Help is arriving!

For years we have been the only Independent Baptist missionaries in Croatia. Well Thursday that will change! Brother and Sister Holcomb and their kiddos will be arriving. My family is getting so excited. We are all going to pick them up at the airport, and we are so looking forward to this new chapter of the work in Croatia. We have been faithful sowing a lot of seed, and I really have a great feeling that this will be the year that we get to reap some of that seed! We are placing it all in the Lord's hands. He is still God and still on His throne. We are so thankful to Him for sending the Holcombs to Croatia!

We're not in Kansas anymore! #5

Yesterday we stopped in the store after church and as we walked in we were greeted by a man in a funny hat and red suit. He is called Saint Nicholas.

In Croatia they don't have the American Santa Claus, but rather around the first week of December Saint Nicholas shows up to give out candy to the little children.

Usually he has a side kick with him called Krampus. Krampus is the devil and he gives out switches to all the bad children.

Many times Krampus will take the children and Saint Nicholas must come and rescue them from him. This makes Saint Nicholas some kind of Savior instead of Jesus!

This is just another reminder to me that we must get busy and tell people of the true and living Savior who defeated death, the grave and the devil!

I'm saved, I'm saved!

Yesterday I had a great blessing out Soul-winning. First let me say it was not easy to go. My soul-winning partner called and could not make it, so that left me and my boys to stand alone in the streets of Varazdin to witness for our Lord. After fighting the devil a little I made my self go. My boys and I made our way to town and began passing out tracts. The more I passed out the more boldness I started to get. It's amazing how it works out that way! When we go God seems to give us what we need. After about 45 minutes a man passed by and took a tract. He stopped and looked at it and then said to me, "If I'm good enough I'll go to heaven". I begin to tell him that no one is good enough and that we all needed God's Savior! Then he kind of shocked me, because he quoted John 3:16. That's very unsuall for a Catholic man to quote any scripture.

He then began to tell me that he saw an american preacher on television and he asked his congregation, "ARE YOU SAVED?" they shouted back, "WE ARE SAVED, WE ARE SAVED". The man then asked me how he could know that he's saved? I then opened the tract up and begin to show him how to be saved! When I read him the scriptures about God's free gift he began to say, very loudly and remember we are in the midle of the town there are people all around us, "I'M SAVED, I'M SAVED!" He said I believe that Jesus is my Savior so I'm saved!

To think I had trouble going soul-winning! Sometimes we must make ourselves go and God can do great things through us. Please pray for Horvje, I was so excited that I forgot to get his phone number. I did explain to him where our church is, and he said he would try to come. He goes to the Catholic church faithfully. Please pray that God would tear down the tradition that holds him there!

Great Sunday!

Yesterday we had a great service! Many of the children came back to church from the Gypsy village.



I was afraid we lost many of them, so it was so good to see them back in church. I believe I counted 21 bus kids, and we praise the Lord for them.



Also we baptized one last night. Dean who was saved through the efforts of our Soul-winning marathon followed the Lord in believers baptism!





He brought four of his kids with him, and hopefully his wife will come soon! All in all it was a great day!

Bible update!

Well last week we officially finished the New Testament! It has now been sent to Myra Noel. She will format it for us and make it look like a Bible. Myra helped us with the John and Romans and she did a great job. It is amazing how God put her in our path. A few years ago we were on furlough and just finished up the John and Romans. I had been praying about what to do next. I was going to start formatting it myself, but I don't think that would have been such a good ideal. We happened to be in a missions conference in Texas and Myra saw our presentation, and that we were translating the Bible. After the service she gave me her card and said that she helps get Bibles ready for print. She also told me that she would be willing to help us! Wow, God is so good! Just at the right time he put someone in our path that could do what we could not do! We are so thankful to our Lord for Myra. She has been able to contact our printer and get all the needed information so that she will prepare our Bible and it will be print ready!

Bro. Rich and I have begun the Old Testament. To this date we have already translated: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, the Psalms and most of the minor prophets. This week we will begin to go over the Psalms and fix anything that might need fixing!

We are all getting excited here for very soon we will have the New Testament in our hands!

Back, From Budapest!

The last few days I've been in Budapest, Hungary. Brother Rich and I were invited to participate in the missions conference of Bible Baptist Church. This church has been supporting brother Rich's ministry for some time now. Thursday night Brother Rich preached in English and he did an outstanding job. I preached Friday night and I really felt the presence of God.

Brother Pranger has taken over this work and he is doing a great job. I really enjoy being around him. He is a man that walks with God and he rubs off on you.

We enjoyed the time in Budapest, but it is so nice to be home. We are both refreshed and ready to get back to work.

America's President!

Sorry this post has been removed!

Wikipedia vs. The Book of Life

Anonymous said...

Well, I believe bringing the Bible to others and teaching them about Jesus is a good thing. But according to Wikipedia, a census in Croatia in the year 2001 has shown that about 93 % of the population are Christians. So the Word of the Lord has already been spread to them. How come you still use the term "needy country", talking about Croatia as a "dark place" when the light of Jesus already shines there? Then what about Saudi-Arabia, China or Turkey, where there are less then 1 % Christians who even are persecuted?
Blessings to you and your family

Johnny said...

Dear Anonymous,

Thank you for commenting on my blog. The Word Christian today is used very lightly. Croatia claims to be 91% Roman Catholic. However, being a Roman Catholic does not make anyone a Christian. I have lived in this country for 9 years and I have asked 1000's of people if they would go to heaven when they die. Overwhelmingly the answer has been I don't know. Many of them wanted to go to heaven, but had no clue how to get there. After talking to them further they would tell me, "I'm trying to be good or I'm a good Cathoilic so maybe I'll go."

Jesus said that no one will go to heaven unless they are born again! (John 3,3)He also said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14,6)To be a Christian one must except God's free gift of Salvation! (Romans 6,23 and Ephesians 2, 8-9) You must receive Jesus plus nothing and minus nothing. The Croatian people for the most part believe that Jesus existed, but they do not believe for the most part that He is the only Savior! They take Jesus plus Mary or Jesus plus their good works! Jesus said I am the only way!

I'm sure that at Wikipedia the Croatian people are considered Christian. However, on Judgment Day God is not going to open the book of Wikipedia, but rather He is going to open the book of life and if their names are not found there they will be cast into the lake of fire!

My question to you is: Is your name written in the book of life?

"And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." (Revelation 20, 14-15)

If you are not sure if your name is there, why don't you right now fall on your knees and ask Jesus to be your Savior! He loves you and wants to save you!

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3,16)

God answers prayer! Really!

For years we have been praying for workers to come and help us stand in the gap for the people of Croatia. As many of you know the Holcomb family have answered God's call and they will join us in January! We are rejoicing at the possibilities the New Year will bring!

I was very glad that God answered my prayer for workers, but one thing that I forgot is that God always does more than we ask!



Three or four years ago Bro. Sam Ward came to Croatia on a missions trip. God really moved on his first trip in a mighty way. I believe there were about 15 to 20 saved, and our church was on fire. God really used him to be an encouragement to our people and to me personally! I believe on that first trip something happened to Bro. Sam, and that was the fact that Croatia and it's people got into his heart! He told me then, I don't want to leave I want to stay in Croatia! However, the timing was not God's timing, but Croatia never left his heart and he continued to pray that God would open a door for him to come and join us in the fight for souls in this needy country.




Since that first trip he has returned just about every year and we have had soul-winning marathons. Each time his burden grew stronger for this country, and each time he was a tremendous encouragement to our people and to me personally. Every time he left we were on fire for God! For me it was so nice having someone to stand with me as I fought for the souls of these people.




Now I hope you are sitting down! I got a call from Bro. Sam and he said my boss wants to retire me and his company is going to pay him to be in Croatia for two years! Did you get that? His company a secular company is going to pay him to be in Croatia for two years!

He wants to spend his life here, and he is leaving all behind to follow God's open door! God can do anything! Bro. Sam wants to stay here his whole life, and he has put that in God's hands! Please pray for him! He does have MD, and requires medication which we are checking into! He has many excuses why he shouldn't come, and yet he has said yes to God's call!

He wants to be here by January or sooner. He must sell his house and get some things squared away! Please pray for him, and the work here! I believe God is getting ready to do something big in this country for the glory of God!

Pesky little critters!

For a year our yard has been taken over by moles! We've tried everything to get rid of them. OK maybe not everything, but we want these little critters out of our yard. Today we decided to turn to the internet for help. You know everything on the internet must be true. Boy were we surprised to see all the methods of getting rid of moles. I thought we were at a red-neck convention or something.

Here are a few of my favorites, so sit back and enjoy.

Caution: children do not try these without parental supervision.




This is my personal favorite!





This guy has got to be from Texas!





When nothing else works just blow'em up!





Definitely not the best ideal!

Glory to God!

We had a great day yesterday in both churches! On Sunday mornings the new Church plant meets in Varazdin. We had a first time visitor show up, and he got gloriously saved! He is fruit from the soul-winning marathon. He actually did not get a tract from us, but a friend of his got a tract from us, and gave it to him! God is so amazing how he can work! Pray for him, his name is Dean, and he is an ex-drugatic. He said he's been clean for 18 months and he knows he needs God in his life. Dean told us that he enjoyed the service and asked me if he could come back. I don't think I have to tell you my response.

Sunday evening we meet at the other Church in Cakovec. We had a great meeting there with one visitor. Brother Alen used to come to our church, but he hasn't been in awhile. The people were really happy to see him in church. Also many of our kids came back!

Thank you all who pray for this work. Please continue to do so! We believe that through prayer this wall of religion will come tumbling down!

We're not in Kansas anymore! #4

Last night Cody and I went to visit Brother Alen in the hospital. He is there for therapy due to recent back surgery. He's been there a weak and has two more to go; Cody and I wanted to encourage him. Together we took the short drive through some beautiful country. We had a great time with Brother Alen. He was able to walk with us so he showed us a little of the town. It sets up in the mountains and it is known for its hot springs.

As we were walking back to the hospital, Brother Alen decided to show us one of the hot springs. As we entered the little park area I was amazed at what I saw. There were 2,000 year old Roman ruins everywhere. Apparently it was an excavation sight and it was amazing to see. I've seen a lot since being here, but this place was pretty amazing. I knew that I wasn't in Kansas anymore. How many times do we make a hospital call in the States and then find ourselves in a 2,000 year old museum. What a joy it is to serve God!

I hope you enjoy the pictures. They don't do the place justice, but they'll give you and ideal of what it was like there!


This is what it used to look like or so they think?


This is the main spring. The water is 136.4 degrees at it's main source. I was able to put my finger in here and it was hot!



These are two soul-winners enjoying the day! In case you don't know Cody is on the left, he's my son, Brother Alen is on the right.







The roof over it was built recently to protect everything. In case Christy , my sister, sees this; the Romans did not build the roof!



We are standing in what would have been one of the main temples.

Finaly a visitor?

Well last night we had our first visitor from all the soul-winning efforts. This guy wanted to come to church so bad that he couldn't wait for us to open it up, so he decided to break the window. The good thing is he didn't get through the second pane of glass. This is the first time that someone has tried to break into the church that we know of. Praise the Lord that he wasn't able to get in and do more damage.

I've been in the ministry long enough to know that anytime you win great victories the devil gets mad and starts attacking. It's been a difficult week for us, but God is still on His throne and we are mindful of the devil's devices.

Last night we had a good meeting. God is blessing and I'm looking forward to seeing what He is going to do on Sunday!

Final Report!

The two weeks of soul-winning came to an end, and we praise God for all that was accomplished! Sunday we were expecting great things to happen, and it did not turn out like we hoped it would. After all the work we had not one visitor in either church. At first I was pretty discouraged, but then I remembered were I was. Croatia is a dark place that has been bound by religion. It is going to take time to see something happen here. I am going to cling to Galatians 6,9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. God's holy word is still true, and I still believe it!

We did have some positive things. One man called me on Sunday wanting directions to the Church. He did not show up, but maybe next Sunday he will. Today another lady called. She received a tract and wants more information. This shows me that God is still speaking to people through the tracts that we passed out.

Again I want to thank all of you who prayed! So many great things happened, and I know they happened because of your prayers. I want to ask you to continue to pray for Croatia. Pray that God will turn these precious people from darkness to light!

Day #12 Soul-winning marathon!

Well Glory! Yesterday we finished our last day of the soul-winning marathon! Many tracts were passed out and there was one saved! Cody led another one to the Lord! Yes I'm grinning from ear to ear! This brings our total to 78 souls saved!

All we can do is rejoice in God our Savior! God was so good to us. I know towards the end of the soul-winning marathon we were definitely standing in His strength alone.

We rejoice in the 78 souls saved, but God did so much more this week. There were so many people who heard a clear presentation of the Gospel. Many people told us they would go home and ask Jesus to save them. Only heaven will reveal how many people really got saved. Not only did many hear the Gospel, but so many more saw a Church in town who believes the Bible! I think we left a good testimony, because each city we spent time in, always at the end people would walk by and say I already got the tract. Some would even walk by and show us their tract, as if to say I have my toll can I please pass!

What a great two weeks we had. Thank you all who took the time to pray! Today is Sunday, and I'm looking forward to seeing God do something today. Whatever happens we will give Him the glory!

Day #11 Soul-winning marathon!

We had another great day yesterday! It seemed like nothing was going to happen, because there weren't that many people in town. Then as we walked a little further people started getting saved! Before lunch 6 people called on the name of the Lord! After lunch a young man named Manuel excepted Jesus as his Savior! Even though it was cold and it looked like nothing was going to happen, God still showed up and 7 people were gloriously saved! This brings our total to 77 souls saved!

Saturday we will have the last day of our soul-winning marathon. Twelve days have come and gone so quickly! I've talked to so many people that I can't remember them all. I don't know how many heard the gospel, which did not pray with us in the park, but I do know it was a lot!

Tomorrow we will be ending the two weeks of evangelism. I'm praying folks will come to church., and many people said they would be there. I have been praying all week that God would not let them sleep until they go to church.

I want to thank all of you who have faithfully prayed for the last 12 days or so. Your prayers have made the difference!

Day #10 Soul-winning marathon!

Now I remember why we call it a soul-winning marathon! We have two days left and I'm beat. After talking to people for several hours a day, 9 days straight it begins to wear on you. I'm so glad the Bible says that in our weakest moments God has His strongest moments in our lives! II Corinthians 12:10 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

We had another good day yesterday. There were 4 saved which brings us to 70 souls saved! Joshua had two! Way to go Joshua! It is still cold here, although God gave us lots of sunshine. I think the weather has some factor because there are not as many people walking around the square. When we do find them they are in a hurry to get out of the cold. I do think they must know that we believe in what we are doing. Who else would stand in the cold all day? It is good that the people of Croatia see that someone really believes that the Bible is true!

Please keep praying! We really need your prayers. The work we are doing is a spiritual one and we are fighting a spiritual battle. Pray specifically for the services on Sunday. I'm really hoping that we will have many visitors in both churches. Catholicism runs deep in many people here and we need God to break down the wall of religion.

Day #9 Soul-winning marathon!

Yes God can save people when it's cold! Yesterday it was in the 40's with a strong north wind. After living here 9 years you would think that I'm used to it by now, but I'm not. Brother Sam and I stood out in the park and watched 6 people call on the name of the Lord, and many more that stood and listened to God's plan of Salvation! This brings us to 66 souls saved! We just want to give God all the glory! He is so good to us! What a privilege to serve Him!

Please continue to pray; we have 3 more days of the soul-winning marathon!

Day #8 Soul-winning marathon!

Yesterday we left Zagreb with a burden in our hearts! In the capitol city there are 1,000,000 people and not one Independent Fundamental Baptist Church! We spent the day passing out tracts and witnessing! I don't know how many tracts we passed out, but it was close to 3,000. We also brought a suit case full of John and Romans. These went so quick that I had people asking me for them. God's Holy Word was sown in a big way yesterday! All I can say is praise God for allowing me to be in the ministry.

The Gospel was presented many times as well! There were 9 saved, which brings the grand total to 60 souls saved! Cody was able to lead two and I don't know how many times Joshua presented the Gospel, but it was a lot! Brother Rich, the national pastor, gave out the Gospel so many times that I thought he was going to loose his voice. I praise God for a Croatian pastor who is a soul-winner! Brother Sam was a blessing as he pleaded with as many people as he could find that spoke English to get saved!

The soul-winning team had a great day of fellowship as we worked for the King of Kings! We want to thank you all for praying! Prayer still works! Today we will be returning to Varazdin. Please pray that many will get saved there and that we will gain many contacts for our church plant in this city!

Day #7 Soul-winning marathon!

Today we started our week in Varazdin! I'm hopeful that many will be saved and that many new contacts will be gained for the new church plant there.

God has been given us unusually great weather! Croatia can be a very cold place, but it has been in the 70's until today! A cold front arrived and with it lots of rain! Bro. Sam and I decided that we needed to trust God so we went soul-winning inspite of the rain. When we arrived to Varazdin it was barely sprinkling; so we got out of the car and headed to the park. About 100 yards away from the car the rain began to get stronger; so we headed back for shelter. However, God had other plans! Around 20 feet from the car we saw two men walking who needed to be saved. After stopping them they were so excited to hear that God loves them and does not want them to go to hell. Two men in the rain under a tree got glorious saved! While I was talking to them Bro. Sam stopped a young man who decided to wait in line to get saved. After dealing with the first two men I turned to the young man who was waiting in line, what a joy it was to tell him of a Savior who could save anyone in any kind of weather. After lunch two girls were saved, which made 5 for the day! This brings our total to 51 souls saved!

Today we are going to the capitol city! We are praying that God will do big things there! Thank you all who have faithfully prayed! Please continue to do so!

Sunday blessings!

The services on Sunday weren't everything we hoped for, but we know that God is in control. He will do things on His time table and not ours.

Sunday morning brother Sam preached for me in our church plant in Varazdin. We had no visitors but God blessed anyway. The sermon was exactly what we needed. God moved in a mighty way! God spoke to our hearts, and it was good to be in the house of the Lord!

Sunday night Brother Rich had Sam preach for him. Again we had no visitors, which we were all disappointed because of all the work that we put into this city! However, God is still God and Croatia is not America. We are in a battle here to get Independent Fundamental Baptist Churches started all over this land. By the way I still believe God and His Word! One day on God's time table I believe that there will be Bible believing Churches all over this land!

In spite of no visitors we had a great service! There was a good spirit in the church. God touched many hearts, and for this we are truly thankful to the King of Kings!

Please continue to pray for us! We still have a week ahead of us! Monday we will be going to Varazdin and working there all week. We are in prayer that God will move in a mighty way and that souls will be saved and that lives will be changed! I need all of you to join with us in prayer!

Day #6 Soul-winning marathon!

Saturday we spent the morning in Cakovec passing out tracts and witnessing! I took a few children from our church and it was a blessing seeing them pass out gospel tracts; they even tried to talk to people. Bro. Sam and Cody each had one saved which brings our total to 46 souls saved! Cody is turning into a real soul-winner.

When we arrived to town I was approached by a JW. I quickly learned that they had a booth set up in town and there were about 8 of them spreading their heresy. It seems they saw us in town all week and so now they are going to try it. I pointed them out to brother Rich and he said, "What a shame that they are copying what we are doing." He then said, "why aren't the other Baptist in this town copying us? Where are they?"

We have definitely stirred this town up! Many are talking and know that there is one church in town that believes what the Bible says!

Day #5 Soul-winning marathon!

Day 5 of our soul-winning marathon was another tremendous day! All I can do is praise Almighty God! He has been so good to us this week. Yesterday we had a total of 15 saved, which brings our grand total to 44 souls saved! If there is anybody out there already saying did they mean it when they accepted Christ, let me say to you, "Why don't you go suck your pacifier and go and read somebody elses blog!" Now that that is off my chest let me tell you some of the things that God did, and I do emphasize the fact that God did everything!

First let me say way to go Joshua! He has been trying so hard to lead someone to Christ. He is like my dad, because he's not scared of anything or anyone. Joshua has been talking to everyone about Christ. I don't know how many times he shared the gospel with people this week. He's probably shared the gospel this week more than most Christians do in their life time. Yesterday He got one! He was so excited that he had to call his mom on the phone and tell her. That is what soul-winning will do to your Christianity. It will put a fire of excitement in it! As a dad I was so proud of my boy!

Another great victory, and by the way I'm still shouting about it, was the salvation of Brother Rich's mom. For you that may not know brother Rich is the national pastor of the church here! He has been praying for so long for his mom to get saved. He's witnessed to her in the past, but of course it's a little difficult because it is his mom. He asked brother Sam and I to go and witness to her. We were delighted to do this. This visit was bathed in prayer, and I don't know if I've ever felt the Holy Spirit working through me as I did yesterday. The words just seem to flow, and she listened so closely. Then she bowed her head and received Jesus as her Savior! Well glory!!!!!!!! Brother Rich was so excited and so were we!

Before we went to our big meeting Friday night, brother Sam and I were walking towards the meeting place after a few hours of soul-winning! As we were walking we saw a group of young people and gave them some tracts. They were 16 to 18 and there were 5 of them. I begin talking to them and they listened so closely to what I was preaching. Now we are on the sidewalk and they are in a half cirlce around me listening to the gospel. Folks were having to go around us. When I get about half way through the plan two more people walk up to the group. I thought a revival was getting ready to break out in the park! I quickly learned that the two that just walked up were saved. They just wanted to listen. After giving the gospel 4 of the 5 prayed to receive Christ! The 2 that were already saved stayed around and wanted to know where our church was so that they could come to one of our meetings! God was so good! I left rejoicing in the Lord!

Finally I must give you a negative. Our meeting last night was not a success in the eyes of the world or maybe in the eyes of other Christians. We had no one show up and it was a little discouraging. However, many of our own people came, and this encouraged me. Maybe they are growing and beginning to care about others!

Please pray for Sunday! Our main service is Sunday night. We are hoping to get some visitors in the service. Yesterday reminded me that Croatia is not America. The gospel has not been here for years. We are in a battle with slew foot! He does not want an Independent, Hell hating, Jesus loving, Soul-winning Baptist church! But we know someone who does want that kind of Church in Croatia and that is our lord Jesus Christ!

Thank you all for praying, and please continue to do so for we have a whole week ahead of us!

Day #4 Soul-winning marathon!

We spent another 5 hours yesterday telling people that Jesus loves them! One girl was wearing a shirt that said I need somebody to love me. What a joy it was to tell her about the Savior who truly loves her. It was a joy when she bowed her head and received Jesus Christ as her Savior!

God was good again, He always is! We had 8 saved yesterday; this brings our total to 29 souls saved!

Thank you for encouraging Cody. He is turning into a soul-winning machine. Yesterday he led a woman to the Lord in her 70's! Joshua hasn't led one yet, but he has more boldness than anyone out there. He was talking to everyone about Jesus! As a dad I'm swelling with pride. My boys have never played on a baseball team or football team. They've never hit a home run or scored a touchdown, but glory to God they are learning to be soul-winners! To me that is better than the home run or touch down!

Today which is Thursday is a holiday. We will not be going out today, but tomorrow we will hit the streets again. Please pray for Friday night. We are hoping to have a good meeting with these converts!

Day #3 Soul-winning marathon!

Glory to Almighty God! We had another tremendous day. There were 8 souls saved which brings our total to 21. In the last three days about 50 other people have heard a clear presentation of the gospel. They did not want to pray with us in the park, but many of them promised to do this at home. Only heaven knows how many more have been saved that we don't even know about. God has been moving in such a mighty way. It is so exciting to be a part of this.

We received many blessings yesterday, but there is one in particular that I want to share with you. After my boys finished school they went with us into town. Both of them had such a desire to win somebody to the Lord. My oldest son Cody was able to lead his first soul to the Lord in the Croatian language! I watched the whole thing and I about had a shouting fit in the park! God has been so good to us this week. We believe it is because so many of you are praying! Please keep praying! We want God to shake this town this week for the glory of Almighty God!

Day #2 Soul-winning marathon!

Well all I can say is glory to God!!!!!!!!!! Day 2 of our Soul-winning marathon started out difficult. For me it was a little discouraging. It seemed as if there was a satanic depression in the air. I'm sure there was for he certainly was not happy about what we were trying to do. In the morning we did have two saved before lunch and many many more heard a gospel presentation.

However, after lunch was a completely different story. It did start out a little slow, but after we had a prayer meeting in the park, God came down in a mighty way. Discouragement turned into encouragement as I saw God move through each of us! Before the day was over 12 precious souls received Jesus Christ! Glory to the living God!

We want to ask all you to continue praying for us this week, especially for this Friday. We have rented a building in the center of town. Friday night we are trying to get all of the converts that we have this week to come to this meeting. We hope to get them into church through this effort. Thank you all for your prayers!

Day #1 Soul-winning marathon!

We had a glorious day today. It is so good to be in service for the King of kings. Brother Alen, my two boys and I started the day in Varazdin. We passed out close to a 1,000 tracts in about an 1 and a half. I was able to preach the Gospel 3 different times. Marko, a 17 year old young man, got gloriously saved!

From Varazdin we headed to the airport to pick up Brother Sam. Praise the Lord he was on time with all of his luggage - that's a miracle in itself. Then we went to the main train station where there is always people and we passed out another 1,000 tracts. We were able to share the gospel 8 times, but we had no one saved! We were not discouraged because 8 people heard how they could escape the flames of hell.

Monday we will officially start our soul-winning marathon. Today we wanted to break the ice a little. Please be in prayer for us. Croatia is a dark place, and we have got to have the Holy Spirit of God working!

Tools are needed!

Tools are used to help accomplish tasks. A builder would have a hard time building without tools. A mechanic would have a hard time repairing a car without tools. Most every profession requires some kind of tool to accomplish the job. I believe that God has given us a task to accomplish. All around us there are souls perishing. God wants us in the business of soul-winning! As I prepare for our soul-winning marathon, I've been thinking about the tools that we will be needing to accomplish the task God has given us.

Tool #1 is God's power. I know that maybe it's difficult to think of God's power as a tool. However, we need to remember that a tool helps us to accomplish a task. I've learned that without God's power we can do nothing. Without this tool we will be ineffective soul-winners. I've been soul-winning too many times without this tool. My witnessing was dry and ineffective. Then there were other times that I went with God's power. The words seemed to flow out of my mouth directly into the heart of the one listening. This week I will be emphasizing this to all who go out with us. We must go with God's power!

Tool #2 is our New Testament. I know this seems elementary, but it is definitely the Word of God that does the working. It is not all of our polished illustrations and humor. It is God's Word that gets right into the heart of the one listening to us.

Tool #3 is a soul-winning partner. I know you can win someone to Christ by yourself. However, I believe there was a reason our Lord sent His followers out two by two. I can win souls by myself, but when someone is with me I have more boldness than I do alone. Soul-winning partners can strengthen one another.

Tool #4 is something practical that I made up this year. I remember Dr. Carl Hatch used to carry a soul-winning card in his pocket. This year I decided to make one for all of our soul-winners. On one side it contains the plan of salvation, on the other side it contains verses about Christian growth. I hope this can be used to help our soul-winners get more people into church and baptized.

Tool # 5 is also practical; a pen and convert slips. They may seem insignificant but they are very important. Winning people is only the first part of our task. We need to do our best to follow up on our converts and get them into the water and on to the pew! We have done a poor job of this in the past, but we are working on it!

I am sure there are many more tools that can be used to help us in our God given task. Maybe you know of few tools that are not listed here. Feel free to add them to the comment list. The tools you add may help us all to accomplish our God given task of winning the lost!

Well Glory!!!!!!!!!

After much work, I just read the last Amen in the book of Revelation! I thought I was going to have a shouting fit! For you that have no ideal what I'm talking about let me explain. For the last three years we have been translating the New Testament into the Croatian language. We are close to finishing it, and the excitement around here is growing. We are all working hard to proof it a final time to weed out any mistakes that might be. The last two months I've been busy listening to the KJV online while reading the Croatian text. This has helped me to compare it with God's Holy Word! This method has proven very fruitful. I've been able to find many problems and get them fixed. Well about 10 minutes ago I started Revelation chapter 22. The closer I got to the end the more excited I got. When John said the last amen, I shouted amen right along with him. Praise Almighty God!

We have a total of two weeks left on the project. Brother Rich and his wife are reading it one final time to get rid of any grammatical mistakes! On November the 1st we will send it to Myra Noel in Texas. She will format it for us and make it look like a Bible. Then off to India it goes. Yes you heard right India! There Brother Treadwell out of Heritage Baptist Church will print it for us! I can not describe what it feels like, after 9 years to almost have the Word of God in the Croatian language in our hands!

All I can say is, Weeeeeeellllllllll Glory!!!!!

Soul-winning marathon!

In three days our soul-winning marathon will begin! Our good friend Sam Ward will be returning to Croatia for 16 days. I'll pick him up at the airport at 2:00 on Saturday. He told me, "brother Johnny bring some tracts while we are in the capitol because I want to spend a few hours to get started." I guess jet lag and all we will begin the marathon on Saturday!

Last year God did incredible things! We had a total of 76 saved in 10 days. When brother Sam left, the church here was on fire! We are all excited about what God is going to do. We have a goal to see 100 people saved and 10 baptized! For Europe that seems impossible, but we know nothing is impossible for our God.

I know I have not blogged in awhile. I hope to be more faithful about it in the future. I'll be giving updates through out our soul-winning marathon. Please be praying for this. Brother Sam and I will spend 5-7 hours a day soul-winning. We need God's power and we need your prayers!

Kid's Day 2009

Today we had a program for children, which we simply called kids day. Tomorrow all of the children will go back to school, so we wanted to give one last try at reaching some of them for Christ. I can say God blessed and we had 54 in attendance. I had over 30 in my 9 passenger van. When I took them home I did it in two trips. Several prayed to receive Christ and all of them heard a good message from Pastor Rich about being fishers of men. Brother Rich organized most of it and he did a great job. It makes me feel great to see him take charge of something and do a good job at it.

This and That!

I haven't posted in awhile so I thought I would just tell you a little bit of whats been going on around here.

First: We have had our 1st teen meeting at our church. This has been an area of weakness for us here, because until lately we've had no teens. However, now that we are picking up the kids from the different villages we have quickly gained kids from all age groups including teens.


Last Friday night we had our first meeting with them, and God blessed in a great way. We had 18 teens present and 4 were saved!



My wife did a great job with gathering a few silly games for them. It turned out to be a blast. After singing and games we had preaching.



During the invitation several came to the platform so I could pray with them, and 4 others came to receive Jesus!



We then had pizza and a boxing tournament. Ok not a real boxing tournament it was with the Nintendo Wii. We gave the winner some boxing gloves, I bet their parents are happy. We look forward to working further with this age group.


Second: We continue to press forward with Soul-winning. I'm really trying to emphasis Soul-warning. This Sunday I told our people that it is the job of our Church to warn everyone in our county of the judgement to come. I hope they will take the challenge and join me in Soul-warning.




Third: We are leaving today for a family vacation. Our land-lord has an apartment on the coast and he is allowing us to stay their for free! We are so excited. Once again God did something big for our family.

I'm not sure if I'll have e-mail so you may not hear from me for two weeks. When we return I'll post lots of pictures.

God bless!