unexpected surprises

yesterday morning we went to a little villae curtea... we went to their sunday morning church service... there were about 16 people in the building when we got there,,, they were already singing... we met a man imanuil, and he welcomed us and my interpreter and friend Immanuel walked with me to the front of the church building... in these churches the preacher usually sits on the stage facing the room... they do this at the church i was at in NC as well... very awkward... anyways... there was about 15-20 minutes of singing some prayers, and reading of poems, and then evan who was with us gave a short message, then curran got up front and said a prayer for everyone, and then i preached... i probably preached for at least 30 minutes, but they are used to an hour message... so all of you who complain about mine or brett's messages being too long can stop or be thankful... after the message which was over aroun 11am... the church began to sing and read poems and pray for another hour, until noon... it was very special, very different...

i can say that i really enjoy he authenticity of some of the churches... it doesn't have to be professional or well planned... we can just pray, sing, and read God's word... there is truth in that... i imagine many of the apostles in the new testament had many services that looke just like this... i know that i am not comfortable with it, however i recognize that its because i am used to something else... the truth is sometimes i wish we could worship and spend time together like this... all the games, and lights, and stuff does seem to be silly sometimes... why must we have these things to produce environments where peole feel close to God... it is a shame we have to, or maybe its a shame we feel like we have to... neither one is right or wrong, and I suppose that if you were to bring what we do to one of these villages they would freak out and may not think it is from God... just like if we went bare naked (i mean in the way we do our services, come on people get you minds out of the gutter)... people here in america might not like it and think it was church tradition not from God...

why is it so tough to bring people to christ sometimes... the church or the world or a combination of both i suppose has really screwed it up... it should not be this hard to get people connected with God... maybe we connect people with programs and stuff more than God... maybe we do not always do the best job of making the transition from worshipping a program to worshipping God.. I want to do better at that... i know that students and teens can love God and love His word, the bible... maybe i am the one who spends time in the wrong areas... this is something that i hope all the students that are reading this think about...

if we did not have the bright lights and fun games, would you worship God??? would you love Him any less... really think about that... why don't we read our Bibles... why don't we spedn time with God daily... why is that so difficult... i mean there are 24 hours in everyday... why is 5-15 minutes so hard to come by for God, when we spend so muc time with so many other things... maybe we have become to comfortable... these are just things that i am wrestling with... i would love to hear your thoughts... this is not a question or debate over technology... it is what is real worship... what makes real worship... where am i, and where are you... do you really worship God... do I really worship God... anyways

last night we went to a baptism service!!! it was at least 2 and 1/2 hours long... Curran was struggling to make it through the whole thing... there was at at least an hour of special music and singing on and off, and an hour of people giving messages on and off... the actual baptism part took about 20 minutes and then the pastors of the churches prayed for each person after they were baptized, redressedn and came bakc out to the auditorium... then there was a huge meal for everyone... soup, meat, somales (cabbage rolls), bread, drinks, and dessert...

what a really neat thing to celebrate the moment... there were five people being baptized... three teens and 2 adults... i don't know what or how, but i know that i love this idea... to celebrate baptisms... to share together in this moment... to make a commitment to each other to help this new christian... to let these new brothers and sisters know that we are family and to keep each other accountable... i just know that i want to be more faithful to those who are wanting to give their life to Christ and those who have just been baptized.. to make sure we connect with them, and help them walk this new life... i am excited that we have a group of people who will be leading this effort...

there was a high school group of students from another church that sang a few songs that night, and afterwards i went to talk with them... we joked around and had a lot of fun... they taught me some romanian and i taught them some english and a new handshake (jon langley)... it was just like being at shift... i have several email addresses that i can't wait to share with some of you kids at southpoint... we have friends in romania that we can keep up with and ancourage and learn from and be encouraged by them... there was a lady who came to me and asked me to pray for her brother who lives in Wixom, MI... it is truly a small world (my mom says this all the time)... so i am bringing his name back to MI so our pit crew can be praying for him...

God is awesome, and we are getting tready to teach over 20-30 ministers in the next 3 days... teach them about leadership, about stewardship, I am teaching about family and youth ministry... i am already enjoying the conversations with many of them, God is just so cool... we truly our one mind and one body... Christ holds us all together just like He told us in Colossians...

well that is all the time i have now, btw cindy if you read this i will call later tonight... immanuel gave us a number that allows us to call home free but i have to wait until 6pm... it will probably be around 5-6pm your time... i will call your cell phone... which is... psych... i'm not giving you all that number... southpoint we miss you... shift we miss you, but are excited to see you and share everything with you, and maybe ways we can partner with Romania... family we miss you, and i really hat that WFU lost... but we are going all the way this year... friends from Louisville if any are reading this... i am sorry but wake forest will probably play Louisville in the ncaa tourney, and we are going to win... please still be friends with us...

everyone that could care less about basketball, i am sorry for wasting your time with that last part... ttfn