Graduates and Professors

 On Friday, October 7, we celebrated the opening of the new academic year of the Biblijski institut. We have one of the largest incoming classes of new students in several years. This event was held at the largest and most prestigious museum in Zagreb, called Mimara. During the celebration we honored our graduating students for 2011. We had one of their mentors or professors pray over each graduate. We also surprised Mladen and Dragica Jovanović by honoring them with a Christian service and leadership award.  Mladen has been a minister in his home country for almost 40 years.  He is the leader of the Council of Churches of Christ in Croatia.  He has been the president of the Croatian Evangelical Council, and he started what was eventually to be developed into the Biblijski institut.  Dragica has been instrumental in children’s and women’s ministries over the years. Croatian National Television was there to cover the event, and had a feature about us on the news that night.

Grand Hall of the Mimara Museum

Honoring Mladen and Dragica Jovanović

Monika

Nino

Stela

Vanja

After about a six week process, and many trips to the local police station, I finally received my new Croatian Visa yesterday. Now I am again legal in the country until next September, when I have to go through this process again. Thanks to God for His provision in this.

Last Saturday we had our first Kidz Klub of this school year. It was a success! We spent the weekend before talking with kids and parents out in the parks in the neighborhood where we do the Kids Klub. We also sent invitations to all the kids who attended Champs Camp in the summer. Our work paid off and God blessed us with about 45 kids in attendance. Please be praying for our ongoing children’s ministry. Our next Kidz Klub will be in mid-November. A few photos of Saturday’s Kidz Klub are below.  Notice yours truly playing Jesus in the “Jesus Heals the Leper” story.

 

 

After a summer full of three camps in two different countries, a quick trip to Texas, and a few days vacation time, I am back in the office at the Institute.  I also celebrated my birthday at the end of August (see the photo below).  Several friends here helped me celebrate by taking me to dinner at the restaurant Lagvić, up in the hills above Zagreb.  It was a nice evening. 

 

One of the events I am preparing for now is our first Saturday “Kids’ Club” on October 1st.  These will be regular events we will host throughout the school year to keep in contact with the children who came to Champs Camp this summer.

Last night the Hillsong Australia worship team presented a worship concert here in Zagreb.  It was very well attended.  This kind of event is quite a big deal here, in a country that is less than .005% evangelical Christians.  There were also people from the surrounding countries that came.  In addition to Croatia, I talked with people from Serbia, Slovenia, and Hungary.  Some of us from Biblijski Institute also went to the concert and took the opportunity to promote the Institute.  We set up a display and handed out postcards, bookmarks and brochures.  I hope we made some good contacts that will turn into future students.

 

 

 

 

I have been involved with the annual summer Bible camp here for almost as long as I have been coming to Croatia.  The first summer I came to participate in the camp was in 1997.  This summer marked the fifth time I was involved.  This summer I taught the teenagers’ class, along with my friend Mislav Ilić.  We had seven days of swimming in the Adriatic Sea, good fellowship, and daily lessons on the seven “I Ams” of Jesus in the book of John.

 

 

 

What a great success Champs Camp was!  Thank you God for the favor you showed us in this event.  In the first part of July we had a large group from Round Rock, Texas come to share Champs Camp with the children of Croatia and Slovenia.  They do this camp each summer at their church in Texas.  After months of planning and a huge advertising effort (most of my work the last few months), we had 70 children for the camp in Zagreb!  We had said that we would consider it an overwhelming success if we had 50.  In Slovenia, we had 15 children.  This was also considered a success by the local believers, as this was done in a very small town of less than 10,000 people, with no protestant church of any kind in that town. For four days in each location the children had a great time learning about Jesus.  We have had nothing but glowing responses from parents so far, and many are asking about future similar events.  We are excited about the future possibilities with these new friends.  Enjoy some photos from camp:

 

 

 

 

 

Advertising for Champs Camp

 I can’t believe it’s been more than a month since I have posted something here.  It’s mainly due to preparations for Champs Camp, which have kind of taken over everything else with me right now.  Champs Camp will happen here in Zagreb on July 4-7 and in Sevnica, Slovenia on July 11-14.  A group of 19 people from Round Rock, Texas are coming here to share this day camp program with our children.  I am responsible for all of the logistics and coordination of the group and this effort.  We are now in the middle of a massive advertising campaign to get children from neighborhoods in the city to come to the camp.  The photo above is of some of us handing out brochures yesterday in one neighborhood.  Please pray with us that this effort plants seeds for future growth in the Kingdom here.

April 20-24 was our church’s 16th annual spiritual renewal retreat on the coast in Crikvenica, Croatia.  We spent four days hearing lessons on the cross and resurrection, in small group discussions, and generally enjoying fellowship with one another.  I led the teens each morning in their small group.  It was a great time with these fabulous young people and really strengthened my bond with them.  I am thankful to God for this and pray He uses this to enable me to better impact their lives for the Kingdom.  While at the retreat, we baptized one of our Bible Institute students.  We also had time for some of us to take a boat trip over to the nearby island of Krk.  In all, these four days were a beautiful time in more ways than one.

With the teens on the beach at Crikvenica

Leading our small group discussion

Baptism in the Adriatic Sea

On the boat to Krk, with Crikvenica in the background

Last weekend I went to Graz, Austria (about 2 hours drive from Zagreb) to work with one of our Institute board members, Thomas Lang, on our distance learning program.  Thomas was born and raised in Graz and he and his wife work with a church there.  He and I have been researching six different technologies/methods for delivering classes remotely, for possible implementation in the next school year.  While I was in Graz, we worked to complete our comparison chart of the six technologies to present to our director and the board at large.  We got some good work done, and also had time for Thomas to show me around old town Graz, which was just fabulous.  I stayed for the weekend in the apartment above the recording studio where the Croatian radio Bible messages were recorded during communist times in the old Yugoslavia.  I remember hearing for years growing up about the Christian radio programs being recorded in that closet of a studio in Austria and then being broadcast into communist Yugoslavia.  It was a bit of a surreal feeling actually being in that little room.

With the Graz Church of Christ

With Thomas in front of the church building