The second week of August found us on the island of Ugljan for the 46th annual family camp of the Churches of Christ in Croatia. I arrived in Zagreb the day before the camp from a two week trip to the USA. So I went down to camp a day late, along with one church member who also needed to go a day late. We enjoyed a great week of fellowship and Bible teaching. I was one of several who slept out in a tent, as we are having more and more people each year who want to participate in the camp and we don’t have enough cabins for everyone. Toward the end of the week we had two days of very heavy rain, so I was wet those two days. All of that was well worth it, as on the last day of the camp I had the privilege to baptize one of our youth. Tin is his name. Mislav has been working with him towards this point for several months. His family has been part of our congregation for several years, but he has been away from the church and from God for a few years. God’s Spirit has done a tremendous work in his life and heart over the last year. It was actually a surprise to me that he wanted me to baptize him. But he said something like, “I want you to do it because of the impact you and your words had on my life in our youth group a few years ago.” It was a reminder to me that sometimes we might not know in the moment how God’s Spirit is using us to touch someone’s heart for Jesus. This was definitely a highlight of my year. Mislav also baptized another one of our youth, Karen. Please pray for Tin and Karen, that they continue to grow strong in their faith. And pray for us, as we continue to disciple them in their walks with Jesus.

I am quite behind in updating the news of the summer. Here’s an attempt to get back on track. July14-17 found about 25 of us at our first ever Youth Camp for teenagers from our churches, and other friends. I led the team putting the camp together. We held the camp at a planinarski dom (mountain house) near the town of Daruvar. For these four days the teens enjoyed Bible lessons on the theme of, “We Found Love in a Hopeless Place.” There was also lots of singing, playing, evening campfires, and trips to a local water park. One of the key parts of the camp were the groups that the teens spent time in, processing the Bible lessons for each day. These groups were led by adults from our churches. Included in these groups were times of blessing and encouragement for the teens. The groups also played games together as a team. All of this established a family atmosphere in the groups that contributed to the success of the camp. The camp was well received by teens and adults alike and some asked about future such experiences. Please pray for our youth to grow and increase in their desire to follow Jesus.

For the fifth year in a row, we held Champs Camp at the Jarun Lake park in the southwestern part of Zagreb. Held from June 29-July 2, it was four days of Bible lessons, games, crafts, and great fun. This year we had 82 children registered for the camp, more than half of whom were repeats from previous years. We had 20 teenage helpers, many of them Champs Campers themselves in previous years who are now too old for the camp itself, but who still want to stay involved. We also hosted a barbecue on the last day for families of the children from the camp. Thanks to the Crestview Church of Christ in Waco, Texas for sending a group to work with us in the camp.  The camp continues to be a success and a blessing to all involved.

 

This year we added an additional week of Champs Camp, on the other side of the city, for the children in the neighborhoods (Maksimir) surrounding our church/institute building. This camp happened last week. As with the camp at Jarun Lake, this one was also sponsored by Biblijski institut, with a lot of help from church members. We also had help from some summer college interns from the Nazarene Church. We held the camp partly at our building and partly in nearby parks and playgrounds. Over the three days the kids enjoyed Bibles lessons, singing, crafts, games, snacks, and lots of fun and play time. We had warm and open responses from parents. We planned for 30 children and we had 36 in attendance. God really blessed this first effort on our side of the city. Please continue to pray for this ongoing outreach to our community. Enjoy these photos…and a video. Next week, Champs Camp at Jarun, with over 80 children registered so far.

So much was packed into my trip to Ukraine two weeks ago that just one post couldn’t cover it all. I actually arrived the day before the conference. I spent that night with friends Andrew and Jenny Kelly, north of Kiev, near the town of Ivankiv.

Ivankiv town sign

Andrew and I co-founded the Ukrainian ministry to orphans, Jeremiah’s Hope, when I lived in Donetsk and he lived in Mariupol. Jenny has also lived and worked with orphans in Ukraine for many years. They now live near Ivankiv on the camp property that they built and now use as both a camp for orphans and children at-risk, and a ministry base for Jeremiah’s Hope. In the last year they have used the camp to host many refugees from the war in the eastern part of the country. It was great to be with them and their family and see the camp and the continued ministry that happens there.

Andrew and kids out on the camp property

With Andrew, Jenny, and their children

On the way to the conference in Kiev the next day, Andrew and I stopped by the house of Tony and Shana Morrow, in the village of Pilipovichi. Andrew, Tony, and Shana were all with me on my first trip to Ukraine back in 1997. Tony and Shana now work with orphanage graduates in this village west of Kiev. Also there at the house was Rob Brown, the Executive Director of YouthReach International (formerly World Wide Youth Camps). All of us worked together in the early days of World Wide Youth Camps in the 1990s. It was a great, if all too brief, impromptu reunion with these dear hearts whom God has woven into the story of my life and who have all in their own way encouraged me in my work for the Kingdom around the world.

With Shana, Andrew, Tony, Rob, and Kostya

I went on a mission to Ukraine over last weekend, along with Mladen Dominić and Ivan Tešić. Back in February, my friend and former co-worker in Ukraine, Dema Grishchuk, came to visit us in Zagreb and invited Christians from Croatia to go to this conference in Kiev on May 1-3. They specifically wanted some from Croatia to go and share with the Ukrainian Christians at the conference about their experiences during the war in the former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, and provide some spiritual encouragement for what they are currently going through in Ukraine. I went as kind of a bridge of contact between Ukraine and Croatia. I was also invited to preach to the conference on Sunday morning.

Licitar

Throughout Friday and Saturday, Mladen and Ivan shared with the conference on the following topics: Historical Background of the Yugoslavian Conflict, Church Unity During Crisis, Relations with Christians on the Other Side, God’s Provision During Crisis, and Stories From the War. We also shared about humanitarian and evangelistic work with refugees in Croatia, the evenings of Christian poetry and music that comforted and ministered to many in Zagreb, and the meeting between churches from Croatia and Serbia that took place in Hungary. On Sunday, I preached on the topic, Patriotism and Faith. My main point was that, as Jesus followers, our primary allegiance is to the Kingdom of God before any earthly political system. If we can keep that focus, then all the other answers to the difficult questions we discussed in the conference come much easier. I also encouraged the attendees to remember that Satan is the true enemy (Ephesians 6), not those on the other side politically. In addition to the conference sessions, there were many opportunities for individual conversations with the people attending the conference. Some of these were quite intense, as these brothers and sisters have been through so much in the last year.

Mladen speaking

Ivan speaking

Panel discussion

The crowd

Me preaching on Sunday

Ivan, Me, and Mladen, on our return to Zagreb

It was great to be with Dema and his family, as well as many others whom I have not seen in several years, such as my “parents” when I lived in Donetsk, Jay Don and Mary Lee Rogers. Another serendipity was seeing two of the orphans with whom we used to work when I lived in Ukraine. They are now married, have a family, are faithful Christians, and Denis is involved with the current humanitarian efforts with refugees. It was great to see this fruit from my work there years ago, as well as to see Denis now serving others in the name of Jesus.

With Dema and family

With Denis and family

It was a blessed weekend. I really think God used us to encourage this group of Christians in Ukraine. Please pray with us for these precious people and the great challenges they face in their country. Pray for peace in Ukraine. Pray for God’s joy and peace in their hearts. And pray for these Jesus followers, that they will take advantage of this tremendous opportunity to show the world what the Kingdom of God looks like, and how it functions.

We are a spiritual family that worships, praises and proclaims Christ, and by the grace and love of God builds up, serves and blesses people.

For more than a year, since the death of our Croatian minister, Mladen Jovanović, the leadership of our congregation in Zagreb has been praying about and piecing together a new Mission and Vision for our congregation. On Sunday, April 19, we began a six week series of preaching through the new church Mission and Vision Statements. I was tasked with beginning this process. I started by saying that our Mission Statement answers three questions:

1. Who are we?

2. What do we do? What are we for? What is our purpose?

3. How do we accomplish it?

I focused on the aspect of our congregation being a family, and that each member of a family both gains benefits from being part of the family, and has responsibilities to the family. Everyone has a part to play. I also emphasized that part of the description of what we do is God-focused and part is people-focused, which led to presenting our motto:

 

Last week found me again in Crikvenica on the coast, for our annual church spiritual renewal retreat. I helped lead worship and also helped lead the teen discussion group. We talked about the topics the teens wanted to discuss, along the line of what keeps people from believing in Jesus. We also took them one evening to a Christian teen event in the nearby city of Rijeka. As guests, we also had a group of 30 college students who are studying in Vienna this semester. They are from Lipscomb University, Oklahoma Christian University, and Rochester College. I was responsible for coordinating the logistics for them.