The Magic Of Christmas

Today is the 1st Sunday of Advent which is the official beginning of the Christmas season. Well, in my world Christmas started already in April. That's when I started inviting people to the Xmas project - the Magic of Christmas.

I've been exposed to music since childhood. At the age of 14 I started to write poems. A year later I combined words with 3 chords and there was my first song! :-)

Slowly but surely this became the way of reflection on the world around/in me. Writing a song was something like building an altar during the Old Testament times. Songs became a remembrance of events, relationships, or simply giving thanks. 

To make long story short ....

I like Christmas very much - good food, carols, sliding, fireplace fire, etc. But I know that Christmas is much more than that!  Within the last years I've written few Christmas songs and with few friends of mine we've got an idea ;-)

.why not to record them

.why not to involve others into the process

.why not to give it for free once it is done 

So yes,

.we recorded them (in the midsts of our crazy schedules; I really liked how each song was finished based on whom I was working with; everyone joined as a volunteer and contributed with his/her talent, time, energy, finances)

.we involved others in the process (it's my joy and pleasure to be able to connect different people/ groups like my own brothers, Fusion students and local leaders I work with, my colleagues, friends from church/worship band...more than 20 people)

.we will give it for free (Christmas is about God who gave us the best gift ever and therefore we want to give/bless others as well. No hard copies, only downloadable version. We had to cover only the studio and mastering, so we even invited public to help to raise money for this reason...and people are responding. Whoa! )

I'm so thankful for and proud of everyone involved! I'm so happy that it became such a community project. And my prayer is that it would really serve as blessing to others. Let's see very soon.

So far you can listen to a sample (as we are still working on the final version/mastering). And you can follow us on FB :)

To Indonesia, but not because of Indonesia

Indonesia, a country of 17 000 islands.

Jakarta - the capital with more than 13 million of people, 5 million of scooters and 3 million of cars.

I'm sure I've been to a beautiful and interesting country, but this time I didn't really get the chance to explore it. 

However, there is no regret because my reason for coming to Indonesia was extraordinary.

YLG - the Lausanne 2016 Younger Leaders Gathering took place in Jakarta from 3 to 10 August. 

Together with Jany, a colleague of mine, we participated on behalf of Slovakia / TCKompas. 

Even though we were preparing for this gathering during the whole year, I can say that only there I realized how HUGE that event was and what kind of impact it can /will/ have in the future. 

The Lausanne Movement connects influencers and ideas for global mission, and so more than 1000 younger leaders and mentors from over 140 countries met for one reason - 

to connect, 

connect,

and connect.

The main theme "United in the Great Story" focused on the biblical story of God's purposes across human history.  Daily we were called to action - to frame, create, repent, reflect, love, reconcile, praise and join others in the mission. 

Connections took various forms during the program - regional meetings, 1on1 meetings, mentoring groups, spontaneous meeting over the meal or while you were waiting for the elevator, etc.

I am thankful for people who already processed it and wrote a thorough summary about the whole event. You can read it HERE. 

I would like to add only few personal takeaways!

ENCOURAGED & INSPIRED & CHALLENGED

.by how the whole event was planned and run

Their intentionality behind every part of the program (teaching, drama, worship, testimonies, workshops, ...) was obvious. It wasn't about organizing a conference. It was a gathering - where people could meet first of all with God, and then with each other, listen, learn, observe, ask questions and dream.

.by seeing the bride of Christ in all of its diversity

You could find everyone in this crowd ;-) A businessman, teacher, full time missionary, youth worker, pastor, retired church planter, mom, and so on. No matter which part of world or social group we are from, we all face the same struggles, frustrations, battles and joys as well. He is the One who unites us, encourages us. He uses our different contexts, approaches, experiences in order to reach everyone (as he wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth).

.by wisdom, vulnerability of older leaders and their and willingness to share the 'lessons learned' just as Ole-Magnus Olafsrud, Mutua Mahiaini, Kristina Alikhanyan, Andrea Roldan.

"Are you going to have a name or be a voice to people around you?"

"I cannot minister with being alone with God and in His Word."

"I've learned many times that prayer saves time!"

"It's easy to burn out, cause you think you there is no one to sacrifice (singles in ministry) BUT actually you sacrifice your relationship with God and yourself."

.by corporate worship

What a joy standing and singing next to brothers and sisters from Europe, Africa, Asia, America, ...! It literally felt like a taste of heaven. "...and there before me was a great multitude...from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne..." (Revelation)

.by the connect croup #119

        Jake (USA)   Ebenezer (Nigeria)    Preeti (India)  Ewa (PL)  Jean-Noel (Martinique)  

Dividing people (strangers) into groups can be tricky...it can turn out pretty bad, but this time IT WORKED! There was something special in the combination of our age, countries and experiences. Throughout the week we shared and listened to our stories, prayed for each other and actually, we are still doing it (thanks to WhatsApp :-))!

About imperfectly perfect Amálka!

When I've met her cca one year ago I had no clue that we will become friends :)

During this school year she decided to take part in iJourney - an yearlong program that focuses on one's personal development as well as development of ministry. Part of this package is an intership abroad. The reason is simple - to gain inspiration and to experience a different approach.

So, one lovely day Amálka got on a train in Ostrava and travelled faaaaar faaaar away....to Bratislava. I was waiting for her at the station (actually, she was the one who waited). Something during or first ride in public transport told me that there are 2 interesting months ahead of us. And they were!

Within those months she managed to live with a missionary family but also on her own. She regularly attended our Bratislava's Fusions rehearsals,  became a friend to us and led a dance workshop. She got to experience also our Slovak national ministry (The Conference of youth workers, The school of leaders, Exit tour) while helping with everything that was needed.

There is a lot I could mention .... but today I would like to focus only on these:

- Amálka has incredibly big and soft heart. So many people can fit in there! The way how she thinks about others is special! She constatly comes with new ideas of how she can get closer to people. If something doesn't work, she comes up with a new way/method.

- She is THE #hasthag# queen! Just check her FB or Instragram profile. Hontestly, I didn't know that one picture can have so many descriptions!

- I honor her openess and honesty and courage to share her faith in God with the whole world.

- She doesn't keep things only to herself. She always tries to pass things she's learned on to others.

- If you wanna make her day, just buy her something sweet (any kind of chocolate works). 

Amálka! In my Slovak ears her name sounds....so....fairy-tale-ish. And truly, there is a little bit of a fairy in her (don't let her deep and phlegmatic voice to fool you :-)).

My intention in writing this post is not in Amálka's glorification. She is not perfect.

BUT she allows perfect God to live in/through her and that, my friends, is worthy of noticing!

Amálka, I'm thankful for a new friend I've found in you. You are dear to my heart and I wanna be your cheerleader. I'm looking forward to following your story, because "the One who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ, is faithful." (1.Corinthians 1:9). In Him you'll make it through!

Fifty shades of Fusion!

Well not exactly,

 but we're still talking about the choir with a difference

and within the last month Fusion could show its different shades  ...

... at least 3times!

#1

At KPM /Youth leaders' conference/ one can choose from various seminars

and one of them was a very interactive!

We exposed (FUSION together with EXIT TOUR) those who were curious and 

interested in this kind of youth work/outreach ministry to its effects.

Because experience speaks louder than a simple description.

So we sang, had fun, listened to mini-lectures ...

 exit band

 warm up

 Jany as a great MC!

choir time

#2

We are still at KPM. This time is Sunday morning and Fusion orchestra is performing. :)

Who - what - why?

Fusion Slovakia team together with friends, colleagues, volunteers from local Fusions and 

even students who got to know God personally through this yearlong ministry....

all of them / all of us on one stage!

What a joy being able to serve the way that's so dear to us!

And when the music is linked with the worship of the One who really deserves it...

... I just run out of words.

#3

One week after the conference we took part in EXIT TOUR!

Things we were talking about at our interactive seminar were put into practice once again.

Fusion as a part of preventative lectures focuses on talent and its discovery.

It always amazes me when I hear how students think about talented people -

"those who can play the music instrument, write a poem or perform a song"

Correct, but that's it???

I believe all of us were created by creative God,

and therefore creativity is hardwired into us...

we all have it!

To discover, to enhance and most of all, to enrich others with it 

is what makes our lives more beautiful!

photo credit: Lenka Šimočková, Miriam Elijas, Amy Ellenwood, Daniel Maďa (http://foto.mada.cz/)

...behind the scenes...

They left only yesterday.

We are still full of impressions.

Conference of youth workers /KPM/

April 7-10

Here you'll find more pictures.

BUT today I want to write about my

friends,

volunteers,

and dear colleagues of mine.

I'm thankful,

I am encouraged.

During the conference they were teaching, leading workshops, 

mcing the main program, praying for/with participants,

but before even being in the spotlight, they:

folded brochures,

made projection screens out of polystyrene,

printed out envelopes,

carried all kinds of stuff /fridge, chairs, tables.../

...

"Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,

and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, 

and to give his life as a ransom for many."

/Mark 10/

if you want to live, you have to die

i was terminally ill

though with all of  my strength i tried to stay alive,

there was no way out -

no hope

i was fighting, resisting

i kept screaming into the paralyzing void

i knew death was near

but my mind refused to follow

when suddenly everything ceased

faster i expected

and then...

....resurrection came

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

easter 

Christ died for me

so that i can live for Him

and i

i need to die to myself

so that He can live through me

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

... and He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves

but for Him who died for them and was raised again...

/2 corinthians 5:15/

... for through the law i died to the law so that i might live for God.

i have been crucified with Christ and i no longer live, 

but Christ lives in me.

the life  i live in the body, i live by faith in the Son of God, 

who loved me and gave himself for me...

/galatians 2:19-20/

...you also died to the law through the body of Christ,

that you might belong to another,

to him who was raised from the dead,

in order that we might bear fruit to God...

/romans 7:4/

What if ...?

"What if I should have bought that second pair of shoes after all?"
"I would love to spend a semester abroad. But what if he breaks up with me because of that?"
"I'm not sure if I should take this job offer. What if there's something better just right behind the corner?"
"What if we'll never get over this crisis?"
"There has been a constant aching pain in my right eye for several months. What if I have a brain tumor?"

Funny.
And yet, how many of you could find yourself in this?
Combination of these two innocent words is quite scary.
It paralyzes you, comes with unfounded worries, leads to indecisiveness, or even activates anxiety.

I realized there have been (and probably still are) many "what if" fears in my life. I am so thankful to God that He has was (is) dealing with those and I know what the words 'so if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed' mean!
However, those two little words still carried a negative connotation for me.

But then....I've got to listen to Dave Patty at Josiah Venture Fall Conference. He was using the same combination of words, but his didn't sound so scary.
"What if this could look differently?"
"What if we try to do .... Can you imagine what kind of change this could bring?"

Do you see the difference?
His words were inviting opportunities, motivating me, allowing me to dream.
I left really encouraged!
And I hope this can encourage you, too.

We might have tendency to worry, perceive circumstances as threats of to ourselves, but there is still another perspective as well.

Yeah, we cannot change everything.
But there are things we surely can,
or at least we can try. ;)

Do you love me?

Do you love me?

Of course, Lord! You are the Christ, my Savior!

Yes I am. But, do you love me?

Definitely! Everything I do, I do it for You.

Lord, haven't you noticed?

On the contrary! 

I know about your desire to bring good news to the lost;

I see you singing for my glory;

taking care of children and the old ones.

I see your tithing.

You pray, you read the Bible.

I know about all those things very well,

and you won't miss your reward.

But today I want to know something else:

Do you love me?

.................

I've written this poem few years ago and yesterday,

 during Rob Trenckmann's talk at JV fall converence, I got reminded of them.

I don't know about you, but I started with this:

Believing and accepting love changed everything; 

my presence, my future,

 my identity.

And yet, there are times when I get stuck. 

In my head I know God loves me, but it doesn't get to my heart.

It is just a knowledge.

Instead of living out of love I live out of obligation.

As a good Christian I try to do good things, obey, be thankful...

/even non-believers know how the good Christian ought to behave, right?/

... but something is missing.

Something is wrong!

God did not reconcile me with Himself to become a spiritual robot.

He gave his life freely so my relationship with Him could be restored.

Relationship built upon trust and mutual love.

L.O.V.E.

Love doesn't demand but has requirements.

Once I believed Him, He wants only one thing from me:

my love in return.

It actually makes so much sense.

The more I know I'm being loved by someone,

it makes me want to love him back.

And love's manifestations just as

making right decisions, doing good deeds, 

being able to give up selfish desires and 

pay the cost of following Jesus

will naturally come out of the deep conviction of 

being loved by my Creator.

.............

Well, I know how this works, but I still can be stuck.

So what do I do?

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find;

knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives;

the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocs,

the door will be opened." /Matt.7:7-8/

Ask, seek and knock. 

There is this promise that if I go after the reason,

He will reveal it,

confront it, lead me to repentance if necessary 

and most of all I believe,

He will assure me about His love again.

What about you?

Do you love Him?

Do you want to love Him?

"I like staff meetings!"

I am very much aware that not everyone can say such a sentence

and that makes me even more thankful for where I work and especially

whom I work with.

Staff meeting in September belongs to my favorite ones.

Sharing different experiences from the summer (how we've seen God at work)
is actually a great way of kicking off a new season!

 Clara and Danny Jones were with us this time as well. 

To hear the history of TCKompas from the mouth of someone 

who was there at the very beginning was very inspiring to me!

Saying good-byes isn't usually very pleasant. But saying good-buy to our colleague,
Zuzi Potocka (who meanwhile became Mrs.Sabol)  was different.
Looking back and see the outcome of how God worked in and through her is
in fact a reason for celebration!

We got to Žilina from several Slovak cities and villages and it felt so good
when Žilina's staff took care of us.
Kim and Zac, thank you for being such a great host!

So this is how our team looks like together with our interns and friends with same vision.

And the vision is:

"Being a part of a movement of God amont the youth of Slovakia 

that finds its home in the local church and transforms society."

About an extraordinary Thursday!

Thursdays are usually ordinary days.

But not the last one!

I've been invited to sing at Christian festival Semfest.

And I am really thankful for this invitation,

because I literally had to brush up my old songs

and work on music outside of Fusion. 

The added value was that I was performing with my brother Ivan.

An unexpected thing was that 2 days before the concert our parents decided to go with us.

They took it as a celebration of their 38th wedding anniversary!

It was challenging to put all 4 of us into one car together with instruments

but we had fun.

Talking about different things,

drinking (for me definitely disgusting) energy drinks,

laughing and sharing

...

all of this is now part of our family history.

Of course one needs to prepare before performing on stage!

 I'm not talking only about song/music rehearsals. 

The most important part for me are those moments with God, 

when I pray and ask for THE playlist.

What a reward when people show up after concert telling

that they've got encouraged!

.....

One of the songs was about not giving up. 

Since I've no recording (yet), you will have to make up your own music :)

Even though I’m standing on the edge of my life once again;

and I don’t see much meaning around;

I will carry on, I will be strong.

Cause there must be something more,

more in this fallen world.

I refuse that some fate just plays stupid games

and humans like me try to escape away.

Many times I’m hiding behind my wounded heart;

and my eyes are blind to understand;

but somewhere deep in my soul

something stronger than me knows:

That there is something more,

more in this fallen world.

I refuse that some fate just plays stupid games

and humans like me try to escape away.

When enemy comes,

fear tries to steal,

and misery seems so real to me –

that’s the time I’ll stand on Your word about the promised land.

And even though war blusters around

I still can be sure that I...

I will survive,

I will touch eternity,

I will be forever

cause I believe (in) 

You, in You.

You are my light shining through the dark,

You are the reason why I’m risking my life.

read more ... elsewhere

my last blog post was about the process of a new fusion start in bratislava. well, since then we even launched another new fusion in eastern slovakia!!! so much work, so many good memories and a lot of God's mercy

.march 11
.beginning of Rača's Fusion

the morning began in the cultural house where the sound, lights, stage, and band were set up. after an hour of a great program prepared by one of the fusion choirs, students were given invitations to the first rehearsal that was happening that same evening.... read more

.march 19-22

.kpm

this year, we invited they youth leaders into the kingdom. we wanted to talk abou our instincts and the possibility of their deception toward us. what if there is still some knowledge of the reality of the kingdom that we ignore, because functioning through those principles would be unnatural for us?... read more

.april 10-12

.fusiondary

fusiondary is a festival for all fusions around europe. statistics of this year: cca 450 people, 5 countries, 12 concerts. read more .... this is a slovak blog, but you can use the language bar and read google translation (sorry)

.april 24

.fusion #5

their first concert together with the first official rehearsal went well. pictures can tell o lot, so visit their fb album

that would be it! 

for now :)

Seventh out of ten

Yesterday I got an email from a girl asking what would be the most important prerequisites

 for starting a new Fusion.

Good question.

When you go to our TCK web, you'll find 10 steps for a successful Fusion launch.

The first one says it all - if I don't have a burden for the lost teenagers, 

I don't even need to continue.

These people in Rača got it. After the second training ...

... there is step #7 ahead of us - preparation of the first rehearsal.

I'm excited because this means that in one week we launch Fusion there!

Till then, still lots of water will flow under the bridge 

and we need to take care of many things.

Just like today, while I was working on some details,

our Fusion students were creating and rehearsing a funny skit 

for the opening concert.

What a huge smile on my face and thankfulness in my heart!

We didn't even exist 2 and a half years ago and look at them...

...they are helping with the launch of a new Fusion in Bratislava!

Now it's Rača's turn, and then,

the next one will arise!

Fusion as a dream job?

Working with Fusion sounds like a dream job. 

It could be true.

Especially if this statement is based on fb pictures. You can think that we spend our days just hanging out with bunch of teenagers and having fun. We sing, we laugh and most likely we eat.

There is so much more work behind all of this, but I am just going to hope that you believe me.

Because instead of listing all proofs and details of what I'm doing, I would rather focus on what Fusion does to me.

Look at this picture.

Or this one.

You and me see the same thing. But I dare to say, you don't make the 'awww' sound  like I do right now!

These people are so precious. I have the privilege to know stories behind those faces. I see a boy who came blushing, trying to hide himself in a crowd and now he is able to stand in front of others and sing a solo. Or a girl who went from being able to play only few guitar chords to writing and performing her own songs.

Doing Fusion means getting out of your comfort zone! Being an extrovert doesn't matter in here. We don't like to try out some things as well.

Conducting? (Never!) Sound? (What is this cable for?) Admonish someone? (I'm here just to smile at people.)

And yet...

Fusion teaches you a lot about parenthood. You feel so proud of "kids" and there are moments when you would like to kill them. You worry, you sacrifice your free time, money or energy and they don't even notice. :)

Fusion is a team work. It's like in that African proverb: "If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together." However working in team might be difficult, it's always worth it. I call it a character growth booster. I've learned so much about myself and my reactions because of the interaction with our team members. It makes me aware of my natural tendency to 'my will be done' which is quite humbling. But also it brings joy when I discover that my gifts fit in and enrich others.

Fusion is God's work.  You can invest in people but you can't change them. He can and He does. Seeing Him in action is huuuuge! My faith grows, so as my desire to see even bigger things!

To sum it up....Fusion has really some good effects on me, so I guess, I could call it a dream job :)