Tattoos and piercings welcome

Meeting with ministry partners from Good Sports International

This morning's meeting with friends from Good Sports International once again showed us their passion for ministering to young people where they are in life.  They not only want to provide the kids with sports and fun, they also want them to experience unconditional love and the hope found in Christ.

One of the long-term Good Sports ministries is to orphans in the northeastern Hungarian city of Miskolc.  Because of the distance involved, Good Sports staff and volunteers can only go about once a week to spend time with the kids and have Bible study.  As we discussed this morning, there is a huge need for a new, radically-different type of church there, one which can speak to the needs of these troubled young people. They need to have someone close by who is there for them during the week, as life hits them hard with temptations and despair.

Choir robes, organ music, and long, theological words don't speak to these desperately wounded hearts. We believe they need a different style of church, one prepared to meet their special circumstances.  They need to be shown that God knows and loves them as they are...that Christ understands living in the dirt and pain of this life, but that He can lift them up and give them hope and new life.  Will the Lord send us a church planting partner with tattoos and piercings, who can relate the Gospel message to those who feel thrown away by society?  We don't know yet what God has planned for this new church, but we want to help if we can.  We want to come alongside Good Sports, to pray, to help train leaders, and to stand amazed as the Lord brings about something totally new in Miskolc!

Pray with us:

• that the Lord will give wisdom in decision-making and show us how we can partner together
• that He will raise up strong, courageous leaders who will relate well to the kids at the orphanage (tattoos and piercings welcome but optional)
• that a new church will be birthed in Miskolc, loving and relevant to the hurting & marginalized

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."  James 1:27

Native American singer and drummer to visit Hungary

Ralph Zotigh at the Grand Canyon

Pray that the Lord will bring together the scheduling for the volunteer team that will be here July 26 – August 2, and prepare the hearts of those who will hear the gospel.  Ralph Zotigh, a full-blooded Kiowa American Indian, will be performing traditional American Indian vocal and drum music and sharing about the native American culture and his life, including his strong Christian testimony.  Also coming is science and agriculture professor Dr. Curtis Smith. Lift up all those that Mr. Zotigh and Dr. Smith will be interacting with, that their hearts will be drawn to the Lord through what is shared.

Over the past year or so we have asked you to pray for Z and her daughter T from Tiszafüred.  T had been doing much better after her brain surgery, but this Sunday we heard that once again something is wrong.  Pray for healing and hope for her, and for encouragement and help for Z, as this is quite difficult and discouraging.  Ask the Lord to protect Z’s heart, that she would not turn away from seeking after Him.  In addition to her fears for her daughter, she is also experiencing chronic pain herself, which makes it very hard for her to find the strength to go on each day.  

Prayer focus article: A Vision for Hungary

Through the slow, dry times when we saw nothing happening in the work here in eastern Hungary, God gave us hope to go on.  Read about the 2002 vision that He's been using all these years to keep the spark alive:

imb Connecting: European Peoples website prayer focus article