Our Romania Team Returns!

From July 22nd – August 1st, we sent a team of twelve church members to help Harvest Metanoia in Braila, Romania run a week-long youth camp. They are now back with numerous testimonies of the Lord working. The following is a small insight written by one of the team members:

If I had to explain in one sentence what this week was like, I would say that the power of God was revealed, the enemy was defeated, the power of prayer was shown, lives were changed and 21 new souls were saved! As a team, we witnessed God take prayer after prayer and answer in ways far above what we could have asked or imagined.

We asked for the provision of financial support and He supplied just what we needed. We asked for travel mercies and for all of our supplies to arrive and He made that happen. We sought Him for team unity. Not only did He provide unity, but He went above and beyond. Every time I turned a corner I saw team members building up other team members in prayer and encouraging one another with scripture. We asked the Lord for strength, boldness and truth for our speaker and God spoke through Doug in powerful ways. We prayed together for boldness to share the Gospel. God met us here too. One team member prayed with every non-Christian in his cabin to receive the Lord. Team members shared their faith on the airplane and looked for opportunities left and right. We asked God to move in our team’s personal testimonies. These testimonies became a pivotal part of our week and lives being changed. Through the vulnerability of our team, Romanians began to open up about their lives. We asked the Lord that the Romanian leadership would be encouraged. Marius (senior pastor) explained to us in the middle of the week, “I knew this was an evangelistic camp, but I was not prepared for the work God would do in our leaders. There are deep hurts that He is beginning to heal.” Lastly, we prayed that the lost would be saved. We thought maybe a couple would come to Christ. God decided that every last non-believer at the camp should be saved and 21 new names are now written in the book of Life!

Let us continue to pray for Harvest Metanoia as they will move forward in discipling these 21 students. We can pray in faith for them as we look back at the faithfulness of God in answering when we call to Him.

God is in all the details. “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or imagine, according to the power that is at work within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”

Back from Haiti

Jake and Mackenzie Hopping arrived safely back from Haiti on Memorial Day, May 31st. They are exhausted yet praising God for a great trip! We are so thankful that Harvest stepped up and donated TONS of Band-Aids, over the counter medicine, coloring books, baby formula and so much more. A big prayer request was that it all arrive safely with no problems at customs. God was faithful to answer that, among other things! To read more about their trip and to view more photos, visit their personal trip blog.

Biking Across America

Many of you attended an event we hosted back in November called "At the End of Slavery." At this event we featured a documentary that outlined the brutality of modern day slavery and human trafficking. Among the many appalling statistics, we learned that nearly two million children are currently in the commercial sex trade and that there are more slaves today than in all the transatlantic slave trade combined (ijm.org). This is heart wrenching - but not without hope. Many churches, organizations and individuals are fighting for the rights of these slaves.

One of these individuals is Rachel Hofmann, who has been attending Harvest since 2003. From June 16th until August 8th, Rachel will bike across the United States (Washington to New York) with 'Venture Expeditions Just+Hope Campaign' to raise awareness and funds to fight human trafficking. Venture Expeditions will be using the funds to work with chosen, proven, missionaries and churches in Indonesia, Thailand, Burma and India. Funds raised will help provide educational and social opportunities for impoverished children, rescue girls from slavery, provide safe housing, offer sustainable community projects, and much more.

Rachel explained how God has softened her heart to this issue and said how "she desires to help those who are helpless, for His glory." If you would like to sponsor Rachel's trip, please visit www.ventureexpeditions.org. When you give online, you can select Rachel as the participant. Instructions to pay by check are also on the website.

Haiti was not Always the Plan

From May 24-31, Jake and Mackenzie Hopping were in Haiti for a missions trip, but this was not always the plan. Recently, a significant chunk of money unexpectedly fell in their laps. They had decided to use those funds for a vacation after Jake graduated from Med-school. Around the time of the earthquake, they had been studying "The Treasure Principle" in Life Group. God had been working on them separately, but in the same way, moving in their hearts to use that money for a missions trip instead of a vacation.

Working with a church that has been helping build a 50-bed hospital, Jake will be doing medical work and Mackenzie will be working with the children, using art therapy. When we asked them what they hope to see the Lord do in them, they answered, "We feel like this could be the beginning of a life in medical missions." This decision has also been deeply personal. The Hoppings have been leaning on the Lord for a long time in their journey of trying to have a child. Mackenzie explained that going to Haiti means stopping fertility treatment so she can have the needed immunizations and it means trusting in the Lord's timing. God has also opened them up to the idea of even adopting, and possibly from Haiti.

Please pray for safety, for the safe arrival of their medical supplies, and the children they will be working with.

To learn more about how the trip went, you can visit their trip blog.

Immanuel's Child

Thanks to all who participated in our Immanuel's Child Christmas Outreach. We just received this update from The Slavic Gospel Association. It is amazing to see how God moved! To read the full update, click here.

Serving in the Congo

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27

Two of our church members - Sam and Sarah Snyder, spent August and September of 2009 in The Democratic Republic of the Congo (D.R.C) working in a ministry that is reaching out to widows and orphans and learning the local language. After months of preparation and support raising, they were able to return on July 25th for 2 more years! The church there in Gemena, D.R.C. is responding to the needs of these neglected people through a community called "Elikya" ("Elikya" means hope). Through this community, widows learn a variety of trades and become empowered to support their families. Likewise, the orphans have their physical, educational and spiritual needs met. Lord willing, Sam and Sarah plan to spend two years there - teaching English, computer literacy classes, and agricultural advances to the Congolese church leadership. Through this training, the Church can be better equipped to teach the widows and orphans.

For more information on how you can pray for and support them, you can view their personal blog or you can contact Sam at sam.snyder@efca.org.

Matt and Sara Titus - A Call to the Czech Republic

Last summer, many of you were introduced to Matt and Sara Titus who brought a team from Harvest to the Czech Republic. They are now the process of preparing to be full time missionaries in the Czech, hopefully leaving in 2011. This is a very involved process, ranging from raising prayer and financial support, to classes and training.

Matt and Sara explain, "While in the Czech Republic, we will be directly involved in church planting. This is done through evangelistic English classes, English camps, and other outreach programs. As people start to follow Christ, we will begin to meet and worship together as a new church! Pray that we would be able to get all the training and preparation done that is needed for this to happen. Pray that we would develop more of God's heart for the world as we minister to those God has put in our lives right here in Rockford. "

Why does the Czech need more churches?

A recent prayer letter from a TEAM church planter puts it well:

"In Europe, which is already the most secular continent in the world, the
Czech Republic today is probably the least religious of them all. Very few
of the 25% of Czechs who are Roman Catholics are practicing, and Protestants
are only 2% of the population. A recent poll showed that 81% of Czechs do
not believe in God – half of those would acknowledge some sort of new-age
“force”, while the other half are convinced atheists. The Christian Mission Society of the Czech Republic (KMS) has calculated that today there are only 18,558 members of evangelical churches, or less than 0.2% of the Czech population. Eight of the ten evangelical denominations are in decline, but the largest and fastest-growing is the denomination that TEAM is partnering with: Církev bratrská (CB) or Church of the Brethren. Almost 2000 new believers and 37 new local churches have been added in the past twenty years."

It is people like you and I who can help the Tituses get to the mission field. If someone would like to partner with them prayerfully or financially, please contact Matt or Sara at mstitus@gmail.com. Financial support can be sent to TEAM (with a note "for Matt, Sara Titus-Czech Republic") at PO Box 969, Wheaton, IL 60187.