On the Road in Washington St.

Hey everyone! My family and I are having a blast seeing old friends, family, and beautiful sights. I've got a few sights that I want you to see with me. God's works are stunningly beautiful! For our last day in Washington State we took a scenic drive over the North Cascades Highway, then took a ferry out of Seattle to Bremerton and then ended up in Astoria, OR. Spectacular! Check it out...



Here's some shots from the ferry going out of Seattle heading to Bremerton...



I've heard so many good things going on back in Rockford at Harvest. It does my heart so well to hear that the church is thriving in my absence because the church is so much more than just one man. I thank God that Sundays have been great, worship has been awesome, and the Summer Gathering rocked. Just wait to see what God has in store for the Fall! See you soon...

Additional recollections of Czech Republic

Final updates from CR

Hi everyone. We are doing our final packing and finishing up English Camp today. All of us are full of rich experiences - sharing our faith, deepening friendships with people we will never forget, praying for their hearts to soften. It has truly been awesome.

The beauty of a camp like this is that you become good friends with people who have never been close to a single Christian by learning together, playing together, and eating together. It is a perfect environment to share the faith because they begin to trust you and listen to you. Each night after the message, the people gather in small groups to discuss it. These groups can last a whole hour and more. These are atheists or agnostics willing to talk about their objections to Christianity.

Two nights ago, I had the opportunity to speak to a married couple about their spiritual quest. Their questions were very deep but sincere. They were coming to believe that there must be an intelligent force out there since the world around them is designed with such complexity, but they were not ready to accept the Christian God. Last night we continued to talk about God as the wife had tears in her eyes. She was visibly touched but did not "feel" that she was a sinner. God is on the move here and I believe this couple will trust the Savior in time.

The Czech work is slow but steady. One does not advertise in a newspaper or on the radio to plant a church and opening Sunday have over 200 in attendance. You wouldn't even have one! You must plant a church the old fashioned way - one-on-one evangelism. Seeing this has been so invigorating to me. They are reaching people that would never come if they only received a brochure in the mail. Even in Rockford where mass mailings do work, the majority of the people will not want to come. They need someone they can trust to tell them of Christ which means that we need to befriend them.

Research reports that new believers will lose contact with their unbelieving friends in 12 months. They will not know any unbelievers after that. This must change for us if we are to fulfill the mission of God.

Well, that's all for now. Thanks for your prayers. God is Great!

Here's an update from Ron...

On a lighter side...

Andy and Luke made the ultimate sacrifice out on the mission field. Click here to find out more...

Soul Stirring

In about 3 hours I will be presenting Jesus as more than a man...that he is Savior of the world. This will be the fifth message out of six and I plan to call them to a decision. Each night they listen and then sit in groups to discuss questions that I have put together. The majority of them are agnostic or atheistic and will talk about Jesus' life and its significance but will refuse to believe that the Bible is more than just an over-embellished tale. Many of them do not know one Christian outside those who put on the English camp!

Nevertheless, it has stirred them to think and to ponder Christianity and eternity. I will be meeting with a couple tonight after the service to talk about spiritual matters with them. They sit with me at meals. We have had good conversations but nothing spiritually deep yet. When they arrived for breakfast they mentioned to me that they did not sleep much because they were talking into the night. When I asked what they were discussion they said it was about God. They had deep questions to ask me but needed a translator so we have arranged to talk tonight through a translator. Souls are being stirred. This couple is just one of several people who want to know more.

Thank you for praying for us...keep it up!

Updates from Matt and Sarah

English Class Small Groups

Andy's class


Ron's Class


Sarah's class


Nick's class

Progress report from English camp

Hi everyone!

We finished our first full day of English Camp. Our schedule each day consists of the follow:

9 AM-12:00 English class - the whole camp is broken up into small groups for learning and everyone is around a table in the cafeteria. I do not teach but sit at a table by my self with a sign that says "table talk with John." It is for anyone who wants to ask me a question or whatever. One lady came to talk and was distressed about some guilt that she carried about her grandmother's death. She wanted to know if God would forgive and wanted to know how she would know for sure that He did forgive her. She is not a believer but God is drawing her through her pain.

1 PM - 5 Free Time/Activity - Today, most of the people went on a loooong hike and so did I. My daughter hiked with me and we joined Courtney who was also on the hike. I interviewed her about how things were going...



Tonight at the evening meeting, I presented to the camp that Jesus is creator of the universe from John 1. I sensed the group warming up to me and my tandem effort with the translator went incredibly well. We had discussion groups after the message concerning what they heard and most people vocalized their disbelief in God. KEEP PRAYING!

Leaving for the English Camp

Hi everyone! We've leaving for the English camp this afternoon which is about 3 hours away from Prague. Prague is such a beautiful city that I am going to be sad to leave it. Every building is as old as Moses...or at least older than America. We visited Jon Hus' church called Bethlehem Church which is a reconstruction of it and his statue that stands in a prominent place in the town square. Jon Hus was an early reformer in the 14-15 Century. He precedes Martin Luther by about 100 years. In fact, Luther was indicted by the Catholic inquisitors as being a Hussite.

Thanks for praying for us. We have met many of the church members of this small church plant here and have been encouraged by what we see. Two nights ago, one of the women in the group came bounding up to the lead missionary, Mark Potma, and announced that she had just recently trusted Christ! Her husband had committed his life to Jesus about a year ago. Both of them were Jehovah's Witnesses before turning to Christianity. They have now a passion to reach this cult. The husband already has a website focused on reaching JW's!

Prague at night

Prague is a magnificent city and especially so at night. It is one of the few old cities that didn't get bombed in WWII.

After we prepared for our English camp, had dinner with the Potma's (lead missionaries), it was 9:30 PM and we hit the town square and didn't get back until midnight. Wow, check out the pictures....





More sight-seeing is planned for tomorrow and then on Sunday, we are heading up to camp.

Day 2 in Prague

After a good night sleep, we all arrived at the ministry center/church to learn how to teach English and learn more about how the days at camp will go. (For those of you who do not know, we will be teaching English up at a week-long camp in the mountains. The Czech people are eager to learn English in order to open greater opportunities for employment and social interaction.)

Our apartment where we are staying while in Prague is about a five minute walk to the church so the pictures below show you what we saw walking this morning to the meeting.



For lunch we ate pizza, Czech style, which wasn't too bad and some carbonated water and tea. With a full stomach, I almost fell asleep in class because of the jet-lag. Later tonight we will be heading to Mark and Gretchen Potma's house (lead missionaries) to meet the rest of the English camp team around a fire...should be good fun. Tommorow we hit the town for sightseeing.

Leaving and Arriving

Hey everyone! We arrived in Prague safe and sound...and groggy. Wow, I think I slept all of 45 minutes during the flight. Here's a couple of videos that I made during our travels...