News

Jesus Conference

Published on by Steve
I mentioned in my last post that I immediately became very busy upon arriving back in Croatia, after my extended time in the USA at the end of 2013. This was due mainly to preparations for our Jesus Conference, which we held on January 23-25. I was responsible for many of the logistical details of making the conference happen.
This was Biblijski institut’s  first such conference on a large scale. We had about 20 guests speakers from outside Croatia, and upwards of around 300 participants from various church backgrounds, as well as some non-Christians. The conference was an overwhelming success and the name of Jesus was truly lifted up. We heard academic papers presented in daytime sessions at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Zagreb. We also heard keynote sermons three evenings at the Hotel International. The speakers focused on highlighting Jesus as He is presented in both the Old and New Testaments. With teachers and preachers from the USA, Romania, Israel, and Croatia, it was truly an international event.
The presentations, and especially the evening sermons, were well received. The Christian community in Croatia was well represented, with Christians from almost all confessions in attendance. Even though we were confronted with bad weather, snow and ice, we had very good attendance at the evening lectures, almost filling the Hotel’s large conference hall most evenings. The daytime lectures at the University of Zagreb were also well attended. There is much interest in having another such conference in the future. Please pray with us as we evaluate our efforts and consider future plans. Take a look here at a feature about the conference that appeared on Croatian National Television:

Back to Work

Published on by Steve

I realized over the last weekend that I have not posted on here since October, after being in the USA with my family for three months at the end of 2013, around the time of my mother’s death. I guess I have been that distracted with the events of the last few months. I will admit that perhaps I have just also simply not felt like it. In addition to the hard events of the last part of 2013, it is also easy in the winter time here in Croatia to feel like I want to get into a kind of “hibernation mode.” It is a time of mostly gray skies and either rain or snow most of the time. This is what I arrived to when I came back at the end of December. Not that there was not work to do when I returned. I was actually thankful for the sudden busy-ness of preparing for our Jesus Conference that happened at the end of January (more about that in another post). It kind of kept me distracted from missing my mother, who passed away at the end of October. I would like to dedicate this year of work and service, to Jesus as usual to be sure, but also to my mother’s memory, legacy, and example of faith and service to me and many others. I love and miss you Mom and wait to see you again.

Kay Allen Taliaferro

A Blessing From God On the Mountain

Published on by Steve

Beautiful Logarska Dolina (Logar Valley)
On the way

I arrived back in Texas on Tuesday of this week. I have come to spend several weeks with my family during what is most likely the last few weeks or months of my mother’s life. It is both a sweet and sad time. I want to relate a story that happened to me a few weeks ago. A new Croatian friend, Zoran, took me on a hiking trip in the Kamnik Alps of Slovenia. I told him before we left that I love hiking but that I don’t like technical climbing. I don’t do well with both high and very open and exposed places. It freaks me out. He said everything would be fine. All started out well, but I knew I was in trouble when at one point he pulled out this helmet and told me to put it on. Suddenly the trail turned into about a 12-18 inch wide shelf on the side of a rock face, with several hundred feet straight down on the left side. There was a steel cable attached to the rock to hang onto. At some points it was scrambling straight forward up and over the rock, with steel spikes in the rock to both hold onto and put your feet on. Needless to say, I was quiet scared for this last 30-40 minutes of the hike. It was one of the hardest things I have ever done.

Our campsite, with the rock face we traversed on the left

We did make it to our campsite on the ridge top, and it was beautiful. As we made our camp for the night and had dinner, Zoran looked at the map and said that the easiest way back down was going to be the way we came up. I didn’t know how I was going to do it, having to back down, and therefore, having to look down. I prayed a good part of the night for God to help me and take away my fear. We awoke the next morning to rain. I was going to have to go back down that rock face, but now in the rain, and over slick rocks. But we started out…and it was actually easier! It was still not comfortable for me, but this time I did not feel the terrible fear I did going up. God answered my prayer in an amazing way. Through this experience I felt the Lord speaking to me, “See how I have been with you and have helped you through this hard experience? Likewise, I will be with you and your family and will help you through the coming hard times, having to let go of your mother.” It was truly a great gift to me.

An Ambassador for the Kingdom

Published on by Steve

Mladen and his wife Dragica

Another recent event that has contributed to my feeling of this being a very surreal time was the death of our friend and brother, Mladen Jovanović. Mladen passed away suddenly at his home on Friday evening, September 6. His funeral was on Wednesday, September 11. Really all of last week was spent on the funeral and the accompanying preparations, comforting and helping Mladen’s family in various ways, and helping to host various American guests who came for the funeral. Among many other roles, Mladen was the pulpit minister for our congregation here in Zagreb, a teacher at Biblijski institut, a founder and former head of the Council of Churches of Christ in Croatia, and a founder and general secretary of the Protestant Evangelical Council of Croatia. Mladen loved Jesus and was a true ambassador for the Kingdom of God; in Croatia, central Europe, and around the world. Many have described him as a spiritual statesman. We celebrate his homegoing, but his departure leaves empty places in both our congregation and the institute. Please be in prayer for his family and for us in his loss. May our work going forward be a continuation of his legacy for the Kingdom.

Links to some good articles about Mladen:

http://balkanvoices.wordpress.com/2013/09/12/in-remembrance-an-interview-with-mladen-jovanovic/

http://emilyhegi.tumblr.com/post/60550847152/the-new-man-remembering-mladen-jovanovic

A Difficult Family Time

Published on by Steve

My sweet mother, with my sister Karen

Well, I haven’t posted on here in a while and I figured it was probably time to explain partly why, by giving an update on my family. So much of my time and emotional energy recently has been spent helping and serving them. I spent an entire month in the later part of the summer with my family in Texas. I had planned to stay just three weeks, but things changed rapidly after I arrived. My mother has been fighting cancer for seven years and has started a downhill slide over the last few months. Her situation has been changing weekly. I cannot accurately describe the difference I saw in her this summer from just six months ago when I was there at Christmas. She was much smaller and weaker. While I was there this summer, we had to go to the ER with her with severe pain in her left arm. They found a new tumor there. She has had several new tumors popping up recently, almost all in bones. On her latest visit to her oncologist, he said that the latest round of treatment is not working and recommended stopping all treatment. That decision was made and now we are doing what is necessary for hospice to come in and make her as comfortable as possible from here on out. The doctor says that she most likely has a few months left. I am now back in Croatia to renew my residence permit. After that is accomplished, I plan to return to Texas to spend an extended time with my family this fall. Both Mom and Dad need a significant amount of help around the house now, and I want to be able to serve them in that way. I will most likely spend about three months there with them. I am not intending to leave Croatia for good. In fact, I am moving ahead with plans to purchase land, build a house, and make my home here. I just feel that I need to spend the next few months with my family. The best word I have been coming up with to describe how I feel through this time is…surreal. I admit that I also feel just a little bit lost. Please pray for our family during this time. We know God, by His Spirit, is seeing us through.

Champs Camp III a Great Success!

Published on by Steve

 

Held June 17-20, Champs Camp was a great success again this summer, thanks to all the children who participated, their parents, and our wonderful volunteers. We thank God also for His blessings in this event. This was the third annual Champs Camp in Zagreb. We had several Americans who came to lend their talents, as well as their native English. We also had many Croatian volunteers from several different churches, without whom this program would be impossible. The program was again sponsored by Biblijski institut, as a service to our community.

This year was our biggest camp so far, with 80 children registered! They were mostly from neighborhoods around the park where we held the camp, and many were repeats from the last two years, which is very exciting. Please pray for our ongoing relationships with these children and their families.

This year especially it seemed that the camp was full of joy, even though it was very hot. For four days the children had a great time playing games, hearing stories from the Bible, making crafts, singing songs, and having lots of fun. The theme of the camp this year was “God is My Rock.” We all enjoyed hearing the laughter of the children, and seeing them happy and content at the end. It was a great time together for all of us, and we are looking forward to similar events in the future.

A new aspect of the camp we added this year was having some of the children from previous years (who are now too old to be campers themselves) to help with the camp. We then did some special activities with just them for three days after the camp. We hope this also will develop into future possibilities for ministry.

This was also a special time for me as I had four guests from my sponsoring church (Pond Springs Church of Christ, in Austin, Texas) come to help with the camp. It was the first time for all of them to be in Croatia, and the first time that I have had a visit here of people from the church. They did great and it was a real blessing and encouragement to have them here.

Children’s Home English Workshop

Published on by Steve

I often “moonlight” with a second Croatian church by attending their Friday evening worship/Bible study time. I am developing some friends there and it is a good source of fellowship for me personally. I have also found some additional opportunities for ministry with them. During this school year, I have been going with some of their members each Wednesday evening for an English workshop they conduct at a children’s home here in Zagreb. It gives the children an opportunity to practice their English with a native speaker, and it gives us an opportunity to be the hands and feet of Jesus to them in a practical way.

Outdoor Leadership Lab

Published on by Steve
I recently participated in the Outdoor Leadership Lab, put on by Društvo Prijatelja Biblije (Association of Friends of the Bible). This was a weekend spent in the beautiful Gorski Kotar mountain region of Croatia, and was all about showing how to use backpacking and the outdoors to teach people about Jesus. It was a great weekend backpacking trip but was also one of the hardest hikes I have done. We hiked for more than 12 hours on that Saturday, over about 18 kilometers, and gained about 1,000 meters in elevation, all with full packs. Toward the end of the day we were also running out of water. However, we had a great cup of hot tea waiting for us at the mountain hut which was our destination for overnight. The next day we hiked about 2-3 kilometers out of the forest. It didn’t start raining until we were literally walking up to the van that came to pick us up. There were many blessings like this along the way. Thanks to DPB for sponsoring this great weekend, and to Michael and Lydia, the mountain guides who came from the USA to share with us. I look forward to applying what I learned with young people here in Croatia.
 

I’m Back

Published on by Steve

It occurred to me this week that I haven’t posted here in quite a while. Ironically, you can chalk that fact up to having too much going on and not enough time to devote to writing here, rather than not having enough news to report. It’s actually been a rather busy season this spring. We are thick into planning our third annual Champs Camp in June, we sponsored and conducted two major public symposiums in April and May, and I have embarked on overseeing edits, updates, and the beginnings of a major overhaul and redesign of the Biblijski institut website. I will attempt to catch up on writing about all the happenings over the next few days.