Part of the Plan Blog Post Archive

Today ends our time at English Camp.  It has been a productive time for ministry, and a challenging time for us as we learned to rely on God in ways that never would have happened at home. Our time this morning will be spent packing up and cleaning.  After that we...

It is now Friday morning at our camp in Malenovice.  From my hotel room balcony window, I see treetops dotting the surrounding followed by more the more distant buildings of the nearby Czech villages. The sun is shining over the valley, and everything is relatively...

[This post was delayed because I kept falling asleep at the keyboard] It is Wednesday night, and the camp is more than half over.  We have a hike day tomorrow followed by our last full day of English lessons, then farewells.  However, our work here has accelerated. ...

Tonight, I found myself in the middle of a prayer circle with David, Caleb, Leah, Anna, and Noah.  Above us was the dark Czech sky.  The night air was chilly but not cold.  All around us were other members of the camp team – Nevada, Arizona and Czech.  Hands rested...

Today was both a very challenging day but also a very encouraging day in ministry.  Let me start with some of the challenging aspects first: Physical exhaustion: We are in day number two of the camp and a number of us are feeling the impact of our high-energy,...

Today we completed our first fill day of English Camp.  We started with devotions, breakfast and English or sports lessons.  This was followed by lunch, workshops, dinner, and an after-dinner program.  Everything is going smoothly with camp, but there are a few things...

I remember as a child I would often wait by the window when my family was expecting guests.  As soon as their expected arrival time came near, I would place myself in a strategic location where I could view all traffic moving by my street to see if I could catch a...

Today we said farewell to the Josiah venture leadership and the other camp teams that we trained with.   After lunch we expected to be joined by all the team members from our host church.  In the meantime, however, we worked together with our fellow teammates from...

Water skiing and I don’t really mix.  I remember drinking what seemed like countless gallons of lake water before I managed my first brief run on double skis. Although I have spent untold hours snow skiing, those skills don’t seem to translate to the water.  My attempts on a single ski were nothing short of calamitous.  Why is it that others could so easily glide across the waves while I was stuck sucking wake water?  The problem with my water skiing attempts was that I was trying to teach myself.  This never was the model for making disciples though. 

Czech summer weather is unpredictable.  Our day began with winds pushing dark clouds over our camp in the early hours of the morning.  After threatening a real downpour with even a few rumbles of thunder, the clouds moved on with only a few small drops of rain.  The fickle nature of the storm is a good reminder for us on the ministry team that things don’t always happen according to plan, and we need to remain flexible.