February 7th, 2014 by Zac

“Impossible” is a strong word. It doesn’t leave much room for possibilities or success or hope. “Impossible” is the feeling I (Zac) get many times when working with Roma in our community. There aren’t many examples of success and not too many models that offer hope. But God has opened new doors for us to reach into the lives of several families in our Roma community here. (If you missed how we got started in this work you can read my earlier post HERE).

For the past three month now, we have been meeting every week for Bible study and prayer in the home of one Roma family. Every week, it’s like chipping away at the rock face of a mountain. As we study verse by verse through the book of Ephesians, it’s slow progress. Crisis in the family or some misunderstanding or misfortune often overshadow our spiritual efforts . There is not enough money to buy groceries, or no wood to heat the house or the disappointment of not having work from day to day.

Then, there is the spiritual battle that rages. The husband, just recently out of prison, is constantly tempted to revert back to his old lifestyle. His brothers and sisters don’t understand his new found life in Christ. The wife mentally suffers from all these stresses (as any women would). There is marital conflict, problems with the children, and a myriad of other spiritual pressures.

But we believe the Word of God and the presence of the Holy Spirit of God is stronger than all these! Our vision, is a group of strong Roma families that live every day by Godly values. We dream about families that have a strong positive presence and affect on the whole Roma community here.

Will you please pray with us for spiritual breakthroughs for these people. Pray for our courage, boldness and and energy to avoid compassion fatigue and encourage these needy people. Pray for a job for the husband, marriage strength and spiritual will to walk with God and not revert back to old ways of living.

Claim with us the blessings for these people that God has already prepared for those who walk with him.

February 7th, 2014 by Zac

To help train and inspire is the vision Kompas Training Center has for youth leaders in Slovakia. This year, our school of leaders accepted 16 youth leaders for the 2013/14 school year. Representing 3 Slovak denominations, these leaders have influence over several hundred students. They each will have a personal mentor and receive training in the areas of Systematic Theology, Bible study methods, youth ministry strategy, character development and more. It is a real honor to be a part of this training process for these young leaders.

February 7th, 2014 by Zac

I always hated to sweep the kitchen floor as a kid growing up. It felt so mundane. Plus, I thought it was mom’s job. And my mom cheerfully swept 99% of time.

But when I was home in Arkansas for Christmas this year, I had a different feeling sweeping my mom’s kitchen floor. She is 84 now and my dad is 89. They have both come to that place where the normal chores of life have moved into a new category – DIFFICULT. Mom struggles to find the energy to cook. She needs help to go up and down the stairs. She can’t read labels any more. Dad can’t carry in wood for the fireplace or remember where the checkbook is or whether they’ve eaten lunch or not.

So, as I swept the floor this time, It felt like some kind of honor.

Honor that I had a chance to do the mundane things for mom.

Honor that I now have plenty of strength and motivation that my parents can benefit from, after I benefited from theirs all those years.

Honor that says, mom shouldn’t have to sweep after all these faithful years!!

Honor that says, it’s high time son serves parents for a while!

So, the more I helped, the happier I felt, that I could sweep and vacuum and clean and wash and cook and repair.

It’s obvious that all parents get to that place where life changes. Things don’t function like they did before. It’s time to slow down and adjust life to live happily and peacefully in the Senior phase. So, for me it was a pleasure to be a small part in adjusting their environment for the next stretch.

Some of the changes were subtle, like 100 watt bulbs in the lamps. Others were more significant, like changing the wood burning fire to gas logs. But all in all, each change helped the mundane become more manageable.

I can’t say that it wasn’t somewhat unsettling to see my parents entering into the doors of the senior phase. Partly because I want to see my parents enjoy life forever like they always have – partly because I know that I’m not that far behind them in age myself. And I have children of my own pushing me down the road of life.

And on top of all that, my son doesn’t like to sweep the floor either! But hopefully, someday he will feel the same sense of honor as I felt during this Christmas time.

February 7th, 2014 by Zac

It was so dark now at kid’s club time, and so cold, we felt like we couldn’t have club any longer outside. We had to have a place inside to meet. But where? The apartments that we had seen around were very small with very few rooms. And many places had families of 8 to 10 kids living in them. Who would have an empty room for a weekly kid’s club?

(If you missed my first post about the kid’s club, click here and read).

But God had a place prepared. There was one Gypsy couple who had been coming to our church since the husband got out of prison in October. They live in the Gypsy apartment complex where we have the kid’s club. They are dirt poor and live in an apartment with three small rooms. They have not toilet or running water in side the house.

However, there was one room that they didn’t use. It was a very small room about 8×10 feet. It was trashed and dirty and the windows were broken. When we asked if we might use it from the kid’s club, they agreed. So, we helped them repair the windows, paint the walls and put in a new floor.

The following week, we had our first club inside! It was astounding to see the difference in the behavior of the children. It was so much easier to keep order and attention as we taught the bible story and bible verses.

Each week we keep sharing the truth about God and salvation in Christ with these desperate children. It is hard to see many results from our efforts. But with 100% certainty we can say that our hearts have been softened and we have given of ourselves to serve these needy people.

To see a 3 minutes video clip of the club in our new room, click on the small picture to the right. A new tab should open for the video. There you will see Emili and Gwyneth at work in the club.

February 7th, 2014 by Zac

I was in a panic! I had just discovered an obscure mail box heading in my face book messages call “other”. When I opened it, there were all these messages that I had never seen. As I read through them to see what I had missed, most of them were not important. But then I read this message from “Kubo”.

“Hello Mr. Shepperson. Today at your lecture, when we prayed, i let God live in my heart and said to him if he can put me in the right way. Thank you. When i go to sleep tonight, i’m gonna also pray and finish what I started at the lecture and speak with God personally. But still, your lecture was some way very spiritual.  Thank you for being there.”

Kubo was a random student in a public high school classroom in central Slovakia. Kompas had organized an Exit tour in this particular city and was doing it’s Exit program in Kubo’s school that Spring day in 2012. I (Zac) was teaching my normal seminar on “healthy family” and Kubo stayed after class session to hear more about the spiritual side of marriage and family and the gospel.

The sad part about this e-mail is that IT WAS OVER ONE YEAR OLD! It had be received into this strange FB mail box for messages from people who are not your FB friends. Immediately, I was torn between excitement over a new believer in Christ, but realizing that he had no contact from me for over a year.

I immediately sent him a FB message and he responded with surprise, understanding my explanation of my delayed response. However, I was disappointed in what followed. After one and a half years, it seemed that the gospel had never taken real root in Kubo’s life. He was full of self assurance and doubt about his need for God in his life. We have had several conversations after that, but his perspective always seems the same.

Why had God let this happen to Kubo, from such a bright beginning? I can imagine that it could have been so much different with the proper follow up and care. I don’t know the answer to why this happened. But I’m still praying that the truth spoken to his heart will not be useless, but will grow and transform Kubo’s life for many years to come.