Prayer Requests

HUNGARY CAMP 2008
This is our 19th summer of camping in Hungary Please pray for 1) at least 900 campers, 2) the dedication of many to the Lord’s service, 3) enough counselors (especially men), 4) short-term missions teams.

SERBIA CAMP 2008
This is our 3rd summer of camp in the Hungarian part of Serbian. There will be three weeks of camp. Also, for the first time we will be holding camp in the Serbian-speaking part of Serbia (although it is largely Slovakian ethnically.).

SLOVAKIA CAMP 2008
For the first time we will be holding camp in the nation of Slovakia. This will be in conjunction with the Word of Life team from Czech Republic.

FURLOUGH 2008
Karen and I are on furlough from June through August this summer. We are traveling a lot and ministering in many churches. Also, for the second time, Chris and Becky are staying in Hungary, working in our summer camps. Chris is responsible for the producing the weekly videos for the camp and Becky is our main receptionist. Both are significant responsibilities for given their young ages.

MINISTRY VAN
We are in the process of raising funds for a new ministry van. Much of the money has already been pledged. Someone has also promised $15,000 as a matching fund gift, of which about $1000 has already been given. If you are interested in helping us with our final goal by October when the new ministry season starts in the Bible School, you can send gifts to Word of Life, with “Hungary Van Project:.

BIBLE SCHOOL 2008-2009
The 2007-2008 school year was unique in many ways. We had the largest incoming class (42) and the largest graduating class (49), with the most Americans in the school (22) and a significant increase in ethnic Hungarians (17). To-date, approximately 75% of the first-year students have indicated that they would like to return for the second year, but many of them are facing financial difficulties. Also, pray with us that we will have at least 30 new students in September as we continue to prepare the next generation of leaders

TECHNICAL SERVICES DEPARTMENT
As the Director of the Technical Services Department, which includes both the IT departments and the audio / visual departments, Dave has many additional responsibilities beyond that of being the Director of the Bible School and the Associate Director of the Word of Life Hungary Ministry. One of his main projects is to try to raise the necessary funds to meet the growing needs of these departments. At the present, we have had approximately $5800 given to this project in the 2008 calendar year. The current budgetary goal is $10,000 per year. If you are interested in giving toward this critical part of the ministry, please go to the “Important Links” page to see you can be a partner with us in this are.

PERSONAL SUPPORT
We have been in Hungary for over 15 years, and by God’s grace, we are averaged about 100% per month during that entire time, even though our needs increased by over 50%. However, now that we are faced with soaring prices, an extremely weak dollar, general decrease interest in missions and a very, very weak dollar on the world economy, we are presently about $1500 per below our monthly goal. Also, due to completely unforeseen circumstances, it appears that we could be facing a $3000 per month shortfall within the next few months. If you are interested to continue your partnership with our ministry through increased monthly giving, or begin to be one of our ministry partners, please go to our “Financial Information” page to see you you might help us in this critical area.

Praise Items

GRADUATION 2008
On May 30th we celebrated the 13th graduation in the WOL Hungary  Bible School. This was the largest and most exciting graduation ever with 49 students including 17 ethnic Hungary, 21 from North America, 3 from Germany, 2 from Uganda and from 6 other countries, including one from as far away as Brazil. Dr. Wayne Vanderwier founding director of OIC ministries, was our guest speaker. Dr. Vanderwier hold the distinction of having taught the most hours in our Bible School of any guest teachers - over 250 class-hours.

“BORN AGAIN TO A LIVING HOPE”
This 50-minute drama continues to be used by the Lord in Hungary as it has been in many other countries, It is the true-life story of a young people who were saved through the ministry of WOL Argentina off the streets of Buenos Aires a short time before they died of AIDS. We are now able to take the Gospel into public schools, universities and prisons - places that have been closed to us for many years. In the last 18 months we estimate that as many as 3000 have heard the Gospel through this ministry and many have made public professions of faith in Christ.

CHILDREN’S MINISTRIES
Another exciting ministry that we began this year is a puppet ministry specifically to children. In May Linda Summer and Sam Shaw of Agape Puppets taught a course on children’s ministries to our Bible School students and staff and will also be the recipients of 75% of our faith promise offering in the Bible School, which we hope will reach close to the $12,000 that was promised. As a result of the training and professional equipment we received, we have been able to present the gospel to many children in kindergartens and elementary schools. During the two weeks surrounding Easter alone, we put on 10 performances for many children.

EVANGELISTIC MINISTRIES
We have estimated that approximately 10 to 12 thousand people were reached with the Gospel through the Word of Life Hungary ministry over the last twelve months. This has been in many forms, including summer camps, student ministries, open-air evangelsim, Born Again to a Living Hope, children’s ministries, conferences, church meetings, sports events and tract distribution. We are thankful that the Lord has made it possible for so many to have access to the Gospel at least once - as it is the only time that most of them will ever hear about Jesus Christ’s sacrifice for them.