McCartney's Update & Ministry Site

Greetings to all our friends and family,

Great progress has been made so far in raising about 70% of the support required for our family to continue serving as missionaries in Hungary and Slovakia. We are very grateful for everyone that has partnered with us already and would ask those that haven’t to please pray about becoming a monthly ministry partner.  Just a dollar a day or 30 dollars a month would be a great help.  We have about 8 more weeks remaining on our State-side furlough to obtain the additional support required.  If you would like to sign up now to become a new monthly ministry partner or would like to increase your support, please click the “Donate” button located to the right.

Angelo's Baptism (14)

Armando's Baptism (10)

The ministry in Hungary and Slovakia is continuing to bear fruit.  Just this past month, three of our Kids Club participants were baptized!  The harvest is great!  We are reminded in Rom. 10:14-15 “How can they believe in Him whom they have not heard?  How will they hear without a preacher?  And how will they preach unless they are sent?” We want to thank you on behalf of our serving church in Esztergom for giving us this opportunity to be sent and minister to these precious kids in Hungary and Slovakia.

During the first week of August we had the opportunity to visit with several ministry partners and enjoy some quality ministry time away in Williamsburg, VA.  We enjoyed reconnecting and encouraging one another in prayer and fellowship.  Also during this week, we celebrated yet another family birthday!  Michael turned 12 years old.  We enjoyed his special day with family and friends by spending a day at the beach!

Whenever we come to the States, we are always in need of transportation.  This month we were blessed through a family whose car we were borrowing when the Lord also placed it on their heart to donate the car to us!  We traveled to OH to finalize all the vehicle details.  While in OH we had the opportunity to share about the Lord’s faithfulness to family members and neighbors of how He provided the vehicle.  Philippians 4:19 “And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

With summer quickly coming to an end, we spent the next few weeks preparing for the upcoming School year.  Megan will be entering high school and doing her lessons on-line, while Michael will be home-schooled in middle school.

While this month brought much blessings and reconnection with friends, through bowling, sharing evening meals, ice-cream socials, cook-outs, and special afternoon teas, we were most delighted about the news we received from the Esztergom Church.  Three teens from the church were able to attend a youth camp for a week outside of Budapest, Hungary.  The purchase of hand-made Hungarian necklaces made it possible to help sponsor these youth men and women.  One young lady was baptized while at camp.  Praise God!

Youth Summer Camp near Budapest

After baptism, Carmon worships the Lord

The journey to Hungary and Slovakia began 6 years ago.  A small VBS team went to share the gospel with those that would hear.  These young people are the fruit from those that followed the Lord’s call to go and share the Gospel.  Your generous support makes this all possible.  You are making a difference in these young people’s lives.  1 Corinthians 3:6 “I have planted, Apollos [and all of you] watered; but God gave the increase.”

Thank you so much for taking the time read our updates.  Your faithfulness in partnering with us and keeping in touch, has been a great encouragement on this journey.  Our prayer for each of you is that God will continue to richly bless you as you continue to seek Him daily.

Thanks again – Go tell the world the message and take it everywhere!

The McCartney Family

Sam, Michelle, Megan and Michael

God’s unfailing faithfulness was consistently revealed to us during the month of July!  Our monthly support abundantly increased nearly 30%! During the first week of July, we met with many monthly supporters.  Together we enjoyed watching the July 4th fireworks in Washington, D.C.; sharing meals together, fellowshipping and providing ministry updates.

During the second week of July, Megan and Michael attended youth camp for a week in the mountains of West Virginia. Both were young when they first received the Lord as their Savior, and while at camp they both felt led to be baptized.  They both publicly shared the commitment of their faith.    During our return visit to West Virginia to pick up the kids, we attended Bible study at Sago Baptist Church which was the church Sam and his family had attended in his early childhood. This was a great blessing for Sam to share what the Lord has been doing in our ministry and in our lives.  During our visit, we were filled with joy as we reconnected with supporters and family members. It is a great blessing to witness those who are faithfully staying stead fast in doing the Lord’s work.

Throughout the third week of July, we presented ministry and fundraising updates to our sending church, Calvary Chapel of Fredericksburg.  Our Hungarian pastor encouraged the congregation with his written letter read by our Missions team leader. His letter shared about the impact our family and Kid’s Club ministry is making in Hungary. During the evening, Monday through Friday, Michael enjoyed participating in Vacation Bible School, while Sam, Michelle and Megan led the games for the preschoolers.  It was an exciting, fun-filled week of hearing the Gospel and sharing God’s love.  The next day, on Saturday morning several of the ladies from the Mission Support Team organized a yard sale. Regardless of this having been the hottest day of the year, the turnout was magnificent!

In the beginning of the fourth week, we hosted the very first brunch after the 8 am service.  Our family enjoyed sharing ministry updates and an extended time of fellowship with several of the church members.  We were blessed with four new ministry partners! During the week we celebrated Megan’s 15th birthday.  Several friends from the Missions Support Team joined our family in celebrating her birthday at a night of bowling. The week concluded with several dinner engagements with ministry partners, and a fun filled day of sewing with the ladies from the Quilt Ministry.

Financial Updates:

Currently, we are still in the States on furlough.  In order to serve in the ministry long term, our goal is to raise additional support so that we can return to Hungary 100% fully funded. Our target date is early November. We have been praying for our financial support to increase and we are blessed to say that it has continued to steadily climb. Praise God! However, we are still not at our goal. We are still praying for another 48 monthly supporters at $25-$30 per-month. This would help us greatly! Why? Because it provides a steady budget to work from and it is a manageable amount people can afford to sustain long-term.

Make an Impact – How you can help

If you are a current donor… first, thank you for your faithful support. Second, if you are able to increase at any amount that would be extremely helpful. We currently have 30 regular monthly donors. If each increased by $5-$10 (or any amount) that would bring our budget up by $150-$300… which would be a huge chunk of the goal. Next, if you are not currently financially supporting us on a monthly basis we would ask that you prayerfully consider joining our Ministry Partner team by committing to donating a $1.00 day for one year. You can make your secure donation online through automatic bank draft, and it will free you from writing and mailing the monthly check. It will enable a huge impact on the Kid’s Club ministry.  Also another effective way you can help us return to Hungary quickly, is by sharing our ministry needs to anyone that you know who would be interested in what we are doing through youth ministries.   Please feel free to pass our information on to them.  We would welcome the opportunity to set up a meeting to share the prayer and ministry needs.  Another effective way to help us raise awareness of our ministry is to assist us in hosting a support dinner where we can share to those invited how they can become a monthly partner.  Together we can continue to make a difference – Together we can change one live at a time – Together we can tell the world about Jesus!