Month: January 2014 (Page 5 of 11)

Since our last news letter, we have gotten three new office colleagues. Josh Howard serves our partner churches in the camp follow up work in Eastern Slovakia until December 2009.

Mike Sullivan has moved to Zilina this past June, and he became the TCK project administrator. Jan Havrila graduated Bible school and joined us to serve as a mentor in the School of Leaders as well as the Exit 316 and the Youth Leader conference assistant. I enjoy their presence which in turn frees me from many management duties. Finally I have got more time to focus on the organization and its direction as the whole.

During the summer we organized seven evangelistic camps with eight Slovak local churches for 168 non church students. It brought new perspective to our ministry. I consider it as a miracle that we accomplished the task (we organized all 7 camps that we had prayed and planned for last year) in this tough economic situation. The Lord gave the team of 9 interns (volunteers from the states) the strength to lead three camps in a row.

Our speculation about harvesting significantly more fruit every forth year has been proved true this summer. It seems that this year was the most fruitful year in TCK camp history. Forty five students committed their life to Christ! As we continue with the TCK 2×3 vision (doubled fruit in three years), we would like to organize 12 evangelistic camps next summer. Please pray with us for the Slovak as well as US churches we could partner with in the vision for next year.

Personally, I took part in the English camp in Kosice, as the assistant camp leader and at the Zilina camp (with my daughter Michaela for the first time) as the main camp leader. Both camps confirmed my conviction that young people are still open to spiritual issues. What is critical is our attitude of love towards them as well as the right tool to communicate the gospel clearly. This summer we gave up the usual idea of the evening talk. Instead, we read from the Scripture every night and discussed Bible stories in the small group environments. It was not easy, because most of the students did not have a capacity even to express their thoughts. We heard many times: “It’s a totally new world to me…”. In spite of that, the hearing of the stories from the Scripture was very good experience for all campers. I am adding (below) some after camp student comments from the Zilina camp:

„When I came to the camp I was not sure if God really exists, but now I am sure.
„I am confused from all of that happiness I experienced. It was my the best week during last few years. Congratulations! It was a perfect camp. For sure I will come next year too. I think that you managed to spread the belief in God to many camper’s minds, including me. I love you and I am very happy that you were able to organize something like this beyond the comprehension. It will stay in my memory for ever.“

„I came to the camp with no idea about Christianity (the reason I came was English), but after the camp my eyes have been opened. Now I can see the option of free choice. I am not saying I am leaving from the camp as a Christian, but for sure I am pondering about some stuff I would have not even considered before the camp. It is very difficult to express my thoughts by words, but the truth is that basically as a non believer I am living just for myself and it does not bring too much satisfaction. The care I experienced at camp fascinates me, thank you, and I am still pondering…

In the beginning of October we started our School of Leaders (SPM) for the eighth year. In connection with our 2×3 vision, we accepted almost twice as many students (21) than last year. This year’s students are from two denominations and 14 local churches.

The larger group has different dynamic, but we believe that we can provide quality teaching as well as care for them through mentoring. Nevertheless, it is a step of faith because of the almost doubled expenses for the program. Please pray for wisdom how to fulfill the need of the SPM budget. If you know somebody who would like to support our project “adopt the youth leader” for 8 months, just let us know. For 275 euros ($400) one student can be sponsored for a whole year of training.

Last summer we asked the Slovak television to air the evangelism program Exit 316 developed by our partners in the Czech Republic. The positive response has one condition.

We must have the agreement and recommendation of the bishops of two biggest denominations in Slovakia (Lutheran and Catholic). Whether we will get it will be clear pretty soon. Please pray for the positive response. The project would help Slovak local churches to start 150 new small discussion groups for non-churched students.

School of leaders is our 9-month program that provides training in leadership skills, theology, bible study principles, Christ strategy in discipleship, and personal character growth.

We have 21 youth leaders who are participating this year which costs 275 Euros ($400)/student. They and their churches have to raise this amount that includes their travels, housing, food, training materials and mission trip to Romania. However, some need assistance, and I’d like to ask if you’d sponsor one of these youth leaders.

To partner:
Please make a check payable to Josiah Venture, with a note indicating the account number: 36060, and send it to:

Josiah Venture
P. O. Box 4317
Wheaton, IL 60189-4317

All contributions are tax-deductible in the United States

I am looking forward to this semester being in the student dorms. We will focus on sharing the Gospel with the current students. We will study the evangelistic passages from Scripture and want to show The Jesus movie, and organize a concert for the students with a music band from my local church.

We plan to hand out New Testament Bibles to the students as well. Please pray for us so that the Lord would open the doors and the hearts of the students.

Last week we had a training weekend for the Kukova (East Slovakia) youth and junior high teams. We shared that to become a Christian is just the beginning of our walk with the Lord. There is something that critically needs to be shaped as well, and that is our character. We pondered Psalm 15. “Who shall abide in your tabernacle? Who shall dwell in your holy hill? ”

In the second part of the training, we tried to better understand the people we serve. We introduced how our age and maturity influences our understanding of reality, and why some people can have different perceptions of the same reality. If only I would be able to better apply this in my own life as well! To be able to better understand the importance of our character, we had an activity for the teams that moved my bones fast (unpredictable long run – have a look at the picture).

Last weekend, my colleagues Draho, Marianna and I, held a seminar in a local church in Levice (South Slovakia). The seminar was for small group leaders in the Sr. Hi and junior high ministries.

We taught on how to lead a small groups, how to prepare a Bible study and questions for the small group gatherings, etc. We also served in the church youth center’s – Kontakt Café. I spoke about “The race, you cannot win”, based on the first chapter of prophet Jonah. It was very encouraging to see a local church that is open to reaching the lost.

Last January we served youth leaders and their teams from eight local churches. About 40 youth leaders and their team members participated in the training.

The main topics (Life in the team, when we got stuck and our team as the family) were about team work. We feel like this year’s School of the Leaders (the team training was part of it’s program) has reached the highest level in the history of the school. The youth leaders are very teachable, eager to learn and serve in their youth groups. Recently we got an invitation to lecture with the School of leaders training program of the Lutheran church in East Slovakia. Please pray for us to know if it is wise to take this challenge. There is a lot to be done, but the workers are few.

The topic was “Purposeful Youth Ministry,” and were honored to serve the largest group of the youth workers ever. At the end of the training, I gave the final talk about the doubts in our life and the ministry (based on Luke 7:18-29). The “Adopt a SPM Student” project is fulfilling our expectations.

It is encouraging to see how the Slovaks are adopting, and supporting the students. It is a great investment for we have a great group of the students this year (21). They learn and serve hard in their youth ministries.