Friends,

Lucy and I have been great this summer break – we have had time to read and make our way through our ever-growing book list, be with one another and to learn the things that we haven’t had much time to give to. Lucie is in the process (and boy is it a process!) of writing her master’s thesis right now. She will finish school next June, and we are so looking forward to that! Once this phase is over, we can move forward in other areas.

We have been in a season of change. One notable difference is that I am going to be taking a more significant role at the national level in the church here in the Czech Republic. I have been offered to lead leaders in a mentoring process to start, facilitate, and grow Young Adult groups, and to be one of the head leaders for Kristfest. I am so excited to be able to be more involved in the ministry, but I will still have influence in the school I work for. Also a huge plus, Lucie will start working for one of the most prestigious language magnet schools in Liberec! (I know I’m biased, but she’s such a winner – I married well, ya’ll!)

For some time now, we have felt God calling us to start something new in our church. Since we have built up strong leadership in Freshpoint, we are planning to pass that on to a new team and start a group of our own for young adults. It has never been done in this church, and so we pray that God would give us wisdom and guide us both spiritually and practically.

We have just finished Kristfest! Kristfest Family and Kristfest Young are also finished (the festivals for new families and for pre-teens, respectively), and God has been moving significantly! We are excited to see so many teenagers, young people, and families draw closer to Him. We are more so involved with Kristfest Classic, the festival for 15 to 20 year-olds. Other leaders of ours are heavily engaged in Kristfest Young and play a crucial role in the festival. It is just amazing to see how these kids have grown into young adults who are on fire for God and serve Him in a big way.

This year’s topic was Gamechangers, and we have seen a significant number of kids who came for the very first time. We believe they are the game changers, and we know that they have what it takes to change things in their schools, homes, churches, etc. (remember, MANY kids are first-generation Christians – often they don’t come from a Christian family, and they may be alone in their faith). We had some great speakers, and we saw God move powerfully. I had a seminar titled “What the USA Gave Me.” I was able to share what I learned in the US and in Master Commission. The main thought I wanted to communicate was “anything is possible” – that this mindset is compatible with the church.

In our church, we have seen remarkable attendance during the summer, which is excellent. We tried something new – we had a “vacation from church” in August. The main reason for this was reconstruction, but it wasn’t a total break; we had a few get-togethers in different locations. The last couple of Sundays, we saw God move as Stan spoke about being active for God and about forgiveness.

What can you pray for:

Lucie has been battling with migraines for a little over a year, and we are praying for healing. You can join us in praying that she won’t be hindered by this. We would also love to ask you to pray for this season of change since it is exciting – and challenging – for us.

One of the more significant challenges we see and face in the church is that some people have taken the nation’s culture before the Kingdom culture. We would love to see strong and healthy churches that grow in number and in strength. We believe one of the critical elements to achieving this is having Kingdom Culture as the core motivation and mentality of the church. In other words, Czech Christians need to be Christians before they are Czechs. The Czech mentality has been damaged by communist oppression, and there are still hangups from that time. We pray for the church to be set free from that and to shine into society in a way that would not only change its reputation but also bring Czechs to Jesus.

In a nutshell, that’s what has been going on! We’d love to hear from you – how can we pray for you?

Thank you all so much for your continued interest, support, and love!

In Christ,

Lucie and Justin