A Mission Field update from Marcus

Dear Friends,

Grace to you and peace in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Two thousand years ago in a city that had gone from being in the limelight to being rather insignificant, lived a little church. This church was the only church in this entire city, and this church was so little that it met in someone’s home. There was no choir or worship band, no pews, no youth group, but there was Christ and He was enough. And in this little church were men and women who loved Jesus and lived for Him. In other words, Christ was central to them.

Yet, like all churches, there were many things vying to be the center. This little church was tempted to replace the True Center of all things with lies. Wordly philosophy was knocking on the door, works righteousness was perverting the grace of God, and the cross of Christ was in danger of becoming an artifact.

Though by today’s standards such a little church might hardly qualify as a church, to the Apostle Paul, and more importantly to Christ Himself, this little church was of great value. In fact we may even be allowed to judge the value of this church by evaluating the significance of a letter that was written just for her, a letter that stands as one of the greatest letters about Christ of all time, a letter unfolding the glory, mercy and the absolute centrality of Jesus Christ in the world and in the church.

Our little church here in Kladno, Czech Republic, has begun to study the letter to the Colossians. We rejoice that though we are small, we are significant in the eyes of Christ, and that though we are small, the Gospel continues to go forth in power, sowing seeds and in due time yielding a great harvest. Yet we are aware that though we are growing, like the Colossians there are ten thousand idols seeking to remove Christ from our center. So in Colossians chapters 1-2, Paul skillfully unfolds WHY Jesus Christ is the Center by showing us His deity, His power and authority, and His singular ability to justify, sanctify and reconcile rebellious sinners to a Holy God. This letter shows us that Christ is the center of life, He is the sun that our lives orbit around.

But if we mess with Christ, we mess with our universe. If this sun is removed our lives will fly off into oblivion. That’s why from chapters 3-4 Paul unfolds how practical Christology is. If Christ is not in the center, your marriage, your wife or husband will fly out of orbit (3:18-19), sex will fly out of orbit (3:5-6), children (3:20-21), work (3:22), EVERYTHING (3:17) will be thrown into utter chaos if Christ does not remain the center of it all. But if Christ IS the center then you will experience His mighty gravitational pull upon your life (3:1-3). You will see your life orbiting the way it ought to, with family, work, marriage, children, entertainment, money, all being held in check by the centrifugal force of Christ, so that in the midst of the storm, in the midst of pain and suffering, you will know that the one who holds all things together (Col 1:17) will never allow you to be flung off into oblivion.

Friends, we here in Kladno beseech you to pray for us. We ask of you to pray that just as the original Colossians needed more of Christ, we too would be granted to know more of the greatness and centrality of Jesus. We need wisdom, we need grace, we need men who are Christ centered, men who will lead Christ centered homes and who will help us become even more of a Christ centered church. Jesus is our center no doubt, but we pray that the distance between us and Him would be shorted, that day after day, week after week we would be drawn closer to the Center of all things.

Specific prayer items:

• Outreach Bible study will resume here Thursday, September 17th. Pray for the many who do not believe but continue to be exposed to the truth of the word.
  
• Our English outreach class begins this Wednesday. There will be around 20 unbelievers who will come to speak English as well as to openly discuss the Gospel of God.
  
• Pray for the men who minister the word each Sunday (Daniel Adomovsky, Jan Lukeš, Petr Papež, Jarda Kernal, and myself) and for the men who help lead and minister (Rosta and Milan).
• God is working in the hearts of the few young people and we are beginning a ‘youth group’ that will meet on Friday nights. Beseech the Lord to mightily work in their lives and to use it as a vehicle to save other young men and women.
  
• Pray for the women of our church (Dana, Mirka, Kari, Lydia, and my wife Amie). They have expressed the desire to meet every week to study the word and fellowship together. Dana translated the book “The Excellent Wife” into the Czech language and the women will continue their study of this book.
  
• Our family needs grace and wisdom to see Christ as the center of all things.
  
• Please pray for Peter and Sonya Smith—the couple that God used to establish the Kladno church. They’re now in Michigan where Peter is pastoring. Pray for wisdom as they adapt to a totally new life and in essence begin on a new mission field all over again (except the language!!!)
  
• Lastly, please pray that God would give us much grace to learn the Czech language. I have felt at times that the weight of trying to learn this foreign tongue while trying to serve and lead the church and minister to the lost is well near impossible—and it is apart from Him. We need His strength and your prayers!
  
  We bless the Lord for your faithful prayers. We also ask you to write us and to let Amie and me know how we and the church here might be in prayer for you and yours. If you would like to be included when I send email updates, please contact me.
  
  Attached is a picture of our church, Biblický Sbor Křesťanů Kladno (Christian Bible Church of Kladno)
  
  May Christ be the center of it all,
  Marcus and Amie Denny
  
  marcusdenny@gmail.com
  amiedenny@gmail.com Amie's updates about our family: http://amied.xanga.com/

Kevin's update

Greetings again from the Czech Republic, We are in the middle of English Camp right now. Classes are running well, people are having fun, and great talks are spurring great discussions. Ken and I are teaching level 9, second to the highest class. They understand and speak English quite well. Everyone in the class is a quiet talker, but they are still engaged. We have lots of discussions, games in every class, and candy. Also, for those of you who are familiar with it, I have taught them the seven patterns of Shirley Method so that they can be more creative in sentence-building. The evening sessions have gone well. Two days ago I presented the idea of the moral law in our consciences, and how it is evidence for the existence of a God who is personal and cares very much about right and wrong. Yesterday Eugene from Cornerstone did very well presenting on intelligent design in the universe. After his talk we watched "The Privileged Planet." Some are very engaged, some fall asleep. The pace of the camp is quite tiring. I have also been able to talk about OCS and give my life story. Chris will give his tonight, and Emily and Carianne still have culture talks to do later this week. Roland and Gloria have scored a big hit with Roland's pronunciation session during free time before dinner. It is regularly well-attended, and the Czechs have a blast copying the strange sounds Roland makes. Ken and Becky have been most helpful in answering any question related to necessities here. They have overseen all travel, housing, food, and logistics. Becky also helps with the kids, and Ken adds good creativity to the classroom. Chris has been hard at work with workshops and teaching. He has learned many names of campers and has had lots of good discussions, drawing on what he learned at Moody and from his own reading. Carianne did an excellent job with the beginner curriculum, and she is well-loved by the women here. She has quite a skill at creating very meaningful conversations. Her line-dancing workshop was also a big hit. She'll be doing a culture talk on National Parks as well. Emily is a big hit with the kids. The kids room is covered with all sorts of fun stuff. Maybe I'll skip my class one day and join the kids. Emily also did a fun learning activity, the first that actually ran on time! Her constant smile has won the hearts of many Czechs here. We have played volleyball, ultimate frisbee, capture the flag, video scavenger hunt, and much more. We have built boats, done egg drops, learned line dancing, taught American football, made candy sushi, and all sorts of cool workshops (some by our team, some by Cornerstone's team). We sing in the morning and evening, and you wouldn't believe the crazy motions adults are willing to do!

Hello from Nectiny Zamek, the “castle” or chateau where our outreach English camp is underway. I wanted to give you a quick update to let you know our team(s) arrived in CZ and our ministry is in progress, so that hopefully your would be praying for us.
Teams from COHBC in Spokane (8 people), Cornerstone Church in Orange County, California (9 adults and 1 baby), Hope in Christ Church in the Detroit, Michigan area (2 young men), Darby, England (2 men) and the Philippines (1 man) had all arrived here by Thursday of last week. It was a super busy time for the Smiths and Dennys as they greeted each of the newcomers, hosting most of the groups for a meal at the Smiths’ (soon-to-be Dennys’) home. On Saturday morning we all gathered at the building where the Bible Church of Kladno meets to load trailers and cars for the drive to Nectiny. A number of people, some from the church and some from English classes, provided transportation for the 23 people on our combined team.
For Ken and I especially, and for the Kinchers as well, the trip to Nectiny proved to be quite an adventure. You might describe it as a highjacking, but it really was a planned opportunity to host us. English students Milan Rys and Vacek (don’t know his last name), two older men who have attended the evening English course for many years, were our chauffeurs and our hosts—and in Vacek’s car our adventure began enroute to camp. The two cars were the first to arrive and the first to learn that the camp was not prepared for campers to arrive. A previous group had been late in departing Nectiny, so the facility was still being cleaned. They estimated that we had to wait 2 hours to check in. Another person in our car had a T-Mobile cell phone (the only one that had coverage) and we were able to get ahold of the Smiths, who had missed the turn to Nectiny and ended up in Plsen, with the Dennys following behind them. Vacek and Milan assured us that it would be a challenging trip for them to get from Plsen to Nectiny (many hairpin turns, they told us) so their arrival would take awhile and they were taking us to a pub in the village of Nectiny. There they treated each of us to big platters of palacinka (crepe-like pancakes smothered in chocolate, strawberry and pineapple and whipped cream)! I think the palacinka idea was agreed upon when the two men saw Roland’s twinkly-eyed smile at their description of this menu item.
Saturday afternoon was frantically busy, catching up with lost time, registering campers and evaluating their English skills for class placement, a task owned by the Spokane team. We had a brief opening session, then broke into classes for a brief time. Saturday night was our first evening program, and by 9:30 PM all the campers had finally arrived. I’m told it is a full camp, with 105 here (inc luding the teams). The atmosphere is warm and friendly, with many repeat campers and quite a number of families.
The first day or two of camp are a bit hectic as adjustments are made to English classes and everyone gets accustomed to the full sc hedule of activities, but as of Monday the classes are settling in and going very well, people are finding the pace they want to maintain, and team-camper friendships are developing nicely. The “working together” aspect of our team relationships seems to be fairly fluid at this point. Ken is teaching with Kevin and I have visited their class a couple of times—their level 9 class (10 is the top level) is filled with “quiet” talkers who are getting along well together.
The all-important evening program consists of light-hearted songs, a game, a life story (Kevin tonight), a message of challenge (Eugene from Cornerstone tonight, talking about the faith of presuppositions and the challenges science-evolutionary theory pose to unbelief in God). Instead of discussion groups, tonight they are showing the film The Privileged Planet (with Czech subtitles).
I must share how much we are appreciating the leadership of Kevin Kimball. He is very capable, gracious, thoughtful, hard working, and fun. He worked very hard to prepare an excellent culture talk on Marine Corps OCS and his life story. I look forward to the message he is preparing for the evening program.
Please be praying for gospel opportunities in Ken’s and Kevin’s class as well as in Carianne’s and Chris’ level 2 class, the Kinchers’ level 7 class and the children’s ministry which Emily is doing with a Cornerstone team member. I am helping with babies—haven’t spent much time with Chloe Denny yet, but I’ve been able to help with Robert Jhung (1) and the twin daughters (13 months) of a family here at camp. When they are sleeping I help with Ken’s English class. I have opportunities to talk with some of the moms when I help with babies—your prayers are appreciated, especially for Vera Knezu, a young mom who is in Marcus and Amie’s class and her friend Alena, the mother of the twin girls.
It has been very special being here at camp with three granddaughters. Getting them to sleep enough in the midst of this frenetic schedule is challenging. They alternate between being hyper-excited and too tired to cope—this morning it was the latter, so Amie put all three girls down for a nap shortly after breakfast! Sophie (almost 3) is learning to call me “Babicka” and has only made the mistake of calling me “Baba” once. Lydia is quite good at calling me “Babicka” now, but she also calls me “Nana” and Grandma.”
We eat lunch in shifts—Ken and I are in the 1st shift and the Dennys are in the 2nd. Yesterday Ken and I were eating lunch and we noticed Lydia follow a Czech family into the lunchroom. She observed what they did—getting silverware, then going to the window to get a plate of food. When Marcus and Amie and her sisters arrived about five minutes later, she was sitting at a table with the Czech family (who didn’t speak English well) eating her lunch. Pretty flexible behavior for a 4-1/2 year old!
Please be in prayer for the Smith family in their final week here. This has to be an emotional time for them, and Peter and Sonya have lots of loose ends to tie up. Please be in prayer for the Denny family as the baton passes to Marcus. I think they are genuinely enjoying this time, but there is a heavy weight falling upon their shoulders. Pray that they will build strong relational ties with those from the church who are here at camp and that the Lord will go before them in their new role.
Thanks so much for standing with us.
Becky for the COHBC Czech Team

Vacation marathon, but Czech bound once again...

I'm posting from Lawai Beach Resort on Kauai. We've been here 11 days with Ken's daughters Amy and Alisa, his three granddaughters and one of Ken's stepsons, Joe Turner. Our biggest struggle here has been how to get all the cats moving in the same direction. We've been doubly blessed to spend time with Jedediah and Verna Blake--he's the pastor of the little Southern Baptist mission church we attend here--and also with Jeannie DeVore, Ken's niece. Those double blessings came together on Sunday when Alisa and Jeannie both joined us for church and heard Jedediah preach powerfully from 1 Peter 1. We ask your prayers for Jeannie, a sweet-spirited woman of 46 who seems so tender to the Lord but is too open toward anything spiritual. We will spend a bit of time with her again today at Mahalepu Beach (my favorite one--a natural Hawaiian beach). I am praying for an open door to share about Christ. We also ask your prayers for Jedediah and Verna and their two kids, Jedediah and Tabitha, as the ministry here has been very difficult and challenging. It would be wonderful if the Lord would draw Jeannie back to their little fellowship, because Jedediah is a solid man of the Word and his family is winsome in how they reach out to people.

Two weeks from today we depart for the Czech Republic with the team from Christ Our Hope Bible Church. We covet your prayers as teams from the Kladno church, Spokane, Orange County and Michigan (we think) do an outreach English camp at Nectiny that begins July 11. Peter will be passing the baton to Marcus during the camp, so please pray that the Lord would grant favor to Marcus in this season of transition. We pray that he would have favor with the teams and campers, wisdom in leadership, discernment, and doors of opportunity for the gospel. We pray for good fruit to confirm Marcus and Amie's ministry as Peter and Sonya Smith and their children depart the Czech Republic following the English camp.

The Lord has graciously gone before the entrance of the Dennys' van, causing the customs inspector to stamp their paperwork exempting them from paying a VAT tax that would have been 1/3 of their original purchase price. They didn't know this had happened until they took it to a Czech friend who is an automotive engineer with expertise in the area of standards for vehicle licensing in the Czech Republic. Please pray with us that the Lord would show favor in the van's licensing process to minimize the cost (perhaps exempting them from modifications to their made-for-USA-standards vehicle).

Thanks for standing with us and for praying for the Dennys and the Czech outreach this summer.

...and now home again.

We just returned from 5 weeks in Europe (3-1/2 weeks in Czech) and bring home with us the good report that the Dennys have settled into their temporary lodging at Villa Sitna Penzion and Marcus is in week #3 of intensive Czech language classes. Their big transition to missionary life is underway!

The wait for their Czech visas seemed to take forever, but they received word on Easter Sunday that they had arrived at our house! The Dennys were celebrating Easter with Marcus' family in Vancouver and our pastor's family was picking our our mail and watching for the visas. But the visas must have come by other means than USPS -- following the busy Easter Sunday service, they drove by our house to check and leaning against our front door was a packet containing the 5 passports (with Czech visa stamps) and more than $500 cash to refund overpayment for the visa applications!

Thankfully we were able to extend our stay in Czech a few days so that we could be there when the family wheeled past customs into the airport waiting area. The little girls were soooo excited to finally arrive on Czech soil! A grandma can only wonder how their little imaginations had conjured up what it would be like in the Czech Republic. Several months ago Lydia had asked her mother if she might be a queen in the Czech Republic (and seemed slightly disappointed when told she would still be Lydia).

The family has dived into the busy ministry routine established by missionaries Peter and Sonya Smith seem to be very much enjoying the fellowship of Czech believers in Kladno. A couple days after they arrived, we were making a stop at a Kladno shopping center and were delighted to see a good friend from the past in the parking lot. Renata Vodhanilov was with her husband Ondra and their little boy Simon. Renata was beaming to see Marcus and Amie and to meet their little girls--in 2000 she spent 4-5 months here in Spokane and she assisted with a series of the summer outreach camps in CZ.

When we ran into Vodhanlovs we were enroute to Globus and Ikea, two large stores just outside of Prague. Amazingly, at Ikea Marcus ran into the sister of another good Czech friend who did not know the Dennys were moving to CZ. It seems as if Czech contacts from the past are lying in wait for them.

Marcus commented that it seems much more common, now, for Czechs to speak some English, which will make their acquisition of Czech language more difficult. In 2000-2001 when Marcus lived in CZ for 9 months, for survival he had to learn to use Czech language. Today you can navigate fairly well in English, but you cannot effectively pastor a church without fluency in the native language of the people.

So please pray for the Dennys as they seek to immerse themselves in Czech language study. Amie is not, as yet, taking any language lessons, so please pray that Marcus is able to help her learn and that God provides many Czech friends who are willing to coach her. They are considering enrolling Lydia in Skolka (Czech preschool) in the fall, which will provide a playgroup for the girls and should help them learn to speak Czech.

Thanks so much for standing with us in our mission trips to the Czech Republic and especially for standing with the Dennys in their transition to the mission field.

Please keep praying....

Marcus, Amie and the girls are back with us for a little while as they continue waiting for their Czech visas. They turned their passports in at the Czech Consulate in Los Angeles on December 29th and one month later they learned that their passports were in the Czech Republic going through the visa process. It is now March 26th and yesterday Marcus finally was able to speak with someone at the Czech Consulate -- "passports still in the Czech Republic" was the information he received.

My responses? 1-Significant disappointment since Ken and I leave for the Czech Republic in less than 2 weeks and were so looking forward to being there with the Dennys; 2-The thought, "How can a foreign government refuse to return American passports?" 3-The thought, "Just one more lingering symptom of communist-era bureaucracy trying to exercise control over people's lives." 4-"But God..." is in sovereign control of all things and His timing is perfect.

Please pray that He mysteriously delivers the passports to the Johnson mailbox in the next couple of weeks so that the Dennys can transition their lives to the mission field in the Czech Republic. Thanks for standing with them.

PLEASE PRAY for the Czech church and outreach ministry.

In July of 2009 Ken and I will be a part of a team ministering in the Czech Republic through an outreach English camp. This ministry is a collaboration between Czech Christians from Kladno and Usti nad Labem, a team from Cornerstone Bible Church (CBC) in Orange County, CA, and our Spokane church, Christ Our Hope Bible Church (COHBC).

Czech campers seem to love spending time with American Christians, but they are not easily persuaded about Jesus Christ. Some have shared this ministry who returned to the U.S. certain that God is not working on Czech soil. Yet despite its slow progress, Ken and I have sustained hope for this ministry. July 2009 will be our sixth summer mission team to the Czech Republic, and we have seen God work, using Czech-American friendships (over time) to draw people to the Savior.

Nine summers ago I first met Kari Sabevova, a widow whose heart was embittered toward God. Her daughter Aneta (a Christian) asked me to share Christ with her mother. I tried (through translation) in the summers of 2000 and 2001. Ken tried in the summers of 2002 and 2003. Ironically, my daughter Amie helped me share with Kari in 2001, and helped Ken in 2002. At the time it seemed futile. God did not seem to be working in the heart of this embittered middle-aged woman.

Ken and I were both on a mission team to the Czech Republic at Christmas 2003--Marcus and Amie were there as well, with a team from CBC. The Lord gave the four of us an opportunity to share with Kari. Ken and I shared our widowhood experiences in light of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and our witness started bearing fruit. We don't know when Kari turned to Christ, but the following winter we returned to CZ to find the light of Christ shining on Kari's face. We rejoice to see Kari knit into the Kladno church, faithfully following Christ, loving and serving the saints, reaching out to other Czechs. Two months ago she asked Peter Smith if she could be baptized.

As I write this the Denny family are preparing to transition to Kladno to continue the ministry Peter and Sonya Smith started a decade ago. As the Smith family make plans to return to the U.S., the Denny family are awaiting visas, hoping to move to Czech by the end of March. Please pray that their Czech visas arrive by mid-March so that they can purchase airline tickets.

Our summer team longs for committed prayer partners as we prepare. We go with a forebearing spirit, trusting that God is at work. Your prayers on behalf of the Kladno church are a vital part of God's ministry there.

In the past year the Lord added three new saints to the Kladno church. We praise God for the Smiths' enduring ministry to Daniel Adamovsky--eight years as neighbors and faithful witnesses bore fruit in Daniel's repentance, salvation and baptism two months ago. We praise God for Eva and Radek who demonstrated obedience in baptism during the final days of last summer's outreach ministry.

Please plead with us before the throne of grace for two college students, Honza P. and Veronika M., who recently abandoned fellowship with the Kladno church to follow the ways of the world.

Summary of Prayer Requests:
1-For Czech visas to arrive by mid-March for Marcus, Amie, Lydia, Sophia and Chloe Denny.
2-For their transition to the mission field and for their language acquisition.
3-That Ken and I would be used of the Lord on our coming trip to the Czech Republic, April 7-30.
4-That God would lead in preparations for the July summer teams: excellent collaboration between Peter & Marcus; between the Kladno & Usti churches; between CZ leadership & COHBC/CBC teams.
5-For Daniel A., Eva F. and Radek to continue growing in Christ.
6-For repentance for Honza P. and Veronika M.
7-For salvation for Veronika's boyfriend Rene.