{"id":24649,"date":"2025-10-08T13:30:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T13:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/?p=24649"},"modified":"2025-10-07T09:02:39","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T09:02:39","slug":"asi-cs-convention-2025-in-czechia-and-slovakia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/asi-cs-convention-2025-in-czechia-and-slovakia\/","title":{"rendered":"ASI-CS Convention 2025 in Czechia and Slovakia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>29 September 2025 | Str\u00e1\u017eovice, Czech Republic [Daniel Klop with <em>tedNEWS<\/em>]<\/p>\n<p>From 18 to 20 September 2025, entrepreneurs, business leaders, and church members from across Czechia and Slovakia gathered in Str\u00e1\u017eovice for the annual <a href=\"https:\/\/asiministries.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Adventist-Laymen\u2019s Services &amp; Industries (ASI)<\/a> The Czechia-Slovakia (ASI-CS) Convention, is a weekend dedicated to fellowship, mission inspiration, and practical testimonies on witnessing in the marketplace. The event combined spiritual messages, professional insights, and a strong commitment to advancing the mission of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the region.<\/p>\n<p>Hosted at the DCM Hotel near Brno, the convention showcased the high level of innovation and entrepreneurship within the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.asi-cs.cz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ASI-CS<\/a>\u00a0chapter. Members shared how they are using their talents and businesses as platforms to share their faith.<\/p>\n<p>Ond\u0159ej Fr\u00e9har, a serial entrepreneur who built a health-based ice cream company and more recently a solar panel recycling business, spoke about honouring God in business by keeping the Sabbath holy. His decision to close his stalls on Saturdays sparked curiosity from customers, providing opportunities to explain his faith and point to Scripture.<\/p>\n<p>The importance of integrity was highlighted by Jan Rafaj, President of the Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic. Representing Czech industry nationally and at the European Union level, Rafaj stressed that honesty and reliability are vital in leadership and policymaking. Drawing on biblical examples such as Esther, Jonah, and Paul, he also spoke of his organisation\u2019s advocacy for fair opportunities for women in the workplace and efforts to close the gender pay gap.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_24652\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-24652\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-24652\" src=\"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2_ASI-CS-Convention.jpg\" alt=\"Pastor Daniel Duda, President of the Trans-European Division of Seventh-day Adventists, preaches during the ASI-CS Convention in Str\u00e1\u017eovice, Czech Republic.\" width=\"630\" height=\"354\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2_ASI-CS-Convention.jpg 630w, https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2_ASI-CS-Convention-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2_ASI-CS-Convention-500x280.jpg 500w, https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2_ASI-CS-Convention-350x197.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-24652\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pastor Daniel Duda, President of the Trans-European Division of Seventh-day Adventists, preaches during the ASI-CS Convention in Str\u00e1\u017eovice, Czech Republic.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Spiritual inspiration was brought by Pastor Daniel Duda, President of the Trans-European Division of Seventh-day Adventists (TED), who explored the story of Jonah to highlight the importance of staying focused on God\u2019s mission and showing compassion to non-believers.<\/p>\n<p>The convention reached a high point on Sabbath when a special offering exceeded expectations, raising 25% more than the original goal. Funds will support a range of mission-focused projects including Christian early childhood education, prison ministry, literature evangelism, and health outreach.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_24657\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-24657\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-24657 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/3_ASI-CS-Convention.jpg\" alt=\"Pictured (left to right): Marek Petr\u00e1\u010dek, ASI-CS President; Carlos Dias, ASI Europe President; Pastor Peter \u010c\u00edk, President of the Czecho-Slovakian Union Conference; and Daniel Klop, ASI Europe Secretary.\" width=\"630\" height=\"354\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/3_ASI-CS-Convention.jpg 630w, https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/3_ASI-CS-Convention-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/3_ASI-CS-Convention-500x280.jpg 500w, https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/3_ASI-CS-Convention-350x197.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-24657\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pictured (left to right): Marek Petr\u00e1\u010dek, ASI-CS President; Carlos Dias, ASI Europe President; Pastor Peter \u010c\u00edk, President of the Czecho-Slovakian Union Conference; and Daniel Klop, ASI Europe Secretary.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Carlos Dias, President of ASI Europe, commended, \u201cIt was a blessing to see all these great projects being supported by the local chapter. The entire ASI-CS team are skilled, talented, and focused, and they put together this fantastic convention. A special thank you goes to President Pastor Peter \u010c\u00edk for his presence and to the entire Czecho-Slovakian Union Conference for their continued support.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daniel Klop, Secretary of ASI Europe, added, \u201cASI-CS has a high number of talented individuals. Czechia is a country known for its innovation and entrepreneurialism. Internationally renowned companies such as \u0160koda, \u010cEZ Group, and Avast are examples of this. In this spirit, I am certain that ASI-CS will continue to build a strong chapter that will support the church&#8217;s mission through the projects it sponsors.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>ASI Europe is a network of Seventh-day Adventist professionals and businesspeople dedicated to supporting the Church\u2019s mission across the <a href=\"https:\/\/eud.adventist.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Inter-European<\/a> and Trans-European Divisions. Through collaboration and funding, ASI Europe helps advance health, education, evangelism, and community service initiatives in harmony with Adventist values. Learn more at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.asi-europe.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">www.asi-europe.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><em>[Photos: ASI Europe].<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Faith, integrity, and building the Mission<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":24651,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,1577],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-organisational-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24649"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24649\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24676,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24649\/revisions\/24676"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}