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On May 30th, 2009 the campus of Word of Life Hungary’s Bible Institute was filled with great anticipation. Fifty-one students from all over the world came to celebrate a year of hard work, spiritual growth, and perseverance, as they received their diplomas at the class of 2008-2009 graduation ceremony. It was Paul’s first commencement as Director of the Bible Institute. He worked hard at preparing diplomas, planning the graduation program, meeting proud parents, and congratulating the students. Jill was amongst the students who graduated from the two-year program. She had completed the first year of Bible school back in 2006, before married life, and decided to complete the second year of Bible School this past year. Next fall she will finish her degree with Liberty University’s online Distance Learning Program.
The graduation ceremony included a time of praise, prayer, and a special challenge given by Kóvacs Géza, one of the heroes of the faith in Hungarian church history. During the height of Communism, Kóvacs planted several churches and shared the Gospel with thousands, all at a time when being a Christian was dangerous. Géza reminded the students just how rewarding living for Christ can be! Our students have spent two years studying God’s Word, growing in their personal walks with the Lord, and developing important Christian disciplines. Now it is up to them to put into practice all that they have learned. Some of our graduates will go on to secular universities, some will become pastors, others will be active lay people in their local churches, and still others will become missionaries. Please pray with us that the Lord will give them the strength to live out their faith daily and be a light in this dark world. If you would like to watch our graduation service you can do so by clicking here
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Because our Bible Institute is bilingual, (our classes are taught in both English and Hungarian) and because our credits are accepted by a long list of Christian Colleges and Universities, we have students come study from literally around the world. In this update we would like to highlight a couple Americans who studied at our school for the last two years. One such student was Cody Cook.
Before coming to Bible School, Cody was a full-blown, down-home, rodeo round-up Texan. He use to spend his weekends competing in rodeos, drinking, swearing, and all the rest. One evening, while at home watching the movie Left Behind, Cody fell to his knees and begged God to come into his life and save him from his sins. From that day on, Cody was a changed man. He began evangelizing in the school hallways and witnessing to all his friends. In fact, Cody even lost his job because he couldn’t be quiet about the Lord! Shortly thereafter Cody came to Word of Life Hungary and grew tremendously. Whenever Cody was not studying, he was out sharing the gospel of Christ. Cody obviously has the spiritual gift of evangelism. In fact, during the graduation ceremony, Cody received the Jack Wyrtzen Evangelism Award. This award is named after a fiery evangelist who is also the founder of Word of Life International. There is no doubt about it, Jack would be proud of Cody. Next year, Cody will be returning to Word of Life Hungary as an intern. He will be in charge of the Open Air Evangelism Team that goes out to the streets of Budapest sharing the good news of the Gospel with a nation where less than 1% are born-again believers.
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This past year, Word of Life Hungary was privileged to have two married couples amongst the student body. One of those couples was Charlie and P.J. Bolstridge from New Hampshire. This adventurous husband and wife quit their jobs, sold their home, packed up their lives and moved to Hungary in order to attend Bible School! Not only that, but they have three teenage children, Chaz, Jared, and Rachel! The Bolstridges spent the past two years, adapting to Hungarian life, studying the Word, and preparing for future ministry. In addition to studying at the Bible Institute, P.J. homeschooled the kids and Charlie got involved in the sports ministry on campus. They
also opened their home and had a great ministry to many of our other students. The Bolstridge house was definitely the place to be! Charlie and P.J. both graduated with honors. P.J. received an award for earning a perfect 4.0 grade average. The Bostridges will be heading back to New Hampshire this weekend, where they will have a full summer of ministry at their home church. After that, Charlie hopes to find a ministry as an associate pastor where he can be heavily involved in a men’s ministry. Please pray that the Lord leads this amazing family to a place where they can be used to the maximum, for God’s glory! By the way, the boys loved it here so much, they plan to be students at our Bible Institute when they graduate one in 2010 and the other in 2011.
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At our Bible School we have a philosophy that we want everyone who wants to study God's Word to be able to do so. Because of this philosophy we have set the cost of our program very low. We have a 3 tier system. Hungarians pay approximately $1800 a year, other 3rd world countries pay $4000 a year and Western Europeans and advanced countries pay $7500. All based upon the estimated "ability to pay." Yet even with these relatively low prices, some students are still unable to afford it. Would you and/or your church consider sponsoring a Hungarian student to study at our Bible Institute? Or maybe a Romanian, Bosnian, Serbian, all who desperately want to study God's Word but do not have the resources to do so. If God has placed this desire on your heart, please contact me directly at: pweaver@eletszava.org
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So what’s on the schedule for the Weavers this summer? Study! Study! Study! Paul and Jill will once again be studying the beautiful language of Hungary. They will be driving into Budapest on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays to meet with a private teacher for three hours each day. On the off days, they plan to memorize lots and lots of vocabulary as well as practice all they are learning. Please pray that they will soon become fluent in this very difficult language, so they can serve the Lord even more effectively.
