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“Commit your works to the Lord, And your plans will be established.” Proverbs 16:3 (New American Standard Bible)

A good part of my ordinary life this year has been spent doing ministry and missions planning.  Within the past twelve months, Family Bible Church has hosted eleven visitors from the Czech Republic including: five Czech missionaries for Vacation Bible School.  We also sent sixteen different individuals to serve in three evangelical camps in the Czech Republic, and we are gearing up to send six more for a camp in three weeks.  In addition to all this, I have consistently taught Sunday School classes, and I now lead a small discipleship group for men.  I love serving Jesus, and my life is blessed with lots of opportunities to do so.

While the fruit of this is pretty cool, you might be surprised at how ordinary the planning really looks.  For each of these activities, there are countless hours in front of e-mails and spreadsheets, and word processors.  Of course, there is also Bible reading, and seeking God in prayer too.  But apart from God and Chris, my next closest ministry partner probably is my laptop.

Doug with his “ministry partner” in the Czech Republic

The above verse from proverbs is a good model for us this summer.  At first read it looks like “if you commit whatever plans you come up with to God, He will bless them and make them happen.” Closer examination shows a very different message.  The wisdom offered in this proverb is that if you commit to serve God with your actions (your works), then He will reveal his plans to you and they will succeed because you have committed to do whatever He wants you to do.

Our primary motivation for coming to the Czech Republic early this year was to allow Sarah’s body to recover from the rigors of travel and jet-lag.  Beyond that we made ourselves available to do whatever other ministry could be done.  We were committed and seeking God’s plan.  Initially, we thought it might mean helping Josiah Venture with training of international missionaries.  When that fell through, it looked like God opened up a door for me to help with a camp in Ukraine alongside some of our Czech brothers.  When I was struck with an unexpected kidney stone attack, we knew that God had yet other plans in store for us.

At this point we are in full swing for relational ministry of encouragement.  In our remaining week in town for this phase of the trip, we are coordinating tea / dessert / coffee with as many families and individuals as we can.  Our prayer is that we can be a blessing to others, as we know we surely will be blessed by them.  This is in line with the Biblical mandates that Christians should meet together, practice hospitality and encourage each other.

So practically, speaking, what does this look like?

The best way that we have to communicate with our Czech brothers and sisters is by the WhatsApp messaging application.  This means lots of texting and scheduling.  With much prayer, I believe we are seeing God’s plan take shape.

Chris and Anna in particular have also been very supportive in this new direction for this part of the trip.  They too have committed their works to the Lord.  To be sure, though, my laptop is not getting lonely these days either.

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