Happy New Year!
We hope you all had a blessed holiday season. We were thankful that two of our daughters (Esther and Hannah) were able to be home for the holidays. Our “adopted” daughter Betty was also home from Bible college, so it seemed like we almost had a full house. This Christmas season was definitely different with all the Covid restrictions, but we were grateful to have this time together. It is a blessing to see all of our children following the Lord and serving Him!
Focus Church:
On November 10th the Hungarian government imposed new restrictions due to the rapid spread of Covid 19. That meant that we could no longer have in-person services. This was disappointing, as we felt like we were just gaining momentum in our new location. We have done our best to keep our people involved and serving, and it has been great to see their response. We have often had 15-16 of our people at church helping with the livestream. This included the media team, worship team, setup crew, decoration team, prayer team and chidren’s workers who are often recording the online children’s program for the next Sunday.
We are also having church members record 5 minute Gospel testimonies that we can post online. One recent week I counted 5 different videos going up during the week: the Sunday livestream, our “Focus Kids” program, a testimony, a five minute Christmas message, and a one minute promo video for the next Sunday. We are hoping that all this exposure will bear fruit and that we will see an increase in attendance when we are able to reopen.
Esztergom Baptist Church
Our search for a new pastor in Esztergom continues. We had one prospective pastor preach on November 8th, but the following week we had to move services online, so the second prospect was not able to come. Our leadership team met with him on Zoom, but we are waiting to reopen for him and his family to come meet the church. Please continue to pray for the Lord’s guidance in this matter.
A look ahead:
This next year will be a year of transition for us. My last day as pastor in Esztergom will be May 31st. Charin will also finish out the school year at the public school here in Dorog in mid-June. Lord willing, we will move to Budapest during the summer and be able to give our full attention to the new church there. Please pray that the Lord would work in all the details! We appreciate your friendship, prayers and support!
