Great Sermon on the meaning of Gethsemane!!!

Here is a wonderful sermon by Pastor CJ Mahaney from Covenant Church called Gethsemane from March 7, 2010. The sermon is about 50 minutes long, but is well worth the time to listen to it. There are many different opinions of what Christ's work on the Cross means and many that we hear today are not Biblical. This sermon brought tears to our eyes as we were confronted once again with the anguish that Jesus endured in order to reconcile us to the Father. May the Holy Spirit illumine your minds and hearts as you listen to this.

http://www.covlife.org/modules/listen-online/3588470

Enjoy!

You can download the sermon here:
http://www.covlife.org/resources/3588470-Gethsemane

Retreat with Student from Brasov!!

12-14 March- The student group in Brasov organized their first local training camp. This means they planned all the events, food, speakers,etc. They invited a local pastor to come and speak on finding your calling and discovering your gifts. We had an incredible time together with great teaching and plenty of time to discuss things we were learning.

Loredana (staff from Bucuresti), Simona (Graduate who helped start group in Brasov) Oti (leader now in Brasov) & Ruxi (staff from Bucuresti)

Washing up after a great meal

Robert and Manu planning.

Friday when we arrived it snowed!

Each day ended with a few games of Catan. A new favorite among Romanian students.

Ploiesti Ski Camp

More fun on the slopes this winter in the second ski camp in Azuga, near Sinaia, north of Bucharest with students from Ploiesti! The weather was a bit warmer, but we still had snow on the slopes!

On Friday we all went out to the beginners slope to help those that had not been skiing before! Most people caught on after a few runs down the slope!!

The advanced and intermediate took off on the second day to the top of the mountain to try their hand at the whole mountain! Here we are at the top of the mountain, where it was snowing!

Taking time to enjoy the view on the slopes!

Andrei works his snowboard down the mountain!! Andrei has worked with the group in Ploiesti in the past and now serves on our national board.

Each day we had a worship time together in the morning before breakfast and then a short presentation after Breakfast. A pastor from Ploiesti led two sessions and presented clearly the gospel very clearly and with some good analogies!! On the last day Mike had a short presentation on the need to be involved in community and challenged the students to stay involved with the group or a church with similar values and to continue to seek God and He will make himself known.

OSCEB Ski Camp 2010

After a week of snow, wind and the beauty of God's creation all around us we returned from Ski Camp 2010. It was a great week with lots of conversations about Jesus, a very complete presentation of the gospel and plenty of time skiing!! Here are a few pictures to give you an idea of the OSCEB Ski camp week held at Straja in the Vulcan Mountains near the city of Petrosani. Thanks so much for your prayers as we saw evidence of God's hand at work as we were all kept safe and had lots of good conversations about the Gospel!


Each morning we had a presentation on some aspect of Christianity. Here Dan, on the last full day of camp, presented an outline of what it means to follow Christ and shared how God had worked in him and changed him!

In the evenings we had time to play games and talk. Here the students enjoy Musical Chairs!

Eating great food at the cabin in the morning and evening and lunch each day on the slopes!

Each day on the slopes began with ski classes for beginners, intermediate and advanced.

Lots of exercises to help us get the right technique to make us better skiers!

Urbana 09

InterVarsity sponsored, Urbana 09 took place in December in St. Louis, MO. The theme was "God moved into the neighborhood". 17,000 students gathered from over 100 countries to be challenged to reach out and take the Gospel, the story that God came to dwell among men, to all nations.

We were not there but have watched many of the talks on line. You may enjoy watching some of them, we have included a link to all the talks:

http://www.urbana09.org/videos.cfm

Here is the final talk by IVCF Pres. Alec Hill as he challenged students not to wait until they get out onto the mission field to begin sharing Christ. There are some wonderful stories here of God's work through students. One story is from UVA, of two students, Sharon and Lisa, who we worked with while on staff there! Enjoy!

Missions on Your Campus: Alec Hill from Urbana 09 on Vimeo.

OSCEB Chapter Retreat!

Forming deep community in a student group takes time and effort. It comes by spending quality time together. In Bucharest, where getting from one end of the city to the other for a meeting or even a class can take up to 1 hour or more makes getting together informally difficult. So, to have 2 1/2 days together for worship, Bibles teaching, and discussions on evangelism and discipleship doesn't happen too often!! The students took full advantage of a weekend away by staying up late, getting up early, playing volleyball and talking till all hours of the night.

Times of Worship

Kris talks with Ruxi, OSCEB staffworker

Cristi OSCEB leader working on his Doctorate in Engineering

Emma & Hannah enjoying nature

Andrew waiting for his team to play in the next volleyball game!

Fall Fun!!

Here are a few highlights of the last month.

Andrew & Mike got to go fishing with 2 friends (George and Adi). We didn't catch anything worth keeping, but we had a good time!!

You should have seen the one that got away!!!

BCA Secondary Retreat!!

The staff and students enjoyed some beautiful days at Casa Elim as they deepened their relationships and received some good teaching in Revelation.

BCA Secondary


Enjoying some Soccer!!


Enjoying the view

Waiting on the train!!