All Good Things...
Here are some of my reflections on our last few days as the team wraps up, packs our bags, and prepares for the long trans-Atlantic flight home.
Here are some of my reflections on our last few days as the team wraps up, packs our bags, and prepares for the long trans-Atlantic flight home.
Students in the Sanctification and Spiritual Formation class at Mostar.
Class in Mostar- The Spiritual Formation class at the Mostar Bible School was a real joy. While this go-round had only 3 students, they were all bright, energetic, and highly interactive. I greatly enjoyed our conversations and the insights these guys would bring from their cultural perspective. I truly feel like in a 24-hour period, we bonded and encouraged one another in our faith. I pray that the material helped build each one of them up and further prepared them to lead in the young Bosnian church. If you think of it, please pray for God to continue to build Sasha, Senad, and Tony.
Nick preaches with Pastor Sasha translating at the Malta Church
Church in Sarajevo- On Sunday morning, our team split up and participated in services at both Ilidza and Kosevsko Brdo. Pastor Matt brought the message out at Ilidza church (still some drug deals going down outside, but no stabbings. For context of that statement, see last Sunday's post!) while Nick and the rest of the team were with Pastor Slavko up a Kosevsko. Both groups were enthusiastic and encouraged by the presence of the team. On Sunday night, the team attended Malta Church again, where Nick preached with Pastor Sasha translating. For me (Nick) this church has become like a "home away from home." I realized that I have attended Malta at least 7 times in the last 5 years- more than any other church except East Hills! I enjoyed having the freedom to joke with Pastor Sasha during the message, and preaching about how our trust is in Christ, even when we don't understand everything that's happening to us. It truly felt like we were among friends. Pastor Jesse played acoustic along with their worship band.
Time with the Alliance Team at Izvor.
Last Day in Downtown- The team had some time to get last-minute gifts and souvenirs, as well as catch some coffee with friends. I was able to have coffee with some friends whom our very first team met 5 years ago. These gals were our translators for an English camp and continue to stay connected to Izvor and our teams when we visit. Jesse and I were really intrigued by their stories of growing up in Bosnia and how the war of 20 years ago continues to shape everyday life for them. Their view of the future of Bosnia, like most Bosnians we have met, is very gloomy. This nation seems to lack hope for change, and few believe that lasting reconciliation between people groups is possible. Please continue to pray for this country; that they would experience the light of Christ breaking over them in new ways. We also had time to pray with our team of Alliance workers for the church here, and various needs of the community. It was a sweet time of inviting God's power to work in each situation. Partnering with this team, and this country, feels so powerful and significant in times like that!
We hope to see you soon on the other side of the pond. Thanks for praying!
Nick
Floods, Recording, Teaching, and Cake
Hello again! Yesterday was an interesting day as most of our group went to visit the town of Maglai, which was recently affected by some serious flooding in the area. It appears that God is opening up some great doors for Izvor and the Malta church to bring some aid and build relationships with people in that town. I can’t tell you much more about that trip because ended up staying behind and spent the day with Neno, the worship leader from the Malta church.
Neno working on the recording for a music video.
The Malta church does some really great things with their music ministry and for some time now, they have recorded worship cd’s. Currently, Neno and his team are working on filming a music video of their worship team singing the song, “Fire Never Sleeps” by Jesus Culture and Martin Smith. He and I spent much of the day working on mixing the recording for the video. I really enjoyed making a new friend and getting to talk with him about worship ministry, music, and recording. In a country that has very few people following Jesus I think it is really great to see musicians such as Neno working to offer recordings of worship music for the believers in Bosnia.
The worship team at Malta church (with Pastor Matt playing bass).
This weekend the team split up again. The two ladies on our team stayed in Sarajevo and are going to be helping with a cake decorating class that is being taught at the Ilidza church. You can be praying for this event because ladies from the church are inviting their friends to come participate in the class. Pray that relationships will be built between followers of Jesus and women who are not currently believers. Pray that Jesus would draw hearts to himself through outreaches such as this class.
The Stari Most (Old Bridge) at Mostar.
While the ladies are working with the cake class, Pastor Nick and Pastor Matt are teaching a class at the Bible School in Mostar. We arrived earlier today and got to do a little sight seeing, but tonight, Nick and Matt are teaching a Friday evening class. For now please pray for Professor Nick, Professor Matt and the students. Tomorrow’s class will be an especially long day for them.
- Jesse
Pastor Nick Teaching at the Bible School in Mostar.
The Forgotten City
Today, let me tell you the story of a little city in Bosnia called Varesh.
Varesh is located in a mountain valley about one hour north of Sarajevo, Bosnia. During the cold war and the height of Yugoslavia, Varesh numbered over 25,000 people. At the heart of the city was a thriving mill that employed a majority of the population. Today, that building sits cold and empty. Unemployment is as high as 80%, and the numbers of the city have dwindled down to around 8,000.
The local residents call this place the forgotten city. After the Balkan war, many nations and much foreign aid arrived in the larger cities to help rebuild. But not in Varesh. No one came to help. No aid came for repairs. The city was left to itself to slowly rebuild from a horrific ethnic clash. The Bosnian war left them divided, depressed, and with little hope that the future will be any better. The road to this city feels more like winding back alley that may just as soon dead end and go over a cliff than it does a highway to Varesh.
But with God, no place, no city, is every forgotten. About four years ago, a Christians couple from Zenitca, Mario and Dana (pronounced Day-anna) felt called to come and help this area. As they prayed over the city and looked to God for direction, they noticed a group of kids who would stand around for several hours after school. These kids lived in some of the 40 villages beyond Varesh. If the city is "forgotten", imagine how the villages feel. There is one bus that connects some (not all) of these villages to Varesh. One bus in, one bus back. The bus doesn't leave until after 3. School is out some days as early as noon. God put it on Mario and Dana's heart to reach out to these kids as they waited.
Kids fill the center for lunch each day.
They found a space in the city and began inviting the kids in to do crafts, play games, and have a hot meal. (Many of these kids would eat only twice a day- a breakfast before leaving home early in the morning for school, and dinner late in the evening when they arrived home.) Slowly but surely, relationships are being built. One by one, Mario and Dana visit the homes of these children- Muslims by ethnic background- and explain what they are doing, as well as offer a prayer for the family. In some of these homes and villages, Mario and Dana believe this is the first time the name of Jesus has ever been spoken or heard. Families are becoming curious about why someone would care about them in these forgotten villages. Over 20 kids come daily to be blessed by Mario and Dana.
Though it is illegal in Bosnia to proselytize children, Mario and Dana pray for opportunities to answer questions and direct the kids to the hope they have in Christ. One day, a group of about 10 kids (the largest class coming to their center by far) came in asking for Bibles! Their teacher of Islamic Studies told them in class that every good Muslim should have a Bible and read it daily! Bibles that had been sitting on a shelf were suddenly in the hands, and the homes, of these 10 kids. God works in amazing ways here in Varesh.
Mario and Dana have been meeting with local government leaders, who have given them a wide-open door to preach the gospel and even start a church. "Do whatever you want", the Bosnian and Croat leaders say, "just help our people." So one at a time, God is beginning to build his church here.
And one by one, God is bringing people to His name. An older lady, who grew up in a family of Muslim priests, had taken care of a woman who was a Christian and had given her a Bible. When she met Mario and Dana, she asked questions she had since reading it, and shortly after gave her life to Christ.
Another Varesh resident had gone to Germany for a job, and there become a Christian. When she returned to Varesh, she found this small evangelical church and began to plug in.
A Muslim man came and asked them about what they are doing in his city. For over two hours he sat and asked questions about Christianity. At the end, he said he felt a warmth all over his body and a certainty that Christ was the one true way, and he surrendered his heart to Jesus.
Pastor Mario shares with Kathy Eikost.
God is at work in this valley! Will you join me in praying for the people of Varesh? Recently, the Alliance did a fund-raising campaign to purchase property so a church could be built, and almost three times the amount needed came in! Pray that God would lead Mario and Dana to just the right place. Pray for Mark and Kathy Eikost as they walk alongside this couple and help plant the church. Pray for the 10 Muslim kids who received Bibles. Pray for the families whom Mario and Dana visit in the villages. Pray that this forgotten city would become a light to the country of Bosnia. For our God has a way of turning valleys of dry bones into springs of living water. May living water course down the hills into Sarajevo and the cities beyond.
Thanks for praying!
Pastor Nick
The Cost of Following Jesus
In the last blog Nick mentioned that we got to meet and hear Pastor Slavco’s story. Between his story and the war museum we saw yesterday I’ve had a lot of thoughts to process! I’m still working on them but one thing I’ll share with you now:
Some of you may remember the video that we showed a couple weeks in a row during our Global Impact week. If you don’t remember you can view it here.
The view of Sarajevo from the top of the Avaz tower.
In the video you see the character, "Christian" talking about access to the gospel being restricted in many places of the world. Bosnia is one of those places. It’s not that churches here have to meet in secret or under the radar, but in this country of 3.8 million people, Pastor Slavko said, that about 1,000 are born again Christians. As Nick has shared before, that is like our church being the only christian church in the city of Portland. And even that would make our church larger than the bosnian church. It is staggering to think as we walk around Sarajevo that almost no one we see on these busy streets knows or believes the gospel. Access is very much limited.
Nick doing some prep work in the office at Izvor.
Also, as I've been meeting with Christians and hearing about some of the struggles they face I have been trying to wrap my head around the cost of being a Christian in Bosnia. There is always the same cost to following Christ no matter where or who you are. We all lose the throne of our hearts that we used to sit on to the Lordship of Jesus, and this means that we are all called to do things that are hard or stop doing things that we really want to do. But, for some, they pay up front, so-to-speak. For some, it means very tangible sacrifices from the get go. Here, being a christian could mean that your business would suffer. There is such corruption and a system of bribes is built in to many systems. Just as an example, some restaurant waiters will not report all the cups of coffee they sell, instead they will supplement their income by pocketing some of the small sales. When this waiter decides to follow Jesus they will inevitably learn that Jesus wants us to be honest in our dealings and not to steal. You can imagine some of the trouble they may get from the other waiters who now look bad when the christian begins turning in higher receipts at the end of the day, not to mention the loss of supplemented income or that fact that the boss may fire them for the stealing they have already done in the past. There is also the simple discrimination a christian business might face just for being different and dealing in business differently.
Pastor Matt Howell teaching a Business Ethics Seminar at Izvor.
Nick also mentioned Pastor Matt's Business Ethics Seminar in which some of these issues were able to be discussed. The seminar itself seemed to be well received and Matt did a really great job presenting the positive side of building trust and doing business in a way that asks, "how would I like to be treated."
Please pray for our brothers and sisters around the world facing difficult issues and seeking to follow Christ and bring light to a dark world. And, let's let their example challenge and convict us.
Thanks for checking in and thank you for praying!
- Jesse
The Church in Bosnia
One of the realities that hits you when you visit Bosnia is that this is a spiritually dark country. But the darkness doesn't stop in the spiritual realm.
Worship at the Ilidza Church.
On Sunday, we went out to the west end of town and worshiped with the Ilidza church. For those of you that are familiar with the Bosnia church, you may be interested to know that this small church has moved to a larger facility in a more central location to the shopping and dining area of Ilidza. They are experiencing some moderate growth and have benefited from a partnership with another mission organization that uses their facility for mid-week children's programming. I had the honor of bringing the message during the service. At the end, Alliance worker Kathy Eikost was leading the congregation in a rousing version of "How Great Thou Art." During this same time, a a drug-related incident was occurring outside, not connected to the church. Just beyond the front door of the church, a man was stabbed in the leg. As we ended the church service, police were responding and putting up caution tape that blocked our way to the parking lot! Talk about an unexpected end to the morning. As you might imagine, our prayer walking in this area later that afternoon had a particular urgency to it!
Sunday night, we joined the church at Malta for their worship service, where Matt Howell of Tacoma both played bass and also did the preaching. It was great to reconnect with many in this group whom I have met on previous trips. Pray for Pastor Sasha as he leads this diverse group towards spiritual maturity and tries to build a greater passion for reaching their city.
Today (Monday) involved some prayer walking around downtown, visiting a local museum on the Srebrinca massacre (a tragedy of the Balkan war where Serbian forces killed over 8,000 Bosnian men and boys in a single day), and coffee with another local pastor named Slavko. His story of how he came to faith was a great encouragement to our team.
Please pray for us as we continue to serve here. Matt is leading a "Business Ethics" seminar for over 25 Bosnians tonight at the Izvor Center. This is a challenging topic in a country where bribery is the social norm and corruption in the political system is the norm. Pray that this topic will challenge those who attend, and that it will spark a spiritual curiosity in them.
Thank you for your prayers! Many blessings-
Pastor Nick
Hello From The Future!
Nick Teaching on Spiritual Formation Friday evening at the Malta church.
Hello everyone! We have been in Bosnia for two full days now. For the most part, I think we are all getting pretty well adjusted to the time change (Bosnia is 9 hours ahead of Pacific Time, so hello from the future!). The fist day here was really long, especially for Nick and Matt (Pastor from Tacoma, WA), as the only sleep we got on Thursday night was on the airplane and after we landed in Bosnia, Friday at 12:45pm; that evening, Nick and Matt taught the first seminar on Spiritual Formation (see Nick’s blog below).
So far, the trip has been exciting as we have gotten to meet the Alliance workers here and reconnect with the Dinius family who had come to our Global Impact week at East Hills a year ago. Yesterday, we rode the “tram" to downtown Sarajevo and experienced some Bosnian culture. It is amazing to me how relational the people are, and how many people are out and about walking at almost any time of day and late into the evening. Walking seems to be part of the way of life here and we got to experience some of that as we explored today.
Nick inside the Library/Museum, you can see some of the Turkish architecture.
We visited a Library/Museum that had some Bosnian art exhibited. The building was built in and around a building that used to be a Turkish bath-house. The architecture was really beautiful.
The roof of the old Turkish bath-house.
We’ve been enjoying the food too! So far my favorite is the stuffed donuts, which are fried bread stuffed with cheese and chicken, but I’m expecting that this will not be my favorite for long; there are still so many foods left to try! We also had Bosnian pizza which will probably, eventually, find it’s way into another blog post at my pizza blog: jessedeats.blogspot.com.
Today we are going to church at Ilidza where Nick will be preaching and I am looking forward to possibly helping out on their worship team! Keep checking back here for more updates!
Thank you for praying for us. Please continue to pray that God would bring us into the path of people that need encouragement and that we can be a blessing in all the conversations and interactions we have. Also, pray that God would teach and grow us through this trip, that he would bring us into to the path of people who he will use to do that work in us.
- Jesse
On the Ground
Our first day in Bosnia is in the books!
After a three-legged flight from Seattle to Sarajevo, we arrived Friday afternoon and hit the ground running! Our international partners Mark Eikost and Todd Dinius met us at the airport and transported us over to our places of lodging. Then we had a great lunch of American-style chili at Mark and Kathy Eikost’s apartment, followed by our team orientation.
The team enjoys a breakfast in Munich, Germany during our lay-over before heading to Sarajevo.
We then met up with our friend and local Bosnian pastor Sasha Nikolinovic for coffee. He pastors the Evangelical Church at Malta, where we are also doing a Spiritual Formation seminar this weekend. Round one was Friday night, as both Matt Howell (Tacoma Alliance) and I did some presenting. Considering that we were running on just a few hours of sleep on the plane, we felt that we did pretty well! Working with a translator always takes some getting used to, but the message seemed to be communicated clearly. Please pray that our second round on Saturday would be equally smooth and that we would be a tremendous encouragement to the local church. Pray also for our energy and stamina as we adjust to the new time zone. Local time here is 9 hours ahead of Pacific Time.
Pastor Matt Howell teaches during the Spiritual Formation Class at Malta.
For those who may be reading this update who are new to our partnership with Bosnia, let me give you a couple more ways to pray. The Evangelical Church of Bosnia is a very, very small percentage of the people in this country. On average, about 1,500 people worship weekly in an Evangelical Church in a country of over 4 million. The church at Malta (the name of one section of the capital city Sarajevo) is probably the largest Evangelical church in the city, averaging 60-70 in attendance. As much as half of this crowd on any given weekend is foreign workers here to do ministry. Pray for Pastor Sasha and the Malta Church as we worship with them the next two weekends and do the preaching. On Sunday morning, we will be out at Ilidza, which is a church plant from Malta. This group of 15-20 has a tremendous heart for their community, but limited resources. Pray that their second-hand clothing ministry would be effective at creating bridges for the gospel.
Until tomorrow, keep praying for us. We would love to read your comments and prayers, so please post them below. Also, if you have any questions about our trip, our team, or the people of Bosnia, please post those as well and I’ll do my best to answer them!
Thanks for taking this trip with us! We are your hands and feet on the ground in Bosnia for the next 10 days. Blessings-
Pastor Nick
Back to Bosnia, by Pastor Nick Stumbo
Though Facebook, and the Internet in general, have tried to shrink it, the world is still a very big place. Thousands of people groups dot the globe, and for most of us, our awareness of these other cultures is limited at best. Then Jesus comes along in His gospel and calls us to “Go into the world and make disciples.” How can we be light around the world when we struggle to be light in our neighborhoods?
About five years ago, East Hills was stuck in this kind of place as a church. We cared about the world in general, and knew that God had called us to go, but the overwhelming amount of countries, peoples and cultures kept our missions outreach stagnant. It was at this time that we were introduced to the idea of partnership. Partnership in world missions means adopting or embracing a specific place of the world as your own- the particular place where you will invest and go deep.
As our leadership team prayed through many possibilities, the country God put on our heart was Bosnia Herzegovina. Part of the former Yugoslavia, Bosnia fell into a horrific civil war in the mid-1990’s. Their neighbors, Serbia, controlled most of the military and most of the money. Due to this and long-standing historical divides, the civil war quickly turned into an ethnic-cleansing as Serbs moved through Bosnia and began driving out, or worse eliminating, Bosniak Muslims and Croatian Catholics. A 42-month siege of the capital city Sarajevo was ended by the USA-brokered Dayton Peace accords. This arrangement gave Bosnia its sovereignty as a country, but the deep cultural divides remain to this day.
Bosnia is a country divided by deep, ethnic lines. To be Bosnian is to be Muslim, even if just in name. An uneasy peace or tolerance exists between the three main people groups- Bosnian, Serbian (Orthodox) and Croatian (Catholic). Here enters the church. The Bosnian Evangelical Church is a small, but unified group of believers who want to build bridges between the people groups with the message of Jesus Christ. The Alliance also has a team of workers who live and serve alongside this church to further their efforts of reaching the nation with the gospel.
Over the last five years, EHA has partnered with the Bosnian church and the Alliance. We have had teams go over to run a kid’s club, build a fence at a Bible Camp, and teach classes at the Bible College. It is with great joy and anticipation that Pastor Jesse and I are headed back to Bosnia Nov. 6-18 to further this connection. We will be joined by three others from the Tacoma Alliance Church. On our trip, we will be preaching in four local churches, helping lead worship, and teaching two classes on Spiritual Formation.
Here are some of Jesse’s thoughts about the trip:
“Having never been to Bosnia, I could almost put everything I know about Bosnia in two to three hundred words, which is exactly what I am about to do.
When I think about Bosnia the first thing that comes to mind is the war that happened there in the early 90’s. I was pretty young at that time but can remember hearing about it on the news. It will be interesting to see how this recent history of Bosnia affects the people there today. I know one of our team members recently lost her husband, and will probably have opportunity to share her story of God’s faithfulness to her, with Bosnian women who have also lost husbands. Please pray for that!
As a church we’ve been partnering with Alliance workers in Bosnia and I am very excited to be able to see this first hand. I’m looking forward to getting to know some of the Alliance workers better, and also to meet some of the local pastors and build relationships with them. I’ve heard stories of the friendships that have been built by others from East Hills who have taken trips to Bosnia. And I am looking forward to building similar relationships and hoping that God will put me in contact with someone with whom I can bring His blessing and light into their lives. Please pray for God to bring us all special opportunities to bless others and that we would have His eyes to see these opportunities as He sees them. Thank you for praying for us!”
We want to invite you to “take this trip” with us. You can read a daily trip log by visiting the House online: http://www.easthillsalliance.org/the-house/
As we come alongside the Bosnian church, where only .05% of the population have faith in Christ, our desire is to see Jesus reunite people with their heavenly Father and with one another. Pray that we would be an encouragement everywhere we go- to the Alliance team, to the Bosnian church and pastors, and to Bosnians who don’t yet know Christ.
Thanks for helping us be light in the world!