Furlough Replacements to Vienna (COA)
Missionaries to Ireland
The City of Vienna is in the most eastern part of Western Europe, with a population of 2.4 million people. It’s a multi-cultural city composed of 23 districts. The religion is predominantly catholic and traditional in its roots, being founded by Celts and greatly influenced by Irish monks. It’s located right along the Slovakian, Hungarian & Czech Republic borders with many of these people residing in the city. We are enjoying overseeing & pastoring the church and will be here until next July 2012. The Charles Robinette family has done a fantastic job of organizing the Church of Acts and cultivating an environment for revival within its people! This church knows how to worship, pray & minister to people!
ARC:
Upon arrival we hit the ground running and are finally feeling settled in. The ARC (European Conference) took place right when we arrived. Many missionaries and ministers from throughout Europe & the Middle East came for the ministry and fellowship. We were blessed to have Bro D. Bernard, Bro B. Howell & Bro R. Woodward ministering to us during this time, along with Reg Director of Europe M. Tuttle. Vision was imparted and strength given to all that attended.
AMTC:
I enjoyed teaching in AMTC (National Bible School) this past month. The students have just completed their finals and semester for the year. The bible school is transitioning from a part time school to a full time school within the year. The full time school will operate out of Landstuhl, Germany next fall. God is currently raising up many next generation ministers that will greatly impact the German speaking nations!
German National Ministers meeting:
I had the privilege to attend the German Nat. Ministers meeting in Nurnberg, Germany. Bro Monte Showalter did a great job of ministering during the Leadership session! In the meetings many things were covered-one mainly being the missions plan to reach and plant new works throughout each German speaking country. Bro Mitch Sayers (newly elected Nat Missions Director) shared a plan, along with others who will be part of the team to initiate new works. It was nice to hear and see the excitement and input of each minister, especially the elder pastors ready to see growth and revival throughout the land! Bro C Robinette steered these meetings, and we were excited that he was able to minister and be with us in Vienna for a few days.
Happy B-Day's:Sis. Cooney and I both celebrated our birthdays in August & September. She celebrated hers on Sept. 28th, and I had an extra special gift and reason to celebrate mine on Aug. 27th. This year I received my Irish Citizenship! This is a great blessing because it not only gives me dual American/Irish citizenship, but it also gives me European Union status. This now means out entire family has European status and has liberty to travel throughout the region for any extended period of time. What a great birthday gift!
Tent Revival:
We just completed our first ever 3-day Tent Revival in one of the local parks near the church. This event was led and preached by 2 of our young ministers (AIMer Stephen Merritt-USA & Bro Sam Ackah-Austria). They did an awesome job and gained valuable experience during this event that will continue to bless many churches throughout the German speaking nations with similar events for years to come.
We mobilized the entire church, and God blessed us with immaculate weather during this time. The area is mostly comprised of young children & Turkish Muslims. The grass under the tent became an explosive altar area where fervent worship in song & dance went up before the Lord. The local people were amazed by our worship both under and around the tent. Some of the Muslim young people made fun, and even some danced in the altar area mocking our worship. They weren’t destructive, so we allowed them to continue to stay in the presence of the Lord, and by the end of the first couple of services, many were sitting in their seats wondering why they were crying. Other muslim children were walking up during these times--standing around our prayer circles, curiously observing us lay hands on people and seeing tears stream down the faces of those we prayed with. They’d never felt or seen anything like this before.
One of our young ladies at one time was manning a welcome table that was surrounded by a bunch of Muslim boys and teaching them the story of Abraham and Isaac & Ishmael. They had never heard or ever been taught about Isaac (the son of promise)…..only about Ishmael. They were amazed by what she was telling them, and we’re sure caused quite a stir when they went home that evening and shared it with their parents
2 young people received the Holy Ghost, one testified healing of a man and many more experienced the power of God during these 3 days. We are continuing to reach out into this area, and are looking to begin Bible studies and a home group. There are future plans to return to this area and do a children’s Super Sunday School.
We celebrate with those who have been baptized and filled with the Holy Ghost these past few weeks and look forward to greater revival to come in Vienna and beyond!
Thank you for your continued support in prayer & finance! Without YOU none of this would be possible!
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