Episode 23 - Danny Poljak - Explosives, Escaping War, and Mission Field Construction

After serving as a Maranatha volunteer for years, Danny now works for Maranatha to ensure our buildings are constructed soundly. But his journey to Maranatha starts as a child in the former Yugoslavia, the son of a Seventh-day Adventist Church pastor there. He remembers international Church leaders passing through, talking about what God was doing around the world. As a kid, Danny wondered if he could travel and serve around the world one day too. As a young man, Danny fulfilled mandatory military service where he learned explosives and demolition, an ironic job, as he’d spend the rest of his life building up structures instead of destroying them. He started his own construction company in his early twenties and got married, but the young couple had to abandon their new life, as Yugoslavia began to collapse into war. Danny started a new business in the United States doing mostly remodels, where he also had his daughter, and his life was on a nice trajectory. Then a friend invited him on a Maranatha mission trip to India, an experience that would change his life forever. What started as one project turned into multiple each year, and soon he started taking his daughter on projects. Eventually he realized that there were more important things than earning a good living through his company. He subsequently listened to God’s call to use his skills and experience to work for Maranatha. Danny talks about behind-the-scenes work that goes into each building Maranatha constructs, from making updates to the plans to working with draftsmen and architects, and how Maranatha’s in-country construction crews get creative in overcoming unique challenges on the job site.Watch Danny’s daughter’s testimony - https://watch.maranatha.org/videos/mk-poljakThanks for listening! Please subscribe, leave a review, and share the show.Visit maranatha.org for more info on the work of Maranatha Volunteers International.Text us! Let us know what you thought of this episode and the show in general!On September 19, 2026, join us in Sacramento, California, for our annual convention, Mission: Maranatha. You’ll be inspired by volunteer testimonies, stories from the mission field, and updates from Seventh-day Adventist Church leaders around the globe. Plus, be blessed by Oakwood University's award-winning choir, The Aeolians.Learn more at https://maranatha.org/media-events/maranatha-convention/