Back in Budapest

Three Worlds is an exciting and fruitful ministry team serving the Church of God throughout Europe and the Middle East.  It is hard for us to imagine fulfilling the calling we have to the Church in the Middle East without working with this team.  Under the strategic vision and coordination of Regional Directors Patrick and Jamie Nachtigall, our family serves with a team to resource and support the ministries throughout this region along three specific goals that we often call our "3W

Eastern European Pastors (from left to right):
Lazslo (35, Hungary)
Andrei (40, Russia)
Peti (29, Hungary)
Ilya (32, Russia)

Prism":

1. To Equip and Empower Accountable Leadership, especially among those under 45-years of age;
2. To Inspire and Encourage Next Generation ministries within each congregation and country; and,
3. Create Healthy Inner-connectivity among members within each congregation, among the congregations within each country, and between countries.

There is potential for overlap in those goals that creates exciting opportunities of great synergy.  This weekend is one of those great opportunities.

I'm back in Budapest, Hungary for the fall Budapest Lectures.  The Budapest Lectures are a

Along the bank of the Danube River, which splits Buda
from Pest, there is this haunting memorial of bronze shoes.
During WWII, before executing a group of Jewish citizens,
it was realized their shoes were too valuable to be lost;
so before they were shot to fall to their death,
they had to remove their shoes.
Shoes more important than people; a tragic reminder
that evil does exist in our world.

cooperative effort between the Church of God in Hungary and Three Worlds to provide leadership development opportunities for the leaders in the region.  My last time in Hungary, which was my first, was to speak for the Lectures in the summer of 2013.  This time, I'm here to help facilitate the weekend's events.  The participants for this weekend will be the young pastors, Peti and Lazslo (both less than 35 years), and leaders from their two Hungarian congregations; joining them are two young leaders from Bulgaria, Kenneth and Svetlana, who were brought by teammates Dave & Kathy Simpson who have been serving the Bulgarian Church for nearly 10 years.  

Speaking this weekend will be the sharp, genuinely joyful, and young pastor Andrei Kolegov of the Church of God in Chelyabinsk, Russia.  This congregation has seen great fruitfulness over the past several years, including growth, a successful building project, planting additional fellowships, and more.  I have met Pastor Andrei through the years on different occasions in the States; he is a true delight to be around, with a sincere love for Jesus and serving.

Pastor Andrei will be sharing a great topic for the smaller congregations of Hungary and Bulgaria:

Pastor Andrei, with Pastor Ilya to his left,  sharing his personal
testimony and call to ministry in an informal meet and greet
earlier tonight.  We had English to Russian,
and English to Hungarian translations happening this weekend.

"Creating Fruitful Ministries in Post-Communism Cultures."  No one from the West could properly speak into the cultural conundrum that these churches experience everyday in multiple ways.  Andrei will also speak on "Necessity for, and How to, Establish International Accountability."  And one of the co-pastors, Ilya, will share "How to Navigate Phases of Growth in a Healthy Way."  As with all Budapest Lectures, there is equal time for discussion after each presentation, and these topics are especially helpful to the Hungarian churches as they are on a similar structural path as the Chelyabinsk congregation.

What a great win-win-win-win opportunity for the region!  Empowering young leaders to have an opportunity to share their experience, and grow through that experience; Encouraging other young pastors with similar contexts in the process.  Inspiring leadership to think about effective outreach to their communities, and overcoming cultural obstacles.  And creating greater connection and healthy partnerships between congregations and countries.

On Sunday, I will be honored to share with the Church of God in Rákospalota at the invitation of

Like an increasing number of European and American cities,
Budapest now has a large, scenic ferris wheel,
similar to the London Eye.  This was a surprisingly new sight
since our visit in 2013.

Pastor Lazslo.  This is mutually exciting because there are members of this congregation who have been reaching out to refugees and immigrants from the Middle East who are beginning to settle into Hungary.  The congregation has been having many congregations about Middle Eastern culture and how does the Church interact with those who may only known Islam.  

It has been fun to see these Hungarian friends again, and to get better acquainted with the Russian pastors.  I am excited for the Lectures tomorrow and the worship services on Sunday. I have been blessed the past 24 hours getting to see and spend time with our teammates Dave and Kathy.  Budapest is a beautiful city, easy to walk, oozing with history and culture, cheaper than a lot of your European cities, tourist friendly, and more.  I hope that all of our family can make a future trip together.  If you have a chance to travel to Europe, I'd highly encourage you to take several days here--if you do, I'd be happy to make some recommendations for you.

Pray for the Budapest Lectures this weekend.  Pray for the Church throughout Europe and the Middle East to continue to grow and develop along these specific goals.  Pray for the Three Worlds team to have wisdom and favor to create similar opportunities to benefit the Church, within the region and beyond.

Thank you for your continuing interest, prayers, and support...