friends to board the bus to take them to their MK2MK week.

Thank you for standing with us in our ministry! Thank you for the love, prayers, encouragement and support you not only give our family but many of our laborers from this part of the world. May we all rest and rejoice in our AWESOME SAVIOR!

Savannah playing basketball on her 13 birthday

Great Form!

Coach: “Savannah! What are you doing?”

The starters

Defense

Fast break

The boys were watching

After nearly 20 years of marriage, EB hasn't aged at all. I have aged enough for the 2 of us! I look just like how I remember my Grandpa Schleiger

Roland (one of our Hungarian staff), Bill Blackwood (visiting from Michigan) and me

Sarajevo: a city without Christmas

“Always winter, never Christmas.” I downloaded this picture of Sarajevo from the internet.

This could be any place in Eastern Europe during the Cold War. The streets and buildings are brown and dirty. The surrounding mountains are topped in snow yet they trap in all the pollution from the city. These are the same mountains from where in the 1990s Serb guns lobbed shells down into the city, killing innocent civilians. Even though it is December now, there are no holiday lights, no piped in Bing Crosby, no Santa or manger displays, no glow on children’s faces. I am in Muslim Sarajevo, a city without Christmas.

Delvin and I entered one of the many coffee shops in town, each with its own décor and personality. This coffee shop was not well lit. In Bosnian, the name of the coffee shop meant “fire.” The air was blue from cigarette smoke. Music pulsated through the room. Delvin and I found the only available table. We sat down and I glanced to my left. There hidden behind a pillar was a table where a young couple was making out with such intensity as if they both were groping for a lost coin in each other’s throat. To my right flush on the wall was a big screen TV inside a plastic golden picture frame. I couldn’t decide if it looked cheap or if it was totally hip.

Delvin dispensed quickly with the small talk and our religious conversation began. Delvin is a tall lanky perpetual college student with a hearty laugh; he looks European and like an Alabama fraternity boy but is a devout Muslim. Delvin is easy to like. He has hung around the American guys in our mission to Sarajevo for about 5 years. We talked for over 2 hours about the differences between Christianity and Islam. Essentially, he believes that God can do anything He wants except take on a human body and die for our sins. He likes us as Americans but implies we are foolish for believing in Jesus Christ.

Delvin, on the left, with my good friend Scott Moffatt, from a picture this past summer.

“Do you believe,” Delvin asks me in great English, “that a man can live an evil life and then at age 80 ‘receive Christ’ and he will go to heaven? That isn’t fair!” “In some ways it may not be fair,” I countered and then I leaned forward and looked in Delvin’s eyes. “but its beautiful!” I let that hang in the air and said, “How can you have the audacity to think that you, rebellious, sinful man can stand alone before Almighty, Holy, Righteous God with only your good works and bribe Him to let you into heaven? Your god is too small and your idea of holiness is not nearly holy enough.”

Besides Delvin, there are some other great guys with whom I spent time during my recent visit to Sarajevo. Each of them I met previously (except Torkin) this past summer.

George: I feel a real connection with George. He is a new Christian with superb English. With George I love to laugh, tell stories and hang out. He is the sort of guy that would be a lot of fun on a road trip. George has a checkered past and we are trusting God to do a great work in his life. Yet between the need to work and school, it is a struggle for George to be consistent in a small group Bible study with our team in Sarajevo.

Achmed: He is also a new Christian and like George, struggles to find the time for Bible study between the demands of school and work. I met Achmed over lunch and he told me about how he grew up as an orphan. He said, “Hey this will be my first Christmas ever so please send me a Christmas card.” His perspective touched my heart. I told him, “Bro, if you ever want to visit America you know you’re gonna hafta change your name.”

George on the left, I am in the middle, Achmed on the right. He is holding the Bosnian translation of Josh McDowell’s “More Than a Carpentar.”

Booki (rhymes with “cookie”): Even though he is Bosnian by nationality, he grew up in Serbia, a common phenomenon that happens in this part of the world when country boundaries are drawn in a map room by politicians and military leaders. A gentle guy, yet with black hair parted in the middle and a mustache, he looked like someone who could have played bass in either Supertramp or Blue Oyster Cult. He learned English by watching movies and spoke with a slight Irish accent. He really wants to believe but has a hard time accepting the deity of Jesus Christ, as do most with Islamic backgrounds.

Booki, on the left, with his friend Silvio.

Torkin: On Wednesday night I spoke to a gathering of about 30 students and used movie clips to share and explain the gospel. Torkin began to heckle me from the audience. His beef was not with Christianity per se but with the idea of God in general. After sparing for about 10 minutes in front of the whole group, I said that he and I would talk afterward so I can continue my presentation. We did talk afterward and after 20 minutes he told me, “Oh, I believe there is a God; I just wanted to present the atheistic arguments.” Honestly, I didn’t know how to interpret those words. And I still don’t.

Torkin the Heckler

It was a privilege for me to have my daughter Liz with me. She missed several days of school and totally submerged herself into missionary life for a few days. She stayed with the college girls on the STINT team (STINT is a one year commitment), and accompanied them as they went grocery shopping at the outdoor market and met with Bosnian girls for evangelism and follow-up. Bosnia was a different environment for Liz as she experienced “rocky soil” where each conversion is hard-fought. She is used to the ripe harvest fields of Uganda, where she has spent her past 2 summers.

Liz (on the left) with the girls of this year’s STINT team in Sarajevo: Amy, Katie and Tiffany.

There is certainly part of my heart in Sarajevo. Like I reflected when I returned from there in June, there is a purity, a completeness, to entering these Balkan cities and sharing Christ. Often times these cities have fewer evangelicals than similarly-sized Middle Eastern cities.

How should we respond to postmodernism?

If you tried to share Christ with me and I responded that I didn’t believe anything you said because I reject any claim on absolute truth or authority, how would you respond?

Basketball season starts this week for our children. Our whole family is very excited! Elizabeth (pictured here playing volleyball) will try for another championship year. Ben as a sophomore wants a spot on the boys varsity team and Savannah will be among the tallest on the middle school girls team.

The response above to evangelism is a classic postmodern viewpoint. Last week I sat in on a series of lectures which were part of my seminary class about postmodernism. It was taught right here in Budapest by Dr. Millard Erickson, perhaps the leading expert on postmodernism in the Christian world.

Pilate and Descarte: Modern day postmodernism can trace its roots all the way back to the Bible when Pilate asked Jesus, “What is truth?” (John 18:38). Other forerunners to postmodernism include Descartes. In 1618 while warming himself by a fire in a woodshed Descartes proclaimed, “I think therefore I am.” While perhaps not Descartes' intent, many point to that moment where authority for truth moved from something objective and outside of man (i.e., God) to man himself; man creates his own reality and truth.

Pilate the Postmodern: “What is truth?”

It is also helpful to examine the works of Kierkegaard, Kant, Nietzsche, even Schleiermacher and Tillich in order to better understand the postmodern mindset.

Today this philosophy that denies all absolute truth and authority pontificates its worldview proudly and reigns supreme on our college campuses. (Do you catch the irony there?)

Don’t abandon your posts! Yet ultimately postmodernism is self-refuting and cannot be lived out consistently in our physical world. In class we studied the writings of leading postmodern thinkers such as Michael Foucault, Richard Rorty, Stanley Fish and Jacques Derrida. With every one of these men there was a time that they resorted to non-postmodern tactics when challenged to defend their postmodernism; when the arrows started to fly, they abandoned their postmodern posts.

“Don’t tas (humiliate) me, bro!” For example, Richard Rorty said truth is whatever a particular community says it is (relativism) and that one of the highest expressions of humanity was not to humiliate others. But I guess Rorty felt that his viewpoint did not apply to Christians. While preaching tolerance, Rorty’s world “denies people who have religious sentiments a vehicle for its expression.” (for more on Rorty’s anti-theism see http://bad.eserver.org/issues/2005/72/swartz.html)

Richard Rorty

If you look at Richard Rorty’s biographical entry in Wikipedia.com (see the subtitle, “Rorty and his critics”) you will find that his rant against Christians displays no respect for the Christian community and that he seeks to humiliate us by calling us names that include, “bigots” “homophobic,” “intolerant,” “frightening,” “vicious” and “dangerous.”

As hurtful as those statements are, we as the world-wide Church of Christ must not dismiss postmodernism with a wave of the hand while clutching our Bibles with the other. Postmodernism is a movement that must be reckoned with. I believe that if we as Christians reject the temptation to adopt a fortress mentality and if we seek to humbly serve the postmoderns within our communities, then God’s love will shine through us. Ultimately, postmoderns will be won not by convincing arguments but by genuine humanity and the love of a redeemed heart.

It is a Person, not a philosophy: Christianity is not a philosophy or a psycho-babble fad. Christianity is rooted in history and based on a Person, not an idea or ethic. And our Lord said, “Go! Go into the entire world with the gospel.” Will we as Christians retreat further into our Christian subcultures or will we engage and serve the lost near us?

We had our first snow here in Budapest this past weekend!

On October 1st, the city of Krakow, Poland, changed...

when 100,000 students entered the city overnight as the school year began.

And a small group of Christians, armed with the gospel and led by the Spirit, were waiting for them…

The first “Harvest Poland Project,” patterned after Hungary’s “Bringing in the Hungarian Harvest Project (BHHP),” partnered with the Krakow campus ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ. Our group from America ranged in age from high school to retired. They included a church group from Greensville, SC, and others who came from Orlando, Atlanta, Denver and even Asia. Joining us were the campus staff and key students of our Krakow Campus Crusade ministry. Together we did creative outreaches with the goal to present culturally relevant presentations of the gospel to the college students of Krakow.

The most successful outreach we had was the “American Café.” We rented a party room on campus and using American candy, coffee (Starbucks!), music, photos, college and pro t-shirts and ball caps, we turned the room into a slice of Americana. The students poured in and it was easy to begin gospel conversations in this coffee shop atmosphere.

Here I am with two brothers, John (left), and Kris (right) who came to our American Cafe. Kris made a decision to place his faith in Jesus Christ during our time together in Krakow.

At the American Café, I met with two brothers, John and Kris. John had placed his faith in Jesus Christ through a Catholic renewal movement led by a monk (!) and was familiar with our ministry in Krakow. He wanted his older brother to hear the gospel and brought him to the American Café. I had the privilege to share the meaning of Christ’s death on the cross with Kris.

After sharing Christ with him, I invited Kris to respond personally by faith to Christ’s payment of our sin penalty. I told him, “Merely reciting a prayer doesn’t make anyone a Christian. But if this prayer (pointing to the one in the back of the “Four Spiritual Laws” booklet) expresses the desire of your heart, then I encourage you to use that prayer to express your new-found faith to Jesus. Kris, does this prayer express the desire of your heart?”

Kris answered a succinct, “Yes.” “Then why don’t you communicate this prayer back to the Lord?” I encouraged. And right there, in a room crowded with people and music thumping, Kris surrendered his life to Jesus Christ. What a moment!

Kris and I met the next day, my final day in Krakow, and we talked through Ephesians 2:8-9 and 1 John 5:11-13. When Kris realized that salvation was by faith in the Son of God, a free gift from God and not a result of works, I could see the light go on in his spirit. His posture straightened up and tears welled up in his eyes. .

Even Ted Nugent dropped by our American Café in Krakow for a brief cameo. I asked him if I could jam with him on stage but he said he regretfully left his guitar back in Michigan.

“But it takes more faith to embrace your atheism than to believe in my God.” Here I am sharing the gospel with two Polish students at the American Café. I had the impression that the one on the left wanted to argue more than discuss. He really was a nice guy and you can tell God is working on Him; after all he came that night wanting to talk about the Lord!

After my conversation with John and Kris ended and they left, I stood alone in the corner thrilled but emotionally exhausted. I didn’t have the energy to speak another word. Then my attention was called to two guys who had just walked in and were standing nervously all alone. I knew what the Lord wanted me to do.

I introduced myself to the guys and immediately one said, “What is the topic of discussion tonight?” “Anything you want to talk about,” I said. “Can we talk about God?” he asked. He immediately launched and began his series of arguments as to why he did not believe in God.

Patiently I responded with what I hope were satisfactory answers to his arguments while conceding that it is impossible to be 100% absolutely sure about God. “But it takes more faith to embrace your atheism than to believe in my God.” I also asked him why he was so intent on fighting against the God who loves him, created him and gave himself up for him. (Its one thing to speak of God’s love to the genuine seeker. Yet I have learned to confront and challenge, even with my tone of voice, those who unashamedly reject God.)

The American Café was closing but our conversation was still going strong. “Shall we go to another place and keep talking?” I asked, having gained a second wind. They declined but we exchanged emails. I think he wanted to argue more than discuss. But that is okay. It was a great evening. At least 3 people that night gave their lives to the Lord at the American Café!

Here I am (left) with Dr. Bill Weathers of Greenville, South Carolina (far right). Between us are some of the leaders of our Polish Campus Crusade ministry. Robert Kowalsky, Polish Director of Development (left), Mariusz Kwapisz, Country Director of Poland (middle), and Marek Wyrzykowski, one of Campus Crusade’s Eastern European Regional Directors (right). All of them are great guys and a pleasure to work with.

One of the obstacles our ministry in Poland faces is trust. Since we are not part of the 95% Catholic super majority (even though we work with Bible-believing elements within the Catholic church), many people assume right away that we are a cult. So we must work harder to earn trust and credibility. ** Speaking of cults, Jehovah Witnesses are the second largest “Christian” denomination in Poland, greatly outnumbering Baptist, of whom there are only 5000-6000 in the whole country.**At the American Café, us visiting Americans thought it would be great if the room was full of American in their 20s who could connect even better with the Polish college students. But our Polish staff said that while all ages are needed to share Christ in Krakow, a room full of gray heads (like me!) was good because Polish students do not know anyone who is older who has a vibrant faith in God. This current generation of Polish college students is the first to not be influenced by atheistic Communism.

In spite of its troubled history, Krakow is a beautiful city! Here is a pic from the old town square on a crisp sunny fall day.

Our work that week generated many conversations where students heard clear presentations of the gospel. Between all the outreaches we did, over 5000 received personal invitations to learn about a relationship with Christ; many responded back with an interest to know more. Our Krakow campus ministry will be doing the follow up. Thank you for praying. Please pray for the follow up of Kris and others with whom we made contact. And please plan on joining us next year!