reconnect

Every year at English Camp, we have the opportunity to share an evening message and talk about it in discussion groups each night. The course of the week always follows a theme that is designed to bring students into an encounter with Christ and the gospel.

Our theme this year is reconnect. Reconnect is not primarily about us reconnecting with one another at camp—it’s about humanity’s reconnection with God through Jesus Christ. It’s the story of God’s creation, our rebellion, and God’s redemption through Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and ultimate restoration.

The way we are communicating this story of God in the world this year at camp is through the story of Peter. Last night we introduced Peter as a normal guy that had to rethink everything because of what Jesus did in his life. God ultimately used him to turn the world upside down. Tonight we will see how Peter reacted when his dream of Jesus ruling as Messiah and King seemed to end with Jesus being crucified. On Monday we will hear Peter replay what he saw and experienced in Jesus’ ministry. On Tuesday we will hear about times when Peter had to refocus on Jesus’ power instead of relying on his own power. On Wednesday we will hear about how Peter ultimately rejected Christ and put himself over and above Jesus.

 On Thursday, which is gospel night at camp, we will hear how Jesus restores broken relationships. Please pray for that night in particular as we will be clearly sharing the gospel and giving an opportunity for students to respond. Friday night will then be another opportunity to talk about our theme—that ultimately we can only be reconnected to God through Jesus Christ.

Please pray for all of our students as they lead discussion groups this week. Also please pray for Ben Reis and myself, as we will be leading these talks together starting tonight. I’ll be introducing the theme and concluding the theme each night, and Ben will be acting as Peter each night, bringing the gospel in the form of a first person monologue. Pray for confidence as Ben shares this important message in this unique way. Thank you so much for your prayers! The Spirit of God is the only one who can ultimately open hearts the gospel, and we pray that he would move powerfully here this week.

His,

Jeremy

English Camp!

Hello from English Camp 2013!

We arrived here at our hotel on Friday evening, and we had an opportunity to worship together as our Czech and American teams merged into one team here at camp for the week.

We may not share the same primary language or culture, but the cross of Jesus Christ unites our teams far more than anything else possibly could, and we are so grateful to have the opportunity to share that with students this week.

We are well into our first full day and loving our time with both new and old friends here. Everyone is doing well and relationships are growing! The students arrived here yesterday afternoon and we’ve loved the opportunities to connect with them.

Throughout our years of partnership here in Sumperk, our heart’s desire has been to see the gospel continue to reach students who don’t know him and connect them to the local church here. Please pray for us as we not only build relationships with Czech students but bridge relationships between these Czech students and the church here in Sumperk.

We appreciate your prayers so much!

Encouragingly,

Jeremy

On the Move

This morning we ended up on a train to Sumperk that has wifi, so we wanted to send you our greetings from the train. We'll make connections to a couple more trains this morning, and then we'll spend the rest of our morning in Sumperk. Hopefully we'll get a chance to see the church that we're partnering with and spend some time with a few of our Czech friends in Sumperk. After that, we'll be taking a bus to our camp outside of Sumperk where we will begin to make our final preparations for English Camp. We are so excited for what God is going to do over this next week! Thanks for your continued prayer!

His,

Jeremy

We Love Malenovice

Greetings from the Czech Republic!

Our team has been at the Josiah Venture Malenovice training center for the past two days. Just a little over ten years ago, when Josiah Venture bought the property, this is what it looked like:

Today, it continues to stand as a first class training center with 110 beds, meeting rooms, translation equipment and sports fields. Ongoing training of JV staff occurs in this facility, as well as a wide range of conferences and training events that service the entire region.

It’s been such a blessing to experience training here at Malenovice. From our time learning about Czech history and culture to our times in worship together, we are leaving training refreshed and ready to head to camp.

At tonight’s closing session we gathered together for prayer to commission the US teams headed off to the different camps around Czech. This was a special time of prayer for us because we were also able to commission one of our own from New Hope Church--Ben Robertson--as he and his intern team travel to a different city here in Czech to host another English camp this week. It’s so exciting for us to see students who have come with us in the past come back again to help lead other English camps across Czech. Please pray for Ben and his team this week.

We are headed out bright and early tomorrow morning and we should be at our camp by the early afternoon. Camp will officially begin on Saturday! Please continue to pray for an openness to the gospel this week as relationships begin to form this weekend.

Thanks so much for your support!

His,

Jeremy

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to let you know that we have arrived safety in the Czech Republic! 

So thankful for all of your prayers. Our flights went smoothly and all our bags arrived on time! Praise God! We even had a few hours to walk around Prague in the rain before taking a 4.5 hour bus ride to training.

Right now we are at training at Malenovice with 3 other American teams -- learning about Czech history, culture, how to lead small groups, English classes & experiencing a typical camp evening program. Though we are tired & jet lagged, everyone is glad to be here and we are really enjoying this time to connect before heading off to camp.

Thanks for your continued prayers!

Team in MSP airport before leaving

Team enjoying iPads before heading to Paris

View from training at Hotel Malenovice - beautiful!

Heading to Czech again!

In just a few short hours, thirteen students and two leaders from our NHC Student Ministries will be boarding a plane and heading to the Czech Republic!

This team has spent the last 4 months meeting, praying and preparing for these next few weeks. We are so excited to finally be going! This will be our 7th year doing an English Camp with youth from Sumperk, Czech Republic & it's a JOY to partner with them!

Would you be praying for us in these next 17 days specifically? We are completely dependent on the Lord -- we do not have the strength to do this on our own!

What can you pray for?

-For safety and health during our trip -- protection from injury and illness!
-For smooth flights & luggage that doesn't get lost :)
-For Czech students hearts to be open & softened to the Gospel
-For unity between our US team, CZ team & intern team
-For boldness & courage as we share the Gospel and our lives

Thanks for partnering with us and supporting us -- we are deeply thankful!

Czech Team 2013

Gospel Expectation

As we prepare to share the gospel tonight with close to 30 of our friends at English camp, we agree with this quote from Rolland Allen and share his expectation that when the gospel goes out, it will bear fruit in this world: "St. Paul expected his hearers to be moved. He so believed in his preaching that he knew it was 'the power of God unto salvation.' This expectation is a very real part of the presentation of the Gospel. It is a form of faith. A mere preaching which is not accompanied by the expectation of faith is not a true preaching of the Gospel, because faith is a part of the Gospel. Simply to scatter the seed, with a sort of vague hope that some of it may come up somewhere, is not preaching the gospel. It is indeed a misrepresentation of the gospel. To preach the Gospel requires that the preacher should believe that he is sent to those whom he is addressing at the moment, because God has among them those whom He is at the moment calling: it requires that the speaker should expect a response."  

This quote reminds me of a picture that was taken during our first year of English Camp back in 2007:

There are a lot of great things about this picture.  First of all, you can see Jess Lindgren, our current Administrative Director in Student Ministries who is with us this year on our trip in the front row of this picture, second from the right.  She was in high school when this picture was taken, and her love for Czech has continued to grow since this point in her life.

But there are three other stories that get us excited when we look at this picture.  All of the way to the right in the front row, with Jess's arm wrapped around her, is our friend Babu.  When this picture was taken, Babu did not know Christ.  The gospel was proclaimed in 2007 at this English camp and Babu received Christ. She has been a solid, strong, growing follower of Christ ever since this point.  She shared her testimony with the students two nights ago in our evening session. It was powerful and God has been using it to stir the hearts of non-believers here this week.

At the far right in the top row, just above Babu, you will see our friend Petr.  Petr also did not know Christ when this picture was taken.  He did not believe in the existence of God and did not see the point of such an existence even if it were true.  The gospel was proclaimed at camp in 2007...And again in 2008...And again in 2009...And at many other points in Petr's life after getting connected to the church in Sumperk.  Petr surrendered his life to Christ in late 2009.  He has been soaking up doctrine and clearly growing in his walk with Christ.  He shared his testimony in two parts on Sunday and Monday in our evening session, and God has also used Petr's words in powerful ways this week.

In the middle of the top row, you'll see a 17-year-old young man named Vasek who was at the time a staunch atheist who believed the gospel to be complete foolishness.  Vasek heard the gospel in 2007 and 2008, and was also loved and invested in at the church in Sumperk as he continued to hear the gospel at other various points.  Vasek came to faith in Christ in the fall of 2008. All of a sudden he was reading the Bible continuously, listening to sermons, and reading books that would strengthen the core of his faith. He spent six months with us last fall as a youth ministry intern at New Hope Church. He has been my main translator for the entire week as I deliver the evening talks to students. He is currently working with Petr, Babu, and others who were not believers at our first camp to plant a ministry in Sumperk that is geared for reaching their friends for Christ.  Clearly, the gospel continues to bear fruit and grow in Sumperk.

So please pray for us as we prepare to share the good news of Jesus Christ very directly, boldly, and lovingly tonight.  I'm looking forward to seeing pictures like this one five years from now and hearing stories of changed lives similar to the ones above.  God is at work here. As the gospel goes out, we are convinced that it will continue to do what it is doing in this world--"bearing fruit and increasing" (Colossians 1:6).

Encouragingly,

Jeremy