Your Partner in World Evangelism and Mission
|
Dear friend of the ministry,
Reading today’s news articles may bring one to feelings of gloom, anxiety and perplexity. Evil seems to be increasing in strength. Yet these aren’t the complete story. This is still our Father’s world and He is carrying out His purposes in it. Around the world we see evidence of the Spirit of God moving in powerful ways. The gospel is being proclaimed and hosts of people are being saved. We are quickly drawing to that glorious day when every knee will bow at the feet of Jesus and every tongue will confess that He is Lord. What a privilege for us that we can do so now.
The reports below reveal just a portion of what God is doing through your partnership with us.
In February, I had the privilege of preaching the gospel in Budapest, Hungary. in the Nap Utcai Baptist Church in Budapest, Hungary. At 130 years old, it is the first Hungarian language Baptist church in this country. Dr. Billy Graham and Dr. Martin Luther King are noted Americans who have preached in this pulpit. We were pleased with the large crowd and great response. In the week following, I brought a series of lectures at at the Baptist Theological Seminary on the subject, “Christ in the Old Testament.”
Following our time in Hungary, I traveled to Warsaw, Poland to conduct leadership seminars at the “Centrum Edukacji Liderόw,” or Center for Educating Leaders. It has been my privilege to help in the establishment of this program and its ongoing work since its inception in 2007. In our partnership with the Polish Baptist Union, we have had the blessing of training and mentoring many pastors and church planters in this country.
We are happy to report that we have added a new ministry field to our work. In June I travelled to Sevilla, Spain to meet with one of our long-term partners in our Cuba work who has now emigrated to Spain to begin a church planting network. We are committed to being a partner in this work. While there, I met with Dr. Andrew Messmer, Dean of the Evangelical Theological Seminary of Sevilla, to discuss ways we may also assist them.
We also are very happy to report that our second annual “Empower and Equip Conference” has recently been completed at our Xtend International Ministry Equipping Center in Grandview, Texas. Participants included eleven pastors from six nations: China, Israel, Kenya, Portugal, Poland, and Hungary. These leaders participated in multiple seminars each day concerning matters of great practical and spiritual significance to their ministries.
In October, I will return to Budapest to teach “Text-Centered Preaching” at the Baptist Seminary in Budapest. In November I will travel to Warsaw to lead a pastors’ conference, and my wife Stephanie will be leading a conference there for women. Just days after returning from Poland, I will leave for Matanzas, Cuba to lead a conference for pastors.
Yes, it is a busy year, but highly fruitful.
|
