Fall Webinar

We had our first webinar of the fall with the whole JV team this morning! 

These times together as the team, even online, are so uplifting and encouraging! 

We heard updates from around the region of how camps went this summer despite coronavirus restrictions. Our team led 70 evangelistic events, 35 camps, 18 disciple-making events, and 19 different kinds of leadership trainings. 

We also got to hear from numerous staff who shared how God is moving in their countries during this unusual season. 

Stojce, who serves in Serbia, is one of our JV social media pioneers. 

During these season of quarantines and restrictions, he began been posting daily minute-long videos that focus on topics people are interested in, and Bible stories. In a country that claims to have 10 000 believers, they have over 21 000 YouTube subscribers watching their videos! He shared a story about a woman who found him online, trusted Christ, asked to get baptized, and joined a church near him. 

After updates, Dave taught from Hebrews 12 on the opportunities we have in this season. 

He talked about living by faith, lightening up our load (not carrying unnecessary weight), running with endurance, and looking to Jesus. 

In the point about running with endurance, he brought on our son, Caleb, who lives and serves in Albania, and had him share about a lesson he learned this summer while working with the youth there.

Caleb gave them the assignment to put up a tent, without any instructions, nor could they use any words among those they were working with! Some were frustrated, some gave up; but one of the youngest in the group kept doing "something". Caleb's point that he shared with the students afterward was, "With COVID it may seem harder, but we must do something."

We also heard from Josh, Dave's brother, who gave us the update on our upcoming one-day "Recharge" event, which is instead of our normal week-long ministry equipping fall conference.

The team is hard at work right now, taping all that will be used for a 6 hour event on Saturday, September 26th that will focus on four things: living by faith, navigating difficulties, maximizing opportunities, and showing the way. We hope to have 500 participants in small group settings, gathering across Central and Eastern Europe that day.

In fact, Josh was actually here from Slovenia for the webinar, and to spend a few nights with us as he is involved in the taping with Dave, and the rest of the team putting this event together!

I feel so proud of our team and how they're adapting, adjusting, and pivoting in order to make the most of these unusual times. We're praying that not just in spite of, but because of these unusual times, we will see much fruit for God's Kingdom in the coming weeks and months.