Guest post by Mike Jarrell
Zach and Míša Harrod stayed with my wife Jackie and I for a 5 day stretch. It’s not often that my wife tears up and my kids make me promise to ask someone to consider not leaving. We had a wonderful time with this family.
I met the Harrods a few years ago on a trip to Prague, while I was providing some coaching and support for missionaries. Zach and I immediately hit it off outside of the restroom at the place where their church gathers weekly. It became clear that Zach was an authentic guy with a genuine love for others and desire to make a difference for the kingdom of God. The Harrods soon after began a coaching relationship with me. I lead a Collective, CREO, that is committed to multiplication of disciples out of the harvest. In my coaching I have found Zach and Míša to be both MOTIVATED to make a difference in Prague and TEACHABLE (Two critical qualities).
I’ve connected with a number of people who CLAIM to be making disciples and serving their community yet they have no STORIES. Zach and Míša laughed with my family, ate great food, and shared REAL STORIES of people they actually know and love. This makes all the difference to me! This couple is not simply a family that talk the talk, they know real people, shed real tears and share their table with others. I often say that the real test of a missionary isn’t in their ideas and strategies but their STORIES.
Zach loves coaching football and loves the guys he coaches. It is difficult to paint a picture of the life and mission of Jesus if you are not engaged, building real relationships and establishing common bonds with people through something that you mutually share. Because Zach is not an outsider (just a missionary raising support) but an insider (a coach who cares about his players and other coaches). He has credibility as someone who is not just “targeting” someone as his next convert, but someone who has come to build real friendships with people that are not projects but are valued friends. In the context of real friendship with no strings attached, Zach naturally shares the things he is enjoying (including his faith).
Míša has a passion for entering brothels and helping women who are being trafficked and treated as sex slaves. This couple is not distant to the pain and hurt of the city they live in, they have entered the mess and engaged the world with compassion and care like Jesus.
The challenge I want to leave you with is this; Do you have stories, or do you only share theories?
For me, football has always been an integral part of my mission. Coaching, and more so the relationships I developed within the team, is where I have most clearly seen God use me to impact others positively. I know that I am not alone in this call as many coaches use their platform for the same reason and with the same goal.
This past year, it became clear that for the team, and in turn Zach’s ministry to continue to grow the team needed new leadership. It needed to be owned by those who have given so much to grow it into a perennial power in the Czech league and by people who are invested in the work it does to help those in its community. As part of that process, my wife and I joined with 7 others in Prague to form a new ownership group. We believe that this will add further fuel to the fire of all the work that is already being done in the Lord’s name a country that finds God to be very distant.
So here is the point…