Dear Ministry Partners,
Click here for the PDF of the Seck’s May 2017 Newsletter
In 2017 Jeannie and I are splitting our time evenly between Central Europe and North America. As our teams and leaders in Europe mature in their work, it frees us to do more traveling, visiting and training in the U.S. and Canada.
So, first, here’s some of the news from Central Europe.
Good News from a village called “Happy”
The Hungarian word for “happy” is “boldog.” You joined us in prayer for the evangelistic meetings in the Roma community of Boldog last September. We asked God for a spiritual open door and He has granted our request. Laci and Eszter Daroczi-Csuhai have been able to start discipleship groups for teen-age boys and girls, plus a weekly Bible Study for adults. Three young men have recently made commitments to follow Christ. They are being followed-up weekly with Bible study and guitar lessons. They helped lead a small worship service in Boldog on Easter Sunday morning!
The music for one night of the Boldog crusade was provided by a godly Christian Roma family from a nearby village. Since then, Feri, his wife, and two daughters have been graciously and wonderfully assisting Laci and Eszter in Boldog. Feri has had Bible school training, is a mature Christian, a strong teacher and a wonderful musician. He is also a good construction worker, but strongly desires to enter full-time Christian ministry. Join us in praying for Feri as he expands the work of CHE. Feri is opening the door for CHE ministry in the nearby communities of Zsambok and Jaszfenyszaru.
Workshop for Gifted Students Presented in Romania
Ordinarily our work is with the poorly educated and marginalized. Laci, Hessel, Jeannie and I had quite a change-of-pace from this when we led a two-day workshop for gifted-talented high school students in Oradea, Romania, in April.
Teodora Chifor, our contact in Ordaea, Romania, has developed a top-notch after-school program for high school students she hopes will be the future leaders of Romania. Because of this, she wants these students from all or no religious background to be educated in spiritual truth as well. She counted on us to do a workshop on Entrepreneurship that was based on Biblical truth. The 25 students were all bilingual (Romanian and English), highly motivated, very intelligent and a whole lot of fun to work with.
The gut-level moment came when Hessel Keuter gave a presentation on integrity in business and used his Christian grandfather in Holland as a powerful illustration. Only two months earlier the Romanian people had taken to the streets in mass protests against their own political leaders who had passed a law that they could not be prosecuted for stealing amounts less than $50,000! We pointed out that the corruption of the fathers had been passed down to the sons for far too many generations in Romania. These young people were going to be the new generation of leaders. Were they going to be leaders of integrity or corruption? They stood for integrity. We told them they would need God at work in their lives to stand firm in this commitment. Pray for our future opportunities with Teodora and these wonderful young people.
Now for Some North American News.
On the Road Again!
While we are in the States for the meetings of Global CHE Network and the International Wholistic Mission Conference, Jeannie and I are taking the opportunity to visit NAB (supporting and non-supporting) churches that are hard to visit at our normal time of January and February. Here is our travel schedule:
May 19 to 25 — Edmonton, Alberta, area. May 30 to June 6 — Vernon – Kelowna, BC, area
May 25 to 30 — Vancouver, BC, area June 6 to12 — Dallas, Oregon, area
We’ve tried to contact all NAB churches in these areas to set up a meeting or coffee times. If we missed you, please contact us at ronseck@gmail.com.
Neighborhood Transformation Training scheduled for Winnipeg, June 13-15
Rev. Sig Seidel and Mission Baptist Church is in a culturally changing community in the poorest section of Winnipeg … and they want to be a significant part of it! Pastor Sig longs to see his church transform people and their neighborhoods. They will take a step in that direction when they host an Urban CHE (or Neighborhood Transformation) Training Conference June 13 to 15 at Mission Baptist Church.
Ron and Jeannie will join Master NT Trainer Garold Elston from Bakersfield, California, in facilitating training that equips church leaders and members with strategies, plans, skills, tools and resources to begin to penetrate their community effectively.
If you would like to attend this training conference or to have more information on Urban CHE, contact Rev. Seidel or Ron Seck at ronseck@gmail.com.