Extraordinary Energy

This morning, we attended services at Calvary Chapel in Budapest.
It meets in an old theater building just a fifteen minute walk from where we are staying, and the music during service sounded a lot like what I would expect from a church back in America (except that a lot of the words were in Hungarian).

The sermon we heard this morning was the start of a series on 1 Corinthians, about why Paul would choose Corinth, and what was so important about churches not moving away from cities in order to be effective ministries.
One of the points made during the sermon – specifically about church planting – has had me chewing on it ever since (but not in reference to church planting specifically).

The point was this:
Church planting is like launching a rocket.
When a rocket gets moving, it moves quickly, but it takes extraordinary amounts of energy to make it do so.
And who is going to exert the energy necessary?
A fighter.

Everything I have seen and done in ministry so far this month tells me this is not only true for church planting, but for ministry in Hungary (and Europe in general).
Reaching the people of Hungary means developing a relationship with them.
Hungary is not at all like Africa when it comes to evangelism because, at the end of the day, every decision a Hungarian makes is based on logic… not a feeling.
There is a history here of being on the losing side, and how is it that you win?
Using logic to look out for number one, because everyone wants to take advantage of everyone else.

One of the frustrating things about logic is that it takes time and energy.
If you want to overcome (or work through) it, you have to invest both.
If you want to minister to someone who in the process of making a decision for Christ logically, you have to commit extraordinary amounts of both in order to see the take-off – the decision.