Letter

1. Following the God
Bigger Than Our Dreams
Zygmunt Karel and
Insight for Living Polska
Jakub Cieslar, or Kuba as friends call him, grew
up in a Christian family—a rarity in Poland. “I
consider it a privilege to have had a Christian home,”
Kuba reflects. “I still had struggles as a teenager. I had
questions about the Bible. But I found the answers
quickly and committed my life to Christ at age 15.”
With his sights fixed on Jesus, Kuba graduated
from high school and enrolled in Poland’s oldest
academy—Jagiellonian University in Kraków. There
he became acquainted with Campus Crusade for
Christ and got involved in student ministry, which
became central to his spiritual growth. He says with a
smile, “After I finished my studies, I married the most
beautiful woman in 2009, and we both joined the staff
of Campus Crusade.” Kuba and Ela served students
for one year in Poland and then moved to the Czech
Republic, where they were part of a multinational
team ministering to students in the beautiful city of
Prague.
In 2013, the Cieslars moved back to Poland, this
time to Wrocław where Kuba began looking for a job
and soon heard about a man named Zygmunt Karel,
who was looking for an executive director for Insight
for Living Polska. “The job sounded scary,” Kuba
admits, “But I met with Zygmunt and he, together
with Chuck and Cynthia Swindoll, determined I was
the right fit.”
On November 1, 2013, Kuba officially joined our
staff. In his role, Kuba oversees broadcast production
and scheduling, manages the office’s finances,
and maintains their website. “Working alongside
Zygmunt, a seasoned man of God, is a privilege,” Kuba
shares. “And daily being in the Word through Chuck’s
messages is so enriching. The last six years have been
an incredible journey and a great adventure.” When
not at his desk, Kuba enjoys delving into history
and theology books, improvising on the piano, and
spending time with Ela and their three children—
daughters, Hania and Alina, and a son born this past
October, Adam.
When asked how readers in the United States can
pray for Insight for Living Polska, Kuba responds
thoughtfully, “Less than one half of one percent of
the country’s more than 37 million people identify as
evangelical Christians. About 90 percent are Catholic.
We don’t want to fight the Catholic church. We just
want to present the message of the Bible as clearly
as possible. We need prayer as we adapt Chuck’s
messages for our predominantly Catholic culture.
We want to choose words that are true to the original
message and also understandable to Poles. We want
Poles to be able to go to the Bible and be bold enough
and equipped enough to read it for themselves.”
With a heavy heart, he adds a request for young
Poles, of whom only 20 percent believe in God.
“Young people are disillusioned with the church
and with Christianity. Pray for us as we try to reach
them and show them how they can have a real and
personal relationship with God based on the clear,
simple teaching of the Bible, which is relevant to their
lives. Pray for us to build relationships with young
pastors who can be mentored and trained in Searching
the Scriptures methods. And pray for us to have tools,
financial resources, and creative ideas to meet young
people where they are, especially online. This is our
God-given time!”
This Is Our God-Given Time!is large; in others, it is minimal. Regardless, any Polish-
speaking individual living anywhere in the world with
access to the Internet can receive solid, practical Bible
teaching in their heart language through Insight for
Living Polska’s website!
What’s more, in 2013, the Lord led the perfect
ministry partner to Zygmunt, just as He did years before
with Dr. Young. Jakub Cieslar, who goes by Kuba, has
served alongside Zygmunt as executive director of
Insight for Living Polska for more than six years. Kuba
handles the logistics of the office, freeing Zygmunt to
focus on translating Chuck’s messages and preparing for
Searching the Scriptures training sessions. These two men
from different generations share a deep passion for their
country and for God’s Word, making them the perfect
match to reach and make disciples of Poles of all ages!
Zygmunt’s childhood and 49 years of ministry in Poland
have brought him hardships and heartaches most of us
will never bear. But if you have the pleasure of meeting
him, don’t count on hearing about his trials—unless you
ask exactly the right questions. Even then, he’ll answer
truthfully but quickly turn the focus to the gifts God has
provided: his loving and encouraging wife of 47 years,
Maria; their five children and five grandchildren; the small
but hardworking team he leads as pastor of Insight for
Living Polska; the beauty of his country and its people;
the partnership of believers around the world who give
to support Vision 195; and above all, the opportunity to
know Jesus Christ personally and introduce others to Him.
“Insight for Living Polska exists for one reason,”
Zgymunt says with an earnestness in his voice and a
weathered faith in his eyes. “We want people to get
to know the Bible and, through the Bible, to get to
know Christ and experience His constant presence,
hope, and help in their lives—no matter what they
may face.”
Continued insidewww.insight.org
Insight for Living
Ministries’ vision is to
reach all the nations.
We’re so grateful for
Zygmunt Karel who
serves as our voice
in Poland.
— Charles R. Swindoll
Insight for Living Ministries USA • Post Office Box 5000 • Frisco, Texas • 75034-0055 • USA • 1-800-772-8888 • Spanish-language materials, please call 1-800-898-4847 •
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reproduced in any form without prior written permission from the publisher. Insights is published by Insight for Living Ministries, the Bible-teaching ministry of Charles R. Swindoll.
Insight for Living Ministries is an autonomous ministry. Cover inset of Chuck Swindoll: Edmonson Photography. Printed in the United States of America.
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Those words come from Zygmunt Karel, a man who at 5-years-
old witnessed communists beating his father for preaching the
gospel in Poland. Zygmunt will never forget his mother holding
him back from rushing to his father’s defense. “If we attack them,”
she warned, “They will put your father in prison, this time for good.”
Zygmunt will also never forget what happened after the officers left.
His father gathered the family together, asked them to kneel, and then
led them in prayer for the men who had just beaten him.
That wasn’t the last time the Karel family endured persecution.
“Oh, yes,” Zygmunt says with a humble smile, “My father was arrested
many times. I’ve been arrested too.”
Born in 1950, Zygmunt spent his childhood in South Poland, where
pollution hung so thickly in the air, even the birds coughed. Despite
the heavy hand of communism in those years, Zygmunt doesn’t
remember a time when he didn’t know about Christ. His parents, as
well as his uncle’s family who lived close by, were dedicated believers.
His father, a pastor, was in and out of prison, accused of being an
American spy because he proclaimed God’s Word—an accusation that
wasn’t reserved only for adults. Zygmunt recalls praying for the United
States in their home as a family. But his father forbade him to speak of
America at school, fearing he too would end up in prison.
COMMITTED TO EXCELLENCE IN COMMUNICATING BIBLICAL TRUTH AND ITS APPLICATION
Through Zygmunt’s recordings of Chuck Swindoll’s
messages, Polish-speaking people can hear solid
Bible teaching in Poland on the radio and around
the world via the Internet.
Wrocław, Poland
“All of my life, God put into my heart a dream
of starting a seminary in my country.”
Following the God Bigger Than Our Dreams: Zygmunt Karel and Insight for Living Polska, continued from inside
Kuba and Ela Cieslar served with Campus Crusade
for Christ before Kuba joined Insight for Living
Polska as executive director in 2013.
Zygmunt and Maria, pictured here in 1992, have five
children—(from left) Ela, Piotr, Marcin, Wojtek, and
(front) Patryk.
MAY 2020
Partners in marriage and ministry now for 47
years, Zygmunt and Maria serve the Lord side-by-
side in their home country of Poland.
Endnote
1. Joshua Project, “Language: Polish,” Joshua Project, https://joshuaproject.net/languages/pol (accessed April 19, 2020).

2. Polish Speakers
Poland
Belarus
Belgium
Bulgaria
Hungary
Slovakia
Czech
Republic
Netherlands
Italy
France
Ukraine
Serbia
Romania
Greece
Spain
Germany
United
Kingdom
Sweden
Norway
Ireland
Croatia
Cyprus
Denmark
Estonia
Latvia
Lithuania
Finland
Moldova
Russia
Argentina
Australia
Azerbaijan
Brazil
Canada
Georgia
Iceland
Israel
Kazakhstan
New Zealand
Paraguay
Turkmenistan
United States
Uruguay
Uzbekistan
Venezuela
Luxembourg
Austria
His main responsibility, though, has been to
translate, contextualize, and record Chuck’s messages
for a Polish-speaking audience. Now, with our new
Searching the Scriptures training curriculum and
Vision 195, he will also be training pastors and lay
leaders to study God’s Word and prepare and deliver
sermons using the same methods Chuck does
every Sunday.
Looking back, Zygmunt sees clearly how the Lord
prepared him to be a teacher of the Word during his
years serving at the seminary he dreamed of and started
with Dr. Mark Young. With gratitude and amazement,
he also sees how the Lord led him away from that dream
to an even bigger one. Through Vision 195, Zygmunt
will be teaching and training Polish-speakers on a scale
much larger than he ever imagined! And through our
Polish-language website, he has the opportunity to
reach millions more.
More than 41 million people from 46 different
countries speak Polish as their primary language.1 In
someofthesecountries,thePolish-speakingpopulation
“Growing up in a Christian
home,” Zygmunt says, “was
a gift. But there was one
negative thing.” That one thing,
according to Zygmunt? Not the
constant fear or persecution.
It was how long it took him to
realize being part of a Christian
familywasn’tenough; heneeded
to make a personal decision to
follow Christ. Zygmunt recalls
the day he made that choice:
I was on a tram, packed
in like a sardine, traveling
between cities. I was
about 15 years old, and
I was reading a booklet
about the gospel from a
revival convention. All of
a sudden, I realized that
to be a child of God, I
had to make the decision
for myself. My father was
standing far from me on
the tram, and I shouted to
him, “Dad! Did you know
salvation has to come by
faith?” That was my first realization that I
needed to commit my life to God’s hands,
and I did.
With the same inextinguishable faith of his father,
teenaged Zygmunt felt called to full-time ministry.
When he told his parents, tears streamed down his
mother’s cheeks. His father, terrified that his son would
experience the same hardships he had, said firmly,
“Over my dead body!”
“I loved my father. I obeyed my father,” Zygmunt
says with a chuckle. “But I knew God had called me
to be a pastor, and there was no way I wouldn’t be.”
That was 1965; Zygmunt began pastoring in Poland in
1971. Advanced studies took him to Warsaw, where he
earned a PhD in theological sciences from Christian
Theological Academy. While studying theology in
Warsaw, Zygmunt pastored two small churches in his
home area, South Poland. After 10 years ministering in
Silesia (South Poland), he traveled to Switzerland for
further study. Eventually, he landed in beautiful Kraków,
Poland, where he pastored for seven years.
In 1988, the Lord began to
make Zygmunt’s lifelong dream of
starting a seminary a reality. The first
step? A prompting in the heart of
Dr. Mark Young, now the president
of Denver Seminary, to move from
the United States to Poland. The Lord
connected Zygmunt and Dr. Young,
bringing together Zygmunt’s passion
and training with Dr. Young’s heart
for missions and his education from
Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS)
and Trinity Evangelical Divinity
School. For two years, Zygmunt
and Dr. Young worked together to
develop a seminary in Poland. Due
to communism, they planned to
open the institution “underground.”
But then these two believers with
big dreams saw the Lord perform a
miracle: In 1989, Poland came out
from under communism! “God gave
us freedom!” Zygmunt exclaims.
“Suddenly, we had an open road
before us!”
In 1990, Biblical Theological
Seminary, completely unhindered,
opened its doors in Wrocław, with Dr. Young serving
as academic dean and Zygmunt as president. In 1995,
Dr. Young returned to his alma mater DTS as a professor.
Zygmunt remained president of the seminary in Poland
until 2005, teaching theology, homiletics, and spiritual
leadership. Today, Biblical Theological Seminary is the
only fully accredited evangelical, interdenominational
seminary in Europe.
In 2005, Zygmunt moved to New York to help grow
a church in a Polish community in Brooklyn. Then
in 2008, Dr. Young invited him to visit DTS, where
Dr. Chuck Swindoll was chancellor. Zygmunt had met
Chuck at an earlier visit, but this time, he also met
Cynthia and Insight for Living Ministries. Shortly
thereafter, he returned to Poland with a mission: to start
Insight for Living Polska (Poland).
Zygmunt shares, “Since day one, I was translating
Chuck’s sermons into Polish. By 2009, the office was
open, and I started to record. Since that time, we
have produced almost 1,000 broadcasts!” Zygmunt’s
efforts have resulted in more than 500 hours of solid,
practical Bible teaching airing across Poland on two
different stations—and that teaching is meeting an
astounding need!
Through both world wars, God sustained the people
of Poland through the Roman Catholic Church. Those
deep roots have produced an uncontested reverence
for the Catholic church and a people who consider
themselves very religious. But, as Zygmunt points out,
“Religion doesn’t necessarily go together with knowledge
of the gospel.”
Catholicism gives many Poles a sense of belonging;
they feel secure in the church, thinking the church takes
care of their salvation. There’s a prevailing mindset that
if a person goes to mass, participates in the sacraments,
and listens to the right ordained clergy, he or she is
okay. A personal spiritual life doesn’t matter; what that
person does at home doesn’t matter. As pastor of Insight
for Living Polska, Zygmunt considers it his privilege
to introduce his countrymen and women to the God of
grace and the truth of the Bible.
“We love our country,” Zygmunt says. “We want to
present the Bible as clearly as possible. People here tend
to see everything non-Catholic as a threat, but listeners
like Chuck’s messages because he appeals to their minds.”
And that’s no small feat!
“We never had in Poland anything like a national
Reformation,” Zygmunt explains. “Obviously, the
Reformation flowed into Poland, but it never touched
the whole country. Therefore, the mentality of the
average Pole is not inclined to the Bible or to biblical
vocabulary.” English takes a lot of vocabulary from the
Bible, and English-speakers—Christian or otherwise—
use it in everyday life. But, Zygmunt reveals, that isn’t the
case with Poles. “We have to be really careful,” he says,
“to teach the gospel in a way that people will be able to
understand.”
Biblical Theological Seminary, which Zygmunt
helped found, is Europe’s only fully accredited
evangelical, interdenominational seminary.
The challenge is even greater among the young
population who tend to resist reading. It’s a
“generation of pictures,” Zygmunt says—people who
have grown up with a constant onslaught of images,
giving them less patience for things like sitting down
and studying the Bible. “So,” Zygmunt says with
determination, “We are looking for creative ways to
engage people of all ages in digging into the Bible for
themselves.” Zygmunt and his team do so with an
emphasis on excellence and professionalism. Those
hallmarks of Insight for Living Ministries as a whole,
Zygmunt believes, will draw in Polish Catholics and
Protestants alike.
As pastor of Insight for Living Polska, Zygmunt
answers calls and letters from listeners who contact
the ministry with questions about the Bible and what
they’ve heard on the program. He also fills pulpits
throughout the country as needed and sets up
teaching conferences.
Following the God Bigger Than Our Dreams: Zygmunt Karel and Insight for Living Polska, continued from front
For nearly five decades, Zygmunt has
pursued the Lord’s calling to full-
time ministry in Poland.
Continued on back
Polish
Speakers
Worldwide
These countries in the immediate
radius of Poland have significant
Polish-speaking populations.
M e d i t e r r a n e a n
S
e a
N o r t h
S e a
B l a c k
S e a
B a l t
ic
Sea
R
e
d
S
e
a
Other countries
around the
world with
Polish-speaking
populations:
ATLAN
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E
A N
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O C E A N