Sunday, October 19

Finished! The trip is all but completed. All I have to do is finish some details with Eugene, the Ukrainian Dean and pack for departure on Tuesday at 7:30 a.m. from the flat and 11:45 a.m. from Borispol Airport – then sit in the airplane and reflect on what God has wrought.

Today was a highlight, not because of being granted the honor of preaching in a Church running 10,000 but to have the privilege of spending some time with the pastor prior to the first service – well at least prior to the time to deliver the Word.

He is a visionary and is using great and unique ways to accomplish the vision God has given him. His vision is to reach the Muslim world. He is an African, with a Ukrainian wife, pastor a large Church in Kiev, another in Moscow (he flies there on Friday, preaches on Saturday and flies back to preach two times here at the mother Church on Sunday. Then Monday through Wednesday he is either here or is involved in crusades through out Ukraine. He has a midweek service on Thursday and then spends most of the day Friday with his family and departs of Moscow.

Today, a few minutes after I began to minister he departed for Pakistan. He was supposed to go last week, but a call from a secret believer in the know advised him to put it off until things settled down there. The man called him a couple of days ago and said, you can come if you believe God will protect you, but I cannot guarantee your protection. So today Pastor Henry Madava and fourteen team members departed to hold a pastors’ conference and a crusade Friday and Saturday. They expect 150,000 people in the Saturday night meeting.

The Church is training born-again people from Moslem countries to be missionaries to the Moslem world. The they send them back and support them to accomplish the work of God. They are doing this not only for the Moslem world but also in India, China and other eastern countries.

One of his burdens are the families of pastors in Viet Nam and the surrounding countries. The pastors have been killed and no one cares for the children and wives who remain. One son relayed to him, that his father died preaching the gospel and now where is Jesus and His people to help him, his brothers, sisters and mother. Because of their father’s death they children get no education and are able only to beg and try to survive.

Pastor Henry told me that he is using some unique ways to spread the gospel in Kiev. The Greek Orthodox and Catholic Churches have trained their people to go to confession. So Victory Church has established many “Confessional Booths” throughout the city where those who are accustomed to them can come and request prayer. There they are given the gospel message and told that they can pray directly to their Heavenly Father. This method is not looked upon by some Churches as “proper,” but it is successful and is reaching many for Christ.

His goal is to establish 5,000 Churches in the next 5 years. The Mother Church establishes a Church and the daughter Church is expected to begin another Church in one year and each new Church has the same commission.

Not only do they use that method, but whenever anyone moves from Kiev and leaves the Mother Church they are given extensive training about starting a new Church. They are expected not to attend another Church but to start a new Church.

These Churches are not left to their own devices. But Pastor and teams of people from Victory here in Kiev travel to the new Churches which are small and hold crusades. They do street witnessing and pass out invitations to the crusade, but only to new converts. No invitations are given to the general public who pass by. But each person is required to lead people to Jesus, then give them the invitation to the crusade. The crusade has an emphasis on healing. Pastor Henry is used mightily by God and they are seeing many miracles as a result. When they depart, the Church there is left with sometimes hundreds of new converts, as was demonstrated by the video they showed Sunday about the crusade in Chernigov, which is a few miles from Chernobyl.

An additional goal is that of sending out 300 teams of 10 in various countries of Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe with the purpose of each one leading one to Christ each day. Just think of that! Get out your calculator and do some figuring.

And they do not do anything “second rate” but only with “excellence!”

With that kind of vision, can you imagine the response one gets when ministering to his people! They are with you throughout the message!

Today the altars were filled with believers who had experienced emotional or physical abuse; with those who had been rejected by a father or mother; and those who had been abandoned by relatives. I cannot even begin to put a true number on those who came in each service. Conservatively, I would guess that there were 200+ in the first service and 150+ in the second. More that ten (10) received Christ in the first and seven (7) in the second.

Each service lasted about three and one-half hours. I was allowed one-hour and twenty minutes for ministering the Word and an altar service.

The staff of the Church we very gracious, very hospitable, very helpful and very sweet. I enjoyed my day with those from Victory Christian Church.

And to top it off, the Administrator, Kata, relayed a message from Pastor that I was welcome in Victory Church anytime it would work into both our schedules. She told me that Pastor is very cautious about who he allows to speak in the Church and specifically when he is not there. So I count it an honor to have had the privilege of speaking two times when the pastor was not there – even though he introduced me today in the first service, stayed for a few minutes and then departed for their flight to Pakistan. O yes! Pastor also extended an invitation to join him on one of his overseas crusades and be one of the team.

Thank you Life Church for permitting me to be your apostolic missionary to the nations of the world. This special opportunity is because of your faithfulness to be a missionary church by responding to the command of Jesus to go into “all the world”..

God bless and remember to pray for my return trip,

Dr. D.