Hidden opportunities lurk in every unexpected crisis.

When Covid shut down all public meetings in Serbia at the beginning of 2020, Josiah Venture country leader Stojce was cut off from his congregation and his youth ministry. Wracking his brain for a way to continue to shepherd his people, he remembered a video post he had uploaded to Facebook several years earlier. What if he recorded a short video message to his flock every day?

With nothing more than an old Samsung phone, Stojce preached a five-minute Bible message and uploaded it onto his page. The next day he preached again, and continued through the week. Since all in-person meetings were canceled, there was space to encourage his people online every single day.

Evangelical churches in Serbia are small, and Stojce’s church numbered just over 50 people. The total evangelical population of the country is approximately 5000 believers—a tiny drop in the bucket of a total population of 7 million.

You can imagine Stojce’s surprise several weeks later when he discovered that his following on Facebook had grown to over 6000 people—more than the entire number attending evangelical churches! Since Covid had disrupted normal life, people were looking for something to do, and started passing his videos on to their friends.

Soon his Facebook page registered 10,000 followers, then 20,000. Every day there was a simple Bible message from just one verse, but somehow his words were resonating with those from traditional Serbian Orthodox backgrounds. By the end of Covid, Stojce had gained 50,000 followers and was preaching to an average of 10,000 people every day!

Covid faded away, but Stojce kept going. For six years now he has released a five-minute Bible message five days a week, and now has close to 70,000 followers on Facebook and another 10,000 on TikTok. Even Serbians who have immigrated to Germany and Western Europe are growing through his Bible teaching.

Several weeks ago, Stojce was hurrying through the Belgrade airport at 4:00 am to catch an early morning flight when someone touched his shoulder and called out his name. “Stojce, is that really you? I follow you; I watch your messages. Do you have a minute to talk?”

Standing in a busy passageway, the man shared how he was addicted to alcohol and pornography when, somehow, by chance, he came across Stojce’s messages. “Your words brought me hope, and when you mentioned you would send a free Bible, I wrote and asked you for one. I started reading it, and then began attending church. God has freed me from my addictions and given me new life. How can I ever thank you for pointing me to the truth!”

While much of the online world spreads confusion and noise, God is using five-minute messages to bring eternal truth to tens of thousands in a nation where the gospel is rarely heard.

Thank you for making this possible through your gifts and prayers.

Dave Patty
President, Josiah Venture