zachharrod.com

Help the Harrodovi before 2018 rolls in!

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Št’astný nový rok!  Happy New Year!  It’s a little early but that is okay.  First and foremost, we would love to thank you for being part of our lives and what God has called us to do this past year.  We are very, very thankful!  Thank you.

Recently, I pondered all that happened over the last year and I was moved.  It seems to be a tradition now that people, including me, post their ‘#bestnine’ collage of photos from their most liked Instagram photos.  My #bestnine2017 seems to tell our story of 2017 – family, new life, Oliver, football, smile and a lot of joy.  It was a beautiful reminder of what God has done this year.

In many ways, this year was a year that brought stability and health to our lives as well.  Which is juxtaposed to 2016 that was the opposite, so we are thankful that God brought these things to pass in 2017.  At the moment we are at a conference center, operated by Christians, where we now have the tradition of evaluating the previous year, praying and playing for the year to come and also celebrating the New Year.  Would you pray that God meets us here and guides in this process?

As we look ahead, we have loads of hopes, dreams and prayers for 2018 and beyond.  We feel like we are on the edge of something big that could happen, but it’s just outside of our grasps,  we are hopeful that God will bridge that gap in 2018.  A reality is that to do good things, we need prayers and funding to make those things possible.  Would you first and foremost pray for us, that God would move through people to meet all our needs and beyond?  Secondly, would you consider helping us see those needs met?  Here’s what we are trusting God to help us with as 2017 closes and 2018 rolls in:

  • MONTHLY SUPPORT – we saw our monthly giving take a dip in 2017 and we need to re-raise close to $2000/month.  There are several reasons why this happened, mostly because peoples’ situations have changed.
  • ONE-TIME for our personal ministry – the monthly support is what keeps us going throughout the year, but there are always extra projects and other things happening.  For instance, we are hoping that Zach will travel to the States in February with three of our coaches (Miloš, Jakub, and Lukáš).  We are also in need of upsizing our car, as our car is too small to carry the load of our family needs and ministry needs.  These are two examples of the one-time support we need to raise.  Our hope is to see $10,000 to help towards special projects and needs.
  • ONE-TIME for our junior jerseys – we have been working hard for quite some time to raise funds to help our LIONS junior team have new jerseys.  Thus far a few generous individuals have donated $6,000 towards this, which leaves us needing to raise the last $3000.  If you are willing to help with this, you can give via our non-profit, INTERCEPTION FOUNDATION, that a few of us started a few years back to help us with resources and funding.  (Please shoot me an email if you are interested in helping with this!)

Would you consider helping us see these needs met?  IF SO PLEASE CLICK HERE!

In helping us meet these needs you are freeing us up to do what God has called us to do, so that, Lord-willing, we will see life change in a country that is longing for God’s tough of renewal, forgiveness, mercy, and grace.

Once again, thank you for being part of this ministry and our lives.  Know you are appreciated.  Know you are prayed for.  Know that God is using you here in Czech, even in the small steps our friends are taking towards God each day!  We hope and pray that you and yours have an amazing 2018, that is marked by God’s crazy, radical love and grace!

NCCtakeover 2017

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NCCtakeover 2017 – BRAVE from Zach Harrod on Vimeo.

Wanna learn more about us, the Harrodovi? “Yes?!?” Here you go. This is part of NCC’s (National Community Church) sermon series, BRAVE, which you need to check out. So this is from our Instagram Story takeover, thus the 15-second clips, all put together. We hope you enjoy this.  If you want to give, CLICK HERE, if you want to learn more about our needs, CLICK HERE.

THANK YOU FOR BEING YOU!

#GivingTuesday 2017 – Marek’s interview

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MAREK’S INTERVIEW from Zach Harrod on Vimeo.

With it being #GivingTuesday, Míša & I would like to share our story of what’s going on in Prague, as we serve there. My good friend, co-worker and now pastor, Marek Tyl, has some kind words to share about us and our work in Prague! Check it out! Wanna learn about giving needs? CLICK HERE! Wanna give straight away? CLICK HERE! Thank you in advance..!

#GivingTuesday 2017 is here!

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#GivingTuesday 2017 from Zach Harrod on Vimeo.

#GivingTuesday 2017 is here! Míša, Ollie and I greet you from just outside of Lake Geneva, WI, where my parents live. As the end of the year comes to a close we have some big needs, as we continue to serve in Prague, Czech Republic. Please consider helping us and being part of what God is doing in Prague in and through us!  Read more about those needs by clicking HERE or GIVE BY CLICKING HERE!

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE!

NEEDS FOR #GivingTuesday 2017

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Hello from Prague.  We hope and pray this email finds you doing well.  We wanted to reach out to you today the day before 2017’s #GivingTuesday.  Tomorrow throughout the day we will share stories on different social media platforms – Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, so make sure you are following us at @zachharrod and @misaharrod so you can learn and hear more about our story and the story that God has written for Prague!

With that said, #GivingTuesday is tomorrow and we would like to ask that you pray for us, as this year closes we have some significant needs.  Here’s a list of some of our needs, as we close out the year.

    • Roughly $1500/monthly support – this is key for us, as from our monthly giving we receive our salary, insurance, benefits and etc.  This is what allows us to be in Prague.
    • In February Zach will travel to the States with three coaches (Kuba, Miloš and Lukáš) for a coach’s trip, to not only grow in our football knowledge, but also to give Zach a chance to speed significant time with these coaches.  Each coach is providing $500 for the trip and we are raising the funds for the rest.  The trip costs roughly $6000.
    • One-time support for events that we have every month.  Last week we hosted, with our friends from our Missional Community (MC), Thanksgiving for around 40 people.  On average we need about $500/month for these types of events, so that we can be generous.  We have learned that when we are generous our Christian and even not-yet Christian friends become more and more generous.
    • Upsizing our car – We are looking for a wise and economic way to upsize our car, as our family is already too big for the smaller car we have.  Upsizing will also allow Zach to haul around more players and more equipment.
    • Junior Jerseys – We’ve been working hard for two years to raise funds for new junior jerseys.  So far we have raised $6000, we are still working on the last $3000.  If you would like to help with this, you can take advantage of our non-profit, Interception Foundation.

A couple weeks ago we had a moment to finally check our account with our organization, TEAM, and we discovered that in the midst of life and, largely, people retiring, our monthly support has taken a dip that very soon will affect us.  We put this short video together to share with friends who have not been supporting us financially, in hopes that God would use it to stir their hearts to be part of His story for Prague and Czech.

Partner with teamHarrod in Prague from Zach Harrod on Vimeo.

 

Thank you for being you.  Thank you for taking the time to open this and read this.  We are thankful for you.  If you live in or around Lake Geneva or Oshkosh, we will be having two OPEN HOUSES – November 30th from 6pm-8pm at Simple Cafe in Lake Geneva and December 4th from 5pm-8pm at RiverValley Church in Oshkosh.  Please come out and see us, and feel free to bring a friend or 10!

With that said, thank you for taking the time to read and watch the videos here.  Please let us know if you have any questions or want to help.  THANK YOU!

Míša, Zach & Ollie

The Podyum – On a Mission – Prague Lions

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As I’ve served here over the years, God has opened lots of doors for me.  I’ve had the opportunity to be interviewed live on Czech TV several times, I’ve had countless other opportunities to be interviewed in various programs, but this spring my friend Will  Powell from The Podyum spent close to a week with us, following us and interviewing us.  This video is the outcome of his time here and we are excited to share it with you all.  Please watch it till the end, because that is my favorite part.  Also thank you to Will and The Podyum crew for sharing our story!

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Bless teamHARROD before the end of the 2016

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For some 2016 was rough, for some 2016 was full of blessings.  For us, the Harrodovi, it was a mixed bag of ups and downs, but last night when Míša and I and I were catching up with a good friend, and long-time supporter, here in Oshkosh, we realized that in the midst of the tough things of 2016, we have so many things to be thankful for!  Míša turned to me, hit me on the shoulder and said, “You know God has been good to us this year!”

See in the midst of a difficult fall, much more difficult than we could ever imagine, we lost track of all the cool things God has done in, around and through us in 2016.  As we had this moment of clarity, we were humbled to think about what God has done and now we are thankful for the change in perspective.  No matter how hard your 2016 has been, I encourage you to take a step back and look at things from a different angle, you might be surprised by what you see!

Míša & Zach at Open House in Oshkosh

Míša & Zach at Open House in Oshkosh

With that said, 2016 is almost behind us and 2017 is bursting with potential.  Míša and I have obvious reasons to look ahead to 2017, as we are anxiously waiting to meet our first little Czech-American Harrod, but beyond this we are anxious to see what can happen in other areas of our life, work and ministry in Prague – church, missional communities, the Prague Lions, anti-human trafficking and more!

With that said, we are gearing up for 2017 in big ways, we have been in the States since December 2nd connecting with so many new amazing people and also getting re-connect with many friends who have been part of our lives for some time.  We are still trusting God to help us get off to a great start in 2017, so that we will be fully funded.  We have been working on getting our monthly support shored up, so we can feed our little, future Harrod, but also continue to love and be generous to many in Prague.  Beyond monthly support, we are of course also hoping to see one-time gifts going into 2017, so that we can earmark those gifts for practical things within our church, missional community, the Prague Lions and Míša’s work in anti-human trafficking.

Before the calendar turns to 2017, would you consider joining our monthly team and/or giving a one-time gift to take advantage of another tax write-off for 2016?  Click below to give.  

give-online

While we have been in the States we have been sharing a few short videos from friends in Prague, so you can hear how you are blessing many in Prague through us!  Check them out below!  Thank you for being you and we wish you a MERRY CHRISTMAS & A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

Blessing or Burden?

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Zach speaking at NCC Uprising, youth group.

I have been a “full-time missionary” for close to 14 years, which is absolutely crazy to consider! Fourteen years is a long time. It makes me feel a bit old as I type it and ponder those 14 years, close to 12 of them have been spent in Prague, the other two spent in Xenia, OH.

As I ponder those 14 years there are so many things to be thankful for and stop and praise God for. That is not a small amount of time and I can’t begin to imagine how many prayers have been prayed, how many dollars have been given and how much people, maybe including you, have sacrificed to be part of what God has, is and will be doing in Prague, Czech, Europe and beyond! I am moved to shout and sing out loud THANK YOU TO EACH OF YOU WHO HAVE BEEN PART OF THIS AND WHO WILL BE PART OF THIS!

As we have been in Washington DC this week, we have been very blessed. We have seen God’s generosity through many people here. It’s moving and I’m speechless as I think about it all. In the midst of this all, something that I have been carrying around for 14 or so years stood out to me. Somewhere in the midst of this “career” of mine and the support raising I, and we, have done for all these years I started carrying around a “I am a burden” mindset.

What do I mean by “I am a burden” mindset? That’s a good question that I’m still trying to unpack, but somewhere in those 14 years, while I would write people, call people and try to create avenues to see the support we need raised, I started to believe that as missionaries that need to raise support, that we are not a blessing to people, but a burden to them. That when they see my name in their inbox or in their caller ID, they say something like, “Oh it’s that Zach guy again, he needs money.” This might be true, but I don’t believe it is the overwhelming response of people. However, in the midst of interactions, some how, some way I started to believe this.

Then God brought us here to DC and Míša and I have had this blown up this week. We have had people remind us that we are a blessing and not a burden. It has been freeing for us. It also has helped us to see that we aren’t trying to “sell” ourselves or what we do, but we are honestly giving people an opportunity to be part of what God is doing to woo people to Himself through our presence and work in Prague and beyond.
We are excited to see how God will surprise us the rest of our trip and we are actually slightly giddy with anticipation to see how He will show up. Of course, we will have those “burden moments,” but in those moments we will preach these words to ourselves: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” (Romans 10:15) Once again, THANK YOU to all of you who have been part of this crazy adventure in some way! You are all amazing. Please pray for us, as we are trusting God to once again show up and bless us, so that we can be a blessing to people in Prague! If you would like to be part of it, please CLICK HERE to help. THANK YOU!

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Jon and his wife, Anne Marie, who put together an amazing week, to allow and show us we are a blessing not a burden.

BIG NEWS

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movieposterWe have made our rounds on social media with our BIG NEWS, but we didn’t get it up on our website until today.  We are so stoked for this little person to join us in May, but till then we wait in anticipation and are trying to prepare in practical ways and in deeper, spiritual ways as well.

Practically we will need to prepare his or her room and all that comes with that, but we are also practically preparing for his or her arrival with our trip back in the States right now.  One of the most practical things we need is a salary and living expenses that will be for a family and not a couple.  We are trusting God to help us raise an additional $1000/month to help us raise our salary and living expenses for a family of  three, but we are also needing to re-raise some monthly support, as people have had to change their giving for a variety of reasons.

Would you consider joining our team, but giving monthly?  Your regular monthly support helps us do the day in and day out ministry in Prague.  Please CLICK HERE to give today and be part of what God is doing in Prague through us.

We are also praying for this little one’s arrival as we wrestle through what it means to be parents, how we are going to parent and the ins and outs of being a parent.  Both of us have a bit more experience with kids, thanks to our siblings who our 15 and 16 years younger than us, BUT still that doesn’t prepare us for having our own little one.  Would you pray for us, as we wait in great expectation to meet little Oliver or Anabella?  Please pray that God would shape and prepare us to be the parents he or she will need.

Thank you for being you and as always BE A

Good bye 2015, Bring on 2016…

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A photo posted by Zach Harrod (@zachharrod) on


Just hours from now it will be 2016 here in Czech Republic. It’s hard to believe that 2015 is nearly gone. 2015 was a mixed year with different ups and some downs I would love to forget about, but nonetheless I’m thankful because I knew that God allowed those downs, and I’m a better man as a result. My #2015bestnine pic is a nice little reminder of this year. It made me smile and thank God for what has passed and I can’t wait to see what 2016 will bring. Thank you for being part of our journey! We wish you and yours an amazing 2016!
#BringOn2016 #Harrodovi #HarrodShenanigans #GoodBye2015

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