Yes, it has rained all day today in Cluj, but we still did our park outreach, and God was still in it. As we sang songs of praise to Christ and handed out tracts, several people stayed to hear us play and sing in the rain, and five people made professions of faith in Christ. Praise the Lord!
Category: prayer/praise notes
Thursday’s upcoming home fellowship
Looking ahead to Thursday home fellowship: Lord’s supper, worship, prayer and study of Philippians 2:1-11. There’s no Bible passage more important for followers of Christ to meditate on and make the drumbeat of our lives. Pray that I’ll be given power to teach it to young disciples in a way that opens their hearts to let this passage be a basis for continuing spiritual growth for the rest of their lives, as they continue to study it.
“So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
A Burning Bush Behind Bars
This is a very special report that will bless you to read, from my co-pastor Liviu, who leads a weekly prison ministry, about what marvelous things God did last week.
The 3rd chapter of the book of Exodus tells us about the unforgettable encounter of Moses with God. God called Moses from a burning bush, which wasn’t consumed. After this meeting, Moses’ life was going to be changed forever, as a servant of the living God.
On Thursday, 22nd of April 2010, God used another Burning Bush to change the lives of about 60 people, inmates in the Aiud Penitentiary. Burning Bush Church is a Gypsy Church in the South East of Romania.
The story of this Church is amazing. After the 1989 Romanian Revolution, a Gypsy from this village, Toflea, left Romania for Germany. There, he heard the Gospel and became a born again Christian. With a new heart, he came back to Romania and started to share the gospel with his family and friends. His life was a living testimony to the grace of God. In a few years in Toflea, God brought an amazing revival. Today the Burning Bush Church has about 3,500 members and 2,500 children. The revival is authentic and you could see this looking at their lives. They study the Bible; love the Lord; pray, worship with passion; and travel all over the country to share the Gospel of grace, especially in gypsy communities. Last year, I invited them to join us in an outreach in a Gypsy Village close to Cluj. The Lord used them amazingly, as part of the message and some songs were in the Gypsy language. At that meeting the Lord put the desire in my heart to invite them to the prison where I serve weekly and organize a meeting for Gypsy inmates.
By the grace of God, last week the meeting took place. The pastor of the Burning Bush Church, Dumitru Ion (Onita), together with 22 singers from Toflea, joined our Rescue team in the fight to win souls for the Kingdom of God. The Holy Spirit used their famous songs to prepare the field for sowing the word of God, which was preached with power and passion by pastor Onita.
Looking at chapter 5 of Mark, he talked to the inmates about the healing, but above that, about the salvation of the man from Gadarenes, a man with an evil spirit. The man changed after his personal encounter with Jesus Christ.
Convinced that only the Lord Jesus can save them, forgive their sins and offer them a new chance and direction in life, all the participants knelt down, and they were prayed for, for the salvation of their souls. There were many tears of repentance and sincere prayers were lifted, asking for the mercy and grace of Jesus. Towards the end of the message, the participants were encouraged to follow the example of the man from Gadarenes and when they go back to their cells, to tell the others what the Lord has done for them and about His grace and mercy. (Mark 5:19).
We had a time of personal prayer with each one and again a time of worship. Every inmate that didn’t already have a Bible received one.
The meeting was video-recorded by an officer, and he said that will put it on their internal television to be watched in every cell. The officer was so touched by the meeting than he said that was the best day of his entire service in prison. We need to pray for this man because I am sure that God spoke to him.
The Christian Television recorded the meeting from the back and did some interviews at the end. The inmates didn’t mind his recording, praise the Lord.
I asked the brothers from Toflea to go again to the gypsy village, and they said that we must soon plan another outreach there. I hope that I will build a relationship with them and have more activities together.
I have great time every Thursday at prison sharing and studying the Gospel, but so far this Thursday was special. Praise the Lord for everything.
Ministry Updates
This evening Ajay and our church worship team will have an open-air concert for outreach in the neighborhood of the church, for which invitations have gone out to all of the people nearby. We pray that this will be a fruitful time and that it will also draw some to join us for worship in the church tomorrow morning. Our study through the gospel of Luke brings us tomorrow to a passage that is evangelistic in nature, so pray also for my message to meet ears prepared to hear and hearts prepared to understand and believe the gospel.
Tomorrow evening, Lord-willing, we’ll be having our second baptism service of the month, which is something to praise God for, so the service will be a praise service with a lot of singing.
“Repent or you will likewise perish”
Friday afternoon in Iasi, Romania, a train smashed into a microbus that was being unwisely driven across the track in front of it, killing 13 people. The tragic event very much related to the passage we were already going to study at church this morning, in a gospel message.
Praise be to God there were some new professions of faith in Christ at the church this morning, after this message from Luke 13. Jesus gets VERY direct in that passage in His warnings to us to come to repentance and faith for salvation before it is too late. The message is in English and Romanian. I hope that it ministers to you and to anyone you share it with.
Ajay Torres and DISC Choir
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.
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!
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.
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.
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 