Today was full of apostolic ministry. We first traveled to Yalta to visit the man who brought Pastor Barilo to Christ. He was the pastor of the largest leading Church in Yalta at one time. Now there are over fifty churches in Yalta that derive their leadership from that work. The sad part of this is in the tragic saga of betrayal by supposed helpful leadership from those he trusted in the ministry with him, improper protection, gossip and accusations. The original church is now only about twenty. Not one of the other churches are much larger and the original pastor lives a very lonely life completely ostracized by all other pastors, separated from his youngest children, divorced and wondering what life holds for him.
I spent two hours just talking to him, giving encouragement, words of restoration and hope. I am not sure what the future holds for him, but God still loves him and that is the message I imparted to him. We left him with a smile but the loneliness and sadness still hangs over his head.
A quick trip back “home”. A nice meal. A short rest! Another trip into Simferopol and then a three hour meeting with the leaders of Evangelistic Faith. The goal? To help them begin to go forward after a period of in-activity because of a loss of vision and outside leadership into the life of the pastor and the congregation.
It was as though you were giving the first set of directions to those leaders present as to how the Church is to be led by the Pastor and the position of the leaders in relationship to the vision and direction. You could see the lights turning on and hear the wheels begin to grind again with the infusion of potential again into their lives.
It all ended with a commitment to be a voice into their lives – the life of the Pastor, the leadership and the body of believers.
Who knows what the future holds for them? Only God knows. Their faith to be obedient to the vision He has placed in their heart will tell the final story.
Back home, another late meal and now this blog.
God bless,
Dr D
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