Back

August 15, 2025

Unexpected Opportunities

It takes courage and faith to entrust your dream into someone else’s hands.

In 1993, a group of Swiss businessmen became burdened with a vision to reach young people in Romania with the Gospel. Coming from a Brethren background, they contacted a Romanian Brethren congregation in the Western part of the country and asked if they could partner with them to build a camp.

Surprisingly, their new friends pointed them to the opposite side of the country, which is the poorest area and the most unreached with the gospel. Though far from their church, they were convinced this region was uniquely strategic for advancing God’s kingdom. Providentially, it was also the home to a stunning mountain range and the cleanest air in the entire country.

The Swiss gathered together their limited resources and bought a beautiful piece of land in a small valley with breathtaking views of the nearby peaks. That year, they started hosting tent camps with portable toilets and water straight from the adjacent stream.

Many young people gave their lives to Christ, and step by step, the camp began to develop. First, the construction of a main building, then cabins, and sports fields. A young man named Janus trusted Christ there, met his wife through the camps, then went to Bible school and became a missionary in nearby Moldova.

After 20 years, the Swiss team felt they needed to entrust their labor of love to an organization that could take it to the next level. After researching many possibilities, they approached Josiah Venture and asked if we would be willing to accept the gift of a fully functioning Romanian camp.

This month, the transfer of this unique facility to our JV Romania team was completed. It was an unexpected opportunity, but also an answer to specific prayers. Through another act of God’s providence, Janus and his family agreed to return from Moldova and join the JV team to run and expand the camp.

As I write this, I am returning from a visit to Lepsa, Romania, where we drafted a plan to expand the current 80 beds to 200, and use the camp as the base for powerful outreach to thousands of young people in this needy region. It will host some of our English camps, serve as a base for training Romanian youth leaders, and house Edge Sports outreaches. My heart is full of joy at the courage and faith of these Swiss brothers!

Pray with us now that the Lord would provide generous resources to make the expansion possible. If God leads you to give an extra gift to this strategic project you can make a donation by clicking here.

Thank you for making it possible for us to respond to unexpected opportunities.

Thank you,

Dave Patty
President, Josiah Venture

Dave Patty President
Learn About this Project

Related Posts

Read Story

Discipleship, Evangelism, Stories

A New Generation of Missionaries

Dear Friends, “I am sending you.” —Jesus At the end of January, I spent a week with 52 new Josiah Venture missionaries at our winter Academy. Talking with them at meals and in training sessions, I was overwhelmed with the quality and passion of this next generation of missionaries. Let me briefly tell you a few of their stories. Klemen (Slovenia) trusted Christ at 16 years of age when his best friend—the son of JV missionaries—shared the gospel with him on a napkin and challenged him to put his faith in Jesus. With so few evangelical believers in Slovenia, Klemen experienced rejection from his friends and is still the only believer in his extended family. Because of his heart for young people, Klemen studied physical science and became a PE teacher but was so outspoken about his faith that the principal didn’t extend his contract. At that point, our JV staff challenged him to join the team, and he experienced God’s call into full-time ministry. Now, he is helping local churches develop outreach programs to reach the lost. Klemen’s vision? That 30% of Slovenia would become followers of Jesus. Gabriel (Romania) grew up in a Christian home as the son of a pastor. At a youth camp when he was 16, Gabe put his faith in Christ. From that point on, he spent all of his free time serving in church. He experienced God’s call into ministry at 18 and spent the next four years in theological study. However, as is typical in Romania, his church was very traditional and inward-focused. When he began to lead the youth group, there were just five attending—all from Christian families. Then, some members of the JV Romania team began to train Gabe on how to reach the lost using the tool of Fusion, a rock/gospel choir that builds community through music. Soon, the entire culture of the youth group was transformed, and unbelievers were drawn in, inviting more of their friends and coming to faith in Christ. The youth group grew to 100 in a church with just 200 members, and the entire community was impacted. Now Gabe has joined the JV team to equip other churches like his to reach the lost. “I would love for all the churches in Romania to experience this,” he said, “that the church can have an impact on the outside and share the gospel in a relevant way. That would change our country.” Kendra (Ukraine) is a second-generation JV missionary, raised on the mission field. After her graduation from Wheaton college in Illinois, she responded to God’s call to serve in a very challenging location—near the city of Kyiv, Ukraine, in the midst of war. It is a dangerous assignment for a young woman, but Kendra feels privileged to bring the light of Jesus to young people in the midst of physical darkness and great uncertainty. She learned the Ukrainian language in just 6 months, and is now experiencing open doors for ministry across her entire city. God is using her bold faith to draw many to himself. I can’t wait to see what God will do through these committed young missionaries! They can be sent because you stand with them through your prayers and generous support. Thank you. Dave Patty President, Josiah Venture
Read Story

Events, Stories

The Right Learning for the Right Person at the Right Time

Stop and think about the times in your life when you grew the most. What were you doing? What were the circumstances? What did you feel? What were you excited about, and what were you worried about? When I look back on my own life, I notice a pattern. Growth usually happens when the challenge in front of us is outside of our comfort zone or outside of our skill level. It happens when we’re stretched. I remember learning this in a very tangible way in college. I took a class called Experiential Learning, and, throughout the semester, we worked through various team-building exercises. At the end of the course, we went to a ropes course, which culminated in a challenge known as the “Pamper Pole”—a towering 10-meter telephone pole. The challenge was to climb to the top, stand on a tiny platform, and then leap to grab a trapeze bar. My professor had seen me go through most of the challenges fairly easily. Just as I was about to climb the Pamper Pole, he quietly walked up behind me, put something in my back pocket, and said, “Just in case you want a little bit bigger challenge.” I reached inside and found a blindfold. And I decided to put it on. I climbed the pole blindfolded, made it to the top, and then jumped. My hands hit the bar, but I didn’t grab it. Of course, I was strapped in, so I didn’t hit the ground, but that moment has stayed with me. Even though I didn’t “succeed” in the way I had hoped, I chose a harder pathway up, and I learned something important: growth often requires stepping into something beyond what we currently know how to do. The missionary life is a lot like that. When Brooke and I first stepped onto the mission field, we were eager and ready to say yes to whatever God put in front of us. We had vision, enthusiasm, and a desire to serve. But looking back, we didn’t realize how steep the learning curve would be or how much God still needed to form in us. Those early years were full of trial and error. We made countless mistakes and learned by trying something, realizing it didn’t work, and trying again. Over time, the Lord shaped us and grew us, but the learning curve was long. Some of the lessons we needed most came through hard seasons, and they didn’t come quickly. The Josiah Venture Winter Academy was established to help provide the resources necessary to give our staff a foundation for healthy, effective ministry that lasts, grounded in Christ’s strategy, and strengthened by shared language, practical tools, and a community that helps them grow through every season. This year, we gathered 52 Josiah Venture staff at our training center in Malenovice, Czech Republic, for a week of discussion, connection, and spiritual encouragement. Every staff member has the opportunity to participate in Winter Academy within their first year on the team (Year 1 track) and again within their second year (Year 2 track). At its core, Winter Academy is about helping our staff build a foundation that will serve them for the long haul, so they can be steady and fruitful through the ups and downs of ministry. Ministry is full of seasons. There are times of blossoming, when the work feels joyful and full of momentum, and there are times of drought, when setbacks and discouragement threaten to parch the soul. Some seasons even hold those highs and lows at the same time. Jeremiah 17:7–8 reads: “Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” These verses don’t deny hardship; they assume it. But it also points us to the keys to long-term fruitfulness: staying rooted and drawing consistently from the resources we have in Christ. Winter Academy was created to help staff establish those roots early. We wanted to shorten the learning curve so that new staff would be prepared for the obstacles they would inevitably face, and so they could respond with bold faith, with wisdom drawn from best practices across the team, and with perseverance, knowing they would have a team standing with them. Year 1 focuses on the path of a growing disciple. Our first-year staff get grounded in who we are as Josiah Venture and how Christ’s strategy shapes everything we do. They also learn the Five Challenges of Christ in a way that moves beyond theory into real life and real ministry. Year 2 is focused on ministry coaching through the Five Phases. Year 2 builds on that discipleship foundation and helps our staff grow in how they serve and multiply through others. Participants learn how to evaluate ministry health and direction as well as practice coaching conversations that help leaders take meaningful next steps. Once our staff complete Winter Academy (Years 1 and 2), we want them to know three things with certainty: I am not alone. I know who to turn to for help. I look to Jesus as my model for ministry. We’re grateful for what God has done through Winter Academy over the years, and we invite you to join us in praying that this event continues to deepen roots, strengthen faith, and produce fruit that lasts.
Read Story

Evangelism

The Good Shepherd

Is there hope for broken people? Between Christmas and New Year’s, I spent five days with over 100 college students from a student movement here in the Czech Republic. We dug deep into Psalm 23, learning about our Good Shepherd and how to follow him more closely. Most of the students were first-generation believers, often without a single relative who knows Jesus. Between the teaching sessions, I heard their stories, and my heart was heavy for the broken world they grew up in. Honza had very few memories of his dad, except for the unending hateful comments his mom would say about him after they divorced. Later, he realized that almost all of her relationships were broken and characterized by hate and unforgiveness. As he grew older, the hate took root in his heart, primarily directed at himself. He moved through life constantly expecting rejection. Then someone invited him to the student meetings, and he heard about a Father who loved him unconditionally and a Son who bore his sins and pain on the cross. In faith, he believed the words of Isaiah 53, that “with his stripes we are healed,” and placed his rejection and wounds on Jesus. The Good Shepherd found him, and now he is pioneering the student ministry in a new city, sharing the good news of redemption with many who have never heard. Lucy’s dad was a person with alcoholism who turned violent whenever he had too much to drink. As a small child, Lucy would cower in the corner as her dad physically abused her mom, at times fearing that her mom would not survive the beatings. He took his anger out on the kids as well, and she would go to school with bruises on her face and body. When the teachers asked what had happened, Lucy made up a story. If she told the truth, another beating would quickly follow. Lucy dreamed about running away forever, or taking her life, because her entire world was so full of danger that she had no hope. Thankfully, in university, a classmate told her about Jesus Christ and his supernatural power to change lives. The good shepherd found her and placed her in a new family. Her eyes filled with tears as she told me about the redemption she had found in Christ and the safety she found in his unending care. Katka told me she had never read the Bible and had just come to the retreat out of curiosity. She had many questions and, on the final day, asked me to sign the book she had just bought about knowing God as Father. “It’s my birthday today,” she said. I’m praying that she will be born again soon. Since the Czech Republic is the most atheistic country on earth, many young people grow up in broken families and become broken people, without hope and a way of escape. But we know the Good Shepherd. Thanks for joining us as we search for his lost sheep. Dave Patty President, Josiah Venture