Czech Trip Article.

I’m convinced that it’s simply impossible to anticipate the places one will go when God is part of the decision making process.  To be honest, I should have known this by now considering I’ve chosen a vocation that necessarily fetters one’s life to God’s intentions.  But as I’ve come to expect, I found myself struck yet again with utter disbelief this past spring when I found myself on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, stepping out into the cool crisp air of the Czech Republic with eight of my fellow seminarians and our friend and professor of Practical Theology, Dr. Amy Jacober.   From what I have pieced together since I got home, the jist of the story is that the Spirit of God can and will pull you in all sorts of directions, no matter how unexpected.
This unforeseen trek to Western Europe began in the fall of 2007.  I had just taken a grad-assistanship as a Campus Minister with Baylor University’s Area of Spiritual Life in the Youth Programs department when asked if I would consider the opportunity to assist in leading a team of Truett students on a mission trip to the Czech Republic in the spring.  Of all the possibilities that I can imagine coming my way in life, there was no way I could have anticipated this, and to be rather candid with you, the ten-hour flight that it would take to reach Europe would only be the second time I had been on a plane.
The existence of such an opportunity was due entirely to Dr. Jacober’s extensive involvement in youth ministry endeavors worldwide.  We served alongside Malachi Youth Ministries (http://www.malachi.org) and Military Community Youth Ministries (http://www.mcym.org), two organizations dedicated to ministering to teens with parents in active military duty, as they brought over 600 students and adults together in weeklong service projects throughout Europe.  Specifically, our Truett team worked with 200 students and adults from military bases in Germany and Spain in the village of Turnov in the Czech Republic.  Other service projects took place simultaneously in Opava in the Czech Republic, Ustron in Poland, and Presov in Slovakia.  To say the least, it was an interesting experience spending a week of community-oriented service in a foreign country while at the same time working alongside American teens.  This mission trip transplanted something like youth ministry that I have had much experience with, and placed it directly in the middle of the dichotomy of the familiar and the literally foreign.
In Turnov, our entire project, including meals, lodging at a nearby camp, a place for evening worship, and every service location, was coordinated in large part by Peter and Petr, co-pastors of a Moravian Church (part of the Jednota Bratrská) located right outside the center of town. With their help, a school (Základní Škola) across the street from the church, which now looks back on our time with them as their “week with the Americans,” allowed our group to serve inside classrooms, in after school clubs, and outside as we created an outdoor learning center and built a regulation size sand volleyball court.  As well, our group was able to clear out and construct an outdoor play area and begin demolition on what will become an Internet café and the locale for an English-speaking club at the church, and refurbish the physical education facilities at trade school in town.
Looking back, I am amazed yet again by the brilliant things God can and will do through people who give of themselves and seek after the needs of others above their own.  I say this not because I believe I have mastered such a lifestyle, but because I am encouraged beyond belief by the glimpse Christ’s character I saw in and through the actions of people whose lives are so very different than my own.  On my part, it was a week spent participating in the ever-unfolding story of my own calling, basking in the reality that the kingdom of God is still bigger than I can fathom, and knowing that I am right where I need to be.

*** Highlight videos of the Turnov Service Project 2008 can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/user/betterproductions***

Jared Slack is beginning his 6th and second to last semester at Truett Seminary and diligently working toward his Master of Divinity with a concentration in Theology.  He calls Waco home, but his mom wishes he would say Lufkin, Texas.  He spends much of his time working as a Campus Minister with Baylor’s Area of Spiritual Life, reading for Dr. Ngan and all those professors striving to be like her, pondering the wonder of BBQ, and relaxing with his dog Karis.  He hopes to spend his career calling people toward life in community and participating in the missio dei.