25th Church Anniversary

Karl Francis, a member of the Open Bible Global Missions Board, presents a commemorative plaque to the Hungarian Open Bible Churches and Field Directors Mihály and Márika Gulyás

What an exciting time it was!  Last weekend was the celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the Hungarian Open Bible Churches.  Karl and Dyrie Francis, pastors of Living Word Open Bible Church in Cooper City Florida, flew to Hungary (their trip took 32 hours!) to represent Open Bible Global Missions at the anniversary. 

Praying for those dedicating their lives to God in Kemecse

The three-day celebration began on Friday evening with a service in Kemecse. Pastor Francis spoke on who we are in Christ and several people gave their lives to Jesus.

Part of the congregation at the Celebration service Saturday

Saturday morning was a special service remembering and praising God for the last 25 years.  Church members came from each of the six Hungarian Open Bible Churches.  Many other guests attended also, including former members and pastors from other churches.

Many people were honored including founders Mihály and Márika Gulyás.

The Debrecen worship team leading during the celebration

The morning ended with a lunch provided for everyone.  After lunch, Karl and Dyrie Francis spoke at separate men's and women's services.

The new home of the Open Bible Church in Gávavencsellő

Sunday morning Karl Francis ministered at the Open Bible Church in Debrecen.  That afternoon was a dedication service for the new church building in Gávavencsellő. This congregation took a 100-year-old farm house that had been abandoned for five years and remodeled it into a beautiful little church building. We were privileged to attend this dedication that signaled the start of the next 25 years of ministry for Open Bible Churches in Hungary.  Hallelujah!

Hálaadás napja

Today the Shalom Open Bible Church celebrated Thanksgiving Day (Hálaadás napja).  This is an annual tradition where the congregation brings items to represent what they are thankful for.  These items were placed on a table at the front of the sanctuary, and several people gave testimonies of what God had done for them this year.

The worship time focused on songs of thanksgiving, and the message was about loving one another as Christ loves us.  Following the service we all enjoyed homemade desserts together.

We are thankful that God has brought us back to Hungary and that he is working through us and through INSTE here in Hungary to raise up disciples and leaders in the churches.

Patience Training

We had an awesome time in Gherla, Romania this weekend.  Sunday morning we were greeted by many friends at the Open Bible Church, and the service was fantastic.  During the worship, we  sensed the presence of the Holy Spirit.  Mike preached a sermon from 2 Kings about Elijah and fire from heaven and living lives like Elijah.  Then during the communion service we were able to pray for almost everyone present that morning.  We sure had a powerful time and we believe others did, too.  Following the service, the Philip family invited us to their home for a delicious lunch.  Like I said, we had an awesome time in Gherla.

Traffic stopped going the opposite direction.

Traffic stopped going the opposite direction to us.

The trip to and from Gherla, however, tried our patience.  It was beautiful weather, but the traffic was heavy both ways.  On our way to Gherla on Saturday, we were about halfway through our trip when the traffic came to a halt.  About half an hour later, after creeping along at a snail's pace, we saw that there was a large carnival and craft sale in the little village of Negreni.  Since the highway is only two lanes and goes directly through the village, the cars coming and going to the event snarled traffic.  But we made our way through and arrived in Gherla only about 45 minutes later than we had expected.

On the way back, we anticipated that we may have similar problems driving through Negreni and we did.  But this time, the traffic going toward Hungary didn't stop, but just slowed down.  Going the other direction, however, the cars were stopped for about 15 kilometers!  We were thankful we made it through the area.  Then, about an hour later, traffic again came to a halt.  Much later, when we inched close enough, we saw that there had been an accident ahead of us that caused the delay.  Our trip home took a total of one and a half hours more than the usual five hours. 

We decided that God was teaching us patience during this trip. Hopefully, we learned it well. We thank you for your prayers for our safety and for God's blessing on the church in Gherla. He certainly is at work!

Lunch with Americans

Lunch with American and Hungarian friends

 Yesterday we were blessed to be invited to lunch with six other Americans who are doing mission work in Debrecen.  Three of them are here for a short time, the others are here longer-term.  It was great to be able to get to know the ones we had not yet met and to get to know better those we had.

The home János and Ági are renovating

Our hosts were János and Ági and their son Dávid, long-time Hungarian friends we met when we first came to Hungary.  This family is renovating János' father's old property, hoping soon to open a bed and breakfast.  We took a tour of the buildings and saw the work they are doing and heard about their plans.  Thank you, János, Ági and Dávid for the delicious lunch and the opportunity to connect with other Americans.  May God bless you and your work!