A Glimpse of Heaven

by Michael Leslie

It’s not every day that we get a glimpse of heaven, but on occasion God is willing to show us the place He has prepared for us. Through fellowship and times of serving His will, He will bless us with a vision and a feeling of what eternity with Him will be like. We were fortunate to have this experience and this glimpse during our time in the Czech Republic.

Communion takes place with regularity and I feel like at times we lose sight of the true purpose and impact this time can have on our faith and relationships with other believers. Tuesday evening, 25 November, 2014, we took the time to have a communion dinner including the Fusion Czech Team and members of Kostel Jinak. Wine, juice, and bread were served in a casual fashion. Large loaves of fresh bread were passed around on a plate and each person tore off a piece of bread. Some grabbed small pieces, others grabbed larger pieces. Then the wine and juice were passed around and everyone served each other, dependent on what they wanted. Once everyone was served, the evening began with prayer and worship. It was a time of fellowship, to build relationships deeper than just names and small talk. As the evening began, the idea was to share stories of how God had been working in our lives or testimonies to our faith. Like most group discussions on very personal topics, it started slow. There were people that wanted to share, but I sensed a bit of hesitancy due to the freshness of our bonds. Then people started sharing, with translations from Czech to English and English to Czech. There were stories of how God changed the way He exists in our lives. There were stories of God changing hearts from hard to soft. There were stories of God making His will and plan for us so clear that deniability was not an option. There were also stories of God challenging faith and walking through the fire of trials with us. Most importantly, there were stories of redemption and God’s endless mercy and forgiveness for us as sinners and believers.  Hearing these stories was and still is, inspiring, motivating, and encouraging.

As people shared, I began to feel God’s presence and it became overwhelming for me. We were all letting our guards down and sharing the personal things close to our hearts. This sort of vulnerability made it feel like family, it helped make us family. Hebrews 10:24 – 25 sums up how I felt that evening. We shared the positive in our lives and the negative, but ultimately it came back to how God changed us for His glory. They were stories of encouragement and God’s holiness. I saw a glimpse of heaven that night, and how it will feel to live eternally in His glory. It was a time and evening I didn’t want to end, and I shared that with everyone that evening. I still wish I was there, that we were together with God, basking in His glory. Every time I think about that evening, I still get choked up and overwhelmed. He is amazing and His love for us is endless. I left that night knowing that Kostel Jinak and Fusion had become family, even though we are thousands of miles apart. I look forward to seeing them again and can’t wait to grow in Christ with them more.

Reflections of Growth

by Jess Lindgren
 
Words don’t easily express my thankfulness and joy in returning to Czech last week. For the last 8 years, ministry in Czech has been a huge part of my life. Whether it was leading English camps in the summer, living in Czech for 6.5 months or Skyping Czech students often, the Lord has continued to stir in my heart for this country and these people. He has also used my experiences in Czech to really shape me into who I am today as well – and I am so thankful for that.

I’ve had the unique perspective of “growing up” with many of the Kostel Jinak core members. We met as high school students – me, as a nervous American coming to “teach” English; them, teaching me much more. Many of them were not believers when we first met. Yet, through the years, I have seen the Lord change and transform hearts and lives. It brings tears to my eyes to think back on what He has done. Not just in the hearts of my dear Czech friends, but in my own heart as well.

Spending this last week in Sumperk provided opportunities for our team to connect with Kostel Jinak on a deeper level – to hear their hearts, their stories of what God is doing, to see a glimpse of their lives. We were able to spend a morning in the local high school – connecting with students, inviting them to  an afternoon English conversation time, a concert and English camp this summer. We also spent a morning individually walking around Sumperk and praying – for both the believers and unbelievers in this city. I had the joy of meeting several different girls for coffee and also reconnecting with several students from English camp this summer- so many good conversations. Our week in Sumperk with Kostel Jinak was purposeful in many ways, but I think the mutual encouragement felt by experiencing the family of Christ (that surpasses culture, language, and an ocean) was the most powerful.

I’m filled with thankfulness as I think about our brothers and sisters in Sumperk – and what the Lord is doing in this city. We have much to learn from Kostel Jinak, and I’m so thankful for that. I’m thankful for opportunities to return each summer to lead English camps, and to be on mission together. I’m thankful for continued relationships, year after year. I’m thankful for renewed perspective in returning to Minnesota. The partnership that NHC has with Kostel Jinak is continuing to bear fruit – and we give glory to God for what only He can do! He is at work in the Czech Republic and He is at work in New Hope – changing and transforming hearts to know Him, follow Him, and trust Him more. Thank you, Lord!

throughout the years...

 

God of This City

Photo by Michael Leslie
Statuary of the Holy Crucifix and Calvary
Charles Bridge, Prague, Czech Republic

"God Of This City"

by Chris Tomlin

You're the God of this City
You're the King of these people
You're the Lord of this nation
You are

You're the Light in this darkness
You're the Hope to the hopeless
You're the Peace to the restless
You are

There is no one like our God
There is no one like our God

For greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
Greater thing have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City

There is no one like our God
There is no one like our God

For greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done here

There is no one like our god
There is no one like our God

Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done here

Auschwitz - Birkeneau

26 November, 2014
Michael Yee

I read Ephesians 6:16-18 to prepare for today’s trip to Auschwitz-Birkeneau.  All of us were going to experience a gamut of emotions and I prayed that we had the strength to withstand the heaviness of this day. I prayed that each of us are convicted that the Lord redeems – that good can come out pain and the worst in this world. This place is a juxtaposition of the cathedral in Prague. Evil is but an echo but the enemy still lingers around the corners ready to grip our hearts and minds. That’s why this place can be so painful for those who visit.

I braced myself as I walked towards the main gate. 'Birkenau' means 'birch forest,' and without having context of what occurred here, it is quite beautiful and not what you expect. In my mind I allowed the veil to fold away. On top of the rusted railway tracks I see the cars pulling in and the black smoke of souls rising out of the chimneys. I could feel the void of hope and joy. There is a lawful evil taking place as human identities were methodically replaced by a number.  There is an unseen and lost presence when you enter the camp when you walk amongst where over a million died.

How suiting that the sky was gray and the damp chill hindered my ability to warm my hands. The ground was muddy and the standing water was drowning the grass. As I stared at the stairs leading downwards to the underground gas chamber, the ruins were steadily replaced by an entrance to an undressing room. I could hear classical music to make the prisoners feel at ease as they were lead inside. There is a man shouting that that after a shower there would be a warm meal. The undressing room was almost directly below a brick building that contained a furnace room. At right angle to the undressing room was the gas chamber. To hide the gas chambers from an aerial view, the gas chamber’s three-foot high roofs were covered with dirt and planted with grass. The reinforced concrete roof was six inches thick, with four holes, in a zig-zag pattern, where the Zyklon-B gas pellets were poured into the room.

I am thankful for Lauren, Paul, Martin, and Colson. Their companionship pulled me back from the edge of losing myself in a tidal wave of despair. I was straddling a dangerous place I’ve been before. That place was filled with an unbearable guilt for humanity. I could hear whispers revealing the deliberate planning that went into the purpose of each building and the operations that made this place history's most productive factory of death. 

In the adjacent field known as “Mexico” there was a doe slowly walking through the tall grass. Something stirred in me as I watched her – oblivious to the land just outside the barbed wire fence. She brought me back to the present and reminded me of His redemption and resurrection. It gave me strength to continue moving forward – one step at a time. The birch trees are beautiful…

As we turned the final corner, there were men on rickety ladders maintaining the siding of a reconstructed barrack and another crew casually pouring fresh asphalt into one of countless potholes. This was the anti-Disney Land.  I understand their role. I understand the need to replicate and restore what many would prefer to forget. And forgetting is what the Enemy wants. We are visual creatures hardwired for imagery. It helps us to remember. That’s why we buy souvenirs at concerts and at the end of vacations. It’s why we take photographs of our loved ones at birthdays and of the sunsets in faraway lands we visit. It’s why we take communion and break the break and drink the wine to taste the extent of Jesus' sacrifice as a reminder of His undeserving grace.

As I collected myself after leaving Auschwitz-Birkeneau I realized I was half scraping and half stomping my shoes on the curb trying to get the dirt off. It was like I was unconsciously trying to wipe my hands clean. How quickly I forget His grace. I took one last glance behind me before I lowered the veil. I observed a multitude of generations walking the stone paths with arms interlinked silently saying “never again”.

Auschwitz

 Work Makes You Free

 Suitcases were confiscated upon entry

Starvation

 after the war, some of soldiers tried to destroy the gas chambers

Schooling in Czech

25 November 2014
Michael Yee

I knew that Czech schools partner with many organizations to teach English. New Hope Church partners with Josiah Ventures (click here), and sends a high school group every summer to teach English in camps. But I didn’t know what drew the students to participate.

So I asked this when we met with Brad, who is a missionary with a church in Vsetin. He answered this in two parts. First, many Czech  English teachers, do not speak English. This is because they had to switch from teaching Russian to English after the Czechoslovakia peacefully dissolved in 1993. As a result students are often proficient in English from a reading and grammar perspective, but not in conversational English.

Second, students take an exam in the 8^th grade (age 15) that places them on a track for a secondary school that specializes in preparing getting into either a vocational school or what we would call college in the United States (research at a university, engineering, nursing business, etc.). Basically a student’s grades determine which secondary school he/she can attend. A requirement for completing secondary school is an examination which is required by all universities and colleges. This examination includes an English oral exam taken in front of a panel that lasts about half an hour.  For more information on the Czech school system, click here.

In retrospect, I put a lot of my self-worth into academics. Looking back, this has been a slippery slope. From a Christian perspective I look to Exodus 32:7-8. My studies and grades used to be my idol, my golden calf. It was even more slippery that I was rewarded very well putting my energy and self worth into my studies. I am in awe at the idea of a Czech student in 8th grade aspiring to pursue a profession at such an early point.  God tells us our worth is not really of the “self”. Rather it is worth given to us by God and we are valued in a way that can’t be measured because of the price He made through the death of His son on the cross to make us worthy. I pray that if there is an opportunity to encourage the high school students with this, that I can convey this message.

A Day of Rest

Today was a day of rest. While some of us woke up bright and early to go for hikes or runs, others took the opportunity to catch up on some much-needed sleep.

Our team met over lunch and enjoyed giant servings of chicken noodle soup, schnitzel and potatoes. We took the opportunity to process observations and experiences that have impacted us so far. Many of us talked about the stories we've heard of great resistance [from families] that fellow Christians have experienced as they've turned to Christ. It has been incredibly special and a rare occasion for our new friends to so easily open up to us these past few days. One of the prayers, before our team left the MSP airport, asked God for vulnerability - both within us and those we'd interact with. God has met this request above and beyond what we could imagine.

We have such a diverse team of individuals with incredibly unique strengths and perspectives. Team members were affirmed in their giftings as we shared stories around lunch. Mike Leslie, for example, has such a joy and realness to him that is able to transcend cultural barriers. Michael Yee has the ability to observe, soak in every moment, be present in mind, yet see beyond the surface. Heather, Lauren, and Jennifer have been asking their Czech friends as many questions as possible. And, as Jess returns for her 8th time, she still has such an openness to be teachable and malleable. 

As we go into the high schools tomorrow to invite students to English conversation time, pray that we will continue to be intentional with even the smallest of interactions. We want to make the most of our time here and use it for furthering His kingdom.
Below are just a few pictures some of our team members have been taking thus far.