Group Photos by Kevin Austin

On Sunday morning most of our group gathered for a photo on the hotel's patio overlooking the beach (Praia Grande). Left click to expand, right click to save.

Saturday Recap

It was another gorgeous day in Sintra! 

The schedule for the day was quite similar to that of Friday, with Josef Sykora starting out the day with the second part of his Bible teaching. Considering the parable of the sower, he helped us to see that parables both hide and reveal. We must ourselves enter into the story in order to engage with the riddle and be able to speak about the ultimate mystery of God. We need to create a space in how we speak so that other people can enter and themselves engage with the story.

The two workshops that were offered on Friday were repeated today, this time with translation in different language from that of the previous day. As had been the case on Friday, people were shocked to hear about the prevalence of human trafficking throughout Europe. And Norbi's emphasis on holistic biblical counseling stirred many people to reflect on how their own counseling ministries could be more effective.

During the afternoon free time a large group took a bus tour to Cascais and Lisbon. The European MEG Board meet during this time to interview six ministerial candidates - Carmelo Palmés Guedes from the Canary Islands, Joel Louidor from France, Hugo and Carla Conceiçâo from Portugal, and Santiago and Laysse Magalhâes from Portugal. These candidates were received as European Ministerial Candidates during the evening service.

Ildikó Kóber from Hungary shared her testimony during her interview with Júlia, telling about her recent studies in a YWAM discipleship program in Romania and Moldova. You can hear Ildikó's recorded testimony at https://vimeo.com/64550078

Marites Aquino from Belgium also shared her testimony, telling of her emigration from the Philippines and the trials of faith that she encountered in the years that followed.

The highlight of the evening was the reception of the European Ministerial Candidates, named above. It was wonderful to hear about their current ministries and their vision for the future. They are men and women who are passionate about following Christ and helping others come to him by faith.

The evening speaker was Pastor Keith Cowart from the Christ Community Church in Columbus, Georgia. He spoke on biblical leadership and challenged every leader present to go forward in faith, following God's call and to bring others along with them. 

Friday Recap

The first full day of the Church Leaders Conference began with breakfast that included a stunning view of the ocean. This was a special treat for the Ukrainians, who had never before seen the ocean.

Josef Sykora was the teacher for the morning Bible hour. He selected as his text the Old Testament passage about the healing of Namaan and used it to challenge our thinking about what it means to know God. To know God we need to become radically obedient. In this complicated world fixed rules do not solve the majority of cases; we must be sensitive to God to know what to do. Knowledge of God is more than we can capture, our arms must be wide open.

Two workshops followed. Norbert Izsák from Hungary led a session on “Challenges for Pastoral Psychology in 21^st Century Europe.” He asserted that our view of the means of counseling is directly related to our view of the nature of man and the nature of God. In small groups he challenged the participants to consider a biblical, holistic approach to counseling that considers an individual’s mind, body, and spirit.

Kevin Austin, Saskia Wishart, and Kali Long Papanagis led a session about the modern-day movement to abolish human trafficking and slavery. Kevin presented a global view, Saskia presented a Europe-wide view, and Kali spoke specifically about the situation in Greece. Together they called the church to be involved once again in the abolitionist movement.

The afternoon was devoted to the missionaries and pastors meeting with Bishop Roller, at which time he introduced a new supervisory model for the work in Europe and introduced the three men who would together be sharing the supervisory responsibilities. Following a time of questions and answers the three new regional supervisors met with people from their respective areas in order to begin the process of acquainting themselves with their families and ministries.

The evening service began with another excellent music set offered by the worship team. Júlia Tóth continued the interview series by introducing Hugo and Carla Conceicao to the conference. Hugo and Carla are expected to be received as Conference Ministerial Candidates on Saturday night.

As an added bonus, Al Mellinger introduce Pastor Nikolai from Bulgaria, who gave his testimony about how God has worked in his life and ministry.

David Carr concluded the service with a stirring message about what it means to be truly free, based upon the biblical reference in John 3:36.

Thursday night

The opening session

Bishop Roller

The 2013 Church Leaders Conference began on Thursday night with a greeting and welcome from Bishop David Roller to the 75+ pastors, missionaries, and church leaders who had gathered together here in Sintra, Portugal. Hugo Conçeicão led the multinational worship team that included people from Hungary, Greece, Bulgaria, and Portugal.

Júlia with Kali and Alkaios

Júlia Tóth from Hungary is serving as the interviewer for the conference, and tonight she introduced Kali Long and her husband Alkaios Papanagis to the conference. Kali and Alkaios live in Athens, where Kali serves as a VISA missionary working with people on the streets and brothels.

Cindi Angelo

Cindi Angelo was the evening speaker and she based her message on Matthew 3 and the account of the baptism of Jesus by John.

The tired but happy Ukrainians

During this time, and unbeknownst to most of the conference participants, Larry Winckles and Júlia Tóth were dealing with a crisis involving the Ukrainian delegation. Arriving at the conference center by taxi, they unfortunately left a bag with their money, computer, and passports in the taxi. The hotel staff was of great assistance in trying to track down the taxi, but in the end it was the honesty of the driver that resulted in the safe retrieval of the bag.

Fellowship around the table

True to the custom of Portugal (and the Mediterranean), dinner was served late, following the evening session. This was normal for many people, but difficult for others. "When in Rome" was the adage of the evening.

Part of the worship team

The conference got off to a great start! Thanks go out all who helped with the advance preparations and who helped get things ready on site. Our great conference team is comprised of Cindi and Eduardo Angelo, Larry and Katie Winckles, Júlia Tóth, Al and Diane Mellinger, Margaret and Joe Tanner. Thanks, too, to Scot Dunn for his help with video and translation equipment.

Everything is ready, let's go!

All of our preparations have been completed and we are ready for the start of the 2013 Church Leaders Conference. Soon this room will be filled with pastors, missionaries, and church leaders from our churches throughout the continent. Please pray for the next three days of meetings, interviews, worship services, fellowship, and more!

Earlier today Bishop Roller conducted meetings related to the new oversight model that he is putting in place in Europe. Formal announcement of this will be made to the conference attendees tomorrow afternoon. We also ask for your prayers for the new ground that we will be breaking in the days ahead.

The first wave of delegates arrive!

Superintendent Mitch Pierce and his wife, Lynn Sue were the first to arrive today, and throughout the day the rest of the Hungarian delegation arrived as well. We enjoyed a wonderful meal together at a local restaurant. The waitresses noticed the group praying before the meal and asked about our group. We told them about the Free Methodist Church and about our conference taking place at Hotel Arribas. They were happy to hear this and told us that they were also evangelical believers!

Arrival at Hotel Arribas

The advanced organizing party arrived at Hotel Arribas on Tuesday afternoon in order to get things ready for the conference. Conference participants will be arriving throughout the day on Wednesday and Thursday, prior to the start of the conference on Thursday night.

This is the view of the Atlantic Ocean from the hotel. Hotel Arribas is the western-most hotel on Continental Europe.