Between July 17 and July 25, a group of volunteers from First Baptist Church Forney traveled to the Czech Republic. The visit was one in a series of visits that began about 2 1/2 years ago to open doors of communication with the Czech people, to build relationships across an ocean, and to win followers for Jesus Christ.

Leader of each trip has been Scott Lyle, FBC’s Pastor of Leadership and Missions.

This summer, Lyle took a group from FBC Forney to Plzen (Pilsen), a community with a population of some 175,000 about an hour’s drive west of the Czech Republic’s capital city, Prague. The group flew in to Prague, then took a train to Plzen.

The group from Forney went to Plzen to teach English at a  public school. School was out in Plzen for the summer, just as it is here, so the group conducted what Lyle later called an “English camp”. They ended up with about 60 Czechs who wanted to learn or practice English, of assorted ages from children through adult. During the day the Americans taught classes in English; in the evenings, they conducted sessions in conversational English.

Lyle said English classes are offered in the Czech school system, and so a lot of the younger people there are already learning it.

“They were excited about us being there and about having an opportunity to speak English (with native speakers),” Lyle related. He added that through giving Czechs the opportunity to speak and practice English, God is opening doors to spiritual conversations. At such times, the members of Lyle’s group and students wishing to hear more about the Gospel used Bibles both in English and in Czech, and during their stay, the FBC group gave away new translations of the Bible in the Czech language.

Although Czechs have a strong Catholic history, many Czechs today identify themselves as atheists, Lyle related. In fact, he said, the Czech Republic is known as one of the most atheistic countries in the world—a fertile ground for the Gospel. Lyle confirmed that during the week they were in Plzen, the volunteers from Forney First Baptist were able to share the Gospel numerous times, and one young woman became a Christian while they were there.

*See the July 30, 2009 issue of the Forney Messenger for entire story and additional photos.