Plowing Concrete

There are hard places on this earth, not just physically but spiritually as well. Places where people live their lives as most do. Caring for their families, working, and going about their daily activities. Yet while they can be kind and loving, their experiences have hardened their hearts. Experiences of decades of institutional and societal atheism and particularly, experiences of people who look out only for themselves.

These experiences have taught them to be suspicious, wary, and most of all, to guard their hearts.  To these people the truths of God’s sacrificial love are not to be trusted as no one does something for nothing.  There must be a catch and those that profess belief in this love must not be trusted. A friend of mine describes working to plant seeds of love in these hearts as “plowing concrete.”

Recent studies indicate that it takes seven years of living truth in personal relationships for these hearts to be softened enough to see and hear the truth.  This is difficult work.  It drains you mentally, spiritually, emotionally, and physically.  Yet, there are those who have given their lives to do just this.  People who, like the Apostle Paul, believe, “I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”

Why do these people choose to do such difficult, and oftentimes unrewarding, work?  There are many reasons, the preeminent one being faithfulness to the call on their lives, but I think there is something else as well.  It is the dream that these people who they seek to serve will one day have the joy and freedom that comes with knowing Truth.

The musical group For King and Country sings a song of encouragement for these dreamers:

“To the dreamers / Wide-eyed believers / Hanging onto hope by a thread / To the soulful / Heart open hopeful / Keep on charging ahead / ‘Cause, when you feel it / Once you see it, and you breathe it / It’s unforgettable / When you know it, once you know it / And you hold it / It’s unforgettable”

I would add to this encouragement a reminder from another friend who works in the difficult places, “Once you plow through the concrete, it doesn’t re-form.”  Keep your hands on the plow.

What are we doing?

We’re partnering with donors and Oklahoma churches to encourage and join with believers in Slovakia, a country with less than 2% evangelical believers, to plow the concrete of hard hearts.

How can you help?

Of course, your financial gifts are always useful.  If you’ve followed us for long, you know we work to create local, reproducible capacity.  As such, these gifts aren’t used to fund long-term operational needs.  Rather, we invest in local groups of believers to strengthen their ability to serve their communities.  Over the past six years we have invested over $100,000 to provide video equipment used during COVID times, infrastructure at a summer camp that reaches hundreds of young people each year, podcast equipment to broaden outreach to a national level, seminary infrastructure, pastoral care, and many other investments that strengthen these communities and increase their capacities.  Additionally, because these communities of believers were established, we were able to assist them by providing over $45,000 for humanitarian assistance to the numerous Ukrainian refugees that moved through their area at the beginning of the current war.  None of this happens without the generous gifts of donors like you.

Perhaps, like many others from our home state of Oklahoma, you feel the call to join in this work personally.  If so, we’d love to connect you with our partner churches in Minco and Weatherford, Oklahoma who are working in multiple cities in Slovakia to explore how you can be a part.  There are on-going needs for short, medium, and long-term workers. 

Or maybe you’d like to know more about specific projects like those above that you can support financially.  Potential projects include outreach and gathering space in Liptovsky Mikulas, gathering space in Revuca, a community social services facility in Bernolakovo, on-going development of the youth camp mentioned above, pastoral care and worker encouragement, or any number of other projects.  If so, please reach out to us and let us know what’s on your heart.