Lasting Effects of Summer Camp

During a summer English camp in 1999 we met Jirka, a Czech man in his mid-20s. Throughout the weeklong camp Jirka repeatedly heard about the Lord and the message of salvation. Several times we talked personally but Jirka had a limit as to how far he would carry a conversation about Jesus. He was always personable and affable, but it was very apparent when he had enough or we went too far in the discussion because Jirka's demeanor instantly changed and the conversation ceased. The camp ended without Jirka making any confession of faith.

In May 2000, almost one year after the English camp, we very unexpectedly received a letter from Jirka. He was working in England at the time. Following is part of his letter:

"With joy I tell you of the account of how God showed me His love so that I believed in Jesus Christ, His beloved Son, and to strengthen you in the fact that God hears the prayers of His beloved children whom He calls into His service, a service of love, truth and peace, to the service of eternal life in Christ Jesus. And so from October 1999 I can, with unending thanks, sincerely sing, for example, this song [this is a song we sang at the camp]: 'Father God, I wonder how I managed to exist without the knowledge of Your parenthood and Your loving care, But now I am Your son, I am adopted in Your family, and I can never be alone 'cause, Father God, You're there beside me.'"

Thankfully we saw Jirka at the summer camp later that summer, in July 2000, and it was amazing to see the transformation in his life. He was carrying the Bible he received at the camp the prior summer and was our most effective evangelist at the camp that year. He spent time with every other student sharing about what Christ had done in his life. It wasn't in an offensive way and people were genuinely interested in what had happened in his life.

During the camp Jirka told us that he would like to be baptized. Arrangements were made for a pastor to come one day toward the end of the camp. Concern was high because it was cold and rainy almost the entire week, hardly weather conducive to a baptism. Even the morning of the day of the baptism was gray and rainy. Nonetheless, about 10 am, the skies cleared and sunshine and blue sky appeared. At about noon, the entire camp, including all the non-believers, walked to a nearby pond where Jirka shared his powerful testimony and then walked out into the pond to be baptized. It was an incredible time when Christ demonstrated His life-changing power. Later that evening the clouds and rain returned and the weather was like that the remainder of the camp. The Lord had calmed the storm so that His word could go forth through Jirka's baptism and testimony.

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'Communism Did its Job Perfectly'

In 2000, we had our first English-camp which was attended by many unbelievers. We were together for one week in the mountains. In the mornings, everybody learned English. In the afternoon, they did a lot of sports and in the evening, everybody listened very carefully to the messages about the Bible and its truths. They also heard testimonies, sang a lot of Christian songs, and had a lot of intensive conversations. By the end of the week, people were very impressed by what they had heard and watched. But there was not a lot of visible fruit. One girl confessed she trusted in Christ, but even that wasn't sure.

In 2001, we had another English-camp. Many people from last year come back. Again they listened to the messages from the Bible, listened to testimonies and had intensive conversations. By the end of the week, four people accepted Christ, of which three had been at the camp the year before. In asking them why they didn't make a decision last year, one girl said: "Last year, for the first time in our lives, we heard messages from the Bible. Everything was new. We didn't know what to think about it. We were afraid. Coming back from the camp we had to think a lot about what we heard. During the whole year our thoughts went back to the messages. This time we opened not only our heads, but also our hearts for the messages."

In the Czech Republic, it's not enough to tell people the gospel quickly. You need to built trust first and then explain again and again. There is no foundation you can build on. There is no presupposed knowledge - you start at zero. Communism did its job perfectly. That means that it takes longer in the Czech Republic, but works even here because Jesus is the one who builds His church.

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The Conversion of a 'Friend'

Almost all the people from our new church-plant are coming from non Christian families and have been converted during the last 6 years. Some of them were converted recently. Because of this they still have many contacts with former friends and still know many unbelievers. This is a great help in evangelism.

On a regular basis we organize evangelistic weekends in the nearby mountains of Beskydy. We usually have one Biblical theme, many testimonies and a lot of fellowship together. As a result of this activity, almost every weekend that we do this people come to know the Lord.

One young sister from our church-plant invited a "friend" to a fellowship time to the Mellwig's home. There they played volleyball, football and had a barbeque together. That was the first time Martin personally met with Christians. It was in June 1999. We invited him to our weekly Bible study group and he showed up the next week. He didn't get involved in the discussion, but listened very carefully. He attended the Bible study group regularly for 8 weeks. Then again we had our evangelistic weekend. He was invited and came. Martin didn't make a decision right then at the camp, but told us one week later that he had decided to trust in Christ after going home from the camp. We started right away to have weekly meetings with him to teach him the foundations of Christianity. In addition to that group he continued to attend the Bible study group and the Sunday worship service. On Saturday the 6th of November 1999, Martin was baptized.

Before he got converted, he spent most of his time in a pub and was drunken very often. It is very encouraging to see how he is growing since he got converted. He is married now to the girl who invited him to our barbeque and they have a boy named Daniel.

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A Family Comes to Christ

The most exciting story we have to tell, is the story about Pepa, Pavlina and their two girls. The first one in their family who accepted Christ was Lenka. She was at that time 12 years old, and a classmate of our daughter Katrin. Her mother became interested in the gospel too and attended our home-Bible study group. About six month later, in June 1997, she accepted Christ as well. A couple months later, the second daughter, at that time 13 years old, came to know the Lord when they watched the Jesus film at their home when Pepa, the father wasn't present.

He was very strongly against Christianity. He even wanted the girls to take back to school a small Gideon Testament they had received. Then, to our surprise, he accepted an invitation to a church-retreat. After that, he attended the home Bible study group and nine months later came to know the Lord as well. Since that time (1998), as a family they have gone through many hardships but are really growing spiritually and have already achieved a stage of maturity where Pavlina takes care of the church-finances and Pepa regularly leads through the Sunday service. The girls, now 16 and 15 years old, are walking with the Lord and attend church regularly. In addition, God gave Pavlina and Pepa one more child, a boy named Matthias.

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