Marcus & Amie Denny

The Denny family transitioned to the mission field in April, 2009 to replace long-term missionaries Peter and Sonya Smith at the small church that the Smith’s planted in 2002.  In July the Smith family transitioned to the U.S. so that Peter could pastor a church in Michigan.

History makes the Czech Republic a challenging mission field.  Roman Catholicism dominated during the 400 years of Habsburg imperial rule, which ended with World War I.  Yet in earlier Czech history there was a vibrant 15th Century reformation (a century prior to Martin Luther).  The martyrdom of Czech reformer Jan Hus (1415 A.D.), who faithfully preached from Scripture in the Czech language, ignited the fires of living faith, giving light for 200 years.  In 1620 Habsburg imperial forces conquered the Czech lands, and the Czech reformation ceased to exist.  In the 20th Century, 50 years of Communism marred Czech thinking with a deep skepticism of Christianity.  When Czechs celebrate Jan Hus Day (a national holiday), there is little interest in the faith for which the early reformer died.

The Bible Christian Church of Kladno is a witness of Christ in this community of 70,000 people, located 20 km from the capital city of Prague.  The church consists of a core of faithful families and individuals who are growing in their faith and ministering within the church.  Marcus is preaching through the book of Colossians (with translation), hoping to encourage the Czech saints to identify and arm themselves against cultural “idols” that compromise their faithfulness to Christ.  He meets weekly with the men of the church, and Amie participates in a weekly women’s Bible study.  They have launched “mlades,” a youth group for the children of families in the church.  Marcus is also teaching the outreach English class which Peter and Sonya had invested in for many years.  In the midst of their full ministry schedule, Marcus and Amie are laboring to gain fluency in the Czech language.

The Dennys are so thankful for God’s goodness to them in their transition.  They have settled into the home the Smiths occupied in the village of Lidice, just outside of Kladno, and are making new friends in their neighborhood.  They praise God for the Kladno church in which they serve.  Please pray for the Dennys in the following areas:

    * That Marcus and Amie will abide in Christ, exercising faith in Him daily.  That they would be diligent raising their three daughters in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
    * That God would grant Marcus godly wisdom, biblical discernment and sensitivity to the Spirit as he shepherds the Kladno church and reaches out to the lost.  That Amie would remain sensitive to the Spirit as she establishes bonds of fellowship with ladies in the church.
    * That God would grant favor in enabling Marcus and Amie to become fluent Czech speakers.  It will be a blessing for the church when Marcus is able to preach without translation.
    * That the Lord would establish the Dennys’ witness for Christ as they learn to navigate in a foreign culture, seeking opportunities to display Christ and testify on behalf of the gospel.
    * That God would bless the church through Marcus’ messages from Colossians, causing His Word to do a sanctifying work in peoples’ lives.
    * That God would grant favor to the “mlades” ministry (youth group), opening the hearts of Czech young people to love the Savior and follow Him wholeheartedly. 

 

Birthdays
Marcus – June 11

Amie – November 26

Lydia – November 21, 2004

Sophia – August 31, 2006

Chloe – September 5, 2008 

E-mail and Web Addresses
marcusdenny@gmail.com

http://amied.xanga.com/

Mailing Address
10 Cervna 1942/32
27354 Lidice, Czech Republic

 

June update from the Johnson's

 

 

April update from the Denny's

From: marcusdenny@gmail.com
Subject: April 2010 Update
Date: Fri, 9 Apr 2010 08:53:00 +0200

 

 

God is working...
It's a beautiful, Saturday here in the Czech Republic. The sun is shining, gloriously, and the snow continues to melt making everyone start to feel a tinge of anticipation for spring. Just now, Marcus, Lydia and Sophia are outside gathering the snow in our yard, packing it into buckets and then emptying the brick-like result in an ordered fashion, creating a wall of sorts. It's fun to watch them outside our front window. Bucket after bucket, until a type of "snow-fort" starts to take shape! The neighbors are all out-side too, stopping by to chat a bit before continuing on their walks, dog's in tow. Today has been a special day. Marcus doesn't have work, so we've enjoyed spending every minute of it together- no business, just fun. Tomorrow, for our Sunday service, our church members will all caravan to Roudnice where 3 churches enjoy a "Bohu Služba"- or "God Service". An elder from the Usti church will preach. It happens about 4 times a year that BKSS, (our church), Usti Church, and the Roudnice church, combine efforts to spend this time worshipping together, and it is well worth the effort. The last Bohu Služba we hosted here in Kladno in August. After our service, there is always a lunch, and then, as is customary every week for the Roudnice group, they rent a gym for a game of "ultimate frisbee". We were able to join them about 3 weeks ago, and we had a total blast!

This week has been a blessing. On Wednesday, (our english outreach), Marcus invited the pastor from the Roundice church to come and give his testimony, (svědectvi), for the students. He spoke, almost non-stop, in English, and then translated his own words to Czech, for about an hour. All eyes and ears were fixated. It was a powerful testimony of God's power and complete sovereignty in a persons life. You see, he was born in Czech and grew up under communism. At the age of 19 he desired to leave, and due to some anti-communist actions, he wound-up on the regime's "black list" (a list of suspicious names), entitling him to extra attention, scrutiny, and less freedom. This only grew his desire to escape, so after months of secret planning and various attempts, he crossed into Austria, by foot across a mountain range. After some time and planning he was moved to Germany and then finally to America, where He became a citizen and enlisted in the US Army. In the Army he enjoyed the type of lifestyle that was familiar to him--pride, drinking, and women. He received his university education in electronics through the Army and continued to work as a soldier in electronics. But then his life started to take a turn--God wanted to humble him. In a short amount of time, this man lost his long-time girlfriend, broke his leg, and got a new boss who was determined to make his life miserable. After thinking through possible solutions, this prideful young man decided that the only thing he could do was kill himself.  He planned the date, and when the date arrived he went about his day normally, then went to the cafeteria for his last meal. As he sat down, a lower-ranking officer sat by him and began to share the gospel with him. He shared for about 3 hours, and at the end they prayed that the Lord would forgive him and save his soul. After that prayer nothing was the same. His life was completely pulled from the tangles of sin, and reformed to the joy of living for God. He continued to live in America for 20 years, got out of the Army, married and got a job that gave him a six-figure salary. After the fall of communism, this man felt a nagging urge to reach his own people back here in the Czech-Republic. A church in the U.S. shared his desire and supported his transition back to his home town (Roudnice) to start a church. He gave up so much materially to spread the gospel--what a great example! Any of you coming next summer to the camp may have the opportunity to hear the complete version of this amazing story.

Many of our English students stood around asking him questions, and many looked troubled, as they could not deny the powerful example of God working in someone's life to give to him the grace Christ purchased on the cross!

Well that's about all I'll be sharing this time around. In closing, I would love to share some prayer requests, and humbly ask that you could support us in prayer as we continue to work, hoping to give God the glory in our lives, family, and ministry.

1.) Praise God! We were able to get Lydia and Sophia registered in the Lidice school next year. Lydia is currently attending školka in Kladno. It's been a blessing, but also a bit difficult as we try to learn the differences between Czech and American schools. The style of teaching can be a bit rough around here, "school-marm" like, where humiliation and yelling can be common in classes. It hasn't been too bad though, given Lydia's language disadvantage. By God's grace, she is now speaking fairly well for the time we've been here, hopefully giving her a good start in the new school next year.

2.) Please pray for our marriage and family, that we would continue growing in Christ so that we could be a holy example here. It's so humbling to know that we are one of only a few devoted, Christian families in this area. Please pray that we would be a solid, real, non-hypocritical example and that Christ could really use us to show the power of the gospel in the lives of normal people. Marcus and I are currently reading, "Gospel -Powered Parenting" by William Farley. It has been a true blessing and source of challenge to our faith in the area of marriage and family.

3.) Please continue to pray for our church here. Sometimes it's so easy to see God's power in the lives of our brothers and sisters as they grow in faith and love for God. At other times it can feel like this church is barely holding together.  I know that the difference in perspective has to do with our faith and our trust in God's power and ability to glorify Himself. We must remember that He doesn't need us, but He allows us to be a part of the process--a privilege. We also need to remember that BSKK is His church, and He loves her dearly.

4.) Please pray for the lost. There are so many people that hear the truths of the gospel over and over again. Please pray that God would open their hearts to believe and give them eyes to see their need. Please pray for our neighbors, our language instructors, and unbelieving family members of our church members.

5.) Please pray for Marcus and myself, but especially for Marcus. He truly is balancing so much work. Three mornings/week he wakes before 6am. On Tuesdays it is he is up before 5am. Three nights/week he ministers in the evenings. He has to prep for two of those nights, for English class on Wednesdays and for the study of biblical Men's and Women's roles on Friday nights. Marcus works from the moment he wakes until about 5pm, plus three evenings each week.  He studies Czech, prepares some for Sunday's preaching, works on preparation for several ministries.  In addition to the ones I've already mentioned, he leads the Men of Faith meeting for most of the men at BSKK at 5:30am, and he prepares for additional shepherding meetings. Of course there are also many administrative details that he must faithful tend to. God granted some wisdom in having us purposefully carve out time on Thursday nights to be together, either at home, while the kids are in bed, or out if we can find a baby sitter. These night have been a true relief to our busy schedules. He has been dedicating Saturdays to "family time." Despite the pressure of the next day's preaching, we take time to just hang out with the kids, and have fun together as a family. We are definitely stretched to our max, but we see that the Lord is using this time to grow us up. We pray that we will be sanctified and dependent upon the Lord, not anxious balls of distrust. Please pray that godliness would be the result of this pressure.

Thank you for standing with us. We love you all!

 info taken from their webblog...