Controversy in Oradea

I have been teaching controversy for the past four days at the Hungarian Baptist of Romania seminary in Oradea, Romania. When I landed in Bucharest on Tuesday it was snowing and very cold. The plane was late by almost and hour. Thanks to the kindness of the Tarom baggage staff who called the domestic terminal to tell them that I was coming, I was able to make my plane connection to Oradea.

Wednesday morning at 8 AM I began teaching Controversial Texts of the Bible. There were two groups of students--fulltime day students (Zsolt, Zoli, Norby, Robi, Tibor, Szilard, and Ferry) and distance learning students (Sandor and Miklos from Gornesti are long time partners in church planting and Roma work-if you saw the blog in October they are my goulash cooking buddies).

The basis of the class is to address controversial biblical texts in church life, texts that the students have difficulty with and texts that I select to teach the students how to deal with such texts. We look at what makes a text controversial, what we do with a controversial text, and then how to understand them and work through the issues that they present to us. This course always has a lot of discussion, questions, and highly focused. The students must always relate only to the the text. So often, people do not focus on the biblical text but on a theological position or thought.

Wednesday: I taught from 8 AM to 5 PM and then preached at the Rogerius Baptist Church--a relatively new church in Oradea. I have had the privilege of watching this church grow of the past six years. The church service is broadcast over the internet. Following the worship, Joseph and Val Simon (pastor of the church) invited me for a delicious meal at their home. Val is an excellent cook. Don't ask how many fruit filled pancakes (I guess crepes)that I ate for dessert.

Thursday: I taught again from 8 AM to 5 PM and then preached at the First Hungarian Baptist Church, Oradea. The church is beautiful and the largest Hungarian Baptist church in the WORLD with about 700 members. When preaching, they always give you great expression. After the service, I was tired. I think my travel and teaching had caught up with me.

Friday: I taught again from 8 AM to 5:30 PM. I went for a walk in the city. The walk lasted until I came to the first restaurant due to snow blowing in my face. Did I mention how cold it is. Everyday there has been a little snow. Tonight it was blowing and cold. I enjoyed a lovely meal of Greek salad, cabbage salad, chicken sshnitzel, and cappuccino.

Saturday: I taught today from 9 Am to 1 PM. To celebrate the end of controversy the guys and I went for pizza at the Bridge. I would have taken a picture but IT WAS COLD. Using my phone, I could not hold it steady enough to get a picture that was not blurry. It sits on the river and a pedestrian bridge across the river leads you right to the place. We had a great time. Also we were joined by Ferry's wife, Anna.

Anna and Ferry, I discovered have worked with Zoli and Abigial Dohi (who is expecting any day now)near Gornesti. One of the Gypsy children's camps is with their children this summer. In fact, they want to take a group of youth to work with the Dohi's this summer. Pray for them as they put this together. Also, pray for Ferry as he was laid off from his work this week.

Tonight, I met with Lajos. He went to Kenya with Joseph Simon. He is from the same church as Joseph and Adrian Giorgiov, Pro Africa--see past newsletters on the Teleios Ministry website. Teleios Ministry, Daily Bread Life Children's Home, and Lajos are working on bringing a water drilling rig to Tanzania. Please pray for all the details of this to work out. This would be a great ministry opportunity and provide for much needed clean drinking water in villages in Tanzania and Kenya. We will keep you updated on this through the Facebook page and website.

Tomorrow, I am really looking forward to worshiping with the Gypsy church here in Oradea. The Pastor, Janos, and his family are great. The women from the church are always at the Acas Gypsy Women's conference. I have had worshiped with them in probably five years and never on a Sunday. I am really looking forward to this. In the afternoon, I will worship with the Oradea church (Thursday night church).

I hope to post pictures tomorrow night of the worship. Monday, I will travel by train to Satu Mare to be with the Vekas family and the Satu Mare Church.