Summer Update 2015

Summer time for us signals the beginning of one of my personal favorite times of year when people make a public statement of faith in Jesus Christ through water baptism. This summer we had few of our ladies that desired to be water baptized. Which was real special for a lot of them because they have been waiting for a few years. Because of the culture that we live in and most everyone being Romanian Orthodox there is a immense amount of pressure placed on a person that desires to be water baptized not to do it. In the cultural context that we live in here being water baptized into a protestant faith is considered an unforgivable sin. Because the person that is being water baptized is viewed as leaving the one true church.

This places a lot of people who desire to be baptized in conflict with their families, parents, and spouses. Especially with younger people. Most of the time when I am approached by some of the teenagers in our church who desire to be water baptized. I ask them what their parents think about it? To which they reply their parents do not want them to, until they are older. When you reach 18 years of age here you are considered an adult. So I always encourage them, its better for you to be submitted to your parents wishes and represent Christ in this way, then to do something out of rebellion. I then tell them to pray for the Lord to change their parents hearts. Our prayer is for families to want to participate by being present and supportive even if they may not understand fully why their family members are choosing to be water baptized. In their thinking they were already baptized as babies. It gives an opportunity for the family members being baptized to make a public statement of faith and also an opportunity for the gospel message to be heard by those in attendance.

To help with that understanding I give a simple class because over the years we have found that many people have really weird ideas about what water baptism is and so I seek to clarify what water baptism is and is not according to the word of God. Its such a blessing to watch the truth set people free from false expectations, complete misunderstandings, or just plain ignorance a lot of time.


One of the ladies who desired to be baptized this summer is Ioana. Ioana, has been attending the church for a little while now and its been amazing watching her grow in the Lord. We have been praying that her husband would allow her to be water baptized because he is not a believer and was against it in the beginning. Over time the Lord softened him to allow her to be baptized. What was really neat about it was that he also allowed their young son to participate by watching his mom get water baptized.

Ioana's baptism

if you look closely you can see her son in the background

One of the best parts of what we do

Madelina, has been attending the church since she was 15 years old and always has challenging questions due to getting into good discussions with her philosophy professor in high school. Sunday morning without her helping with the songs and the powerpoint I would truly be lost sometimes. She has been waiting to be water baptized for years and now is able to finally do it.

Bianca is another one of the high school students that helps with worship on Sunday mornings. She has been waiting patiently the same as Madelina to publicly make a statement about following Christ.

This year we also were started our first English Camp outreach. We were helped by a team from Hungary and a team of 9 people from a church in Colorado, who's pastor is a friend and was a missionary I met here in Europe. This group had been doing an English camp in Hungary for years so I asked them to come and help us get one started here. We had 30 kids show up this year and all of them loved it and want to come back next year. Encouraged by the feedback, we are praying about making it larger, for next year. The mornings were busy with English lessons for 3 hours and the afternoon was spent playing different games with the kids. Before dinner in the evenings we had a life story time where two team members would share their testimony. One of the reasons this camp was also fun for us as a family was that our older kids were able to step up and help the team by translating. It was such a blessing to watch kids befriend one another when someone did not seem to fit in with the other kids.

Nick sharing his testimony Kaidon is translating

Girls craft time. Cynthia's craft of card stitching was extremely popular

This is what you will need

hanging out

Kaidon translating his Mom's testimony

talent show time, Nick's group doing a skit

Teaching Baseball, disclosure, no sheep were harmed during the playing of this game

Ryane's level 3 English class

Beginner's English class

craft time

Haley sharing her testimony

Table Tennis

This looks like trouble

Water Balloon fight

would not be camp without s'mores

level 2 English class

challenges race

camp fire

Singing for the talent show

Beard Envy

Praise report:

The English camp was a lot of fun and the kids already are looking forward to coming back next year.

Prayer Requests:

Pray for the upcoming fall women's tea. This is alway a large outreach for us into the community with unsaved friends, family, co-workers and such. Pray for the ladies as they begin the preparation for this year. We are also looking to change the location so that we have more room. Pray that God would guide us to a new venue that fits our needs.

Pray for Ildi's chronic neck problems which cause lots of pain and loss of feeling in her right arm.

Pray also for Andre who fell off his truck while working in England and broke his leg. Pray for quick healing so he can get back to work.

Pray for Lidia as this time of year is very difficult for her. Pray for God’s presence and peace to reign in her heart and to lean on his strength. Also that God would lead us in how to continue to minister to her as she grieves.

Pray also for a flute for Sedona, she is starting class 5 and needs to pick up a second instrument, so we are going to need to purchase a flute for school by Sept. the cost is around $250.

Pray also for all the kids that are going to be starting school on the 2nd week of September. That they would be wise in their decisions and seek to do their very best in their studies and be a light for Jesus.

If you are interested in small daily updates about the ministry, family or just Romania in General please use the following forms of social media.

contact information:

Blog: romaniafouts.blogspot.ro

facebook: Personal, Brian Fouts

                 Page: Calvary Chapel Bistrita

Twitter: @FoutsBrian, @FoutsCynthia

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email: bcfouts1@gmail.com