Prayer letter - June 2016

Dear Friends,

School is out, and we are well into our summer schedule. As a family, we are very happy to have Nancy home for a couple of months with Ben coming in July. Let me share the highlights of the past few weeks.

Children’s Day in Esztergom:

On May 28^th we held our annual Children’s Day outreach for disadvantaged children. We had a short program where I shared the Gospel, and Charin taught them a song. We then had a time of crafts, face-painting, and a chalk drawing contest out on the street. It was a great opportunity to share the love of Christ and connect with these needy families. We are praying that the seeds that were planted will bear fruit in the future.

Baptismal Service in Tata:

June 12^th was an exciting day in Tata, as we baptized five more converts. Janos and Brigi, a young married couple, have been attending our church for more than a year. Brigi was first to profess faith, and her husband was saved a few months later. I had the privilege of discipling them and then baptizing them in a nearby lake. Szilvi is a relative of one of our church members, who made a profession of faith toward the end of last year. She is a young wife, but unfortunately her husband currently shows little interest in the things of God. Please pray for him. We were also thrilled to baptize Killian and Johanna, two teenagers whose parents are members of our church. They were both saved at youth camps, which is just another motivation for us to pray fervently for this summer’s outreaches. 

Esztergom Family Camp:

June 16-20 we held our annual family camp in Balatonfoldvar, Hungary. We had a great turnout with about 70 of our people participating. It was also great to have three couples join us, who had moved away over the past few years. We were glad to reconnect with them and see how the Lord is working in their lives. It was a great privilege to have Gyorgy Varga and his wife Aniko as our special speakers. Our theme was the Christian Family, and they did a great job of both teaching and motivating our people to strive to build their families on the foundation of the Word of God. It was a great time of fun, fellowship and relaxation as well. We all felt like God drew us closer to Himself and closer to each other. 

Upcoming Events:

We have two key weeks of outreach and evangelism ahead of us. June 27-July 1 we will be holding our annual summer day camp in Tata. We have about 35 children signed up. This is an intensive week, as we have the children from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Please pray especially for the closing ceremony we will hold on Friday, July 1^st, when the parents will hear the Gospel.

July 18-22 we will hold our annual English Camp in Esztergom with classes for children in the morning and classes for teens and adults in the evenings. We have a team of eleven Americans coming to help that week. That same group will also hold a week of VBS in Nagysap. You could also pray for our ministry in Nagysap. Attendance has dwindled to just one faithful adult, and a couple of children. We continue to seek the Lord’s will in regards to the ministry in this small, but difficult town.

Thanks again for your faithful prayers and support of our ministry. God bless!

                                                            Serving for His Glory,

                                                            Marc Patton and Family

Children's Day

Baptismal service in Tata

Family Camp in Balatonfoldvar

May 2016 Prayer letter

Dear Friends,

The work of the evangelist:

One of my ministry goals is to influence the Baptist churches in Hungary to reach their own people and become strong, evangelistic churches. During the past two months the Lord gave me many opportunities to minister outside our own churches. On March 18-19 I had the privilege of preaching at a fairly new church in the nearby city of Pilisvorosvar. Laszlo Nagy and his wife Katalin planted this church about 10 years ago. It was especially exciting for me, because I taught both Laszlo and his wife Katalin in a Bible Institute before they got their start. It has been a slow work, but they now have 30-40 people in attendance. We are hoping to be able to help them even more in the future.

On April 24^th I preached all day at the Baptist Church in Pesterzsebet. It was a special Sunday geared for the lost. I was pleased to see a number of people lift their hands expressing a desire to give their lives to the Lord. I spent April 26-29 teaching at the Word of Life Bible Institute in Toalmas, Hungary. I taught a class on the Christian Family to 22 second year students. I also preached to the entire student body during their Wednesday chapel. I always enjoy my time at Word of Life, as the students have a great desire both to learn and to serve the Lord.

Trip to Israel:

Perhaps the highlight of these past two months was our trip to Israel from April 6-12. It truly was a dream come true for us. I have taught Bible Geography in our Bible Institute, but there is nothing like seeing and experiencing the geography of Israel first hand. From a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee, to stepping in the water of the Jordan River, floating in the Dead Sea, or simply driving through the Judean wilderness we truly got a feel for the land where so much of the Bible took place. It was also an amazing experience to pray putting my hands on the stones of the Wailing Wall, and thinking about 4,000 years of history that took place on that site from the time of Abraham to the present. It was ironic, that despite it being my first trip to Israel, I was asked to be the group leader, so I had the privilege of leading our daily devotionals, and also reading Scripture and sharing thoughts at many of the sites we visited. It was also fun to share the time with five church members from Esztergom who joined us for this trip.

Easter Outreach:

As I mentioned in our previous letter, evangelist Allen Buchanek preached for us over the Easter weekend. We held special services in Esztergom, Tata and Oroszlany. We had great services in all three locations with many visitors, and many decisions. We are now praying that some of the visitors would return and begin attending on a regular basis. In Esztergom we have had one lady who has not missed a Sunday since then. Oroszlany has also seen several return visitors.

Faith Promise Commitments:

One other recent blessing was to see a sizable increase in our faith promise commitments in Esztergom. Our attendance in Esztergom has actually dropped over the past year, so I was expecting a decrease in our missions giving. Instead we saw a 20-30% increase in the commitments for the next year. I am grateful that our people have a heart for missions and a willingness to sacrifice in their giving.

Family News:

Nancy and Ben just finished their second year of college at Trinity Baptist in Jacksonville. They have both done really well in their studies, work and ministry. Nancy will be making a mission trip to Zambia May 15-31^st. She then will fly here to Hungary on June 5^th. Ben will be coming a bit later as he has work commitments. Esther and Hannah are still in school until mid June.

Upcoming Events:

June 12 – Baptismal service in Tata.

June 16-20 – Family Camp (Esztergom)

June 27-July 1 – Day Camp in Tata.

July 18-22 – English Camp in Esztergom and VBS in Nagysap.

Thanks again for your faithful prayers and support of our ministry. God bless!

                                                            Serving for His Glory,

László Nagy and family

Marc and Charin on the Mount of Olives with Jerusalem in the background

Allen Buchanek preaching in Oroszlány with Balázs Emhő translating

March 2016 Prayer Letter

Dear Friends,

Greetings from Hungary. After a mild winter, it seems like spring is on its way. We are looking forward to a great season of planting and harvesting.

Expanded leadership team in Esztergom:

On March 6^th we ordained a new elder and three new deacons. Tibor Kruska has served faithfully as a deacon over the past ten years. We have seen his gifts develop in the area of preaching, teaching and leadership. He leads a small group in his home each week and last year took on our youth group as well. This is alongside his full time job as owner of his own IT business. 

Our three new deacons are Marci Csiha, Zsolt Kovacs and Laci Puskar. Marci has been serving as a missionary in our church for the past three years. His main areas of ministry are evangelism, discipleship and Biblical counseling. He and his wife Rachel have been a great blessing. Zsolt married one of our young ladies and joined our church back in 2007. He serves in our worship team, does some preaching, and leads our young adults ministry. Laci was baptised in our church 12 years ago. He owns his own business. He and his wife are very faithful members of our church, and they host a small group in their home. Laci is also the only member of our leadership team who is older than me, and we believe that his life experience will be a blessing. I mentioned Gergo Szimon being brought on as our assistant pastor in my previous letter. We will ordain him later in a separate service. I am really excited about the men the Lord has given us. I believe that our expanded leadership team will make our church even more efficient and effective!

News from Tata:

Our attendance in Tata continues to be excellent. We have been running 70-80 on a regular basis. On March 6^th we had another baby dedication with numerous visitors , and our attendance was well over 100. With the arrival of warmer weather we are gearing up to complete our building project. We received several large gifts from Hungarian churches and individuals over the past few months, so we have the funds to move forward. Please pray for wisdom and strength in the ministry there.

News from Oroszlany:

Our team from Tata held their third “Family Night” outreach service in Oroszlany on February 28^th. We are not seeing huge attendances, but there are visitors at every service. One young couple seems very interested and close to making a decision. Please pray for Sanyi and Kata to be saved soon. Evangelist Allen Buchanek will be with us for the Easter weekend. He is a great preacher and has been a great friend over the years. He will not only be speaking for us in Estergom and Tata, but he will also be speaking in Oroszlany for their special Easter outreach service. Please pray for many visitors and decisions in all three locations!

Nancy’s trip:

February was an amazing month for Nancy, as we received a bit more than $1,000 toward her trip. Thank you so much! She is still trying to raise about $1,000, but we are making good progress toward her goal. She is planning to go to Zambia after school ends in May.

Trip to Israel:

Charin and I have long had a dream to visit Israel. Last year one of our church members in Tata got wind of this and gave us a large sum of money to cover our expenses. We are scheduled to be in Israel from April 6-12 with a group from the Baptist Union of Hungary. We are looking forward to a great time of fellowship, discovery and learning.  

Thanks again for your faithful prayers and support of our ministry. God bless!

Marc Patton

Tibor Kruska

New Leadership Team

Balazs Emho teaches the Bible in Oroszlany

February 2016 Prayer letter

February 10, 2016

Dear Friends,

It has been two months since our last update. Sorry for the delay. These have been busy days.

Trip to the US:

What a privilege it was to spend the Christmas holidays with family in the States. Nancy and Ben joined us from Florida. It is a joy to see them doing so well. We spent the first two weeks with Charin’s family in Indiana. We then were able to spend a few days with my parents in Tennessee before returning to Hungary. We  love our family and appreciate their investment in our lives.

January news:

January is always a month of planning, budgets and meetings as we prepare for the new year. Pastoring two churches essentially doubles the work. The growth at our church in Tata, the building project, and the multiplication of ministries there has really forced me to adjust my schedule. Tata used to get about 20% of my time, but it now gets about 40%. I am working hard to develop leadership and also put structures in place to help us be more efficient. I think we are making good progress.

We also expanded our leadership team in Esztergom. On January 31^st the church voted to bring Gergo Szimon on as assistant pastor. Gergo has been working as an intern for the past few years. He not only heads up our mission work in Nagysap, but I have been increasing his responsibilities at our main church in Esztergom. I plan to continue that process which should make my time investment in Tata a little easier. We also added three new deacons, so we will have a leadership team of seven. We are planning to ordain our new deacons in March.

New Converts and discipleship:  

I have begun discipling a young couple at our church in Tata. Janos and Brigi began attending our church in Tata more than a year ago. Brigi was very open and receptive and soon made a profession of faith. Her husband came along more slowly, but he too has now professed faith in Christ. They both have requested baptism, and I am meeting with them monthly to disciple them. We have one other young lady in Tata in our discipleship program and four others in Esztergom. All these are being discipled by other church members and are preparing for baptism later this year. We are thrilled to see people coming to Christ and pray for even more fruit this year.

I did want to say thank you to those of you who sent money toward Nancy’s missions trip to Zambia. She has received $855 so far. We continue to pray for the remaining funds. She needs about $2,000 more. 

There are many of exciting things ahead. We are grateful for your prayers and support.

Serving for His Glory,

Marc Patton Family

Patton Family Christmas 2015

Gergő and Rose Szimon

Janos and Brigi Nagy

November Prayer Letter

November 4, 2015

Dear Friends,

We have had a busy Fall with a lot of special events. Here are the highlights:

Christian Workers Conference in Esztergom:

One of my ministry goals is to influence other churches in Hungary in the area of missions and evangelism. On September 26^th we held a regional conference for Christian workers. The turnout was excellent with more than 100 adult and teen participants. We were very pleased to have people attend from 10 different churches. Most were from our region (North-east Transdanubia). The feedback was excellent, and we will see how the Lord leads in further meetings. 

One church in our region has specifically asked for further assistance. The Baptist church in Oroszlány, Hungary is located about an hour from us. The church has only 10 members, most of whom are elderly, and is struggling to gain new people. They have one fine young couple who have a desire to evangelize and reach new people with the Gospel. A few  of us from Esztergom and Tata  met with them to see how we could help. We had a great meeting, and the Lord led us to put together a team of people, who would go once each month to hold a special evangelistic service in their city. The first such service will be held on November 22^nd! One of our men from Tata will be preaching, and our worship team from Tata will do the music. Please pray that many visitors would come, and we would see this dying church find new life!

20^th Anniversary service in Esztergom:

On October 15, 1995 we held our first Sunday service in Esztergom at one of the local high schools. On October 11, 2015 we celebrated the 20^th anniversary of our church! What a great day we had thinking back on all the blessings of the past 20 years. Some of our earliest converts who were young people at the time are now married with teenage children!

We had two services on this special Sunday. In the morning we held a special thanksgiving service and gave our members the opportunity to give testimonies of God’s blessings in their lives. After 1 hour and 15 minutes of testimonies, we had to cut things off for lunch.  We had many visitors attend our afternoon celebration including the mayor. Janos Papp, president of the Baptist Union of Hungary, was our special speaker. It was a great day of encouragement for us personally and also for our church.

First service in our new auditorium in Tata:

On November 1^st, we held the first service in our new auditorium in Tata. This was not our grand opening,  as we still have a lot of work to do on the exterior of the building, grounds, and the refurbishing of our old building. Nevertheless it was a special day of thanksgiving and praise. On July 1^st we began construction, and it is amazing that just four months later we are now able to use the auditorium. The vast majority of the work has been done by our people with hundreds of hours of volunteer labor. I am especially grateful that Gabor Szucs, one of our men, has overseen the entire construction project.

It is our prayer that this new auditorium will not only be a blessing to our current church members, but also give us the opportunity for more growth. Thank you for your prayers and support of this project.

Special prayer requests:

November 22 – Special outreach service in Oroszlany, Hungary

November 29-December 13 – Evangelistic Sundays in Tata and Esztergom

Upcoming Christmas events – puppet outreach, Christmas shoebox gift distributions.

                                                            Serving for His Glory,

                                                            Marc Patton

Meeting in Oroszlany

Team prepared to help in Oroszlany

20th Anniversary Service

New auditorium

September Prayer Letter

September 23, 2015

Dear Praying Friends,

A lot has happened since our last letter. Nancy and Ben are back in Jacksonville, FL as sophomores at Trinity Baptis College. Esther is now in 11th grade here in Hungary. Hannah has started high school. Charin is back teaching three days a week at two different elementary schools. Our two churches are in full swing. We enjoyed a great summer in our family and ministry and are looking forward to a great fall season as well. Here are some highlights.

Building Project in Tata:

We have made a huge amount of progress on our building in Tata. The roof of the new building is pretty much completed. We are still working on replacing the roof on our old building and would like to complete it before winter sets in. We are also beginning the work on the interior of our new building. Our goal is to hold our first service in the new building in November. One of our church men is overseeing the work on a daily basis, which is a huge help to me, as I only have to be involved in the major decisions. We are also doing most of the work ourselves, which means a slightly slower process, but our people are enjoying having a personal investment in the building program. We have had two big “church wide” work days recently to work on the roofing. It was a blessing to see our people working together to accomplish a common goal.

It looks like we have enough money to finish the new building, but we will need additional funds to remodel the old building and do the grounds and landscaping of our courtyard. I am guessing that we will need another $10,000-12,000 to finish these projects. If you would like to contribute to our building fund, you can send the money to Global Faith designated for „Hungary Building Project.” We are grateful for all the help that we have received so far. 

Esztergom news:

The big item of news is that we have a new youth leader for our teens. Our previous youth leader resigned in January, and I became the “defacto” youth leader while we sought a replacement. I had not really realized the amount of time and energy involved! I had two of our men helping out on a rotational basis, and we were very pleased that one of them felt led to take on full responsibility. Tibor Kruska has been in our church almost from the beginning, and has also been one of our deacons for a number of years. One of his three sons is a teen already, so he has a vested interest in our youth program. This past Sunday we had a special prayer for him and our youth group asking the Lord to bless him in his new ministry. I am grateful that the Lord has met this need. 

Two big events:

This Saturday, September 26, we will host a Christian workers conference for area churches. We have about 100 people preregistered from nine different churches. We specifically targeted smaller churches with fewer resources. Several of the churches are without pastors and in need of encouragement and direction. Please pray with us that this conference will be a blessing to both us and them.

On October 11^th our church in Esztergom will celebrate its 20^th anniversary. It is hard to believe that we have been in Hungary that long! We have invited numerous people for this special occasion. We have tried to focus on both former members who are out of church, and also on lost people who have visited in the past. We were also pleased that the mayor of Esztergom also accepted our invitation. This will be a first for us. The president of the Hungarian Baptist Union will be our guest speaker. He is a great preacher and has been a friend of our ministry over the years. Please pray that the Word of God would go forth with power, and that this will be a great day of both celebration and outreach!

Thank you for your prayers and support.

                                                                        

Serving for His Glory,

Marc

Building Project in Tata

Interior of building

Tibor Kruska our new youth leader

Prayer of blessing on Tibor and young people. Tibor's wife, Kriszti, is on the far right.