Magyar Mullets January 2009 Newsletter

Dear Family and Friends,
Greetings from Budapest. By far the most important thing I’ve learned about praying from Jesus is to keep at it. The Apostle Paul said it like this: pray without ceasing. I can’t even begin to grasp the significance of that.

This month we launched an Alpha Course in a nearby neighborhood where we’ve spent countless hours praying a church into existence. We prayed for God to somehow bring people to the course being offered Thursday nights. The opening night, one of the ladies told us that she saw our sign in English. (one side in Hungarian, one side in English) The only reason she came was because she thought it must be the same guys who sang Christmas carols outside her fence three years ago. She teaches French and English at a university in the city. She said she hadn’t noticed our flyers in the mail. Three of us had prayed outside her home a couple days earlier and asked God to bring someone from that home to the Alpha Course. There are ten of us on the team and we’ve consistently had as many guests. Pray that God would draw our guests to himself in the coming weeks.

One highlight of the month was going to Vienna for a Friday night and a Saturday morning basketball game. I got a little lost on the way to the first gym, which wouldn’t have been a problem, but I was the one leading. Within 15 minutes of arrival, the first jump ball went up and our team sank their first two shots—both of them three pointers. Jacob and Peter played really well. They won both games that weekend. I could have never imagined coaching my own boys in high school 27 years after playing basketball with my own little brother in Vienna. The head coach, Kevin Yaiko, is a really talented ball player himself and is shown here leading the boys in a morning devotional.

It’s all abuzz around the ministry center. English clubs are going strong and occasionally I get to help Kari cook the Monday night meal for students. She wasn’t home when I had to take drastic measures to get a big pot of potatoes mashed—her hand mixer was not up to the task. The last weekend of the month was a sweet foretaste of what we pray will become common place at the ministry center in the years to come. Friday night opened with an incredible jazz concert with Dr. William Edgar giving the history of the music and the gospel’s influence on its’ formation to a crowd of 300. Saturday there were simultaneous events going on in the lobby, auditorium, and coffeehouse. There were lectures and discussions on environmental stewardship, English kids club, and an English camp meeting. That night, Film Club met in the lobby, while a concert for the premier release of a CD by a Hungarian Christian band was in the auditorium. The place was packed on Saturday. Each of these events was organized by different groups; all were cooperatively supported by the other for the sake of the gospel. Four of us worked till 11pm to put the place back together for Sunday services and thus began another month of ministry in Hungary. God plans good works in advance and delights to involve us in the accomplishment of them.
May the Lord continue to guide you and bless your involvement with His work in Hungary.

Love in Christ,

Brad, for all of us

Come to the Hungary Summit at First EFC March 13th and 14th in Springfield, MO for a full report and video footage on our current ministries as well as a look ahead at long term, fixed term, short term, and other ministry opportunities.