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Reaching cities. . .
Starting churches... Changing nations...
This
year we will help start FIFTEEN more new churches. This is
VISION 2008!
I wish you could be with me to feel
what I feel when I drive through the countless towns in countries
like Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary.
As you drive through them you might ask the question that I
often ask myself. Are there any evangelical church in this town?
The answer most of the time, sadly
is "NO"! There are not any evangelical
churches for the people to attend.
But this is changing!!!
Because of you, by the end of this year at
least FIFTEEN new churches will have been started
in towns just like these.
When we started out last year we looked forward to
"stretching" our faith to see FIFTEEN new churches
started. At a cost of about $4,000.00 each to start these
churches, it was a large step for us.
But because of the generous giving by
our friends we have helped start these churches!!!
When God puts something in your
heart, He usually gives you a divine strategy to see the vision
take place. The strategy that we felt God gave us
was to partner with key Christian Pastors in the nations where we
wanted to start the new churches.
We now have strong relationships with some of the key Christian
leaders of the nations of Eastern Europe. These
leaders are providing the leadership, the new pastors, and the
ongoing oversight of these new churches.
Together we are changing cities, towns and individual lives.
These new churches will not only see people come to Christ this
year, but next year and even five years from now, people will
still be coming to Christ. The impact
we make this year will go on and on!
We are even now are in the process
to help start the FIFTEEN churches for this year.
At least one of these churches will be in Yugoslavia, which
borders Hungary just to the south.
Another key strategy in VISION 2008
is to start churches in each of the capital cities on Eastern
Europe. In the last few years, we helped to start
churches in both Warsaw, Poland and in Tirana, Albania.
It was just 18 years ago that the "Iron Curtain" came
down throughout the nations of Eastern Europe. The greatest open
door to freely minister the gospel was suddenly and quite
unexpectedly flung wide open.
Shortly after the Iron Curtain
fell, God began to strategically move people from around the world
to reach these nations. Nations that went from
almost totally closed to more freedom to minister than even in the
United States.
I remember very well the early morning day in April 1990 that I
first stepped foot in the then Soviet Union. Nations like, East
Germany, Hungary and Poland had just declared their independence
from the Soviet Union.
Already God was strategically
moving people to these nations. We moved to Russia
in April 1992. And now we have been living here in Hungary since
1997.
One thing that we realized is that God can use us strategically
wherever we are. We don't all have to
move to a foreign country to be used in a strategic manner.
God wants to use all of us, no matter where we live or what
we do for a living, we can touch the nations strategically.
Last year we helped to start SEVENTEEN churches here in Eastern
Europe. This year, the year 2008, we
will help start at least FIFTEEN more churches!
When we said yes to what God put in our hearts this plan God
gave us the strategic plan and touched other people's hearts to
help us do this. Because we all
yielded and said yes, people are serving the Lord today that last
year knew nothing of the Love of our Father.
Let's continue to see our lives as strategic as we enter the
next millennium. Let's ask God to help us live in a strategic
manner no matter where we live or work.
We can live strategically working
at Wal-Mart or as a school teacher or student or an executive or
as a housewife or as a missionary in Hungary..
it's changing lives, families, towns, and cities. . .
Help us to make it happen!!!
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