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August 7, 2017

Finding the Pearl

Dear Friends,

Is it really worth the cost?

Think about the last time you moved or changed your job. Obviously, you had to weigh the cost against the gain. Will the new location be better for you and your family? Will the change in work advance your career, create better conditions for growth, or bring in more income?

Now imagine that you are being asked to quit your job, sell almost everything you own, and then raise all the money needed for both your salary and your work expenses. You and your family will be moving not just across the country, but across an ocean, to a foreign place where you don’t know the language and culture. You will be far from family and friends, and limited in your ability to communicate with people around you. On top of this, the work may be slow and difficult.

Why would you willingly choose an assignment like that?

I recently talked with a family in Seattle, and another in Chattanooga, and a third in Los Angeles who are all enthusiastically choosing this kind of calling over many other attractive options. They are not being forced or manipulated. In fact, they are thrilled and excited about the choice they are making. Are they seeing things clearly?

Shortly after that I spoke with a successful businessman from Prague. He had just quit his job, sold his house, and taken such a low salary that he had to ration heat in his apartment in the winter and forgo his family vacation. All this to free up his time to train Jr High youth leaders in churches across the country.

“When people are young we can totally change their life in just two or three years,” he told me. “They can come to faith in Christ, grow into a leader, and reach their friends in such a short amount of time. I dream of revival in my country, and work with young people is the fastest way to make this dream a reality.”

A movement of God. Jesus said that the pearl of His Kingdom was so precious, that the merchant who found it would gladly sell all he had to gain this great treasure. The price is paid with joy when the gain is much more than the loss.

Thank you for helping us find the pearl,

Dave Patty, President, Josiah Venture

Dave Patty President

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Who holds the future? As Josiah Venture works with local churches to help them reach the next generation, one very effective tool we offer is a program called Fusion. Teenagers love music and the arts, yet schools in our region don’t generally offer choir, drama, band, or other programs you may have participated in when you were young. This creates an opportunity for the church to gather unbelieving young people together into a Fusion community, which is a contemporary rock/gospel choir. In the context of weekly meetings, teens are shepherded toward faith in God, but we also found that large gatherings can strengthen the local outreach. So last month, 20 Fusion choirs from 10 countries joined for a unique festival called Fusiondary, where the choirs perform for each other, grow in their skills, and are challenged with the gospel. Out of the 500 participants, at least half were unbelievers. Several months before the festival, students filled out a survey about their needs and interests. Normally, classic teen issues like relationships and identity come to the top, but this time, the number one concern was the future. Surrounded by uncertainty, this “anxious generation” is fearful as they look ahead. In response to this, our team chose the theme— “Dare.” “Dare to take a step of faith and trust in Jesus.” “Dare to believe there is a God who holds the future.” One of our newest Fusions is in the city of Lviv, Ukraine, a country still in the grip of relentless war with neighboring Russia. For many of the students, traveling to the Czech Republic for Fusiondary was their first time out of the war-torn country. Yura, a 16-year-old, joined Fusion because of his love for music, and became their key drummer. Although he had heard the gospel many times, he was hesitant to give his life to Christ. On Saturday evening, Jenny used an unusual passage for her talk—the story of the nation of Israel dying from poison and needing to look to a snake on a stick to be healed. “Jesus was lifted up in the same way,” Jenny shared, “and we need to ‘dare’ to look to him in faith for healing that we can find nowhere else.” After the message, Timothy, one of the Ukrainian leaders, found Yuri and asked if he wanted to talk. “Why don’t we come to Jesus right now?” he said. “You know he is real, and then you can have a life with God.” Yuri shared that he wanted to wait, but then said, “What if I don’t live until the next camp? Life is not forever. You don’t know what life brings, and you don’t know when your life ends.” That night, Yuri “dared” to put his trust in Jesus. The next Sunday, he was giving testimony to his faith at his local church in Lviv. Many others made the same step of faith and discovered that, “Even if everyone leaves me, God loves me like I am and will never leave.” Thank you for “daring” with us to give this next generation hope for the future. Dave Patty President, Josiah Venture
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Discipling young people is like working with hot wax. Impressions made during their formative years can last a lifetime. Jenny grew up in a loving Christian home in Sumperk, Czech Republic, faithfully attending a small local church. “Everyone knew I was a Christian, but that was the extent of my witness. I never knew it was possible to take my faith out to my friends.” Then she heard of a Josiah Venture (JV) English camp at a sister church in Prague. Out of curiosity, she joined them for the week. Watching the American team share the gospel so naturally with a group of non-Christian teenagers left her surprised and amazed. She saw her peers listening intently, not offended because of the gracious, relational approach. As she sat there in shock, 16-year-old Jenny said to herself, “I don’t know what this job is called, but I want to do it for the rest of my life.” Returning to her home church full of excitement, she convinced them to do a JV English camp the next year. Trevor and Cassie, a young couple from the United States, served on the intern team at her camp that summer. The experience was so impactful for them that they decided to join JV full-time, move to Sumperk, and to disciple the youth and new believers in Jenny’s local church. “My first Bible study ever was with Cassie,” Jenny later reflected. “Up until then, I had just read the Bible on my own, but never knew that someone could study it with me. They modeled a ministry lifestyle I had never seen. Trevor and Cassie opened their home, offering food, conversation, and tea, making us feel loved and welcomed. Their home was always full of teenagers.” Following Trevor and Cassie’s example, Jenny decided to do a JV summer internship and pass on what she had learned to Czech young people in other churches. “I used to be one of those Czech Christians that was so shocked that people were interested in the gospel. Now I could tell others that if we share boldly, but are kind and relational, people will listen.” At one of those camps, she met a young youth leader named Landen from California. After the summer, they kept in touch, and a romance blossomed between them. Moving to the States to join him, Jenny couldn’t get the needs of her home country off her mind. Though she was always discipling young people, she kept thinking, “Who is doing this in Czech?” God was working in Landen’s heart as well and called both of them back to the JV team in Czech. “I can’t believe that the job that I dreamed of doing when I was 16 is now a daily reality for my husband and me,” said Jenny. “It is beyond my comprehension that Trevor and Cassie would come to another country and learn my language. They changed the world for my generation, and now I can do it for the next generation.” Disciple-making investments in young people can last a lifetime. Thank you for making this possible through your gifts and prayers. Dave Patty President, Josiah Venture
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Imagine—you’re fifteen years old, clutching a sweat-drenched guitar pick. You’re about to play on a big stage in front of around 500 people. As you stand with your band and choir mates in the darkened stage wing, you feel both dreadfully nervous and excited. You know your performance won’t be perfect—you’ve only been playing guitar for a year—but you’re not alone. As you walk out onto the stage, the lights blind you, and the crowd erupts in cheers. The drummer shakily counts off the first song, and although it takes a second for the band to find its bearing, the whole audience loudly claps and sings along. A rush of adrenaline courses through you, and you allow yourself to rock out, losing yourself in the moment, the music, the energy. Welcome to FUSIONDARY, a music-packed international festival for Fusion choirs and bands from 9 countries across Europe. For many teenagers, the key experience will be when they get to perform with their Fusion group on a large stage in front of hundreds of people, and they are not just any people. They are the world’s most encouraging audience, because they know what it’s like to be nervous—to be performing as an amateur. And they know all the songs. But Fusiondary is much more than concerts. It’s a chance for teenagers to meet new people, get inspired, and learn new things. For some of them, for example our dear group of Ukrainians, it’s a chance to get away from painful circumstances and take a breath of fresh (albeit sometimes rank?) air, to lift their eyes and see the bigger picture of what they get to be a part of through Fusion. For many, it’s an opportunity to hear the Gospel in a new and powerful way, through talks given by speakers who have poured their hearts into preparation and who love these teenagers deeply. We’re praying that many teenagers will have a personal encounter with Jesus through the talks, seminars, labyrinth, worship, meeting with the Support Team, and talking with their local leaders. Somehow music provides a base (bass?) through which God works. Music can seep through those cracks and crannies of our hearts in a profound and mysterious way. Would you take a moment and read these lyrics from one of our Fusiondary songs? And would you pray for deep and beautiful encounters with God’s love for each teenager, as well as each leader that is standing faithfully behind them? If you could only let your guard down If you could learn to trust me somehow I swear that I won’t let you go (Fusiondary will take place in Vsetin, Czech Republic, from April 24th-26th, 2026)