Super Six Day Stay in Serbia!

4 hours at the border looks like this!

Blogger’s Note:  The worst thing about making a trip to Serbia is that you spend almost the equivalent of one working day (8 hours) waiting at the Serbian-Hungarian Border!  I am writing this report to you while I am at the border.  (I have already spent 3 hours writing emails, reports and composing messages.)  Let’s see if I can get this blog done before Jeannie gets to the front of the line!

Our one-week Serbia trip was super as well as long overdue.  We have been through Serbia many times since May but we have not been able to stop in the country because of Covid restrictions.  So we were looking forward to being with our Serbian CHE Teams face-to-face.

We started by catching up with Emil and Klara Kisgeci who direct the REZ Serbia team and are in the first stage of a project in the village of Nadalj, north of Novi Sad.  Covid was hard on Klara and Emil, who both came down with it, Klara very severely, and on Zoran and Ivana, the village champion couple they are working with in Nadalj.  They have still been able to do Bible studies and practical trainings online and in-person when Covid permitted.  All of our CHE Teams have been willing to take health risks working in their communities during the pandemic.  Keep them in your prayers.

We were unable to visit the ZZ Serbia project village of Donji Petrovci because of covid cases there, but Marijana Čizmanski, the ZZ Director, and Tamara Beres, leader of children’s ministries, both gave encouraging reports.  Children’s programs are well-attended and they are now working on their Christmas program presentations.  The youth have also helped clean and paint the community center.  

edZZ Serbia Intern, Nicole, from France, helps the children of Donji Petrovci with an art project inside the Community Center. The children recently helped paint the interior and floor.

The ZZ Serbia team needs to add a man or men!  Serbia is a male-dominant country.  CHE work with women and children is progressing but men and older male teens do not come to meetings or participate in home visits unless there are men on the team.  Marijana has solved this at times by using interns or male students from the Belgrade Bible School.  But what they need is a full-time man on the team.  If you or someone you know is looking for a meaningful internship or sense a calling from God to Serbia, please contact Marijana Čizmanski (marijanacizmanski@gmail.com).

It was the height of fall color-season as we headed to the picturesque southeast part of Serbia.  We were traveling with Marijana and Tamara to visit Stefan and Jasmina, a young couple who had done volunteer work with ZZ in Donji Petrovci and had recently  begun pastoring in the city of Zajecar.  They wanted to learn how to use CHE in their city and how their church could partner with ZZ!  

The best way to explain CHE is to see CHE in action, so they joined us on an inspection trip to the village of Lebane-Mahala in south Serbia. 

Snezana Randjelovic, Director of GHNI South Serbia (L), talks with Marijana Čizmanski, Director of ZZ Serbia

Four and a half years ago, we recruited Snezana Randjelovic from Lebane, trained her in CHE, together selected her first Roma community and helped her begin a partnership with Global Hope Network International (GHNI).  Four years ago, when I walked the streets of Lebane-Mahala they stank of human feces and urine because the community had only 4 outdoor privies, houses were ramshackle, Christians numbered around 2, hope for the future was non-existent.  

Snezana went to work.  When we walked the same streets this week they were swept clean by the villagers, houses had indoor toilets, roofs were repaired, new believers are in every household, people smiled and laughed with us, one showed us his micro-enterprise tomato garden, the community leadership team wants to spread Jesus and CHE to the surrounding Roma communities!  God has done great work through this quiet, loving, devoted woman, Snezana Randjelovic.  If you want to know more about Snezana and her expanding ministry, write me and I will put you in touch.  (She understands English and is learning to read and write it as well.)

Snezana hopped into our now-full van and we headed off to our last village populated mostly by Roma who are professional musicians.  We went there to meet with the village’s champion, an enthusiastic, passionate believer named Kruna.  Kruna wants to start community development in her community and also plant a church.  

Three people in this house prayed to receive Christ

God-things happen in Kruna’s house.  Marijana and Snezana have witnessed 5 or 6 people receive Christ when they led Bible studies there.  On this visit three Roma prayed and asked Jesus into their lives.  In addition we prayed and anointed two who had serious medical needs.  Plans are now on the drawing board to begin follow-up, have a seminar on starting a church and training in how to do CHE.  

What a great trip.  

Would you believe that I finished this blog as we exited border control?  4 hours plus!

A Big “Thank You” to the 11 Churches We Visited in May and June

Jeannie and I say, “Thank you so much for your hospitality and interest in our ministry,” to the eleven churches that we visited in Arizona, Kansas, North and South Dakota, Minnesota and Pennsylvania between May 5 and June 9. 

All of you, except for the churches in Pennsylvania, also had the opportunity to meet Marijana Čizmanski, Director of ZZ (CHE) Serbia and our NAB national missionary in Serbia, and to hear her passion for her work among the Roma/Gypsy people of her nation.  You were all such a genuine encouragement to her and she certainly appreciates your partnership and looks forward to future opportunities to work together.

Laci and Eszter Daroczi-Csuhai, Directors of MEK (CHE) Hungary and NAB Hungarian national missionaries, will be making a similar church visitation tour in February-March 2020.  If your church would like to host them and hear about their transformational work among the Roma of Hungary, contact Ron (ronseck@me.com).

One of the super great parts of a church-visit trip are all the incredible people you get to meet.

Jim Bishop of Oak Hills Baptist Church, Sioux Falls, SD, shares some of his secrets for raising greater amounts of vegetables with Marijana

Roy and Helen Shore of Calvary Baptist in Easton, PA have a passion for missions and the gift of hospitality!

Karl and Anne-Marie Johnson of Apple Valley, MN, shared wonderful stories and food with us.

Workers Needed for Building Project in Serbia, September 2019

How about joining a short-term work team that will be helping to transform two shipping containers into a CHE Community Center this September in Donji Petrovac, Serbia?

Help us put two of these…

…here…in Donji Petrovac, Serbia…

…to build something like this, a CHE Community Center for community development.

In February, 2018, Marijana Čizmanski and her ZZ Serbia team began an outreach and community development program in this extremely poor and marginalized Roma village between Novi Sad and Belgrade.  Now a secure meeting place is necessary for the children and adult work to continue and grow.

Erv, far right, will be back with some of his 2018 crew.

The building team will again be headed by Erv and Marty VanVeldhuiezen from Hillside Baptist Church in Dickinson, North Dakota.  Erv, a retired industrial arts instructor, led the men last year that built two 40 foot shipping containers into a community center/church building in Boldog Hungary.  Erv and Marty will also be joined by several members from the 2018 team and workers from Donji Petrovac and ZZ Serbia.

We are still looking for a few more NAB workers who are skilled in using tools like welding machines, grinders, hammers, saws to do steel-cutting, welding, stud-frame construction, insulation and drywall.  This team will be made up of men and women from a number of NAB churches.  So ask the Lord if He wants you to be a member.

Women from Donji Petrovac make fried bread for a CHE community event.

If you would like more information about this trip, contact Erv at emvanveld@icloud.com or by phone at 701-225-6252 or 701-260-5799.  As team leaders, Erv and Marty will be handling questions state-side, arranging airline tickets, travel, training and other preparations.  

How much will it cost?  Erv will also be able to give you a close estimate of the cost for one week (August 30 to September 8) or two weeks (August 30 to September 15) in Serbia as well as guidance on how to raise your support.   Be sure to give Erv a call.  He’s a great guy and team leader.

This Fall is Filled with Thanksgiving Reports about Our CHE EuroNet Teams

Locate Hungary, Serbia, Albania, Bulgaria and North Macedonia (FYROM) on the map!

October-November is proving to be a season of outpouring of great blessings for our Community Health Evangelism (CHE) teams that makeup the CHE EuroNet in Central Europe and the Balkans.  Here are some of the happenings for which we are very grateful this Thanksgiving.

HUNGARY — On November 11 the first Sunday morning worship service was held in Boldog in the new Roma community center!  Fifteen precious people were in attendance as Feri Olah preached the Good News of the Kingdom of God and Laci Daroczi-Csuhai spoke. 

Feri Olah leads the people of Boldog in their first worship service, November 11

The plan is to continue regular meetings on Sunday mornings.  The community center is also being used for Women’s Group meetings, English lessons, men’s gatherings and other village events.

The newly painted Boldog Roma Community Center as it appeared at the Dedication Service, October 28, 2018

The people of Boldog held a used clothing sale to buy the heating units as well as the paint for the Community Center.  Then they painted it outside and inside.  It’s beautiful!

Women from Boldog paint the inside of their new community Center

SERBIA— ZZ Serbia hosted a TOT1 training conference at the Belgrade Bible School.  Five enthused trainees came from The Galilee Foundation of Macedonia and four from Sasha Cipra’s EZZ Bosnia team in Tuzla, Bosnia.  They were being equipped to launch new CHE programs in their countries.

Marijana speaks at the 22cd Annual Women’s Conference in Belgrade

Meanwhile development work progresses in the Roma villages of Bačko Gradište and Donji Petrovci, Serbia.  ZZ’s big challenge will be to find places to hold meetings in the communities this winter.

Marijana Cizmanski, Director of ZZ Serbia and an NAB National Worker, was the main speaker at the 22cd Annual Women’s conference in Belgrade in October.  She presented two well-received messages on “Fruits of the Healthy Relationship with God.”

REZ Serbia is doing new preliminary survey work in the community of Nadalj, Serbia as well as engaging in a partnership with a Baptist church in north Serbia to help them start a CHE program in their neighboring village.

NORTH MACEDONIA — Agron Aga, Director of CHE Albania and Patriot Hoxhaj, Director of the Albania MAI Team made a CHE mentoring visit to Rev. Jimmy Simon and leaders of the emerging CHE Macedonia Team near Veles, Macedonia two weeks ago.  

Agron Aga, Director of CHE Albania teaches in Stip, Macedonia

Together they visited and selected four potential villages for surveying in the coming months.  Two will be chosen by the Macedonia team for their first CHE development programs.  Leaders from World Poverty Solutions and ReachGlobal will be visiting the team for further training and counseling after New Years.  The Macedonians, who serve with The Galilee Foundation, continue to be highly motivated to begin CHE in communities where they have already planted churches.

BULGARIA — A new connection was made in October with a mission leader in eastern Bulgaria who has a vision to use Community Health Evangelism to evangelize and disciple Roma that his teams are contacting there.  Plans are being formed to do a CHE training in this region in the spring, 2019.

KOSOVO — CHE Albania has recently completed introductory training in one church in Kosovo.  In February they are scheduled to do the same in 2 more Kosovo churches.  We currently do not have a CHE team or program in operation in this needy nation.

ALBANIA — You have seen CHE Albania’s name and Agron Aga’s name throughout this report.  Beside all the work they are doing in Kosovo and Macedonia, they are preparing for a CHE TOT1 worker’s training conference in Tirana, Albania in March.  God is really using this team.

SUMMARY — We are excited and encouraged to see Community Health Evangelism spreading to new churches, new communities, new teams and new countries.  We are blessed to see Roma becoming believers and being discipled.  We are motivated by seeing our CHE Team Members throughout Central Europe and the Balkans so motivated!  We are overjoyed to see the beginning of a church plant in Hungary.  Please pray with us for lasting fruit!  Thank you, Lord,

A Recipe for Making a Mobile CHE Community Center Building

• 

  Two Used 40 foot steel shipping containers

  Take 2 forty-foot long steel shipping containers (used)

 

• Add 8 well-seasoned North Dakota short-term team builders

 

• Mix in several Hungarian and Roma skilled workers

 

• 

  Cutting out the walls

  Flavor with wonderful Roma meals

 

• Pour in a generous financial gift from Hillside Baptist Church in Dickinson, ND

 

• Cook vigorously for 5 days

 

• Simmer for one more week.

 

• 

  Studs, drywall and insulation

  What do you get?  A Mobile Community Center for the Roma of Boldog, Hungary that’ll be used for CHE training meetings, community events, a youth center, a medical clinic, church services, social events, tutoring and much more.

Erv and Marty VanVeldhuizen’s four man crew from Hillside Baptist arrived in Hungary and quickly tore in to the two shipping containers which had been delivered to the building site in Boldog.  With the skilled help of Laci Daroczi and Feri Olah, MEK staff members, they cut out walls, windows and doors; joined the 2 containers together and sealed them from rain.  

Inserting windows

Rev. Paul Herr and a team of 3 from Century Baptist then joined in.  Together they put up the studs, welded door and window sills and support columns, inserted the doors and windows, insulated, ran tubing for electrical wiring, and dry-walled.  

Each noon, the women of the community cooked them a delicious Roma meal you could never find in any restaurant.  In just five days they had the heavy labor done!  The majority of the hard-working crew then had to return home.

The rest stayed on the second week to help Laci and Feri run the electric wire and mud the drywall.  The next steps

Drywall, windows, doors, electrical installed

will be to paint the interior and exterior; install plumbing and eventually construct an awning over the front of the building to shelter outside activities.

Our grateful thanks to Erv, Marty, Mike, Aaron, Troy, Paul, Barry and Mark and the people of Hillside Baptist Church for making this vision a reality.

Please pray that this new building will now be used to bring the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ to the Roma community in Boldog.

 

One CHE Mobile Community Center for Boldog (we still need to paint!)

Laci and Jeannie stand with the hard-working crew from Hillside Baptist Church: Aaron, Troy, Mike and Erv.

The ladies who make things happen: Marika, Marty, Laura, Andi, Jeannie and Helen.

Outreaching Macedonian Church Receives TOT1 Training

“Jimmy” Simon Polycarp came to Macedonia from Nigeria during the Communist era to study engineering.  Instead of finding Lenin, he found Jesus Christ … and became an evangelist!  Today he oversees a disciple-making ministry through 20 churches he has

Pastor Jimmy

planted throughout his adopted country.  Always looking for new ways to reach all Macedonians with the love of Jesus Christ, Jimmy hosted a CHE Vision Seminar in February, sponsored by CHE Central Europe Partners.  The vision of wholistic outreach and development in poor communities resonated with Jimmy and his leadership team and and they arranged with us to do a CHE Training of Trainers Conference (TOT1) for key church workers, May 20 to 25 in Stip, Macedonia. 

Because of the generous giving of CHE Central Europe Partners, we were able to hold the TOT1 at the church’s youth camp/training center.  Ron and Jeannie, plus Dr. Ture Huhtamaki (Finland) and Agron Aga and Dr. Patriot Hoxhaj (Albania) facilitated the training.  Praise the Lord with us that we now have 14 newly-trained, Macedonian CHE workers for Jimmy’s 20 churches!   As we concluded the week-long training, many of these students expressed their desire and passion to begin CHE in their churches and communities.  We made plans for the further consulting, resourcing and training of this team to help get their community projects up and running.

All in favor of coffee, raise your hand!

A small group discussion gets intense as Agron Aga of CHE Albania looks on!

One unique feature of this CHE 35-hour course was that it had to be held entirely out-doors, since the training center was not large enough for all of us!  We thank those of you who prayed for this.  The weather cooperated perfectly, only raining at night!   PTL!

The weather was great the final day, as it was all week, while the Macedonia students did their practice teaching.  

We have prayed since 2014 for CHE and CHE programs  to be established in Macedonia.  Thanks to your faithful support and the grace of God, we are one step closer to that reality.  Now pray for these new trainees to take the next step of engagement!

 

Health Care Professionals Are Needed for Community Development Work among the Unhealthiest People in Europe

Approximately 13,000,000 Roma/Gypsies live in Central and Western Europe.  By comparison, Hungarians number only 9 million, Serbians about 7 million and Portuguese 10 million.

However, the average Roma/Gypsy lives 10 years less than other Europeans.  This is due to a hard, harsh, often third-world lifestyle; poor diet; detrimental habits and deficient health care.  Although Central Europe has national health-care, for the Roma it is curative and not preventative; discriminatory and prejudicial and usually used only as a last resort.  Most Roma are concerned about their health and that of their children, though generally ill-informed about how to be healthy.

This is a huge window of opportunity for us who want to proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom of God in deed as well as word to the Roma nation.  Our Community Health Evangelism (CHE) teams enter Roma communities offering them the hope of holistically healthier lives, families and communities through following King Jesus.  One area of focus is physical health through community training in preventative health care.

Health Care Workers do community baseline health screenings, train Roma in preventative health care and develop programs that produce healthier children and adults while showing the loving care of Jesus Christ.

For us to do this effectively, however, we need trained health care professionals serving on our CHE Teams in Hungarian and in Serbian-speaking regions of Europe.  As Jeannie and I look to semi-retirement in 2020, we are praying for two NAB couples to come to Central Europe to replace us full-time.  But God is encouraging us to pray that one person in each couple is a health care professional who will be a medical presence in our Roma communities, to…

A dental hygienist performing a oral check up during a community health screening.

• help set up health-care screenings in Roma communities.
• train Roma in preventative health-care,
• develop programs that produce healthier children and adults,
• help Roma become better advocates for themselves in the public health system,
• train Roma to be preventive health-care volunteers in their communities.
• bring the health-giving love and Good News of Jesus to these lost people.

If you believe God may be speaking to you about this wonderful opportunity to use your health-care skills and gifts, please contact Ron Seck via email at ronseck@me.com.  We will be happy to tell you more.

Ron and Jeannie, and “The Million Village Challenge”

The Million Village Strategy:  10,000 Model Development Communities will each stimulate  10 or more other communities to begin wholistic development.  They will each become the model for 10 or more.  

Between April 29 and May 4, Jeannie and I experienced a mind-and-faith-stretching week at theInternational Wholistic Mission Conference and the two days of meetings of the CHE Representative Council. As CHE Coordinator for Central Europe and the Balkans, I sit with 10 other leaders far more qualified than I on this Council.

Some of our agenda items are rather mundane, but some defy the imagination.  One of those is the Million Village Challenge.

Two thousand of the world’s people groups are still unreached with the Gospel.  Eighty-five percent of these groups reside in rural communities.  There are approximately one million villages left to be reached in the world.  Reach these and you have almost finished the goal of proclaiming the Gospel to every nation, tribe, people and language.

The Global CHE Network (GCN) of mission agencies, churches and denominations with national CHE teams working in villages in 130 nations has been uniquely positioned by God to reach these last million communities.  So, God has set before us a Million Village Challenge!

For the last several years the GCN has joined with other wholistic-mission-minded groups around the world in implementing strategies to introduce Christian wholistic outreach and development into 10,000 new model communities among the unreached by 2020.  If the results from doing this follow the pattern of how the wholistic mission movement has spread to 130 nations in the last 35 years already, these 10,000 communities will be the catalyst, the light shining on the hill, showing God’s good works, that will stimulate communities around them to join the gathering wave.  This could well become the global movement that reaches the millionth village!

During the week Ron hosted a dinner meeting of mission agency leaders that have joined with the NAB and Medical Ambassadors International and are now moving into Central Europe and the Balkans to do wholistic community outreach and development.  The subject was:  How can we collaborate effectively to implement model communities in every nation of this region by 2020?  We will hold a Summit Meeting in Serbia in September to fix our strategy.  What an exciting time to be in missions!

CHE Teams Facilitate Trainings in Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Hungary

February and March were busy months for Marijana Cizmanski, NAB International Worker and ZZ Serbia Director. In addition to starting entry work in two Roma villages outside Novi Sad, she also first traveled to Veres, Macedonia to help conduct a Community Development Vision Seminar for almost 50 church workers.  She then flew to Podgorica, Montenegro 10 days later to co-facilitate our first Vision Seminar on Christian Community Development in that nation.  In March she joined members of REZ Serbia to train Child Evangelism Fellowship workers from throughout Serbia on how to integrate children’s community health evangelism curriculum into their ministry.  The week-long course is called Children’s CHE TOT.

Marijana Čizmanski leads a discussion at Children’s CHE Training for Child Evangelism workers in Serbia

Graduates from Serbia Children’s CHE Training Week with REZ Serbia trainers Emil and Klara Kisgeci (U.R.)

In mid-April the MEK Hungary team, including Laci and Eszter, Ron and Jeannie, led a week of training for church workers from Zsambok and Janoshalma, Hungary who wish to implement CHE into their Roma communities.  Soon the MEK team will travel to Janoshalma to visit the 10 Roma house churches in the vicinity to consult on the best ways to begin their outreach and development projects in their neighborhoods.

Sabrina Oláh practice teaches a lesson on “The Common Cold.”

Enjoying a laugh during a small-group discussion at the Hungarian TOT1 in April

Graduates from the Hungarian TOT1 include 8 Roma, who are now equipped to begin doing community outreach and development with their fellow country people.

Please pray with us…

• that this training on our part will turn into community development action steps on the part of Child Evangelism workers in Serbia and Roma workers in Zsambok and Janoshalma.
• that poverty-stricken children and adults in these countries will become disciples of our Savior and Lord, experiencing more abundant life here on earth and eternal life hereafter.

CHE Teams in Central Europe Set Up A “War Room”

Every Wednesday morning at 7:30 CHE Team Leaders from east, west and central Hungary, Serbia and Bulgaria head to “the War Room.”  No, they are not under military attack or terrorist alert.  But they are engaged in warfare of a very serious nature.

Miss Clara in her War Room, from the Movie “War Room”

Inspired by the recent Christian film, War Room, which CHE team members and students watched one evening at last February’s TOT1 Training Conference, they recognized that, just like in the film, they too are engaged in terrific spiritual battles as they work to enter the impoverished and spiritually oppressive environments of many Roma villages.  They also realized the need to put on the full armor of God and to take up the weapon of prayer more diligently.  In order to encourage and intercede more effectively for each other, they decided to set up their own on-line video War Room prayer meeting.

No time is spent sharing prayer requests.  Instead, each participant prays for those areas where they are engaged in tough spiritual battles.  Others listen and then intercede for them as well.

Much time was spent pleading with God for significant spiritual break throughs to take place when short-term teams came to work in our communities this summer and during the village evangelism campaigns in September.   We are encouraged by the wonderful answers to our prayers and yours as we struggle together in Jesus’ matchless name against the forces of darkness.