Here are two video clips of our friend Ajay, who Lord-willing is coming to Cluj for three weeks in September to train our worship team and minister with us here. In the videos, he is leading the Dallas International Street Church Choir. We praise the Lord and look forward to his time here, and ask you to pray that the Lord will use this special focus on worship in September to glorify Himself in our church fellowship.
Category: Ministry Updates
Finishing 1 Peter
Lord-willing, tomorrow night at the home fellowship, we’ll have the conclusion of the book study of 1 Peter. After which, you’ll be able to come here for a post of the links to listen to the audio of the entire study, which began at the church on Easter Sunday and continued on Thursday nights afterward.
August Newsletter – Harul Domnului
The new edition of our quarterly ministry newsletter Harul Domnului is out today, and you can read it here. Hope you are blessed by it. It contains several brief ministry updates on happenings this summer. Information on how to subscribe to receive future editions by email is found in the newsletter.
“Never be afraid to defend it”
“My friends,
When we study the Scriptures, we hear God speaking directly to us. The word of God, the truth of God, is more important than the words or opinions of men. All human thought must be subservient to God’s word. As long as His word is with us, He is with us. It is our continual protection. So, seek His word. Seek His wisdom. Seek His truth. And never be afraid to defend it, for ‘the truth shall make you free.’”
–The simple words of John Hus, updated to today’s language from 1414. Hus was persecuted and burned at the stake by the Roman Catholic church for being a priest who stood for the true gospel even before the days of Martin Luther, who in a way followed in his footsteps to lead a great reformation.
Tonight’s home fellowship Bible study, Lord-willing, will look deeply at the topic of “preparing for persecution,” as we are instructed to in 1 Peter 4:12-19. Look for the audio recording of the study to be posted here afterward.
Deva Campaign Report
When we joined a team led by the Nicoaras, our former GMF colleagues, in Deva, Romania for an evangelism campaign last week, there were a couple of firsts that were real blessings to see.
First, we saw for the first time several hundred people being presented the gospel one-on-one, in addition to the gospel being preached to groups in evening meetings at several locations. 130+ people made professions of faith unto salvation during the week.
The second “first” was seeing several Christians, including two young disciples from our church in Cluj, sharing the gospel and leading people to faith in Christ for the first time in their lives.
The team included a medical component, with an MD, an eye doctor, a dental hygienist, a pharmacist, and some nurses of various specialties. The medical team traveled to different locations, helping people with their physical needs and sharing the gospel along the way.
There was also a children’s ministry team doing AWANA-style evangelism for children in each village they went to.
Here are some highlights of the campaign for Lili and me:
Sunday I was blessed with the opportunity to preach a campaign kickoff message at the church, encouraging the body of Christ to share the gospel and seek people to worship the Lord.
Monday, in Timpa, the first man we met witnessing was a 68 year old who was friendly, and interested in talking a lot and listening a little. He heard the gospel, though, over some time, and took the tract from us with the Bible verses afterwards. A couple hours later we were walking back past his house and he saw us and called out to us in the street, “Wait a minute!” He came and showed us how he had taken the tract and read the verses, answering the questions the best he could. He said, “the more I think about this, something inside me is stirring.” He told us the best he knew how, he had believed the gospel and that he wanted to come to the meeting that night, which he did.
Tuesday, back in the city of Deva, we shared the gospel with several people during the day, including a 14-year-old girl who was very joyful to learn that Jesus didn’t just die on the cross, but died on the cross to pay the penalty for her sins, so that she could have a way to heaven and a relationship with God.
Wednesday we were in the village of Mihaiesti, where the orthodox priest had been violently opposed to the sharing of the gospel, even carrying a club and running people off with it, threatening to crack their skulls if they didn’t stop witnessing and leave. The Lord was using the situation though, because the people wanted to go to the medical clinic and they were angered that the priest was trying to prevent them from receiving help from Christians that they needed, while they knew that an orthodox priest wouldn’t even pray for them without requiring they first pay the priest a high fee for his trouble. We met and Lili witnessed to a 55-year-old woman there, who understood the gospel, but started weeping, just saying, “There is something in me that is keeping me from being able to trust Christ and be saved.” She seemed desperate. We prayed for her. Another team member talked with her then, and she did trust Christ as her Savior. Her sorrowful face instantly turned joyous.
Thursday in Lapusnic, we got to share the gospel with several elderly people coming to the medical clinic—people who had been religious all their lives, but never heard the gospel. The highlight there, though, was seeing Romanian teens who had come just to be translators for Americans, taking the initiative themselves to share the gospel without help and lead people to the Lord.
Friday we were in Baita, a village that is another hardline orthodox stronghold. After being turned away by several people, even children, Lili and I prayed for a divine appointment with anyone whose heart had been prepared by the Lord to hear His voice. Within seconds, we crossed paths on the street with Ana Maria, a 19-year-old who was on her way to the town center to shop for the day’s food. We asked her if she had some time to talk with us about eternal life and how to have her sins forgiven. She said yes, and listened intently on the side of the road to a detailed explanation of the gospel. Then when she realized that Jesus had died for her sins personally, she trusted Christ as her Savior.
In addition to the witnessing blessings and to the blessings of seeing people we have discipled in Cluj become disciplemakers on this campaign, there was the blessing of close fellowship and Spirit-filled worship times with the American team members in the evenings. It was Lili’s first experience leading worship songs in English, and it was a blessed time for us and for the team we were working with. We believe some lasting friendships have begun with the colaborers that we served with this week. Praise the Lord!
Deva Campaign photos
Some photos from the Deva campaign are available on my facebook page here. In the next day’ or two I’ll write an update, but it’s late now and we’re very tired.
Prayer requests for evangelism campaign
Upcoming evangelistic campaign in Deva, Romania – July 17-24
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Safe travel for the American team and for us.
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Team unity of spirit and an atmosphere of worship, prayer and thanksgiving, and for us to be continually refreshed and energized by the Lord.
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Boldness to share the gospel, wisdom to proclaim the message clearly, grace to proclaim Christ without legalism, and love for God and for the lost.
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Mighty move of the Holy Spirit, for the salvation of souls, and ongoing walks with Christ.
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For God to be greatly glorified, in us all, through us all, and among us all.
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Protection for Briana and her grandmother here at home in Cluj while we are away 8 nights.
Making the Most of Our Time
Tonight’s home fellowship study was on 1 Peter 4:1-11, looking at how “the end of all things is near” and how we should be living our lives, what we should be striving for, and where the eyes of our heart should be until He comes. You can listen to the audio recording of the study here.
M-aude când Îl chem
That title of this post is a line from one of the Romanian songs we’ll worship with at tonight’s home fellowship, Lord-willing. It means, “He hears me when I call Him.” We’ll be singing it only because it’s true. You see, Lili leads our worship times with the guitar. And as you probably know, if a guitarist’s finger is injured badly, as hers was in a freak accident on Monday evening, that person will not be able to play the instrument. The fingers of the left hand have to apply significant pressure on the strings, or a chord cannot be played.
It looked yesterday like it would be at least days before she was healed enough to play. We had our prayer circle pray, asking God to heal her finger so that we could have instrumental accompaniment for our worship at tonight’s and Sunday’s services. And indeed, He did hear us all when we called on Him. Lili and I were just marveling as we looked at the wound, or actually the lack of a bad wound, on her finger this afternoon. “See? It’s healing so much faster than it should,” she said.
We just did a practice together of tonight’s three songs, and she was able to play the guitar for them, and to do so without the hindrance of pain. Glory to God for this healing, and for how it will result in our ability to praise Him together in song tonight. Thanks to all of you who prayed for this. God still does miracles. Do not make the mistake of pretending such things only happened in biblical times, and thus water down the faith of His people by your words.
Make the most of your time
“For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.” –Matthew 24:27
Today I was studying, for tomorrow’s home fellowship teaching, in the food court of our local shopping mall (it’s nice to live in one of the few cities of Romania that has one of those). I was inside, but there is an outside terrace area right out from the food court which is quite popular, because at those outdoor tables, smoking is allowed, and most young adults in Romania are taken with that particular vice.
Anyway, a storm was coming. The sky grew dark and it became so windy that the picnic umbrellas that are over each outdoor table were shaking violently. I watched in something of surprised amusement as no one was coming inside, even though an impending thunderstorm was obviously about to hit. There was thunder and lightning in the distance, but no one was leaving their place to come in out of the storm.
Then, suddenly, a bolt of lighting split the sky right above us with a boom of thunder that made even the people indoors jump a little. And instantly, 50 people at the tables outside jumped up, grabbed their trays and purses and other things and ran frantically for the door.
This is one of those “motion sensor” automatic doors. And for a moment, it malfunctioned, failing to open for them as they looked at those of us inside with panicked expressions. Finally, it did open and they fought for place among each other as they came in as fast as they could.
The Bible warns us that there is coming a day when Christ will come to the earth all of a sudden, being visible in the sky from east to west, and taking the world by storm. And though we will not know the day or hour, we can definitely see in our world the storm clouds gathering and the winds of the end times blowing. Are you aware, or are you going on about your life, living it for yourself instead of for the one who will judge you when He arrives? Those who do not already belong to Christ, upon His coming will find the doorway to safety closed for eternity, and those inside will see their anguished looks as they cry out for entry into a Kingdom of peace and light that they could have freely entered had they not refused the One who paid the ultimate price to secure for them a place in it.
But even the Body of Christ is too often filled with people who figure there will be plenty of time to live lives pleasing to our Savior later, as if His delay in coming to us will last forever.
That was the topic we looked at Sunday in church from Luke 12, and as God would have it, our Thursday study through 1 Peter is arriving tomorrow at a passage that covers the same topic. Be ready. Serve the Lord. You already spent enough time living for this world. Now live for the next.
Here’s Sunday’s message on Luke 12 – Get Ready. “Get Ready for Christ’s return, and stay ready until He comes.”
Lord-willing, the upcoming Thursday message will also be posted here after tomorrow night.
A ministry blessing
Here’s a blessing in ministry—we get to take two of the young men we’ve been discipling in our church on a mission trip to Deva, Romania in two weeks, so that they can also share their testimonies and the gospel message with those who haven’t heard. Please pray for the fruitfulness of this campaign, and stay tuned to this blog for updates on it.
Walk of Faith - Dave Bunnell 