Mark 3 - Is Jesus a Liar, Lunatic or LORD?

Video of Brenten preaching the gospel

This is the gospel message I preached on March 23, 2008 at the house of culture in Ikskile. No one indicated they repented as a response but my hope is that the word of God that I shared would one day bear fruit in changed lives.

Therefore putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. James 1:21

Thanks to Ansis Imaks and his team at Kristus Gaisma TV, the Easter Sunday outreach was filmed, edited, shown on local Ogre TV and posted at www.kristusgaisma.lv. He gave me permission to copy it and share it at imeem.com and here.

Cultural Bonding and Witnessing in Riga

Besides hockey fanaticism, one of the cultural highlights of Latvia is the Latvian Song festival where a choir of 50,000 people is formed. Tickets sold out a few minutes after they went on sale but I was able to see a qualifier performance of a couple top choirs, thanks to our Latvian teacher, Zane, who sings in a group called "Balsis" (voices). Here are 2 of the songs I filmed last Friday.



Since I was in Riga on Friday evening, after the performance, I went out to share the gospel in the central park and train station. Our friend Agnese was there to pray and translate for me, but it turned out most the people we talked to either spoke Russian or English so she didn't translate too much. Many were open to talking with us until we brought up Jesus. One homeless woman we walked up to told us she was planning to commit suicide, she didn't ask for money so I think she was serious, however when I offered to share about eternity and how to be saved, she didn't want to hear it anymore! On the other extreme, there was drunk man we stopped in the park who wanted to hear how to be saved and thanked us for the gospel tract. But most were just out to have a "good time" and did not want Jesus to interfere with that. On our train trip back to Ogre, I had an interesting talk with Agnese about culture and faith in Latvia. There is much to learn about this culture, but one thing that is true of every culture is that we all need Jesus to save us from the corrupting influences of the world. The gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (Romans 1:16-17) and there is power in the name of Jesus (Philippians 2).

Spring and Summer Events

It is finally warm outside! Thank God for the warm half of the year. We are encouraged to use this opportunities to emphasize sharing the gospel on streets. I'd like to share our current schedule with you so you get an idea of what we are doing:

WEEKLY SCHEDULE

• Sunday - 10am Ogre Russian Evangelical church
• Sunday - 4pm Ikskile Latvian church plant
• Monday - Family Time (Day off)
• Tuesday - 6pm English Conversation Club (our home)
• Wednesday - 7pm Ikskile Home fellowship
• Thursday - Evangelism in Riga
  
• Friday night - Evangelism in Ikskile
• Saturday - Study/Prepare for Sunday

UPCOMING EVENTS

• May 6 English Club and Ogre youth watching "A Venture of Faith"
  
• June 23-30 High School Camp - I will be leading worship in Latvian / English
• July 21-25 Vacation Bible School in Ogre - Team from Tennessee
  
• July 30-August 3 in Denmark - Calvary Chapel Scandinavian conference
• August 5-18 Monterey Team Mission trip - Evangelism, Fellowship

Please pray for these things on our schedule and also for our welfare here.
Pray that we would be filled with the Spirit, encouraged in faith and the joy of the Lord, guided into more fruitful ministry and be used by the Lord.
Pray also for our effort to reach youth in Ikskile, that God would guide us to those who are open and that some would be saved and discipled this summer.

Thanks,
Brenten

May Prayers and Praise 08

PRAISES:

God answered prayer for sufficient funds the last 2 months, for reduced rent for the next 6 months, for healing of our colds, for warm spring weather, for encouragement and hope to press on.

PRAYER REQUESTS:

1. Please pray for Brenten as he is sharing the gospel on the streets more now that it is warm, that God's word would go out and change lives,
2. for Lena that she wouldn't have headaches (she had migraines for 2 days)
3. for relationships with Latvians and Russians to be loving
4. for our ministries in Ikskile and Ogre to be a edifying and effective
5. for our walks with God; that we'd live by faith as He leads us into our second year in Latvia.

English Club news

Our English Conversation Club continues to reach out to new people. Tonight, will have our monthly movie tonight, but we will not meet at our house as usual, but we will meet at Trisvieniba Baptist church along with the youth group to watch the film "A venture in faith" about Calvary Chapel's history and philosophy. Here is a clip with the testimony of Lonnie Frisbee, one of the hippies that God saved during the Jesus people movement in Southern California in the late 1960's and 70's.



We started the English Conversation Club last August in order to help young people practice what they are learning in School and to compare world views on different topics. We have discussed many topics from the alphabet and numbers to a Christian hard rock group "Flyleaf" that is popular here.






We will continue to meet Tuesdays at 6:00 PM as long as it is helpful to those coming. Those who come regularly have improved in their communication skills and becoming more fluent. It is also a nice opportunity for us to bond with their culture and share our faith. Praise God for the English Club. For more info go to www.englishconversationclub.blogspot.com or www.angliski.wordpress.com

Memories from Nizhyn, Ukraine 2003

Here is a slideshow from our first 2 years of church planting in Ukraine. Music "Beautiful One" by Jeremy Camp.