SPEAKER_01: So, guys, it's so exciting to be here with you guys.
SPEAKER_01: We were treated this morning to a great breakfast with Ben's amazing cooking and Kayla and the girls.
SPEAKER_01: It was really awesome.
SPEAKER_02: Can we move that?
SPEAKER_01: Maybe we should move in.
SPEAKER_01: We're getting situated here.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much, Petty and Virag, for inviting us here.
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01: I need to restate Petty was really off base on a lot of things.
SPEAKER_01: These are the heroes right here.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: We've been uh visiting in Europe for many, many years, and the church that Peti and Virag led for so many years is such a beacon of love and faith.
SPEAKER_01: And all the churches in Eastern Europe, this church is growing, multiplying, serving other churches.
SPEAKER_01: It's incredible.
SPEAKER_01: And it's because you guys poured your lives into those brothers and sisters for so many years.
SPEAKER_01: They'll be appointing elders soon, I believe.
SPEAKER_01: Their youth and campus ministry is thriving.
SPEAKER_01: And these are all seeds that you guys planted many, many years ago.
SPEAKER_01: And um, so I'm super grateful for you guys, for your love, for your labor, how God has used you.
SPEAKER_01: And now look how He's brought you to Massachusetts, right?
SPEAKER_01: Um let's go for that next slide.
SPEAKER_01: Do you get the click or the right here?
SPEAKER_01: Uh-oh, you're gonna have to educate me.
SPEAKER_01: Right here?
SPEAKER_01: Education.
SPEAKER_01: Quick.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm not so techno.
SPEAKER_01: Forward reverse.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_01: Don't press that one because watch what happens.
SPEAKER_02: Oh!
SPEAKER_01: That's video mute.
SPEAKER_01: So it's forward reverse.
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
SPEAKER_02: I don't think it's there you go.
SPEAKER_01: All right.
SPEAKER_01: Before we get there, um, another memory.
SPEAKER_01: I remember probably eight or nine years ago.
SPEAKER_01: I'm so grateful for your faith.
SPEAKER_01: We're not talking about that yet.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna back up up.
SPEAKER_01: Sorry.
unknown: Okay.
unknown: All right.
SPEAKER_01: I remember with Oscar and Angel eight or nine years ago searching and searching and searching for a building.
SPEAKER_01: And it was hard.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, they spent hours, and then I think Angel's like, Chris, why don't you try for a while?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, called every hotel, every school, every everything, and there was just nothing, right?
SPEAKER_01: Nothing.
SPEAKER_01: And then out of nowhere, God provided Devon's.
SPEAKER_01: That was just like that was only by prayer.
SPEAKER_01: And then to come here today, this is our first time here and see this beautiful, beautiful facility, you know, beyond my dreams ever.
SPEAKER_01: But that's just again proof of how God is working here.
SPEAKER_01: And because of your faith, because you're willing to start a church here, a church planting North Point.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm very grateful for your faith.
SPEAKER_01: I'm inspired by your willingness to do go out on the edge and start something like this and watch God bless it.
SPEAKER_01: Um, so now we'll go.
SPEAKER_01: So our family.
SPEAKER_01: Most of you already know, but tell us about our family.
SPEAKER_00: So this is our family.
SPEAKER_00: Actually, I brought my tissue because I feel like standing here is really a miracle, right?
SPEAKER_00: Just to see it's like, wow, this really happened.
SPEAKER_00: God really did this.
SPEAKER_00: Sorry, I was feeling emotional over.
SPEAKER_00: But anyway, this is our family.
SPEAKER_00: Um, we have two amazing children.
SPEAKER_02: You're good.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, sorry.
SPEAKER_00: It's not you.
SPEAKER_00: Right.
SPEAKER_00: So um Rachel is on uh our left, leftmost with her husband Mike, and they live in Cambridge.
SPEAKER_00: And then our son, Chris, got married in October, uh, and they live in Colorado.
SPEAKER_00: So we have a beautiful daughter-in-law, Tess, and um we are feeling we feel so blessed uh to be their parents.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we're grateful for that blessing.
SPEAKER_00: So that's us.
SPEAKER_00: That's our favorite.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, that's us.
SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
SPEAKER_01: So let's go to Ephesians chapter 2.
SPEAKER_01: So today what we're gonna do is we have a bunch of pictures.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna read two scriptures with you that I think will just blow you away about how God looks at us and cares about us.
SPEAKER_01: And then we're gonna show you a bunch of pictures.
SPEAKER_01: So don't fall asleep yet, because uh exciting stuff's coming, right?
SPEAKER_01: Uh from different things happening in Eastern Europe, how God is working.
SPEAKER_01: So Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 10.
SPEAKER_01: Paul writes, for we are God's workmanship.
SPEAKER_01: Some versions say handi work, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do.
SPEAKER_01: Now, believe it or not, I'm a Greek student because I have to pass a Greek test to get my Greek citizenship.
SPEAKER_01: Not because I'm just intellectual.
SPEAKER_01: I'm doing it for a reason.
SPEAKER_01: And the Greek word used here for workmanship or handiwork is poema.
SPEAKER_01: And you can probably guess what English word comes from that.
SPEAKER_01: Poem.
SPEAKER_01: So we are God.
SPEAKER_01: Think about that for a minute.
SPEAKER_01: We are God's poem.
SPEAKER_01: You are not some mass-produced on a assembly line person.
SPEAKER_01: He wrote every verse of you, every verse of your DNA, of who you are, God wrote it.
SPEAKER_01: You are very special.
SPEAKER_01: Now, sometimes we look in the mirror and we don't think I'm so special if you're like me.
SPEAKER_02: That's true.
SPEAKER_01: But God says you're his masterpiece.
SPEAKER_01: He handcrafted you.
SPEAKER_01: And he, and here's something to me that's mind-boggling.
SPEAKER_01: Like when I think about my weaknesses, that sometimes even I'm embarrassed to talk about, I think, well, did God make that too?
SPEAKER_01: Yes, God made me with all those weaknesses so that his power and his glory could shine through me.
SPEAKER_01: I don't need to be ashamed of my weaknesses.
SPEAKER_01: Paul even said he bragged about them, right?
SPEAKER_01: Because that's how God works through us.
SPEAKER_01: That's the mind-bending, amazing way that God works.
SPEAKER_01: They're not accidents, they're not mistakes.
SPEAKER_01: He put those weaknesses in each one of us so that He can be, his strength can be glorified.
SPEAKER_01: And on top of that, it says here, we're prepared for good works.
SPEAKER_01: He designed us exactly like that because he has tasks, he has good works, mostly loving people, right, and caring for people and helping people know the truth.
SPEAKER_01: He has special works that only you can do because of your personality, because of your quirks, because of your weird sense of humor, whatever it is, he designed in you that only you can accomplish.
SPEAKER_01: So that's something really we should look back and say, wow, that's amazing, right?
SPEAKER_01: That he made me that way.
SPEAKER_01: If you're like me, you look at history and you say, Well, there's amazing people in history.
SPEAKER_01: I think of Dr.
SPEAKER_01: King, right?
SPEAKER_01: He, with his courage, changed the world.
SPEAKER_01: Hundreds of thousands of people.
SPEAKER_01: I can't, Chris can't do that.
SPEAKER_01: I'm shaking up here, just reading a few notes off of my little Chromebook, right?
SPEAKER_01: I have two scriptures to read, and I'm afraid to do that.
SPEAKER_01: He he changed the world.
SPEAKER_01: Or you think about someone like Helen Keller.
SPEAKER_01: Look at all the obstacles she had.
SPEAKER_01: And she changed the world, right?
SPEAKER_01: It's amazing.
SPEAKER_01: Even with our weaknesses, God has plans for each one of us.
SPEAKER_01: He just wants us to get going.
SPEAKER_01: And okay, here we go, Ann.
SPEAKER_01: I'll let you go.
SPEAKER_00: He just wants us to get going.
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: But I think, do you believe it?
SPEAKER_00: So this is, I mean, I feel like for me it's my daily wrestle, you know.
SPEAKER_00: Do I believe I am who God says I am?
SPEAKER_00: And God has something for you to do.
SPEAKER_00: He has something for me to do.
SPEAKER_00: We're created in God's image for holy activity.
SPEAKER_00: So we have the image of God, but but we gotta do something, right?
SPEAKER_00: Um, and sometimes, like sometimes I feel so insecure, so fearful, like I wake up and I'm what's gonna happen today, instead of like, what does God have for me today?
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: So until you know, until I can get that identity on right, I'm kind of a big mess, you know.
SPEAKER_00: But I pray, I talk, I cry, and I'm learning to trust God and to show up and to just bring what I have to bring.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I to believe that I have something.
SPEAKER_00: I have something to bring.
SPEAKER_00: Otherwise, what do we do?
SPEAKER_00: It's like the human default.
SPEAKER_00: We're like waiting.
SPEAKER_00: Well, when I have more time or when I know all those scriptures and I know all those answers, then you know, then I can do something.
SPEAKER_01: Then I'll be ready.
SPEAKER_00: Then I can finally like step out.
SPEAKER_00: I'm saying, I'm not ready, you know, I'm not ready, God.
SPEAKER_00: But let's look at what um Peter, the apostle Peter, says to that in our next slide.
SPEAKER_00: And so this is 2 Peter 1, verse 3.
SPEAKER_00: And Peter writes, His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.
SPEAKER_00: Through these, He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
SPEAKER_01: Thanks, honey.
SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01: I might have felt that this morning when I got up.
SPEAKER_01: So notice the tenth of that sentence.
SPEAKER_01: I see, I'm talking about tenths now because I'm studying Greek.
SPEAKER_01: I never took English.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know any English grammar, but now I have to learn tenths.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't say he's gonna give you something in the future, right?
SPEAKER_01: It said given.
SPEAKER_01: He's already done it.
SPEAKER_01: It's in the past.
SPEAKER_01: It's not someday in the future, like Anne was saying, oh, maybe I'll be ready next year if I really read and study my Bible every day.
SPEAKER_01: Or if I repent of this or I repent of that.
SPEAKER_01: No, he says, right now, today, his divine power has already given us everything that we need.
SPEAKER_01: And when we ourselves start saying, um, maybe next week, you just have to say, no, tell yourself, no, it's wrong.
SPEAKER_01: No, right now.
SPEAKER_01: And if all we do is sit, because he talks about here about this knowledge of him, if all we do is sit in that, hold on to that knowledge, and it's just head knowledge, and there's no action, there's no steps of faith, nothing good happens.
SPEAKER_01: He can't be glorified in that at all.
SPEAKER_01: And that's what Satan wants us to do.
SPEAKER_01: He wants us to fill up our notebooks every Sunday, lots of notes, stacks, I have stacks of notebooks on my desk.
SPEAKER_01: I haven't even read them from years and years and years ago.
SPEAKER_01: All that knowledge, but I'm not doing anything.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not going anywhere, I'm not trying to do something for God.
SPEAKER_01: And the king of the universe right now is calling us Oscar, do it again.
SPEAKER_01: You found that place in Devons, right?
SPEAKER_01: You did it.
SPEAKER_01: A miracle.
SPEAKER_01: Somehow, some way.
SPEAKER_01: Let's do it again.
SPEAKER_01: He wants to use us, and he wants to use us to do miracles.
SPEAKER_01: Um I think, too, I'm getting older.
SPEAKER_01: I'm 68 years old now.
SPEAKER_01: And I think there's a certain tension because all the old people around me in my neighborhood, they're like, you know, we need to rest now.
SPEAKER_01: We need to sleep more.
SPEAKER_01: Um you want to join the I'm from Florida.
SPEAKER_01: You want to join the candle pin bowling league?
SPEAKER_01: And I'm what's what's candle pin?
SPEAKER_01: In Florida, we have the big balls.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: You want to join the candle pin club?
SPEAKER_01: You know, and just slow down, Chris, and uh, you know, take a few weeks, and and there's nothing wrong with relaxing, right?
SPEAKER_01: Don't get me wrong here.
SPEAKER_01: But what happens, he talks even in this passage, he says, God's given us these very great and precious promises, and he wants us to participate with him.
SPEAKER_01: He's got the power, he just wants us to take the step of faith, right, and do something.
SPEAKER_01: He will work through us.
SPEAKER_01: But if I don't participate, if I just do candle pin every night after work, what happens?
SPEAKER_01: He says here, having escaped the corruption of the world caused by evil desires.
SPEAKER_01: Candle pin is not evil in and of itself, right?
SPEAKER_01: But if we're not participating with God in the things that He has already planned for us, all this other worldly stuff comes in and corrupts us because there's a void there.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, for me, it could be cynicism.
SPEAKER_01: All you gotta do is turn on the news and you see how messed up everything is, and I can just get so negative about everything.
SPEAKER_01: You know, this is horrible.
SPEAKER_01: I can't believe this.
SPEAKER_01: I gotta hurry up and get my Greek citizenship and get out of here.
SPEAKER_01: This is this stinks, this stinks.
SPEAKER_01: Um I could become cynical.
SPEAKER_01: Um I can also just get lazy, right?
SPEAKER_01: Um when I'm not doing God's things, I can just get lazy.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it's just boredom, right?
SPEAKER_01: And then boredom for me leads to a lot of other bad things when I'm bored.
SPEAKER_01: So God is saying, I want you to participate.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to engage.
SPEAKER_01: I'm here with you.
SPEAKER_01: I have a plan for you.
SPEAKER_01: I've given you these talents, I've given you your personality that you only you have, and I want to work with, not just through you, but with you.
SPEAKER_01: He wants us to participate with him.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna kind of say the same thing because we I'm sorry, did I take your step?
SPEAKER_01: No, okay.
SPEAKER_00: No, no, but we have a choice.
SPEAKER_00: So the choice is ours, right?
SPEAKER_00: To make that conscious decision to engage, and um, and like step out.
SPEAKER_00: I like to think about you know, you step out, you're looking up, and then you're looking out.
SPEAKER_00: And there's your neighbor, and there's you know, your um uh your family members, you know, your um workmates, um, and these are all places that God wants us to engage.
SPEAKER_00: It's just like you were talking about.
SPEAKER_00: You can come for ice cream, right?
SPEAKER_01: I mean perfect, we're coming.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's time.
SPEAKER_00: No, but it it's so encouraging because I think that is that you know, that God wants I want to participate.
SPEAKER_00: You know, God wants us to participate.
SPEAKER_00: Um, He wants us to choose to engage.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and it's not just so it's not just like theoretical, you know, like theological theory.
SPEAKER_00: It's like it's happening.
SPEAKER_00: Um, you guys are engaging, God has planted you here.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and we've gotten to see, even in Eastern Europe, like what God is doing, what miracles are happening.
SPEAKER_00: And I think I've been reading through the Gospel of Luke, and so um I just read um about um you know the mustard seed.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus says, like, what is the kingdom of God like?
SPEAKER_00: So this tiny mustard seed, and we've heard these illustrations before, um, but how like a tiny seed of faith, of our faith, turns into something in the pat in the parable, it turns into a big tree.
SPEAKER_00: The farmer plants it in his garden, and I like I can picture a huge tree with branches, you know, that reach from Worcester to Fitchburg to Boston to Tirana to Bucharest, Romania, you know, to Budapest, to Sofia, to Albana, uh, we already said Albania, um, to Istanbul.
SPEAKER_00: And and I think, and I picture like you know, big branches, low ones that I can get on, and high ones, like for Ebby and Rona and some of you spriyer individuals.
SPEAKER_00: But it's so amazing what God lets us participate in.
SPEAKER_00: It's like the kingdom of God is like wow.
SPEAKER_00: And so that's what we're you know, that's what we're offering people, and that's what we're getting to participate in.
SPEAKER_00: So we we just want to show you a little um some pictures, some evidences of God's, like what God's been doing with ordinary people like you and me.
SPEAKER_01: So Ann and I retired in 2014, and we've been blessed because the churches in Eastern Europe welcome us with open arms, and it's it's so special as your old person to be able to still be a little productive in the kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this current landscape is about revive Eastern Europe.
SPEAKER_01: You guys have probably heard of that.
SPEAKER_01: Now they call it Revive All.
SPEAKER_01: And these slides are a little outdated because every day it changes.
SPEAKER_01: But basically, in Eastern Europe, we've been volunteering on Revive since 2020 when it started.
SPEAKER_01: We're on this this year's the sixth one.
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: And um, so the current landscape in Eastern Europe, there's 17 nations, 230 million people.
SPEAKER_01: And it says five churches with actually there's seven now because you can add to that list um Tirana now has.
SPEAKER_01: Can you imagine that after waiting six years?
SPEAKER_01: The Toronto Church now has a ministry couple.
SPEAKER_01: Can you can you imagine how that must have felt when those people showed up there in Tirana?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, amazing.
SPEAKER_01: And also in Budapest, there's uh inter inter what do you what's the right interim?
SPEAKER_01: Interim ministry couples there.
SPEAKER_01: And I bet you within a few months that uh they'll have a full-time couple there.
SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm betting on that, hoping for that.
SPEAKER_01: There's possibilities.
SPEAKER_01: How's that sound?
SPEAKER_01: Um so out of the where it says uh five, there's seven now.
SPEAKER_01: Uh um five churches with no minister that goes to three.
SPEAKER_01: Seven nations still need to be planted.
SPEAKER_01: Um actually, a brother was baptized in Zagreb last year that's Serbian.
SPEAKER_01: He wants to go plant a church in Serbia, so that's pretty amazing.
SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
SPEAKER_01: And then you see the members there.
SPEAKER_01: So that's kind of like the area that Ann and I get to troop around in in Eastern Europe.
SPEAKER_01: Many of you guys have been over there, I know, to Albania.
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: Um, Ann, you want to tell us about this picture?
SPEAKER_00: So this is a picture of the Istanbul Church.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so they have about 10 members, but they just celebrated their 30th birthday as a church, and so many people came past leaders, past members.
SPEAKER_00: Um, they had like they had a retreat, they had a boat cruise, they had.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, this was probably the most encouraging time for the small group who are there in Istanbul.
SPEAKER_01: They are faithful holding down the fort in a 99.8% Muslim country, and uh to see you know 40 of their past brothers and sisters travel all the way to Istanbul to encourage them.
SPEAKER_01: They were just like, wow.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, and so this is Kyle and Monique Plum, who just moved to Tirana, Albania, um, with their three children under five years old.
unknown: Wow.
SPEAKER_00: So they have two daughters, and this is their little boy.
SPEAKER_00: I think his name's Judah.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and they are so excited to be there.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know them personally.
SPEAKER_00: I've met Monique in a virtual setting, um, but I feel like wow, what faith.
SPEAKER_00: Um they had have experience in campus ministry, they're from San Diego.
SPEAKER_00: Um, but this was this is a big move.
SPEAKER_01: But but the C can you see how God's working?
SPEAKER_01: Like for North Point, he brings a couple from Budapest, Hungary to leave it.
SPEAKER_01: That's right.
SPEAKER_01: We're praying probably for five years.
SPEAKER_01: No one around here is raising their hand, right?
SPEAKER_01: And then Budapest, Hungary, God brings these guys here.
SPEAKER_01: That's how that's how God works.
SPEAKER_01: Same thing with Tirana for six years.
SPEAKER_01: They were advertising in disciples today.
SPEAKER_01: Any minister want to come to Tirana, Albania?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, everywhere they were advertising.
SPEAKER_01: Please come.
SPEAKER_01: Nothing.
SPEAKER_01: Crickets, crickets, six years.
SPEAKER_01: And then this couple in San Diego raises their hand and says, We want to go to Tirana, Albania, and lead the church.
SPEAKER_01: Never even heard of them.
SPEAKER_01: I never so see how God works, it's incredible.
SPEAKER_01: I don't mean that in a disrespectful way, but I've never heard of them.
SPEAKER_01: But I've I've never heard of them.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so this is another miracle picture.
SPEAKER_00: So this is, you know, our sister Layla in the Worcester Church.
SPEAKER_00: Layla crop, right?
SPEAKER_00: So these are her big boys on either side of Kayla's nephew, Daniel, who got to go to teen camp in Tirana.
SPEAKER_01: Come on, Kayla.
SPEAKER_00: So this is Elijah and William, they're disciples in the Worcester Church.
SPEAKER_00: And by God's miracle and Kayla's something something, Daniel got to go to team camp.
SPEAKER_00: And I know from Layla sharing that he had some great conversations, opening the Bible, and what a great opportunity.
SPEAKER_00: Um let's see, what's this?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so they did all these cool fun things.
SPEAKER_00: Teen camp.
SPEAKER_00: Um, there were around 20 Albanian teens and 20.
SPEAKER_00: 20 kids from America, from uh let's see, Mike and Karen.
SPEAKER_00: Um Arsenal.
SPEAKER_00: Arsenal took a group from the Northwest, I think, and brought them.
SPEAKER_00: They went there last year.
SPEAKER_00: They went on their own dime.
SPEAKER_00: They brought these kids and they made amazing connections.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and I think that's the those branches, those connections.
SPEAKER_00: This is uh Vangel and Marcella, um, pillar couple there in Tirana washing the dishes because everybody gets to and this is the cool thing.
SPEAKER_00: There were 70-ish people at the camp because when you go to team camp, your whole family comes with you.
SPEAKER_00: So um, yeah, between counselors, brothers and sisters, um, yeah, they had around seven.
SPEAKER_01: It's the Albanian way, right?
SPEAKER_01: It's the Albanian way.
SPEAKER_00: It is right, right.
SPEAKER_00: Volleyball.
SPEAKER_00: I don't have any details on that.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, now this is.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, now we're switching to Zagreb.
SPEAKER_01: So last year, Ann and I had the privilege to be part of the Zagreb Church.
SPEAKER_01: Because of my age, we can only stay three months at a time.
SPEAKER_01: They won't give us a one-year residency anymore.
SPEAKER_01: So, like September, October, November, and then February, March, April, something like that.
SPEAKER_01: So we were there six months.
SPEAKER_01: Wonderful church, incredible church, 16 members.
SPEAKER_01: So we came with our revived team, mostly college-age students, and then I used to say Ann and I were the parents when we would come with these young young kings.
SPEAKER_01: One of the sisters corrected me and she said, You're more like the age of my grandfather.
SPEAKER_01: So you have the so you have the college students, uh, ten of them or so, and then the grandparents.
SPEAKER_01: So, of course, the brothers and sisters are hitting the street, making friends every day, going to coffee shops, inviting people to come to our Bible discussions, but mostly just making a lot of friends.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, lots and lots of friends.
SPEAKER_01: And as we made friends, it started happening like probably from 20 to 30 of those friends studied the Bible every week.
SPEAKER_01: So lots of Bible studies, lots of coffee.
SPEAKER_01: Because you gotta have coffee when you're having Bible studies.
SPEAKER_01: You're shaken by the end of the day.
SPEAKER_01: So lots of Bible studies.
SPEAKER_01: So um, about in January, February, one of the guys that was studying the Bible, his name's Surena.
SPEAKER_01: He said, I want to make Jesus Lord, I want to get baptized.
SPEAKER_01: In Zagreb, they usually baptize in the lake that's there, Yarun.
SPEAKER_01: But it's cold and then it starts freezing.
SPEAKER_01: So, like, how are we gonna baptize this guy, Surena?
SPEAKER_01: So one of the brothers said, I can buy one of these fold-up watering troughs.
SPEAKER_01: I think it's for like a farm.
SPEAKER_01: So he bought this thing somewhere, and they're Sunday morning, they're building it.
SPEAKER_01: And this is right before the church service starts.
SPEAKER_01: And one of the brothers, you know, the everybody's on the phone the night before, you know what happened, you know, and everybody, all hands on deck, you want to try to make something happen.
SPEAKER_01: So one guy brought a hose.
SPEAKER_01: So they're connecting the hose, the kitchen's right behind that boy right there.
SPEAKER_01: So they connect the try to connect the hose, it didn't fit, they didn't have the adapter.
SPEAKER_01: So, like, and this is the sermon, the sermon's already started, and this fellow wants to get baptized, right?
SPEAKER_01: So Kids Kingdom went into the kitchen and got these little buckets, right?
SPEAKER_01: And said, We're gonna fill this thing up one way or the other.
SPEAKER_01: So that's another guy.
SPEAKER_01: He's got a little pot.
SPEAKER_01: So, like, I don't know if anyone calculated how many pot fulls of water.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, there's a bigger pot.
SPEAKER_01: He got a big pot.
SPEAKER_01: So they're they're going as fast as they can, and there's water everywhere because they're going in and out of the kitchen with these pots.
SPEAKER_01: So, this is Serena after church.
SPEAKER_01: They filled it up enough.
SPEAKER_01: He could barely fit in this little trough, but they squeezed them down there pretty hard.
SPEAKER_01: So that's Serena there in the middle, and that's the church.
SPEAKER_01: They're so excited.
SPEAKER_01: The first half didn't happen.
SPEAKER_00: And then this young woman, uh, her name is Diana, and she's um from the Philippines.
SPEAKER_00: She lives in Zagreb and is married to a Croatian um guy, her husband's Croatian, but she had been coming way before the revive group ever got there.
SPEAKER_02: For years, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: And it was just so encouraging to see her faith, even at Serena's baptism, it was like, touch the water, you know, like, come on, Diana.
SPEAKER_00: So she and her husband came to the baptism.
SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, it's very, very encouraging.
SPEAKER_01: So you can see the smiles on the Christians' faces in Zagreb are getting bigger and bigger every week here.
unknown: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: So then this is Luca.
SPEAKER_01: And Luca is a college student, and he was one of these guys that was studying the Bible saying, I forgot to tell you about Serena.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna back up for a minute.
SPEAKER_01: Serena was getting into an Uber when one of the guys ran up to him and said, Would you like to come to a Bible study sometime?
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, It sounds interesting, but I'm getting in a cab, you know, and the guy just handed him a card, and then like three months later, three months later Serena Serena called him.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_00: He's like, is that coffee still?
SPEAKER_00: Are you still available for that coffee?
SPEAKER_01: So God sets the times and the dates for sure.
SPEAKER_01: Can I say something before you click?
SPEAKER_00: But when you want me to go back?
SPEAKER_00: No, this one, but just talking about connections, right?
SPEAKER_00: So in this picture on the left, is it your left?
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, is um Kai Arsenal, who's the son of um Karen and Mike, who brought all those kids to Tirana, and he and his wife lead the church there in Zagreb.
SPEAKER_00: And then to Luca's right is Isaac, who's from Scotland, and he was part of uh the Revive team mates.
SPEAKER_00: That's what he always calls me mates.
SPEAKER_01: What's a mate?
SPEAKER_00: And then um uh uh Mark.
SPEAKER_00: Mark Zhigulin is on the right, and he's Ukrainian, and he and his wife were part of um the revived team.
SPEAKER_00: But just like you know, all the countries and connections, and yeah, the big tree.
SPEAKER_00: The big tree.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, sorry.
SPEAKER_01: So no, that was great.
SPEAKER_01: So this is Luca, and the church was super excited about him, and I'm like, why are you so excited?
SPEAKER_01: Serena just got back.
SPEAKER_01: But they said, he's Croatian, and we haven't had a Croatian college student baptized in 15 years.
SPEAKER_01: So that was pretty cool how God's work.
SPEAKER_01: And there's big smiles at the end.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it is cool.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, you want to talk about this?
SPEAKER_01: This is uh Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: This is our this was our team in Zagreb, I think minus uh Kai and Katie.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and so we on Sunday nights we had um a family dinner so we could come together as a team and share about how we saw God work that week.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and so we have you know, a couple from California.
SPEAKER_00: We have um, I don't know, maybe you guys know Connor from the administration.
SPEAKER_00: From Maine, um uh Shantae from Chicago.
SPEAKER_00: Yep, Shante from Chicago, Megan from Kansas City, um, and then the two Croatians, um Dora and Marco, who are local but were part of the team.
SPEAKER_00: So that was just a very special group.
SPEAKER_00: That's the place we lived right before we came back.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Family dinner, very special.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Calebs are the Calebs.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so these are these are my people.
SPEAKER_01: Um this The reason I look so strange is because they're saying get down because you can't see the girls behind you.
SPEAKER_01: It's not like it's hard to bend your back when you're my age.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, go ahead.
SPEAKER_00: So this is our group we call the Caleb Couples, and we um are like our role on this revive kind of team is to like be a parent to the team members, but also to um, you know, to be able to share whatever kind of wisdom that God has given us just because we live longer, you know.
SPEAKER_00: And uh the woman who's closest to you guys, she her name's Irina, she's Ukrainian, she is amazing, and she was a refugee when the war started in Ukraine.
SPEAKER_00: She came to Moldova, she ended up staying in the same place where we all were.
SPEAKER_00: She became a Christian there, and she is like she's laying down her life, she is serving, she serves in the church in uh Moldova and Kishinov, and um, and she's a Russian teacher.
SPEAKER_00: Oh wow, also I mean she yeah, she's a Russian teacher, so she was our language.
SPEAKER_01: She's a specific professor, yeah.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, just an amazing, amazing.
SPEAKER_00: She's a young disciple, like three or four years.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then the couple to her right, just about them, they sold their home.
SPEAKER_00: They lived outside of Chicago and they were uh in Bucharest, Romania for 10 months.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then the others are also kind of in and out, um, but serving in that capacity.
SPEAKER_00: So I just feel like for us older people, um, you know, the Bible says like that you can still bear fruit in your old age, and uh you can be lush and green, and I feel like, yeah, I want to be, I want to be green, you know.
SPEAKER_01: Come on.
SPEAKER_00: So very, very inspiring.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Athens, Greece.
SPEAKER_01: This is a church in Athens.
SPEAKER_01: There's six brothers and sisters, and next February, it's very hard to get into Greece, especially just especially.
SPEAKER_01: And um, so there's gonna be a small team next February go and spend a few months there, 90 days, and kind of just see if we can get something started there.
SPEAKER_01: So that's what happens.
SPEAKER_01: The last slide, thank you so much for your patience.
SPEAKER_02: This is awesome.
SPEAKER_01: So this is uh, and this is outdated also, but these are the brothers and sisters that have been baptized since Revive started.
SPEAKER_01: It's actually, it says 90, it's 105 as of today.
SPEAKER_01: 105 people baptized in the five different countries that we've been in.
SPEAKER_01: There's been over 150 people volunteer to go on revive for that 10 months, or maybe like Ann and I go for three months.
SPEAKER_01: Um, out of uh this group, like a lot of the people that come on revive and volunteer are just um just like us.
SPEAKER_01: No special ministry training, just brothers and sisters Christians.
SPEAKER_01: After one year revive, 26 of them came back to America or their country and went into the ministry.
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
SPEAKER_01: So that's pretty cool.
SPEAKER_01: And then 12 of the baby Christians, the young Christians that have been baptized on revive, they've now joined a revive, like for them.
SPEAKER_01: So they became missionaries right after getting back.
SPEAKER_00: That guy Luca, he's like, sign me up.
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
SPEAKER_00: So God gave us this kind this special opportunity, you know, to travel and to be, you know, in this season of our life to be part of that work in Eastern Europe.
SPEAKER_00: But those good works that we, you know, God created us to do good works, those also include like prayer, you know, um, extending kindness, mercy, compassion, serving, you know, loving our neighbor, like you guys have talked about, being a good friend, um, a loving spouse.
SPEAKER_00: We're created in God's image for that holy activity, you know, action, action that shows those around us how amazing our God is, and action that by faith helps God's kingdom to grow.
SPEAKER_00: So we get to be part of it.
SPEAKER_00: It's awesome.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, man.
SPEAKER_01: Thanks for letting us go.