Bob and Betts Parschauer - European Update

December 2009


Dear Friends and Supporters,


Right now I am going through the book of Revelation in my "Quiet Time." I just read about the church in Philadelphia this morning. Rev. 3:8, "I know your works. See I have set before you an OPEN DOOR, and no one can shut it: For you have little strenght, have kept My Word and have not denied my name." God has certainly opened the door for us in Europe and it looks like it will be open for a long time. Our prayer is that it will remain open until our Lord returns to take His church home. There are times when we sure do feel as if we have little strength, but when we are weak, then we are strong!

This past month has been filled with activities, the highlight being my trip to Germany and Austria with my sons Bobby and Brent. It was a great time of blessing for us as we reviewed what the Lord has done in Europe over the last 45 years and the way that these German castles have been used of God over the past 40 years to influence the lives of literally thousands of people. 150 thousand campers and guests have been ministered to just in these castles.

I was again overwhelmed with our German staff and also our Board of Directors. What a Godly group of men! Many of whom were challenged to dedicate their live to the service of the Lord during our 25 years of ministry in Germany. Lawyers, a medical Doctor, influential businessmen, tax consultants, Bible school teachers, and even a brother who is very involved in politics.

Another highlight for me was the special day to honor Betts and me for our service in Germany and me for 45 years of serving on the German Board. I became what they call "An Honorary Word of Life German Board member." They really celebrated with a great dinner. After dinner we went to the meeting room and looked at old pictures, laughed, cried and I was so humbled to think that the men and women were so thankful for our ministry over the years.

Here we are again with our UPDATE about what is happening all over Europe today. I trust that you will be encouraged as we are at all that God is doing.

This has not been an easy year for Betts and me, but we praise the Lord for all the lessons learned and for His matchless grace and continued encouragement even during down times. Betts has been diagnosed with another cancerous tumor, but our doctor is keeping his eye on it and we are trying to shrink it with milder medication instead of again having to go through radiation or chemotherapy. We are so thankful for all of you who have been so faithful in praying for us and especially for Betts. God is so good to us even in spite of all the difficulties that we have encountered during the past year. We are so overwhelmed and also humbled by the way God is caring for us through His dear children.


Thank you so much for your prayers and support for this great work to which God has called us! We want to continue to serve as long as God gives us strength.


Our love and prayers,


Bob and Betts Parschauer



European Update

Austria
Two new board members joined our Austrian board at our annual board meeting this past November 15th. Both of them are very gifted musically. NEW OPEN DOORS. Andy Wenzel and Bob Parschauer Sr. joined us for this special meeting. Herwig and Claudia are busy teaching and singing and Willy and Tania are very involved in youth and student ministries. The snow camps were again a great success with many from Germany taking part in the camps.
-Andy Wenzel

Bulgaria
Our family day picnic was a great blessing and resulted in a good number of new campers attending our camps this past summer. This summer we had 38 campers and 11 made a decision to receive Christ as their Savior. Several of our helpers were graduates of our Bible Institute in Ukraine. The rest were from our Bible Clubs. New OPEN DOORS for these dear young people.
-Sergii and Tania Tyshchenko

Czech Republic
An experience from last summer. It was Wednesday night and we were preparing for our weekly camp fire dedication meeting. Just before it was to start, we had a downpour for over an hour, of heavy torrential rain. The creek began flooding, water was flowing over the bridge and the creek rose to the edge of our dining room. What a mess outside. We held our dedication service in the dining room with great testimonies after the message 29 young people responded by coming forward to dedicate their lives to serve the Lord. Even a tragedy can OPEN DOORS. Our entire summer was filled with blessings. Many were saved and others dedicated their lives to serve the Lord.
-Rich and Aliss Hood

France
Our superbowl in Paris in May was a great success, thanks to a team from Word of Life Quebec who helped us with the program and the Gospel presentation. This was only our second event in Paris and we had 200 youth in attendance and 20 salvation decisions. Summer camp was a huge success with many coming to Christ and 5 young people are now attending our WOL BI in Argentina as a result of these camps. We are thankful for the work teams from Nehemiah Network that helped us with the final renovations of our Paris property. The official opening is planned for January 2010. New OPEN DOORS. The center has 17 rooms and 42 beds. Pray for our upcoming Winter Bible conference with Kris Stout on relationships. We are expecting 150 people between the ages of 15-25.
-Rob Stetson

Germany
This year was filled with activities beginning with snow camps in January and February, the German Brass tour and Gregor tour in USA in March, and April. The evangelistic meetings with Andy, Detlef, and Gregor. The musical festivals with Gregor, and Kids Action programs with Alex Lombardi, Family and Music Camps, Fitness and Fasching camps week end ministries and German Brass concerts in Germany with Georg Scheller and the summer camps now run by two new young men Bernd Lornz and Chrstian Gunka. Not to forget the Bible Inst. Directed by Matt Hurja and Joe Frick on Lake Koeres just South East of Berlin. Many new OPEN DOORS.
-Andy and Esther Wenzel

Kenya
What a year! Surely “All things work together for good to those who love the Lord.” Through the events of this last year (having to flee our property in Nairobi, and being unable to reach a lot of the schools we had been ministering to) God has opened new doors for us through satellite camps away from our property. In the last year since then, we have had 4,400 campers. More than 300 salvation decisions, many more dedication commitments, and even several Muslim youth who received Christ. We are now again in the midst of our December camping season and would appreciate your prayers.
-Chris and Theresa Mwalw’a

Hungary
As we look back on 2009 it seems that God is building bridges to a new generation of leadership. Also bridges to new OPEN DOORS! Paul Weaver is our new Bible Inst. Director, Gabor Csikos now leads our outreach teams. We now have two “Born Again to a Living Hope” drama teams going out to accommodate all the invitations from the public schools, prisons, and local culture houses. We are also building new Financial Bridges since the dollar has lost 16% since March this year. God is doing great things in Hungary! Thank you for your faithful prayers and financial help. Continue to pray for our new team in the country of Serbia. They need our support. In all we had 320 campers of which 191 were new campers and 67% were completely unchurched. About 125 accepted Christ. We are beginning to see the Bible Club program grow. OPEN DOORS
-Alex and Pam Konya

Lithuania
We held our first ever camp in Lithuania this past summer. What a job to minister to 135 young people and see 35 receive Christ and 50 dedicate their lives to serve the Lord. Almost half of the campers were unsaved before coming to camp. This is unique in Lithuania for a Christian Camp. Pray for us as we continue to study the language and at the same time lead the ministry. The Bible clubs began again in September and we also had a great youth conference with many decisions for Christ. Already we have numerous opportunities to hold seminars on evangelism. OPEN DOORS!
-Mihai and Ana Laura Bucur

Poland
When Israel crossed the Jordan River they set up 12 memorial stones so that generations to come might know that the hand of the Lord is mighty. Some of our stones this year. Summer sports camps, all told 320 campers. 20 received Christ. Missions camps, where 952 heard the Gospel in an individual conversation. Our new Polish Ministry Center is the next great stone that was set this year. We are still in need of many more dollars to make this a reality. We would be thankful for any help that you could give us at this time. Clubs are up and running again and our 20/20 Training Camp are in the new planning stages right now. More OPEN DOORS!
-Tim and Virginia Good

Portugal
Our annual Family day event was a great success with over 600 people here. As the Gospel was proclaimed by Wendell Calder, 24 adults and two young people accepted Christ. Another 14 people came to Christ during the next week of conference on our property. This was just before our summer camp season which was again blessed beyond any of our expectations. Now we are in the middle of our winter program with Bible clubs, leadership conferences week end evangelistic meetings as well as Christian tours. Thank you for your prayers for us. Many new OPEN DOORS this year!
-David and Pat West

Romania
What a year God has given us! During a six day Medical Clinic 761 people were treated and 36 received Christ. More than 7000 high school students heard the Gospel during 110 presentations of Born Again to a Living Hope. Over 700 received Christ. 47 soccer and volleyball teams (570 young people) participated in our one day sports outreach. 14 made a decision for Christ. Then came the summer camps with many decisions for Christ. Now we are going into our Christmas presentations after a great fall children’s ministry, Leadership conference as well as the Bible Clubs all over the country. Our biggest victory this year was the completion of our Transylvania Bible School and Camp property. This is phase #1 of our building project. We still have much more to do, and are so thankful for all who are helping us financially and for all the OPEN DOORS that God is giving us. Please be in prayer for our new teams that are now established in Turkey and Greece. These new teams are in need of support in order to grow these new ministries.
-Juan and Kim Silas

Spain
We had 70 young people at our summer camp and 7 made a decision to receive Christ into their hearts. This fall we had a Dynamic Youth conference as well as a Dynamic Marriage conference with 120 participants each. What a joy to see the response as we taught them from the Word of God. At the present time we have 15 students in our Discipleship Training center. Pray for them that many will become servants of the Lord. During the last 6 months of evangelistic meetings we are seeing many come to Christ. Thank you so much for your prayers and support.
-Beto and Crystal Tarasiuk

Ukraine
As I write this, Dr. Chuck Scheide is in the Ukraine as a guest professor, teaching at the Ukraine WOLBI. Many pastor’s and teacher’s from America, South America and other countries in Europe are called to assist the teaching of these great students from many countries of Eastern Europe. God has opened a great door in this part of the world and we need to get behind them, because they are the future of all of these countries, which were for so many years under the closed doors of communism. These doors are now open, but we do not know if they will be closed again. We had a great summer of camping this past summer and many came to Christ. WE were also in Russia, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan with teams from the Ukraine. “Our Born again to a living hope” musicals have been in many of these countries since this summer and many other evangelistic activities are happening right now. Young people are being trained to move into these countries as future leaders. We need your prayers and help to influence these Eastern European countries for Christ.
-Jorge and Laura Radziwiluk

United Kingdom
Through our different evangelistic activities we are seeing people come to Christ every week. Our camps were a great blessing again with many saved. The school ministry is also expanding! We need more workers. We especially saw God work in August and September in three one week crusades in Northern Ireland and North of London England. We had young people from all over the British Isles at our youth conference in October. We have two new programs to reach the parents of the campers that have received Christ at our camps. One is a “Quiz night”, the other is called “Murder Mysteries”. These nights of fun end with a gospel presentation. New OPEN DOORS.
-Dave and Cheri Kelso

Prayer Requests
· Pray for the upcoming Winter Bible conference in France with Kris Stout.
· For the many campers who have come to Christ in Kenya East Africa this year.
· For the Financial Bridge being built help the growing ministry in Hungary.
· Pray for the Bucur’s in Lithuania as they study the language and minister.
· Pray for the dollars still needed to purchase the new property in Poland.
· Pray for the many believers in Romania, to be established in the faith.
· Pray for support for our new teams in Turkey and Greece.
· Pray for the 15 students at the DTC in Spain.
· Pray for the nights of fun in Great Britain with the parents of our campers.

Ministry Report from Greg & LuAnn Lyons

Greg & LuAnn Lyons - Metro Manila
Reaching Across the Street...
...Around the World!
Ministry Report

Reaching Across the Street! Gospel Parties!

Each year our ministry capitalizes on the Filipino culture of 'fiesta!' Throughout our small group network we host, in the homes of our members, a special event to share the Gospel. A "Meet My Kaibigan(Friend) Party" or MMKP, is an incredible tool for an adult to invite their neighbor over for a party where the salvation plan is shared. Each MMKP has 4 parts: Games, Goodies, Guests, and the Gospel. Our people spend the months before the MMKP, developing relationships with unbelievers and eventually inviting them to the event. At the MMKP, the members share how God and their small group has influenced their lives. Then the Gospel is shared in a diagram format so all can understand. Finally, each visitor is seated with a believer who shares their personal testimony and the how their friend can be saved.

This year was incredible! We had over 1,000 adult unbelieving visitors in over 150 small groups scattered throughout Metro Manila. 328 made salvation decisions! We then hosted a "Welcome Home Sunday" for all the new believers, encouraging them to be baptized and begin discipleship. Many are taking that next step in their walk with the Lord.








Reaching Around the World!
Francis Velasco--Missionary to Cambodia

Transformed - Reformed - Now Called!

Francis came to church the first time during a Christmas outreach event. His cousin had invited him for several months. Francis came just to get his cousin off his back. In fact, Francis told his cousin, "I'll go to your church to prove that no 'church' can touch me!" Francis had been a practicing homosexual for 25 years. He operated a beauty parlor and was well known in the community as one of the best hair dressers around. In fact, the evening Francis came to church, he introduced himself to me as Barbie! He was wearing fishnet stockings, a miniskirt, lots of makeup, the whole thing! I welcomed "Barbie" to the service. Then I prayed that God would change his life!

That night, during the invitation, "Barbie" went forward! One of our counselors shared Christ with him and A new birth happened through the Holy Spirit!

Two weeks later, a man walked into our Sunday services. I introduced myself to him and he told me his name was Francis. He mentioned we had met two weeks before and that he had come as "Barbie." I was blown away at the transformation: a man's haircut, blue jeans, a man's shirt! I asked, "What happened to you?" Francis looked at me and said, "I got saved!" What a great day that was!

Fast forward to 2009...

Francis has been baptized, discipled, been faithful to church, led small groups, completed his B.A. in Biblical Studies at Baptist Bible College Asia, joined a church planting team, taken 2 missions trips, and now has surrendered to be a foreign missionary to Cambodia!

That's right, Francis Velasco is going to be a missionary! Incredible what God can do with a life! Francis is a trophy of God's grace!

We are all excited to see what God will do through Missionary Francis Velasco! Francis is currently raising his support to go. We are hopeful to have all his support raised by April, 2010.

Help Get Francis to Cambodia!
As any missionary, Francis will have many challenges when he moves to Cambodia. 50% of his support is already raised from Filipino churches.

Do you want to have a part? You could help complete Francis' support base! With 48 churches or individuals who would send $100/year towards his support we could get Francis to the field! You might also consider investing in Francis' ministry on a monthly basis. That would be a huge blessing! Click on the"Support Francis" link and invest in a great missionary!

Here are some additional needs Francis has...

Motorcycle - $1,500
Cambodia Visa - $300
Computer - $250
Set up Expenses - $1,000

Let's Change The World!