Winckles Family Update: Breaking Down the Walls

Calvary Chapel Bible College - Europe in the beautiful Zichy Castle in Vajta, Hungary

This weekend about 60 people from our churches in Budapest and Győr gathered together at the Calvary Chapel Bible College - Europe in Vajta, Hungary for a two-day retreat. The theme was "Breaking Down the Walls," and it refers to the spiritual barriers that we have that prevent us from experiencing God's best for our lives. The setting for the conference was one of the former Zichy family castles, which has been beautifully restored in recent years by Calvary Chapel.

Our meetings were held in the large chapel in the upper level of the castle.

The large chapel at the castle

Planning for this event started six months ago, and bringing everything together was truly a team effort. Larry and Péter were the teachers for the weekend. Jan led the worship team and was the hostess for the event. Júlia was our on site coordinator and translator. The other members of the Budapest leadership team served as discussion group leaders (Katie, Ákos, and Judit). Gerry and Kati McNamara from Győr were also discussion group leaders.

Friday night Larry gave a general introduction to the topic of walls -- both physical and spiritual. He and Péter used the Berlin Wall (and the Iron Curtain) as a unifying theme throughout the weekend. By looking at what happened in the history of the Berlin Wall, we were able to draw parallels with the walls that we set up in our own lives, and the process that is needed in order to take them down. He also introduced the idea that spiritual walls are unhealthy mindsets, and that these mindsets need to be overcome by claiming and believing in God's promises.

On Saturday morning Péter spoke about several typical walls that people have in their lives; walls such as pride, doubt, misplaced priorities, guilt, fear, and more. Larry then followed up by speaking about searching the Bible to find God's promises for our lives. He noted three types of promises: 1) general promises applicable to everyone, 2) promises that were made to specific people at a particular time and place, but which reveal God's character and thus reveal how He is willing to work with us, and 3) promises that can be inferred from God's commands.

One of the eight discussion groups

Each of the teaching sessions was followed by a time for people to interact with the material presented on a personal level. We kept the groups intentionally small so that everyone would have a chance to participate. Larry and Péter provided questions in advance to the group leaders so that they were able to get the discussions started and to help the discussions stay on track.

A life-changing moment for Ákos

The highlight of the weekend for many people was the baptismal service that was held on Saturday afternoon. Six people from the Budapest church were baptized - Ákos, Zita, Sanyi, Olga, Kriszta, and Bernát. Larry and Péter officiated over the service, which was held at the pool located on the castle grounds. It was wonderful to hear each person's testimony of how God has been working in their lives!

Bernát's moment at the talent show

Saturday evening everyone took a break from the teaching and instead enjoyed a talent show, put on by many of the retreat participants and hosted by K. Ildikó. (In Hungarian this type of program is called "Ki mit tud?" which means, "Who can do what?") A wide variety of talent was evident -- singing, skits, poetry recitation, guitar solos, jokes, a card trick, story telling, action songs, and more. We were particularly impressed by how well Bernát has advanced in playing the guitar -- he in fact played and sang a Hungarian folk song, to everyone's surprise and delight.

The worship team leads with the song "Let the Walls Fall Down!"

On Sunday morning Péter spoke about the walls that often harm our relationships with other people and with other groups. Larry concluded the weekend by challenging everyone to seriously consider what spiritual walls (unhealthy mindsets) might be present in their lives, to search God's Word to find his promises, and to take the necessary first steps of faith by claiming and believing these promises, realizing that this is a process that doesn't take place all at once. He asked each person to consider making a "Declaration of Freedom" in which they commit themselves to moving forward in faith and breaking down the walls that are hindering further growth and development.

We had a lot of positive feedback about the entire weekend, and we have already seen signs of life change beginning to happen. We'd like to thank everyone who has been praying for this weekend!