Back

October 4, 2016

In Spite of Our Weakness

Dear Friends,

How can Christ’s strength be released in our weakness?

Several weeks ago, our leadership team asked this question as we stood around Andrej Lovse, JV country leader in Slovenia. He had just received word that a slanderous letter had been written to the highest levels of government about an outreach event our team was planning. Powerful individuals were attempting to shut them down. We prayed for boldness, for open doors, and then for God to show His power where we had none.

Slovenia has a tiny population of evangelical believers –no more than 1,500 in a country of over 2 million. Churches are small, evangelical believers marginalized from society. Yet Nick Vujicic, an Australian young man with Eastern European roots had been invited to speak on national television in a broadcast about bullying that would be viewed in all the high schools. Nick has no arms or legs, yet he speaks powerfully about how limitations can be overcome. Central to his message is the testimony of the transforming power of Christ in his life.

Since the broadcast was sponsored by the government, they forbid Nick from openly declaring the gospel. Yet our team was planning follow-up events where the good news would be clearly shared with young people. We were hoping the government would allow these events to be announced when Nick spoke. But the slanderous letter shut this door tight.

How could God work in spite of our weakness? Only 400 showed up at our events. When the gospel was shared 14 responded –small, but significant fruit in this very hard soil. What we couldn’t anticipate, was the social media ripple. Within just a couple of days our event, and Nick’s gospel presentation, had been viewed by 18,000 people all over the country on Youtube. In spite of the closed doors, our event reached thousands more people than we had originally planned.

Not only that, but at the last minute, Nick was given a personal audience with the president of Slovenia. The meeting lasted an hour and a half and Nick was able to clearly share the gospel with him. Nick prayed for him, and when he finished the president was visibly moved, saying this was the first time prayers of any kind had been lifted up in that office. When one of our key evangelical pastors who was with Nick reminded the president that next year was the 500-year anniversary of the Reformation, he replied, “Let’s do something big together to honor this. I would like to be the main sponsor.”

God is opening doors for His gospel –in spite of our weakness.

Thank you for standing with us with your gifts and prayers,

—Dave Patty, President, Josiah Venture

Dave Patty President

Related Posts

Read Story

Online Ministry, Stories

Four Years of “Josiah Venture Stories”

It is the human condition to dream. Five years ago, I dreamed of starting a podcast for Josiah Venture. I approached the then-director of the International Team, Kyle Evans, and told him of my idea for a Josiah Venture podcast. He asked, “Who do you imagine hosting this podcast?” After a short pause, I replied, “Um…me?” To which he said, “My thoughts exactly.” I knew this was what God was asking me to do.  The podcast, “Josiah Venture Stories,” was officially launched on April 6th, 2021, roughly a year after this initial conversation. It took a little while to get the ball rolling. I needed time to research the best equipment, come up with the name, decide on the format and structure, and everything else that goes with starting a podcast. I enjoy thinking through the strategy and practical steps for a process, and it’s exciting to see a dream become a plan and a plan become reality. A common statistic in podcasting is that 90% of podcasts don’t publish more than three episodes. Many dreams come crashing to a quick end due to the lack of traction and momentum. Some podcasts fail because there isn’t a clear content strategy, episodes are released sporadically, the quality is poor, or proper marketing and promotion are lacking.  To be in the top 1% of podcasts in the world, you only need to publish 21 episodes. This month, the “Josiah Venture Stories” podcast has published 121 episodes featuring various missionaries, Josiah Venture kids, interns, short-term missions team members, alumni, and more. That is something to celebrate! My favorite part of hosting the podcast is hearing about God’s faithfulness, journeys of faith, and the unlikely stories of how people became missionaries. Multiple responses to the question, “How did you know God was calling you to full-time missions?” start with, “Well, I never thought I would be a missionary.” This proves that we never know what God is going to do with our lives or where the roads of life might lead. God simply asks us to trust him. I have repeatedly asked guests on the podcast, “What message of hope would you give to young people today?” The responses are always insightful and inspirational.   Baška from Slovakia said, “I usually tell them to trust God and his plan. I know it’s really difficult, and it seems easy to say but harder to live, but every time that I trusted God, it was better than I expected. Trusting God gave me so much hope and so much peace.” Mark Krupa, a missionary who has lived in the Czech Republic for 26 years, said, “ I would encourage them to look into the living water. Jesus went around saying, ‘I am living water. Come to me and you won’t thirst again.’ Spiritually, young people are hungry, and Jesus can fill them. I would encourage young people to look into what the secret of Christianity is. Colossians 1:27 says, ‘To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.’ The secret of Christianity is actually Jesus in you.” Not only does this podcast exist to tell long-form stories of the movement of God among the youth of Central and Eastern Europe, but it also encourages the listener as they hear stories for all ages. If you have listened to the podcast once or to every episode, thank you. Would you please consider, not just listening, but also sharing an episode or two with a friend or on your social media? Another thing that truly goes a long way in the podcasting world is reviews. Do you enjoy our podcast? Help more people discover our podcast by following us on Spotify or Apple Podcasts and writing us an honest review. Here’s what people are saying about the podcast: “What a rich podcast—full of encouragement, new insights and perspectives about what God is doing in central and Eastern Europe.” -Ben_Rob_27 “Last summer, I went with a group from my church in Colorado to stay in Albania for a month and help with summer camps. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life! One of my favorite parts about this experience was hearing the life stories of the people in charge, how they came to be a part of this amazing organization, and their hearts behind the ministry that they are doing. This podcast gives you an even deeper and wider insight into the organization as a whole. You are able to hear what is truly going on in different countries from those living there. It’s so inspiring as a young adult to hear the ways God is moving through the faithful servants he has called to make an impact on people my age and younger. Thanks for sharing these stories!” -Kiko1170 Thank you for listening, investing in the ministry of Josiah Venture, and hearing the stories of our missionaries.
Read Story

Evangelism, Online Ministry

TikTok and the Gospel

Dear Friends, I wonder where Paul would be preaching the good news if he lived today. There are some places where believers feel particularly at home. We enjoy being around people who think like we do, in places that are known and comfortable, like our church buildings. Of course, it is best to be far away from sin and evil. So, when Paul visited Athens, why did he not just stay in the familiar synagogue? Why did he go to the marketplace, where all the sinners gathered, and then to Mars hill, which was full of pagan philosophers? He purposefully went where people gathered, despite the ungodly influences there, so that the good news of Jesus would be heard in the messy marketplace of ideas. Social media is today’s “Mars Hill.” Over 90% of young people in Central and Eastern Europe own smartphones, and they spend over two hours a day on a collection of social media platforms. And who are the most trusted public figures for young Europeans?  YouTubers and TikTok influencers. That is why, for the second year in a row, Josiah Venture gathered a group of young Christian influencers for a “Digital Missions Summit” at our training center in the Czech Republic. Last year, I wrote about a young 15-year-old Serbian boy named Alex who experienced a radical conversion to Christ and then began sharing about it on TikTok. He recorded his first video on a broken Android phone propped up with an orange on a table in his room. Soon, his raw honesty drew a following. One of our Josiah Venture Serbian staff began to disciple him and gathered resources to buy him a phone that really worked. Alex’s message became more pointed, unapologetically proclaiming Jesus as the only way and boldly sharing the truths of the Bible. Now, he is 17-years-old and has a following of 60,000 in a country with less than 9000 evangelical believers. Often his short videos draw over 300,000 views! At the Digital Missions Summit, we talked about how to share a clear gospel message on social media. We also taught on how to bridge from the digital to physical world, and the importance of connecting people to a local body of believers. When Alex began his TikTok preaching, there were only 15 older people attending his small Baptist church. Now, the church has doubled in size to 30. Often on weekends he travels to other towns and sets up a table to give out free Bibles and talk to anyone who wants to meet him in person. People stop him on the streets to ask him questions about God.   Alex is not even out of high school, yet he is being used by God to reach hundreds of thousands of Serbians with the good news.   Thank you for helping us equip a new generation of evangelists for today’s public square.
Read Story

Discipleship, Events, Stories

The Unseen War

Three years of conflict and still no peace. The war in Ukraine has returned to the forefront of the news as world leaders clash in a spin cycle of opinions. Those in the country feel the weight of years of exhausting conflict, with no clear end in sight. But behind the scenes, another battle is raging for the spiritual soul of the nation.  Amidst pain, hardship, and struggle, God is still at work and our JV team of 27 staff are pressing forward to take ground in the fight. During the last weekend of February, they gathered 450 young people from local churches across Ukraine for an innovative “Spring Fest.” Good Bible teaching, powerful worship, and personal testimonies were woven together to point people to the resources they have in Christ. He is the only firm anchor for our souls in the midst of a raging storm. The storm is particularly fierce for these young people. Some of the youth groups meet close enough to the front lines to hear the sound of bombing all day and live with the constant threat of evacuation and displacement.   One youth group from Kharkiv, en route to the fest, had their main youth leader forcefully conscripted into the military. Can you imagine if that happened to a youth group from your church?  Yet, our sovereign God is always working to accomplish his purposes despite the evil and failures of man. In fact, he often uses these unwelcome trials to accelerate his work. Our team is experiencing an unprecedented response to the gospel and a passionate hunger in young people to grow deep in their walks with God. With the exodus of leaders out of the country or into the military, there is a huge need to equip a new generation of leaders, and our training events are packed. Other JV countries are using the crisis to mobilize their young people into mission. Recently, our JV team in Slovakia held a series of events for 250 youth leaders called “Glow and Go.” Their goal was to inspire, mobilize, and energize young leaders into personal transformation and bold outreach.  As a result, 12 Slovaks traveled into war-torn Ukraine to serve at the Spring Fest.  They led worship, organized eight workshops, and served in numerous practical ways. But most of all, they told these young people that they were not forgotten and not alone. More teams from Slovakia and the Czech Republic will be assisting with evangelistic camps. When under pressure from the enemy, the best strategy is forward motion. Thank you for joining us in the spiritual battle for Ukraine.