Greg in Czech

Answered Prayer

I have an introduction to make. I’ve written about my fiancé Kori in my last update and many of you met her when we were in Minnesota over Christmas.  But, I don’t think I’ve really outlined for you what our plans are.  Here’s a synopsis of our story (my version at least) and plans:

I moved to Czech in 2006 as a single man in his early 30s.  I made the decision to follow Christ here knowing that it would significantly reduce my chances of finding a wife.  Not a lot of women want to live the life of a missionary.  Ministry here has been rich and exciting.  My job is to disciple teenagers and train Czech youth pastors.  That’s about as cool as it gets in my book.  But giving up your native culture and language and taking on another one gets lonely.  I wanted to do this with someone.  So I prayed that God would give me a wife, someone to pursue this calling with.

Last summer Kori Smith, an old flame of mine, showed up with the American team at my church’s English camp.  I’ve gone out with a few girls over the years since I moved to Czech.  Each of them were awesome women (I happen to think that I have a talent for picking out great woman).  But, there was always the lingering thought that they weren’t Kori.  Now, Kori had already made it quite clear that she had no intentions of dating me.  But things started happening at camp.  We found ourselves with plenty of opportunities to talk.  I watched her hanging out with the students.  She noticed how the kids loved hanging out with me.  I kept thinking “if only…”

After camp was over we ended up having a day to hang out together.  We were driving back from Prague to Tábor with the plan to spend the day visiting castles. Nothing was said of this being a date though.  On the drive to Tábor I noticed a sunflower field.  I new she liked sunflowers so I seized the opportunity and pulled over.  As we wandered through the field she got this funny look in her eyes.  Kori asked me if I was over her.  My first thought was, “man, she’s dumping me again.”  But she didn’t look like she wanted to do that.  I answered “I was” purposely in the past tense.  “So, do I have a chance with you?” I asked.  Her answer was “yeah, a lot.”

Since then I’ve asked Kori to marry me.  We’re getting married on June 3^rd in Fairbanks, Alaska where she is from.  We’ll live there for a year while we get used to being married to each other and raise support for the ministry here in Czech.  Kori really is the woman I have been praying for.  She is a true life partner, someone I want to serve and worship Christ with.  She is the person I want to build a home with, a home that is a safe place for teenagers.  When I proposed to her I read to Kori Psalm 34:3.  “Glorify the Lord with me, let us exult His name together.”  She is the one I want to glorify Jesus with.

I will move to Fairbanks from Czech on May 8^th.  I will officially be on home assignment as a fulltime employee of Josiah Venture.  We will spend this next year developing our marriage, going through new missionary training, and raising the necessary funds to move back to Czech as a couple. If you’re not already a part of our support team and would like to be click this link: Support Greg and Kori in Czech.  We’ll be spending a couple months in Minnesota this fall and the rest of the year in Fairbanks. 

 

A Friend and Co-Laborer

I first met Poky when I was helping out at the Tábor English camp in 2003.  He was 19 and starting out as the leader of his youth group. As he doubted this calling we talked about him either stepping down as the leader and finding a replacement or stepping up and learning how to lead.  I was so proud of him when he chose the later.  Since then Poky has become one of the most equipped and prepared youth leaders in Czech.  He’s been through every training we offer, walked through the desert of failure and rejection, and emerged as a humble man with the tools to shepherd youth to Christ.

When I moved to Tábor 3-½ years ago Poky had just been asked to step down as youth pastor because his leadership was frustrating a lot of people.  He humbly stepped down, allowed the pastor to take over leadership of the youth group and continued to serve on the youth group team.  It’s funny that Poky’s last name “Pokorný” is the Czech word for “humble.”  Even when the church asked me to take over leadership of the youth group Poky continued to serve faithfully and humbly.  Poky and I met regularly every other week and talked through things.  Last summer I told the church that I wanted Poky to become the leader of the youth group again.  I felt that he was ready, more mature, and well equipped for the task. The church agreed and I handed over the reigns after our summer English camp finished.

I’m now getting ready to move away from Tábor.  This summer will be my first time not being at the Tábor English camp in 9 years.  I’ve left the youth group in good hands, but I will miss working with my friend and co-laborer.

 

Guys' Group

I’ve had a heart for teaching boys how to be men for a long time.  The past couple of years I’ve had the privilege of fleshing out that heart by leading a Bible study for guys in our church.  It’s simple.  Girls typically need only to sit down and talk in order to connect.  You put them in a room that is nicely decorated, some nice snacks in the middle, a few candles and you can typically have a Bible study with deep discussion (I know I’m oversimplifying, ladies, but it’s just to prove a point).  It’s not that way with guys.  We need something to do, some common experience or task to bond us. A couple years ago I took some guys to the Alps for a hiking trip.  Our struggle up the mountains bonded us and led into meaningful discussion.  For my guys group I fire up the grill and tell them all to bring some meat to cook.  When there is fire the men will congregate.  As we sit down in my living room with a plate full of meat there is lively conversation and bonding over our creation.  Then we drift into the topic of the day.  We’ve talked about anger, sex, marriage, being a gentleman, and what does it mean to be a man.  It has been so cool to see these boys and men ask questions and struggle with the topics.

Filip has been coming for the past two years.  He always brings a new marinade for the meat each week.  He first started talking to me about being a man when he started dating a rather attractive girl from the youth group who was 2 years his senior.  Jirka is my neighbor.  He’s been bringing his 12-year-old son Tomáš to the studies.  Kryštof is growing up in a very godly home and is at the point of deciding to make his faith his own.  Štěpán has been coming to church his whole life and is discovering what it means to have his own faith in Christ.  Pray for each of these guys as they seek to become men of God.

 

Bible Study

Vítek and I have been hanging out regularly for the last couple of years.  I got him hooked on studying the Bible last year by taking him through the book of Romans one chapter at a time.  A few times I took him back to the Old Testament and showed him the passages that Paul was quoting in Romans and how they connected (like Romans 10 and Lev.18:5; Duet. 30:13-14).  That convinced him that he needed to go through the Old Testament with me.  It was so fun to watch him explore the word on his own, ask questions, and struggle with stuff he didn’t understand.  His eyes light up when he discovers something new about God.

As we began studying the Old Testament this year I told him to invite others to join the study.  Martina (on the left just after her baptism) started studying with us last January.  She soaks in whatever she can.  She also challenges what I teach her.  Martina keeps me on my toes.  It’s been a pretty quick survey of the OT.  I choose passages that give the gist of a section and have them read it ask questions.  We then plot it out on an Old Testament timeline.  It has been fun to see students discover that the first ¾ of the Bible actually are interesting and have application to daily life.  Vítek grew up in an atheistic home and so never heard the Bible stories from the Old testament before.  He is discovering them for the first time.  Martina has been reading the Bible a bit longer than Vítek, but she comes from an atheist background too.  What a joy to lead these two in searching the deep truths of God.

 

Update on Lukáš

Lukáš has been at Teen Challenge now for over 8 months.  When I first dropped him off I knew that a miracle had taken place to get him there. But I also knew that it would take a lot more miracles to get him to stay.  Sure enough he tried to run away his 3^rd day there.  He went on a beer and cigarette binge and tried to find friends to stay with.  Each friend said “no.”  He finally called me in tears saying that he was going back and was going to stick it out.  He’s been sticking out since then.  I’ve gotten to visit him a couple times since then and he still needs miracles.  But, Lukáš is a changed person.  He regularly talks about his memory verses and the things he has been learning from the Bible.  He has regular work that he is proud of.  He talks about making it through the program at a faster rate than originally planned.  He has hope.  His hope is not based on the scheming that he used to do.  It’s based on Jesus and the work that Christ has already done in Lukáš.  So many of you have been praying for him. He still desperately needs your prayers.  I will probably get to visit him one or two more times before I leave for Alaska for the next year.  My leaving will be hard for him since I have been the closest thing to a father for him over the last year and a half.  Pray that the church in Tábor takes ownership of this boy.  Pray that Lukáš continues to seek Jesus. 

 

Lukáš

It's been a week and a half since camp ended.  Most of the students I work with are off on family vacations or are at other camps.  It is quiet in the city where I live.  So much has happened.  I'm still thinking and reminiscing about it.  Many of you know about my struggle and heart break with Lukáš, how he ditched me so many times when trying to get him into Teen Challenge, or when he'd show up at my door step drunk or high.  At camp he trusted Christ.  He has never been loved the way he was loved there.  He's never experienced a community where he was completely accepted.  When we were saying goodbye at the train station to our American team from Friendship Church he started sobbing.  I've never seen him cry before.  He couldn't contain himself.  A few days after camp he told me he was going to Teen Challenge.  I'd heard that before, but this felt different.  Sure enough he showed up at my front door ready to go.  He told me he wanted one more cigarette before leaving. He would be back in 5 minutes.  My heart sank.  This is how he ditched me the last time.  We prayed.  5 minutes later my door bell rang.  Lukáš stood before me with a big grin and the lingering smell of cigarette smoke.  We promptly began our 2-hour drive.  When we arrived at Teen Challenge Lukáš began with an orientation meeting. 30 minutes later I had to leave.  Lukáš had a depressed look of shock on his face.  "So many rules, Greg!"  We talked about it and I was on my way.  Victory, so I thought.  Our whole youth group was praying for him.  That was Thursday.  Saturday I got a call from Teen Challenge.  It was Lukáš.  He told me that he couldn't make it 18 months without cigarettes (and a few other things I think) and was leaving for Tábor.  I'd see him sometime that day.  As my heart sank one more time I reminded him that it was Teen Challenge or nothing.  He couldn't stay with me.  He said he would figure it out.  I hung up and prayed.  About an hour later I got a text message from him.  He was in a town near Teen Challenge and had changed his mind.  After calling three friends for help and hearing "no" from each he finally realized that Teen Challenge was his only option.  He then called me and told me through tears of how he thought of me as a father and he was going to make it through all 18 months of the program.  Lukáš is a new boy.  He is a boy making steps to genuine manhood.  I saw him again on Tuesday.  He had a completely different demeanor.  He showed me verses in his Bible.  We talked about spiritual things that he brought up. He talked about making it through the program.  I'm not allowed to visit him at all for the first three months of the program, so I will need prayer as well.  Please keep praying for Lukáš.  This is only the beginning of another journey for him.

Glimpses of Something Bigger

I have been visiting a high school just south of Tábor for the past couple of years.  It's been my way of meeting students, getting exposed to Czech youth culture outside fo the church, and to encourage the youth group kids that attend that school.  It's been pretty uneventful over the past couple of years.  There have been a few students that I have really connected with and have been able to share Christ with.  But, no revivals have happened.  A few things have happened in the past month or so that show glimmers of something bigger...I hope.  I was sitting in the language department office one morning with a couple of the teachers when one of them asked me about my faith.  This teacher was Catholic and was frustrated with a situtation in her church and she wanted to ask me what I thought.  As we discussed the essentials of the Gospel another teacher was listening.  This teacher is not a believer, but was very interested in our conversation.  On another occasion I was having lunch with a different teacher when the topic of my faith in Christ came up.  As I patiently listened and answered her questions we were able to go through the whole Gospel.  These two teachers have also given me extraodinary permission to speak about spiritual things in class as well.  It's Easter season and so the topic in class has been on the differences between American and Czech Easter traditions.  Czech's have an Easter tradition of baking a lamb-shaped cake.  I've asked them if they know where this tradion comes from.  Most have no idea, just that it is fun and tastes good.  Occasionally one will say "Jesus is the lamb."  But they don't know why Christ is portrayed as a baby sheep.  With the teacher in the classroom I then go into explaining the Old Testament picture of a spotless lamb as payment for sin and that Christ died on the cross as the final fulfillment of that OT picture.  Yesterday the teacher asked me about important Easter symbols for Americans.  After a quick little blurb about the Easter bunny I explained the significance of the cross and the empty tomb.  My faith rests on these things.

Another encouraging thing is prayer.  Each Thursday after class I have started gathering with a few of the youth group kids in front of the school for prayer. We pray for courage to share Christ with our friends.  We pray for God's glory to be revealed in this school.  We pray for the teachers.  I've been able to encourage the kids with these stories.  God's movement begins with prayer.  I'm praying that He will show Himself powerfully to these young believers. 

English Camp Training

Each spring in Czech we put together a couple of training events for Czech youth groups on how to use English camp as a tool to reach teens in their communities.  It's a time to gather everyone together to talk about the big picture.  To have 10-15 youth groups together in one place gives the students a vision that this is not just one event, but part of a movement of God.  This is what God is doing all over the country.  We want them to be encouraged by being together and hearing stories of what Jesus is doing not just in their communities, but all over Czech.  We start Friday night by focusing on Christ and His word. His glory is the purpose and goal of all these camps.  The we spend Saturday teaching seminars on how to lead a small group discussion, how to invite your friends to camp, how to be a member of a team, camp songs and games, working with Americans, appologetics, all the different details of camp. 

I love the training times because it gives me a chance to reconnect with all the groups I've done camp with in the past.  It's a bit of reconnection overload.  I get glimpses of what God has been doing over the years in and through so many of the people I've met here.  Aleš is the leader of the youth group in the city of Poděbrady. He is one of a kind.  He works a normal job, has a family, and in his spare time he leads his youth group.  The connection that I've seen him nurture with his students is awesome.  He has quite literally loved these students into the kingdom. Ondra is a friend and coworker that many of you have met.  He led a seminar on how to take the friendships made at camp and make them last all year. 

The final picture here is of my youth group.  We haven't done camp for two years, so everything is new for us again.  It was so good to be able to watch them soak it all in and talk about the different seminars they went to.  This year I am focusing a lot more on leading them to pray for camp and for their friends.  I want them to beg Christ for the salvation of their friends. Pray for us as we seek to see God glorified in Tábor this summer.

Reconnecting

Every now and then God gives me reminders of what He is doing through me, glimpses of the fruit He is producing in my life.  These glimpses are precious especially during dry times of ministry.  He encourages me with the knowledge that He produces the fruit and if it is from Him it will last.  A couple of weeks ago a group of youth ministry students from the Moody Bible Institute (my alma mater) came through Czech to see what we in Josiah Venture are doing here.  One of those students was a former Jr. Higher of mine from when I was interning as a Jr. High pastor in MN.  I got to spend a few hours talking with Heather Ludzack while touring Prague with her class.  It was very evident from the way she talked that Christ is her life.  It was medicine to my soul to see a former student of mine still seeking Christ whole-heartedly.

Leading the trip was my former youth ministry professor Bob MacRae.  (Bob is the guy in the middle. The guy on the left is some hobo that wandered into the photo)  This is the guy that got me connected with Friendship Church (my home church in MN) and Josiah Venture here in Czech.  I am where I am today because God used this guy to point me in the right direction.  It was so good to talk with Bob about what God is doing and where He is leading.  It was also very cool to watch him do the same thing with his current students that he did for me.  Bob told me stories of what his team had been doing in the last couple weeks while touring Czech; stories of encouraging Czech youth groups, sharing Christ with university students, and other God-honoring things.  It was very cool to talk with a group of students who are in a similar spot I was in 13 years ago.  Pray that God would send more workers into the harvest field! (Matthew 9:37)

On the Road Again.

For the past 5 months I haven't been able to do any kind of sports because I reagrivated an old back injury last October.  This is the third time in my life when I have had to give up running for an extended period of time because of back troubles.  When I was 18 I herniated a disc and had to give it up for a year and a half.  When I was 21 I had to give it up for 6 months because I fractured a vertibrae while wrestling with my roommate.  Each time God has been so gracious to me and given me back the ability I love so much.   Running for me is freedom.  My body is just naturally built to run.  When I run I am doing what my body was made to do.  Eric Liddell (Chariots of Fire) said, "I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run I feel His pleasure."  Each time He has given this gift back to me I have become more and more grateful for it.  Each time I have had to give it up I have been reminded more and more that it is a gift and not my main purpose.  I want to "run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free." (Psalm 119:32)  I feel that freedom when I run.  But, even with all those runners' highs, nothing can compare with running in the path that Christ has set out for me.

So, this morning when I strapped on my running shoes for the first time since last October I did so in worship.  I was so thankful for the sweat that ran down my brow, for the wind in my... scalp, for the sun coming through the bare trees, and the lack of pain in my lower back.

God has taught me through running.  He has taught me perseverance, "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize?  Run in such a way as to get the prize." He has taught me hope, "Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training.  They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever."  He has taught me discipline, "Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly... No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize." (1st Corinthians 9:24-27)  But more than anything He has taught me to enjoy Him and what He has given me.  He has taught me to be thankful.

(These pictures are along my running route.)