“Whoever claims to abide in him must walk as Jesus walked.” – 1 John 2:6

It’s nothing new. As a movement, Josiah Venture has always been about Jesus. But this week, we are going back to the basics.

As you read this, around 280 of JV’s missionaries and key youth leaders from 13 Central and Eastern European countries are already gathering under a large tent at our Czech training facility, Malenovice, for our annual fall training conference. This year, the theme is Re-Jesus.

For the next 5 days, we will be together for a week of training, equipping, fellowship, and encouragement as we study the life of Christ and his example of making disciples who make disciples who make disciples.

After months of preparation, Dave Patty, JV’s president, says, “We are heading into one of the most exciting times of the year for me. We will be centering our eyes again on Jesus. I know God has a special message for each conference attendee as we get ready for an inspiring meeting with him.”

Rob Trenckmann, the conference director, is also excited about the week. “It’s a chance to be together as a missionary team of national organizations to remember that we are a part of an even bigger vision of seeing a movement of God in this region of the world. Just like an athlete drills the fundamentals or a musician practices scales, as disciple makers we are going back to Jesus and being reminded of what he’s about.”

All week, the young leaders will be learning Christ-centered ministry strategy, using training material entitled Walk 2/6, an in-house rewrite and repackaging of Dann Spader’s SonLife curriculum that focuses on distinct stages of Christ’s ministry and challenges us to follow his example.

Rob says, “We’ve shortened the material way down and it’s designed so that you could teach it at a seminar or in your living room, or you could sit with somebody one on one at a coffee shop and go through the life of Christ. People will be able to identify where they’re at in the stages of Christ’s ministry and then dig deeper into how they can take specific steps to become more like Jesus.”

“We’re hoping that this becomes something that people not only learn themselves, but that they pass on to others, and that it really unleashes a new wave of disciple makers who model Jesus in this region of the world.”

Rob asks that as conference starts, you would pray with us for three things:

• Clarity, as the majority of national leaders will be attending this conference in English (their second or third language).
• Spiritual protection, as this is a very dark region of the world, and Satan hates it when we study Jesus.
• Our DNA, as we want this material to become a part of people’s disciple making identities, a part of our vocabulary, and the way we evaluate our ministry.

More stories to come, but until then, check out our social media hashtag (#JVFall14) to follow live pictures and updates on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.