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.

August prayer letter

July 27, 2015

Dear Friends,

July was one of the hottest months we have ever had here in Hungary, with record breaking high temperatures.  It was also a busy, fruitful month in our churches. Thankfully, the Lord can work whether it rains or shines!

English Camp in Esztergom:

July 13-17 we held our English Camp in Esztergom. We had about 70 children attend in the mornings and about 30 teens and adults in the evening. This was our biggest attendance ever. With the help of 15 American volunteers here for the week, everything went very smoothly. We had a closing ceremony on Friday where the children showed what they had learned. 50-60 parents and grandparents were in attendance, and I was able to bring a brief Gospel message. We also had about 10 visitors return to our service on Sunday. Please join us in prayer that we will see at least one family reached through this year’s camp.

VBS in Nagysap:

We simultaneously held our VBS in Nagysap. Gergo and Rose Simon  organized that, and about half of the American team went to Nagysap every day to help out. They averaged about 15 children each day over the course of the week. They also had a Wednesday evening service for adults and teens and had a good attendance and spirit. Please pray for the work in Nagysap, that we would see real growth and consistency in the lives of those who attend.

Baptismal Service in Tata:

July 19^th we held a baptismal service at our church in Tata. We were pleased to baptise three adults. Sandor and Szilvia Galamb are a wonderful young couple with three children. They were invited to our church by church members about 2 ½ years ago. They were drawn by both the preaching and the loving fellowship that they saw and experienced. The Lord led them both to repentance and faith, and they were both pleased to make a public profession of their faith in Christ. Andrea Szabo was from a very strong Catholic background, but through various circumstances became disillusioned with the church. Our first contact with her was about 6 years ago at a special evangelistic rally. She attended sporadically for several years, and then made a decision to commit herself to the Lord during the past year. Please pray for her also to stand firmly in the faith.

Building project in Tata:

We have made good progress on the building project in Tata. Our men finished the pouring of the foundation and concrete slab on July 17^th. After the baptismal service on July 19^th, we had a short service “laying the cornerstone,” which is a tradition here in Hungary. We placed a list of church members, a picture of the church family, a signed decision to build and several other items in a box and sealed it into the foundation of the building.

This past week the prefabricated walls of the building were also put together. There will be a brief break as we have a teen camp and outreach camp the next two weeks, then the work on the roof will begin. Please do pray for wisdom and safety during the project. Our men are doing much of the work themselves. Please pray also for the needed funds to complete the building. Our goal is to be in it by the end of October.

Thank you for your prayers and faithful support!

                                                                       

Serving for His Glory,

                                                                       

                                                                        Marc, Charin, Nancy, Ben, Esther and Hannah Patton

English Camp in Esztergom

English Camp in Esztergom

Baptismal Service Tata

Baptismal Service Tata

Baptismal Service Tata

New building in Tata

New building in Tata

July 2015

Dear Friends,

Summer is here, and we are enjoying the change of pace. Nancy and Ben are home and we are grateful that we can have our whole family together for a few weeks. Summer is also a busy time for our ministry. Here is an update.

Summer Day Camp in Tata:

June 22-26 we held our day camp in Tata. This is one of our biggest outreach events of the year. We had about 30 children participate. The majority of the children are from families in the community who are not believers. It is a wonderful opportunity to share the Gospel and build relationships. It is always great to see our church members in Tata band together to make this week a success. Many take time off of work so they can participate. Please pray that we will see fruit that remains.

Family Camp in Slovakia:

June 30-July 4 our church in Esztergom held its annual Family Camp in Pribylina, Slovakia. The conference center is located in the High Tatra Mountains of northern Slovakia. It is a beautiful location that reminds us of the majesty of our great God. It was a special joy to have Istvan Lados as our special speaker of the week. Istvan is a young pastor who married a girl who grew up in our church. It was a joy to spend the week with them and see how the Lord is using them. Istvan brought some powerful messages, and the Lord spoke to hearts. Many gave testimonies at our campfire service of what the Lord did in their lives. It was a special joy to see one of our teenage girls make a profession of faith. We have been praying specifically for her salvation for the past several months.

Building News:

Good news! We did finally receive our building permit in Tata. The work began this past week with the demolition of the back section of our current building. We will have pictures and an update in the near future. Please do pray for the remaining funds to come in. Our goal is still to have the new auditorium completed and ready for use by the end of October!

Upcoming Events and Prayer Requests:

1. July 13-17 – Our annual English Camp in Esztergom and VBS in Nagysap.

2. July 19 – Baptismal Service in Tata.

3. July 27-31 – Day Camp for Teens in Tata.

Thank you for your prayers!

Marc

Day Camp in Tata

Family Camp in Slovakia

Building Project in Tata

June 2015

Dear Friends,

Preaching and Teaching Opportunities:

The Lord gave me several opportunities to speak in other venues over the past two months. On April 24^th I preached to about 100 Baptist pastors at the annual meeting of the Hungarian Baptist Union. I was asked to speak on  the theme: “I Believe in Preaching.” Hopefully it was an inspiration to the pastors to preach with conviction and Holy Spirit power.

April 27-30 I taught at the Word of Life Hungary Bible Institute. I teach a 10 hour class on the Christian Family to the second year students. I had 20 students from a number of different countries. It is my prayer that the class will help them not only build their own families on a firm foundations, but be able to teach others as they move on into ministries of their own. I also had the opportunity to preach to the entire staff and student body in chapel.

On May 16^th I taught a class on Homiletics at the Szunergosz Bible Institute in Budapest. The students were very receptive, and I trust that the class will help them become effective communicators of God’s Word.

Esztergom:

The big event in Esztergom was a baptismal service held on May 24^th. Benjamin Dobi is a 21 year old young man who was reached through our youth ministry. Benjamin is very bright, but mildly autistic. It has been remarkable to see the transformation in his life over the past two years. Benjamin gave a wonderful testimony of his salvation and his commitment to follow the Lord. Rebeka Body is the daughter of Bulcsu Body. You may remember Bulcsu is our deacon who became very ill several years ago and is now an invalid. Rebeka has been in our church since she was an infant and was saved during last year’s English camp. It is great to see how the Lord is using our children’s ministry, youth ministry and special events such as our English camp to bring people to Christ!

Not only were these two baptised, but we also received six others into the church membership. We are thankful for the Dorka family who began attending our church about a year ago. They have been believers for a number of years, but had gone through some very difficult times in their family and had been looking for a church home. It has been great to see the Lord bring healing to their lives over the past year, and we were glad to add them to our church family. We were also glad to bring Rachel Csiha officially into our church family. We are thankful for Marci and Rachel’s ministry with us in Esztergom and Nagysap.

Tata Update:

We are still waiting on our building permit in Tata. It has been promised with specific dates several times, but there always seems to be one more signature missing, or one more hurdle to get over. Please pray that the building permit will come through soon! We received several more gifts toward the building expenses – one very significant, so we are very grateful for that. Please continue to pray for the needed funds to come in.  All monetary gifts can be sent to our mission board and designated for “Hungary Building Project.”

Nagysap:

We have had several positive developments at our church plant in Nagysap as well. Our team moved the main service from Sunday mornings to Wednesday evenings, and that brought an improvement in attendance. They also just launched a course called “Christianity Explored,” which is an eight week overview of the Christian faith. They had their first meeting last week and had 26 in attendance with several adult visitors. Please pray that these visitors would continue through the entire course and that several would be saved. We are thankful for the faithfulness and hard work of our team.

Family news:

Nancy and Ben finished their first year of college. We are really please with how well they did with their school work, jobs and ministry involvement. Ben’s health has also been gradually improving, for which we are grateful. They are going to work for a few more weeks and then fly back to Hungary on June 23^rd. We can hardly wait to see them again! Esther and Hannah (and Charin) have a few more weeks of school. Hannah will be graduating from 8^th grade on June 13^th. Thank you for your prayers!