In the middle of July we came back from our youth camp. We are so grateful that this was one of the best youth camps we have done so far. Much thanks to the five adults and 19 teens from the Southside Church of Christ, in Lexington, Kentucky, who came to participate in the camp with us and our teens. We also had several Ukrainian teenagers with us. Our theme for this year was, Something More. Our focus was in the book of Ephesians, especially Ephesians 3, where we are told that our God can do more than we can ask or imagine. We were talking about how we should not settle for less, when God has more for us. Every night we had a different speaker. Steve, Jeremy, and Mateja in their lessons were focusing on different elements of our theme for the week: More with Jesus; More with Self; and More with Others. Each morning we had an experiential activity that tied in with that evening’s lesson. On the More with Others day, the morning experience was for each person to “color by numbers” once piece of a large puzzle. Then that evening the completed puzzle was revealed. All the teens were really impacted by this. Igor and a few of the teens had a nice band and they blessed us with worship music every morning and every evening. Our last day of camp we went to the island of Krk to spend a few hours on the beach together.

I am currently mentoring and discipling four young men. We meet regularly for discussion about life, and for Bible study. This is something amazing that God has been doing in a year when we have not been able to do many of our group ministry activities.

For the fifth year, we held our Youth Camp last week. It was four great days of learning about Jesus, playing together, enjoying fellowship, and worshiping together. We had 30 teenagers, our best attended Youth Camp so far. Seven great adult staff also helped make the camp happen. It was also a success in that the teens in general shared more in their discussion groups than ever before, on a deep spiritual level. They also really got engaged in our times of worship. We knew worship was connecting with them whenever we would hear them spontaneously singing the worship songs they were learning, and at times outside our regular worship times. Our theme for the camp was (thanks to our friends with Josiah Venture), “Lost and Found.” We look forward to many more such camps and activities, to help young people find their way to Jesus.

It was great to have my Aunt Ann and Uncle Joe in Croatia for a visit this month. They spent several days with me, meeting some of the people who are important to me here, and seeing a few of the sites. Joe even helped me burn brush on my property, in preparation for laying the foundation of my house next month.

Earlier this month was our 9th annual Champs Camp. Once again, over 100 neighborhood children in two areas of Zagreb enjoyed singing, Bible lessons, crafts, games, and lots of fun. Because of rainy weather, we used a large indoor/outdoor covered space that is part of a night club. I said that it may have been the first ever Christian day camp for children held in a bar. We also had special activities before and after camp with our Croatian and American teens all together. Much thanks to the participation of adults and teens from the Crestview Church of Christ, in Waco, Texas. We also had a reporter from the Christian Chronicle come to do a story about Champs Camp, and Kingdom work in Croatia. Read his article here.

Youth and children’s ministry activities the last two weekends were a great way to start out the new year. First, On January 11 and 12 we had a Friday overnight retreat with our teen volunteers from Champs Camp, and on Saturday we held a one day Champs Camp at our building.

This Christmas season, 15 different evangelical churches in Zagreb are joining together for joint worship and evangelistic efforts. There are concerts, worship services, children’s ministry event, and a praise concert on the main square downtown. In a country where less than 1/2 of 1% percent of the population are evangelical believers, this is very significant. I am singing in the choir for these events. Here are some small samples from last night’s choir and worship team rehearsal. It was like a little slice of eternity. Can’t wait for this weekend.

July 17-21 found us in Tuk Vojni, in the mountains of Croatia, for our annual youth camp. This is a camp I started four years ago. Now I have the help of several other Croats each summer. This summer was the best camp yet, and the best attended, with 27 youth. We spent five days learning around the topic of “Reign Forever.” The youth also enjoyed times of worship, games, crafts, sports, etc. We had one evening with American style S’mores around a campfire.  We also had several teens that have been contacted through other outreach efforts of our church and the Church of Christ in Varaždin. Several youth came from our Champs Camp.

My summers are usually mostly spent in organizing, leading, and/or participating in various camp ministries. There is also always at least one group of Americans who come to help with one or more of the camps. The first camp this summer was our Champs Camp, which was held in two different locations in Zagreb on July 18-21. This was the 8th year we have organized these two Champs Camps. Each summer around 100 neighborhood school-age children enjoy a lot of fun through Bible lessons, crafts, games, skits, and lots of singing. This year we had a fantastic group of 12 teens and 8 adults come to help from the Southside Church of Christ, in Lexington, Kentucky. We also had a group of almost 20 Croatian teenagers who helped with the camp. This year we added something new to the week of activities. For the weekend before camp, we had all the American and Croatian teenagers together in the little nearby town of Samobor, for training, fellowship, and getting to know each other. Then we worked camp all together. Then, after camp, we took all the American and Croatian teens for an overnight and beach day together on the island of Krk. It was a great week. Please continue to pray for these young lives.

Wow! I can’t believe my last post here was in February. I guess that is a testament to how busy I have been through the spring and summer. There have been a number of events that have required my involvement and leadership in planning, communication, and logistics.

In May we had the board of the Central European Christian Education Foundation (CECEF) in Zagreb for a week of meetings, and learning about the spiritual realities in the region and how the Bible Institute is positioned to meet them. CECEF is the US-based support organization for the Institute.

In late May and Early June, we hosted a series of three special seminars, taught by Justin and Jennifer Gerhardt from the Round Rock Church of Christ in Round Rock, Texas. The seminars were on the topics of Partnership in Marriage, Peacemaking Among Christians, and Visionary Church Leadership.

Then in June we hosted 20 people from the Southside Church of Christ in Lexington, Kentucky. They were here to help us conduct our annual Champs Camp, which is for elementary school aged children from neighborhoods around Zagreb. Thanks Southside. You were a great team! More on Champs Camp later.

Next week I am headed into my third camp of the summer. This will be our annual Bible camp for teenagers.

In the midst of all this (a side note here), the last few weeks have been exciting in Croatia, as the Croatian national soccer team has made it into the final match of the World Cup!