Be Instant in Season, Out of Season

Paul told Timothy to "be instant in season, out of season". This certainly came true for me last night. I (Mike) received a call last week from a man who was interested in starting INSTE in his church. It is still difficult for me to understand Hungarian over the phone, but I was able to figure out he wanted me to come and discuss the process of starting INSTE. We set a time and place to meet in the town where he lives (a small village not far from Debrecen). I arrived that evening after a little difficulty finding the place, we sat down in his kitchen, and I explained the process of him being trained as a group leader and how to start a group. I also gave him the leader's training book, test, and necessary materials to begin. I was thinking that our time together was coming to a close when his wife said she was going to pick up some people in her car for the service. The man then explained that they were going to have their regular weekly home group, and he wanted me to minister. This may have been mentioned in our phone conversation, but I definitely missed it. Consequently, I had not brought my Bible and was not prepared at all. PLUS, there was no translator! After a short time people arrived, we sang some songs, and I was introduced to minister. I had to borrow a Bible, but I felt led to talk a little about INSTE: sharing one of the main principles from 1 Cor. 12 that everyone is a minister. I spoke for about 1/2 hour on the importance of everyone finding their spiritual gifts and place in the body of Christ. All this in Hungarian. Needless to say, it was quite an interesting night, but it looks as though we will have a new INSTE group in this village, and I did survive ministering completely in Hungarian.