Final Report!

The two weeks of soul-winning came to an end, and we praise God for all that was accomplished! Sunday we were expecting great things to happen, and it did not turn out like we hoped it would. After all the work we had not one visitor in either church. At first I was pretty discouraged, but then I remembered were I was. Croatia is a dark place that has been bound by religion. It is going to take time to see something happen here. I am going to cling to Galatians 6,9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. God's holy word is still true, and I still believe it!

We did have some positive things. One man called me on Sunday wanting directions to the Church. He did not show up, but maybe next Sunday he will. Today another lady called. She received a tract and wants more information. This shows me that God is still speaking to people through the tracts that we passed out.

Again I want to thank all of you who prayed! So many great things happened, and I know they happened because of your prayers. I want to ask you to continue to pray for Croatia. Pray that God will turn these precious people from darkness to light!

Day #12 Soul-winning marathon!

Well Glory! Yesterday we finished our last day of the soul-winning marathon! Many tracts were passed out and there was one saved! Cody led another one to the Lord! Yes I'm grinning from ear to ear! This brings our total to 78 souls saved!

All we can do is rejoice in God our Savior! God was so good to us. I know towards the end of the soul-winning marathon we were definitely standing in His strength alone.

We rejoice in the 78 souls saved, but God did so much more this week. There were so many people who heard a clear presentation of the Gospel. Many people told us they would go home and ask Jesus to save them. Only heaven will reveal how many people really got saved. Not only did many hear the Gospel, but so many more saw a Church in town who believes the Bible! I think we left a good testimony, because each city we spent time in, always at the end people would walk by and say I already got the tract. Some would even walk by and show us their tract, as if to say I have my toll can I please pass!

What a great two weeks we had. Thank you all who took the time to pray! Today is Sunday, and I'm looking forward to seeing God do something today. Whatever happens we will give Him the glory!

Day #11 Soul-winning marathon!

We had another great day yesterday! It seemed like nothing was going to happen, because there weren't that many people in town. Then as we walked a little further people started getting saved! Before lunch 6 people called on the name of the Lord! After lunch a young man named Manuel excepted Jesus as his Savior! Even though it was cold and it looked like nothing was going to happen, God still showed up and 7 people were gloriously saved! This brings our total to 77 souls saved!

Saturday we will have the last day of our soul-winning marathon. Twelve days have come and gone so quickly! I've talked to so many people that I can't remember them all. I don't know how many heard the gospel, which did not pray with us in the park, but I do know it was a lot!

Tomorrow we will be ending the two weeks of evangelism. I'm praying folks will come to church., and many people said they would be there. I have been praying all week that God would not let them sleep until they go to church.

I want to thank all of you who have faithfully prayed for the last 12 days or so. Your prayers have made the difference!

Day #10 Soul-winning marathon!

Now I remember why we call it a soul-winning marathon! We have two days left and I'm beat. After talking to people for several hours a day, 9 days straight it begins to wear on you. I'm so glad the Bible says that in our weakest moments God has His strongest moments in our lives! II Corinthians 12:10 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

We had another good day yesterday. There were 4 saved which brings us to 70 souls saved! Joshua had two! Way to go Joshua! It is still cold here, although God gave us lots of sunshine. I think the weather has some factor because there are not as many people walking around the square. When we do find them they are in a hurry to get out of the cold. I do think they must know that we believe in what we are doing. Who else would stand in the cold all day? It is good that the people of Croatia see that someone really believes that the Bible is true!

Please keep praying! We really need your prayers. The work we are doing is a spiritual one and we are fighting a spiritual battle. Pray specifically for the services on Sunday. I'm really hoping that we will have many visitors in both churches. Catholicism runs deep in many people here and we need God to break down the wall of religion.

Day #9 Soul-winning marathon!

Yes God can save people when it's cold! Yesterday it was in the 40's with a strong north wind. After living here 9 years you would think that I'm used to it by now, but I'm not. Brother Sam and I stood out in the park and watched 6 people call on the name of the Lord, and many more that stood and listened to God's plan of Salvation! This brings us to 66 souls saved! We just want to give God all the glory! He is so good to us! What a privilege to serve Him!

Please continue to pray; we have 3 more days of the soul-winning marathon!

Day #8 Soul-winning marathon!

Yesterday we left Zagreb with a burden in our hearts! In the capitol city there are 1,000,000 people and not one Independent Fundamental Baptist Church! We spent the day passing out tracts and witnessing! I don't know how many tracts we passed out, but it was close to 3,000. We also brought a suit case full of John and Romans. These went so quick that I had people asking me for them. God's Holy Word was sown in a big way yesterday! All I can say is praise God for allowing me to be in the ministry.

The Gospel was presented many times as well! There were 9 saved, which brings the grand total to 60 souls saved! Cody was able to lead two and I don't know how many times Joshua presented the Gospel, but it was a lot! Brother Rich, the national pastor, gave out the Gospel so many times that I thought he was going to loose his voice. I praise God for a Croatian pastor who is a soul-winner! Brother Sam was a blessing as he pleaded with as many people as he could find that spoke English to get saved!

The soul-winning team had a great day of fellowship as we worked for the King of Kings! We want to thank you all for praying! Prayer still works! Today we will be returning to Varazdin. Please pray that many will get saved there and that we will gain many contacts for our church plant in this city!

Day #7 Soul-winning marathon!

Today we started our week in Varazdin! I'm hopeful that many will be saved and that many new contacts will be gained for the new church plant there.

God has been given us unusually great weather! Croatia can be a very cold place, but it has been in the 70's until today! A cold front arrived and with it lots of rain! Bro. Sam and I decided that we needed to trust God so we went soul-winning inspite of the rain. When we arrived to Varazdin it was barely sprinkling; so we got out of the car and headed to the park. About 100 yards away from the car the rain began to get stronger; so we headed back for shelter. However, God had other plans! Around 20 feet from the car we saw two men walking who needed to be saved. After stopping them they were so excited to hear that God loves them and does not want them to go to hell. Two men in the rain under a tree got glorious saved! While I was talking to them Bro. Sam stopped a young man who decided to wait in line to get saved. After dealing with the first two men I turned to the young man who was waiting in line, what a joy it was to tell him of a Savior who could save anyone in any kind of weather. After lunch two girls were saved, which made 5 for the day! This brings our total to 51 souls saved!

Today we are going to the capitol city! We are praying that God will do big things there! Thank you all who have faithfully prayed! Please continue to do so!

Day #6 Soul-winning marathon!

Saturday we spent the morning in Cakovec passing out tracts and witnessing! I took a few children from our church and it was a blessing seeing them pass out gospel tracts; they even tried to talk to people. Bro. Sam and Cody each had one saved which brings our total to 46 souls saved! Cody is turning into a real soul-winner.

When we arrived to town I was approached by a JW. I quickly learned that they had a booth set up in town and there were about 8 of them spreading their heresy. It seems they saw us in town all week and so now they are going to try it. I pointed them out to brother Rich and he said, "What a shame that they are copying what we are doing." He then said, "why aren't the other Baptist in this town copying us? Where are they?"

We have definitely stirred this town up! Many are talking and know that there is one church in town that believes what the Bible says!

Day #5 Soul-winning marathon!

Day 5 of our soul-winning marathon was another tremendous day! All I can do is praise Almighty God! He has been so good to us this week. Yesterday we had a total of 15 saved, which brings our grand total to 44 souls saved! If there is anybody out there already saying did they mean it when they accepted Christ, let me say to you, "Why don't you go suck your pacifier and go and read somebody elses blog!" Now that that is off my chest let me tell you some of the things that God did, and I do emphasize the fact that God did everything!

First let me say way to go Joshua! He has been trying so hard to lead someone to Christ. He is like my dad, because he's not scared of anything or anyone. Joshua has been talking to everyone about Christ. I don't know how many times he shared the gospel with people this week. He's probably shared the gospel this week more than most Christians do in their life time. Yesterday He got one! He was so excited that he had to call his mom on the phone and tell her. That is what soul-winning will do to your Christianity. It will put a fire of excitement in it! As a dad I was so proud of my boy!

Another great victory, and by the way I'm still shouting about it, was the salvation of Brother Rich's mom. For you that may not know brother Rich is the national pastor of the church here! He has been praying for so long for his mom to get saved. He's witnessed to her in the past, but of course it's a little difficult because it is his mom. He asked brother Sam and I to go and witness to her. We were delighted to do this. This visit was bathed in prayer, and I don't know if I've ever felt the Holy Spirit working through me as I did yesterday. The words just seem to flow, and she listened so closely. Then she bowed her head and received Jesus as her Savior! Well glory!!!!!!!! Brother Rich was so excited and so were we!

Before we went to our big meeting Friday night, brother Sam and I were walking towards the meeting place after a few hours of soul-winning! As we were walking we saw a group of young people and gave them some tracts. They were 16 to 18 and there were 5 of them. I begin talking to them and they listened so closely to what I was preaching. Now we are on the sidewalk and they are in a half cirlce around me listening to the gospel. Folks were having to go around us. When I get about half way through the plan two more people walk up to the group. I thought a revival was getting ready to break out in the park! I quickly learned that the two that just walked up were saved. They just wanted to listen. After giving the gospel 4 of the 5 prayed to receive Christ! The 2 that were already saved stayed around and wanted to know where our church was so that they could come to one of our meetings! God was so good! I left rejoicing in the Lord!

Finally I must give you a negative. Our meeting last night was not a success in the eyes of the world or maybe in the eyes of other Christians. We had no one show up and it was a little discouraging. However, many of our own people came, and this encouraged me. Maybe they are growing and beginning to care about others!

Please pray for Sunday! Our main service is Sunday night. We are hoping to get some visitors in the service. Yesterday reminded me that Croatia is not America. The gospel has not been here for years. We are in a battle with slew foot! He does not want an Independent, Hell hating, Jesus loving, Soul-winning Baptist church! But we know someone who does want that kind of Church in Croatia and that is our lord Jesus Christ!

Thank you all for praying, and please continue to do so for we have a whole week ahead of us!

Day #4 Soul-winning marathon!

We spent another 5 hours yesterday telling people that Jesus loves them! One girl was wearing a shirt that said I need somebody to love me. What a joy it was to tell her about the Savior who truly loves her. It was a joy when she bowed her head and received Jesus Christ as her Savior!

God was good again, He always is! We had 8 saved yesterday; this brings our total to 29 souls saved!

Thank you for encouraging Cody. He is turning into a soul-winning machine. Yesterday he led a woman to the Lord in her 70's! Joshua hasn't led one yet, but he has more boldness than anyone out there. He was talking to everyone about Jesus! As a dad I'm swelling with pride. My boys have never played on a baseball team or football team. They've never hit a home run or scored a touchdown, but glory to God they are learning to be soul-winners! To me that is better than the home run or touch down!

Today which is Thursday is a holiday. We will not be going out today, but tomorrow we will hit the streets again. Please pray for Friday night. We are hoping to have a good meeting with these converts!

Day #3 Soul-winning marathon!

Glory to Almighty God! We had another tremendous day. There were 8 souls saved which brings our total to 21. In the last three days about 50 other people have heard a clear presentation of the gospel. They did not want to pray with us in the park, but many of them promised to do this at home. Only heaven knows how many more have been saved that we don't even know about. God has been moving in such a mighty way. It is so exciting to be a part of this.

We received many blessings yesterday, but there is one in particular that I want to share with you. After my boys finished school they went with us into town. Both of them had such a desire to win somebody to the Lord. My oldest son Cody was able to lead his first soul to the Lord in the Croatian language! I watched the whole thing and I about had a shouting fit in the park! God has been so good to us this week. We believe it is because so many of you are praying! Please keep praying! We want God to shake this town this week for the glory of Almighty God!

Day #2 Soul-winning marathon!

Well all I can say is glory to God!!!!!!!!!! Day 2 of our Soul-winning marathon started out difficult. For me it was a little discouraging. It seemed as if there was a satanic depression in the air. I'm sure there was for he certainly was not happy about what we were trying to do. In the morning we did have two saved before lunch and many many more heard a gospel presentation.

However, after lunch was a completely different story. It did start out a little slow, but after we had a prayer meeting in the park, God came down in a mighty way. Discouragement turned into encouragement as I saw God move through each of us! Before the day was over 12 precious souls received Jesus Christ! Glory to the living God!

We want to ask all you to continue praying for us this week, especially for this Friday. We have rented a building in the center of town. Friday night we are trying to get all of the converts that we have this week to come to this meeting. We hope to get them into church through this effort. Thank you all for your prayers!

Day #1 Soul-winning marathon!

We had a glorious day today. It is so good to be in service for the King of kings. Brother Alen, my two boys and I started the day in Varazdin. We passed out close to a 1,000 tracts in about an 1 and a half. I was able to preach the Gospel 3 different times. Marko, a 17 year old young man, got gloriously saved!

From Varazdin we headed to the airport to pick up Brother Sam. Praise the Lord he was on time with all of his luggage - that's a miracle in itself. Then we went to the main train station where there is always people and we passed out another 1,000 tracts. We were able to share the gospel 8 times, but we had no one saved! We were not discouraged because 8 people heard how they could escape the flames of hell.

Monday we will officially start our soul-winning marathon. Today we wanted to break the ice a little. Please be in prayer for us. Croatia is a dark place, and we have got to have the Holy Spirit of God working!

On your mark, get set, GO!!!

I guess it has been a year already, actually a bit more than a year since the last post on this blog. We'll we're happy to report that we are back and this blog is again active!

Early Saturday morning Bro. Johnny had the privilege of leading a young man to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ in Varaždin before he headed to the capitol to pick up Bro. Sam at the airport. As soon as Bro. Sam arrived, 9 hours after his departure from Dallas, Texas they began the soul-warning. They headed to the main train station in the Zagreb and began witnessing to anyone who would listen.No one in Zagreb was saved (that we know of) but hundreds had the opportunity.

What a great start to a wonderful two weeks. The goal this time around is to have at least 100 saved and 10 baptized. Please pray with us that precious Croatian souls would be saved and reached for Christ.

Also on Friday the church has rented a building in the center of town to have a meeting with all the converts that will come, please pray for this meeting.

Will be posting regular updates to check back daily!

June 4th, All Good Things Must Come to an End!

Today was the last day out soul-winning with Bro. Sam. He leaves tomorrow morning for Dallas. We are so sad to see him go, we're grown to love him and he's leaving and empty place in our home.The men went out to Varaždin today and met Tea near the park. Tea spoke perfect English, and Bro. Johnny was delighted to lead her to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Sadly the weather got the best of the day and Tea was the only one saved but we praise God for her!

Altogether for the last 8 days there have been 76 priceless souls won to Jesus Christ. We rejoice that we have the freedom to stand in the park and tell people of a Saviour who can save any and everyone. We also thank God for Bro. Sam and Bro. Johnny, who simply Got Over Themselves!

June 3rd, Despite the Rain!

The men were again in the city of Varaždin today and despite the rain, the Lord blessed their efforts. 10 priceless souls were saved from an eternity in hell!

Krešo and Marko were either on the way to or from school when Bro. Johnny met them. What a wonderful blessing to see these two young men trust Christ as their Saviour.


Hrvoje also heard the Good News today and decided to accept Jesus as his personal Saviour.

"Do you understand that heaven is a free gift?", Bro. Sam asked Mario. "Now I do!" What a wonderful blessing to hear this man ask the one and only Saviour of the world to save him. Amen!

What a life Zeljko has had. He is blind in one eye and one of his arms doesn't work, he truly is halt and blind. But one day, because he accepted Jesus as his Saviour, he will be able to see and have the full use of his body! Praise God that Zeljko was saved!

Jurica and Sanjin were also saved. God is so good to save any and all that call upon His name.

Bro. Johnny met Stjepan in the park and led him to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Amen!

What a wonderful blessing that Josip was born agian, all because Bro. Sam simply shared what he knew!

Also today Igor was saved, sadly we don't have a photo of him, bur God knows who he is!

June 2nd, Wow, Great Day in Varaždin!

Varaždin was the capitol of Croatia until it burnt to the ground in 1776. In the same year America gained it's independence. Today the men went to this city to preach the Gospel to many of these precious souls. Today 13 souls received independence which only Jesus Christ could have given them. Praise the Lord!

Today we met Robert, a drug addict in the park. Bro. Johnny explained to him how he could have eternal life in Jesus Christ. After he prayed and accepted Jesus, Bro. Johnny asked him, "Where will you go when you die?", Robert replied, "I will go to heaven.", "How do you know you will go to Heaven?", Bro. Johnny asked . Without hesitation Robert said, "Because all of my sins are on Jesus." Praise the Lord for another one in the family of God.

Mateja, on the left, has been thinking about eternity since the death of a family member 3 years ago. Bro. Sam told her of a Saviour who could give her eternal life. Her heart was opened and she accepted God's wonderful gift. After she was saved she helped her friend, who is also Mataje, come to know Jesus as her Saviour as well. Praise the Lord she's already becoming a soul-winner!
Damir has had contact with Adventists and was very confused. Today he too accepted the gift of eternal life and is a part of the family of God.

Ivana was passing through the park when Bro. Johnny gave her a tract. She listened so intently to the Gospel message and prayed to accept Jesus as her Saviour.

Roman and Bruno were riding their bikes through the park when Bro. Johnny stopped them and told them about the gift of God. They too accepted God's free gift and are saved eternally.

While eating lunch at the local McDonalds, Bro. Sam handed Vedran a tract. Bro. Johnny then asked him if he knew for sure he would go to Heaven. He replied that he wasn't sure but would like to be. A few minutes later Vedran bowed his head in McDonalds and was born into the family of God.
Drazen was on his way to work when he heard about God's wonderful gift. He too received eternal life today.

Jura was walking through the park when Bro. Sam stopped to give him a tract. Bro. Sam then began to explain to him in English how he could have eternal life. Jura accepted Jesus as his persoanl Saviour today. Bro. Johnny then approached him and in Croatian asked him if he understood everything. Jura said that he understood everything and then said, "Draga mi je da sam čuo." ( It was dear to me that I heard this.)

3 more precious Croatian teens accepted Jesus Christ but we do not have their information because of their age. Praise the Lord for this great day in Varaždin!

June 1st, Friend Day

Bro. Sam preaching in Croatia.
37 in attendance including 3 first time visitors.


Bro. Sam and Bro. Danijel in front of the church.

May 31st, An Incredible Day!

What an incredible day we had! Today was Dan Čakovec, something like Founders Day, and the town square was packed. We took a portable speaker system and Bro. Sam and Bro. Rich read a selection of Scriptures out loud. It was wonderful!
After the last reading a young lady came up to Bro. Alan and ask what church these people were from. Bro. Alan told her and she said she would be there tomorrow for church. Amen, someone was listening!

Altogether over 1000 tracts were passed out in town today, so 1000 people received a copy of the Gospel in their hand.




The men were busy passing out tracts and talking to people, it really was a wonderful day. The power of God was there and He blessed.


Matija is a young man from Macedonia. He was visiting some relatives in Croatia and happened to be in town on this day. After Bro. Sam and Bro. Rich stopped Matija, Bro. Rich told him about the love of God and eternal life through Jesus Christ. What a blessing that a man from Macedonia came to Croatia and was gloriously saved!!

Rajka was a very special case. Bro. Rich had seen her in town once before and he felt a great burden to share the Gospel with her. When he saw her today, the Holy Spirit moved Bro. Rich to approach this lady and after a while she too accepted Jesus as her Saviour. Please pray for Rajka, she has cancer and is currently taking Chemotherapy.

Thank you all for praying for the men as they strive to reach as many precious Croatians as they can.

May 30th, God sure is good!!

Again God showed His power! 13 more priceless souls accepted Jesus as their personal Savior.
As the men got weaker and more tired God's power took over.

Bro. Johnny had the wonderful privilege of leading Ivana and Dijana to the Lord Jesus Christ. They listened intently and decided that they needed Jesus to pay their penalty for sin. Amen!

Dino got saved today and he will always be saved, for eternity!

Today Bro. Johnny met Josip in town. Jasmin is a young man that received Christ as his Savior yesterday. Today Jasmin and his friend Marinko were in town and Bro. Johnny began to tell Marinko about Jesus. As he was explaining the plan of salvation to Marinko, Jasmin said, "I got saved yesterday!". What a blessing for Bro. Johnny and Jasmin to see Marinko accept the same free gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ that they had received.

Elvis was more blessed than he knew on this day. God had a divine appointment for him and Bro. Rich. Elvis heard about what Jesus did for him on Calvary and bowed his head and received Christ as his Savior.

Jasmin was in Čakovec on the right day! Today he met Jesus and was born into the family of God!

Bro. Johnny and Bro. Sam have been praying for a recent contact. Franjo an old, sick man cried as they told him about Jesus and what He did for him. Franjo decided not to receive Jesus on that day but told them to come back. When they returned the next day Franjo's wife had interfered and influenced Franjo not to be saved, how sad! Bro. Johnny and Sam decided to earnestly pray for Franjo to be saved. Apparently they didn't pray specifically enough because Franjo was saved today, but not the same Franjo.

Please pray for Franjo, a man rich in years and very ill. He could at any moment go off into eternity without Christ, God forbid!

What a blessing to meet Luka in the park today. After hearing about the love of Christ and what He did for him on Calvary Luka decided he wanted to have a personal relationship with Christ. As Bro. Johnny went through the plan of salvation with Luka his friend constantly called his name, urged him to leave and text messaged him. Also during this time some girls were laughing at him and still he stayed. Luka had enough courage to receive the gift of eternal life in front of all his peers.

Also saved today were five 13-15 year old teens. The national pastor Bro. Rich led them to the Lord. Praise God that the nationals are busy winning their own!

Please continue to pray, the men are weakening as the days are long, 8.5 hours a day and the heat is extreme at times. Please remember Bro. Sam who battles with MD and could use the extra prayers.

Thank you all for the prayers already sent up on behalf of the men and the precious Croatian people.

May 29th, AMEN!

Words alone can not express out overwhelming joy at the decisions made for Christ today. Altogether 17 souls accepted Jesus as their personal Savior.

Mati was standing with his friend Goran when he heard the Gospel. Many of his peers were all around him heckling. Mati was not ashamed to bow his head and receive Jesus as his Savior.

Marin and Zoran were led to saving knowledge of Jesus Christ by Bro. Rich, the national pastor.

Josip was riding through the park on his bike when Bro. Sam handed him a Gospel tract. Josip didn't speak english so Bro. Sam called Bro. Johnny for back-up. A little while later, Jospi's name was written down in the Lamb's Book of Life.

Jurica and Jasmina were walking through the parking lot of the local hospital when Bro. Alan and Bro. Johnny handed them a Gospel tract. They listened so carefully and received God's free Gift of eternal life.

Goran was with Mati when their friends were heckling, he too was not ashamed of Christ and bowed his head and received Jesus as his Savior.

Bro. Rich, the national pastor found Zoran and Marin walking through the castle in town when he handed them a tract. Soon afterwards these two young men accepted Jesus as their personal Savior.
Bro. Johnny met up with Dino in the town park and had the priviledge of leading him to Christ in English. Praise the Lord!

Bro. Sam met Ivan in town and soon found out that he was military and stationed in the capital Zagreb. Ivan told Bro. Sam that he didn't have any parents and after asking Jesus to save him Bro. Sam was proud to tell his about his new heavenly Father.

Bro. Sam found Nives in the park and shared Jesus with her. She listened intently and as she was ready to be saved her mother urged her to leave. Nives stayed and was gloriously saved.

Bro. Sam showed Ivan from the Bible how he could be saved and as it was time to ask God for this free gift he was a little bothered about praying outside of church. Bro. Sam explained to him that only praying in church was something man had made up and soon afterwards Ivan prayed and asked Jesus to save him.

Luka was one of many who received a tract and he alone stopped to hear the Gospel. Luka's name was written down in the Lamb's Book of Life today, Praise God!

Bro. Sam met Danijela in the park and she patiently listen to him. She was having a problem understanding that salvation was once and for all. She thought that she needed to be saved over and over. Bro. Sam explained to her that Jesus wants to give us eternal life not daily life. When she heard this she was ready to be saved.

Alaksandar stood even taller than Bro. Sam at 6'6. After hearing about Jesus' gift of eternal life he wanted to be saved but had a small problem with praying in public. Bro. Sam told him that a man his size shouldn't be scared to pray in public. Alaksandar said, "Let's pray."
Alaksandar parted with Bro. Sam after telling him how glad he was that he met him.

Altogether 17 souls received Jesus as their personal Savior. Amen!