The Project
This project has morphed greatly from its original design. The original plan called for a series of bicycle teams coming for two weeks at a time. Each team would cover the same towns and allow us to share Christ over and over in the same places. When the opportunity came along for summer missionaries (interns) to come, I thought that it would be good to have a couple of interns to help bring consistency to the teams and repeated contact with the same people.
One team had already reserved the job request, but we lost contact with them when the leader moved and changed jobs. There were a number of other bicycle teams contacting us, but the only one that materialized will arrive after the interns leave. This suddenly made the interns the main team for the entire summer.
This of course meant a total rework of the strategy. I was in the middle of revising the plans when I met Dr. Rodney Harrison at Midwestern Seminary. He has successfully initiated church plants in an overseas cross-cultural setting using short-term volunteers. A long conversation with him and another professor at Southwestern Seminary brought together the idea that our summer interns could not only spread the gospel, but also be the catalyst for new church plants.
There are still a lot of details to work out. But I believe God is stretching our ministry to new lengths. There is no doubt He is working in Hungary like we have never seen before. We believe that this summer will be "the breakout summer" for our team.
Plans will continue to morph. Before, when someone asked what the project was about I said, "Bicycling around eastern Hungary telling people about Jesus." Now nothing is sure except the "telling people about Jesus" part. We still plan to use bicycling because it is an effective tool for penetrating the communities so that people will more open. But we may spend more time in each town to help facilitate gathering a group for a church plant. Sports camps and English camps are also possibilities. You don't have to flexible, you have to be fluid.
A home base will be arranged where you can store things you will not need on the road. If we are biking, a safety vehicle with trailer will be following you on the road so you will not have to carry your things on the bike. You will stay in a variety of different places including private homes, bed and breakfasts, church basements, and even camping. You will always have at least one other teammate of the same gender staying with you. In some of the homes they may speak very little if any English. The families will be carefully chosen, but they likely will be cultural Christians, not born-again believers. I will be with you most of the time, except for one week while we are at the Annual Missions Meeting.
This is an evangelism project, so of course witnessing is not optional. Write out your testimony on one sheet of paper in common vernacular. The optimal length is 1 minute. The max length is 3 minutes. After you write it, reread it, then take out all churchy words and rewrite it. Share face-to-face with another believer and have them observe your mannerisms to ensure that you appear natural and relaxed. Then begin immediately sharing with nonbelievers. If you don't do it in the States you won't be able to do it here. We may have your testimony translated and printed in both languages so you can leave it with someone.