Our Mission

Dear Friends and Family,

This summer Corey and I plan to be part of a mission team from http://www.southsidefellowship.org/ to go work in Slovakia with Josiah Venture missionaries (and former Southside youth pastor), Zac and Kim Shepperson. Zac and Kim have served with Josiah Venture for over 10 years and have been very effective in training and mentoring youth-ministry volunteers in Eastern Europe. Please take time to read about the Shepperson family and their work with Josiah Venture @ http://www.josiahventure.com/people-and-places/slovakia/34 and http://www.josiahventure.com/about/training-centers/tckompas-slovakia.

Purpose: Our role will be to teach English to high school students at a summer camp. Slovak teens take English in high school and are eager to practice conversational English with Americans. The summer camp ministry gives us a great opportunity to serve the Slovak parents and youth ministry volunteers who host and staff the camp. The JV camp program is well organized and weaves gospel-centered content into universal summer camp activities.

When: July 2012

Where: Bardejov, Slovakia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bardejov

Cost: $2,500 per member. Our expenses include airfare, ground transportation, food/lodging, and project materials. Each team member is responsible for raising his/her support. Please visit the following link to donate online and sign up for the newsletter.  www.southsidefellowship.org/default.aspx?page=3362&requestUrl=%2fdefault.aspx%3fpage%3d3700

Why Donate? In his letter to the church in Philippi, the Apostle Paul thanked the congregation for supplying the necessary funds for his short-term mission trip to Thessalonica. We are following this biblical precedent in asking for believers to send this team to Slovakia. Philippians 4:16 says that God credits the sender along with the sent.

Of equal or greater importance is your partnership through encouragement and prayers.

Please Pray:

·       That our team will be unified, prepared and reflect positively on the Shepperson’s and JV

·       That our team will humbly and effectively serve Slovak parents, volunteers, and campers

·       That our team will be effective in turning Slovak curiosity about American culture into curiosity about
Christ, who is relevant in every culture and available to all who call on Him

·       For you who haven’t said a prayer in a long time…just start out with, “hi God…it’s me”...and just lean in to wherever that goes. I’m sure He will remember you and be glad you called.

·       For you who have a regular dialogue with God, please talk to Him about us.

Special Event: I would also like to invite you to two special events. The first is a pre-trip prayer time created for the three summer mission teams, including ours. Our time will be on July 8 at Southside Fellowship Room 202 @ 11:30am. The second event will be after we get back and is called Go-Stories. Our team will be featured and will share how we sensed God working in Slovakia and in us….same room and time slot on August 5. It’s always fun to have a party with the big team that sent the small team that went.

Eager to see visible fingerprints of our invisible God in this volunteer adventure.



Rob & Corey