Here we go again in 7 days.

God's faithfulness to His work in the Czech Republic stands, but this mission field has rocky soil, hardened by centuries of pressure that drove them to unbelief. But in the 1600s the "seed" of faith was buried in Czech soil throughout the countryside, hidden within hundreds of tiny villages scattered across the landscape. The fruitful Moravian Brethren movement came from this seed.

Believers in Jesus Christ began calling themselves "Hidden Seed" following the defeat of their nobility at the Battle of White Mountain in 1620. For the previous two centuries, from the martyrdom of protester Jan Hus to the Battle of White Mountain, repeated Crusades against this early protestant movement had fanned revival flames. But the tumultuous defeat of the Hussites at White Mountain transformed the Czech the landscape. Czech believers went underground to survive living under Hapsburg overlords. German nobility supplanted the (Protestant) Czech nobility, moving into their estates after the families of Czech noblemen fled for their lives. This obscure history becomes visible today when you visit princely zameks (palaces) like those of the Swartzenbergs, Rosenbergs and other German aristocracy (the palaces are now properties of the Czech State). Old Prague's Baroque architecture still still whispers "conformity" to the Hapsburg imperial authority. Czechs learned the lessons of conformity for three centuries.

World War I removed the 300-year weight of genteel Hapsburg pressure to conform. The first Czech Republic was birthed following the Treaty of Versailles and the Paris Peace Conference, but a mere 20 years later England, France and Russia gave Hitler carte blanche to invade his Czech neighbors. For the next 50 years the pressure to conform ceased to be genteel imperialism, but rather the iron fist of totalitarianism, delivered first by Nazi Germany, then by the U.S.S.R.

For Christmas 2010 we are heading to the Czech Republic to celebrate with the family of Marcus and Amie Denny, missionaries who live in the small village of Lidice about 12 miles west of Prague. We will celebrate the birth of the Savior in the midst of people who are culturally accustomed to conformity--conforming to prevailing beliefs, opinions and attitudes. As Ken and I have developed deeper friendships there, we find that some Czechs hold private opinions and some are open to new ideas. Please pray that God will grant us opportunities to be a light shining in a dark world.