Foundations Conference 2007 / Calvary Chapel Eastern Europe

"We Want to See Jesus" ... more than just the theme of this year's Foundations Conference, this was really the desire of all those that attended.
Foreign missionaries and national church leaders from throughout Eastern Europe gathered at the Bible College in Vajta, Hungary to be encouraged, challenged and refreshed by God's Word.

(This is a map showing the many Calvary Chapel associated fellowships throughout Europe).

Bob Caldwell, pastor of Calvary Chapel Boise, Idaho; delivered the profound but simple reminder that it is God's love that transforms us, motivates us, and should be our foundation in ministry. It is in Jesus that we see God's love most amazingly revealed.

Along with the teaching from Bob and others, we saw Jesus and grew in His love for one another by just having time to fellowship and enjoy the company of our brothers and sisters from different parts of Eastern Europe. It was a little glimpse of what maybe heaven will be like to see such diversity and yet such unity at the same time. Nightly the Ukrainian team would gather for worship and prayer singing in Ukrainian and Russian. Other times you could find Bulgarians, Romanians, Slovaks or others gathered for prayer, sharing conversation and a cup of coffee, or just relaxing...but no matter what the language or from what country, the center of it all was Jesus.

Thank you so much for all of you that pray and support the ministry here in Prauge because without you we wouldn't have been able to attend this great conference. We grew together as a team and were refreshed to come back and continue in the work that God has given us here.

"And if necessary - use words"...

"Proclaim the gospel everywhere, to all people,

at all times

...and if necessary - use words".

Saint Franciss of Assisi

Ivanka didn't see Jason first, he saw her. She was almost hidden behind the crowds of people at the tram stop, resting against the wall with her two plastic shopping bags that contained -most likely - all her worldly belongings.

But when he put a hand on her shoulder and reminded her that they had met a few weeks ago at the train station, she was so happy to see him again. And when she saw the little lunch bag we gave her, Ivanka was full of hugs, kisses and words of thanks. But it was us that were truly thankful. Thankful that in some small way we could show the love of God to Ivanka and others.

Monika was there yesterday, too, as she is every Friday when we go out with sandwiches. It's hard to tell how old she is because her face is so swollen and red from both living out of doors exposed to the elements and spending her days driking cheap vodka as she was when we met her. She cried and reached out to grab onto us the first time we met when we told her that God loved her and had a plan for her life. She hung her head in shame at these words and we reassured her that God didn't condemn her, that He loved her and just wanted her to know that love.

She smiled through her tears and through the weather beaten and life weary face that at first glance appeared to be that of an old woman, there was a shine in her eyes that revealed a glimpse of a much younger girl, maybe as young as late twenties or early thirties. How did she get to this place? What happened? Only God knows and only God can take her out of this. For now all we can do is hold her hand, give her a hug and our little lunch and remind her again of God's love. It seems so little in light of her great needs, but for now it is better to do what we can, that not do anything.

Our heart's desire is to be able to offer more to these folks than just a lunch once a week. We have lots of ideas, dreams, etc. but we know that "unless the Lord builds the house they labor in vain those that try to build anything on their own." So for now we will pray and we will continue to do what we can - to show God's love with sandwiches, cookies and an apple...to be his arms to hug and thereby proclaim the love of God to these whom most of the world would rather forget.

Would you please remember them with us? Would you pray with us for Ivanka, for Monika, and for the poor of our city? Pray that God would continue to guide and provide for this outreach and show us how to continue to show His love.

Summer Outreach Prayer Request

They say that " a picture is worth a thousand words" and this summer we have an opportunity to "speak" millions of words about God's love to the people of Prague! We have an opportunity to do some outdoor evangelism utilizing some of the dynamic creative visual ministries from Calvary Chapel Kyiv, Ukraine.

Their drama team and a young man who does something really unique that could best be called "Paint-ing Evangelism" are available to come to Prague and we would like to ask you to be praying with us about this. Ukrainians need visas to enter the Czech Republic and for a group this size to come that distance there are a lot of practical needs that need to be met as well. Please pray that God would give us wisdom and open all the necessary doors if this is indeed something that God desires would take place this summer with us in Prague.

Friends

Some of the guys from the fellowship: Tomas, Jon, Petr and Jason.

Our friends Young and Cindy.

Studying Czech with Gustav and Marchen.

Tomas and Jason with Mike from the Bible School in Hungary.

Fellowship: Prague Style

Prague is a very transient city, with people from all over the world - students and workers as well as tourists - coming and going regularly. We've been blessed that - along with the core group God is building - many have come to our weekly Bible study and other fellowship times.

So far we have had- along with Czechs and Americans - people from the following countries: Brazil, Slovakia, Ukraine, Canada, Korea, Columbia, Poland, Sweden and Germany. (We were trying to decide who should fill in for Jason at football practice if he ever gets hurt!)

Thanksgiving in June..

Thanks-giving came late (early?) to Jason's Czech language class this last Friday. Since the course is ending for the year they have been having meals together after class with different students bringing food from their home country. Cara and Noelle cooked up a feast complete with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy and even pumpkin pie! (Thanks to a few treasured cans of pumpkin pie filling from the states...you can't get it here and pumpkins are hard to come by, too!). Jason even had some Oreos stashed away that he brought...how much more American can you get? Everyone said the meal was great!

Jason has been diligenty chipping away at the Czech language since last fall. Not only has he been able to lay a groundwork of basic understanding of Czech (it's considered one of the toughest languages to learn), but also God has been able to shine through him amongst his classmates that come from so many different countries.

It was in this class that Jason and Young met and that is a friendship that has a blessing to both of them.

Are you ready for some football?

Near to the Brokenhearted...

"The LORD is near to the brokenhearted

And saves those who are crushed in spirit."

Psalm 34:18

That was the verse that came to mind to one of our team members today as we set out to try and serve the homeless of Prague. It has been on Jason's heart for some time now to try and reach out to the many homeless that are in Prague. In the parks, at the train station and throughout the city there are those who look to be the very ones that verse is talking about..."brokenhearted" and "crushed in spirit".

We made some sandwiches and put them together in a bag with some cookies, an apple and some tracts that tell of God's love. We went out not really knowing what we would do, painfully aware that what little we had to offer did not come anywhere near meeting all the pressing needs they might have, but wanting to simply in faith take the first step towards trying to help these folks and trusting that God would do for them all that we could not. We were not disappointed. We are learning that we never are disappointed when we simply step out in faith. :)

We handed out over 20 lunch bags and could have easily given out more. We saw a family sleeping on a park bench, drunks, people begging....one on hand nothing unusual in any big city...on the other, precious people that God loves.

We were able to talk to a few people, pray for a few others, and simply have our hearts broken with those things that break God's heart. The needs are so great and we wished we could do so much more. Some of us were able to minister to people using languages we had learned in other countries, some of our interaction was in English, and of course faithful Tomas was there to translate with Czech speakers.

We will be going out again next Friday, God willing, with food for both body and soul for these folks, not all homeless, but all looking for hope and for an answer to life's problems. Would you please pray with us for God to lead and provide for this effort? We want to do whatever we can, but more than that, we want to do whatever God is calling us to do.

Right now as a team we are reading Jim Cymbala's book Fresh Faith. It has been so encouraging to all of us to remember that, like the verse on the sidebar to the right of this post, anything that God will do in Prague (and is already doing!) will be not by our might or strength - physical or even perceived spiritual - but by HIS Spirit.

Cymbala writes that "One thing moves God: faith. Not doctrinal savvy. Not willpower. Trust in God alone stirs him to move miraculously on our behalf".

Pray for us for:

• continued guidance for ministry direction
• protection against discouragement and spiritual warfare
• to have God's eyes to be able to see and value His work in us as much as His work through us
• that in all things we would grow in love to one another and that God would be glorified

Prague in bloom...

Prague's beauty is not only in it's unique and historic architecture, but also in its many parks and flowering gardens.

It's basically already summer here with hot days and thunder showers at night, but this was the look of spring not long ago when some of the gals from the fellowship enjoyed a walk in the gardens at Petrin Park.

"...See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you...?"

The Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 6, verses 28 -30