CampFest 2007!!

More than 4500 young people from Slovakia, Czech republic, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, USA, Poland and Romania visited the festival. They created a "tent city" where they lived for the weekend.There were 160 total volunteers, and there was a group of volunteers from Holland who came helped us a lot with manual work and publicity. A miracle for us was the group of Americans from Italy who came with willingness to do some of the less pleasant work. The rest of the volunteers were Slovaks who worked very hard before, during and after the festival. There were also about 80 spiritual counselors, a thirty member team dedicated to prayer in addition to the technical and organization teams.
The program was very rich and each person could choose something according to the style they liked - All styles of music bands, pantomimes, dramas, talks, seminars, childrens programs, movies with christian themes, soccer, beach volleyball, a jump house for the kids, and an inflatable water football game. There were bands from Great Brittan, Poland, and Germany in addition to bands from Slovakia. All that helped to create good time for the visitors of CampFest 2007.

What was happening behind the stage was not always visible to the participants...but it was no less important. The Lord was at work, He touched hearts and changed lives. We got some feedback from counselors who had discussions in special tent that was set aside just for that purpose. Altogether there were about 550 discussions and from those about 50 the people decided to accept Jesus into their lives. About 150 discussions were about going deeper in relationship with God and confessing their sins. About 100 people searched for help with problems in relationships- family, friends.

For more info & Pictures check out WWW.CAMPFEST.SK

October Update

I promise that soon this blog will be upated weekly on Mondays with relevant information and photos. hang with us.
~Stasi & Micah

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Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him 1 Cor 7:17a

When you think of missions work, what images come to your mind? Maybe you picture mud huts, jungles, and people burning at the stake. Ok, so you probably know that those stereotypes are just that, Stereotypes, and that God uses all sorts of people, in all sorts of places, doing all sorts of things. But if we had to guess, we would bet that there is still a tendency to think of missionaries strictly as those people who are out on the front lines proclaiming the Gospel. The heart of a Missionary, however, is living out the call that God has placed in our lives, as this verse from Corinthians illustrates. We have been blessed, through this process, to see how God uses people in different places and ways to fulfill his plans. It is truly an amazing thing.

We feel that God has called us to work in a support role behind the scenes for the ministries of Youth For Christ in Slovakia, working in the areas where He has given us talents and passions. We will be living and working at the ranch they have in Slovakia. Micah will be filling the need for a full time caretaker and will be working on the continuing construction and renovations that are needed for the ranch to reach it’s full potential. Stasi will edit videos for different purposes and do event photography along with some other projects for YFC Slovakia.

It might seem like we will have two very different ministries, or even appear that what we will be doing is not ministry at all. But it is what God has called us to, and we see our different roles as a single ministry, which will facilitate the amazing things that God wants to do through YFC in Slovakia. We are excited to see God do this in our ministry at the ranch.

The ranch is located in central Slovakia at the base of the Low Tatras Mountains. It’s in the beautiful area of Kralova Lehota. The history of this land draws a parallel with YFC’s acquisition of the ranch: In the 13th century servants of the king settled this area to maintain it for a royal hunting getaway. In the 14th century, because of their generations of faithful service, the king rewarded them by giving them this land. We believe that The King of Kings provided this land for YFC Slovakia, and it will be available year round for church groups, retreats, seminars, and other events.

The land also serves as a home for CampFest. CampFest 2007 was held there in August, and over 4,500 people from Slovakia and the surrounding countries came to the Music festival. More then 500 people met with trained Spiritual counselors during that one weekend, and about 50 of them made the decision to follow Christ. The potential for God to work in this place is immense.

We have finished three weeks of training at Mission Training International, in Colorado. This marks the last of the training that we need to complete, so we will be able to begin our ministry as soon as we raise our need financial support. We are currently close to 30 percent of the monthly and upfront pledges that we will need to leave for the field. If you have been planning to support us, now would be a great time to fill out the response slip and send it to indicate your support. If you have been giving monthly but have not filled out a pledge card recently, would you please do so, in order for YFC to keep track of our pledges? Because we are required to have 100% of our support raised before we can leave for the field, it is important that YFC has a record of your support or intentions of support.

Thank you for being part of this ministry that God has set before us. We are excited, as we are getting close to being able to leave for the field, and continually amazed to see how God is providing for all of our needs. It is both a privilege and a blessing to see God at work as we seek to raise our needed support. Would you please prayerfully consider how God might want to use you in this ministry? As always, we covet and thank you for your prayers.

First Update Letter

“For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant peace shall not be removed”

As I am sitting down to write this letter, I am thankful of this promise in Isaiah that God’s peace will remain with us regardless of any other circumstances in our lives. Things have been so busy and hectic recently that I know that were it not for the promise that God is in control, it would be impossible to have any real peace and confidence. So before I go any farther, I need to stop and thank God for working in all things. I am writing you this letter to very briefly update you on what is new with me, and most importantly to share with you the exciting things that God has laid on my heart to do.

As of today, my wife and I celebrated our two week wedding anniversary (ok, so we didn’t actually celebrate anything, but it sounded better to say it that way). Hard to believe that I am married, and to many of you, who celebrated with us at our wedding, this is old news. Going back a little farther, I graduated from Grove City College last May, with a BA in English. Since then I have been working as a technical writer, a mechanic, and a few other unrelated fields along the way. And now, Stasi and I are settling in to our apartment in Grove City, Pa.

For the last few years God has impressed on my heart that He has a plan to use the talents and skills that He has given me for His glory. I feel like God has called me to work and use my hands to share His love by meeting the needs of his people. I mostly shrugged this off, however, as something that would never come to fruition. The vision that God had placed in my heart was not one of great evangelistic work, and so I never thought that I would pursue full time missions work.

But praise God, He had other plans. This is where Youth for Christ comes into the picture. As you may or may not know, Stasi recently spent a year in Slovakia, where she had been serving with YFC, working as a photographer and a video editor. It was during this time that God began broadening my limited view of how he calls and uses people for His service. I could no longer avoid pursuing God’s call just because it would not fit into a classical view of full time missions work. I began praying that God would show me how He wanted to use me, and that if God wanted Stasi and me to be married, that He would show us a place where we both could serve Him. Neither of us thought that this would end up being in Slovakia, but after seeing the need at the ranch, the role that it will play in realizing Youth for Christ’s vision for change and revival in Slovakia, and how God could uses us both here as part of His master plan, we both know that this is where we are supposed to be.

I don’t think that I can fully relate to you just how unqualified I feel to be undertaking this. But I do know that our God is able to do above and beyond all that we can think or imagine possible. And since God goes before us, I know that we have nothing to worry about.

I wrote this letter to update you on what has been going on, but Stasi and I would also like to invite you to be a part of the ministry we will have in Slovakia. I don’t believe that God is asking us to do this on our own. And so, we would like you to consider becoming a part of the exciting things that God is doing in Slovakia. If you would prefer not to continue receiving our newsletters, please let us know and we’ll take you off our mailing list. But, we believe that God will raise up a team of people who will join with us in ministry through prayer and financial support, and we hope that you will be a part of that team. Would you please keep us in your prayers, and ask God how He might use you in this ministry?