Barış & Suna

Roger befriended a young guy named Baris (means peace) after he delivered food to us at the church several times. He was very sweet and completely baffled that the place we were in was a church. He was intrigued for sure! He came to church the next night and really enjoyed P.Matti's message. He invited us to his house for dinner right away. He took us to their small apartment that he shares with his older brother's family of 4 and his sister. The children were asleep and his brother and sister-in-law work nights, so we had a great time with just Baris and his sister, Suna. They are from a large Kurdish family (nine children) that moved to Istanbul from an far eastern city in Turkey for work and more opportunity. They told us all about themselves, their lives, their hopes, their troubles. They were both so sweet and open. Suna made all the food and spread a tablecloth on the floor of the small living room where they both also sleep at night. So we ate soup, salad, fish, and rice while sitting on the floor and talking (only in Turkish, of course!). Please pray for these two wonderful people and their family! God has such an amazing plan for them and it is so far beyond what any of us can imagine.

Ladies Craft Time

Ehsan - a gift

We have the privilege of having an amazing Iranian friend, Ehsan, staying with us. When I woke up this morning, I walked into the living room to find Roger and Ehsan sitting at the table with their Bibles open. They were having a passionate conversation about what being "hid in Christ" means. It was such a blessing to see Roger be able to pour out the doctrine that he has learned in Bible College to someone who has not had the opportunity to be taught yet! This man has such a hunger for the Word and such a joy when he reads a verse he has never read before. Its so refreshing for us! This is why we are here. To serve, to give, to share what we know by the grace of God.
Now Roger is showing him how to make crepes... from one classroom to another!
Pray for Ehsan. He is hoping to find a job here in Istanbul and be able to stay here with us to learn and grow in his faith.

Girls DO play soccer in Turkey!

As some of you may know, I have played soccer my entire life and its something that I have a passion for - passed on faithfully from my father to my brothers and I. But when we moved to Istanbul, I was prepared for the fact that womens soccer would be hard to find here. We've been here about a year and a half and it took that long to find them! When we first moved here, I asked everyone I came across if they knew of any girls who played soccer...but after all the incredulous looks and even laughter, I started to stop asking. But God is faithful! I met a girl at Bosphorus University who knew of a girl's soccer team. I made some calls that day and two days later I was playing a full field outdoor soccer game in a beautiful stadium with a great group of girls! I wanted to share this because it blessed me so much that God cares so much for me that He would bless me far beyond what I expected!

Word of God Revival - Thoughts from Roger's Message this Weds.

The outworkings of an internal revival:
1. To be quickened
2. To be refreshed
3. To be renewed
4. To be constantly filled with the Holy Spirit
5. To have the Word of God as the standard for our thinking and emotional responses.

In Ezra 9:8-9, the Lord promises to revive Israel, to set up a house of the Lord God, to repair the desolation and to give them a wall in Jerusalem.
When people think about revival, they think of large groups of believers coming together in a new way. But its important to remember that we all need to have a personal inner revival in our hearts daily! Our revival comes from understanding what Christ has done for me, who His is and what He is doing in my life right now. A revival is the Word of God being revealed in us, to us and being expressed through us.
There are moments in our lives when we feel like we want to faint, to give up, to go our own way or the easy way - but that is the most important time to go to God and be revived! In II Corinthians 3:17-18 and 4:1, we are changed from glory to glory by the Holy Spirit, we are given a ministry, and we are filled with mercy so we faint not. The beauty of revival is that it can happen in a moment. Its not a process. Yes, growing in maturity as a believer is a process. But being quickened by the Holy Spirit is not a process. Receiving God's mercy and being refreshed by it is not a process. It can happen in a moment! Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty and in a moment we can be changed from glory to glory because of that liberty. Satan hates to see the power of God change us in a moment, to see us tenderly pulled up from the dirt in a moment and to see us be renewed in the grace that has saved us in a moment.
Revival can be a daily miracle and it comes from a fresh faith - knowing I'm saved, knowing I'm redeemed, knowing my sins are paid for, knowing I'm a child of God and knowing my Redeemer lives.

Our local produce vendor, Abdulraman. This is Liz's favorite spot in Istanbul!

Soulwinning on the steps of St. Antuan

May Newsletter

Hello all,
We just emailed out our May Newsletter. If you did not receive it and would like to - just send us an email and I will add you to our mailing list. Thanks!

Pastor Matti's Exhibition Opening Reception

The Real Secret!

"The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him." Ps. 25:14

"The truth and sincerity of God to his people appears in the openness and plainness of His heart to them. A friend that is close and reserved, deservedly comes under a cloud in the thoughts of his friend, but he who carries, as it were, a window of crystal in his breast, through which his friend may read what thoughts are writ in his very heart, delivers himself from the least suspicion of unfaithfulness. Truly, thus open-hearted is God to His saints: "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him." He gives us His key, that will let us into His very heart, and acquaint us with what His thoughts are, yea, were, toward us, before a stone was laid in the world's foundation: and this is no other than His Spirit (1 Cor. 2:10-11), "One who knows the deep things of God;" for He was at the council-table in heaven, where all was transacted. This, His Spirit, He employed to put forth and publish in the Scriptures, indited by Him, the substance of those counsels of love which had passed between the Trinity of Persons for our salvation; and so that nothing may be wanting for our satisfaction, He hath appointed the same Holy Spirit to abide in His saints, that as Christ in heaven presents our desire to Him, so He may interpret His mind out of His word to us; which word answers the heart of God, as face answers face in the glass."
-William Gurnall in Charles Spurgeon's "The Treasury of David", A commentary on the Psalms

Pray for Veli and his family in Antalya

Veli met the church and got saved in Istanbul, but lives in Antalya with his wife Dilek (means "wish" in Turkish) and his son Umut (means "hope" in Turkish). He is an amazing friend and his heart is so sweet towards God. He wants a Greater Grace church in Antalya!
Please pray for his personal spiritual growth and encouragement, for his wife's salvation, and for his son's health.

Trip to Southern Turkey - Alanya

Trip to Southern Turkey - Antalya