About Johnny Leslie
Brother Johnny Leslie and his wife Tori are missionaries to Croatia. The Leslie family arrived in Croatia in May of 2000. The Lord led them to a small group of Christians who had been praying that God would send someone to start a local church. They had learned that churches start churches and they knew that they were not a biblical church because they were not started by the right authority. From this small group, the very first Independent Baptist church was started. Tree of Life Independent Baptist Church was started in 2002 in the Northern city of Čakovec and was turned over to Brother Rajko Telebar the national pastor in 2007. The church is currently under the leadership of Bro. Telebar and growing and learning to serve.
After turning the first work over to a national pastor, the Leslies planted another church in the city of Varaždin. Victors Independent Baptist Church was established in 2010 and is growing and doing it’s very best to reach their community for Christ. The church currently supports 3 national missionaries in Chile, Philippines and Hungary.
The Leslies have also tried to have an active ministry to the Roma (Gyspy) population in Croatia. The northern part of Croatia has a large Gypsy population and they are in desperate need of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Leslies have worked in 3 different villages and are currently planting a church in the Gypsy village of Kuršanec. For 3 years the Leslies have worked with the children in the village; Saturday morning with the younger children up to 9 years and then Sunday afternoon they hold a meeting for children 9 years old to 18.
One of the greatest things God has allowed the Leslies to be involved in is the translation of King James Bible into Croatian. Bro. Johnny battled with starting the project and after much prayer the Croatian Bible Project began in 2009. After many years of labor received our first shipment of complete Bibles in 2018. There is no greater work that a man can do than to leave a country with a reliable copy of God’s Word.
