Croatian Pastor Miško Horvatek paid a high price for his love for the Lord. He was raised in a Catholic home and his family did not share his enthusiasm for the Savior. When he returned home from the army a changed man, they accused him of believing “another faith”.

“They threw me out of the home,” he says.

He had no money and no home. But he had the Lord. It was more than enough.

God called Miško to the church, where he began to cultivate a gift for sharing his testimony and encouraging others in the faith.

“Church leaders began to discern that I might be gifted for preaching,” Miško says. “I also had a great inward desire to preach God’s Word. To preach the gospel to the lost and encourage God’s people with His truth was all I wanted to do.”

Miško’s first responsibility in the church came in 1968, when he was asked to pastor a small Baptist church in Sr. Mitrovica, Serbia. By his own admission, he was not as prepared as he now believes he should have been.

“I did not have the background in a Bible-believing church and, as a result, I had limited knowledge of what kind of ministries I should undertake…” he admits. “I did not have proper training – only one year of Bible training – which was not nearly enough. And nobody discipled me properly. Nevertheless, I loved the task that God graciously gave me.”

In his 40 years of ministry in Croatia, Miško has seen a lot of change, the most significant resulting from the fall of communism. For decades under the tyranny of communism, the people weathered spiritual drought.

“The government made sure that Christians would be isolated inside society and that their Christian influence would be reduced to the very minimum,” he says. “But isolation helped the church to be protected from the popular western church trends which would have, I am sure, appealed to church leaders and the people in the pews alike.”

“Now Croatia has turned back to Roman Catholicism which doesn’t overtly attack churches and believers, but works against God's people by posing as an ‘angel of light’.”


	Under Misko’s leadership, TBA has prepared a steady stream of graduates for ministry in Croatia.

At the same time, however, Miško has been waving the banner of biblical truth. His ministry, as it has matured, continues to act as a lamppost, illuminating the way for those who would follow Christ.

Miško’s ministry efforts brought him to the Evangelical Bible Institute (EBI) in Vienna, Austria, which was founded in the mid 1980’s to train leaders of protestant churches who were reaching communist Yugoslavia with the gospel.

It was during this time that Miško decided he needed more equipping. That decision brought him to The Master’s Seminary (TMS) in southern California.

In 1990, Miško graduated from TMS. Armed with a solid foundation in expository preaching, he returned to Europe eager to put his new training to work back home.

“Upon returning from my studies at TMS in 1990, I continued to be involved with EBI and taught in Vienna and in her extension centers throughout Croatia.”

Change was soon to follow with the suspension of EBI’s training center.

“The suspension of EBI's training ministry in Austria ignited in my heart a desire for re-opening the training center in Croatia,” Miško says.

“Because the war broke out in 1991, ministry was very hectic and it was hard to get things restarted.

Finally I was able to share my vision with ECHO elders, who supported me and sent the help.

“With the influence I had in churches across Croatia, I managed to get 12 church leaders excited about this same ministry in 1997. They came alongside me, and the Theological Biblical Academy (TBA) was formed.”

TBA offered its first set of full-time classes in Krapina in the fall of 2000. Miško, along with Dr. John Millheim (the school’s first dean) and Dr. Don Walker, set about the task of providing the Croatian church with biblically trained leadership.

“Croatian churches struggle because they lack fully trained men,” Miško says. “Believers in most cases are immature; churches and even leaders do not know biblical doctrines; they are looking for help. Most of those who preach do not exposit the Word, but share their opinions about the Word and tell nice stories. With God's help, TBA endeavors to change this situation.”

Miško knows that such change can only take place by way of spiritual transformation. That’s why his life is marked by such a strong commitment to God’s Word, to prayer, to preaching, to the church and to evangelism. That’s why he’s so committed to the work at TBA.

“TBA is committed to train men to be expositors of the Word of God (and to train ladies to accurately teach the Bible to other women). Our graduates learn the art of preaching and the importance of expository preaching and teaching,” he says. “They learn that every biblical text should be explained precisely and accurately. When they minister in their home churches or as guests, they are examples to others in their careful preaching and teaching. The feedback we receive about them is very positive.”

Today, with the help of professors Dr. Stephen Etches, Gene Whiting, Assistant Dean Kristian Brackett, Todd Dick and Walter Heaton, TBA offers students an array of equipping options. There’s a three-year biblical program with classes in Greek, theology, exegesis and apologetics.

A four-year program exists for students who wish to add Hebrew and more advanced classes in exegesis. Finally, the school offers a part-time program at the Expositor’s Institute. This twoyear program is for believers already in ministry and unable to attend classes full time.

However TBA’s students choose to equip themselves for spiritual service, they can be confident in the equipping they’ll receive at TBA under the guidance of Miško Horvatek. The four now-grown Horvatek children (three daughters and a son) were Miško’s first mission field. They now all actively serve God in Croatia.

The same can be said of the graduates of TBA. They serve the Lord in their country, thanks in part to the dedication of Miško Horvatek. They are an extension of his outreach.

They are some of his finest fruits.