Summer 2019 Experiences

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

Update, from March to Now

Hello everyone!

March and April have been very good to us, and I am glad I can share with you all that God has been doing!

March
We changed the format for Freshpoint at the beginning of this year, and we have hit a pretty good groove. We alternate weeks of having a message and weeks of having a “relational night” where we hang out and build community. We have been experiencing quite a lot of new things, and these past few months we have been able to raise our leaders by giving them more opportunities to speak into people’s lives and use the gifts that God has given to them.

March also presented us with an opportunity to go on a mini vacation to Madrid (the city where I was born). Lucie and I were able to spend a week in that beautiful city, experiencing the food, language, and culture. On Sunday we went to Hillsong Madrid where we were able to meet a couple, an American businessperson and his Icelandic wife, that has been in ministry for years. They invited us to their home for dinner later in the week, and it was a wonderful evening of encouragement and fellowship; they prayed for us and greatly encouraged us in the work God has given us.
We are looking forward to seeing our new friends again in the (hopefully) near future!

April
April has been fantastic – the weather has been getting warmer, a sure sign of God’s grace! Everything has been progressing as usual (as I said, we have hit a pretty nice groove). I also had an opportunity to preach in our local church, and I talked about the importance of the decisions that we make. Also, I spoke on how we should lean into the Holy Spirit when we are trying to make life-changing decisions – that it is He who gives us the strength we need to carry out the decision. I believe that God powerfully used this message, and people have been sharing with us how God has been setting them free from various things because of this message.

Northpoint
The Church here is small, and we greatly need each other. We are very excited to be the youth group that started the meetings we lovingly call “Northpoint.” Youth groups from our region come together to praise the Lord, to pray, and to hear His word. We always ask a local youth leader or youth pastor from a different church to come and speak. It is incredible how many people come, and we are especially excited about what God has in store with these meetings. We pray that the students from our youth group would take this as an opportunity to grow as disciples of Christ.

New growth
Recently, a couple of young people started to come to our church on their own. What a joy! You have to understand that this doesn’t usually happen in the Czech Republic. The protestant Church here makes up less that one percent of the whole population. Surveys have shown that people view the Church as one of the most hated and least-trusted institutions. Our church is slowly being accepted and trusted by the local government, but it has been a long process. Despite all of this, God has been revealing Himself to people, who have then found their way to us on a Sunday morning. We see this more and more, and we pray that this continues to happen. We believe it is one of the ways God has always worked with this nation. The most significant movements in this country have invariably come through personal revivals in families and households that heard God’s voice. Now, there are quite a few people in our church who have come to Christ like this, and Lucy and I are praying for them and helping them to grow as much as we can. Some of these newcomers are going to be baptized this month!

Counseling
In addition to this, Lucie and I have the honor of speaking into many people’s lives and helping them grow in their walk with Christ. Lucie is registered with a website called nepornu.cz (which, when translated, means “no to porno.com”), where she counsels women who deal with an addiction to pornography or have a partner who is addicted. I have been working with a couple of young men within our church who are either dealing with addiction or are new in Christ and need some guidance and teaching. It is on our heart to share more of this with you, so we will soon have another update that talks solely about this.

Prep for Kristfest
With Freshpoint there is the annual summer conference Kristfest, and we are incredibly excited about it. This year’s theme is “Game Changers,” and you know what? We believe that these kids are! Please, keep praying for us and this country, because there are huge things in store. Help us to fill up the cup of prayers for the Czech Republic to the point of overflow. We believe that the Czech Republic is in the middle of a revival and we know that God wants to reach this country and that He is doing so through this generation.

Changes coming up in the future
There are different seasons for God’s disciples, and we believe, that for our family, there are some changes ahead of us. It is not yet time for us to say what those changes are, but next month we will be able to share it with you – and we are so ready for what God has in store!

What you can be praying for
We have seen people coming to Freshpoint and connecting with God and the Church on a different level. Some of them wanted to keep coming, but their parents prohibited them for fear that we are a sect. We keep praying for them and stay in touch with them via the most efficient means of communication – social media. Please, pray with us that God would soften people’s hearts and give us favor so that we, in turn, can share the love of Christ with their children. Because many teens are still searching, we try to create the most loving and fun environment for them to develop relationships. This is another significant way that God has been reaching people in this country – relationships and friendship with believers.

A final story
There is one story that we wanted to share because of how encouraging it is. Our dear friends Helena and Leoš – the maid-of-honor and best man at our wedding – were trying to have a baby. When Helena first found out the first time that she was pregnant, it was such a surprise because she was told that it wasn’t possible for her to get pregnant. The baby’s heart, however, wasn’t beating. Doctors told her that the baby is either going to die or be very disabled – they suggested abortion as the safest option for Helena, as the mother. Helena didn’t want to do that; she knew that it is against God’s heart. She waited to see if the child was going to die or not. She prayed that God would decide. Every other day, Helena went to the hospital when eventually the news came – her baby had died. She then had to have surgery to remove the lifeless child. That alone was such a painful experience for her. She wondered, “Why did it happen, God? I don’t understand!”

After this, Helena was told that she might have cancer. It couldn’t be proven, but there was more sad news – she was told that she has a syndrome that would prevent her from ever having children. Doctors tried for three long months to treat her with hormone therapy, but a positive result couldn’t be promised. Helena kept praying. Every doctor repeated the same news: you are never going to have children.

A year later the doctors we shocked to find out that Helena had been completely healed! They didn’t understand how it was possible. The gynecologist even said, “it looks like someone replaced your organs.” After that, there was a suspicion of another severe illness. Against all the odds, Helena was, again, healed. The doctors were amazed.

The next pregnancy came soon after. This time, however, it was even worse than before; one day, she started bleeding, and her stomach cramped up. The doctor at the emergency room didn’t check up on her carefully enough (even though the care is usually excellent) and sent her home for the weekend. She went through the weekend with so much pain and fear. On Monday she learned, that an extrauterine pregnancy caused the heavy bleeding and that she had been bleeding all weekend. The doctors said that it was only a question of a few hours and she could have died. God protected her and held her life in His hands where the doctors had failed. She and her husband were praising God and reminding themselves of the promise that they are going to have a child naturally.

After recovery, the doctor she went to told her she should consider artificial methods because there was very little chance of another pregnancy. She was told to come in for a check-up when she had her next “visit.” Well, this “visit” never occurred, because God had a different plan! Nine months later, we are all rejoicing about Theodore, and we believe that God has a great purpose for him. May this powerful testimony remind you that the word of God has no expiration date. He is going to fulfill his promise against all odds. Trust him with your whole heart!

Thank you all for taking the time to read this. We love you and are so grateful for all that God is doing! None of it would be possible, though, if we didn’t have the support and care from our heavenly family. May God bless you and give your favor!

Yours in Christ,
Justin and Lucie

EXIT and other things

Hello and blessings from the Czech Republic!
This post is a LOT longer than what I usually write, but I really felt it was important. I appreciate you taking the time to read it through!

A lot has happened since the last time I wrote and I feel so blessed and privileged to bring you up to speed on how the Lord has been working and pouring out His blessing here in The Czech Republic.

God has been so good and shown His favor. Recently we completed “EXIT Tour”; which is a massive program where a team comes for a whole week and partners with a local church or group of churches to reach the youth of the city. What they do is they get a band and go to schools, put on small concerts, play games with the students, and have seminars where Christian principles are talked about. All of this culminates in a Friday Night concert that the students are invited to where the gospel is shared. This time around, our church decided to take full the responsibility on ourselves, which means that our church provided food and volunteers for the entire week.

One of our church members (Thankfully not me) was the primary contact person between EXIT and us, and my role was to be the “crazy American” and manage our volunteers. We went to 4 different schools where we played games and talked with students. Every day, we invited them to come to an “After Party,” where they would get a chance to meet the band and talk with us and get free food (always one of the best ways to attract students).

Very few students came to the After Parties, which was a little discouraging, but the final night, Friday, there were TONS of kids that showed up – I believe the last count was 215. The band played the concert and shared the gospel, to which over 50 kids responded and surrendered their lives to Christ. WOW, such an amazing display of His love.

Just to remind you, Czechia is the second most atheistic country, right behind Japan. People don’t usually react in droves to the Gospel.

Northpoint – an event that we started to bring together the youth from the whole Northern Bohemia Region

After EXIT, through December and January, we had a lot of follow up activities to maintain the relationships and try to get the kids plugged into the youth group. One of these activities is Discovery Bible.

Discovery Bible is where we simply invite students to come to our home, we prepare a meal for them and just do life together – we tell stories, laugh, joke, and we read a story from the Bible, then comment on it.

The greatest thing, though, is that some of the students that attend are NOT believers – they are open and curious about Christ and Christianity, but have not yet made the commitment to make Jesus Lord of the lives. We are believing and praying, though, that through these informal meetings, they will come to know Jesus as their friend, brother, Savior and King.

February, though, was very different and started off with a bang.

Just to backtrack a little, In January I was contacted by one of the head leaders of EXIT and asked if I would like to go with them to a small town called Náchod. I was told that they needed another American (a lot of people really want to meet Americans and are usually pretty excited to try speaking English, so it gives a lot of opportunities to foster relationships). I said I would pray about it.

I was kind of worried because, as many of you know, Lucie and I are not fully-funded missionaries, and Lucie is a student. Because of this, I teach English to make up the difference, and missing a full week of work was not very appealing to me.

Finally, I decided to go and to trust God, that he would provide for us. The same night I wrote my response, I was contacted by one of our supporters saying that they were increasing our support. God is so good!

So I went to Náchod. I met LOADS of students, and I was able to share a lot with them. I won’t go into all of the details of how this EXIT Tour was different, but I will say that the Americans were the main attraction – the band didn’t come until the very last night.

At one of the schools, though, during the discussion time, the conversation led to my group sharing what was one of the hardest things that we have ever dealt with in our lives (to make a long story short, I was asked about my tattoo, which has a lot to do with my testimony). As we went around the circle saying our stories, my heart was breaking for these kids. One boy’s brother died. Another had an uncle, whom he was close to, die. Another’s childhood friend died. The culmination of it all for me, though, was a girl who I’ll call Kate. Many people died in her family as well (her grandmother, and father, among others – by the way, she’s only 15). She also told us that, while her dad was still alive, he was an alcoholic. In an alcohol-induced rage, he threw Kate’s pregnant mother down the stairs, permanently injuring the unborn child.

Kate, because of all of this death and destruction, said that she didn’t believe that there is a god. She said that, if God were real, then, “… he must not have any time for me.”

My heart broke. This fifteen-year-old girl has dealt with so much heartbreak and loss that it has stolen her joy – her hope – entirely.

After the discussion groups, I went over to her to talk to her. I told her that I know she said she doesn’t believe in God, but I do, and I know that He loves her and that He cares for her. I asked her if I could pray for her, and then I did – right there in the gymnasium, right before she was supposed to go to the next part of the program.

Later that day she wrote me a message, saying, “It meant a lot for me to be able to share what I did today and not keep everything all bottled up inside. … Because of you, I may be starting to believe.”

Kate, her friend, and I after the EXIT program at their school

Needless to say, I cried again. God cares for each of us so much, and I fully believe that it was God’s divine and perfect plan to get me to that small town just so I could speak to this girl.

Friends, please pray for us. This is the reason I came to the Czech Republic, and this is what I am here to do. Teaching English is fine, but it’s not the most important thing going on – some people need to meet Jesus, and our heart is to make that happen. Thank you for the support and prayers – we value all of you so much! Please consider helping us to be able to cross that threshold into full-time ministry. We are about 40% of the way to being fully funded. We would need an extra $1,200 a month to be able to minister full-time. Please pray that we reach this!

Again, I want to thank you so much for your prayers and your love. Because of you, God is doing great work through us. Thank You!!!

Much love,

Justin and Lucie Holden

Freshpoint//It’s been a minute…

Hello, everyone! I am really, really sorry that I haven’t been so great at keeping up with our newsletters. After reading this one, though, you will hopefully be able to see that there is a reason for it. :)

These past season had been quite a challenge as Lucie was finishing up her Bachelor’s Degree. However, God has provided for us and blessed us in many ways. Personally, we are doing well – I have taken a new role at the school where I teach English that has allowed me to give more time to the ministry. Lucie has begun her Master’s Degree and we are doing what we can to see God glorified in the Czech Republic!

We have also seen some great growth in our youth. It is amazing to see how when you work and put in your effort, God gives the growth. Some of the kids have matured so much, both in faith and in their behavior. Some are sharing their faith more and more at their schools – and that is no easy feat. People are more distrusting of religion here and –students especially – can be pretty hostile within the school. One girl is trying to start a Christian group at her school, another girl shares her faith with her friends, despite being made fun of for it, and nearly all of our students actively help in some sort of ministry, either within the church or at the national level.

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This summer, we also facilitated a rap concert on the main square in Liberec. The rapper, a native from Prague, though his music, spoke of God and Christ and the change that Christ brought to his life. We are really excited, because the Gospel was preached and we believe that a lot of people were affected by it.

Shortly after that, we had Kristfest, our summer youth festival. There was a great speaker from London, an awesome atmosphere, but even more important than all of that was the presence of God. The theme of the festival was “Fearless” and we wanted to leave the students with the courage to go out and be the generation that brings Christ back to the Czech Republic. There were some difficulties and outright attacks from the enemy against us personally before and during Kristfest, but that was just more confirmation that we were right where we needed to be, doing exactly what we needed to do

This past summer Lucie and I had also hosted a high school graduate who wanted to come out and see what it was like on the missions field. He stayed with us in our home for about 2 months. We organized some speaking engagements for him and he helped us do many different things – at our church offices, for the rap concert and for Kristfest.

After Kristfest, I went to America for a month to visit some supporting churches while Lucie stayed home to finish up her Bachelor’s thesis and tests. On my way back i made a stop in England to guest speak at a youth conference in London called WAVED Conference. It was a hard, fun, exhausting, and amazing month, but Lucie and I were so happy to be reunited in September.

September was the start of the new school year, so that meant a new kickoff of Freshpoint and a lot of preparation for Sjezd, the conference that we put on at the end of October. Lucie has a larger hand in this, organizing guest speakers, counselors, prayer teams, and what seemed to be a million other things. For this conference, my largest contributions are graphic design for all of the media and taking care of the main speaker. This year, or main speaker was one of the campus pastors from Hillsong London, a wonderful man of God named Phill Kyei.

While we were getting ready for Sjezd, on the home front we had two guest speakers back-to-back. Jason Vana, the founder of Ignite Ministries in Illinois and Doug Pitman, a pastor and missionary from San Antonio, Texas, both came and ministered to us and encouraged us to go in the direction that God is calling us, even when we can’t always see what the next step holds, and trusting for the harvest.

Also, while in the middle of getting ready for Sjezd and having guest speakers, we as a church were looking for a new place to have our Sunday services. The location that our church had met at for almost 7 years had decided to use the space for something else and we were required to move out. God is good, though, and we found a new location that I believe will be an even greater blessing to us.

Now, as I write this, we have literally been home for just a couple days from Sjezd. God has really moved and I feel that He has some great things in store for us. We are currently getting ready for the next big thing – an evangelistic ourtreach to students in schools called EXIT Tour. We will go into schools with a band, play songs and games, then invite the students to what’s called an After Party, where we will be more free to talk about Christ. Later on in the week we will invite everyone to a concert that the band will play and it’s there that we can really present the Gospel. Please be praying for us as we get ready for this!

Friends, we want to sincerely thank you for all you do to make our ministry possible. It is hard being on the field – there is so much that I personally miss out on, but Lucie and I believe that God wants us here, and that He is with us; we see it all the time. We are blessed that you have been called to support us and to pray for us, and we sincerely and humbly think you for your obedience (and for your patience with my forgetfulness when it comes to sending update letters). We love and thank you so much!

If you would like to know how to pray for us, please pray that we continue to follow His voice and go where He goes.

Please pray for our students, that they will be bold.

Please pray for the harvest to come in.

Please pray for the lost to be found.

Please pray for our protection and encouragement – the enemy has been working so hard to discourage us and take us out.

Thank you, once again, for your care, giving, praying, and especially for your love.

Take care and God bless,

Justin and Lucie

P.S. – Here are just a few more photos from this time period. :)

FreshPoint//To this point

Hey!

So much has happened these past few months, and I am so glad that I can share with you what has been going on. The last time I wrote, Lucie and I were just about to get married… and now we are! We have had nearly a year together and no one has died (yet…). We absolutely love it that we can live, work, and serve together as a team – Marriage is awesome!

Because so much time has passed, I will just give the highlights.

Kristfest
Kristfest gets better each year. The theme was “Radost” which means “Joy” in Czech. This past year we had record attendance (over 300 students!) and many either gave their lives to Christ or they renewed their relationship with Him. What a joy, right? So many students came to know what it means to have joy in the Lord and in the presence of Jesus. Lucie and I were so proud, too, because our youth group had a large hand in making everything happen. We had people working at registration, translating, serving and setting up for seminars, and even setting up and taking down the tent. We were so busy! God is so good, though. I believe that it gave us good momentum for the year ahead of us.

After Kristfest, Freshpoint took a short break as Lucie and I went to the States.

trip to America

It was our first time traveling as a couple, living out of suitcases for a month and a half. It was exciting and an incredibly blessed time, if not dificult, at times. We were able to visit good friends, serve both in youth groups and in churches, and we had a chance to encourage and be encouraged. Lucie and I both preached at different churches, and we had an amazing time with many of God’s greatest people (we’re not biased or anything…). Towards the end of the trip we were excited and ready to be back home. We came back to the Czech Republic right at the start of the next school year.

getting back/hardships with Freshpoint

Coming back home was really great and we were still riding that Kristfest “high” a little, but we started to see some difficult things in Freshpoint. All of a sudden it seemed that some people had stopped coming and some people were just less enthusiastic. It wasn’t like we were having a crisis or anything, but it just felt kind of “flat”. Something that we noticed was that it was certainly time to pass more responsibility on to people who had shown that they could handle it. After meeting with our new team and trying some new things out, we started to find our bearing again.

new vision and new life

Over the past few months we were able to refresh the ministry and the youth group has been growing both in number and in spirit. We have a very strong core team of amazing young people who have taken responsibility and who help us greatly. It is amazing to see them grow stronger in God. We also see them serve on the national level in worship, administration, and organization – we are very excited about them! Many things have been going on (our youthgroup is often invited to speak, lead worship, or hold a whole service in many other towns nearby), but one thing that we are very proud about is how this past weekend we hosted a weekend retreat (“víkendovka” in Czech). A few young people from other churches and even unbelievers attended. It was a great time of building relationships and strengthening those bonds, and when it came to the time to focus on God, many were deeply touched and affected by the Holy Spirit. It was great!

In addition, our students are open about God and their faith in Him, and talk about it with their classmates. Some of our students even invited them to some of the events we have had. For example, one of our student’s classmate was completely against church and God. However, through the friendship and our student’s heart, she is now open to Jesus and has already attended two of our events!

what’s coming up

The upcoming season will be exciting for various reasons. We are going to have a concert with a Slovak rapper who talks about Christ during his concerts. If everything goes well, it is going to be in the very heart of the city. In July, we will be at Kristfest again. The topic this year is Fearless. Being in the core team, I am really excited about this and we are expecting great things to happen! Also, in the fall, we will host an outreach called ExitTour (this is the same outreach that I was a part of when I first came to Czech and when God called me to be a full-time missionary here). There are a lot of great things, and we are excited that our youth group is a large part of making things happen!

how you can pray

In our region, we are praying for better relationships among the local churches. The vision is to meet at least four times a year and to have a huge youth meeting together. We strongly believe in this and pray that God will be glorified through it – please be praying with is that God would continue to grow his church in our region and encourage the youth to take a stand for their faith!

Also, I am going to the USA this summer after Kristfest and I am going to visit churches and, unfortunately, Lucie has to stay in the Czech Republic and study for her final exams at university. A great thing, though, is that on the way back, I will have the opportunity to speak at a very large youth festival in London. Please be praying for me as I prepare for this trip, pray that God would provide the resources as I travel, and pray that He would speak through me.

So, that is it in a nutshell! Thanks for taking the time to read through this; we really value our prayer supporters and our family in the States – without you guys, this would be a lot more difficult.

We’re praying you would be blessed in our Saviour and that he would bring you encouragement, just as he has been encouraging us!

Much love,

Justin and Lucie