As I reflect on our month in the Czech Republic, I feel so blessed to have worked along side Josiah Venture on the Exit Tour. Thousands of Czech teenagers were impacted and exposed to Jesus and the gospel message for the first time in their lives. While Ashley and I actually did very little to plan or produce the Tour, our role was important to the success of the event. Ashley and I along with seven other Americans bridged the gap for these students.
Practing our Czech
What gap? The “gap” would be the disconnect between the Czech students and the local churches we partnered with. The churches and youth in Liberec and Pisek had a heart to share the gospel with the students there, but were having trouble connecting with the students in the reserved culture. Solution- Americans. More specifically, cool guys from LA in a band. Girls loved them and guys wanted to be them. The Czechs were eager listen to anything our group had to say about America, music, travel, and even religion.
The band and Exit Tour team used those opportunities to share why we do what we do and why we as Christians live the way we do. It was amazing to see the students try to comprehend something that was dead or irrelevant to them for so long.
One of Ashley’s friends Karolina said to her, “My grandmother is a Christian and has believed this for a long time. She has always tried to explain it to me, but I never listened because she’s my grandmother and she’s old. But now you all are here, saying the same things and you are like me. Maybe this is the truth.”
Karolina and Ashley
While talking with one of my new friends, David, a senior at one of the Czech high schools after we gave him a Bible, he asked, “How can this be true when my science teachers and all our books say it’s not possible?” I told him that if he would just read it and explore it that God would reveal himself and David would know the truth and it would be undeniable. I told him my joy, identity and worth aren’t found in America, they’re found in Jesus Christ. David responded with, “Maybe that is why I feel so empty on the inside.”
We heard over ten or fifteen stories about students that prayed to accept salvation through Jesus Christ while we were with the Exit Tour. There were also a hundred stories like Karolina’s and David’s. Students lost, searching for a place and a purpose in life. Our prayer is that they will continue asking the hard questions and exploring what might be culturally unacceptable. We know that Jesus is better than anything else our Czech friends will find and we are honored that we could help bridge that gap.
