Monday, January 26, 2009

Calvary Chapel Bistrita January 2009 Update

January 2009 Update

Romans 8:28- And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.The end of 2008 brought us back to the states for a visit. To say the least it was a fun but interesting visit this time. If you didn't know, Cynthia and I decided that she and the kids would go back to visit 6 weeks before I would make the trip back. This would give them time to visit with family and friends while I stayed and worked on finishing some projects up that needed to be completed. But Dec 16th came soon enough and I was able to make the trip back to the states. This is where all of the fun begins. While I was flying back there was some really bad winter storms coming into the Oregon. I managed to fly into Portland in bet

ween the storms. After being in the states for about 17 days; we were traveling in Oregon with my dad's van and stopped to celebrate a birthday party at Chucky Cheese in Salem, Oregon. While we were in the restaurant our van with all of our stuff, including the new computer equipment we had just recently purchased, and 9 of our 12 bags was stolen from the second row of parking in front of the restaurant. We walked out into the parking lot and found an empty space where the van should have been. After making some calls Cynthia spotted the van across the parking lot. What had happened as best as we can put it together is the following. They broken into the van and moved it, then went through our stuff. What was an amazing thing about all of this was that the only things that were stolen were the thin

gs that were easily replaceable. They left all of the bags with the kids clothes for the next 2 years and only took the computer stuff, a duffle bag of clothes for church the next morning and a large bag that was on top full of new pajamas for the kids. Everything else was left intact. The funny thing was, I was supposed to teach the next morning 2 services at a church and had lost all of my presentation pictures on the laptop. So after dealing the police and driving to my parents I started to work on my presentation by scavenging photos off of old emails. I finally went to bed wondering how all of this was going to work out. Church went great the next morning. What was really cool was that I had a peace about the whole thing after the initial shock of having stuff sto

len. God is so good, Monday I made a trip up to Seattle because I needed a new passport (that was in the stolen computer bag). And it turns out since my brother-in-law bought the computer stuff for us and we paid him, his renters insurance covered the loss of everything. God is so good.

The next thing that happened was on the way back from Boise to Oregon. We started to have problems with the van that we borrowed. about 5 hours out of Portland Oregon. It was in the middle of nowhere so we just kept going until we were doing 35 mph on the freeway coming into Portland at 12:30 am. We called my brother-in-law at this point and he said he would drive up and help us. 45 minutes later we received a call from him stating that he was 10 minutes from us but that his car had broken down as well. So a 3rd car was coming for reinforcements. By now it was 2:00 am and we started looking at the van to see if we could figure out the problem. We decided to try to make the 40 minute drive to Woodburn, Oregon with them following us to see if we could make it home. We had no problems with the car until we pulled of the interstate into Woodburn. After returning to Romania my dad wrote me to let me know that we had traveled 400 miles in a van that had a fuel pump that was on the verge of failing. God is so good.

We came back to Romania only to find that our troubles had not been just in the states. The heating system in the church had frozen up while we were gone. So we were without heat in the church. The first Sunday I was teaching we were running electrical heaters in the church to heat it up and we lost power 2 hours before service because we blew a fuse. We managed to get that fixed before service and service was great. We are now working on eradicating a large family of mice that moved in while were were gone and are currently on execution number 15 in 3 days.

I share all of this to point to how great our God is at taking care of everything that happens to us. He gets the glory because he is the one who works things out. And while he is doing that we get to be stretched and challenged in ways that are sometimes not fun but afterwards are always worth it. I including some pictures of us celebrating Christmas and visiting family.

Praise report:

The church heating has been restored.

Prayer Requests:

Pray for us to continually look to the Lord for all of our needs.

Prayer for the Lord to provide workers for the harvest.

Pray for the health of Cynthia and the baby which is due on March 18th

Pray for Cipri's father as he has leukemia and is not saved.

Prayer for Patri's health, she was in the hospital again with pneumonia

Friday, November 21, 2008

Calvary Chapel Bistrita 2008 November update

November 2008 Update

Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also the Greek.

This Month Calvary Chapel Bistrita sponsored a Gospel conference. It was a 2 day event all day Saturday and finishing up on Sunday morning. I had a good friend of mine William Anderson from Calvary Chapel Bucuresti come and teach 4 sessions focusing on the gospel. We had 22 people show up for all day Saturday and all of the regulars come for Sunday when William finished up. William did a great job of both explaining and reminding people of who's gospel it is. What it does, and How it should impact our lives. This conference is the beginning of a series of conferences that we are going to be sponsoring throughout this next year in prayerfully seeking to bring our people back to the basic tenants of Christianity. There is such a need here to continuously remind our people of the simplicity and power of God's gospel. We had many people remark about how they really enjoyed the co

nference and both learned and were reminded of things that are foundational to having a Christian walk that is growing and making an impact to the lost around them.

This month also brings a lot of the team heading home for the holidays. All of the Americans have left with the exception of me and its been very busy trying to get all things that still need to be done completed. But with that I am excited because it allows other people to step up into roles in ministry that are both fun and challenging for them. Dorina and Cristina are both stepping up to teach the kids while Cynthia and Natalie are gone. It is my prayer and hope that we will establish a rotation every 3 months to give opportunities for Romanians to step up and start teaching the kids.

This month also saw us create and distribute prayer cards of all of the kids in the Sunday school. It has their picture and some basic things that they need prayer on. We had 24 cards and I asked for people within the fellowship to take a card and pray over the child that they choose throughout the week, all 24 kids were given out. Along with this we asked for volunteers to mentor these kids. We are starting with the children under the association first. We asked them to commit to a couple hours a week just spending time with the child that they choose. We had 3 ladies come forward and want to do that also. I am so proud of our church, seeing people step up and minister to each other is so awesome.

Prayer Requests for needs:

New Beginnings:

Prayer for financial provision, specifically monthly support, for New Beginnings, This is an NGO that is part of our ministry here specifically tasked with ministering to Romanian orphans. Here is a new video about the specific needs of this ministry http://nbromania.org/about-new-beginnings-romania.php

Prayer for the anointing of the Holy Spirit on the church and that people would have a passion for Jesus.

Pray also for Cipri that the Lord would guide into a job.

Pray also for Daniel as he is looking for a place in Germany so that he can go to medical school. Pray that the Lord would guide him into a good church and affordable apartment.

Pray for a family that we just found out lost their husband. He was 36 years old and left a wife and 6 children. They are not apart of our fellowship but we looking for ways that we can help them through this devastating loss.

Personal needs:

Please Pray also for us as we are expecting our 4th in March. Pray for healthy mommy and baby.

Prayer for divine appointments when they are back in the states and sharing about Romania. That people would have a heart to pray and become involved in Romania.

Pray for Brian and Cynthia as they will be apart for 6 weeks while she is in the states visiting along with the kids.

Prayer requests for health issues:

Prayer for Leana and Ionela mom who is failing in her health. Please for God to give them strength and grace as they have to take turns watching her.

Please pray for Tanti Docia she is a lot of pain with her Hip.

Prayer for salvation:

Pray for salvation for Crina, Roxanna, Bobbi, Claudiu, Dorina's family, Cipri's family, Ioana, Vali and Maria

Monday, October 27, 2008

Calvary Chapel Bistrita 2008 October update

October 2008 Update
1 Corinthians 13:8 "Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away."

The leaves were turning and the mornings were getting colder. We couldn't help but notice that Fall was in the air. But the month of October also started with something else in the air. LOVE. We began the month with our annual Ladies Tea. Our theme this year was The Ultimate Romance. It was an amazing event this year. Many of the ladies even thought it was the best one we've had yet. It was our goal as a church body to pamper and romance the ladies from the time they arrived. We had several ladies attend from within our congregation of course but they also brought several others from other churches, their places of work and their friends. As they entered the room it was like walking into a wedding reception. Everything from candles and roses to tulling and flower petals. The teaching was all about how we will find our ultimate romance in God rather than
putting such pressure on our spouses to fill the expectations we have that they don't even know about. The ladies left blessed, refreshed and
wanting to take some romance home with them. We had made hundreds of heart shaped "flower petals", with romance scriptures on them, to sprinkle all over the tables and not one was left to cleanup at the end of the tea. Over half of the ladies asked to take them home to use. That was a blessing to see how impacted they were to the point taking these little things home with them.

Please Pray specifically for Cristina's aunt and uncle we have been praying for them for the last 4 years for salvation. Her aunt actually came to church a couple of weeks ago and really liked it. She went home shared the whole message to her husband and all of the neighbors. Please pray that the Holy Spirit would continue to draw her to the Lord along with the whole family. She wants to start coming to every study that she can. So we pray that the Holy Spirit would bring conviction and transformation.

Prayer requests:

Upcoming events:
Pray for the upcoming Gospel class that Calvary Chapel Bistrita is hosting on November 15th. It will be 3 session event that covers an in depth study of the gospel. This will be open to anyone and everyone that is interested. So please pray that we would see believers and non believers alike come and learn what the Gospel is really about.

Pray for the foundations class that has started. That people would be grounded in the word as we look at the basics of Christianity over the next 8 weeks.

Prayer for a leadership class that Brian is currently working on for the spring. That people in the body would have a desire and be equipped to the serve the body here in Bistrita.

Prayer Requests for needs:

Prayer for financial provision, specifically monthly support, for New Beginnings, This is an NGO that is part of our ministry here specifically tasked with ministering to Romanian orphans. Here is a new video about the specific needs of this ministry http://nbromania.org/about-new-beginnings-romania.php

Prayer for Romanian Parents for one of the Family Centers. Currently the leadership is rotating through on a daily basis and its difficult with having our own families to take care of along with other responsibilities. Its also hard on the kids because of no stability.

Prayer for safe travels for the Fouts coming to visit this winter. Prayer for the provision for their travels.

Prayer for divine appointments when they are back in the states and sharing about Romania. That people would have a heart to pray and become involved in Romania.

Prayer for the anointing of the Holy Spirit on the church and that people would have a passion for Jesus.

Pray for one one of the young people, Andrea, who is currently out of fellowship because her parents do not want her to come to church and is making some very poor decisions in her life.

Pray for a couple in our fellowship who are new converts. 2 of their children are Orthodox and because their parents have left the orthodox church their is a huge strain in their relationship. Prayer for peace and love within the family.

Prayer requests for health issues:

Prayer for Leana and Ionela mom who is failing in her health.

Prayer for Adriana and Vasi's little girl Patri, she has been very sick lately with coughs and colds. Prayer for healing for her body and protection against the bugs.

Prayer for Adi's mom who has Diabetes she has been have trouble keeping her sugar levels in balance. Please pray that the doctors would find the correct medication to help with this

Prayer for salvation:

Pray for salvation for Crina, Roxanna, Bobbi, Claudiu, Dorina's family, Cipri's family, Ioana, Cezar, Vali and Maria

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

The Meaning of "Gospel" in Jesus' Day

The Greek word in the New Testament for gospel is euangelion. At the time of Jesus it was not used in a religious context but rather in the context of war and kings. Most often it was a proclamation by a messenger to announce good news on behalf of a king. When a king would come to power he would send out messengers to proclaim the “good news” of his new reign or if he had gained victory over an enemy he would send out the “good news” or if a son had been born to him he would send out messengers with the “good news”. The word was also used of the reports of “good news” when an army would have victory in battle over an enemy.
This understanding fits well with what Mark wrote in the first chapter about what Jesus proclaimed after being baptized and spending forty days being tempted by Satan in the desert.

14 Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” NKJV

Jesus was telling them that He had been sent by the Father to proclaim the “good news” that God was now going to fulfill His promise to restore His reign and rule over all of creation. So based on this “good news” He told them to turn from their rebellious and idolatrous ways back to God and put their faith, their trust in this “good news”.

Labels: Gospel

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Calvary Chapel Bistrita 2008 September Update

September 2008 Update

Isaiah 61:1-2a, The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

To Proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.

This last week as I was sitting in a bible study teaching on the book of

2 Thessalonians, I looked around the table at a group of people of all different walks of life just sitting there with their bibles open, taking notes. We were studying the

word of God, listening to Paul correct the confusion that had come into the church of Thessalonica. Looking back over what seems like such a short time we have been amazingly blessed to see the people that the Lord has brought into our church. People that have come from different life situations, different hurts, different prisons and yet through the simple teaching of the word we have seen these people be healed emotionally, and set free. Its a great privilege to sit with them and encourage them to get their eyes off of their circumstance and just look to Jesus, for all of their needs.

To see the fruit that is being produced in their lives over the months and years of hearing the Word. To see them continuing to grow and mature as they learn to trust the Lord more and more in the things that life throws at them. I just sit and marvel at the Lord.

When we first came to Romania we had only 1 translator for church and bible studies. We had only 1 person to lead worship. But now we have seen 1 translator go to 4 and 1 worship leader to 2. We have seen the young people that have been here the longest starting to step up into areas of serving that need help. Working with the sunday school, translating for studies and sharing their faith through different ways.

I have watched some of the older believers start really reading their bibles, really desiring to understand what the Lord is sharing with them. Turning away from the church tradition, and starting to grasp the Grace of God. To understand how much the Lord really loves them and that they do not have to fear God like he hates them and is waiting to strike them down if they make a mistake.

Its so exciting to watch the Lord set people free, from the bondage of sin, the bondage of religion and the bondage of legalism.To see them search the scriptures for answers to life as they learn the Bible more and more. To see them talk to family, friends, colleagues they work with or go to school with and encourage them that there is something different then what they are experiencing in this life. It has nothing to do with religion or morals but simply Jesus.

One of the things that we are asking from those of you who are involved in prayer, and support financially is to help us better communicate and connect with all of you who make this all possible. If there are things you would like to hear incorporated into the our prayer requests, monthly news updates, etc. please let us know. If there is anything that you feel like the Lord has shared with you specifically regarding the ministry here we would love to hear from you. With Agape from our family to yours Brian, Cynthia and kids.

Praise report:

Doru was one of the the new young men that was invited to the youth camp by one of our young people. While we were at the camp he seemed to listen to the studies but we never actually were able to sit down and talk about what he was listening to. I figured that he was enjoying the camp but was not interested in what we were talking about. He came with another friend Claudiu who would find me after the studies and continue to ask me questions. The funny thing was that Doru was the one that started attending some of the mid week studies and coming on Sunday when he was not working. This last week I was talking with him over yahoo messenger and was amazed to hear him start talking about his life. How he felt so sinful and small. It was at this point that I just started asking him some questions and reading his answers. I asked him if he had a Bible next to him. He answered yes, he had recently visited his mom and she had given him a Bible which he started reading. We read what God wrote about sin and about what it means to be born again and justified. after about 1.5 hours he told me that he wanted to be saved. I simply told him you need to ask the Lord and he will save you. So we prayed together right then. What a great week!

Prayer Requests:

Pray for wisdom and God's guidance for Brian and all of the leadership.

Prayer for Unity in the ministry

Prayer for financial provision, specifically monthly support for New Beginnings, this is an NGO specifically tasked with providing family care for Romanian orphans.

Prayer for Romanian parents for one of the family centers.

Pray for safe travels for the Fouts' family as they travel back for a visit this winter.

Pray for financial provision for the Fouts' travel.

Pray for the anointing of the Holy Spirit upon the lives of the church here that they would have a passion for Jesus.

Pray for Leana's and Ionela's mom as she is in failing health. Pray for the family.

Pray for Patri the little girl of Adriana and Vasi, she always gets very sick in the winter weather here. Please pray for the Lord to protect her from sickness and be with her parents.

We are also asking that you pray that during our visit back the Lord would bring divine appointments as we share with people about the work here in Bistrita. That we would meet people who want to partner with us and the ministries here.

Prayer requests for Calvary Chapel Bistrita

Praise report:

Doru was a young man who we mentioned in our last newsletter. He came to the youth camp and at the time did not seem to interested in talking about the things of the Lord, I had a lot of conversations with his friend Claudiu. But since then Doru has been attending some of the midweek studies and Sunday's when he can. Last week we started talking over messenger and it was amazing to see him really open up about his life. That he felt so sinful and small. I was able to start asking him some questions to see what his answers would be. after a while I asked him if he had a bible next to him which he did, his mom gave him the week before. He had been reading it since then and had read 7 chapters in Matthew.

I directed him to John 3 and asked him what he thought about what Jesus said to Nicodemus. We then went to Romans and worked our way through what it means to be a sinner and what its means to be justified. 1.5 hours later he asked me if he could be saved. I told him yes all he had to do was ask the Lord. What a great week.

Prayer requests:

Prayer for wisdom and guidance from the Lord for Brian and all of the leadership.
Prayer for unity
Prayer for financial provision, specifically monthly support, for New Beginnings, This is an NGO that is part of our ministry here specifically tasked with ministering to Romanian orphans.
Prayer for Romanian Parents for one of the Family Centers
Prayer for safe travels for the Fouts coming to visit this winter
Prayer for the provision for their travels.
Prayer for divine appointments when they are back in the states and sharing about Romania. That people would have a heart to pray and become involved in Romania.
Prayer for the anointing of the Holy Spirit on the church and that people would have a passion for Jesus.
Prayer for Leana and Ionela mom who is failing in her health.
Prayer for Adriana and Vasi's little girl Patri, she has been very sick lately with coughs and colds. Prayer for healing for her body and protection against the bugs.

Monday, September 01, 2008

Calvary Chapel Bistrita 2008 August Update

August 2008 update

Ephesians 5:21 Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of the Lord. This is the verse that Paul uses right before he starts writing about how we are to serve each other in our personal relationships. The first one of course that he brings up is the relationship between a husband and a wife. This was the text that Brian used at the wedding of Daniel and Any. Any was one of the girls that has been in placement with New Beginnings for the ~ 5 years and while off to school in Sibiu met Daniel. After a short period of time they got engaged and on August 10th Brian officiated his first official wedding in Romania. In Romania people have a civil ceremony first which Dani and Any had in Sibiu on Friday the 8th. They then traveled up to Bistrita for the Church ceremony and another reception. It was a beautiful wedding and everything went very well. The reception was fun with games and food.

Brian followed that the next morning with a trip to cabana with a group of 14 teenagers for a few days. What a great time of staying up really late and playing cards and talking with these young men and women about God and what the bible teaches about him. In the evenings they worked their way through the story of Samson. Brian had a great opportunity to sit with a lot of the kids one on one and just talk to them about the things of the Lord and about life. There were a couple of friends that came that were raised orthodox but had no idea what a relationship with Jesus was about. One of the guys after the last couple of studies wanted to know m

ore about what Brian was talking about and had never heard the bible taught so simply to where he was able to understand what was being said. It was a totally awesome to see the Holy Spirit working in the guys life and see him interested in the things of the Lord. So Brian just shared with him from the Bible and his heart and prayed for him and encouraged him to come to church and check it out. Please pray for Claudiu that the Lord would reveal himself to him in a powerful way. That satan would not remove the seeds that were sown into his life.

Finishing out this month we had a our church picnic and a church baptism. Both of these were great times to see the church get together for fellowship and celebrating someone making

a public statement of their faith.

Praise note:

The youth camp went very well and it was great to see the Lord working within individual lives in a very real way as they seek him.

Doru, which a young man that came and did not seem to interested at the camp has started coming to church and the monday study. Pray that the Lord would draw him into a real relationship.

Cipri one of the young men that has been coming for year was baptized this month. Pray that the Lord would continue to work in his life strongly and use him be a powerful witness to his family and friends around him.

Prayer requests:

Prayer for Unity with the youth group that they would have one heart
Pray for those that are involved in relationships with unbelievers to be submitted to the word and will of God.
Prayer for Claudiu, Doru, Crine that God would reveal himself to them.
Prayer for Dorina that God would use her to be a witness for him in her family
Prayer for strength for these young people to really live for Jesus and want to make an impact in their generation.
Prayer for Dorina Dad, he is getting better but still has a ways to go. Prayer also for the family.
Logistics for the Fouts family coming back for a visit to the States this winter. The dates that we are looking at are Oct 31st Cynthia and kids will arrive in Portland Oregon, Dec 16th Brian will arrive in Portland Oregon, God has answered the first part of our prayer for this with a really good price on tickets. Please pray that the Lord would answer the second part this with the rest of the finances to come in for them.

REACHING ROMANIA IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH.

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