ABWE - Association of Baptists for World Evangelism

It was Easter morning in Budapest, Hungary—and I was about to preach in the country that my wife and I had called home for the nearly ten years that we labored as missionaries with ABWE. A sense of God’s faithfulness overwhelmed me as I thought back on how our team’s first church plant was now celebrating its 20-year anniversary. As I reminisced, a distinguished looking man stepped up to me and said, “I will be translating for you.” I looked up and we both broke into a big grin that ended with a hug. “Gábor! So good to see you again!” I exclaimed.

Twenty years ago Gábor Grész was a recent university graduate just beginning as a Hungarian missionary with a student ministry in Hungary. In those days, we spent many hours together, praying, preaching and preparing sermons. Today, Gábor is a leader, preaching regularly in that established church. What’s more, he is the national director of a student ministry that impacts more than 60 nations around the world.

I will never forget the prayer we prayed with Gabor and his wife Edina when they first decided to raise their own support from Hungarian sources. Communism had just collapsed and churches were small and struggling to survive. It seemed an impossible task.

Still, we prayed.

One Saturday evening Gabor shared an out-of-the-box idea that had come from his mother. He and Edina were going to ask for support from the National AIDS Coordinator for the Hungarian government to launch an initiative among public school youth to consider abstaining from sex until marriage. They would incorporate a message into their teaching emphasizing that the power to make this change would come from a relationship with Jesus Christ. Amazingly, their proposal was accepted.

This initiative was called “Youth at the Threshold of Life,” and is now known in other countries as “Youth at the Crossroads.” Initially designed as a symposium for educators, the effort soon blossomed into a thousand-page curriculum with DVDs that provided 30 hours of certified continuing education professional credits for teachers throughout the public schools of Hungary. It became the model for schools across Hungary and eventually many other nations that were struggling to help their young people stem the rising tide of an AIDS epidemic. Because of the ministry of this humble couple hundreds of thousands of high school students around the world have heard the gospel. Countless students and teachers have trusted Christ because of this “impossible” gospel initiative to save lives and eternal souls.

As we left the service, Gábor handed me an autographed copy of his book, The Outrageous Promise: A Story of God’s Love Beyond the Iron Curtain. Inscribed in his handwriting to Jo Beth and me were these words: “God answers prayers, uses the weak and accomplishes the impossible. We love serving our great Savior with you.” —Gábor

So many years ago we prayed together. We had trusted God for the impossible. And God answered those prayers in amazing ways. Looking back, we now can see the harvest from that investment (if only a portion).

It serves as a great reminder for all of those who pray yet feel that their effort is so insignificant: God never forgets one prayer, however long ago it was prayed. And He always produces fruit that remains.

As Gabor’s story reminds us, Jesus indeed makes outrageous promises to us. “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.” (John 14:13-14)

May we hold on to such promises with unwavering faith.

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