Last night, I was blessed to be invited to meet with a group of people in Bucovice, CZ who have started gathering together to worship. My Roma preacher friend, Matej Novy, has been meeting with them. Bucovice is the city where he and his family live now. For the trip there, I took Pavel K. who helped me to translate and Hugo who is a believer from the Roma church here in Brno.
First, let me say that I was flattered to be asked to take part in the service. Matej said that there were people who came just to hear why a man from a small town in Tennessee would be ministering to Roma people in Europe. I was able to share some of my testimony about how God touched my heart in Romania to be a witness among the Roma and show them compassion and point them to Jesus who can give them peace and an eternal future in heaven. Pavel helped me to translate the words and also the introductions to 3 songs! I was asked to sing to the people of Bucovice… so, I sang “The Lighthouse,” “Midnight Cry,” and “Jesus Has His Hand on Me.” It was awesome! Oh, don’t get that comment wrong… I am not talking about me or my singing… no, I am speaking about how the people received me! I felt completely at home and the room where we gathered was full with around 35 to 40 people. The best part is that the people were a wonderful mixture of humanity. There were white Czech folks, Roma folks and even one young man from Malaysia.
After the service, we went back to Matej’s home to have some refreshments and coffee and talk about the work going on in Bucovice and Brno. I am thankful that I was able to encourage Matej about ministry matters and give him what I believe is good advice on how to deal with conflict, forgiveness, and grace. Please be praying with me about the possibility of my working more closely with this group in the months ahead. May the Lord be glorified in Bucovice! Amen.
