news http://www.send.org Copyright 2012 SEND. All rights reserved <![CDATA[A Lawyer Turns to Christ]]> Julie* is a successful lawyer in her late 40’s. Until recently her life was defined by professional success and occult practices. The closest thing she knew of love was a years-long affair with a married man. Her secretary, Susan*, attends the church where we are involved. Susan has prayed for her boss for years. Several months ago, seemingly out of the blue, Julie finally agreed to attend a Bible study at church. Not long thereafter, she gave her life to Christ. Knowing of her involvement in the occult, the pastor, Pavel, mentioned to Julie the account in Acts 19 when some converts in Ephesus who had practiced sorcery came together to publicly burn their scrolls. Immediately Julie said that she should do something similar. She gathered up her books, occult statues and tarot cards and burned them. The total value was approximately $2000. Since then, Julie has also been baptized and is growing in her new relationship with Christ. We praise the Lord for His grace in Julie’s life, giving her freedom, grace and love.

*Not her real name

]]> Wed, 10 Aug 2011 08:50:00 EST <![CDATA[Making Faith Her Own]]> I’m Amy, I’m 16 and I grew up as an MK (Missionary Kid) in the Czech Republic. As is probably normal for MKs, I grew up in a solid Christian home with amazing, godly parents. For most of my life, I lived their faith, and to be completely honest, that worked for me. As long as I knew the answers and had a good reputation, I was fine.

As I grew older, I began to explore Christianity for myself, thinking it was probably a good thing to know what it was I was claiming to be. About that time, I began to also go through more and more trials. I suppose that’s just part of growing up: suddenly, trials are actually something bigger than bedtimes and not getting the gift you wanted for Christmas. Looking back, I can see that many of these hardships in life were more than just coincidence or fate, but rather tests set up by God that I didn’t even know I was taking.

Not too long ago, I heard a sermon that said we must prepare ourselves for spiritual battle by putting on the spiritual armor Paul talked about in Ephesians 6. I already knew this, so I wasn’t too engaged until the speaker pointed out that that means preparation. When battle hits and you’re suddenly called upon to fight, you don’t have time to make sure your armor is rust-free and that your sword is sharp. That needed to happen in times of peace! Looking back, I see how many battles I went into completely unprepared due to my own negligence.

After seeing that God was orchestrating all the events of my life, I saw that some trials were definitely set up to strengthen me and my faith. It was like that analogy where we are gold, and God puts us through fires, which are painful and for the most part, absolutely unappreciated, but the end result is refined gold. Pure, precious gold, ready to be molded into something that God can use. During some of these fires, I lost sight of God’s plan for me or I didn’t understand it due to the hard circumstances around me. However, I can also see that some of my trials were more of my own making; instances where I deliberately pretended not to see what God wanted me to do.

Quite recently, circumstances prompted me to read the Bible more often than I had been. And I’ll tell you, the Bible had never been so real and personal until that point. Despite the unpleasant situations I was in, I could find solace and comfort from God’s Word. I would open to “random” passages and verses would pop out at me that directly applied to where I was in life. I re-learned that God is with me. That maybe sounds basic, but it suddenly was more than “Jesus lives in my heart ever since I asked Him to live there when I was 4.” Now it meant that God is right there beside me every step of the way, whether it be fun or difficult. He understands. He cries when I cry, hurts when I’m pain, and rejoices with me when I rejoice.

I know that my life won’t be perfect from now on, even after baptism, and I know I will disappoint God many, many times. However, I do know that when I die, God’s joy will be multiplied, because He will feel how utterly thrilled I will be to be so close to His amazing, loving presence.

-Amy Dagen

]]> Thu, 16 Jun 2011 08:28:00 EST <![CDATA[Never Considered Jesus]]>
John said he was a Christian and that he had been going to church all of his life (he was now in his early sixties). To John, being a Christian meant going to church and getting baptized. He was grateful that after the fall of Communism in the Czech Republic, people were no longer afraid to go to mass.

Our questions then turned to what John believed and I was shocked by his answers. When asked about what he believes in God, he gave an answer I would expect to hear from an agnostic, not a Christian. “According to my opinion, something must exist up, but nobody knows what it is. When you look around you as far as the animals, flowers, who did it? Maybe it could be evolution.”

Then we asked him about Jesus. “Jesus? I am a little bit lost, yeah, because you gave me such a question. I have never got it. It’s very difficult to answer. I don’t know how to answer it.” It broke my heart to hear that this man who had been going to church his whole life and considered himself a Christian had never even thought about who Jesus is.

There are many more men, women and children throughout Europe who identify themselves as Christians but have no idea what it really means. You can meet them, and John, in SENDmedia’s soon-to-be-released video on post-Christian Europe.]]> Mon, 7 Feb 2011 08:50:00 EST <![CDATA[Outreach English Camps]]> Fri, 18 Jun 2010 09:30:00 EST <![CDATA[Teachers needed in Czech Republic]]> CISP) is still recruiting teachers for next school year. The need is great. Every teacher means that more missionaries can be involved in ministry to Czech people.

Also SEND's Czech area is looking for more people to teach English. It is the #1 way to make contacts for Christ in Czech Republic. Czech Republic is one of the most secular countries in Europe. At least 60% of Czechs consider themselves athiests, and less than 1/2 of one percent (0.5%) are evangelical believers.]]> Wed, 2 Jun 2010 12:00:00 EST