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Stories
from the Field
May-June
2006
Straight to God
From Central and Eastern Europe Newsletter
Serving the Lord takes on a different look to every believer.
For Rhonda Fleming, it is something unique and crafted just
for her. Rhonda is a coffee house musician in Keilce, Poland.
As students from nearby university come to hang out and
visit with friends, Rhonda gets to help them understand
what is means to worship God and have a relationship with
Him-and she gets to do it through her music. For many Poles,
the concept of a personal relationship with God is as foreign
to them as missionaries that come bearing that news. But
through sharing times of worship with the students, they
see for themselves that God is personal and many are amazed
that Rhonda signs “straight to God.”
No one was more surprised than Rhonda tat there was a request
for a missionary to come and play music in the coffee house.
She had been doing that very thing all through college and
even joked with her friends about how she wished there was
a full time job that would allow her to lead worship and
disciple new believers. As she prayed about her future she
decided to find out about the Journeyman/ISC program of
the International Mission Board, a short term commitment
ideal for single men and women. “I went to conference
honestly 95% sure that wasn’t what God wanted me to
do,” she said. But God surprised her! “As I
looked through the books over 2000 jobs, I saw one for a
guitarist to play in a coffee house and work with student.
I almost fell out! It was exactly what I wanted to do, but…
Poland?”
Yes! Poland! Rhonda’s gifts and desires fit perfectly
with the needs there and now she is able to do what she
loves to do –writing and playing music, worshipping
and discipling— in a place where it desperately needs
doing. “The Bible says that God inhabits the praises
of his people. I really believe that when the Spirit has
control and is worshipping through us, that people notice
Him. Many come face-to-face with Him and feel His Presence.
They notice that there is something different and many begin
to realize that this worship is what they were created for,”
states Rhonda. This is what is happening in Poland. Young
people are seeing something different and it’s changing
them.
To find out more about possible ministry opportunities
in Poland, go to the Poland page of www.hoope4cee.org.
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