Prayer Request

Hey everyone,

Cris and I are jumping through some hoops right now trying to figure out how we will receieve money while we are in Romania. It is more complex than it should be, so if you could pray for us, that we would stay focused on the gospel in the midst of these little details, we would be very thankful.

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The Blog of Steele

Hey there friends!

Some of you coming to this blog may not know that I have had another blog in the past. You can find the blog of steele either through a link in my profile or by going to www.theblogofsteele.blogspot.com

It has been quite some time since I have had time to post what I consider quality content on my blog, but in the past I have posted some of my own thoughts and ramblings on theology and the tings of the Lord. Reading the front page may not show you a whole lot, but for any brave soul who is interested in the things that might go through my head, check out the archives at the blog of steele from January to may 2006. That was when the blog was in its heyday.

I don't plan on actually retiring the blog of steele, if I have any other reflections that are more theological in nature, I will continue to post them on the blog of steele. So, I just wanted to let you guys know! Alrighty!

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Comments

Hello friends and family!

I know many of you are finding out about our blog here for the first time. We figured that this website will help us keep on with family and friends back home. We are going to post events as they come about, but I wanted to encourage you guys, if you are coming around to our blog, please comment! It encourages us to continue updating and to update the site more frequently if we know that it is being read.

So, for you non-tech savy folks that have never been to a blog before, to leave a comment, click the link at the bottom of the of the post that says "0 comments" (on the off chance that someone actually says something, the number might be different. On the right hand side there are several options for how you want to comment. If you don't have a profile somewhere click the Name/URL option and type your name in the name blank and leave your comment. Google users can use there accounts here to post, and if you have an AIM or Wordpress account, you can post with that account using the OpenID option.

So, if you are coming around please comment so that we can keep up with what is going on in your life as well.

Thanks everyone!

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Our Support Letter

A lot of people will receive this letter in the mail. In case you haven't gotten it yet, or want to know more about what's going on, here is the text of our support letter. Please feel free to email us at any time with questions.

Paul.Steele85@gmail.com
Cristine.Steele@gmail.com

As you may be aware, both my wife, Cris, and I have gone to Romania for the past two summers to assist a campus ministry (OSCEC) and its annual English-teaching outreach camp. While we were there, we had the opportunity to build relationships and to share the gospel with unbelieving students. We witnessed the power of the gospel to transform lives, even through our teams’ short stays in Romania. Now, Cris and I have felt compelled by the Lord to return to Romania for a two-year time period to serve the local campus ministry, OSCEC, on a full-time basis. This call has been confirmed and supported by our local church, Cornerstone Church of Knoxville and our departure date is set for July 1, 2008.

OSCEC is an evangelistic campus ministry, whose main focus is to reach out to the 25,000 students at the University of Craiova. The campus ministry is based out of proDEO Baptist Church. They cannot share the gospel with students as effectively as the leaders desire, due largely to a lack of manpower. Cris and I have felt the Lord call us to serve them by enabling them to do more events, and also to bring our experience, gained from our church’s campus ministry, Volunteers for Christ (VFC) to assist OSCEC in reaching college students.

Basically, we are going there to serve the Romanian church. We will be helping the leaders administrate evangelistic events, brainstorm new ministry strategies, share the gospel with students, and potentially start an English-speaking outreach to the students at the University.

Would you prayerfully consider partnering with us in spreading the gospel at the University of Craiova? Our salary will be entirely based on the financial support of others, of partners. Please consider a one-time gift or a monthly pledge of $50, $100, or any other amount, it will be an investment in the spread of the gospel among the nations. By God’s grace we will see lives transformed for the glory of God! All checks should be made payable to Cornerstone Church of Knoxville in order to receive the proper tax deduction. Please write “Steele” in the memo line and indicate whether it is a one time or a monthly gift. Mail all checks to 1250 Heritage Lake Blvd., Knoxville, TN 37922.

Thank you for your prayers and for your support of us. We are excited about the opportunity to share the glorious news of our Savior’s sacrifice with college students who are lost and dead in their sins. Thank you again for considering and supporting us in this endeavor. We look forward to talking to you soon and answering any questions you may have.

For His glory,

Paul and Cris Steele

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The Source of Our Desire

A logical question would be, "Why are you two young married folks packing your bags and moving to Romania for two years?" We think that is a great question and are delighted to be able to tell you!

By God's grace, He has changed these two sinner's hearts. Before the Lord regenerated us, we were absolutely opposed to God in our sin. We had rebelled against our Creator and Judge. We hated him and despised His authority over our lives. We deserved eternal, infinite punishment for our sin against a holy God. Since He can by no means allow sin into His presence, we have a problem. Someone must be punished. By the amazing wisdom, kindness, and providence of God himself, He decided before the foundation of the world, to send His Son, Jesus Christ, into the world as a sacrifice for sinners. Jesus Christ was fully God and fully man, yet he was absolutely sinless! He lived a perfectly sinless life and was crucified upon the cross as a substitute for sinners like us. Jesus Christ fully bore the wrath of God that we deserved! Not only that, but Jesus Christ rose from the dead, which declares that God fully accepted his sacrifice in our place.

This is our only hope; God looks upon Christ in our place. We believe that God no longer sees us as opposed to him in our rebellion, but God sees Christ’s perfect righteousness instead of our sin! It is this good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ that we trust in and are excited to tell others about! We hope and pray that those of you who are reading this, that are not believers, would turn from your sin and put your faith in Jesus Christ. This is the one, true, essential message you will hear in your entire life!

We are passionate about the gospel and because we know it is Truth and the only way to salvation, God has given us a desire for others to know it too! We know we do not need to go to Romania to do this; there are plenty of non-Christians here in Knoxville that need the Lord just as much as the Romanians. With this in mind, we have sought the Lord in prayer, and with the wisdom of our pastors and local church, we have felt the Lord confirm that this is where we should go and what we should do. We’ll fill you in on the details of exactly what we’ll be doing later…

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Putting Faces to Names...

1.) Paul, Cris, Raluca, Bobby (L-R)

2.) Olivia and Cris (L-R)

3.) Razvan and Oana (L-R)

Well, we think it's about time to introduce you to some of the people we will be closely working with for the next two years.

Photo #1 is with Bobby and Raluca, who are engaged to be married on July 6, 2008! We get to go to their wedding! Bobby is the leader of the campus ministry, OSCEC and this means we will be spending much of our time with this dear friend.

Photo #2 is with Olivia, probably my best Romania friend. She even got to come to our wedding in December!

Photo #3 is of Razvan and Oana, who are married and are in leadership positions in the church, proDEO. Oana is actually OSCEC's only full-time intern, so once again, we'll be spending many of our days working alongside her! We can't wait to be able to serve with these friends who are passionately in love with their Savior!

Here is a verse that speaks of our hearts for the Romanians:

"So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God, but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us." (1 Thessalonians 2:8)

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Going to Romania!

Hey everyone,

This is Paul, and the first post on this blog. I just want to say for anyone who doesn't already know that Cris and I are headed to Romania for two years to serve proDeo Baptist church and its campus ministry OSCEC. We are excited to see how God is going to work through us and in us while we are there.

That's all for now.

We plan on updating this blog periodically through the preparation for Romania and while we are over there.

Current prayer requests:

1. Peace about going to Romania.

We feel that going to Romania is what the Lord's will is for our lives right now, but leaving our church, our family and a country where people speak our language has made it difficult for us to trust in His soverignty. We want to fight anxious thoughts.

2. Support.

Cris and I sent out our first support letters today, and, well, we need a lot of money or we won't be able to go.

3. Health Insurance.

Right now we haven't found a company in America who will insure us if we have to leave Romania with a seroius medical problem. Please pray that the Lord will open up a door that we could find a company willing to cover us.


Praises!

It looks like things are coming into place about leaving here! Cris may have found a replacement at work, we found another couple to live in our condo, (which my parents own,) and we may have found someone to take Cris's car for the time period that we are gone. It's exciting to see things like this come into place!

That's all for right now. There are a whole lot of things that still need to happen before we can leave.

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