Thursday, May 4, 2017

May Prayer Letter

Dear Friends,

Here is our May prayer letter. You will find a version for printing with pictures in the attachment:

Highlights from Esztergom:
There is a really good spirit at our church in Esztergom. A few weeks ago I preached a message on prayer. I had people write down the biggest prayer request that is on their hearts. I then asked them to come forward and pray for these requests and then drop them into a box, so that we could continue to pray for them. It has been amazing to see how many of these prayers have been answered. Almost every week we have had someone share a testimony about God answering prayer or working in their lives. We have also started having a special prayer meeting once each month, and I have been pleased by both the attendance and fervor in these prayer meetings. We are trusting God for great things!
 
Another great encouragement has been the launch of another new converts class. I almost never launch a new class until I have at least one person who has expressed an interest in baptism. Despite the fact that no one had approached me yet this year, I decided to go ahead and announce a new class anyways to be launched on April 23rd. What a pleasant surprise it was to see seven people show up for the first class! I am not sure that all of them even have a clear understanding of salvation yet, so please pray for souls to be saved, and many of these to be baptized in the near future.
 
These past few months, Charin and I have enjoyed doing the young adults’ small group. Easter Monday is a holiday in Hungary, so we had a bowling outing with them and then had them over to our house for a cook out and games. It has been great to develop a deeper relationship with these young people. It is sad that so many of our young people move away after high school. We are hoping that some of these young people will stay and be active members of our church.
 
 
Tata and Oroszlány:
As you know Gergo Szimon took over the church in Tata in March and Marton Csiha moved to Oroszlany in December. I was able to get together with the two of them on April 26th. It was great to hear how the Lord is working, and also their plans for the ministries in these two locations. Please pray for both churches to move forward for God’s glory.
 
Extended Ministry:
One of our ministry goals is to influence other Hungarian churches in the area of missions, church planting and evangelism. The Lord continues to open doors in this area. March and April were incredibly busy in preaching and ministry out of town. During the past two months I preached, taught or served in some capacity in churches, pastor’s meetings, or conferences in Pecel, Baja, Bicske, Gyor, Veresegyhaz, Arad, Dombovar and Pesterzsebet. Please pray that the Lord would use these opportunities to encourage pastors and churches to glorify God through the fulfillment of the Great Commission! I will be speaking to several more groups of pastors and leaders in May and June, so please pray for these opportunities, as well.
 
Summer furlough:
As previously mentioned, we will be in the US for almost 2 months this summer (July 6 – August 29). One purpose will be to get our daughter Esther settled and ready to start her first year of college. She will be joining Nancy and Ben at Trinity Baptist College in Jacksonville, Florida. We will also be visiting family in Tennessee and Indiana. We will be reporting in churches, as well. We have a few openings for ministry which I will list below. Each one is somewhat limited geographically, but please feel free to contact us if one of these dates would work for you. (For the Sunday services we would need to be within a 2 hour drive of the location mentioned). 
 
July 9th – Sunday evening – Pensacola, FL
July 12th – Wednesday evening – Chattanooga or Knoxville, TN
Aug. 2nd – Wednesday evening – South Bend, IN
Aug. 6th – Sunday morning – Nashville, TN
Aug. 9th – Wednesday evening – Knoxville or Chattanooga, TN
Aug. 13th – Sunday evening – Thonotosassa, FL
Aug. 16th – Wednesday evening – Jacksonville, FL
Aug. 20th – Sunday evening – Palm Coast, FL
Aug. 23rd – Wednesday evening – Jacksonville, FL
 
We appreciate your prayers. God bless!
 
Marc Patton

Young Adults Small Group

Group of Hungarian Pastors and Leaders in Arad, Romania