Zoltan Weiner is a youth pastor in his local church.
When did you trust Christ?
When I was about 13, I started attending the youth group at church and participating in youth conferences. During these conferences, I began to understand more and more about the message of the Bible and the redemption given to us through Jesus' work on the cross. On one of these occasions, God touched my heart. I sat down to pray and asked Jesus to forgive me for my sins. I received God's grace and His unconditional love.
What have been the defining moments of your Christian walk?
After I became a Christian, my life started to change. I began to make new Christian friends. During my last year of secondary school, God called me to abandon my plans of becoming an engineer and instead become a pastor. I have been greatly edified through God during the six years of my theological education. I have come to understand many astonishing things about the Bible and the extraordinary nature of our God. I had many personal struggles of faith and gained much experience leading our youth group and doing missions in our city. I am now married and serving in Kecskemét as a youth pastor.
What do you hope to gain from participating?
ELF gives me new insights into the Word of God and new knowledge and skills in organising my youth ministry and preparing my sermons. It provides me with renewal and power to continue my ministry. I can also make new friends and get to know other Christians from all over. Since I started attending, I have been provided with models, resources, and mentoring relationships that I regularly use in my youth ministry. The seminars at ELF and the online ones I regularly listen to help me shape a biblical understanding of different topics, and I often use these during my teaching, preaching, and discipling ministry. The commentaries and books that I can buy at the bookstore mean practical help in my preparation.
What is your ministry?
As a youth pastor, I am responsible for the youth of our church: holding and organising Bible groups for young people, discipling and pastoring them, and training and mentoring youth leaders. Our church also has a secondary school where I am responsible for the spiritual life of young people: holding weekly devotionals, planning seasonal retreats, organising community events, and talking with them informally. I also regularly preach and minister at the various events held by our church or elsewhere. Further, I am a member of the leadership team of REFISZ, an organisation aiming to evangelise and teach young people throughout the country cooperating with Reformed congregations.
What is your leadership role or what were your past leadership roles?
I led a youth group of 10-20 young people in my church in Szigetszentmiklós, where I grew up and got my theological education. I was one of the leaders in Hungary's most prominent youth organization, the Reformed Church. I have served in many youth conferences as a small group leader, as coordinator of small group leaders, or as a leader of conferences with 100-200 participants. I have also organized and led many smaller youth and children's summer camps.
Why should someone invest in your ministry?
Around 60 young people from our congregation meet weekly. Of them, 15 are youth leaders who significantly impact younger generations. The secondary school has 500 young people who listen to our weekly devotionals. Our congregation consists of around 300 people, and I also preach once a month to them. The Christian youth organizations I serve reach around 1000 young people annually.
