June 2019 Prayer Letter

Vertical Church Conference II.

May 10-11 nearly 700 individuals from 140 churches gathered in Kecskemét, Hungary for our second Vertical Church Conference. Our five main sessions focused on the main theme of discipleship. We also provided workshops on prayer, worship, small groups, Biblical soul care and foreign missions. The goal of our conference was to both inspire and instruct church leaders in how to develop churches that glorify God by making disciples. It was our prayer that we would not only talk about the glory of God but experience it as well. We felt like God once again answered this prayer. Here is a brief quote from an attending pastor: “Last year I felt like it would be impossible to top this conference, but I was wrong…God’s presence could be felt so powerfully this year, that it seemed we could almost see Him with our physical eyes…”We are so grateful for the Baptist Church in Kecskemét, who hosted the conference. I continue to work with two Hungarian pastor friends (Samuel Mike and Barnabas Uzonyi) in leading this movement. Please pray as we seek the Lord’s direction for future plans.

Budapest church plant:

We continue to cast vision with our church planting team in Budapest. We now have 19 committed team members with several others still seeking the Lord’s leadership. We are very thankful for a couple that recently committed who have four children. Hopefully they will be able to help us reach other families in the future. One of our goals for this time period is to see our team drawing closer to each other. On June 10^thwe held a church picnic at a park in Budapest. We had a great time of food, fellowship, sports and games. We also continue to seek a location to launch the church in September. We have a really good lead that we are looking at now. Please pray that the Lord would give definite direction in this area!

Esztergom:

Our church in Esztergom continues to grow. We have two new families that have begun attending this year. We are hoping to see them commit to the church in the near future. We also have two big events happening in the next month. June 26-30 we will be having our Family Camp in Balatonföldvár with about 60 of our people. July 8-12 will be our annual English camp which is geared for evangelism and outreach. Please pray for God’s blessing on both of these events!

Family news:

Ben and Kelsi left for Zanzibar, Africa on June 18^thto begin their ministry there. Please pray for them as they adjust to a new culture, begin language studies, and step into their new ministry. Nancy and Keith plan to move to California in August. Please pray for them as well, as they are looking for housing and jobs. Esther is home for the summer and will return to Jacksonville in August to begin her junior year of college. Hannah has one more year of school here in Hungary.

Thanks for standing with us in prayer. We wish you a blessed summer!

The Marc Patton Family