Sheppersons in Slovakia

“When they told me I was accepted into the training school, I broke down and cried”! This was one student’s testimony when he arrived for the first weekend of our youth leader’s training school. He said that he had wanted to come for two years but that his employer had prevented him from coming. This is the kind of passion and desperate need that we are seeing from our students this year.

We have 15 students from three denominations that represent numerous teenagers across Slovakia. So, we are eager to see what God will do in their lives and ministries. Our first weekend together was bursting with expectations and energy. Our capable teaching team of 5 slovak national and myself set a high standard with clear teaching and practical experience.

Our next meeting in November will consist of a short trip to Romania to experience some relevant models of European church there. Please keep our students and teachers in your prayers as we lead, teach and mentor these leaders in youth ministry.

For over a year I (Zac) have been working with a team of people from several countries in Central Europe on a special project. Our vision was to create follow-up materials for new believers that is relevant, practical and multimedia. Just this past month, we finished the production phase of this huge task! The project is called “Elements” and it is a 10 lesson series on DVD, translated into 11 European languages. The lessons include basic topics like Salvation, God’s word, prayer, Holy Spirit, worship and others.

We are so pleased to be able to put this tool into the hands of our Josiah Venture missionaries and youth workers all over Central Europe! Even now, there are small groups of new believers all over Europe learning to take baby steps as new believers, especially after the year’s evangelistic summer camps.

Click on this link www.jvelements.com and have a look at a sample of “Elements”. You can see the video trailer and even download a lesson. I’m sure you will be excited with us about this powerful tool that has been unleashed in our part of the world.

If you would like to make an investment into the lives of new believers through the elements project, it can be very simple. For $500 we can put almost 50 copies into the hands of youth leaders across Slovakia. If this kind of investment is interesting for you, send me an e-mail at zshepperson@josiahventure.com and we can talk about how to make it happen.

In January of this past year I told the story of how God seemed to be calling out the young man from our city named Mato. (If you need to be refreshed about the earlier story details, you can click this link and find the original story - Mato story)

As God shows us more pieces of his plan for Mato, I want to share them with you who are praying for the movement of God here in Slovakia. The latest detail is that Mato is one of the new students in our training school for youth leaders! He is one of 15 students who will participate in the 9 month intensive course this year.
To me this is an wonderful testimony of God’s activity here among us from day to day. Activity that might start from something as simple as a prompting from what seems like our own thoughts (but is in fact the Holy Spirit) to move in the direction of a person or a need.

Help me pray for Mato that God will give him strength, wisdom and willingness to continue to walk into what God has planned for him.

Maybe you remember that our local church is only about 2 years old. Everyone in the church is pretty young. In fact, someone said the other day that I was the oldest person in our church. Anyway, we have struggled for some time to get a viable youth ministry off the ground. We have had a couple of great summer evangelistic camps to kick start the group, but in time the program has lost its strength and most of the students.

This past summer was another great start. There were about 30 or more students who showed an interest in coming to the youth group after camp and a real interest in wanting to know more about Christ. A number of them had as well made decisions for Christ at camp.

But as soon as school started, the group dropped to about 10. There are a lot of dynamics and evil forces at work to keep this group from surviving. We need prayer and wisdom to blast through barriers and obstacles that would hold the group back.

The work in the church is not a part of the training work at Kompas, and I (Zac) actually don’t have a direct role in the church youth program. But my heart still longs to see a healthy youth ministry in our church. If God wants me to become directly involved in the program, I want to do that. But regardless of my involvement, the youth ministry needs to survive and be healthy.

Please pray that the group leadership would be filled with wisdom and truth to lead the group. And pray for all those 30 or more students who experienced something at summer camp that was spiritually motivating. Pray that they would continue to listen to the call of God to their lives and that they would make a decision to follow that voice and be involved in the youth group.

And also pray for wisdom for me to know how I should help in this ministry.

Someone once told me that their family didn’t really feel like a family until they had four kids. Now that we have four, I am beginning to understand that feeling. One aspect of this new family dynamic is the teamwork. With four kids, there is just too much to do for a couple of parents. Suddenly, everybody has to help in almost everything. Especially with the new baby.

Someone has to keep the baby from crying while Mom cooks supper. Someone has to run upstairs and get the pacifier when one downstairs can’t be located. Someone has to shake the car seat to calm the baby when one parent is driving alone. Someone has to answer the phone when Mom is nursing. And of course, everyone has to learn how to hold, kiss, change diapers, wipe up spit up and give a gentle pat.

Somehow it seems that we’ve reached some critical mass, and the scales have tipped. It just not the same as it used to be. And so far its been a good thing. We’ve always taught in our youth ministry training that good teamwork leads to more ownership. And more ownership leads to more devotion. So, if that is true, we’re headed in the right direction!