Sheppersons in Slovakia

What a wonderful Christmas we experienced this year here in Slovakia. We prepared our hearts for the celebration of Christ’s birthday with a new Advent Book tradition. Reading one new page for each of the 25 days prior to Christmas, and reviewing each day all the previous ones read. By the time Christmas came, everyone could recite the Christmas Story by heart. It was a beautiful way to make Christ’s birth personal. In addition, the Lord truly blessed us with many wonderful gifts sent to us from America.

On April 30, 2005 the lease to our house will expire. The owners are not renewing it this year so they can prepare the house to sell. So we must move. Where? We do not know yet but are confident the Lord will provide it for us. We have been looking for a house for several months. And we have found some possibilities. However, we have been shocked at the prices of rent. One house we looked at was $1500.00 per month (yes I said $1,500 US dollar), and the average being $1000. Why so much? (we are asking that too) We have found several answers, starting with the reality that the owners our present house have kept our rent low. They are Christians, their father was the pastor of the Evangelical-church here in Zilina (before his death) and his wife was an American. They have allowed us to live here for the past 3 1/2 years for only $400 per month. WOW! But now, they need to sell it. Secondly, a new company, KIA motors, has moved to our city. They are building a car factory and many new people have come to live here, increasing the value of real estate.

“You’ll never believe this. . . . . but it’s snowing!” That is a common joke between Zac and I almost daily! Only funny because it is snowing everyday! We don’t ever remember having so much snow in all the 3 winters we have lived here! It basically snows everyday, so the snow doesn’t ever go away, just replenished! How much? So much that it completely covers the dog (and Samuel Green’s) head! Backing our of our driveway is one of the hardest chores of the day, making it almost impossible with the tall “snow-banks” on each side. Zac has mastered the sport of snow shoveling! And learned the cultural correctness of shoveling the sidewalk on our street. So we are learning to make the snow a part of our life! Every-time we go out, everyone must be in full snow gear (even for the shortest time) and because of the roads, you have to really give yourself a lot of extra time to get where you are going (and time to plow out your cal!) It is actually a lot of fun to live in so much snow, once you get used to it, and you must!

This Christmas our church had it’s first ever Christmas Pageant. That’s Emili (pictured below) starring as Mary and Elliot Jones as Joseph, Gwyneth an Angel and Samuel Green a sheep! The children memorized their lines (scripture) which was simply the Christmas story. It was our prayer that they would really “experience” Christ’s birth. We taught them new Christmas songs (funny that they do not have “traditional” Christmas songs like we do at Christmas). Parents were in charge of the costumes and helping their child learn their “lines”.Zac built the “stable”! It was a lot of work for everyone, but a success!

For those of you who may not remember, Davka is my (Zac’s) primary ministry responsibility here. It is a multimedia, resource tool for youth leaders in the Slovak language and on cd. Our staff of eight puts together helpful tools such as Bible studies, inspirational articles, interviews, evaluations, games, music and more. All this is packed into a unique format designed by our full time graphics designer.
Last year we created 9 editions that contained 1000 pages of material and mailed them to over 100 youth leaders across Slovakia. Subscriptions continue to climb as youth workers discover that there is a resource actually in the Slovak language that is just for them. Because of generous ministry funding, each yearly subscription costs about $28. (more…)

One of our primary purposes at Kompas ministries is training.We have a staff of seven who coordinate all the training efforts. For the past several weeks we have been making plans for next year – allowing God to give us his vision for slovak youth workers. Two visions are emerging that we are excited about.

First is what we call the “Ferko” project. Ferko is a common slovak name that we are using to identify the brand new church youth worker. He may be far out in some distant village, but he has a passion for reaching students and he needs help. Our vision is to create some specific training just for the Ferkos out there. (more…)

KPM is our annual conference for youth leaders. Every year about 400 youth leaders from all over slovakia converge on our town full of anticipation for what we have prepared to encourage them. This years conference is called “Warning – High Voltage”. This theme is about the stresses and temptations that we all face in ministry. There will also be seminars, worship, special opportunities to get counseling and much more.This year there will also be another special feature that I am heavily involved in developing. It will be a special “chapel” where anyone can come and rest and meet with god. The space will include lots of candles, interactive prayer and worship stations, music, scripture and silence.

KPM is always a great source of inspiration to youth workers around the country who have no other source of inspiration and encouragement throughout the year.

Kim is still working as the director of Children’s Ministries for our church. In Slovak this ministry is called, “Besiedka”. We have over 30 children in our program from ages 0-12. Just this week the Lord answered our prayers and gave us a new teacher for the oldest class (8-12). They have been without a consistent teacher all year and this is a great provision. Each of our teachers have a heart for teaching children about God. I am so privileged to work with such committed teachers. The Lord has really built us into a great team.

One of our churches values is small groups. We want to be a small group church. Zac leads a group of single guys on Tuesday nights. They are working their way through Stu Weber’s book “Locking Arms”. It has been an encouraging journey so far in strengthening their friendships.

So what do I do when I am not cooking, cleaning, teaching, playing, reading, leading SS, chaffeuring, learning language or creating a website,? We have people over! I believe God has given us relational gifts and serving gifts. “Feed their body first, then feed their soul”. We love to have the other team members over, to feed them to encourage them, to listen to them. Let them relax and feel a little bit of “home”. So I’m praying even harder that our next house can accommodate this “ministry”!