Crown Catholic Financial Ministry

Evelyn and I attended the NCCYM in Cleveland last week.  This is the first time that Crown has been represented, but it won’t be the last.  The attendance was about 1800, small than some of the conferences that we have attended, but they had a strong thirst for knowledge and for ways that would allow them to have a greater impact on the youth that they serve.  We talked with more people during the 3 days of this conference than we have at conferences with more than three times the attendance.  For us, this was truly an uplifting and affirming week.  How else can we insure the future spiritual health of our nation if we don’t start with the youth?

Shortly after we boarded our flight and were waiting for departure, one of the passengers came over to us and asked if we worked for Crown Financial Ministries.  I was wearing a Crown shirt and he had noticed the logo.  He said that he was from Birmingham, AL and listened to Crown all the time on the radio.  He and his wife have been following biblical financial principles for quite a while and lately have been trying to help others in their church.  He said that he just wanted to offer some validation to what Crown does and figured that we don’t often receive validation for our efforts.

As we fly over the Atlantic, happy to be heading home, I’m thinking about the many experiences we shared during this trip.  The first thing that pops into my head was the total excitement, chills and goose bumps we felt when we were asked to participate.  We both immediately thought of Evelyn’s dad, AJ, orchestrating the whole thing from above.  That might have been the most exciting moment we’ve experienced in Crown.

The cities that we saw were similar to what we expected, but the architecture was more fabulous than we could have imagined, and the history that poured from each building was nothing that we could have anticipated.  One thing that was very noticeable especially in Poland was how “Catholic” everything was.  There were statues, small shrines and tiny chapels (1-4 people) almost everywhere.

We met some really great people with tremendous faith.  I believe that their witness to us was more inspiring than we were to them, and something we won’t soon forget.  They have changed our lives, in small ways, forever.

We had two super meals in private homes.  We had a couple of long car rides.  Both gave us the opportunity to gain a better understanding of the thinking and history of the people and the countries; to get a glimpse with our own eyes and not through a history book or movie, to kind of project ourselves into the lives of the wonderful people who shared with us.

The four Ignite events were what we expected, but the reaction of the attendees wasn’t.  It was humbling to see how something that have probably grown to take for granted, impacted them so deeply.  During the presentations to 3 different Catholic Fellowship groups in Poland, it was totally unbelievable, and humbling, that so many people would come to listen to our story.  We are just ordinary people that God has blessed much more than we deserve.

One thing that surprised us was that so many people questioned us about the presidential elections.  Everyone was curious about what we thought and they all had their own opinions.  The Poles were disappointed that McCain didn’t win because the felt, that with their recent history with Russia, that their country would be safer with McCain in office.  Others wondered about race and its effect.  They are so interested and knowledgeable about our country and we Americans are so ignorant of theirs.

We also had several questions about how we as Americans, with our economy such as it is, could be talking about financial principles.  When that question was first asked, it was during the Q&A session in Krakow just after I finished talking.  Since the question had to be translated to me, I’m sure that I missed the sarcasm that was intended.  Our Polish hosts were quite upset with the question, but God gave me the words, almost instantly, on how to respond.  From then on, I started my talk with the point that, yes our economy was in shambles, but we weren’t there to talk about man’s economy, but God’s.  Man suffers from greed and poor moral decisions, but God does not.  It seemed to diffuse any potential for that question popping up again.

All in all, we end this trip exhausted but also excited and exhilarated about the work ahead.

It’s snowing!  Everyone joked about us going to Poland and Croatia in November because they expected the weather to be very cold and snowy.  Actually the weather has been pretty nice the whole time.  Maybe a little on the cold side for us Floridians, but this morning there is an inch or two on the ground; the wind is blowing pretty hard, and it’s cold.  We were going to go to the “old” part of Warsaw, to the square, before going to the airport.  But with the weather, we just headed for the airport to try to get an earlier flight.  “Old” Warsaw is a bit of a misnomer – Warsaw was 85% destroyed by bombing during WWII; there was really nothing left but ruin.  As part of the restoration, they rebuilt the central square  - it was finally finished in the early ‘60’s.  At one point they were shipping over a million old bricks per day into Warsaw.  These bricks were coming from all over Poland – some even from buildings that they tore down in order to help preserve the authenticity of the old city.

We were able to catch an early flight and arrived in Frankfurt in time to have a nice dinner and go to bed early.

Today was the earliest day yet.  We were picked up at 5:15 at the hotel for the drive to Warsaw.  It was great to ride in a very roomy mini-van and we slept for the first few hours.  The ride was interesting as the Polish highway system is nothing like the interstates in the US.   We would drive on a highway for hundreds of kilometers then be on a road that was barely wide enough to be two lanes, which went through very small towns and villages.  It was amazing that these small roads, going through villages and towns, are the only way to get between two major cities. 

We arrived in Warsaw about ½ hour before the seminar started.  The presentation was The Bible on Money seminar, and there were over 200 people there.  This was definitely one of the highlights of the trip.  Everyone was very touched by the presentation and interested in the message.  The Crown presentations were sprinkled with witness talks from locals about how their exposure to Crown had touched their lives.  The meeting ended with the movie Abraham and Issac (one of the new Crown movies) which is about giving up something we love in order to get something better.  Based on the amount of sniffling going on, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house, so the day ended on a real high note.  We ended Day 11 with a dinner for the local Crown team – lots of good discussion and sharing.

Today was a very early day.  We were picked up at 6:15 at the hotel in order to catch a 6:50 train from Krakow to Poznan.  The train ride took 7 hours and we arrived in Poznan at about 2 PM.

We were met at the train station by Carol and her husband Jurek.  Carol is originally from Illinois, and went to Poland with Campus Crusade for Christ, then met and married Jurek, and never returned to the US.   We had about 45 minutes at the hotel, then walked to Carol and Jurek’s home for dinner.  After dinner we headed for the fellowship meeting.  Again there was a lot of interest in the Crown message and lots of questions and discussions at the end. 

We have been touched deeply by the warm and welcoming reception we have received by the various groups.  It has been such a blessing and so humbling that people are interested in what we have to say. 

Today started early.  We were picked up at 7 AM and then had a 2 hour drive to Katowice, for a Bible on Business seminar.  I went to help Peter Briscoe (Crown VP of Europe) with the morning portion of the presentation.  The presentation was held in a restaurant located in a very large public park.  We were a little late in getting started due to the location – it was hard to find, and raining like crazy and traffic was horrible   There were about 30 people in attendance and the were very engaged in the seminar.

After lunch, we left Katowice and headed for Bielsko Biala, which was another one and one-half hour drive.  We arrived just in time to meet the local contacts for dinner.  We had a nice hearty Polish meal, then went to the school where the meeting was to be held.  There were about 20 people, ranging in age from 20 something to retired.  Again, the Crown message was received with open hearts. When we got to the questions, they were initially very shy about asking, but once a couple of people asked questions, there was no stopping them!  In all they seemed quite pleased with the meeting.  They gave us a handmade lace table covering in appreciation for talking with them.

Artur picked us up at just a little after 9 AM and we went through the old Jewish part of town on our way to the main square.  The buildings in this part of town have for the most part been cleaned up and refurbished since WWII and the architecture was extremely interesting with great character.  As we found out a little later on, it is that way throughout the city.  

The old market square was quite remarkable.  The first thing that we viewed was a little church that was built in the late 1200’s (I think).  The original first floor is now the basement as the surrounding land has gradually risen higher over the years.  The square is at least as large as two city blocks, and is one of the largest squares in Europe.  We actually climbed up the bell tower to the very top to see the view – and our legs weren’t the same for the rest of the day!  The bell tower was originally built as the city hall tower. 

At the opposite end of the square is St. Mary’s Cathedral.  It is a magnificent church that was built over a 200 year time period – and finally finished in the early 1500’s.  They still have a Mass almost every hour during weekday mornings.  Each hour, on the hour, there is a trumpeter who trumpets the hour from each of the four sides of the Cathedral’s bell tower.

We toured a market that was originally the City Hall, then warmed up with some coffee in an underground café under the city hall bell tower.  As we explored the areas surrounding the city square, it seemed that there were Catholic churches at every turn.  And these weren’t small churches!  There are actually 15 churches in the area surrounding the square and they contain the remains of (from the tour book) “7 saints, 8 blessed persons and a similar number of people believed to have been saints.”  This is all within an area less than 1 square mile.

Krakow was the home of Pope John Paul II prior to his call to the Holy See in October, 1978.

The area surrounding the square is filled with shops and cafes and restaurants that seem to foster the heritage of Krakow – with very few international chains.  We did see a McDonalds (with young kids lined up outside the door) and a Hard Rock Café, but they were the only chains that I remember.

Another remarkable historical landmark is the Wawel Royal Castle and Gothic Cathedral built on Wawel hill on the bank of the Vistula River.  The Castle was the home to many of Poland’s kings and is quite an imposing structure.  The Gothic Cathedral was beautiful and had many smaller chapels built along the sides of the main church.  There were tombs of important Poles located underneath the main church.

We walked and toured until almost 4 PM and then prepared for our first meeting with a Catholic Fellowship group.  Prior to the meeting we had dinner with Artur and Antek at a small Italian restaurant near the church where I was to speak.  We had what might have been the best Italian meal that I’ve ever had in a restaurant.

Just prior to my talk there was a Mass in the church – this was a regular daily mass attended by about 100 people that lasted more than an hour.  Then we headed to the basement of the church into a really unique room which had a barrel-vaulted ceiling made with bricks, with kind of a rough rock lower wall.  The room had a very modern system of lighting and had a 2 foot high stage at one end.  The meeting began with about 25 minutes of praise music.  We were very familiar with a couple of the songs, but it’s very hard to remember the American words when everyone is singing in a different language! 

There were about 115 people in attendance, and the Crown message was well received. There were many questions at the end and some of the people were quite aggressive in both the type questions they were asking and making sure that they got to me to answer their questions.

As the meeting was ending, the Priest invited us to join him for dinner.  Since it was already after 9 PM I first thought that he was asking us to join him on another night, but he said no, it is all ready.  So Antoni, Artur, the fellowship leader, Evelyn and I went upstairs to the rectory for a second dinner of cold-cuts, salad and cheese.  It was actually quite good and there was good conversation with the priest (mostly in Polish, but everyone seemed very pleased).

We flew from Zagreb to Vienna and then to Warsaw.  From Warsaw we took an intercity (ICCC) train to Krakow, arriving about 11:30 PM.  The fact that it was designated as intercity means that it didn’t have any stops until the destination – so we didn’t have to worry about getting off the train at the wrong location.   We were supposed to spend the night in Warsaw, but decided to go to Krakow to have time for sightseeing prior to our meeting tomorrow night.

We were very fortunate that Zdzichu, the fellow who picked us up at the airport and took us to the train station was so considerate.  He helped find the Kanter (money exchange) with the best rate – we actually left the train station and went into an adjoining shopping mall and past several places before he would allow me to exchange.  The rate was 2.94 Zloty to the dollar.  Then he waited with us for the train to arrive and helped carry our luggage on the train and find our correct seats.  The train stop was so short that he really had to hurry to get off the train before it started again.

By 12:30 AM we were settled in our room in Krakow with plans to meet Artur at 9 AM to doing a little sightseeing.  

Prior to our meeting with the banker today, we had a very quick walking tour of downtown Zagreb and we were able to take many pictures and short videos.  It was quite amazing that even though the temperature was in the upper 40’s or maybe the low 50’s, there were many, many people sitting around at open air tables having coffee and chatting.  And this was between 1:00 and 2:00 in the afternoon.

After our walking tour, we met with the President of the second largest bank in Croatia for about 45 minutes.  Prior to becoming the bank President, he served as the Croatian Minister of Finance for about 6 years.  He is very active within the Catholic Church and the Christian community in Zagreb.  He has about 300 employees who have regular Bible studies and fellowship in the bank offices and he has a box of Bibles in his office that he hands out as he sees fit.  He wasn’t able to attend any of the other Crown meetings, but was very interested in what Crown was doing to help the people of Croatia to manage their debt and to know God.  He told Josip that he wanted to buy 100 copies of Your Money Counts and Josip made arrangements to meet with him tomorrow night at his house to talk more fully about the Crown efforts in Croatia.

The President of the bank looked so much like Evelyn’s Uncle Jay that it was startling.  It would have been no stretch at all to imagine that he was Uncle Jay’s brother.  In fact, he looked more like a brother than either of Uncle Jay’s real brothers!

After meeting with the Bank President, we were taken to the home of a wonderful couple who attended several of the meetings we held this week.  Marija is a very active volunteer in many different groups within the Church and Ecumenical movements in Croatia.  Rico works for a shipping company.  We had several hours of fantastic conversation that seemed like only minutes, along with a great traditional Croatian meal that Rico prepared.  One of Rico’s hobbies is cooking and he is an excellent chef.  Their home is high on the mountain side overlooking Zagreb and the view was breath taking. 

A comment from the local news - A couple of weeks ago the President of Croatia told the press that Croatia wouldn’t be badly affected by the world financial crisis as the country was insulated from the financial issues being experienced by other countries.  That changed late last week when the President made a comment to the press that if the economic situation continued the downward spiral, then only God could solve the Croatian financial problems.  Sounds like perfect timing for Crown!!

           Today was by far the most interesting and scenic.  We were picked up at the hotel at 8:30 AM by Zrinka and Zlotko who are Catholics interested in implementing Crown, so they were at the workshop on Friday. They took us to a little town called Gornja Stubicke where we attended Mass, talked to the parish and had lunch with the pastor.