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July 12, 2024

Two Thousand Camps

Dear Friends,

This is a moment to pause and give thanks.

In the summer of 1994, thirty years ago this month, the first Josiah Venture (JV) English camp took place in the Czech Republic. It was a wild experiment, launched with only six weeks of preparation and plenty of chaos. I was teaching in a local school at that time, serving in a small evangelical church, and trying to figure out how to reach lost young people. Our youth meetings averaged five in attendance.

One of my students had the idea for a summer English camp. My brother Josh volunteered to help us with his youth group from an American army base in Germany. We gathered over 80 young people for the evangelistic camp, and our youth group went from 5 to over 50 in just two months.

Fast-forward to today. During the first week of July, the Josiah Venture team is leading camps in Ukraine, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Poland, and the Czech Republic. This marks a significant milestone. It took twenty years to reach camp number 1000 and just ten more years to double that number.

Many students from Central and Eastern Europe know Jesus because of this steady gospel proclamation. Over 107,000 young people have spent a week with us at camp, including 52,000 unbelievers, with 8,350—16% of them—making a profession of faith in Christ! Will you give thanks with us for these many changed lives?

One of these is Olena, who was born in Ternopil, Ukraine. In 2009, she was invited by her friend to a JV English camp in her town. The next year, she returned to camp, understood the gospel, and put her faith in Christ. Believers from the youth group began to disciple her, and the youth ministry grew into a church plant called Philadelphia Church.

There she continued to mature as a Christian and learned how to serve others. Her life became an exciting journey with God, leading her to serve as a Ukrainian intern with JV in 2015 and 2016. This was when God revealed his calling on her life, and camp ministry became one of her passions.

A young man named Evan fled to Ternopil in 2022 because of the war. He and Olena fell in love and were married in 2023. Olena and Evan are now JV missionaries and serve together in ministry. Olena is the camp team co-director, and Evan helps to equip and care for local churches and summer interns. Under their leadership and amid war, the Ukraine team will lead over 30 evangelistic camps this summer.

What a joy to see the gospel’s impact as God grows his kingdom with young people from the harvest to the harvest.

This is a moment to pause and give thanks. I’m thanking him for your part in God’s work through your gifts and prayers.

Thank you,

Dave Patty
President, Josiah Venture

Dave Patty President

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Sajmir just wanted to belong. As the youngest son in a Muslim family of eight children, he was expected to serve everyone. Sajmir’s family was oppressed in Albania because they were dark skinned Gypsies. On top of that, during the difficult time after the revolution, his father began drinking and beating his mother. “My father never beat me,” Sajmir said, “but he never showed me love. He never hugged me or kissed me. I never saw a father figure. I was afraid of him. Also, outside in the city, people were not very close to me. I spent most of my time alone, playing soccer alone, or basketball alone.” There was only one soccer field in his village, and when Sajmir tried to join a game, the other kids would kick him out. One day, a group came toward the field and Sajmir began to back away, sure they would ask him to leave. “Will you play with us?” they asked. “You want to play with me?” Sajmir replied. For the first time in his life, someone invited him in. After the game, they invited him to church. “What is a church?” he said. Running home, he asked his parents if he could go. “Don’t go to church,” they answered sternly, “you will shame us.” But the next day was Sunday, and he snuck out when no one was looking. “When I stepped into the church, at the door, someone gave me a hug for the first time in my life,” Sajmir said. “They put me in the first row. I felt like a celebrity. Then I heard the story that someone loves you just as you are, that is, Jesus—as I was, dark skinned, rejected. But still, there is someone who died for me.” “I ran and told my family, but their response was: ’If you go one more time, we will tell your brother to beat you up.’ I went again. My brother beat me up. For three months, I was beaten every week. I was loved and accepted in church, while suffering and being beaten in my family. Then my mom said, ‘Let him go.’” Filled with joy, Sajmir fell on his knees and said, “God, I will serve you wherever you want me to.” That was 25 years ago, and today Sajmir and his family are part of our Josiah Venture team in Albania. Through youth ministry, he recently planted a church called “Mosaic,” which has grown to over 100 people. Every day, young people come after school and in the evening for tutoring, children’s meetings, youth meetings, small groups, discipleship groups, and a very lively Fusion choir. The church is open every day, from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm, and there is always something happening. “Our building is a daily home for everyone; it’s a family,” says Sajmir. “I always remember what God did for me in my youth. My heart is burning to see more young people come to Christ and find that they are loved and belong.” During this Advent season, we remember how Jesus left his home to make a home for us. He was sent to find us, where we play our games alone, and to invite us into his family. He found Sajmir, and you, and me. Thanks for helping us share this good news with young people who are still without a home. Dave Patty President, Josiah Venture