The McCauleys

Some of you may know that our church the Free Evangelical Church of Kagran is looking for a place to relocate. For the past year they have been talking with an owner for purchasing a building. We have send information through our sail mal Newsletter last year.

In the past month there has been a lot of movement and steps taken…but not in the direction we were thinking. A few things happened within a short span of time. Pooling our resources we realized that we would need to pay less than the seller was asking for. We tried to negotiate to a lower price but the seller is not in a hurry to sell and thinks he can get what he is asking. So after a year of talking the church building committee decided not to pursue this any further.

Within 2 days the church was informed that there was an empty store, named Pagro, available at a highly populated and trafficked intersection. Purchasing out right was out of our range but a Christian business man, who had been helping us with the previous building, thinks this is a good investment for the Kingdom and is willing to buy the building and land and work out a good rental agreement with us. For this to work there are a few factors that need to be in place.

• He is not able to come up with all of the money up front so the church is loaning money for the purchase to be made by min month.
• We are looking for 2 other partners to rent the building as well. We have found one already, a woman in our church is starting a private kindergarten, this was in our original concept as we want to be a positive influence and witness in the community. The third partner, right now, seems to be an English speaking church that is also looking for a new location.
• All this needs to take place now because for the kindergarten option to work they need to start renovations in May so it can open in the Fall in order to make money.

The last two Sundays at church there has been a spark in the people, an excitement that I haven’t seen in a while. It seems that the whole church is getting behind this and ready to see what the Lord will do.

During this whole building search I can’t see the future nor know how God will work in this situation. I keep thinking of Jonathan or Schadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the Old Testament when each were faced with an unpredictable and seemingly impossible situation, Jonathan and his servant when the two of them attacked a philistine garrison killing 20 men by themselves. Jonathan said “It may be that the Lord will work for us” (I Sam. 14). Also, the 3 Hebrews that were faced with the fiery furnace when faced with recanting their faith and bowing to the king’s image or facing certain death. They answered,”…our God is able to deliver us…..but if not,…we will not serve your gods nor worship the golden image.” (Daniel 3).

In both circumstances they did not know what the Lord was going to do but went onward if even in apprehension because they were doing what they believed to be God honoring and the right thing to do.

We will keep you updated on this project as it unfolds.

Eric

Last week I attended a Language Coaching Workshop in Budapest Hungary. Hungary is a neighboring country due East.  I took a 3 hour train ride from Vienna to Budapest.  There are some of you out there who are thinking,“Oh how nice.  A European train ride. Wouldn’t THAT be fun.”  I can here my mom saying that and I am guessing there are plenty of people who would enjoy that.  Unfortunately, I am not one of them.  I find international travel to be nothing less than stressful.

I took the train after Church last week and was to pull in around 7:00pm in Budapest.  I had looked up my connections online and knew where to go exactly from the downtown train station to my hotel.  Everything was going fine.  It even looked like we were pulling in a bit early.  Most everyone in the train got off and so did I.  To my horror I realized that I had gotten off one stop too early! Stranded, alone, just outside of Budapest.  Remember Budapest is in Hungary and it is there they speak Hungarian, not German or English.  It only dawned on me then that I should have picked up a phrase book or something.  But I hadn’t.

There I was on an empty platform, not able to read anything nor understand a single word of the announcements.  I did the only thing I could. I picked up my bags and pretended to know what I was doing and where I was going.  Fortunately, there was one other train station that I had seen as I had mapped out my travels from the train station to my hotel.  I waited patiently for that train to come and hoped that I could take that one. It was 20 min late and I was getting nervous.

There was one other person waiting.  A lady who started talking to me in Hungarian.  I smiled widely and said, “Sprechen Sie Deutch oder English?” She smiled big and said that she was Austrian.  She had been living in Hungary for the past 5 years.  She helped me get on the train, buy public transportation tickets and brought me to the bus I needed that would drop me off at the front door of my Hotel.

Okay, I hear you.  You say, “Eric what a wonderful story.  How that nice lady helped you.  You made it all right what an adventure.”  I say I could do with out the drama and it is eaiser to say than be the one stranded in a foreign country not knowing anything.  Unfortunately, this was not the first time something like this has happened nor will it be the last.

Tags: InternationalTravel

Gemeinde Kagran

Last Sunday I, Eric, was able to give a short update at church on what is going on in children’s church.  I made a short video that showed the children doing a modified “Walk thru the Bible” but just with the book of Genesis.  (In the German Bible they call the first 5 books of the Bible (the Pentetuch) 1st Moses-5th  Moses.) It was well received.  I had a handful of people comment how good it is to see what is going on with the children.

I have been helping with the children’s ministry since December.  The person in charge is going through some cancer treatment and has had to cut back on many things she is doing.

I posted an old picture of some of the children above.  I didn’t feel right in posting a video without everyone’s concent so I pulled a picture off the churches website. During my short few months working with the children I have seen some noticable changes in attitude which is always encouraging.  Most are Christians and are struggling how to live out their faith at home and especially in school.  As you can imagine with Austria being under 1% evangelical Christian they do not have much of a support system outside the church realm.

If you remember, pray that these kids will grow strong in the Lord and live their lives in a way that pleases the Lord.

Tags: Ministry

Every year around this time the McCauley family decides to take advantage of all the germs running rampent and gets sick.  This year I, Eric, am feeling a little lonely because right now I am the only one sick. 

Last year we avoided  this and this year it seems as if I am the one representing the McCauely family.  I have self diagnosed myself with having the common cold and a touch of the flu.  Not sick enough to go to the Doctor and not well enough to really think clearly.  This weekend I got dressed up for the BAO 25th Annivesary celebration and was so foggy I actually forgot how to tie my tie.    It was more than alittle embarassing.  I even resorted to google “how to tie a tie”.  There is actually quite a lot out there. Anyway, I was so foggy that I couldn’t even follow the video demonstrations well enough and had to have my friend Joel tie it for me.

This past week I have been diligently getting my fluids trying to bolster my immune system.  Austria has many wonderful teas for just about everything. A tea cup has been glued to my hand the past week and I am getting sick of drinking it.  Today Christy says I look better than I have all week and I am feeling well enough to do a few thinking tasks which I am very happy to do.

This past weekend BAO celebrated their 25th annivesary.  It was exciting to hear how BAO started from one man’s vision, Wili Giefing, and with a small group working hard to provide leadership materials that are biblical.

At the celebration a few former students gave testimony of how BAO has been vital in their spiritual formation and how it has practically helped them in their ministries.  It was neat to see BAO’s part in reaching and teaching others in view of 2 Timothy 2:2.

The main thrust of BAO is to support the local church in training leaders for ministry.  These first 25 years the Lord has blessed tremendously and BAO is looking forward to the next 25 years and seeking God’s guidance on how to better support the local churches in their task for equipping the church leaders to accomplish the great commission.

BAO’s training materials now helps over 1,000 people each year in German speaking countries.  It also has many translated some of their materials in other European languages and has begun to network with other likeminded training organizations check out their database of courses that are taught in different languages and different countries here.
 

Tags: Ministry, BAO

We haven’t had a lot of snow this year and on Thursday we finally got enough to make a snowman and go sledding!

We were able to capture Kati sledding down a hill in our neighborhood.  We took this on a digital camera and apparently it does not record any sound so it looks almost like an old fashion movie.

Elena was also bundled up but didn’t seem as impressed with the snow as Kati.

Kati Sledding from Eric McCauley on Vimeo.

Tags: family

Last year  I,Eric, was asked to be in charge of our churches Children’s Ministry. I didn’t feel comfortable taking that kind of leadership positions since there were other capable people in the church.   The church is 25 years old and we believe it is not our job to do the job but help Austrians do the job.

This is more tricky than it seems because it means sometimes taking on something in order to train and equip the right people but to do something just because I can doesn’t necessarily mean it is something I must do.  Sometimes it means coming along side and helping where they have asked and other times it means standing even further back so others can step up.  This last phase can be difficult for all involved because it is not very comfortable.  This is a large issue any missionary and even anyone in ministry whether it is full or part time.  Anyway, I didn’t mean to ramble on about missiological perspectives in church work.

I did however agree to help out wherever possible and as a consultant. As a result the ministry has been divided between two capable women.

The leader for the elementary age children had to have surgery in December and asked me to take her place until she feels well enough. I have stepped temporarily have been teaching once a month and helping out another teacher once  a month.  Most of the children are Christians but not all.  It has been a challenge working with the curriculum.

I surveyed 6 churches 4 years ago about what they were doing for their Children’s Ministries and as a result discoverd that there is not one curriculum that is published or existant that goes from 5yrs-14 yrs old!

There are some curriculi that span 2 to 4 years but that have a concrete scope and sequence systematically covering the Old and New Testament from an evangelical perspective is not in existance.

One thing that I find exciting with our churche’s children’s ministry is that there are more men teaching and volunteering than women for the elementary ages.  That excites me.

Pray that the Children’s Ministry would become a strong discipleship aspect of the Kagran church.  To visit our churche’s website go here Gemeinde Kagran.  Yes, it is only in German but you can browse the pictures to get an idea of the people in the church.

Eric

Tags: Ministry, Church, Missions

Yes, I am on facebook. Christy introduced it to me and I fought it for the longest time not wanting to waste my time.  And yes, it can be a waste of time.  I know some people who spend hours and hours on it texting, uploading so many photos, playing games etc…  I thought it might be a good way to reconnect with those who are interested. Not that I am really chatty on it.  I basically punch in what I am doing on a particular day and that is that.  Sometimes I don’t go on it for days.  Like one time I posted that I was reading a book to Kati and it was there for 4 days!

Yesterday, I was minding my own buisness trying to get some thank you notes written when Christy came to me and said have you checked your inbox on your facebook account.  “No” I replied.  “Well you had better take a look right now!”  “Why” “Just do it Okay there is someone you want to see”  So I opened it up and was amazed.  Now I do know that it IS called the WORLD WIDE web, but really struck me at that moment.

Back in 1993-94 I spent a year in Stavropol Russia with the CoMission teaching teachers how to use school curriculum of Morals and Ethics based on the Bible.  I was part of a team of 12. It was one of the hardest years of my life and one of the best years of my life.  Anyway, as I opened up the Facebook Inbox I was reading a note from one of our translators from my time in Russia.  Since then I have been finding others from my team on facebook.

I am finding rather fun remembering them and times we had together and wondering what are they up to now.  I am sure I will be finding out more about them and they me in the coming weeks.

It also causes me to stop and think.  How did have I grown since I have last seen them?  How did I come off to others way back then, I turned 21 while there and was pretty young.  Okay, enough facebook and blogging back to thank you note writing.

Have a good weekend.

Tags: family

Here is the most recent picture of our GEM Austria team taken at last weeks planning retreat.
We have a really good team and am glad to be apart of what God is doing here in Austria.

Tags: Austria

Today is going to be a full day.  I, Eric, will teach children’s church this morning.  We will be finishing a flim clip and talking about forgiveness.

After church, we go home and pack for our 2 day GEM Austria Annual Strategic Planning Retreat.  I am excited because I think it will be very good for the 15 adults (the six kids also come with their own program).

This years theme is “Being Disciples, Making Disciples”.  I will help facilitate two of the sessions.  This year we have 3 new people and the whole team will be together.  This hasn’t happened since last year.  We have all had to spend our 6 months in the states for our Home Ministry Assignement. 

There seems to be some momentem in the team and we are eager to see how God will lead us during this next year(s).  We will be doing some praying and planning about this next year. Trying to be strateic in what we are involved in.

This will be the first trip we have made with Elena since we have been back.  We hope we don’t forget anything, diapers, clothes, burp clothes.  There is so much to remember especially since we don’t do this often.  Kati is very excited because she gets to see some friends there.  She has been asking everyday for the past week, “Is today the day”?

Tags: Ministry