Sharing The Love of Christ This Christmas

Over the month of December the church had the honor to help assist Casa Iuana, a home those who are homeless this Christmas. Our church collected many different shoebox gifts to give to the children of the families located at Casa Iuana. This was a unique opportunity to bring a little Christmas joy to a small child, as well as, to be able to share the gospel with their whole family. We trust God will use these sorts of opportunities to produce the fruit of repentance in the hearts of these families. Please pray along with us that this will be the ultimate result.

The Children of Casa Iuana

Singing Christmas Chorals With The Children

This past Sunday we had the unique opportunity to go to the Embassy of the Philippines to share with the ambassador, diplomatic personnel and citizens of the Philippines in Romania the gospel and true story of Christmas. We praise God for this opportunity as we were able to share with almost 100 individuals. Several mentioned that they would like to visit the church. We are trusting that God will use this to open many of their hearts to Christ. Please pray with us that God will use this opportunity to produce fruit for His glory.

Bill Sharing The Gospel At The Embassy


Bill & Naty with The Philippine Ambassador & His Wife

A Very Good Christmas!

Sunday evening was a remarkable event in the life of the church. We had prepared for our annual Christmas celebration for almost six weeks. We were uncertain how many would attend and once again our Lord totally exceeded all our human expectations. Many from the church took advatage of this special opportunity to invite their friends and families to hear the the gospel as it was presented through various means during the celebration. We were told that at least 128 people attended, this was the largest such crowd for a Christmas Celebration, we praise God for His goodness!

The Christmas Celebration

The Christmas Choir

We thank the Lord for the continued growth of the aftershcool program at the church. As the word has started to circulate throughout the community more and more families have gotten involved. We pray that more children will come and that this will open more doors for the gospel.

The Children of the Afterschool

Preparing for A Wonderful Month of Celebration

Our church recently began preparing for our annual Christmas celebration that will take place this coming Sunday, the 13th of December at 6:00 pm. This is an annual event where many of the different ministries of the church collaborate to share the true message of Christmas with our community each Christmas. Over the last few years this has been one of our best attended events each year. This year we hope once again to have many visit from our community as we share the story of the hope that was given to mankind through the birth of our Savior. We ask you to pray that God will bless these efforts and that many will hear the gospel through them this Christmas.

The IBC Christmas Choir Preparing for the Celebration

Last Sunday we had a special privilege to worship along with our brothers and sisters from Nigeria who led us our musical program. Many who attended enjoyed the opportunity to worship in a new way and to experience how others around the world worship our great God and Savior. Sometime in the future we hope to have this sort of an opportunity again as others from different cultures come and lead us in worshiping the Lord.

Our Friends From Nigeria Leading Us In Worship

Excited About God's Work

In recent days we have seen the Lord doing some great things in the church. Over the last month attendance has increased noticeably in all areas of the church. Just this past week Naty was commenting about how attend in our children's Sunday School has almost doubled. We praise God for how He is working and we are trusting that this coming New Year will be the best in the life of the church.

Children's Sunday School

We praise God as we near the new year for the ways God has shown His faithfulness to the International Church. Naty and I have been privileged to work with the church since June of 2006. Over that period of time we have seen God do some very encouraging things. Recently the budget committee of the church gathered to establish a budget for 2010. As they did we provided them with the historical numbers of the church since we arrived and we learned some things that encouraged us greatly. The numbers were as follows:

Attendance

(2006 Averages - 38); (2007 Averages - 52); (2008 Averages - 64) (2009 Averages - 73)

Giving
(Approximately)

(2006 - $3,600); (2007 - $5,800); (2008 - $33,500); (2009 - $46,000)

We learned from this experience that it is good to take inventory and see what God has done. He has truly been faithful to us and we trust that 2010 will even be better. Please pray along with us that God will bless the New Year coming here in Bucharest with much fruit for his glory.