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Andrews missionary reaching out to the Czech Republic - 90% atheists
Now the Andrews resident and Global Evangelism Ministries (GEM) have their sights set on the Czech Republic, where about 90 percent of the population is atheist. The Andrews resident is the former pastor of Grace Fellowship Baptist Church. GEM, although non-denominational, was invited by the Southern Baptist branch of the International Mission Board to be a front line ministry in the Czech Republic. Chase teamed up with Dr. Roy Mason to take the ministry of the Gospel to those areas of the world untouched or underexposed to the message of Christ. Ongoing ministries are the Czech, Ghana and Romania. Chase grew up in southern California and moved with his parents to Asheville at age 11. His parents moved away and left him on his own when he was 21 and he did a "lot of bad things" before he came to know the Lord in 1986. He married in 1987, had his first child in 1988. God called him into the ministry in 1989. After a couple of years in Bible college, he pastored his first church in 1991 and was a pastor for 13 years before joining the mission field. He began doing some short mission trips and stepped out into the field full-time in 2003.
"It wasn't us but being a part of it was wonderful," Chase said. The African experience was wonderful as in Ghana alone, since October 2001 over 165,000 first-time decisions for Christ have been recorded, Chase said. The people of Ghana have nothing materially but they are the happiest people in the world, Chase said. "In America we have so much. In Africa, they have to rely on each other," he said. In the bush, there is no electricity and no Bibles and no concept of the Gospel. In Ghana they would go into about four schools in the morning. They would pass out Bibles, which were used to learn English. From about 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. they would talk to the kids, who wear uniforms in school. They would take the afternoon off, when it got to 100 degrees and over. "We would sit and sweat and pray for the air conditioner to work," he said. In the early evening they would take their interpreter and projector and the Jesus film. They would set up in an open field. There would be two or three people there. They would play music over their large speakers and by 7 p.m. they would usually have between 600 to 1,500 people present. They would show the Jesus film. Many of the people had never seen television or a white man. Kids would rub their skin to see if they could rub the white off. When the film got to the point of Jesus dying on the cross, they would cut the projector off and Chase would tell them three steps to heaven. 1) Admit the truth about ourselves (We all sin). 2) Admit the truth about Jesus (He is the son of God and died for our sins). 3) Admit the truth about eternity (There is a heaven and a hell). "That is all we do," Chase said. "We ask them to put their hands on their hearts and pray. Then we show the rest of the movie." After that, people come up to them for the next hour or so asking them to pray for them. The next trip to Ghana is planned for September. The newest missionary venture is the Czech. Mason went to the Czech to scout it out during the coldest winter in the history of Europe, Chase said. They were a communist country and therefore atheist. It is one of the most beautiful places in he world. Most of the streets are cobblestone. But they could find only one pastor in their targeted city of Domazlice. That pastor had an underground church of about 30 persons. "They have nothing there," Chase said of religious practices in the Czech. "So we had to come up with a strategy to reach them. We found out about their culture and learned their language. We prayed for an interpreter and God sent us a girl on a train. We found out that the Czech have been ruled by one kingdom or another for centuries. They trust no one (outsiders). They are free now and they don't want to give it up. We learned that you can't push them into anything." Chase said the divorce and alcoholism rates are very high. Prostitution is common, especially in the border towns. The legal age of consent (to have sex) is 15 and many young girls have turned to prostitution because they can make $100 a day. Chase and Mason discovered that the Czech people love sports, especially basketball and hockey. GEM is planning a basketball clinic this summer, beginning in June. They have rented a sports arena and have 10 coaches signed up to teach 100 Czech teens about the sport . Todd Burden, a basketball coach at a Christian school, is heading up the clinic. "We are talking about 100 kids who have never heard the Gospel," Chase said. "We will begin by talking about character and the love of God. We feel we can build relationships. We plan on being there about five years before we go someplace else." Chase and his wife have three children, Courtney, 19 who is a freshman at Campbell University, Briana 13 and Andrew 12, both Andrews Middle School students. It costs Chase about $5,000 each time he goes to Ghana. He has to rent a van (about $40 a day) and gas costs $5 to $6 a gallon. In the last week of April, Chase is going back to the Czech to make some finishing plans and touches for the basketball clinic in June. When asked how the mission trips are financed, Chase said, "We pray very hard. My children have learned the last three years that 'we have nothing' but that God answers prayer." His first year out, he was having back problems and had no job and a man from Indiana helped finance his mission. GEM gets support from Little Brasstown Baptist Church, Valleytown Baptist Church, Valley River Baptist Church, the Murphy Church of God, the New Martins Creek Baptist Church and Pleasant Valley Church. Some support comes from people he has pastored and people he has met along the way.
If any churches, individuals or groups want to know more about Global Evangelism Ministries, they can make contact by calling (828) 361-6684 or via e-mail at gemonline.org
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