ENGLAND 2009 - Trip Across Europe DAY #2

Canterbury, EnglandTuesday, March 31, 2009
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Trip Across Europe DAY #2
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It is so cool to just be Jesus with skin on wherever we go in the world. I shared the fact that we were missionaries in Poland with Liz, who owns the small guest house we are staying in. She asked if we could pray that her daughter’s car would work before she gets back from university. I told her, of course, that we would, and in fact, we did. I pray that even this answered prayer would be a witness to the power of Jesus Christ. We also went to a small restaurant near where we are staying. We went for fish and chips because we knew it would be less expensive than other restaurants in town, but they were out. They had a lot of ethnic-type foods (which we ordered) and we could tell that the two guys behind the counter were of Middle Eastern descent, yet both spoke with thick British accents. One of them took a liking to us right away. He began to ask questions about where we were from. We shared with him for a bit. I decided to give him a small tip, even though I know in that sort of restaurant, it is not expected. He was genuinely kind to us. I saw that his arms were tattooed, as mine are. So I felt prompted to go back after we got to our room, and give him one of my CD’s. I asked him if he liked rock music, specifically metal. He said that he did and started naming bands that he liked. I knew that if he liked those bands, he would enjoy the music of “Reckless Abandon,” so I handed him the CD and told him it was original music from my brother and I in America. He seemed blown away, jutted out his hand over the counter to shake my hand. I know that there was a connection made. I prayed as I headed back to the room that the lyrics of those songs would speak to his heart and that he would be drawn closer to Jesus through them. Once again, Jesus with skin on. One person at a time, for the Kingdom of God.

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Christian Young

FRANCE 2009 - Trip Across Europe DAY #2

Calais, France
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
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Trip Across Europe DAY #2The signs soon turned from Flemish to French, and our GPS showed us that we were crossing over into France. It is neat to scan the FM radio stations as you cross into different countries. Only a few hours ago, we were hearing music and talk radio in German, then in Flemish, and now we were listening to it in French. Pretty cool. It didn’t take us long to arrive in Calais from the border. We had heard about being able to put our car onto a train, and take what is called, “the Eurotunnel,” from France to England, underneath the English channel. This blew our mind and we were excited to give it a go. We got our passports stamped at the border (which is a huge reason why we made the trip), and then was directed to literally drive our car, in a line of other cars onto a train. We were told to put the emergency brake on and keep it in first gear, and roll down the windows half way. Then, we began to speed into an underground tunnel. Within 35 minutes as advertised we had traveled, by car/train from France to England. Amazing!
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Christian Young

BELGIUM 2009 - Trip Across Europe DAY #2

Brussels, Belgium
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
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Trip Across Europe DAY #2
Belgium sort of snuck up on us. We had just programmed our GPS to take us the quickest route from Sieberg, Germany to Calais, France. We hadn’t really paid attention as to what route it had drawn up. All of the sudden, we started seeing something other than German on road signs and for a little bit, I didn’t even know what country we were in. I actually stopped in to a gas station (which I couldn’t figure out how to use, because they only took some weird kind of debit card) and couldn’t figure out what they were speaking. Come to find out it was Flemish and that we were in Belgium. They didn’t stop us at any border like in Germany. Anyway, something that changed from Germany to Belgium was the scenery. All of the sudden there was grass on the shoulder of the road. The roads themselves were different and we went back to having speed limits. The cool thing is, Nick, the guy we stayed with in Germany, feels led to take a scouting trip to Belgium with a group from the Bible College, with the hopes that Calvary can someday plant a church in Belgium. We told him that our hope was to stop by YWAM in Brussels, probably on the way back through. With all of this in mind, we prayed as we drive through Belgium, both for this opportunity for Nick and Calvary Chapel, but also in general for revival in Europe. We prayed this way in all of the countries we have been passing through.
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Chris Chin Chung

GERMANY 2009 - Trip Across Europe DAY #2

Siegen, Germany
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
.Trip Across Europe DAY #2We all woke up this morning and were pretty tired. The drive that we made the day before was exhausting and we didn’t get too much sleep as we needed to get up a little early. We got up, packed up, ate breakfast and followed Nick and some students to the Calvary Chapel church in Siegen. We met some staff and students before their daily “devo’s” which started at around 8:25 am. Our family sat in the back row as students from Calvary Chapel Bible College gathered to pray, worship and share from the Scripture. Kata then asked if I would get up to share for 5 to 10 minutes with the students. Of course, I was glad to do so. I shared how we had a mutual friend in Paul Ainslie (and Becca Kaleda) about SkateChurch in Vancouver, Washington, about our call to missions, about our work in Poland, about our future plans for Africa and about our heart for the unreached people groups. I shared with them from Romans 15:20 where Paul says, “I make it my aim to preach the gospel where Christ is not named lest I build on another man’s foundation.”
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Afterward, we met more lovely students and staff, both from the U.S. and from elsewhere. We cruised over to the coffee shop that Calvary Chapel runs to get an espresso drink to go as we needed to hit the road to make it to the U.K. by afternoon. Two girls talked with us for a while at the coffee shop. Both of them were German; Michelle and Enis (sp?). They are both really neat women of God. We talked with them for a while and encouraged each other in the faith. I felt led to give Michelle a copy of one of mu CD’s. She was thankful for it. I told Enis I would give her one, as well, when we came back through next week. Our hope is to stay next Tuesday night, and, Lord willing, lead worship for the small group (made up of Bible college students) that meets weekly at Nick and Jessie’s house.

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Christian Young

GERMANY 2009 - Trip Across Europe DAY #1

Siegen, Germany
Monday, March 30, 2009
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Trip Across Europe DAY #1So every three months we need to leave Poland, and more specifically the Schengen Territory, in order to get our passports stamped allowing us to stay another three months in Poland. This time, we decided to drive across Western Europe to the U.K. in order to accomplish this. We also have some other things that we need to do, as well, on this trip. One of those things is to do some ministry along the way. We have been praying that we would be blown by the Wind of the Holy Spirit in this. It is simply amazing how God works.
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This morning we left the church, our home, in Piotrków-Trybunalski at 6:30 am. We knew that if we wanted to make it to the U.K. by Wednesday, we needed to really cover a lot of ground today. We drove through Wrocław all the way to the German border and made it there by just after noon. At the border, our vehicle was inspected, along with our passports, my international driving permit and the vehicle documentation. We were glad that the police officers spoke English as we don’t speak really much German at all. It didn’t take too long and they let us through.
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Some of the roads in Poland are pretty good, but many of them have potholes and are only one lane roads. It can be scary trying to “overtake” or pass someone as it can be hard to judge how far away the oncoming traffic is. The roads in Germany are very nice, but people here drive crazy fast as there are often no speed limits. I mean, there were times that I thought I was going fast, and then some German sports car just quickly is on your tail from out of nowhere as I am passing what I think are “slower vehicles.” I like the no speed limit thing, though. I felt like Jason Bourne from the Bourne Identity or something. It was a long trip today, though. I think we drove more than 950 kilometers (around 650 miles). One cool thing is that as you see signs with brown on them, you know to look for historic places along the Autobahn. The hillsides were dotted with castles, which Cho Nas did such a great job of capturing many of them on camera.

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Two days ago my good friend, and fellow missionary, Paul Ainslie got a hold of me on Skype. He said that we should stay in Siegen, Germany where he attended Calvary Chapel Bible College. So we prayed about it, and showed up on their door step just after 6:00 pm today. They were so gracious to us. We first met a girl named Veronica, (I think we interrupted during her devotional time) who knows Paul and is an intern at the Bible College. She brought us to Kata, a German girl who also knows Paul and is on staff here. She showed us around the Bible college, and then told us we could stay with another couple who is on staff at the Bible college. We followed her to some flats that Calvary Chapel rents out for staff where we met Nick and Jessie. They are an awesome couple from the east coast of the U.S. and are also on staff here. Nick is teaching apologetics at the college. We got to fellowship with them and pray with them tonight. We have a room that we have been given to stay at tonight. What a huge blessing! Tomorrow morning, we will join the staff and students for “devo’s,” or morning devotions where they have a time of worship and morning devotions. Then we will hit the road again with the hopes to stay in Calais, France tomorrow night before taking the Eurotunnel to the U.K. on Wednesday morning. We have talked about stopping back by Siegen on the way back to lead worship at their Tuesday night Bible study and stay the night again. God is so good!
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Christian Young

POLAND 2009 - Prayer Walking

Piotrków-Trybunalski, Poland

Sunday, March 29, 2009
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Prayer Walking
Yesterday, we were able to continue to engage in spiritual warfare here in Piotrków-Trybunalski, by going on a prayer walk with another missionary couple. We took a route that we had not yet taken. It was sort of a loop, north of our friends’ house. Once again, we believe that God’s favor was upon our time as we cried out to Him on behalf of this city.
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The neighborhoods that we walked through were those which in which poverty was evident; both physical and spiritual poverty. We prayed against a spirit of poverty in the area, and that the Lord would draw the people living in that area to Himself, as it is often at the lowest point in people’s lives that they search for God. We also prayed against a spirit of addiction, as we saw empty bottles of liquor strewn about the streets. We know for fact that this is a huge problem in Poland. It is really neat how the missionaries here that we work with have so many contacts in the city. As we would pass certain blocks of flats, our missionary friends would tell us stories of people with whom they have built relationships over the years. And so we prayed for these people by name. We also prayed over the schools and orphanages that we passed.
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We also had three divine appointments on this prayer walk. The first was with a lady who our friends knew. As we walked up to her to greet her, some Jehovah’s Witnesses were talking to her. We found out that they had been “proselytizing” her for a while, and we explained to her that they don’t teach the truth as found in Scripture, but have erroneous anti-biblical teachings. The JW’s took off as soon as we approached this lady. Next we ran into a man who attends our church here in PT. His place of work is on the way back to our friends’ house. Anyway, he saw us walking by out of the window and we stopped in to say, “Cześć.” Come to find out he wasn’t feeling good and was sick with some sort of cold or flu. We were able to pray for him and encourage him. Then, as we continued walking, we ran into a young man who I met on our first missions trip to Poland back in 2007. He is a young man who had given His life to Christ through the ministry of the local church here in PT, and even went on many trips with our team in 2007. He has since walked away from the church and we aren’t sure where he is at with God. I saw him across the street and he came across to greet us. I embraced him and got his phone number. He would like to meet with me after we get back from our road trip to the U.K. in a couple of weeks. Praise God! What a wonderful prayer walk in was, today, even though we were missing some of our warfare prayer team due to sickness.
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Christian Young

POLAND 2009 - Guitar Lessons Expanded

Piotrków-Trybunalski, Poland

Thursday, March 26, 2009
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Guitar Lessons Expanded
We have begun to give guitar lessons at a second location in town with another group of young people. There are currently three świetlice (children’s after school programs run but the city), and we are now giving guitar lessons at two of the three świetlice in Piotrków-Trybunalski. It is a good way to connect with many of the children who often come to the Kid’s Club at our church. They seem to very much be enjoying their time of learning every week. Please pray for more opportunities for us to share the gospel of Christ with them as we give guitar lessons. Thank you so much.
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Christian Young

POLAND 2009 - Re-Releasing Original Music

Piotrków-Trybunalski, Poland

Monday, March 23, 2009
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Re-Releasing Original Music
My FACEPLANT original music is huge here in Europe! Just kidding. It’s not huge, but the people here in Poland do like it. I have had a chance on a few occasions to play some of it live. My good friend Andrzej also really likes it, and believes in it so much that he has talked me into re-releasing the two albums that have been previously released in America, “Make Me Clean,” and, “Reckless Abandon.” I am re-releasing the CD’s in a more simple fashion, with a picture stamped on the CD’s in a clear jewel case rather than shrink-wrapped with full color covers and such. So it is very inexpensive to be able to do this. We will be taking these CD’s with us across Europe as we hope to do some ministry during our upcoming trip to the U.K. We are also hoping to be able to travel to Latvia in June to partner with some friends from YWAM and play at a large concert-event. We will keep you posted on these developments.
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One of the main reasons for the re-releasing of these is that I will be “performing” at two concerts here in Piotrków-Trybunalski that Andrzej and I have been spending a lot of time planning. One will be a smaller concert at the church in mid-April where I will be “head-lining.” The other will be a larger concert at the cultural center in town in mid-May where I will be opening for an awesome evangelical Christian band from Warsaw called, “Euangeliom.” The first concert won’t take much as far as finances go. But I would like to ask you to join me in prayer for the finances to be able to put on the second concert. Andrzej has been very thorough and done a great job at getting the best rates to be able to make this happen. We believe that it will be a great opportunity to do evangelistic outreach among the youth in Piotrków-Trybunalski. This is a rare occurrence, not only in Poland, but especially here in the city that God has brought our family to. We are definitely putting some of our own money towards this, but the whole concert, with promoting it as well, will cost just under $1,000.00 US. Please join us in prayer for the finances to make this chance to share Christ so publically a reality in min-May. If you feel led to give financially to this cause, please email me at: Faceplant4jc@msn.com so that I can walk you through how to do this.
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Also, I was able to purchase an awesome program and equipment before we left the States to record new original music onto our lap-top. I am currently in the process of recording and releasing a THIRD FACEPLANT ALBUM. This album will contain songs that have not yet been released on the other two albums, and I hope to have two of my songs translated into Polish on the album: “In The Silence,” and, “Thanks To You.” There will be new band members contributing to this album as well – Polish band members! I hope to have Marta on keyboards, Łukasz on violin and Bogdan on bass guitar. My son, Cho Nas, will join me as well, on another guitar. We hope to have this album released to be able to sell by the second concert in mid-May. We also covet your prayers in this as it takes a lot of time and effort. It is our prayer that God would take this music that has come from my heart, and by His Spirit, use it to draw people here in Poland and in Europe closer to Himself.
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Christian Young

POLAND 2009 - First Funeral in Poland

Rzejowice, Poland

Wednesday, March 18, 2009
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First Funeral in Poland
Yesterday, I attended a funeral in Poland for the first time. Over the weekend, one of the dear old ladies from the village church passed away. I was supposed to go with Andrzej to lead the service at the village church last Sunday, but it was cancelled due to this lady passing away.
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A pastor friend of mine called me the other night and asked if I would like to join him as he was going to leading this funeral service. I was happy to go. I have never experienced a funeral in Poland as of yet. And besides, I had known this dear old lady, who was an awesome believer from the village church. On the way to the funeral, I heard stories about one woman’s father who was the pastor at one time in this village. When he passed away, the only plot that he was given to be buried on was in a far off corner in one of the local cemeteries. You see, the Catholic Church owns all of these cemeteries, and because the man was an evangelical pastor, he was considered a heretic, and not fir to be buried with all of the other Catholics from the village. Not only this, but during his funeral service at the gravesite not many years ago, young people climbed up on the fence and began making cat sounds during the service. Many from the Catholic Church here believe evangelical Christianity to be a sect, and call it the “religion of cats” (not sure why). But this blatant disrespect and persecution, if you will, of evangelical believers wasn’t just toward this pastor, it has also been aimed at this dear old lady from the village church who had passed away. It is aimed at all of the evangelical believers in the village.
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Funerals in Poland are a little different than in the States, and not so long and drawn out. We first went to the family’s house. Then everyone traveled together to the cemetery. And when I say everyone, I mean most of the village. Even though most are catholic and resent evangelical believers, it is still a village. Everyone knows everyone and the entire village goes to the cemetery for the funeral service when someone from the village dies. There, at the gravesite, the pall bears pulled the coffin from the vehicle and opened it for the family (who wanted) to view the body. Then we traveled to a little place, far off in the cemetery, along the fence (which I understand to be a place for people who are “not important”) where there was a hole dug. It was bitterly cold, windy and snowing as well. My job was to hold the umbrella for my pastor friend as he led the people in one song from the hymn book. Then he gave a message. This message was an “in your face” kind of message. In his eloquence my pastor friend spoke about this woman’s life with words of affirmation of a life spent pursuing a close, personal relationship with Jesus. This, of course, was in itself offensive to many of the Catholic hearers. But he didn’t stop there. He then began to confront the fact that this lady had been looked down upon by the people in this village for pursuing such a close, personal relationship with Jesus. He said that this is what we should all be pursuing in our life. At these words, many of the people in attendance began to turn and leave. Others, though, surprisingly stayed and listened. I stood there, not able to feel my hand due to the extremely cold weather, praying that the words of my pastor friend would penetrate the hearts of the hearers. I am very proud of my pastor friend for taking such a public stand for the truth.
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The funeral service was actually cut short due to the bad weather. One more song was sung, though I hear that usually, at evangelical funeral services, more songs are normally sung. Then, the pall bears attempted to drop the coffin into the hole that was dug. Strangely, the coffin did not fit in the hole, as the hole wasn’t dug long enough. They used big sticks to try to shoe in the coffin without success. (This seemed a bit unprofessional and disrespectful to me, anyway). They then pulled the coffin back out, dug the hole bigger, and finally got the coffin into the hole. Then friends and family went to the family’s home for herbata (tea), bigos (hunter’s stew with sauerkraut) and other snacks. As I looked around the table at many leathery old faces and wind-burnt rosy cheeks, I shared in this meal and listened to them reminisce in their beautiful Polish language about stories that took place here. I found out that the woman who had died was actually born in the house I was sitting in (where we also hold village church meetings at times). What a history. What a story of faith and perseverance in the face of adversity and opposition. These people here must very much “love not their own lives” for the sake of a personal, hand-holding relationship with Jesus. I felt blessed to be in their presence that day, and to share in the celebration of a life lived for Jesus.
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Christian Young

POLAND 2009 - Angelic Visitation?

Piotrków-Trybunalski, Poland

Monday, March 16, 2009
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Angelic Visitation?
We had just gotten back from spending the evening at Andrzej and Kasia’s house. We pretty much always go over to their home on Monday evenings for dinner and fellowship. We came back home and had the kids take a shower, pray and get into bed. There wasn’t anything out of the ordinary going on. We had a small lamp on in our room.
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All of the sudden I started to see some lights on the wall to my left out of the corner of my eye. Not sure if I was just seeing things or not, I waited it out a bit more to see if I could see anything again. I once again saw a little light, right in the same area on the wall. I began to explain what I was seeing...I felt this warmth all over my body, starting at my head. Knowing my camera was in reach, I wondered if the angels would mind if we snapped a couple of shots, to try to catch them on camera. Of course, I wasn’t sure that anything would turn out from taking a picture, or if this even was an angelic visitation. Either way, we welcomed it if it truly was an angelic visitation from God’s holy angels. So often it seems as though we are getting attacked from the fallen angels. It seems a nice change to be aware of a visit from the holy angels.

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I snapped a few pictures and could see something in the ones that I didn’t use the flash on. But then when I began to mess with the contrast and brightness of the ones I took with the flash, a brilliant light in the form of an angel began to take shape right in the very place I saw the lights on the wall. I don’t know. It could be nothing. Just thought I would put the pictures up and tell the story of what we experienced tonight.
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Christian Young

POLAND 2009 - Gimnazjum Youth Pastor

Piotrków-Trybunalski, Poland

Thursday, March 12, 2009
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Gimnazjum Youth Pastor
In Poland, Middle School or Jr. High is called, “gimnazjum.” Since we arrived in Poland, one of the responsibilities that I spent time praying about before taking, is being the gimnazjum youth pastor. The youth group here at the church is split into two groups, just as most youth groups are in the states. There is a Middle School and High School youth group. Mark is the High School youth pastor, and before we arrived in Poland, Daniel was the gimnazjum youth pastor. Since we arrived, I have taken the reins as gimnazjum youth pastor.

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Every Saturday afternoon we meet from about 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm. We start out as a combined group for worship, then we split into two groups for the teaching. Then, if time permits, we come back together for games. The group I have been entrusted with is made up of James, Kuba, Marta and Jonas. They are a great group of young people. Mark is teaching through Galations, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians. I am taking my group through a topical study from a Polish curriculum. Every week I must spend a bit of time translating the lesson from Polish to English (so that I understand it), and then give the lesson on Saturday in English and Polish. I am now able to slowly communicate simple phrases and ask some simple questions in Polish to stimulate discussion, yet I still count on James to help me translate the more difficult concepts. We have already studied the importance of memorizing Bible, how to make the Bible interesting and relevant to youth, and just recently we did a study on the importance of prayer.

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Just as with youth groups in the States, we also go on youth outings. So far, we have gone on two trips as a youth group. We have gone ice skating as well as bowling. The outdoor ice skating rink is just around the corner from the church. The bowling alley isn’t really a bowling alley, but is two lanes in the basement of a nice hotel in town. These guys have a blast, whether in the classroom, or on youth outings, and it is an honor for me to be able to be their pastor for the time that we are here in Poland.

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Christian Young