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.

Conference Welcome Packet Now Available for Download

Key conference documents (in English) are now available for download in pdf format. Other language translations will be added to the download list as they become available. 

Click on the link at the right to open the desired document in Adobe Reader, or right click to save the desired document to your computer.

CLC 2013 is Almost Here!

These are busy days in our Budapest office as we make final preparations for the 2013 Church Leaders Conference. Larry, Katie, and Júlia will be traveling to Portugal on Tuesday in order to complete the advance preparations on site. Worship team members will begin arriving on Wednesday, and the majority of other conference participants will arrive throughout the day on Thursday.

Please join us in prayer that:

1. The Ukrainian delegation would receive their necessary travel visas so that they can participate in the conference.

2. That all those who will be traveling would have safe journeys and arrive in Portugal with all of their luggage.

3. That our conference speakers and workshop leaders would be able to communicate clearly from God's Word and that the participants would be able to hear and understand, even through translation.

4. That our conference translators would have the inspiration to find the right words at the needed time.

5. That those who will be received as ministerial candidates and those who will be ordained will sense God's blessing and power in their lives and ministries.