2015 spring church and family update

Today is Pentecost, which is a holiday here in Hungary, and because that means I have some free time, I’d like to let you know about what’s going on here in Szeged.

Church stuff

the church is doing well. We seem to be in a season of weddings and births.  I’ve already officiated one wedding this month with another this Saturday.  One family welcomed their 3rd child in September and a couple that just got married last August, will welcome their 1st child this September. Things like this bring joy to our hearts and we wanted to share these with you.

Though we have joy in these, it also makes us keenly aware of the singles in our church and those who are struggling with infertility. Please join with us in prayer for them.

Last year the college chaplain of one of the Reformed churches here in Szeged, had the idea to have a Christian festival here in Szeged similar to festivals he and others have taken part of in different parts of Western Europe. Szeged is known for it’s many festivals throughout the year and this year in September will be what is called the “tágás tér festival” (it means “wide open square” festival). This will be an interdenominational Christian festival with concerts, four discussions, workshops, exhibitions, and sporting events. Because the Catholic church still considers us a cult their leadership has insisted we not be named on any promotional materials and really didn’t want Golgota Szeged involved but our friends at the Reformed & Baptist churches have pushed to make sure we're involved cause they believe that Golgota Szeged will be a valuable member in this venture of faith. 

on our part, we’re looking at planning a charity run during this 3 day festival to support the pediatric ICU. The reasoning behind this is that people here in Szeged aren’t really interested in the church & a charity run around the event will draw people that might not come to a Christian festival and if they come hopefully they will stay and see some of the other events / booths. Also the pediatric ICU is always in need of money to care for kids. This will take a lot of planning on our part but we believe it'd be great for us to show our love for Szeged in a tangible way.  Pray for open doors & open hearts as we plan the charity run and that people would come and hear the Gospel during this festival.

Personal stuff

 Life has been extremely busy for us, as both Odi and I are teaching at local schools. Being bi-vocational has been difficult but good. We’re really looking forward to the summer break to catch our breath a little! :-) 

we’re also looking forward to moving into our new house next month. The building process has been very trying and we will be so happy to finally be moved in and enjoy our new house.

 I was hoping to make it to California at the beginning of July for the Calvary Chapel Senior Pastors Conference but it’s just not going to work out this year. the finances just aren’t there for me to make the trip this year. maybe next year we can go as a family to California. 

 the girls are doing well. We continue to take Zara to physical therapy for her back and a couple months ago, Kiera got glasses because one of her eyes is crossed. Life is full of challenges, as you all know. 

prayer points

 - for God’s blessing and provision upon our family

 - for wisdom in dealing with the kids health issues

 - for God’s blessing and anointing as I speak at different churches / events

 - for God’s blessing upon Calvary Szeged and for church growth.

 - for fresh vision for the church.

 - for a fresh outpouring of God's Spirit upon us and the church

 blessings,

kyle, odi, zara, kiera

 here is the info through Calvary Chapel Vista on their website. you can give here (http://www.calvaryvista.com/give-2/) you just need to follow the process and when it asks for the donations put the amount in the "missions" box and in the memo note that it's for "Kyle & Odi Eckhart in Szeged, Hungary". They then will get that to us with our regular monthly support the beginning of each month.

 through Calvary Costa Mesa, you can give here (https://www.easytithe.com/f/?k=6SSHN0DEHB4KG6DH) all you need to do here is go down the scroll down list to my name and the money will be sent to us.

thank you for prayerfully considering this!

winter 2015 family & church update

Church stuff

as I sit down to write this newsletter I realize that it was 20 years ago this week that I was making my final preparations to move to Baja, Hungary for 1 year to help at the church there. by the grace of God, that 1 year has now turned into 20 as February 21st marks 20 years of me living & serving Jesus here in Hungary. I am truly amazed and humbled that God allows me to do what I do. I am truly thankful to God & to all of you who have over the years partnered with me through prayer & financial support so that I can be part of what Jesus is doing here in Hungary.

since it’s been a few months since we’ve written, let us share with you what’s been going on with us & in the life of Calvary Chapel Szeged

Once again the members of our church prepared Christmas packages to take to 2 gypsy villages in Romania. This is something that we've been doing for a few years now & we are blessed that we know where the gifts are going. 

Last September we changed up the format of our mid-week Bible study. It was on Wednesday nights that I taught through the Bible. Now that I've taught through the Bible, we felt the Lord leading us to make some changes. Not to fear, we are still teaching the Bible but we're teaching in a rotation. Right now there are 4 of us in the rotation. This has eased the burden on me, as I'm teaching English at a bilingual high school and it allows me to focus more on our Sunday service. We are currently teaching through the life of David. What we've also done is set apart the 3rd Wednesday night of the month for worship, prayer, and communion. We've seen God bless the changes He has led us in.

 The Lord has given me a lot of opportunities to teach in the past & I have a lot in the future. Since April I've been helping, advising, and teaching on a monthly basis at a new independent church plant in a city called Orosháza, which is about 60km from Szeged. The leader of this church & his wife really love Calvary & have reached out to me being the closest Calvary to them. I blessed to be part of what God is doing in this new church plant. 

teaching at the new church plant in Orosháza

 As I've mentioned in the past, we've got a really good relationship with the Szeged Baptist church. The youth group regularly invites me to teach there, which is always a great joy for me. Once again they've asked me to speak at the national youth conference that they are organizing here in Szeged in March. I'll be speaking about what it means to be a "digitally active" Christian. 

 To my great surprise, I've been invited to speak at the Calvary Chapel Scandinavia conference outside of Stockholm, Sweden at the end of July. I'm humbled by the honor to go & teach and see what God is doing in Scandinavia. Turns out the Finnish wife of the organizer used to be a part of our church about 13-14 years ago. 

 Odi continues to lead worship on Sunday  mornings and meets regularly with our worship teams to practice & learn new songs. 

family stuff

 it’s been a hard couple of months for us as a family. Odi’s grandmother, who many of you knew, passed on to Heaven in December. This marked the 3rd hard Christmas for us. We rejoice knowing that Mami is in the presence of the Lord and with those who have gone on before in faith. 

 Right before Christmas Zara came down with the chicken pox and that began a 6 week period where at least one of us were sick. We’re all better now, but it wasn’t fun being sick for so long.

 As we shared back in October, Zara has a curvature in her spine, like Odi. According to the x-Ray, her curvature is already 20 degrees.  At this point the doctor has recommended swimming & physical therapy. Zara is going swimming twice a week with her kindergarten class & we are taking her to physical therapy twice a week. We are trying to do physical therapy with her at home at least 4-5 times a week but it's hard to motivate Zara to do the exercises. Please pray that she would continue to have a good attitude about doing her daily exercise.

Kiera is starting to show signs of having a curved spine so we are starting to do the physical therapy with her as well. 

Zara & Kiera dressed up for the Farsang (Carnival) event at kindergarten

One thing we both know is that we want to avoid putting our kids through the “traditional” forms of treatment for scoliosis. Odi had a brace growing up and it wasn’t helpful at all. Both the orthopedic doctor & the physical therapist support our decision cause they know that movement is more important that a brace. 

God has given both Odi & I opportunities to teach English to help make up what we are lacking in terms of financial support. Odi is teaching at an elementary school & I'm teaching at a bilingual high school. We're thankful that God is providing for us this way & that we have many opportunities to share with co-workers & students. We know that God has us in these schools for a reason!

a request

 I’d like to share a request with everyone. I’ve been in Hungary for 20 years & the senior pastor of Calvary Szeged for 15. Every year I get the invite to the Calvary Chapel senior pastors conference in California. This year the conference is July 6-9. I’ve never been able to go but I would really, really like to go, be encouraged & connect with many of the pastors in the Calvary movement. A plane ticket for me to go to the conference is $1500. Would you pray about helping make it possible for me to make it out to the conference this year? if you would like to make a financial donation to help make this happen you can follow one of the 2 links below. thank you so much!!

prayer points

 - for God’s blessing & provision upon our family

 - for wisdom in dealing with the kids health issues

 - for God’s blessing & anointing as I speak at different churches / events

 - for God’s blessing upon Calvary Szeged

 - that God would continue to use us & Calvary Szeged as lights in this wonderful city

 - for God’s provision for me to make it to the senior pastors conference in CA this year.

support the work

if you'd like to support the work we're doing here at Calvary Szeged you can do so by sending your tax deductible donates through either Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa or Calvary Chapel Vista

 here is the info through Calvary Chapel Vista on their website. you can give here (http://www.calvaryvista.com/give-2/) you just need to follow the process and when it asks for the donations put the amount in the "missions" box and in the memo note that it's for "Kyle & Odi Eckhart in Szeged, Hungary". They then will get that to us with our regular monthly support the beginning of each month.

 through Calvary Costa Mesa, you can give here (https://www.easytithe.com/f/?k=6SSHN0DEHB4KG6DH) all you need to do here is go down the scroll down list to my name and the money will be sent to us.

thank you for prayerfully considering this!

 blessings,

kyle, odi, zara, kiera

   

thrown for a curve

as everyone knows, life doesn't always work out the way we want. In times like this we say that "life has thrown us for a curve". Well, life has thrown our family for a curve. As many of you might know, Odi has scoliosis. It's something that runs in her family. Her father has it, as do her siblings. Though many people say that Zara and Kiera look like me, I'm glad they've inherited their Mom's beauty.
While I'm very happy for that, we've always hoped that this is curvature of the spine is the one gene that our kids wouldn't inherit. 

unfortunately, this is not the case. In late August, Odi showed me a difference in the symmetry of Zara's back. We called our pediatrician and were referred to a specialist. Tonight, I took the girls to see the specialist. He confirmed what we saw, that Zara does have a curvature in her spine. It's similar to the curvature in Odi's (upper spine). Since we were there, I asked the doctor to look at Kiera. He said that she has some curvature in her lower spine. 

even though we were expecting this, it still weighs heavy on our hearts. 

so what now? the doctor wants to do an x-ray on Zara to confirm the degree of the curvature in her spine. After that, he will prescribe physical therapy & swimming therapy for her. With Kiera it's a little more unclear outside of physical therapy. 

we'd like to ask you, if you're reading this, to pray for us, but especially for Zara & Kiera. Please pray that God would give us wisdom moving forward with treatment for our kids and that God would heal them of this, if that is His will. 

thank you for joining with us!

kyle & odi

Summer 2014 update

we've been back from California for a few months now and a lot has happened. Let us give you a brief update on life and ministry here in Szeged.

church news

we really hit the ground running because as soon as we got back we we quickly approaching Easter and the city-wide, multi-church "Easter in the Park" service. We were doing all we can to get the word out and get churches involved. We advertised on Facebook and Szeged's local radio station ran radio spots every hour in the week leading up to Easter. The weather the week before Easter was chilly and rainy. The forecast called for showers on Easter Sunday. So much so that I said if it's raining at 1pm we will cancel the event. God was very gracious to us the temperature was nice and mild and we had no rain that day. 
 In total we had 9 churches participate in the Easter in the Park event and a few hundred people showed up for the event. It might not seem like a lot but we were very encouraged to see many Christians come and also many non-Christians. We estimate that there were about 200 Christians and about 100 non-Christians at this event. We rejoice that the Gospel was preached & the body of Christ in Szeged was encouraged. We also look forward to what Jesus is going to do in this city as His people come together as His church to be about His work.

myself & some of the other pastors involved in the Easter in the Park service

a picture of our multi-church worship team (4 churches represented here)

preaching about the death & resurrection of Jesus

we walked away from the event rejoicing that Jesus made it happened & we also learned a lot about what we want to do next year. For a first time, we believe it was a great success.

 a few of the churches that participated in the Easter in the Park followed up by having a Pentecost Picnic in Pentecost Sunday. It was wonderful time of hanging out and getting to know each other better.

 some of the leaders of Golgota Szeged were blessed to attend the annual calvary chapel leadership conference in vajta last month. We were greatly blessed and encouraged by the fellowship and the teachings of Pastors Brian Brodersen (Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa) & David Guzik (Calvary Chapel Santa Barbara).

 by the end of this month, we will reach a real milestone at Golgota Szeged. One of the hallmarks of Calvary Chapel is our chapter by chapter teaching through the Bible. It's been 14 years in the making but by the end of the month we will complete our first journey though the Bible. It will be the first complete teaching through the Bible in Hungarian & English that we know of and it's completely free through our website. We know that God has used our through the Bible teaching to reach Hungarian speakers as far away as Canada and Sweden. Now that we're coming to a completion of teaching through the Bible the thought has gone through my head of "what now?" Well, it seems that the Lord is leading us to make some changes in our Wednesday night service. We are going to dedicate one Wednesday a month to prayer, worship, and communion. We just want to have a time where we are open to the moving of the Spirit amongst us. During the other weeks we will start a teaching rotation which will include me and some of the other elders and teachers in the church. We will pray about and pick a book of the Bible to teach together. I think this will be a great opportunity for others to grow in their gifts and it will also allow me more time to focus on the Sunday message. 

 our cell groups are on break now but we're looking forward to relaunching them in September when school starts up. We always have a new influx of students at the end of August / beginning of September so we want to try to get as many people plugged into the cell groups as possible. 

 in the fall we might have the opportunity to host a couple of outreach groups. Should these opportunities pan out then we look forward to going into schools for conversational English classes. 

family news

probably the biggest news on the family front was that I (Kyle) became a Hungarian citizen on May 8th. I am now a dual-citizen. Last year the Hungarian government changed the law & I was able to apply on the basis of marriage. I felt it was something I wanted to do since I've lived half my life in Hungary. 

 since 2009 Odi has been on maternity leave & has been at home with the kids. (Maternity leave in Hungary is 3 years - YES 3 years!!!!) When Kiera turns 3 in August, Odi's maternity leave will be over. This last year the amount of money she has received has dropped 50% from the previous year (the 1st two years are about 70% or your salary & the last year is a fixed $130 for everyone). With this ending we're going to have to make a decision about the future. Should Odi look for a job or not? (right now we are both teaching private English to private students - another option would be taking on more students??)) We'd like if she could stay at home & focus on family, the kids, and the worship ministry but a lot of that depends on finances. One of our hopes in CA was to raise some support to make this possible. As of today, we haven't seen an increase in our support that would allow this to be possible so  we’d like to ask you, if you’re reading this to prayerfully consider joining with us in the work of the Kingdom of God here in Szeged but partnering with us financially. We’re looking to raise more money which will enable me to continue to travel to encourage other pastors, as well as invest in the work of the Kingdom of God here in Szeged. It will also enable Odi to spend more time focusing on being the main worship leader at Golgota Szeged so she can translate new songs into Hungarian for the benefit of the body of Christ not just in Szeged but all over Hungary.

so if you'd like to join with us you can send your tax deductible donations through either Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa or Calvary Chapel Vista. 

 here is the info through Calvary Chapel Vista on their website. you can give here (http://www.calvaryvista.com/give-2/) you just need to follow the process and when it asks for the donations put the amount in the "missions" box and in the memo note that it's for "Kyle & Odi Eckhart in Szeged, Hungary". They then will get that to us with our regular monthly support the beginning of each month.

 through Calvary Costa Mesa, you can give here (https://www.easytithe.com/f/?k=6SSHN0DEHB4KG6DH) all you need to do here is go down the scroll down list to my name and the money will be sent to us.

thank you for prayerfully considering this!

praise reports

we’re thankful to God for the amazing Easter in the Park service we had & the participation of 9 churches.

we praise God for a continued commitment by the churches in Szeged to work together for the Kingdom of God

we praise God that many are able to download the messages taught at Golgota Szeged via our website and that our reach goes far beyond our walls.

 for the encouragement that our leadership team received at the annual leadership conference

prayer requests

for a fresh outpouring of God's Spirit upon Golgota Szeged

for more people to know Jesus in Szeged

for God’s provision for us and for the church here in Szeged

for more open doors to minister to people in the name of Jesus here in Szeged

that we'd have more people join the cell groups for the fall semester

much love in Jesus,

kyle, odi, zara, kiera

some thoughts on Halloween | nehány gondolat a Halloween-ről

(magyar lent van)

Some people might not like what I'm about to say but let me ask you to just take a minute to consider what I have to say about Halloween.

As a Christian, every year I see different Facebook posts or articles telling Christians to avoid Halloween like the plague. The message is basically "a good Christian doesn't celebrate Halloween because it's a holiday that worships the devil”.

While I’m clearly aware of the origins of Halloween, may I submit that Halloween as we know it is just a commercialized version of what some people think it is? I ask this question because growing up, we always celebrated Halloween & I went trick-or-treating every year. Funny, I didn’t turn out an active Satan worshipper but the pastor of a church who loves Jesus. There is a young man in our church who was an active Satan worshiper and Halloween had nothing to do with it. 

 So what’s the deal with Christians and Halloween? well first let me say that I do believe this, like many other holidays is so over commercialized that now it’s only about profit for companies. 

 that being said let me just ask these 2 questions…

1. why do Christians come down so hard on this one day and show almost total disregard to many of the Satanic attitudes that typify everyday western life? (for example - pride, greed, materialism, self-centeredness, hatred, etc.) Shouldn't we be more concerned about these things on a daily basis than people dressing up once a year and giving kids candy? Why are we making such a big issue out of this one day? Could it be because we know that we should do something about evil and we think if we condemn this one day we can ignore or even partake in the Satanic attitudes that are promoted and so prevalent the rest of the year?

2. If we're so uncomfortable with Halloween, why are we comfortable with celebrating other pagan holidays that have been "Christianized" such as Christmas and Easter? Why is the celebration or lack there of, of a holiday the standard for Christian faithfulness?

Am I saying Christians should celebrate Halloween? Like so many things this is, I believe, a matter of conscience. For years my wife and I have had friends over for “pumpkin carving parties” and every year we’ve enjoyed spending time with family and friends which we would not have otherwise spent together if it were just another day. Now that we have kids are we going to carve pumpkins & celebrate Halloween? Sure. Because as we’re carving pumpkins we can teach our kids something about God. How He takes this seemingly normal thing, puts His hand to work and forms what He wants, then He places His light in it to shine in the darkness. I see the way people carve pumpkins as very similar to the work that God does in the lives of people. 

Are there dangers associated with Halloween? Obviously. But I see the bigger dangers in the every day Satanic attitudes I mentioned above. More people actively worship Satan on a daily basis by putting themselves first in their lives, and I’m not talking about non-Christians here. 

So what should Christians do at Halloween? I know many churches have “Harvest Festivals” or “Fall Festivals”. I think the reason being is because people want to celebrate. People want to celebrate the blessings of God in their lives. I say, “let people celebrate. let people enjoy time with family and friends they love. let people imagine that they are a superhero, pirate, or Darth Vader.” Cause here is how I see Halloween.  When we put on a costume pretending to be someone else, we need to stop and think for a minute how Jesus took upon human flesh to came as a man and took our place on the Cross to die for our sins. We also need to think about how God has placed the light of Jesus in our lives and that He is working in us forming us into His image and that we’re now called to shine our light for Him though our good works. Judging people never shines God’s light, good works do.

So let me encourage you with the words of Jesus, be it Halloween or not, "In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”(Matthew 5:16) 

Vannak, akiknek lehet, hogy nem tetszik az, amit mondani fogok, de hadd kérjelek meg, hogy szánj egy percet arra, hogy végiggondolod, amit mondanom kell Halloween kapcsán.

Keresztényként minden évben látok különböző Facebook bejegyzéseket, vagy cikkeket, amelyek azt  állítják, hogy keresztényeknek kerülniük kell a Halloweent, mint a pestist. Az üzenet alapvetően az, hogy "a jó keresztény nem ünnepli a Halloweent, mert ez egy ördög imádó ünnep."

Bár teljesen  tisztában vagyok a Halloween eredetével, mégis megkérdezném, hogy a Halloween ahogy mi ismerjük, nem csak egy fogyasztható változata annak, amit néhány ember úgy gondol, hogy az ami?  Azért kérdezem, mert gyerekkoromban, mi mindig ünnepeltük a Halloweent és minden évben mentem cukrot-vagy-csínyt túrára. Vicces, de nem lettem aktív Sátán imádó, hanem egy gyülekezet pásztora, aki szereti Jézust. Van egy fiatalember a gyülekezetünkben, aki aktív Sátán imádó volt és a Halloweenhez semmi közük nem volt.

Szóval mi a helyzet a keresztények és a Halloween kapcsolatával? Hát először is hadd mondjam el, hogy úgy látom, hogy ez is, mint sok más ünnep annyira elüzletiesedett, hogy már csak a pénzről szól.

 ezzel együtt,  hadd tegyem fel a következő 2 kérdést ...

1.   Miért támadják a keresztények ilyen keményen ezt az egy napot, viszont teljesen figyelmen kívül hagynak sok más sátáni hozzáállást, ami a mindennapi nyugati világot jellemzi? (büszkeség, kapzsiság, anyagiasság, én-központúság, gyűlölet stb.) Nem kellene napi szinten jobban törődni ezekkel a dolgokkal, mint azzal, hogy az emberek egyszer egy évben beöltöznek, és a gyerekeknek cukrot adnak? Miért csinálunk olyan nagy ügyet ebből az egy napból? Nem azért, mert tudjuk, hogy kellene tenni valamit a gonoszság ellen és azt gondoljuk, hogy ha ezt az egy napot kárhoztatjuk, akkor figyelmen kívül hagyhatjuk azokat sátáni attitűdöket,vagy akár részt is vehetünk azokban, amelyek elterjedtek és egész évben jelen vannak?

    2. Ha annyira kellemetlen a Halloween, akkor miért nem kellemetlen más kereszténnyé formált pogány ünnepek ünnepelése, mint a karácsony és a húsvét? Miért egy ünnep megtartása, vagy nem megtartása  a keresztény hűség mércéje?

     Azt mondom tehát, hogy a keresztényeknek meg kell ünnepelniük a Halloweent? Úgy gondolom, mint oly sok minden ez is lelkiismereti kérdés. Évekig a feleségem és én a barátainkkal "tök faragó partikat" tartottunk, és így minden évben időt tölthettünk a családunkkal és a barátainkkal, amit nem tölthettünk volna együtt, ha az csak egy sima nap lett volna. Most, hogy már, hogy gyerekeink is vannak, fogunk tököt faragni és ünnepelni a Halloweent? Persze. Mert faragás közben Istenről tudjuk tanítani a gyerekeket. Hogyan veszi a kezébe ezt a látszólag hétköznapi dolgot és hogyan formálja azzá amivé akarja, aztán az Ő fényét helyezi bele, hogy a sötétségben világítson. Nagyon hasonlónak látom azt, ahogy az emberek faragják tököt ahhoz, ahogy Isten alakítja az

Vannak veszélyek a Halloweennel kapcsolatban? Természetesen. De nagyobb veszélyt látok a fönt említett mindennapi sátáni hozzáállásokban. Több ember imádja aktívan a sátánt napi szinten azáltal, hogy magukat helyezik az első helyre az életükben , és most nem a nem-keresztényekről beszélek.

Szóval, mit kezdjenek a keresztények a Halloweennel? Tudom, hogy sok gyülekezetben van "szüreti mulatság" vagy " Őszi Fesztivál". Azt hiszem, ennek az az oka, hogy az emberek ünnepelni akarnak. Az emberek meg akarják ünnepelni Isten áldását az életükben. Azt mondom, "hagy ünnepeljenek, hagy élvezzék a családjukkal és a barátaikkal töltött időt. Hagy képzeljék azt, hogy szuperhősök, kalózok, vagy Darth Vaderek." Mert én így látom a Halloweent. Amikor jelmezt veszünk fel és úgy teszünk, mintha valaki más volnánk, meg kell állnunk és el kell gondolkoznunk egy percig azon, hogy Jézus emberi testet öltött, hogy emberként jöjjön el és elfoglalja a helyünket a kereszten, hogy meghaljon a bűneinkért. Azt is át kell gondolnunk, hogy Isten Jézus fényét helyezte az életünkbe, és hogy Ő munkálkodik bennünk, hogy minket saját képmására formáljon és mi arra vagyunk elhívva, hogy a mi fényünk Neki ragyogjon a jó cselekedeteink által. Az emberek elítélése soha nem ragyogtatja Isten világosságát, a jó cselekedetek viszont nagyon is.


Hadd bátorítsalak Jézus szavaival, akár Halloween van, vagy sem: " Úgy ragyogjon a ti világosságotok az emberek előtt, hogy lássák jó cselekedeteiteket, és dicsőítsék a ti mennyei Atyátokat." (Máté 5:16 )

prayer isn't always the answer

I've recently finished writing my Thesis for college and hopefully will be able to successful defend it next month. But the process of writing has brought me to a point where I believe God is leading to share my thoughts about life through this medium.

So I'm going to make an effort to at least once a week write a post with my thoughts on certain things.

If it's encouraging to you, great! If you want to debate what I think, that's fine too. If you want to stop right here & leave this page. That's fine with me too. If you stick around an read I hope you'll be encouraged.

here is my first post about prayer:

I know you might think I'm crazy to say that prayer isn't always the answer but please let me explain. Over many years of ministry and working with people there is one thing I've learned about people. When they say that "I'll pray for you" what they are really saying is that "I hear your problem but I really don't care enough to do anything about it". That may sound harsh but this is the truth that I've encountered & sadly I must admit have expressed towards people.

When I look at the life of Jesus, I do see Him as a man devoted to prayer. So we SHOULD be praying, but whenever people came to Jesus with a physical need, He never said to them, "I'll pray for you." 

In Luke 5:12-16, when a leper came to Jesus seeking healing from his dreadful condition, Jesus' response wasn't "I'll pray for you", it was that Jesus "stretched out His hand and touched him" (v.13). The lesson here is obvious yet it's not a one time incident. We see this happening over and over in the ministry of our Lord Jesus.

I believe the lesson here is pretty obvious, if we, as followers of Jesus want to see real change in the lives of people we need to stop telling them that we'll "pray for them" but reach into their lives (which might get ugly and difficult) and be God's tool to bring about change in their lives.

So it's time to take inventory of our lives and our surroundings. Who are those people who are hurting? Who are those people who are in need? Who are those people who have problems and we've committed to pray for them? I would suggest that now is the time to stop praying for people and being to actually DO something to help meet their needs. What we see over and over again in the Gospels is that when people's physical needs are met then so too are their spiritual needs.

 Follower of Jesus, let me challenge you to stop praying so much & start actually being who you are, the hands, feet & heart of Jesus in the world. Yes, we need to pray but we mustn't stop there. Our praying for people should lead us to action to bring change in the lives of people that they might come to know Jesus.