Last week we held our teen camp in the mountains, and it was our biggest one ever! There were over 80 of us altogether, including more than 40 of our young people (Croatian youth, and Ukrainian youth living in Croatia); volunteers from Zagreb; and 28 Americans (both teens and youth leaders) from the Southside Church […]

Champs Camp was last week. This year we had around 25 children and 13 teen volunteers. Our theme was, Kingdom Rock: Where Kids Stand Strong for God. Each day we enjoyed celebrating together through fun Christian songs, Bible lessons, discussions, object lessons, crafts, Superbook videos, games, fellowship, and delicious food. It was especially encouraging to […]

This last Sunday, Kolya surrendered his life to Jesus and was baptized. He is one of the Ukrainian orphans who have been with us the last few years. Kolya is 17 years old. He has a charismatic personality and a kind heart. After spending time studying the Bible with me, and our Ukrainian friend, Dima […]

I preached twice this month for the Ukrainian fellowship that is meeting on Sunday afternoons in the building where our Croatian church meets on Sunday mornings. This fellowship was started by Dima and Yulia Grishchuk. I worked with Dima in orphan ministry 20 years ago in Donetsk, Ukraine. Yulia and their girls came to us […]

I am currently discipling five young men. We talk about life, read the Bible together, and discuss it. Adam (16) and I have finished the books of John, Acts, and Romans. We are now working together through the Bible study book, Experiencing God. Adam was baptized three years ago and is developing a deep love […]

Ilona is one of the Ukrainian girls from the house of orphans we have been serving the last four years. She decided to be baptized this month. Ilona’s faith has been growing, and she has been pursuing a walk with Jesus and talking about this, ever since the camps last summer. Ilona has a close […]

We clearly see God’s hand in our youth ministry. Each time we gather now, we have an average of about 25 teenagers attending. We enjoy Bible lessons, discussions, songs, games, food, and fellowship together. And knowing each of them more. At the start of each semester, we ask the teens to write down for us […]

Andrei is a 15 year old young man from Ukraine. He has been here in Croatia with his family for about the last two and a half years. My friend Dima baptized him this month (photo above) . Andrei’s family is involved in the small Ukrainian church that Dima and his wife Yulia started here […]

Happy New Year, everyone. The first week of this year, we held our Winter Youth Camp. We enjoyed three days of worship, games, fun, my famous lasagna, and teaching on identity, belonging, and purpose, all in the mountains west of Zagreb. We had 33 teenagers with us. Dima and Yulia Grishchuk, who I got to […]

On December 28 and 29, I hosted at my house for two days and nights several of the boys with whom I work closely. We enjoyed great fellowship, food, a fire in the firepit, and a day at a local indoor water park. I introduced them to the card game, “Spoons” (in Croatian, “Žlice”). I […]