We had an indescribably great time in Transylvania. My shirt says, "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God that brings Salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile." (Romans 1:16 NIV) Though we're in Romania, it's written in Hungarian, the language of the wonderful people with whom we partnered in ministry.
They are an ecumenical group, though the hosts are Charismatic Catholics, and none of the leaders were ashamed of the Gospel! We sensed the presence of the Lord so powerfully in their prayers and worship songs, though we only understood the ones that were translated from Hillsong, Vineyard and other English sources.
It's always overwhelming to me when I worship with fellow believers in other parts of the world. A connection to the Lord is so powerful it doesn't need words to experience.
We did an awful lot of laughing. It seemed to us a supernatural joy. It occurred to me that it was the Lord's gift to the land scarred by communism. We were in the same county where Richard Wurmbrand was tortured and beaten daily year after year because he wouldn't renounce Christianity. He explained in his book
Tortured for Christ that he was actually allowed to serve as a pastor so long as he cooperated with the Communists. They were to teach that Moses brought the first revelation, Jesus brought the second and Joseph Stalin brought the third. But when Wurmbrand's underground activities came to light they imprisoned him and his wife.
With the fall of Ceausescu and the Iron Curtain there is joy in the land. We sensed it and praise the Lord that we could add to it.
My performance of
Beyond the Chariots was translated to Hungarian just in time for the performance. They clearly appreciated it, and I was thrilled to receive a special applause in which they unified their clapping into an ever-faster beat.
I wrote a two-minute piece that was translated by a former student of mine in the States who set up our visit. When I got to speak to her on the phone when she called the camp I wept for joy and deep gratitude. She had recorded her translation for me, but the Hungarian language is quite different from any other. I recorded myself speaking it, and all who heard it thought I was better off using translation slides, which I did. I memorized a few Hungarian phrases, and those were received well. Phew! I posted that performance
here.
I got to teach two acting workshops and closed by introducing
enacted prayer to Romania. Some of the enactments were quite powerful.
One of the camp organizers said they always pray for just under half of the students to be pre-believers, since, at their age, they are influenced toward the majority of their peers. We rejoiced to see 17 of them go forward to indicate a desire to know the Lord more. Last night the call was to come forward if they want to
give their lives to the Lord. We missed it because we had to get to London, but we know of at least one of them that is quite close to making that commitment, and we were privileged to pray with one to that end. [We later heard a report that our friend did go forward, along with all but two. Pray for them to continue to consider the Lord.]
During the weeks of the Olympics we've been blessed with bookings in Puerto Rico, Transylvania and London. We're working on a documentary we've decided to title
Grace to the Nations. One of the leaders told us, "The Love of God is an ocean, and Grace is an invitation to swim."
The student pictured above asked me to film her telling her father how beautiful the worship and fellowship is at the camp and how much she longs for her father to experience this kind of joy through a relationship with Jézus. Pray he dives into the Love of God.
Posts
