Calvin Synod Herald, 2010 (111. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2010-09-01 / 9-10. szám
8 CALVIN SYNOD HERALD blessings and with the determined knowledge that God has a future for His people, endeavored to keep our small, faithful and hard-working flock together and moving forward. From March of 1987, several pastors served our congregation for short periods - Rev. György Nagy, for three months at the end of 1989. Rev. Ferenc Gaal served from 1990-1991. A number of guest pastors also kindly served throughout this entire time, among them the Reverends: Sándor and Maria Babos, Dr. Sándor Berzeviczy, Dr. Bela Bonis, István Danyi, Szabolcs Kalman, Hethalmi Path Karoly, Dr. Jakab Morask, Balint Nagy, Sándor Nemeti, Sándor Oláh, Sándor Szabó, Dr. Ildikó Szabó, Dezső Trombitás, Janos Vadasz. We remain tremendously grateful for their service. If the years between 1982-1987 were filled with fear, uncertainty and chaos, then the years between 1987-1993 could be described as times of more change and flux. Many people, including some members of the clergy, urged us to quit. Yet our small group could not envision giving up. Our then-Chief Elder Dr. Bela Biro became a real estate agent in order to access real estate listing services and obtain information about church properties for sale. Our small congregation, although exhausted by nearly 6 years of homelessness and a rotation of pastors, still refused to give up. We were convinced that after more than 60 years of serving God in Los Angeles, that He was still with us and still had a plan for us. In 1991, we decided to ask Rev. Dr. Bela Bonis (who by then was over 70 years old) to regularly serve every Sunday as supply pastor. He graciously accepted our call. This proved to be a wise decision and a rich blessing for us because Dr. Bonis provided our tiny group with the stability that we needed to focus on rebuilding our flock and finding a new home. It was in 1993 that Dr. Biro and long-time church member, Betty Warga found what is now our church-home in Hawthorne, California. But the asking price was twice what we had in the bank! Through what all of us are convinced was a miracle - and more evidence of God’s plan for our future - the selling congregation, after Dr. Biro explained our situation to them, lowered their price by half! We moved into our home in the Spring of 1993. That act alone - the lowering of the purchase price by the selling congregation in order to make the purchase possible - convinced those among us who remained skeptical of our future, that God indeed fulfills His promises! In 1997, after 4 years of fundraising, we had enough money to build a fellowship hall addition to our new home. In 2001, after a new roof, new carpeting, a thorough cleaning and a fresh coat of paint in every room, we celebrated our 75th Anniversary. Dr. Bonis organized a moving ecumenical service reminiscent of the founding worship in 1926: Hungarians (and Americans) of many faiths were in attendance, the church was full to overflowing, we sang hymns and the sound of the organ music and our voices floated out into the street. Once again in the history of our church, God reassured us that He fulfills His promises and gives us a reason to celebrate. After 12 years of faithful service, Dr. Bonis retired in late 2002. We are tremendously grateful to God and Dr. Bonis, for giving our congregation 12 years of peace, unity and stability, a time during which we managed to accomplish so much together. In early 2003, Rev. István Kacso began his service with us and we are grateful for Rev. Kacso’s stimulating sermons and 6 years of service at our church and all of God’s rich blessings. Rev. Kacso served until the summer of 2009, after which a number of different pastors preached to us on Sundays, including a Mexican-American pastor - Pastor Ricardo Rubio - who could preach only in English to our mostly Hungarian speaking congregation. Even so, we know that God speaks to us in many ways, including the encouraging smiles and the quiet prayers of others, so we had no trouble understanding Pastor Ricardo. In November of 2009, Rev. Viktor Toth was brought to our attention and we invited him to preach. Our church members found his sermons illuminating and we were very grateful when he agreed to help us gain a sense of stability and preach for us regularly every Sunday - until we could find a new pastor. After a number of months, it became apparent that while we were searching high and low for a new pastor, that this ‘new pastor’ was right in front of us the entire time. Rev. Toth had been faithfully preaching to us every Sunday for months, urging us to read the Bible, to spend time with God daily, to obey Him and to live His teachings in our every-day lives through our actions, to sow wide and deep in support of our church not only with our donations but also with our time and prayers. It became very apparent to us over the course of several months that Rev. Toth was an effective preacher and A PASTOR at heart: he had gathered our flock and fed us, encouraged us to grow in faith, to live in peace and to work together in unity as community of Believers in Christ, toward His good. Our congregation approached the Calvin Synod as well as Rev. Toth about the possibility of a future together. And after much examination, the Calvin Synod agreed that Rev. Toth was qualified to be our pastor. Throughout our congregation’s history, God has repeatedly shown us that He has good plans for us. We also know, that with His grace, our congregation and pastor are meant to accomplish many wonderful things for His glory. We thank Bishop Poznan for his visit, his inspirational sermon and the beautiful ordination service. And we thank God for His continued presence in our midst. We pray for His guidance in our work with our new pastor, Rev. Viktor Toth. Our congregation is certain that as God has in the past, as long as we are faithful, He will in the years ahead continue to keep this promise to us from Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the plans I have for you, ” declares the Lord “ plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ” Ms. Tünde Garai CHANGE OF ADDRESS FORM Name........................................................................ Subscription No....................................................... Old Address:............................................................ 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