February 4, 2025

The Fog is Lifting

The fog was relentless. It engulfed the city, delaying flights, forcing reroutes, and leaving hundreds stranded. One plane circled Kraków Airport 27 times before finally diverting–an unofficial record. This was not how I imagined the start of the Revive Europe Conference when I agreed to help organize it. Our team spent two years planning this gathering of thousands of young believers from across the continent, yet we still felt unprepared to handle the haze that greeted us the first day. 

I must confess, at times, I feel as though all of Europe is in a fog. Once a place where church bells rang with certainty, Europe now seems lost in a haze of spiritual confusion. It’s one that muffles sound, obscures vision, and leaves many wandering without clear direction—making it easy to believe this gray uncertainty is all there is.

Yet, after Revive, I am now more convinced than ever that God is not done with Europe. These students didn’t just come with longing; they came with expectation. Throughout the week, hundreds knelt in surrender, responding to the call for repentance, forgiveness, and consecration. Some might dismiss this as youthful idealism or a fleeting emotional response. But this generation is not naive. They have known suffering, loss, and longing, and still, they believe. Their faith is not blind; it is bold.

I saw this depth displayed in my Ukrainian friend Nastya. As we counted down to the New Year, worship resounding around us, she stood with tears in her eyes. A release of soldiers in captivity had just been announced, and her friend’s name was not on the list. She turned to me and whispered, “I had hoped… I really thought he would be free by now.” Like many others, she hadn’t expected the war to last this long. 

So we spent the first moments of 2025 in tears and fervent prayer. And then, as the final “Amen” was spoken, Nastya lifted her hands in worship, singing with the crowd:

“Bless God, for he holds the victory. Bless God, for he’s always with me. Bless God, for he’s always worthy. Every chance I get, I’ll bless your name.”

Like Nastya, the crowd was aware of how deeply broken Europe is. We all felt the weight of the task before us. But we were also aware of the power of the cross. We know the Great Physician, the King of Kings, the Prince of Peace. And we believe that he has a desire to see Europe restored. Therefore, this is not a time to settle for small victories. It’s a time to seek God’s presence, to cry out for revival, and to pray his promises into reality.

We are already seeing glimpses of renewal breaking through. The hunger for God’s Word is growing in Bulgaria, with a surge in Bible distribution over the last few years. In Romania, churches are uniting across denominational lines in unprecedented ways. Ukraine now has the fastest-growing church in all of Europe.

We know that revival is not something we manufacture—it’s something we receive. However, scripture shows that revival begins with us, broken and surrendered, crying out for God to do what only he can do. This is what I saw displayed over New Year’s. 

Perhaps you, too, are in a season of waiting—longing for a breakthrough, clarity, and the fog to lift. Take heart. The same God moving in Europe is moving in your life. 

Will you join us in praying for revival? Let’s cry out together, trusting that the Spirit is at work, lifting the fog and bringing light where there was once only gray.

 

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Evangelism, Events

Fusiondary: Beyond the Stage

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Discipleship, Events, Help Ukraine

Dawn Is Coming. All Is Well; I Will Rejoice.

It’s 2:51 am on March 7th when I wake to the sound of an air-raid siren via the “Air Alert!” app on my phone. For these last four-plus years serving in Ukraine, this is far from unusual, except that this time, it’s during the final night of our Josiah Venture Ukraine team’s 3-day Springfest event. The 530 participants—most of them teenagers—are under our watch and care. Since rebooting this annual fest in 2023, a year after the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine, there hadn’t been a single siren during the event itself. This year was different. When a siren sounds in Ukraine, it does not necessarily mean that danger is imminent. With modern technology, we can check our phones to understand the threat to which the siren warns. As I begin to scan my screen, I remind myself that our team had picked a facility for Springfest deep in the Carpathian mountains, so surely there is no reason for concern. I read that cruise missiles and attack drones are heading southwest towards a city with a name I don’t recognize. I copy it into Google Maps and quickly realize that this city is in the same region, or county, in which our event is being held. I hold my breath as I tap the “directions” button and feel a tinge of relief in my gut when I realize the city is over 200km (±125 miles) to the east. But what if the missiles aren’t targeting that city? What if they and the drones keep heading west? This is but a small taste of the thoughts and emotions that flooded my heart and head during the 1 hour and 21 minutes of tracking this particular attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in the middle of the night. Russia attacks Ukraine every single day without exception. Of course, the scale varies. But not a night goes by without a siren sounding somewhere in the country. By the grace of God, there were no casualties from this specific attack in the region we were in, and the threat did not escalate to the point of needing to wake Springfest attendees to seek shelter. Our team was sleep-deprived, but as darkness turned to dawn, we could turn our attention back to the heart of our event. Our JV Ukraine team started Springfest in 2011 (back then, it was Winterfest!) to provide a touch point for churches between summer camps. The event has grown from a few dozen attendees to 530 this year, in partnership with 32 Ukrainian churches from all across the country. The current mission of Springfest is to provide a platform for Ukrainian youth leaders to build deeper relationships with their young people, both believers and non-believers. Amidst all the fun of meeting new people, playing sports or board games, creating through crafts, learning in master classes, having a blast at a themed night-party, or just hanging out with friends, we work to provide a safe environment for non-Christians to hear the gospel from the stage and have open discussion with their peers and leaders during small groups. We pray that Springfest is a spark for non-believers to have gospel conversations with their leaders that lead to repentance and belief in Jesus, while also providing a space for believers to grow in their relationship with Christ. One of the best parts of Springfest is getting messages from leaders in the days following the event and hearing stories of how God moved in the hearts of young people. For example, a leader named Anton, who, along with 3 other leaders, brought 16 non-believing teenagers with him to the event, said that Springfest was “the last hammer hit” for one of his guys to repent and follow Jesus. Another leader, Yevhen, said he was up till 3 am one night with his small group of guys, having deep conversations about questions they had about Christianity. “All such meetings gradually bring a young person closer to God,” Yevhen told us. “This festival, in my opinion, raised everyone to a new level of relationship with God.” Pray with us that these types of gospel conversations and professions of faith continue in the coming weeks! Stories of God moving in the hearts of youth and using faithful leaders to embody his Kingdom on earth always encourage us and provide endurance amidst the challenges that the war brings to daily life and ministry. I wouldn’t wish on anyone the task of creating contingency plans for cruise missiles while organizing an event where young people can simply be. It’s a place where they can step away from the terrible normal numbness of getting used to living in war and receive the love of God through his loving church. As we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, Jesus remains our morning star in the darkest nights. We will continue to look to him in all things, as we, with grateful hearts, have the privilege of partnering with him and his movement in Ukraine. To him be the glory forever! Amen.

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Evangelism, Online Ministry

Five Minute Bible

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