Chapter 2 the harvey family
CHAPTER 14 - LINZ HOW DOES GOD LEAD?
Download 2.2 Mb.
|
- Navigate this page:
- THE POWER OF PRAYER
- UNSPIRITUAL LEADERS
- REMODELING THE NEW CHURCH
- SUPER SPIRITUAL YOUTH
- ENLIGHTENMENT
- PENTECOST WEEKEND YOUTH RETREAT, 1969
CHAPTER 14 - LINZHOW DOES GOD LEAD?As a child I envied adults who could take a cookie and it wasn't considered stealing; who got what they wanted without having to tell a lie; who could drive cars, operate machines, paint and do so many wonderful things which were forbidden to me. Independence seemed like a paradise! Now that I was married, living in a strange land, and having to make important choices, I began to yearn for clear direction. Missionary life seemed so different from the "Acts of the Apostles." Verna had declared her willingness to serve the Lord wherever he led us, but it had always been up to me to make final determinations. We prayed together about everything, but in the final analysis, I was the one who made crucial decisions. God had blessed our relationship and given clear leading when it was needed in our marriage and in choosing a mission affiliation. Our faith was stretched almost to the breaking point when we decided to resign from one mission and join another, but the Lord helped us through. Our present crisis was somehow different. We had been praying and searching for the place where God wanted us to serve for more than three months, yet were no closer to a solution than in the beginning. Perhaps it was the stench of the oil stove which gave us constant headaches and nausea, or the months of endless and fruitless searching for housing, or the fussy children in our cramped temporary quarters. It could have been the thought of Verna being seven months pregnant with our third child and having to deal with these conditions. Whatever it was, I am certain that God was in it. As I was praying one morning, it occurred to me that I might not be looking for God's leading, but just determined to do what I said that I would do. I began to question the stipulation I had made in regards to our place of future service. "It must be a city or town where there is no existing evangelical church." Was that really from the Lord? True, I had shared this with supporters during furlough and explained it to our fellow missionaries. The main policy of our mission was "Pioneer missions." Underscoring that objective was the well-known saying of the respected pastor of the People's Church in Toronto, Dr. Oswald Smith. “Why should someone hear the gospel twice when there are others who have never heard?” A thought hit me like a ton of bricks: How often had God allowed me to hear the gospel before I gave my life to Christ? It occurred to me that Dr. Smith had merely posed a question. His slogan certainly deserves consideration, but it is not Scripture! Kneeling before the Lord, I told Him that I was willing to follow his leading anywhere at all. I would serve Him wherever He provided housing! I shared this information with Verna, but before we had an opportunity to share it with anyone else, God provided! THE POWER OF PRAYERBecause we were living in their meeting room, the youth group met in the church sanctuary. I had begun attending youth meetings, but a good-looking young man named Gerald was leading the youth and seemed to be doing a good job. He was the son of a deacon and had a charisma seldom found among young people. I said that I would be willing to help as long as we were living there. The Lord was obviously beginning to work in wonderful ways among these young people who displayed a genuine burden for the lost youth of Linz. They went out into the streets witnessing and inviting others to their youth meetings. Many responded to the Gospel, but needed much love, patience and disciplining. The youth even conducted weekly all-night prayer meetings, calling upon the Lord to send revival. Not aware of the commitment we had just made, the youth also prayed that we would find housing. PETERA recently-converted youth named Peter was present in the prayer meetings. He had belonged to a motorcycle gang and played lead guitar in a rock band before he was saved. The change in his life was radical. He destroyed his entire LP collection, claiming that the records had been his god. Peter was also looking for a place to live. A colleague who worked with him in the local steel mill offered to rent him a nice apartment, but it was too large and expensive for a single guy. Peter asked us if we would be interested. Within 24 hours, we had prayed, looked and signed a contract! We rented three rooms and Peter rented the fourth. He often ate with us, and we had ample opportunity to encourage him in his Christian life. Oh yes, the apartment was located in Ansfelden, a few blocks from the house we almost rented. Peter later received Bible-school training in Germany and returned to become a Baptist pastor. He served on the Board of the Austrian Bible Institute, which we founded fifteen years later, even serving as Chairman for a couple of years! I wrote the following in February, 1969, a month before we told the Lord that we were willing to go anywhere he should lead. It was published in the April GOSPEL MESSAGE. SHOULD WE GIVE UP? I am writing from the Baptist Church in Linz, Austria, where we are staying just now. The church has graciously permitted us to make living quarters out of the tiny youth room. It is about twelve by fourteen feet, has an oil heater and one window. Still, we are thankful for this, the roomiest living quarters we have had since before Christmas. Until February 12th, we were living with fellow missionaries Mr. and Mrs. Frank Wiebe. There were nine of us living together in their three room apartment. We and Ricky slept on the floor of their kitchen; Van on the office floor, and all five of the Wiebes in the only bedroom. That setup lasted six weeks! When we came here, we expected to move into a house within the week. We had even moved some of our belongings into the house when we found out that the owner was so deep in debt, his house would soon be auctioned off. Evidently, he hoped we would move in, clean and fix it up so he could get a better price. The Lord preserved us from that trap! Most of our belongings are stored in another city. Austrians call the USA the "Land of unlimited possibility." We are beginning to think of Austria as the "land of unlimited impossibilities." There are houses for sale, but they are very high priced. Some apartments and houses are standing vacant, but not available due to Austrian red tape. In view of the housing shortage, the few landlords who have places available demand high rent. They ask money from each inquirer to hold the vacant apartment. When the would-be renters finally realize that they have been cheated, they find themselves in the midst of a long and expensive legal battle which they usually lose. We have searched through town after town in vain, hoping to find a place to live. We have answered newspaper ads, placed ads in the paper, asked people in stores, on the streets, and knocked on doors to inquire when we saw a place with no curtains, unshoveled snow or other clues of a vacant house. We have asked mailmen -- if any place is available, they should know of it. We are seeing firsthand why so many Austrians migrate to other countries, and why so many of the missionaries who come to Austria give up and go home. CAN WE GIVE UP? Austria, with seven million people squeezed into a small, mountainous area, has fewer than three thousand evangelical Christians in the entire country. Most of these are adults, but there has been a revival among several youth groups recently. Just a few years ago, the Baptist church in Linz, where we are staying, did not have a youth group. When the children of some of the members were converted, things began to happen. The breakthrough they longed for came last summer - through European believers, rather than the result of missionary endeavor. When we arrived in Linz, we were asked to try to encourage the young people. The pastor told us about the awakening the church had experienced and about last summer's fruitful evangelistic efforts in the suburbs of this city of 200,000. The youth group meets Wednesday evening for Bible study. Friday evening they meet for prayer. Sunday afternoon they have another get-together. On a recent Friday night about twenty young people gathered at 7:30 for their prayer meeting. There was no time for idle talk -- those kids meant business for the Lord. With an occasional break to sing a chorus, they continued in prayer until after midnight. Never have I experienced such a spirit of prayer anywhere, among young or old. Nor is all of their time spent in meetings. All of the Christian young people are eager to serve the Lord in any way they can. Two of them write Gospel songs- really excellent songs! Two others bought a Volkswagen bus and haul people to and from services. All are actively witnessing for Christ. But the pastor was concerned about the group being at a "spiritual low"! Some of the young people had dropped away. One fell into sin and was in prison. Another stole money from the church office and vanished. Still another, a drug addict who had professed conversion and evidenced growth in the faith, stole money from another youth and disappeared - he probably bought more drugs with the money. There is plenty to do for the Lord right here. And, of course, there are the many outlying villages and towns without churches. NO, WE CAN'T GIVE UP! UNSPIRITUAL LEADERSWhen we moved to the Linz area in December, 1968, the Baptist Church was meeting in a small barracks type building, but they were building a new edifice on the same property. Having had plenty of experience in church construction, I was naturally interested in this project. I noticed that the architect had made some serious blunders and the builder even more. For one thing, the front wall of the balcony was so high you couldn't see over it when seated. I mentioned this to the builder, and he showed me that this was according to the architect's plans. I brought the matter to the attention of the Chairman of the Building Committee, but that was like striking a hornets' nest! My comments were not at all welcome and it was made clear that he knew what he was doing and did not need my two cents worth! I mentioned the incident to the Pastor and he confirmed that there was serious dissention between certain members of the Building Committee. The following day, construction workers were knocking off about a foot of the balcony wall. The Chairman of the Building Committee wielded much influence in the church. He was not only an Elder, but also had a degree in theology and was a lay preacher. He had a good-paying job and let it be known that he tithed. His wife was church organist and his son-in-law directed the choir. Another Elder of the church and member of the Building Committee had an engineering degree, an equally impressive salary, plus a wife and eleven children in the church! Neither of these men knew much about building but they were not inclined to admit it. The Pastor and another very humble and spiritual man who served on the committee found it extremely difficult to keep the peace. One day, the Pastor confided with me that tension in the Building Committee was so bad, he was contemplating his resignation as pastor. He asked me to pray with him about the matter. Two days later, the Chairman of the Building Committee had a heart attack and died. He was only 55 and it came as a shock to the family and church. It was definitely the most difficult funeral of the pastor's career! The other elder who served on the Building Committee now assumed the role of Chairman and problems persisted. The new church was dedicated on March 30, 1969 and it didn't take members long to discover problems. The seats were second hand from an abandoned motion picture theatre. They were not cushioned and in poor condition, so a member of the church sanded and spray-painted them. It was a gigantic task and the seats looked like new. But it was soon discovered that the varnish loosened in hot, sticky weather, ruining clothes. They had to be sanded and refinished with a different type of varnish. Everyone was joyously anticipating the first baptismal service in the new church. Most Austrians are Roman Catholic and baptism by immersion is practically unknown. The architect and builder made the baptistery far too shallow and there was no cover, wall or railing around the edges to keep children from falling in. Three young people who had been saved through the youth work were to be baptized. One of them was Franz, who was 6' 2" and tipped the scales at about 200 pounds. I wondered how the pastor would get the candidates all the way under, but he did. The baptistery was filled to the top with water, and when Franz went under, a tidal wave erupted and spread across the platform, cascading down the steps into the sanctuary. A couple of dear sisters scrambled to get towels and mopped up the deluge. No one fell into our baptistery, but the choir director of a Pentecostal church with a similar pool told me of his experience. He took a step backward while leading the choir at a baptismal service and fell in! Our church members decided that something had to be done. The interior of the church was about as attractive as the inside of a shoebox. The ceiling was twenty feet high, eighteen feet above the platform. The gray vinyl tile floor hardly contrasted with the cream colored walls. The pulpit stood to the far left and an old pump organ on the right. The baptistery was in the center of the platform with a plain wooden cross on the wall above it. Two changing rooms with flat roofs had been built to the right and left of the baptistery, looking much like a pair of outhouses. It was discovered that the Pastor and choir members didn't have enough light, so lights were installed along the upper edge of the changing rooms with a sort of bridge connecting them in the center over the baptistery. Once, the youth were in charge of a church service and they taped two large posters on the front wall about half way to the ceiling. Someone thought that these broke up the monotony of the wall and suggested leaving them there. If you stared at the front of the church long enough, it seemed like a giant jack-o'-lantern was staring back with the lights looking like a gleaming row of teeth. An elderly member of the church had an ivy plant which had outgrown her living room, so she had her husband place the plant on the connecting bridge over the baptistery, its vines stretching six feet to the right and left. No one had the heart to tell these dear saints what they thought of the idea, so the plant remained. The Jack-o'lantern now had a mustache. The walls, ceiling and floor were all hard surfaces and there were no carpets or curtains. The acoustics were so poor that even those in the front row couldn't understand the sermon. Hymns had to be announced with the help of fingers so the congregation knew where to look in their song books. We tried using an amplifier and various constellations of loudspeaker boxes, but nothing helped. The Pastor and I worked hard, preparing sermons, but for the first 18 months, no one understood them. REMODELING THE NEW CHURCHI kept pleading with the church to do something about the acoustics. The answer was always the same: "No money." I argued that we could do the work ourselves, but they replied that this would be impossible for novices to accomplish. Hoping to convince the church, I drew up plans for a suggested renovation of the sanctuary. The plans included a suspended acoustical tile ceiling and wood covering for the front wall with an opening for the baptistery. The vertical break in the wall above the baptistery displayed an illuminated cross. The plan called for the entire floor of the platform and sanctuary to be carpeted. The hideous platform steps, which ran the full width of the room, were reduced to a minimum and the platform widened to allow more room for the choir. The upright edges of the platform and front wall of the balcony were paneled with the same wood as the front. A marble-brick wall around the baptistery would allow it to be filled without causing a flood and keep people from falling in. I drew sketches of what it would look like when finished and compiled a list of materials with calculated costs. I then presented the package to the church at a Business Meeting. The members began their arguments about competence, but this time, I was prepared. I passed an album around the room, containing photographs of churches which I had helped to build and remodel in America. That sold them! Only the cost of materials needed to be resolved. The Lord helped us to get materials for unusually low prices. A new firm which sold suspended acoustical ceilings offered us materials at cost because we were a church and the amount of material would place them in a lower purchasing bracket with the factory. When the job was finished, it looked so nice, that the firm sent prospective customers to look at it for years afterward. We showed the manager of a lumber yard what we planned to do and asked what their longest boards would cost. His eyes lit up. "I have just the right wood for you," he exclaimed. He then led us to a pile of boards which had obviously been lying around for a couple of years. "These boards are solid redwood tongue & groove, imported from California. They are all over twenty feet long and don't have a single knot in them!" I could just imagine what they would cost. The manager continued, "This is expensive wood, but I can sell it to you for the same price as pine." We began sanding the boards before varnishing them and one of the men soon had second thoughts about our bargain wood. The boards had been piled with narrow separator strips for ventilation and some kind of black soot had soaked into the grain except where the strips had been. The member sanded one place nearly half way through, but the stripe was still very much visible. Only half a dozen boards were usable. We loaded the rest onto a truck and headed back to the lumber yard. The manager was away on business but his salesman took care of us. He studied the bill and saw that there was no mention of the wood being defective or second quality. Then he said that we were in luck. They had just received a new shipment of the same kind of wood. A few days later, we received a bill for the wood, which was already sanded, varnished and fastened to the wall. It came to three times the original quote. The church treasurer called the lumber yard and drew this to the attention of the owner. He was told, "That price was for the defective wood. You returned it in exchange for first quality boards." A lengthy argument ensued, and after fifteen minutes, the manager said, "Okay, I confess. I tried to unload that wood on you, hoping you wouldn't notice. You can consider the money you saved my penitence!" The job was completed in November, 1972 and it was impressive! There had been no accident and nearly every member had worked on the renovations in some way, even if just cleaning or making meals. It bound us together more than any sermon (which we couldn't understand anyway) might have done. The dedication sermon for the newly renovated church was the first message anyone understood since the church was "finished" 18 months earlier! I was presented with a Seiko wristwatch as a token of the church’s appreciation. SUPER SPIRITUAL YOUTHI accepted the leadership of the youth work in Linz with reservations. For one thing, the young man who had been leading the group was not very happy about my appointment. Also, I felt uneasy about leading these dedicated young believers who even held all-night prayer meetings! On the other hand, there seemed to be serious problems in the youth group, but I just couldn't seem to put my finger on the problem. I discovered that youth meetings were being attended by several drug addicts, and dealers were selling hard drugs in the church rest rooms! I threw out the dealers, warning them that I would inform the police if they returned. Gerald was violently opposed to the way I handled the drug dealers. He said we would lose the opportunity to reach them for Christ. "Instead of threats," he stated, "we should show them the love of Christ, preach the Gospel and pray for their salvation." Gerald preached convincingly in street meetings, prayed fervently in all-night prayer meetings, and had led a number of young people to Christ. But it seemed that his converts were more followers of Gerald than of the Lord; this concerned me. As Verna and I prayed, several of the young people approached us independently and shared the same concerns. They said it was "high time someone kicked out those drug dealers." According to them, several youth had gotten their first taste of drugs on the church premises! Although it seemed impossible to find any fault in Gerald, he found many faults with the way I handled things. His criticism surfaced with increasing frequency; sometimes speaking behind my back, but more often in front of everyone. He could make cleverly-formulated statements, designed to discredit me without actually mentioning my name. Once I tried to close the youth meeting saying, "It is well after midnight and tomorrow is Sunday." Gerald objected, "Reaching the lost is more important than sleep." If we had a long season of prayer, he said that we should spend more time in the Word; and when we spent more time in the Word, Gerald claimed that we were not praying enough. If both Bible study and prayer time were lengthy, Gerald would exclaim, "We are becoming like the Dead Sea, all inlet and no outlet! We need to get out and reach the lost!" If I suggested we go out to witness or invite people to youth meetings, Gerald argued, "We need to spend some quality time with the Lord. God can't use us if our hearts are not prepared." I was beginning to get very discouraged and considered giving up the idea of youth work. Perhaps Gerald was right and I was wrong? Could it be that I was not filled with the Holy Spirit? Other youth and members of the church seemed to notice my frustration, however, and encouraged me to continue. ENLIGHTENMENTThe Lord brought matters to the surface in a most unusual way. Our youth group had become well-known in all of Austria, partly due to Gerald's charisma and the all-night prayer meetings. We were invited to put on a program in a Salzburg youth center on March 16th, 1969. Our choir was to sing and Gerald was asked to preach. As expected, the program was well-received. I overheard several teenage girls raving about Gerald afterwards, saying that it was too bad he already had a girlfriend. Gerald had recently announced his plans to marry a tall, attractive girl he had been dating, named Sylvia. During the meeting in Salzburg, I noticed that Sylvia and a girlfriend who had come along from Linz were acting erratically. After studying them, I recognized the cause of their strange behavior -- they were high on LSD! Hoping that no one else had noticed, I somehow got the girls out of the hall. After explaining to the Salzburg youth leader, I packed them into my car and taxied them back to Linz and their homes. Two hours later, I was back in Salzburg, just in time to pick up the other youth. Gerald said nothing about the episode, but several of the youth told me that Gerald knew Sylvia was taking drugs. Later, Gerald came to Silvia's defense, claiming that she was tricked into taking the LSD. When I discovered that his younger brother was addicted to opiates and that Gerald had given him money for drugs, I called him to task about it. Gerald had a ready explanation: his brother would have committed criminal offenses to get hard drugs. The Lord was not finished with the de-masking process, however. Two weeks after that fateful trip to Salzburg, one of the girls in our youth group went to visit a friend in Salzburg. When she returned, she had a horror story to tell. Sylvia had left her diary in Salzburg. Her notes were written in shorthand, but the girl who found it worked as a secretary and understood the entries. The diary contained explicit detailed accounts of her experiences, not only with drugs, but also of sexual relationships with Gerald! She even wrote of attending all-night prayer meetings with Gerald after which they spent the morning in bed together! Unfortunately, the girl who found the diary shared these "juicy morsels" with other youth before giving the book to her pastor. Overnight, Gerald lost his credibility and most of his following. There were wounds and scars, of course, but now that the "secret sin had been removed from the camp," God began to pour out his blessing on our youth ministry more than we ever could have imagined. Having lost his credibility in Linz, Gerald decided to enroll in a German Bible College. Our church was asked to send a recommendation, but refused. Gerald still moved to Germany and we saw very little of him after that. PENTECOST Pentecost ranks as the third most important holiday in Austria, and it is always celebrated as a three-day weekend. Schools, banks and many other institutions remain closed from Saturday through Monday. Trees are turning green and flowers are blooming after the long, cold winter months, but it is still too early for the annual onslaught of tourists. These factors make Pentecost a favorite time to schedule national conferences and retreats. Because Pentecost is the official birthday of the Christian church, this is especially suitable for Bible conferences and church functions. It is a shame that American Christians don't celebrate the birthday of the church, but they celebrate Memorial Day at this time of year and there is apparently no room on the calendar to squeeze in another holiday. Protestants should also celebrate Reformation Day on October 31, but that would interfere with Halloween! Every year, Christian youth from all over Austria meet for a national youth retreat on Pentecost weekend. The retreat is held in a different major city each year and is the highlight of the year for many teens. Because most Austrians are Roman Catholic, evangelical congregations are generally small and their youth groups even smaller. This is the only time when many youth get to know other believers outside their own small circle of friends.
A week before the big occasion, the city of Linz made headlines. An ice cream vendor who set up his stand in a public park was washing his dishes in the contaminated Danube River. Some of his customers contracted salmonella and a typhoid epidemic broke out. National media jumped on the report, warning people to avoid the city. Those who lived in Linz were advised to stay in their homes and to avoid all contact with anyone outside the immediate family. Sporting events and concerts scheduled for Pentecost weekend were cancelled. The large industrial center was virtually shut down! I consulted with local officials and medical experts about what we should do. I explained that our visitors would be staying in private homes and we would be eating in the church. No one would be traveling by public transportation or have contact with the outside world. The epidemic was contained within a few days and all those infected were quarantined, so city authorities saw no reason why we should cancel our event. Because everything had been prepared, we decided to go ahead with the retreat, but informed parents and youth leaders in other parts of Austria about the situation. They should decide if their youth should attend. The retreat was well-attended even though some cancelled. The typhoid fever epidemic ended as abruptly as it started. When the retreat was over and we had cleaned up the church, I drove home, thanking and praising God for his blessings and protection. When I got to our apartment, I began to share with Verna how everything had gone, but she suggested that it might be better to drive her to the hospital. A few hours later our third child, Becky, was born! Directory: documents documents -> Concept stage documents -> Concept stage documents -> The great global switch-off documents -> Nonprofit grant application documents -> The Truth about the Rwandan Genocide documents -> Annual InStructional unit plan documents -> Chaos equipment included Download 2.2 Mb. Share with your friends:
|