Jesus Break 2005

As you can see from the pictures we've just returned home from our consultation roles with the third annual Jesus Break Festival held in an Eastern Bohemian town of about 15,000 people. This is a Christian event that gathers artists, singers and dancers from such disciplines as graffiti art, rap, hip hop, break dancing and a non-contact form of fighting choreographed to music originating from Brazil.

Before we go too much further, We want to introduce Beck, pictured at the right. He has been close to several members of our Liberec Youth Group but steadfastly refuses to yield his life to Christ. He does, however, quite often attend special youth events. Jesus Break was one of them. He is an avid break dancer and has developed a good relationship with Ken, perhaps because of Ken's counter-culture background and conversion testimony. When any of us go deep in conversation with him, he readily admits that "if he ever turns to Christ", he will "go all out and devote his life to sharing the Good News"! He is an engaging young man and has all of the gifts of an evangelist. We're waiting for him to fulfill his own prophecy. During the closing meeting of this year's Jesus Break he stood publicly and told everyone there that he finds something unique and appealing in the lives of his Christian friends and when he figures that out, he will, "chase it with all he has". Add Beck to your prayers...

Jesus Break was an assemblage of about 75 young Czech Christians and their friends that joined in a week-end long town festival. A local Internet Cafe donated a sophisticated light, sound and "smoke" system to be used with a stage donated by one town while the host town contributed financially to the rental and logistic costs of our outreach! CMMI's battery powered sound system was used on the square during the day. Scores of people enjoyed the presentations and just as many heard the gospel through testimonies of the performers and through rap songs. At one point we counted four different ethnic groups and, probably, four generations assembled at our venue. Once again, during the closing meeting there were several very positive responses to the weekend's events and some reported salvations. Whenever such conversions occur, we wait for confirmation from the local church before we "report the role". In the Czech society we love to say, "Uvidime", We will see...

Your task has been in our sending and are now commissioned to pray that the seeds planted truly come to fruit.

We haven't seen too many Swedish teams lately but we can still say,

"It don't get much better than this"!

Count It All Joy

We've just completed a long week that illustrates to us that, in spite of what others might call a life of sacrifice, we live a joyful life filled with fun and diversity. You'll remember that we told you that we were headed out for a week of Camp Meeting and asked you to pray for Jana and her young son, Dusan, pictured at the right. We've known them for several weeks now and this photo was taken toward the end of the week and we can honestly say in depicts one of the first times we've seen them in harmony together and with smiles on their faces. All week long they'd been immersed in an environment of love and acceptance by the family of God. Their daily life, in contrast, is filled with rejection and regular reminders of hope lost. Jana is noted for her negative attitudes toward everything. Dusan mirrors her cynical character through rebellion and unrestrained bedlam. All of that changed this week and we are sure that it is apparent to Jana that something is happening in her. Will you continue to pray that she will hunger after what is found in a loving relationship with Jesus. We are confident we'll see her enter into New Life!

The Camp Meeting week was an opportunity for us to develop new relationships with members of a church in Prague that we've never spent time with in the past. Fully two-thirds of them are under the age of thirty. Many of them had invited their parents along to experience the fellowship that they'd found at Church. Linda and I represent to many of those parents the only members of their generation who are believers in Christ. You can imagine that we were watched closely and quizzed about lives and faith. At the end of the week their was an "Open Mic" and more than one of those parents rose to declare that they'd come that week to debunk their children's faith and prove that they had been drawn in to a cult. To the contrary, they now had to go home and wrestle with the love and consistancy of the witness they observed during their "holiday".

Throughout the week we participated in both indoor and outdoor meetings, sporting tournements, trips into the newly opened "nature preserves" (Areas off limits to civilians due to their proximity to a free border), and across the border to visit the Germany city of Passau. You can see how we fit in with the younger generation...

This week gave us two opportunities to attend the weddings of people who a part of our lives. Mirek and Katka, pictured on the left, have both been our students in the Bible School, members of Outreach Teams that we've led to Slovakia and towns within the Czech Republic and close friends with whom we've shared and taught in the areas of evangelism and discipleship. Cip and Hanka, on the right, were married at the Camp Meeting. Cip is a gifted musician and worship leader who has served on several of our Outreach Teams. We first met Hanka as she assisted Linda in an English Camp outreach three years ago. Each of these young future leaders are precious to us and we've loved participating in this new phase of life for them.