WHY POLAND?
Brutal facts:
Poland has 38 million people and tragically only 50,000 Evangelical Christians. That means that Bible believing Christians make up only 0.1% of the country (that is not even half of 1%!). We desperately want to see the 99.9% become followers of Jesus Christ.
Daniel’s call to ministry:
- 2004 SALVATION: I was saved on February 25, 2004 at the age of 17. I believe my call to the Polish people began on this day. Right away I saw a difference in people who did not know Jesus personally, including my Polish family.
- 2006 YOUTH MINISTRY: From 2006 until 2009 I served in Student Ministries (grades 5 through 12) at Grace Community Church in Tempe, Arizona. First as a volunteer and later as an intern. A call to ministry continued to be confirmed.
- 2008 PROPHETIC DREAM #1: On November 13, 2008 I had a prophetic dream about serving in Poland that intensely convinced me that one day I will serve in Poland. The short dream had me flying over the countryside in Poland, helicopter view, crying over one village after another. I was crying tears of intercession, imploring God to save the Polish people. The dream ended, and I woke up physically crying. This is the only time I remember waking up weeping in my entire life. This dream also helped me confirm that attending seminary to prepare theologically is the next step.
- 2009 SEMINARY: I started attending Phoenix Seminary January of 2009. Here I trusted that the Lord would train me in Biblical studies to prepare me for full-time ministry.
- 2009 MISSION #1: In the summer of 2009 I went on a short term missions trip at a summer youth camp with Josiah Venture Ministries to Poland. This helped me begin testing the call one semester into my seminary training. One of the 12-year-old youth that clung to me as unto a bigger brother brought me to tears and confirmed my call.
- 2009 URBANA: I went to a major Christian student missions conference called Urbanda in December of 2009. Here I continued to learn about God‘s heart for global missions.
- 2010 MISSION #2: I again went in the summer of 2010 on a short term missions trip to another youth camp through a ministry called Proem. This time I was in Poland’s capital of Warsaw. To my surprise, one of the youth from the 1st missions trip was also on this trip even though those 2 different short term missions trips were with 2 different ministries in 2 different cities. I got to follow up with this youth and disciple him. This to me was a huge confirmation to continue receiving training in discipleship in Arizona before the big launch in 2012.
- 2011 PROPHETIC DREAM #2: on January 15, 2011 I received a 2nd prophetic dream about my heartbreak for Poland. In the dream I found myself in one of the largest town squares in Poland amidst chaos. People were running around frantically and fear was everywhere in the air. As I was in the middle of all of this I suddenly looked down on the ancient bricklayer town square floor and I was surprised to see a newspaper right at my feet. The bigger surprise was that the newspaper was a Christian newspaper. This in a country that had less than 50,000 Bible believing Christians at that time in the entire country of 38 million people. After discovering the newspaper I just remember one thing: a complete peace filled my heart even though there was chaos all around me. This dream hugely energized me to want to go to Poland to see the gospel get the Polish people with any means possible.
- 2011 INTERNATIONAL MINISTRY: I served at International Student Club, ASU from the beginning of 2011 until being sent out to Poland July 2012. This was a excellent training knowing that there are 10,000 internationals in the city of Poznan, Poland where I ended up serving.
- 2011 MISSION #3: my 3rd short term missions trip was in Poznan, the city that I ended up serving in. I went with In Touch Mission International based in Tempe, Arizona. In Poznan I got to see all the ministries that I would eventually work with. I literally fell in love with what God is doing in Poznan and to me that was a huge confirmation.
- 2012 QUICK RELEASE: I graduated Phoenix Seminary on May 26, 2012. Less than 1 and 1/2 months later I was flying out to Poland on July 9, 2012. God brought all the timing together and I was there in time to get settled in the summer and start off with the next school year.
Jagoda’s call to ministry:
We first met in August of 2014. After getting to know each other & realizing we like each other we needed to pray about the future. We both knew that a precondition for being together is to have unity in our call. After much conversation and prayer, on December 8, 2014 Jagoda received a peace about her call to serve alongside me in ministry in Poznan, Poland. December 8th also happened to be the date when we first started dating!
How God has prepared Daniel:
I was born in Kraków, Poland & my entire family is Polish. In 1989 my parents, brother, and I moved to the United States and we became zero generation immigrants. I grew up in the United States – attending grade school, high school, receiving a Bachelors in Sociology from Arizona State University (2008) and a Masters of Divinity in Biblical Communication from Phoenix Seminary (2012). I am a dual citizen of the United States and Poland. I speak English and Polish fluently ( I also speak intermediate level Spanish). I praise God that I am both an insider and an outsider of the Polish culture.
How Daniel and Jagoda have served together in Poland:
The Machlowski family have been serving together in a tripod of ministry: International Ministry, Youth Ministry & Compassion Ministry. Our ministry to the youth has included: kids camps, youth camps, retreats, missions trip to the youth in Bulgaria & serving in a Junior High ministry. International Ministry has included several English classes/conversations for outreach and discipleship. And finally, Compassion Ministry has included feeding the homeless, serving at a transition home for addicts, and serving at a local jail. Through all this ministry we have had the opportunity to make disciples who make disciples into the kingdom of God of dozens of people. This includes seeing salvations, baptisms, and follow up discipleship. We rejoice that by the grace of God, the Lord has given us many opportunities to serve and we look forward to how he continues using us in Poland.
What cities in Poland will we work with?
Although we have worked with key Polish cities like my hometown Kraków and the capital Warsaw, we live and work primarily in Poznań, Poland. Poznań, with a population of half a million, is a city about 4 hours west of Warsaw. It is one of the largest cities in Poland and is a college/international city. About 100,000 students, of which 10,000 are international, live Poznan. We have a team that wants to strategically reach this city for Christ so please join us in prayer for Poznan in Poland.