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July 2008 Issue
January 2009 newsletter from the Lighthouse Church in Vsetin, Czech Republic
We here at the Vsetín – Lighthouse church greet you all in Colorado!!!
We wish you the best in this New Year, especially God’s blessing and joy of salvation!!! We’re glad to be partners with you and thank you for your prayers and help. It’s great to know we’re not alone and that we have so many friends in Colorado.
Lighthouse English
In September 2008 we started up another round of 3-month English courses. God blessed us – we opened a record 5 courses. Every class was completely full. More than half the participants are people that don’t know Jesus. It’s a great joy for us to be with these people and try to start friendships a talk about Jesus. Dennis Martin from the Greeley church helped us greatly with teaching English during the fall.
A trip to Canada
The English courses had their climax with an English weekend called “A Trip to Canada.” It was mostly students that attended this weekend, and some of them brought their partners along too. There were about 50 of us overall. During the evening program people got to hear the Gospel message. Thank God that they were open and listened. After the program many of us continued together in personal conversations. “Dennis openly talked with us about his life and its course that led him to Vsetin. We would like to thank not only Dennis for us unbelievable patience, but also everyone else that prepared this course.” Marcela and Jiri (George) Trnkovi – students in the beginners class
A wedding took place
In November we had a wedding in Majak. Ondra and Hanka come from non-believer families. They decided to invite their families and friends to the wedding (nobody in their extended families is a Christian!). Together as a church we prayed a lot for this event. On the wedding day 150 unbelieving friends were there, plus people from the Lighthouse church. The wedding was a castle in a beautiful room. It was a great day. People were able to see what a Christian wedding looks like; many heard the Gospel for the first time. For us as a church it was a beautiful experience to meet so many new people. The guests were pleasantly surprised. We believe that thanks to God we were able to tear down some prejudices that day which people often have about Christianity.
New pastor
In December 2008 Bedrich and Lenka Smolovi moved to Vsetin. Bedrich became pastor of Majak in January 2009. He and Dan Hurta will lead the church together. Dan will gradually hand over major responsibilities to Bedrich so that Majak will be prepared to start another church in 2 to 3 years, Lord willing.
Christmas 2008
Over Christmas we experienced something unique. We organized a Christmas concert for our city with Adrian Snell (UK). 500 people came to the concert. It was an amazing experience for us. Through events like this we are trying to build trust with nonbelievers and introduce them to our church as a open place to come to. People were touched by the message and overall atmosphere of the concert.
What awaits us in the near future and what we can pray for
- Please pray for us and the new friends we friendships with people and bring Christ to them.
- For new English courses (February to April), students, teachers.
- During the 2008/09 school year we desire group is at its beginning – 40 youth attended become the core of the group.
- We long to see new believers around us.
Thank you for your friendship and help.
With love,
Lighthouse Church and Dan Hurta
