The Bible speaks of a different kind of church, a church that accepts one another (Romans 15:7), a church that is “devoted to one another” (Romans 12:10), a church that “bears one another’s burdens” (Galatians 6:2).  God has given us His Word to equip us for instructing and helping each other with all of our burdens.  It is the job of the local church.  We are excited to work with the Biblical Counseling Institute to begin teaching church leaders and pastors how to bring “practical scriptural answers to life’s problems!”  There are many problems here, but not many voices of Truth.  Please pray that God will raise up a Ukrainian Church that has a reputation of serving one another in love (Galatians 5:13) by the power of His Word. 

Mark Huffman
Director – BCI Satellite Training Center, Ukraine

 

A Report from our October 2009 Trip to Ukraine

Greetings!

It has taken me far too long to again thank you for your generous support for our recent trip toOdessa, Ukraine. As you know, I traveled with my board of directors,Glenn Dunn and Gus Supan. We were blessedbeyond measure, with more than enough provisionfor the trip and more opportunities to serve our Lordand the people there than we could imagine.

Let me give you a brief report. Before we were outof the states, Gus hadled two people to Christ! When we arrived in Odessa, our missionary contact (and the directorof our BCI Satellite Training Center) Mark Huffman and three staff members transported us toour lodgings. Two of us would be staying with mission interns John and Patti Sharer, and onewith the students at the Missionary Training Center.

For seven days we taught our course one in BiblicalCounseling to seven students, ranging from 20 to 32 years ofage. They were outstanding students, really sold out to Jesus,very serious about learning all they couldto bring the gospel to other cultures, winsouls, and then be able to disciple themand help them overcome problems. Theywere at various degrees of skepticismabout trusting the Bible alone forcounseling all non-organic problems, including Filemon, who had just finished his master'sdegree in Psychology! By the end of the training, they were all solidly and joyously confident inthe sufficiency of the scriptures. They were even more excited about the Bible than before, asthey became aware of just how much more it contains than they had thought.

Alongside this assignment, we were scheduled toaddress students at the Christian Open University(founded and run by Christians, but open to allstudents), of which about 80% are unsaved. Aftermeeting the director and head professor of theTheology department, it became a two-conferenceassignment! I lectured on solving problems using the Bible, and the focus was evangelistic aswell. The lecture was followed by three workshops, led by we three preachers from Americafar! It was well received both times. We hope to have my lecture available in the future, as afree download on the BCI website.

An evangelistic group meets weekly at the University, hosting an English-speaking class. We guested, and did a mock radio program todemonstrate our live broadcast for their edification and enjoyment. Theyenjoyed the topic, "What the Bible says about dating."

There were other ministry tasks we took on, some added to the agendawhile we were there! At another time, I hope to send you more info on the fruit of the trip. Suffice to say (to keep this short enough that you will read it!) that we hit the ground running,and barely stopped until we arrived back in the USA. It took a week to adjust to the time change(7 hours) there and another week when we returned (at least it did for me!). But, we are invitedback as early as next year, and not only to repeat a similar schedule, but two or three pastors we met at the University conference invited us topreach at their churches; a Seminary director from Kiev wants to take usto Moscow; and more! Also, the University wants to publish my book,Peace and Joy Principle, - for free!

I don't want you to think we were abused - we were taken out twice totourist sites: a military weapons display park; the catacombs whereUkrainian-Russians hid from Hitler's attacks; a Russian Orthodoxmonastery: and the downtown scene, with old buildings, a flea market,and the harbor on the Black Sea. Very impressive.

Ukraine is still suffering from its domination by the Soviets, even thoughit became free in 1990. It is a very dark and despairing land, economically beaten and without hope. You can see it on the faces of everyone, exceptthe Christians.

This is as it should be. The brothers and sisters we met there are holdingup the candle faithfully and boldly letting their lights shine. It was a great privilege for us to strengthen their arms and encourage them. And your prayers and gifts madeit possible. You will share in whatever rewards are coming, because there would have been notrip without you.

May you be encouraged and rejoice with us. We may be going back, or to another country thenext time. It all depends upon the Lord's plans, and the love and obedience of His faithfulservants, like you.Thanks so much for partnering with us.

Click here for the PDF of this report that has photos