October Update!

Hey everybody! I am sending this update from Marbella, Spain where Seba and I are vacationing with his parents. This time together has been amazing. Being here near the ocean and the mountains reminds me of how powerful and how wonderful God is. His creation is so breathtaking-so refreshing. This past month was a neat time for Seba and I because Rick White and Jeremy Dane from Cityview Church came to visit. We got to share what's been going on in Poland and how they could pray/partner with us. It was a very encouraging time to feel and see the love that Cityview church has for us. It was awesome to hear our pastors brainstorm different ways to reach the lost here in Europe. We were encouraged by their hearts! A special thanks to Cityview for all the wonderful treats!! We are truly blessed!! Here is a picture of Rick leading our weekly home group Bible study and an interview pic between Seba and Rick discussing how pastors can get involved with ministry in Eastern Europe in general and with our coffee house ministry in Krakow, Poland to be specific. Thank you for your support and prayers!!

September Update

Hey everyone! First we would like to say thank you for your prayers for our Women's Conference. It was amazing! We had over 50 women come and hear our speaker, Frances Worthington share her heart. She talked about how God is not about religion but about relationship and how this relationship is about our fellowship with God every day. She challenged, loved and listened to these women and it was powerful. Praise God she came and was obedient to share! Please continue to pray as we search for a new building. We not only want this for our coffee house but also for all the other ministries we do. We are very excited about this upcoming year and look forward to all God has in store! Below is a video Seba made by using pictures that our teenagers took. This is our prayer as we serve in Krakow that God would be exalted in Poland and to the ends of the earth.

August Update

Hey everyone!! Just wanted to give you an update on what has been going on this past month! The first week of August we had a team from Charleston Southern University come to Krakow and do a sports camp for kids/teens during the day and in the evenings the CSU team played exhibition games against Polish teams. The coach, Barclay Radebaugh, was an amazing example of how to serve others and share Christ's love with boldness. The theme verse for their week was Matthew 20:26-29 and the players did a great job serving the people of Krakow. On Friday night at Coffee House, Seba was able to interview the players and ask some funny/serious questions of them and the Coach was able to share the Gospel. It was a great time hearing their hearts. We were blessed to have them here and excited about the doors that have been opened because of their willingness to come and serve!! Also this past month, Seba and I, along with our friends who are serving here in Krakow were able to go to another city, Wisla, to have a three day retreat. There we were able to evaluate this past year and plan for the upcoming year. We also just had a great time of fellowship and exploring the city!! We rode a ski lift to the top of a mountain, then walked about 20 more minutes and made it to the Czech Republic border and in the picture is the view!!

Volunteer Group from Georgia

This week we had a volunteer group here from Georgia. We had the chance one day to advertise for coffee house in our downtown square and we thought we'd grab some attention by making a video and here it is!

LA Tech Group

Thank you so much for praying for our time with 18 students from LA Tech. They were here for three weeks and they did so much. They helped us so much with Coffee House and the International Church. Their two greatest projects were a day camp in a school and campus blitz at one of the universities here in Krakow. At the day camp they taught English using Bible stories and got to meet students and parents. On campus we had three culture exchanges. First the group taught country western line dancing (over 400 people came), next was karaoke and finally was a rap concert by Kola, a Polish Christian rapper. The group was incredible at building relationships with Polish young people and sharing the gospel through that relationship. We have so many good contacts for our family and university work. We thank the Lord for such good volunteer groups and for your prayers this summer. Thanks!

How Coffee House Works

I wanted to take this chance to explain how Coffee House works. Erin and I help set up a Coffee House once a week. We don't have our own building, we rent a meeting room from a Hotel every Friday night and serve the hotel coffee there (which really isn't that good). But people don't come for the coffee. They come to be a part of an English speaking environment. We invite American and local artists to perform at the coffee house and interview them in English. We guide those interviews into spiritual conversations. American artists spend time inviting people from the city center. Local artists invite their friends. So we have a crowd for a few hours and our people get a chance to meet them, get to know them, and share the gospel with them. Every Friday, at least one of us is able to share our testimony and invite someone to either church or Bible study. But all this happens at the tables in a natural conversation, not from a presentation from the microphone. We're always looking for musical artists but also for painters, poets, and actors. If you are interested in our Coffee House ministry just contact us. We would love to talk to you about it. Please pray that God will continie to bring new people.

Hey everyone! We can't believe we've already been here for over 7 months! It has been amazing to see God work in so many different ways since we've been here. Today is an important day for us because our first volunteer team for the summer arrives. We will have 17 college students from Louisiana Tech here for 3 weeks and they will be doing some day camps and university campus outreach. We've been busy trying to schedule their three weeks here but God has done some truly amazing things. Erin and I have started a second Bible Study with young adults. God is doing so much in this group. Please pray that He will make everyone in our group into fruit bearing Christians. Here is a picture of them. We also have received two summer missionaries that will be working for the Coffee House ministry. They are great. Thank you for your prayers and make sure you look at the schedule to the right. It would be a great prayer guide for our projects.

Krakow Tigers

This past month has been amazing! Two members on our team, Mark and Shea, are coaching an American Football team here in Krakow called the Krakow Tigers. All of the players are Polish and have a passion to play football. It has been great to see the relationships that have been built as they work together. In March, we had a team of coaches come from Arkansas to give the players some insight into the game by providing a week long of training. Along with the football training, many of the coaches were able to share their faith with the team all together but also with many of the players individually. God used them in a MIGHTY way and many seeds were planted. We are so thankful for their willingness to come and share their hearts with the team. Please pray for Mark and Shea as they continue to deepen their relationships with the players that decisions would be made to follow Christ. This is the video Seba prepared for the team that they watched at the coffee house on Friday night before their big game day on Saturday!

Did I say that right??

I had the opportunity to share my testimony in the Polish Baptist Church that Sebastian and I have been attending on Sunday mornings. I was nervous but God worked through the nerves and was able to use me. I was unable to share my complete testimony in Polish but I did as much as I could hoping they would understand me through my American accent and thankfully they did. We are so blessed to be apart of a fellowship were Christ is glorified. Please pray that we would be BOLD in sharing our faith to the people we encounter everyday.

Tom Sawyer?

Yes, you read it right, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is popular in Poland. At the coffee house one Friday night I met a girl who is in acting. As we continued to talk she told me that she performs at the Rotunda (the equivalent of Casa Manana in Ft. Worth). Of course the teacher in me went nuts and I asked if I could go to one of her performances. She thought I was crazy but was excited that I asked. So I sat in the midst of 250 fourth graders and enjoyed the show! We talked after the show and she asked if we could get together next week for coffee. Please pray that our relationship would deepen and that we would get to talk more about a personal relationship with God. In the play she portrayed Aunt Polly. Here she is talking with Tom.

Basketball, Frog, & Sunday Morning

In the last few weeks we have been as busy as ever. A couple of weeks ago we hosted a basketball tournament with about 90 participants and over 150 in attendance. We've contacted them to join us for an NBA watching party where we hope to build more relationships. This last Saturday we had our FROG meeting with 15 youth in attendance. We watched Nacho Libre on a projector and had a Bible study with them. It was fun and the group is coming together nicely. The day after I preached at one of the Polish Baptists churches here in town. God showed his perfect timing as I talked about spiritual storms during a tough week for the church. Please pray that God would continue to use Erin and I to help people here in Poland.

Kid's Camp

Last week was winter break for the students in Krakow. The church we attend on Sunday mornings, First Baptist, put on a kid's camp for the children. The theme for the week was "Treasure Island." Each day centered around finding different characteristics of God. Many of the kids do not attend our church so it was a great outreach ministry. As you can see in the pictures, we made "mini" treasure islands out of homemade play doh, soap shavings and rocks. Each student hid a small coin in the island then they had to make a map of the island they had just created. Sebastian burned the edges of the paper to make their maps look old. (Of course this was their favorite part). Please pray for the children that came to this camp that they would seek to become more like Christ and that their families would seek as well.

Our Friday Nights

On Friday we had our 4th Coffee House in a downtown hotel. The turnout has been great. We had about 20 people come that were not on our team. About half were just people who came off the street to check out what we were doing. We started many new relationships. The video shows us hanging out with every one. Please pray that God would continue to bring people so we can meet them and hopefully talk to them about what a relationship with God really is.

Auschwitz

Erin and I went to Auschwitz this last week. It is about 45 minutes from where we live. It is hard to describe the experience because it is so unique. Over 1 million lives were taken at this camp and yet it appears so civilized, clean and well organized. As I walked through I knew the history of the place but my senses weren't allowing that history to register. I only took two pictures. One of the familiar fence around the camp and the other of the gate which reads in German "work brings freedom" (a cruel lie to keep the prisoners working hard). I am thankful those times are over but I know that there is still much pain and guilt that comes from them. Please pray that God would heal this country.

Beautiful Children

Last night our team went to an orphanage. We sang songs, practiced speaking English and just hung out together. Here we are all singing and having a good time. Later the kids took us to see their VERY clean rooms. They were so excited to give us a tour around their place. Please pray that these kids would feel God's love around them everyday and that they would one day come to know Him as their Father.

15 Teenagers, 3 Adults, and all of Krakow

As some of you know, Sebastian and I now lead the International youth group for the city of Krakow. Once a month we do an event and have a small bible study together. This past Saturday we had a video scavenger hunt and any of you who have ever worked with youth know how crazy these events can get...I think it's funny how the culture can be totally different but if a bunch of teenagers are excited about something almost anybody will go along with what they're doing, regardless of how silly it is. Here is the group walking to the tram stop. Please continue to pray for us as we meet new people and build relationships. We love you and thank you for all your support.

Catching Up

For the last 7 weeks, Erin and I have had limited access to the internet. We are sorry that we have not updated the blog in a while. We want to try to summarize what has happened from Thanksgiving to now. We had an English Speaking Christmas party and invited everyone who wanted to practice their english to come. We had over 75 people come! It was amazing and fun. (This is a picture of a game we played like hot potato). This party helped us find who would be interested in an English Speaking worship service we started last week. After the Christmas Party, the Polish government told us we had to leave the country (don't worry, it wasn't because the party got out of hand). Crossing the border allowed us another 90 days to work on our residency card. We decided to drive to Slovokia about 2 1/2 hours away. The only problem was that the border was in the mountains and it is full blown winter. As you can see in the video, we thought we were in the Chronicles of Narnia movie. We were actually in a van, not a snow-mobile. For Christmas, Erin and I traveled by train to Malbork to visit my cousin Andrzej who I had never met.It was great. Andrzej has an incredible family and they treated us so well. They invited me to preach the Sunday before Christmas at a Baptist church in Malbork that has been there for more than a 110 years. I was talking with Andrzej's father about the history of the Church.We had an incredible meal on Christmas Eve with traditional carp and bigos and sledz. All of it was great. We've met tons of neighbors and made many new friends and are starting up some new ministries. We will update you on these soon. Thank you for your prayers and we love and miss all of you.