Thursday, August 12, 2010

a long day

this last Sunday was a LONG day for myself & one of the church elders Norbi. I was invited to preach at a gypsy church in Hajdúhadház in northeastern Hungary. It's about 35km from Nyíregyháza. The pastor of the Calvary in Nyíregyháza gave his life to Jesus & grew in the Lord at Calvary Szeged. A couple of years ago, the Lord took him & his wife there as he got a job there & she was going to University in Debrecen. Since then, because of the economy, he lost his job, but this has opened the door for him to take over the church in Nyíregyháza. Calvary Szeged has been supporting Gábor & his wife for about 6 months now. We're very excited about what God is doing in & through them.
 since I was invited to preach in Hajdúhadház, I thought it would be good to see Gábor & the church in Nyíregyháza.
 so Sunday morning Norbi & I left at 5am to make sure we got to Nyíregyháza in time for the morning service at 10am (we made it there by 8:45am by the grace of God).  I had a wonderful time preaching about living a life of service for Jesus. After the service they had a church lunch that we were blessed to take part in.
 around 2pm we left for Hajdúhadház. When we got there we went to the pastors house for some coffee & pre-church fellowship. This was the first time I'd met the pastor. One of his foster daughters came to church here in Szeged for a while (this is how I got the invite).
 the afternoon evangelism service began at 4pm. I had never been to a Pentecostal service before so I had no idea what to expect. the service was long (2 1/2 hours) but a really blessed time to worship Jesus with people from another "tribe".  what was great is that myself & the pastor, András, prayed with 9 people to receive Jesus, 5 of them were little kids.
 after dinner at pastor András' house, we headed on home. We got back around 11pm.
 so it was 19 hours, 830km (500 miles), 2 services, 9 new Christians. it was a GOOD day.

worship in Hajdúhadház
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Pastor András

Thursday, August 5, 2010

2010 summer update

Hi,

 let me tell you a little about what's been going on with us & with the ministry here in Szeged.

 personal
 we're totally loving being parents & so blessed that the Lord has given us a wonderful daughter in Zara. We can't believe on September 5th she'll be a year old!  

 every August there is a missions conference at the Calvary Chapel Conference Center in Austria (a.k.a."The Castle") & we haven't been able to go for years but this year the Lord has graciously provided for us to go through Calvary Chapel Old Bridge. We're so looking forward to having a week to just get refreshed in the Lord & fellowship with many people we haven't seen in years!  Zara has been on a long flight before but this will be an adventure since it's about an 8 hour drive from Szeged.

  I'm hoping in the fall to enroll in the Calvary Chapel Bible College Europe's accredited Bachelor of Theology program. As you might know Calvary Chapel Bible College Europe was accredited by the Hungarian government this past spring & this fall will begin offering a BA in Theology. When I first moved to Hungary I thought, "I'll come for 1 year & then go back & finish college". Well the Lord had other plans but now this is an open door in front of me & I'd like to take it. 

 for more updates & goings on with our family, please check out our blog @ www.kyleodi.blogspot.com
 or follow us on twitter @kyleinszeged

  ministry

 summer is usually our "down" time at church as many of the students go home & people go on vacation. This year has been different. We've seen people start coming to church over the summer. More "Szeged" people. So we're really blessed by that. We're especially thankful for 2 new families & some singles that are coming regularly.  
 at the end of June we had our annual summer conference in Vajta. Pastor Terry Walker from CC Living Word & Pastor Justin Southwick from Mosaic Community Church in Phoenix, AZ  came over to teach us from God's Word. It was a very encouraging & challenging week for all who attended. We were encouraged by Pastor Terry to stand in Jesus till the end & by Pastor Justin to live as missionaries for Jesus in the world now. this year we took 35 people to the conference.
 I was personally very encouraged at the conference by a couple people from towns near Vajta. They came and told me that they regularly download our services or listen live. We've had some technical hang ups recently as the guy who was doing our website moved back to his home down, so we're kind of lacking in that area at the moment but praying for God to raise someone up with the skills to keep our website up to date.
 I've been blessed by a lot of invitations to speak at different churches & events. This weekend I'll be traveling to northeastern Hungary to teach Sunday morning at Calvary Nyiregyhaza. Gabor, the pastor, got saved & grew at CC Szeged, then a couple  years ago finished college and get a job up there. Since then, because of the economy, he lost his job. At the same time, God raised him up to take over that church.  So I will be going to visit him & teach there. Then in the afternoon I will be speaking at a Gypsy church in Hadjuhadhaz. The daughter of the pastor came to our church a few times while in Szeged & they extended me an invitation to come preach. I'm excited about that!  While I'm gone on Sunday, I've asked the Pentecostal pastor to preach for me as they don't have a Sunday morning service. He's a really great, humble man of God & I'm excited to have him preach for me.
  Next week I'll be speaking at an outreach event for a new Calvary Chapel in Kiskunmajsa (about 30 miles from Szeged). And the first weekend in September I'll be ministering to the leadership of another church here in Szeged. I'm excited about these opportunities to tell people about Jesus!
  September will be upon us before we know it & September for us is really the beginning of our "season". We're going to start out the school year by doing a teaching series called "ask anything".  at the end of last school year / beginning of summer I asked people to submit questions and we'd do a teaching series in the fall. Right now I'm going to take 3 weeks & deal with the 3 topics that came in. 1. The Trinity. 2. the reliability of the Bible. 3. What do Biblical relationships look like.  After that we're going to go through the Gospel of John on Sunday mornings, examining the Word that became flesh. On Wednesdays we are continuing our journey through the Bible. We should finish Jeremiah by the middle of September, then Lamentations & Ezekiel, and on & on we will go by the grace of God.
 also this fall, we hope to send a carload of people to minister in Bosnia along with Laci Nemeth & some of the brethren from Southern Budapest Calvary Chapel. One of our elders was there a couple months ago & we are hoping to give people a bigger vision for the work of God through a missions trip like this.
 we do still want to get an outreach team over this fall or early winter, maybe to do some English teaching at schools to reach out to youth & we're looking into what it would practically take to get the Golgota Gospel Choir from Budapest down here for a concert.
 Women's fellowship is starting up again this month & we will start a men's fellowship in September. We are also looking to start a married couples fellowship to encourage married couples as we know Satan wants to destroy marriages. 
  so there's a lot going on & we're excited about what Jesus is going to do in this next season in Szeged!
  thank you for your continued prayers & financial support for our family & ministry!

  For Jesus' fame!

 Kyle, Odi & Zara

prayer requests

 - for continued financial provision for us. This last year has been difficult as Odi is not working any more (and we'd like to keep it  
   that way) so she can have a homeward focus. (there is a link on our blog for those who would like to financially support us)
 - for CC Szeged to really catch the vision to be on mission for Jesus in Szeged.
 - for people to come to know Jesus & get plugged into the church
 - for God to raise up people to serve in the church. (children's ministry, sound ministry, internet ministry)
 - that women's, men's & married couples fellowships would be a real time of connection & growth for all involved.
 - for grace & anointing to preach & teach God's Word clearly, whether it be in Szeged or other places God gives opportunity to 
   preach.
 - for God's leading about a possible missions trip to Bosnia in the fall
 - for God to open the doors & provide if we're to host an outreach concert with the Golgota Gospel Choir.