Fall 1993 to Spring 1997, Fall 1998 to Spring 1999
Kansas State University

Our first assignment found us at Kansas State University. During our 5 years, we saw God work in many lives as we shared the gospel and mentored students.

For Anne, the most memorable part of ministry at K-State was the women she discipled. It was exciting to see these women lead others to Christ and lead small groups of their own. For Jeff, it was having the privilege of leading John to Christ and helping John become a life-long disciple. Jeff was honored to be in John’s wedding in 2001.

In the Summer of 1996, we took eight students with us to Hungary for SpeakOut English camp. We enjoyed getting to work alongside our K-State students as we built relationships with Hungarian students and shared the gospel. Our summer experience prepared us for the next big step in our ministry.

Fall 1997 to May 1998
Debrecen, Hungary

It was ten years ago that we had one of the biggest adventures of our staff career. We joined eight other Americans on a campus in eastern Hungary. We enjoyed working with the Hungarian students already involved in the campus movement. One of our students is now part of the campus team in Budapest.

Both of us agree that it was one of the most challenging years of ministry, but also one of the richest. We are still close to many of our teammates. Recently, we have reconnected with some of the students we met that year.

Fall 1999 to December 2004
Student LINC, Orlando, Florida

Anne worked with Student LINC our first year in Orlando. She helped Jess (left in the picture) to start a new ministry to Doane College in Nebraska. That ministry has been continued by successful generations of student leaders.

Working with Student LINC was a great opportunity for Jeff to use his years of ministry experience and combine that with his creative talent. Jeff was able to help fulfill the original vision of GodSquad.com and make it into an indispensable resource for students and staff. The site is utilized around the world as staff and students trust God to change the lives of young people.

December 2004 to Present
theLAB, Orlando, Florida

As Jeff continued to grow in his Web skills, he was asked to join theLAB,
the media and technology solutions team for the Campus Ministry.

Jeff enjoys being part of a creative team who are using their gifts to help reach students for Christ, build them in their faith, and challenge and equip them to reach other students, both on their campus and around the world.

Currently, theLAB is working on a promotional package for 2009 Campus Crusade Summer Projects. The package includes several videos, a print brochure, Web site, and a motion design project that will allow students to add their faces to a video. It is an exciting opportunity for our team to create an integrated product that communicates through 3 different design mediums.

Summer 2005, Spring 2006, Spring 2007
Short-term Missions to Hungary

In the summer of 2005, we returned to Hungary with Katy and Ryan. It was fun to see Katy thrive in the environment of our English camp outreach to Hungarian high school and college students. Both the Hungarian students and the American Christian students loved having her around. Katy would like for us to go back for another summer.

Jeff returned for his sixth visit with a group of 10 teenagers from Orlando in March 2006. They spent a week speaking in Hungarian high schools and helping with a Battle of the Bands outreach. Jeff led a smaller team in 2007.

Read more about our ministry in Hungary

Monday – I had the chance to share a little bit of my testimony in a classroom with a small group. After school, I went with 2 teammates to do some random evangelism. We had an opportunity to talk with a group of 7 students that we had met earlier in the day while speaking in their English class.

Tuesday – My teammate Jillian got to share the gospel with a girl, Nori, that I had met on Monday in a Hungarian school. Jillian spent 4 years living in Budapest with her family. They are with Campus Crusade. Jillian shared the gospel in Hungarian and then I had an opportunity to share my testimony as we were answering some questions that Nori had.

At the student leadership meeting, I had the joy of seeing George. He was a student in Debrecen and was involved in the ministry while Anne and I lived there in 1998. I had not seen George in almost 10 years. He and his wife are on staff with the Campus ministry in Budapest. It is exciting to see enduring fruit from the ministry that we were involved with in Debrecen. He also caught me up on several others who had been student leaders in our ministry there.

Wednesday - I got to go back to a Catholic boy’s school that I had been in a year ago (pictured above). I saw Balint, a boy that I had talked with last year but did not get into spiritual things. I found out that he is a Christian and has been involved in the high school ministry here in Budapest. He has gone out with several of the staff when they have shared their faith. It was exciting to hear what God is doing in Balint’s life. (There is a picture of Balint on our February newsletter.)

Thursday – We tried to pass out flyers for the Battle of the Bands outreach. This day was a national holiday. We did not find a lot of students but did get to witness a couple of political rallies in the city. Hungarians are unhappy with their present government and there were threats of large demonstrations and even some violence. There was a small element of right wingers who caused some minor problems. We were never in any danger because the problems happened at night and we stayed away from the areas we knew would be a target.

Friday – Hundreds of students attended the Battle of the Bands outreach. I do not yet know the numbers or how many showed spiritual interest.

Earlier in the day, I witnessed some university students playing softball in a park. This was an unusual thing in Hungary. I approached them to ask about it and next thing I know, I got to play with them for a couple of hours. It was a very fun memory of my time here.

One of the highlights of the trip for me came last Monday. After school, I was out with Jillian and Caleb, 2 students from Orlando. We had the opportunity to talk with a group of 7-8 students. About 3 of them were very interested in spiritual things and we had the chance to share about our lives and give them 4 Spiritual Laws booklets. It was fun to hang out with them. One of the guys offered to buy me a beer which was a very gracious gesture. (I very gracefully refused but did my best to show my appreciation for his gesture.) It shows how much they trusted us and enjoyed engaging in conversation.

Later today, Laci and I are going to a university to try to talk with some students and share our faith. I look forward to a chance to do ministry with my good friend and do ministry in a university which I have not done in Hungary since we lived here almost 10 years ago.

I find it ironic that as we approach the 50th anniversary of that event, Budapest is experiencing riots and protests. As I read the reports of what happened earlier this week, it reminded me of the accounts that I read about the first days of the 1956 revolution.

This week, people began demostrating after a tape was leaked in which the prime minister admitted to lying to the public in order to win the election last April. On Tuesday night, the protests became violent as uglier elements of the crowd stormed the state run television station and looted it. Cars were set on fire. There was also a protest in front of the socialist’s headquarters. Today the protesters are not met with tanks and bullets, as in 1956, but by water cannons and tear gas.

The current prime minister made comments at his socialists’ party retreat in May, just after being re-elected. He admitted that the party had not done anything in the government for the previous 4 years and that they had lied about the state of the economy and planned reforms. One of his comments was that, “We lied in the morning, we lied in the evening…” Supposely he made the comments as part of a speech to wake up the party to the economic situation that has been lied about for at least the past four years. A tape of this speech was leaked to the public on Sunday. The prime minister is claiming that his comments did not only include his party but the previous governments of the last 10-15 years.

From what I read, the demonstrations last night were peaceful but there are fears that they could turn violent again over the weekend. I think this current situation highlights the moral crisis in this country. It is a moral crisis with its roots in the communist system and the atheistic philosophies which provide no basis for morality.

I am praying that God will use this current situation to make people aware of the corruption of their own hearts and see that God offers a solution in Christ.

The Hungarian Campus ministry is planning several outreaches next week. They are planning on speaking about ethics and the basis of sound ethics. Their hope is to highlight the problem of every person’s heart and how Jesus is the only one who can transform us. Please keep Hungary in your prayers.

One of the girls Marcia met was Inez (on the right in the picture). Marcia invited Inez to SpeakOut, a summer English camp outreach. At the end of our time in Budapest, Marcia felt called to apply to be part of the SpeakOut staff this summer.

Inez showed up the third week of the camps and was put into Marcia’s tutor group. Here is what Marcia wrote at midweek of the camp:

This week has been a challenge. For all of you who went to Budapest this spring, Teó and Inez are here. Inez is my camper. PRAY for them.They are 14 and breaking my heart. They’re just into lots of drinking and partying it’s no good. They found them outside fairly intoxicated. Pray for them and for me as it is breaking my heart and spiritually exhausting.

What Marcia didn’t know is what was going on in Inez’s heart. Through the week she realizes her life is going no where (her desires for attention from boys, going out drinking with friends, etc… ) and she wants more out of life. Marcia continues to express love and acceptance to her and talks with her about the gospel. At the end of the week, Inez puts her faith in Christ! The Hungarian team in Budapest will be following her up and getting her involved in their ministry this Fall.

Many other students came to SpeakOut this summer as a result of our mission trip to Budapest in March. Each day as we spoke with classrooms of Hungarian students, we invited them to come to the English camps this summer. It is exciting to see how God continues the process that we were a privilege to be a part of.

Read more about the Budapest Spring Project and/or our family’s experience at SpeakOut last summer. Also, my friend Laci posted some pictures from this summer’s SpeakOut outreach on Flickr.

• the worst tobacco death rate in the world
• widespread alcholism
• high amounts of pollution
• the 5th highest suicide rate in the world

I think these factors point to the greatest reason, a lack of spiritual hope. Hungary is a hurting nation and this is one of the reasons that we continue to have a heart to see Hungary reached for Christ.

Students packed the cafe that the outreach was held in. About half of the audience were interested Christians.

The speaker very clearly presented the gospel and gave an invitation to receive Christ. Everyone that attended expressed that they liked what they heard and would like to talk further about these issues.

One young man rode 3 hours by train from another part of the country in order to hear the discussion.

My friend Laci is the Campus Ministry director in Hungary. This what he had to say about the outreach: “For the students in our movement it was also a very good event, it has built their faith. They are better prepared to have a discussion about the DaVinci code in the coming weeks, especially when the movie will come out.”

The team in Hungary plans to distribute the Companion Guide magazines to other parts of the country. Several staff that I know in Hungary say that the movie is a hot topic of conversation right now.

Thanks for your prayers. If you are interested in finding out more about the resources that Campus Crusade has developed for The Da Vinci Code, visit godsquad.com/davinci

Today, the Campus Ministry in Hungary is going to have an outreach at a downtown student cafe. The subject of the outreach is the Da Vinci Code book and movie.

The ministry in Hungary has translated Josh McDowell’s magazine concerning the DaVinci code and have distributed close to 1000 and hope to give out another 3000.

While passing out the magazines, the Hungarian staff have invited students to a DaVinci Code presentation by Danny Loe, who is on staff with Campus Crusade’s theological team. He is going to speak on the DaVinci controversy and also present the Gospel to all the students present. They will also give an invitation to receive Christ.

So please pray that may kids would come and that many would hear the true teachings of Christ, probably for the first time in their lives.You can find out more about this outreach at my friend Laci’s website.

See my earlier post about the Da Vinci Code magazine