DENNY’S MINISTRY UPDATE Volume 1, Issue 1 April 2010

Dear Friends,
April 29th will mark our one-year anniversary in the Czech Republic. This update is necessary for many reasons—to testify to God’s faithfulness and your answered prayers, and to ask for your petitions all the more. “We preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” 1 Corinthians 1:23-24

THE WORK

RESURRECTION SUNDAY--Along with all of you, last week we celebrated the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ with our church. It was a blessing to have Jan Lukeš preach for us. Jan was a Catholic priest for many years. Disillusioned, he left that empty religion behind, married, and then came to saving faith. He now works as a simple stocking manager for a large grocery store. Pray that Jan would continue to grow and be of even greater impact in the church here.

MEN’S MEETING--A group of men in the church meet every Wednesday, at 5 a.m.!! I’m not sure who is more crazy, Peter Smith (for starting it) or me (for continuing on with it). Daniel A., Jan L. and Milan S. are always there, with hearts to study and pray. We have been dialoguing our way through Jerry Bridges’ book Transforming Grace. This powerful book on the application of the Gospel of Grace has now been translated into Czech. If you’ve not read it, I would highly recommend it to you. Last week we discussed chapter 10, which alone is worth the price of the book.

THEOLOGY STUDY--About seventy-five feet directly across the street from where we rent our home lives our good friend Daniel A. Through the Smiths’ relentless ministry and service, Daniel came to Christ about a year and a half ago. Professionally he is a professor of Engineering at Prague’s prestigious Technical University, but Daniel’s new love is the Word of God. For the past eight months, every Thursday morning at 6 a.m. Daniel and I have been working our way through Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology. We’re currently on chapter 14—the Trinity. Continue to pray for Daniel, as he has a voracious hunger for truth. He currently preaches in the church about once every 5-6 weeks. His life and doctrine are growing together, and he is indeed a great encouragement. Pray for continued humility and holiness for this brother.

WOMEN’S MEETING--Amie has been helping to serve the women in their bi-weekly women’s meetings. Right now they’re learning about abiding in Christ. God has been very gracious to my wife. She was worried that I would learn Czech really fast and that she would be left behind. Instead, she’s already a better speaker than I am and has been able to converse in Czech at the women’s meetings. In our next update I plan to give a little example of the complexity of the language.

FRIDAY NIGHT GROUP--Every Friday night a fellowship/Bible study meets at our home. We started it as a youth group, but I’m not sure what to call it now. One college professor (Daniel A.) and one college student (Eva F.) join us each week. Please pray a lot for a young college woman named Anička (pronounced Anichka) who has attended a couple of the previous summer outreach camps. Eva has been ministering the Gospel to her, and two weeks ago she announced that she has repented. She’s been a bit under the weather, but we’re hoping to meet her this Friday night. Pray for this new believer that she would stand firm in the faith.

ULTIMATE FRISBEE OUTREACH--A little fun is necessary now and then. Last month we started what we hope will become a fun outreach. We will be inviting just about anyone to come play Ultimate Frisbee, with the goal of building friendships and making inroads with the Gospel. Our good friend Milan, who is church planting in the nearby town of Roudnice, has also been using a Frisbee outreach to cultivate opportunities to share Christ.

HISTORICAL NOTE: As I finish this update, President Obama and Russian president Dmitry Medvedev are 9.9 miles away from me at the Prague Castle, signing a nuclear arms treaty. 1 Timothy 2:1-2 is extremely relevant.

FAMILY--God has been extremely faithful in planting our family in a new country. Amie and I often feel overwhelmed by the language and the load of ministry, but we have been greatly cared for by our good God. Thank you for your prayers. We are currently being shepherded and gently rebuked by pastor William Farley’s book Gospel-Powered Parenting. If you’re a parent, grandparent, or soon-to-be parent, you should read it—especially you dads.

Another book I’d like to recommend is The Child’s Story Bible. It’s not a picture Bible—it is nearly the whole Bible summarized for children. Our girls love it, and I’m constantly helped by it as it puts together aspects of the Scriptures I hadn’t understood/thought of before. In all of this, please pray that our girls would behold the grace and truth of Jesus Christ the Lord.

Amie and I have been trying to make Thursday nights our “Date Night.” It’s difficult to find a sitter over here, so if you have good ideas about stay-at-home dates, please send them our way.

If you’d like to know more about what’s going on in our family, you can follow Amie’s blog at this link: http://amied.xanga.com/

We cannot express, nor do we really even know, just how valuable your prayers are. Thank you for them and for your words of encouragement. Please send us any prayer requests you might have as well.

In Christ, Marcus and Amie

PRAYER REQUESTS:

• We have received our new two-year VISAS. The process took a lot of time, so it’s a real blessing that these visas will last two years.
• Please pray for the church as we work our way through the book of Colossians, especially as we study the application sections relating to home and family life. Pray for wisdom for those who preach and humble hearts to receive the Word.
• Please pray that God would add more people to the Kladno church. We are currently praying about and planning two new outreaches, one to a local Biomedical Engineering University directly across the street from where our church meets and another to a local orphanage here in Kladno. Pray that God would open the doors to minister especially to high school/college age students.
• Preparation has already begun for our 2010 English Summer Camp outreach. Peter Smith did an incredible job of using this tool as a platform to exalt Christ. The camp requires an incredible amount of work and takes much wisdom and insight to plan, so please pray for myself and Jarda K. (the pastor in Usti) and our church as we prepare for this.
• Pray also for the two summer teams coming from Cornerstone Bible Church and Christ our Hope Bible Church. These saints are invaluable in the ministry of the Gospel at the outreach summer camp.
  

If you’re interested, check out our new church website: www.BSKK.cz