It's About the Cross - My Version

I decided to make my own version of a music video I saw on YouTube to use in church and share. You can find it on despreisus.ro to watch and also download. Go to the English part of the site if you want the video without Romanian subtitles.

Don't Contextualize the Gospel

It's About the Cross - Christmas Music Video

New Dance Moves

Check out my new dance moves

Get your own at Gizmoz.com

Romanian Gospel Website

I finally got around to making a gospel website in Romanian. The domain name means "about Jesus" in Romanian. It has a very simple design for now but I hope over time by the grace of God to develop it more. Would appreciate you praying that God would use the website to get the gospel to many people here in Romania.

despreisus.ro

The Case for Christ DVD

Looks like a great DVD to share with people about Jesus.

Lee Strobel's The Case for Christ

I would be interested in getting a copy if anyone would
be willing to get it and mail it to me.

Prayer Requests

Greetings Everyone,

Here in Bucuresti I oversee the School of Ministry and assist with the church. We've had some big changes lately in the leadership of the church so we could really use your prayers. Adi, one of the assistant pastors, has left and Shane has handed over the church to Florin Enescu. So now we have a new senior pastor whom I will be assisting.

• Praise for the School of ministry and how it is goingFor the transition from Shane to Florin and for the people in the church to be open and supportive of Florin
• For wisdom and the gifts of the spirit for both Florin and I to serve the body
• Strength and energy for the added workload we will both have with this transition
• For God to call someone to come and minister with us as with the School of Ministry and the church it is hard right now to do justice to both
• For God to reveal His vision for our church here in Bucuresti
• To find a building for church in the heart of the city where university students are
• I desire to get an apartment in the Universiţatii piaţa to Cişmigiu park area as I feel this is the area we are suppose to minister in but the area is more expensive than other areas
• To get visa taken care of and not to get kick out of the country due to being really late
• For my monthly support to be adequate for all my needs

Indescribable - Chris Tomlin

Check out Chris Tomlin's CD Arriving

The Pursuit of Humility

Humility: True Greatness

The Gift of Worship

My Jesus Music Video

Growing in Unity, Purpose, and Love

The newest edition of "Renew Romania" magazine has come out. You can download the PDF of it here. Some of the articles are posted online, one I wrote on our monthly pastor meetings and how they started is located online. Here is the beginning of the article:


Looking at the photo we took at a recent pastors’ meeting, I remember that in the beginning it didn’t look like they were ever going to work out. So I praise God for what He has done in and through these meetings.

In June of 2003 I attended the Foundations Conference at the Bible College in Vajta, Hungary and in one of the sessions I heard about how God had used the pastor meetings in Hungary to develop and grow the Calvary Chapels in Hungary. So when I got back home to Romania I emailed everyone involved in pastoring and planting Calvary Chapels in Romania and shared with them what I heard and how I thought that this would be good for us.

Right away I got an email from Shane Herman, who pastors the Calvary Chapel in Bucharest, and he was excited about doing it but his was the only response I got back. I was disappointed but realized that most were real busy with their ministries. So Shane and I started meeting the first Tuesday of each month and would have a time of worship, prayer and fellowship. Sometimes other servants from the fellowship in Bucharest would join us, but for the most part it was just Shane and I. Each month we would send out emails and call the others up encouraging them to come but for several months no one else came.

I began to wonder if we should continue meeting since there didn’t seem to be any interest except for the two of us. (more)

Google Earth View of Church

Here is a view of where we meet on Sundays in Bucuresti for church. We rent the "Alege Viata" building (Campus Crusade) as our ministry building is too small. We are looking to buy, build or rent something else so we would appreciate your prayers in this regard.

An Ad for Sin

Definition of the Gospel

For our second class of the study of the gospel we looked at how to develop a basic outline of the gospel and to write a definition of the whole gospel message- a one sentence version, as well as, a longer definition. Next week they will have to turn in their outlines and definitions. Below are rough drafts of my definitions. If you have any constructive input I would appreciate hearing from you.

Outline 
1. Eternity Past
2. Creation
3. Fall
4. Redemption
5. Restoration
6. Eternity Future

One Sentence Definiton

The gospel is the good news that, though we deserve judgment and hell, God has provided a way for us sinners to be restored to Himself, now and forever, through His Son Jesus if we turn in our hearts from sin to Jesus and receive by faith what He did to deal with our sin- His sinless life, sacrificial death on the cross and His resurrection.

Paragraph Length Definition

The Gospel is the good news that God, in His great love, has provided a way for us and all the rest of His creation to be reconciled and restored to Himself. Without this provision, all we have to look forward to is judgment day, when God will judge all that we did. We will be found guilty of sin and, most importantly, of rejecting His provision for our sin. As a result we will be sent to hell where we will experience the full wrath of God for our sin. God’s provision for our sin is through His Son, Jesus Christ, who became a human being and lived a perfect sinless life, then sacrificially died on a cross for our sins, after which He was resurrected to new life and is now at the right hand of the Father waiting to return to set up his eternal kingdom. All those who have accepted God’s provision in Jesus will be adopted by God as His children and will be with Jesus forever and ever.

Longer Definition

The Gospel for us begins with the fact that we are separated from God due to our sin of disobeying Him and not giving Him His rightful place in our lives and hearts. Instead we have chosen to be our own gods and to do what we want regardless of what God says.

We were created for God’s good pleasure, to have a loving relationship with Him. But for love to exist there needs to be the ability to choose to love or not, so God gave us the ability to choose. Sadly, we chose to reject God and to disobey Him, just like Satan did in eternity past. His pride was his downfall as he was the most glorious of all that God created. Instead of appreciating what God had done for him he decided in his heart that he should be worshipped like the Most High. Tragically, we have fallen in his footsteps of wanting to be our own gods.

Imagine this from God’s perspective! Before anything existed God was. He is spirit, invisible and eternal, without beginning and without end. Even though He exists outside of time He is present everywhere through all time and space. He is infinite in knowledge and wisdom and His ways are beyond our ability to understand. He is all-powerful and able to do anything and everything that He wills to do that is in harmony with His nature. He is beautiful, true, good and perfect in every way never changing.

By His will all things that exist were created. He is sovereign over His entire creation and does as He pleases at all times. He alone is the source and giver of life, full of goodness to all that He has created. As He alone is life and the source of life, He is also love and the source of love. God is one in nature but exist in three divine persons- Father, Son and Holy Spirit. For love to exist there needs to be relationship and in the Trinity there has always been perfect harmony and love.

God is holy, righteous and just; He lives in unapproachable light, the light of His majesty and splendor. He is jealous for His glory for He alone is glorious. Sin cannot exist in His presence. He hates sin and because of His nature He brings judgment against it and destroys it by His righteous angry wrath.

While God is holy, righteous and just He is also infinite in love, mercy, grace, kindness, compassion, faithfulness, and patience. In humility He seeks to see His creation become all that He intended it to be.

What we deserve for our rejection and rebellion against God is judgment and hell. Everyone of us is guilty with no exception. We can’t blame others; we are responsible for the choices we have made in our lives. This is indeed bad news.

The bad news even gets worse! There is nothing we can do ourselves to restore our relationship with God. We can’t be good enough or do enough good things or be religious enough to earn our way to Him. 

Because of that, what awaits us after the Lord Jesus returns and sets up His kingdom, is a day where we will have to stand before Him and give an account of our lives. We will be judged for our disobedience to God and for our rejection of Jesus which is God’s only provision for our sin. He will show us all the times He tried to reach out to us with His great love and how we rejected it and instead hardened our hearts towards Him. Then He will tell us to leave Him and go to Hell where we will be separated from Him forever and where we will receive the full wrath of His judgment for our sin. There we will also spend all of eternity living with the knowledge that we rejected Jesus, the Father’s great expression of love for us. 

But there is good news, the greatest, most awesome news ever! God loves us and does not want any of us to go to Hell. That is why He has provided a way for us to be restored in our relationship with Him through His Son. 

He sent His Son, Jesus, to live a perfect life and to die on a cross. While on the cross God placed the sin of the entire world upon Him and then poured out His wrath on His own Son for every sin. By this Jesus paid the price for every sin. On the cross He died then was buried and three days later He rose from the dead proving He was without any sin of His own and that God’s wrath was fully satisfied for sin. 

Those that recognize their sin against God and confess it to Him and then turn in their hearts from their disobedient rebellious ways and turn to Jesus, receiving by faith what He did on the cross for their sin and making Him their Lord, will be forgiven of their sin and God will send His Holy Spirit to live within them making them spiritually alive and His children to be with Him forever. 

Some day soon Jesus is going to return and set up His kingdom here on the earth where He will rule in righteousness and truth. When He comes, all those who have turned from their sin and placed their faith in Jesus, will be with Him and will rule with Him in His glorious kingdom. At the time of His coming all those that are His will be transformed in the blink of an eye to be like Him, without sin and immortal. We will have physical bodies, yet they will also be spiritual bodies. 

Eventually all of the creation will burn in a blazing fire then God will create a new heaven and earth. At that time the new Jerusalem will come down from heaven from God. God will live with men, He will be their God and they will be His people. He will wipe every tear and there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain. He will restore all things and make them new. 

Everything will be as God had originally intended from the very beginning. To the praise of His glory and grace!

On February 4, 2009 I wrote a new post titled The Gospel - A New Definition.  

You will find links to the resources of the 10 week gospel series I did in January-March 2009 here: Gospel Series Resources

       Here is a post I wrote that is my second most viewed one- 
        Why Should Seekers Consider the Gospel?

Here is the newest teaching series I am doing on the gospel. At our church in Bucharest I teach the last Sunday of the month on the gospel. Then when I get time I video an English only version. 

Sorry I haven't had time to do the English only versions  so here is the link to the English with Romanian translation.

On September 1, 2012 I did a workshop titled "Being and Making Disciples".There are links to the channel of the videos (English with Romanian translations), PDF's of the slides and the notes for the four sessions of the workshop.    English     Romanian

Media Ministry Update

As some of you know I have a heart to develop media to proclaim and explain the gospel. Here are three things I've done:

1. I put Romanian subtitles on a music video that shows clips of young people sinning and mixes in clips from "The Passion of Christ." I thought the video was powerful so I subtitled and uploaded it to two Romanian video sites and so far it has been views over 4,000 times. By early next year at the latest, I hope to make some original videos with a focus on the gospel. For now I am praying seeking a vision of what exactly to do.
   
2. Five years ago I connected Alfa Omega, a Christian media ministry here in Romania, with Mars Hill Productions in the States to make a Romanian version of their video The Hope which I consider to be the best video gospel presentation available today. Finally this summer the project was finished and now is available in Romanian. I hope to raise some money to buy it in bulk and give out to churches, ministries and individuals.
3. I've had a desire to develop a website to proclaim & explain the gospel and teach the Word of God for about four years. I wasn't sure of what the site exactly would include but this July I finally received a vision for a website that would focus on Jesus and the gospel. I spent a lot of time thinking about it these past few months and have developed a mock-up of the site. While I have the vision for the site I don't have the technical skills to implement the vision. What I would like to do next is find someone who has the needed knowledge and skills to show me specifically what would need to done to get the website up and running and then to find one or several people who could do the code work, programming and design development to make the site a reality.
   

Prayer Requests

• For God to use "The Hope" video here in Romania to reach many people
• To raise funds to purchase DVD's of the video
• For God to provide someone to help me in the next stage of developing the website and for all the resources and people needed to make the site a reality.
• For a vision of what exactly to do to make gospel videos that would reach people
  

The Heart of the Gospel

In our first class of our study of the gospel we started by looking at the basic definition of the Greek word "euangelion" (good news) and the English word "gospel" (God's story). As an illustration I used a king whose wife had given him his first son. The king would send out heralds throughout his kingdom to proclaim his "good news".

Next we look at all the descriptor words and phrases I could find in the Bible pertaining to the gospel. Here is what I found:

Of the kingdom , of Jesus Christ Son of God, of Christ, of the glory of Christ, of our Lord Jesus, of His Son, of God, God's, of the blessed God, of the grace of God, of your salvation, of peace, not man's, word , of a great joy, of peace through Jesus Christ, kingdom of God, about Jesus, word of truth, word of life, word of faith, word of the Lord, word of Christ, word of God, message of reconciliation, message of salvation, mystery of Christ, eternal, law of liberty, power of God for salvation, glorious, wisdom of God.

Then we looked at some verses that show what the heart of the gospel is. Here are two of them:

1 Timothy 2:5-6
5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time,

1 Corinthians 15:1-4 (New International Version)
3For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

From this Paul gives us the most concise basic proclamation we have for the gospel- "Christ died for our sins."

If you look at all the descriptor words and these verses we see that the gospel is about Jesus and what He did. For me Jesus is the heart of the gospel and it includes not only what He did but also what He is doing now and what He will do in the future.

For homework next week I asked them to write out a complete definition of the essence or "heart" of the gospel. Below is mine. I would appreciate any constructive comments.

The essence or “heart” of the gospel is the good news about Jesus and all that He did for us, all that he is doing and all that he will do. By the will of the Father, Jesus became a human being and lived a sinless life which fulfilled the perfect law of God. Then Jesus obediently went to the cross and suffered the wrath of the Father for every sin ever committed. After His death on the cross, Jesus was buried and rose again three days later, proving that Jesus was indeed sinless and that God’s wrath was satisfied for all sins. After 40 days of showing Himself to many people and teaching many things, He ascended to heaven where the Father exalted Him to the highest place and where, at the right hand of the Father, He reigns and intercedes for the church. In the future He will return to set up His kingdom on the earth and eventually He will recreate and restore the heavens and earth to what God had intended from the beginning.

Finally Some Cool Weather

After having a brutally hot summer here in Bucuresti it is great to finally have some cool weather 60F/15C. I hope we don't see anymore of those extreme temperatures. During July and August we had temperatures in the 100F/40C range most of the time. In fact, at times the temperature got up to 108F/42C in the shade and 122F/50C in the open. Dozens of older people died here from the extreme heat.

I've lived in Boise which gets pretty hot in the summer but the difference here in Bucuresti is the humidity. I really had a hard time dealing with it and it was so bad that it started to affect my health. I couldn't sleep and at times I had severe problems with my skin itching all over my body as well. I finally started sleeping in my office at the ministry building cause it has air conditioning. When I get my own apartment having air conditioning is going to be a must.

Understanding RSS

If you don't know what RSS is all about take the time to watch this video. RSS is great and I have it on my blog so you can subscribe to get notified whenever I post something new. As the video says you need a "reader" in order to use RSS. I use Google Reader as I think it is the best one out there.

Off to a Good Start

We finished the first week of classes here at the School of Ministry and I think we got off to a good start. If you want to see the photos I took you can click here. I thank God that everything went so well.

Before classes start Tuesday through Friday we begin each day with morning devotions for a half hour. It includes worship, reading scripture & sharing about those verses and then a time of prayer. This first week Florin and I took turns leading the devotions but starting next week the students will begin to take turns leading the devotionals as well.

Another aspect of the school is that all the full-time students have to be involved in ministry either here in Bucuresti or some other Calvary Chapel in Romania. To prepare for ministry we meet late morning Fridays to talk and pray about what everybody is doing for ministry over the weekend. Then on Mondays we get together in the evening to go over what happened during the weekend, sharing struggles & problems and to pray for one another. I hope these times before and after the weekend will become a time of support and encouragement for the students as they serve the Lord.

In addition, all the full-time students who are serving in Bucuresti are required to be involved in doing street evangelism on Friday evenings. Four of us from the School of Ministry (SOM) went out last night, along with two guys from our church. We met at the ministry building at 6:00pm to worship, talk about what we are going to do and pray. Then we went to a nearby park in pairs and had a great time sharing for a little over an hour. When it was over and we got back together, to share what happened and to pray, everyone was excited about the opportunities God had given them. Next time we will stay out at least two hours!

Please continue to pray for us. Especially for the students as school is a big adjustment for them.

School of Ministry Started

Today, the School of Ministry began its fall semester. We have three full time students and a handful of part time students. You can check out some photos here. I will be adding more photos thru the week as other classes start up.

I am teaching two classes- the gospel of Luke and an intensive study of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In addition, Florin is teaching the Inductive Bible Study class and Galatians/Ephesians class. Adi is teaching the Bible survey class which covers the first half of the Old Testament this semester. When Shane gets back from the States he will be teaching Genesis.

We would appreciate your prayers for the school and those involved in it.

The Cross Centered Life

Down to Earth Tour in Brasov

Here are some video clips I took Thursday night

Worship at Lauda Live

Jeff Anderson at Lauda Live

Outreach Team in Brasov

The outreach team from Boise and Costa Mesa arrived in Brasov at 2:30 in the morning on Tuesday. This photo is the outreach team and those from the Calvary Chapel in Brasov gathering for a time of worship and prayer on Tuesday evening.

On Wednesday the ladies went out to the prison and some of the guys went out to the family center and later that evening those performing in the concerts on Thursday and Friday performed during "Lauda Live"(live praise)at the coffee shop which is an outreach ministry of the Calvary Chapel in Brasov. Today (Thursday) the guys will go out to the prison and some of the ladies will go out to the family center. In addition, a few of the ladies on the team have been able to go in to the children's hospital to help a ministry that is involved there.

I have put an album on my Flickr account of the photos I have taken so far of the outreach. I will continue to add photos this the outreach is done in Brasov. You can see the album here.

Off to Brasov for Outreach

I am off the Brasov today to help with an outreach that a team from my church in Boise and Calvary Chapel Cosa Mesa are doing. On Thursday and Friday evenings they will be doing a concert at a local club in a mall on the outskirts of Brasov. I am really looking forward to spend some time with Kelly Link and those on the outreach team and of course the body there in Brasov.

Please pray for this outreach, the team that is here ministering and for those who are a part of Calvary Chapel Brasov helping with the outreach. I think there is around 26 people on the team. Pray for God to open the eyes of peoples hearts to the gospel, for a spirit of conviction and repentance and for Him to call many into His kingdom.

On Saturday the outreach team will go to Bistrita to do a concert there and I will go back to Bucuresti to help get things ready for a outreach concert we are doing on Sunday with Romanian bands. More on this in a later post.

To God be the glory.

The Cure

Why God Allows Suffering

This video shows the tragedy of the collapse of the bridge in Minneapolis while sharing a sermon by John Piper on why God allows suffering.

A Cool Short Gospel Video

The Gospel

Add to My Profile | More Videos

A Look at What Idolatry Is

Millions of Worshippers in Africa

Back in Bucuresti

This is a photo I took on the train going back to Bucuresti from Bistrita on Saturday. It is a hill in the city of Sighisoara which is considered one of the best preserved medieval towns in Europe. You can view the rest of the photos I took while in Bistrita and the trip back home here.

I ended up staying till Saturday in Bistrita so I could attend a conference at the Calvary Chapel there. The theme was God's love and 1 Corinthians 13 was taught Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evenings. Ernest Updike, pastor of Calvary Chapel Garden Valley, Idaho and Ethan Larson, who teaches at the Bible College in Hungary and is from Calvary Chapel Boise were the speakers for the conference. In addition Keala and Heather Hoe and their kids Sam, Faith and Lauren came up from Brasov and Keala lead the worship during the conference.

It was great spending time in cool Bistrita but now I am back in hot Bucuresti. Sunday late afternoon we had a barbecue for the men in our church and we discussed about why men don't like church and how we could change things. Please pray that God would give us vision on how best to reach and minister to men.

Adi at the Barbecue

What Everybody Knows Before the Gospel Comes

Jesus vs Religion

Photos from the Wedding

Luci (lu chee) and Mona were married Sunday. I was blessed to be able to go to their wedding. It was great to be there. You can check out the photos I took here.

As is typical here in Romania first there is a civil ceremony at the mayor's office then there are photos taken. After that everyone heads to the church for the religious ceremony then it is off to the wedding reception which last a lot longer than ones in the States. This one started at 2:30pm and lasted till midnight with lots of food, dancing, etc. In Romania people don't usually give gifts but rather flowers and an envelope with money to help with the expenses of the wedding.

Someone secretly arranged with those running the medieval festival that was going on in town to stop there on the way to the reception. There Luci and Mona went through a quick medieval version of the wedding ceremony in front of a big crowd then knights with swords came and stole Mona. To get her back Luci had to have a sword fight with one of the knights to win her back. It was a pretty cool.

Please continue to pray for them and they begin their lives as husband and wife.

In Bistrita for Wedding

I am up in Bistrita to go to my friends Luci and Mona's wedding on Sunday. It is nice and cool here which is a nice relief from the hot temperatures we had in Bucuresti. The day before I left the temperature got to 104F/40C in the shade and 122F/50C out in the open. Now that is hot!!!

This weekend here in Bistrita they are having a medieval festival with groups performing music on stage, dances, and displays of clothes and weapons. After the weekend I will put some photos I've taken here in Bistrita on my Flickr account.

Do You Cherish Jesus?

Prayer Request - Support and Place to Live

I would really appreciate prayer in regards to my support as it is not adequate for living in Bucuresti. Earlier in the day, when I got my first report from my home church on the level of my support after having come back to Romania, Shane and Randie asked me to wait to find an apartment so that I could watch their place when they left to go back to the States for a few months. Later that day when I got my report I saw that the monthly support was low so I decided it would be best to wait to get an apartment and save up some money for awhile.

For the first four months I stayed at the ministry building in one of the rooms set up for teams when they come here. Now I am watching Shane and Randie's apartment till the end of August. Before then I will need to find my own place so please pray that everything will work out.

Ideally (maybe not realistic), it would be best to be able to buy an apartment as real estate and rent in Bucuresti is very expensive compared to the rest of the country and is expected to keep going up for the next 10 years. That way I would not have to worry about rent increases and would get some equity in a place. Considering I do not have a retirement fund that would be great. I have no idea how to go about making this happen but I can pray and see what the Lord does.

Prayer Requests

• That my support would increase and be adequate for living in Bucuresti
• To find a place to live in August in a good location at a good price
• To be able to get a loan or some other means to purchase an apartment
• If I have to rent to have a good landlord that won't try to take advantage of me
  

Andreea's Graduation from University

On June 8th Andreea Oprea graduated from the University of Transilvania in Brasov in the faculty of Modern Applied Languages. Though they have had the graduation ceremony she still needs to finish her final exams then she will officially be done.

Andreea was the first person who started coming to the church when we began meeting on Sundays. Before that she had been regularly coming to the Bible study I had been doing.

Please pray for her as she begins a new chapter in her life. That God will show her what His calling and will is for her at this time.

You can check out a photo album of her graduation here.

Prayer Request - School of Ministry

The planning and preparation for the School of Ministry continues as school will begin the first full week of September. So far we have developed the classes and the schedule for the four semesters of the two year program, finished all the forms related to the application process, and have written out a vision, purpose and mission statement which includes a list of the classes that you can view here.

We are still working on the course descriptions and the student handbook. After these are done each teacher will begin working on their syllabi and curriculum for the fall semester. The teachers for the fall semester are Adi Caciula, Florin Enescu, Shane Herman and myself. At this point it looks like we will have between 5 and 10 students the first semester.

Prayer Requests

• Please pray for wisdom, direction and resources for everything related to the School of Ministry
• For those teaching the classes and for me as I oversee the administration of the school
• For the students coming the first semester, that God would call those He desires to be equipped through the School of Ministry
• For the financial provision for each student so they will be able to come to school full-time

Class List for First Semester

OT310 Genesis
NT353 Luke
NT407 Galatians & Ephesians
OT300 Through the Word Part 1
OT301 Old Testament Survey Part 1
TH101 Lectures in Ministry & Theology
TH417 Inductive Bible Study/Hermeneutics
CL101 Morning Chapel
CL105 Community Worship
CL351 Growing in Christ (The Gospel In-depth)
CM199 Practical Christian Ministry

Total credits: 20.5

Conference Worship and Miscellaneous Video

Storming the Gates of Hell

During our conference Ken, one of the speakers, asked if our churches were storming the gates of Hell. As you can see, Calvary Chapel Brasov is. See larger photo here.

Church of Angels

After the Calvary Chapel Romania Conference I went to Brasov with Florin who is from there. On the way we stopped in Miercurea-Ciuc to find a church I saw briefly a few years ago with angels on it. It took awhile but we finally found it. I find the architecture very interesting. Below is a link to an album I made on my Flickr account of photos of this church. Not sure but think it may be a Catholic church.

Church of Angels Photo Album

If you want to download any of the photos you need to click on the photos you want and after you click on them to click on the button "all sizes" above the photo. Then you can choose what size you want to download.

Calvary Chapel Romania Conference 2007

We had our seventh annual Calvary Chapel Romania Conference May 22-25. The theme was "Who is Jesus" and our guest speakers were Bob Caldwell from Boise, Idaho and Ken Sutton from Costa Mesa, California.

The conference was a great blessing to the 80 or so who attended with the worship, the teaching on Jesus, the fellowship and the great weather. We had lots of positive feedback saying this conference really ministered to people.

Below are some links to the photos and the MP3's of the main sessions and the workshops. I have uploaded all but one of the videos of the conference to Google video but there are problems with the audio on some of the sessions. Will try to fix them if possible.

Photos on Flickr

Download MP3's

Google Video in the search box put- calvary chapel romania 2007


To download the photos in Flickr click on them individually in the album then click on the "all sizes" box above the photo then choose what size you want to download.

Feed for Interesting Web Articles

I have set up a feed of all the articles I like that I come across through the blogs and sites I subscribe to using Google Reader.

This is the link to subscribe to the RSS feed
http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/emailverifySubmit?feedId=729233

This in the link to subscribe to receive email notices
http://feeds.feedburner.com/GodsWillsSharedItemsInGoogleReader

Photos from Trip to Hungary

I spent last week in Vajta, Hungary at the Bible College learning about various aspects of running a Bible college and talking to some of the teachers to get input on how best to start up a new program. I had a great time, was very informative and the weather was awesome as well. First time I was able to wear shorts this year.

Please pray for us here in Bucuresti as we make decisions on what classes we will teach and the structure of the program. That God would give us wisdom and guide our thinking and planning so that the school of ministry will be what He wants it to be.

Here are some photos from my trip:

1. Romi and Adriana
2. Calvary Chapel Sarbogard
3. Andrew's New Home
4. Bible College Koinonia

Romanian Christian Hop-Hop Band

Here is a video of the group "Pocăiţii" (The Repenters). Please pray for their walk with the Lord and for God to use them to reach the young people of Romania. The name of the song is ""Dezvăluiri which can be translated "Unveilings".

Easter Sunday

Here I am with Razvan, one of the young men who attends CC Bucuresti, after Easter Sunday service. He has a sweet gentle spirit and a heart for God.

We had the best weather since I moved to Bucuresti on Easter so that was a blessing. After church I went over to Shane and Randie's for a great Mexican meal. It was awesome! I took a few photos at church during the Easter service which you can see here

Preaching in Brasov

I'll be leaving by train later today to go Brasov as tomorrow I will be preaching at the Calvary Chapel there. Keala is in England with his family and his parents, who have been visiting, to watch his son Jonah play in a rugby tournament. I am sure they will have a great time.

It will be fun to see everyone and to share a little on what I have been learning about idolatry as that is what the Lord seems to have put on my heart for tomorrow. It all started last July when I was teaching in Luke 4 about the three temptations Jesus went through in the desert from Satan. At the time it struck me that at the core of the temptations what Satan was trying to do was get Jesus to doubt the Father's goodness and provision and take things into his own hands. And within a short period of time of this I just "happen" to see a vodcast of Mark Driscoll's sermon on idolatry also. These two things really got me thinking about idolatry. May the Lord give me grace to share it.

This won't be my first trip up to Brasov this week. On Wednesday I went there to pack my stuff at my old apartment and on Thursday Jamie came from Bucuresti with the church van and Dan and we moved most of my small stuff to Bucuresti. It is all sitting in a room at the ministry building right now cause I am still living at the ministry building. Why haven't I gotten an apartment yet? Well, that will be a topic for another post next week.

Good Speaking Advice

Here is a video with good advice on public speaking. It takes awhile to load the video- be patient.

Recovered From the Flu

A few weeks ago I had the flu which kept me in bed for a handful of days then over a week of recovering and getting my strength back bit by bit after that. When I moved to Bucuresti a lot of those working at the ministry building were sick so I knew chances would be that it would catch up to me at some point. Still have a slight cough and get tired easily but feel much better.

Stella Sings - Video

Here is a video of Stella singing a few songs. Stella, whom I call Stelutza (little Stella), was about one year old and living at the orphanage in Petrosani when I first started working there. She is about 10 years old now and living at a Christian orphanage called Betania. Kelly Stark, of Isaiah's House, has a ministry to orphan kids in Petrosani and sometimes Stelutza comes and spends the weekends with her.

Quotes from Gospel Primer

Here are some quotes from part one of the "Gospel Primer" that I gave a link to in the last post.

“...the gospel...of first importance...” (1 Corinthians 15:1,3)

“If there’s anything in life that we should be passionate about, it’s the gospel. And I don’t mean passionate only about sharing it with others. I mean passionate about thinking about it, dwelling on it, rejoicing in it, allowing it to color the way we look at the world. Only one thing can be of first importance to each of us. And only the gospel ought to be.” (C.J. Mahaney, The Cross Centered Life, 20-21)

“The gospel isn’t one class among many that you’ll attend during your life as a Christian – the gospel is the whole building that all the classes take place in! Rightly approached, all the topics you’ll study and focus on as a believer will be offered to you ‘within the walls’ of the glorious gospel.” (C.J. Mahaney, The Cross Centered Life, 75-76)

The essence of eternal life is not found in having my sins forgiven, in possessing a mansion in heaven, or in having streets of gold on which to walk forever. Rather, the essence of eternal life is intimately knowing God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. Everything else that God gives to me in the gospel serves merely to bring me to Himself so that this great end might be achieved. Christ died for the forgiveness of my sins so that I might be brought “to God.

The “gospel of God” is from God, comes through God, and leads me to God; and it is in Him that my soul finds its truest joy and rest.

Understanding that I am not the ultimate end of the gospel, but rather that God’s glory is, actually enables me to embrace my salvation more boldly than I would otherwise dare to do. For example, when my timid heart questions why God would want to love one so sinful as I, I read the answer, “to the praise of the glory of His grace.” I figure, then, that my unworthiness must actually be useful to God, because it magnifies the degree to which His grace might be glorified as He lavishes His saving kindness upon me. This line of reasoning makes perfect sense to me and convinces me to embrace the gospel with greater passion so that God might glorify Himself through me, an unworthy sinner. Indeed, the more I embrace and experience thegospel, the more I delight in the worship of God, the more expressive my joy in Him becomes, and the more I yearn to glorify Him in all I say and do.

Worth Reading

Here are links to some articles I found on the web that I found interesting and thought provoking.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=54346
The Secret Curse of Holywood 'Stars'- excellent article that gives you a lot to reflect on for yourself

http://www.eucatastrophe.com/blog/archives/2007/02/19/preaching-the-gospel-to-yourselffrom-the-old-testament/
Preaching the Gospel to Yourself…From the Old Testament - For some reason I could not open it correctly in Firefox so I used another browser

http://www.cornerstonebible.org/Resources/gospelprimer7.6.pdf
A Gospel Primer- right click and save to hard drive

http://www.digital-web.com/news/2007/02/top_five_articles_for_presenters/
top 5 articles for presenters

My New Website is Up

I finally finished updating my personal website. You can check it out at godswill.ro You will find photos, videos, links to Calvary Chapel and Romanian sites and a place at the bottom of the home page to add yourself and your location to my map.

Funny Video - Me Worship

Here is a funny video that has a lot of truth to it. Our flesh desires to be our master. Oh how we need the grace of God in Jesus to overcome it and allow Him to truly be what He is, Lord of all.

My Life in Romania

Here is a powerpoint presentation that I shared when I was visiting in the States.

Worth Reading

Here are a few articles I found on the net that I think are worth reading. Tell me what you think about them in the comments section.

Less Transparency, More Teflon

Gospel-Centeredness (list of articles)

Excellent article - Gospel Centered Men and Women (click on it to download PDF)

Current Prayer Requests

For Ministry

• To adjust to a new church and ministry
• To begin developing the School of Ministry curriculum and student handbook
  
• To work on the web sites and begin developing media ministries like video
• To develop more skills and abilities in web design, shoot and editing video, etc.
• For God to open a door of for me in the universities to minister to the students, staff and teachers

Personal

• To raise enough support to live in Bucharest
• To find an apartment at a good price in a good location with honest and reliable landlords
• To have money to fix up the apartment and buy any needed furniture or whatever else is needed
• To adjust to living in Bucharest and to make new friends

Photos On-Line

Here is the main link to my photos on Flickr. From now on this is where I will post all my photos so you can see what is going on here in Romania and wherever else I go.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/godswillromania/

Being Introduced

Today Shane Herman (the pastor) introduced me to the fellowship here in Bucharest while Adi Caciula translated. After the introduction I shared briefly my history since becoming a Christian with a focus on how I ended up in Romania, the cities and ministries I have been involved in and how I ended up in Bucharest.

After sharing all that I talked about dealing with fear and the call of God. This was something I shared while in the States when opportunities opened up for me to teach.

This coming week I will start to get familiar with the city by checking out the subway system and begin work in ernest with Shane on developing the School of Ministry curriculum and student handbook. I also will spend time working on my new website layout and trying to get the system working for doing my newletters and adding all the new people who signed up for it while I was in the States.

I would like to start looking for an apartment but until I can find out how much regular monthly support I have it is hard to budget for an apartment which makes it hard to go out looking for something. I'd appreciate your prayers for all these things.

Twins Birthday Party

On Wedneday, February 7th Loren and Faith Hoe celebrated their first birthday in Romania, they are now seven years old. You can check out the photos I took here Twins Birthday Party

Pastors Meeting

After being gone for two months it was great to get back and have fellowship with the other Calvary Chapel pastors, missionaries and other servants.

We usually meet the first Tuesday of each month for a time of worship, sharing what is going on in our lives and ministries, prayer and fellowship. Some of the guys come a day early as they have a long ways to travel so that gives them more time of fellowship.

To see the other photos click here Pastors Meeting

In the next few days I will posting the prayer requests from the meeting on the Calvary Chapel Romania Blog.

First Service in New Building

I took this photo at Calvary Chapel Brasov's first service in the new building on Sunday, February 4th. It is a small and very warm place which could hold around 40 to 50 people. They are praying about possibly opening up a coffee shop there to reach out to the community.

It was good to be back and see everyone but it did feel a bit strange for me to be a visitor for the first time at the church I had started. I will always have a connection with the body there I am sure but life goes on along with all the changes that come with time.

It is great to see the church there continue to develop and grow step by step. Please continue to pray for Keala, his family and the fellowship there in Brasov.

You can check out the rest of the photos I took here Brasov First Service

Going to Brasov

Tomorrow (Sunday) I will get up at about 5:00 so I can take the 6:30 train to Brasov so I can attend church there. They are having their first service in the new place and asked me to come. They got a place right below where Keala and Heather live which is a great location for the church.

I will be there till probably Thursday as we are having our monthly pastors meeting there on Tuesday and Keala's twin girls have their birthday on Wednesday.

I look forward to my time seeing everyone in Brasov.

Our First Meeting

Today Shane (center), Florin (right) and I (the good looking one:) met for the first time to pray and discuss about our involvement in the leadership of the church and it's ministries.

I think we are off to a good start but sure could use all the prayer possible for vision, wisdom, gifts of the Holy Spirit and everything else needed to serve the body.

Florin will be moving this summer from Severin to be the worship pastor and one of the Bible teachers. Until then he will come one long weekend a month. Shane has been the pastor of the Calvary Chapel in Bucharest for about five years and the fellowship has grown to over a hundred people.

By the grace of God we are looking forward to what God has in store for us in the coming year. We will begin developing the School of Ministry shortly with the goal of opening it in September of this year. I talked to Shane about my interest in leading a in-depth study of the Gospel on Tuesdays in the near future as a way for me to get started here in Bucharest and he was all for it so please pray for this new beginning for me. I will model the study similar to what I did in Brasov.

Back In Romania

I made it back to Romania yesterday. Had a geat trip back with no hassles coming into Romania. I ended up having a great seat on the long part of the trip from Seattle to Amsterdam. A great seat for me is having lots of leg space.

So now I have to adjust to life in Bucharest and being at new church and having a new ministry. Please pray for grace for me in all these adjustments and that I will be the Lord's blessing to many here in Bucharest.

In addition, please pray that I will find an apartment in a good location at a good price with a good landlord. I don't think it will be easy to find something. I desire to get a larger apartment so I can use it for ministry and fellowship but apartments are way more expensive here than Brasov. Also, I don't know yet how much monthly support I have so it makes it hard to know how much I can budget for rent.

I had such a good trip to the States, it was my best trip ever. It was such a blessing in so many ways. I will share more over the next week about it as I have time.