Josiah Venture Stories

Ryan Palmer is originally from Seattle Washington and has been assisting with short-term teams for Josiah Venture since 2009.  In Seattle, Ryan is a high school teacher who teaches astronomy and biology. In this episode, Ryan explores the mission behind "short-term teams" and why they are so essential to Josiah Venture's ministry in Central and Eastern Europe. He shares the joys and challenges tha...

Damaris Iordache is an intern serving with the Communications team this summer as a videographer. Damaris is from Galati, Romania, and studies Marketing at the University of Bucharest. She is 21 years old and going into her final year. In this episode, Damaris shares her testimony, how she came to accept Jesus, and her experience as an intern for the C-team. At the end of the episode, she explains...

Josh Benning is an intern serving in Germany this summer. Josh is from Brookfield, Wisconsin, and is studying Elementary Education at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. He is the second youngest of five and is minoring in German and Spanish teaching at his university. In this episode, Josh shares how he first heard of Josiah Venture, why he decided to intern in Germany, and his time during th...

Darius and Bia Bocsa are missionaries in Romania. Darius, who is from Romania, met his wife Bia, who is from Brazil, at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. Both have a desire and passion for serving the Lord and making the name of Jesus known. After they were married, they decided to move to Romania and work with young people. Darius and Bia's passion is to communicate the gospel to Romanian youth s...

Geri Fuehring and her husband Dave joined the Josiah Venture Czech Republic team full-time in 2015. There, they worked as local missionaries investing in students and leaders in their local church and community in the city of Olomouc. In the summer of 2019, they relocated to Chicago and are now serving with Josiah Venture as Directors of Ministry Partner Development. Their role is to help equip bo...

Tyler Patty and Sean Smith serve in the Czech Republic as facilitators and tutors with ForMission college on the Central and Eastern European campus. Tyler is the Campus Tutor and he leads the entire campus, facilitates classes, and takes care of all campus administration. Sean is the Formation Tutor and he facilitates classes, leads student support efforts, and leads a weekly cluster group. In th...

Gwynne Gardner is the Social Media Manager for Josiah Venture and is usually the podcast host! That's right, instead of asking the questions, Gwynne is the one to be interviewed this time. A big thank you to Rob Chestnut for being the host for this episode. After serving as an intern and then as a full-time missionary in Slovenia for 8.5 years and then Czech for a little over a year, Gwynne now se...

Eric and Lindsay Meland are doing amazing things in Hungary! Currently, along with language learning, local ministry, leading Summer interns, and directing Summer camps, they are supporting and mentoring 12 different youth pastors around Hungary, which is one of their favorite things to do. Their goal is to equip these pastors in making committed, passionate disciples of Jesus who will turn around...

Christy Owen has served in Lviv, Ukraine, for the last eight years. She has been a part of the Fusion ministry there and has been highly involved in discipling young women. Christy shares about her journey to Ukraine, but mostly we have a conversation about being single on the mission field. She talks about some of the common joys and struggles of serving as a single. We recorded this episode back...

Ben Williams is the Josiah Venture country leader for Ukraine and Dave Patty is the JV President. In this episode they share an important and timely update on what's happening in Ukraine with our team, what we are doing to aid and support our local church partners in there, and how we are getting refugees out. The update and words of encouragement they have to share during this dark time are power...

Many people around the world are asking how they can help the war in Ukraine. Here is how you can help! Pray, Give, & Share! Click here to Pray! Click here to Give to the Ukraine Crisis Fund! Listen and Share! Please join us in spreading awareness on how to help by sharing this short podcast on your own personal social media platforms. Every share, instagram story, and prayer helps and matters.  T...

Stojce Nikolov is the Josiah Venture country leader for Serbia and he is doing creative and innovative things with his ministry through social media. Shortly after coming to faith, Stojce began asking God to provide a way for him to deepen his understanding and relationship with his newfound Savior. Within a few months Stojce, who was living in Macedonia, received the opportunity to move to Serbia...

Marta Logins is a missionary, pastor's wife, and mom in her home country of Latvia. She and her husband, Raimonds, have been serving there, along with their three daughters, for seven years. Back in November some of the Josiah Venture women gathered over zoom and heard an encouraging message from Marta and we quickly realized that her story needed to be shared with a wider audience.  Marta shares...

This last episode of 2021 features 11 amazing missionaries (Shelby Flowers, Bara Filipová, Jacob Adent, Kseniya Dušek, Terry English, Mike Sullivan, Mel Ellenwood, Lauren Bozon, John Kloosterhuis, Martina, Pixová, Rob Chestnut) who serve with the Josiah Venture International Team in the Czech Republic. The International Team, or I-Team, as we like to call it, exists to serve, empower and equip all...

Juli Muhameti is a national from Albania, and he believes in the God who saves. He was just 14 years old when he became a Christian after he was challenged to read the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, at the same time. Somewhere in the middle of Exodus and John, God opened his eyes. Juli put his faith in Christ and received the gift of eternal life. Juli grew up in a culturally Muslim household...

Andrej Lovše is a missionary and pastor in his hometown of Maribor, Slovenia, and serves as the Josiah Venture country leader. In this episode, you will hear all about Andrej's love for his country, his family, and his three horses. He also shares his wild dreams and prayers he has for Slovenia. He met his wife, Nina, when they were teenagers. Nina was the first to accept Christ due to missionarie...

Eliza Kobin is originally from Latvia, but is currently living in Estonia with her husband, Vahur, who is serving as Country Leader for Koma, the national organization in Estonia. Eliza serves in Koma as the Media Team Leader. She first came to a JV Fusion camp as a Latvian student in 2009, putting her faith in Christ there. She then started serving in Latvian local ministries and as a JV summer i...

Olya Meland is a national missionary in her home country of Ukraine. She loves her husband, her country, making disciples, and being a new mom. She and her husband, Marc, met while both were serving in Josiah Venture. Marc had been in Hungary for four years, and Olya had been in Ukraine. Now, they serve together in the city of Lviv, Ukraine, with their son Enoch. Marc serves in the EDGE Sports Min...

Shelby Flowers is the Director of Fusion International and is passionate about helping young people use their gifts and talents for the Kingdom.  She first traveled to the Czech Republic in 2010 to serve at a Fusion camp with a short-term team. She quickly realized that her relationship with Czech would never be "short-term." The way music works as a tool to build relationships and connect people...

Rob Chestnut loves the hero's journey: Frodo and the ring, Luke becoming a Jedi, Harry Potter, the Avengers, etc. In this episode, he shares all about his journey of faith, his identity as a Josiah Venture missionary, what he is doing now with the Training Team, and his love for Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. Rob and his wife Audrey served with Josiah Venture from 2011-2016, working with the Eng...

Surprise! We have a special bonus episode of the "Josiah Venture Stories" podcast for you! This episode was recorded at the annual Josiah Venture Kids Camp that happened in August and features 6 JVK of various ages. Enjoy hearing the young JV voices of Gage, Kinsley, Caden, Tanash, Caleb, and Isabelle. They talk about what they love about being a JVK and what they enjoy about JVK camp. They share...

Joe Brooks is an American missionary living in Latvia. He went on his first Josiah Venture mission trip to Latvia as a high school student back in 2001. Later, he came back three more times as a JV summer intern. These summer trips had a profound effect on his faith and changed the direction of his life. Consequently, after graduating from BIOLA in 2007, he decided to move to Latvia. Once there, h...

Hannah Hartman is a JVK alumnus and third culture kid! She just started her second year of college in Massachusetts at Gordon College. She is the oldest of four and moved to the Czech Republic with her family when she was nine years old. She has navigated learning a new language, attending school in her second language, and successfully graduating.  In this episode you will hear her talk about the...

Do you know what a TCK is? Claire Patty grew up in the Czech Republic with her family as a TCK, Third Culture Kid, and from a young age was impacted by being raised in a cross-cultural setting and seeing the gospel transform lives. After graduating from a Czech national school, she moved to Chicago to begin her studies in Children's ministry at Moody Bible Institute. During her years at Moody, God...

Noah Ellenwood was only two years old when his family moved to the Czech Republic. He grew up as a JVK, a Josiah Venture Kid, more commonly known as a Third Culture Kid. He and his wife, Jill, were called to join the movement of God in Montenegro and moved there in January of 2020, yes, right before the pandemic hit. Noah is now the team leader there, and they are pioneering the way as they are th...