February-March 2020

A short but very eventful month of February started with a new project – The Foundations series seminar at the ReFormat youth movement. What great joy it is to have fellowship with young people so devoted to Jesus and sharing His message with their peers (see pictures attached)! The fellowship was focused on the relationship between science and faith and lasted long after the program had finished. The next meeting has been postponed due to quarantine. But please keep in your prayers these children of God who love their Father with all their hearts, minds and souls, and please pray for the program to continue in the future.

Relible Foundations
TransWorlRadio

TransWorlRadioThe Reliable Foundations apologetics online club has been working for the sixth year in a row! We had no idea it would last that long! The February meeting still had some physical attendance (see picture attached), but the next one(s) will be for online followers only. The Trans World Radio interview on the difference between the political agenda of the climate change and the actual biblical approach to the stewardship of God’s creation did not require real attendees, either (see the picture attached).Praised the Lord for the technologies that allow us to spread the message despite the challenges!

Vinnitsa

Another great blessing of the month was the Bible and Civil Society seminar for they outh leaders at the city of Vinnitsa(see picture attached). I wish you could hear the stories of these young people: how the Lord found them, what He rescued them from and how amazingly He has been working in their lives! The more I deal with the post-exodus generation (those who were not born under communism slavery), the more optimistic I am about the future of the nations despite the broken record: “”Weren’t there any graves in Egypt? Did you have to bring us out here in the desert to die? Look what you have done by bringing us out of Egypt! Didn’t we tell you before we left that this would happen? We told you to leave us alone and let us go on being slaves of the Egyptians. It would be better to be slaves there than to die here in the desert.” (Exodus 14,11-12).This is the generation that will lead people out of the wilderness of despair and will build their life on the solid rock of God’s word! May the Lord be praised!

Our next mission was to the cities of Khmelnitsky and Dolinovka with the big program on the Biblical foundations of marriage and family. It included seminars at the churches in the area and a training course for the family ministries leaders of entire region and their spouses (see the pictures attached). It is impossible to overestimate the role of godly marriage in building strong families and churches as well as raising the next generations in accordance with God’s Word! It is exciting to see the grassroots movement for this strategically important case! Please join our prayers for it!

Our next stop wasLviv, where we offeredan intensive training for a small group of young missionaries going to Nepal, South and Central Africa, and Eastern Europe (see pictures attached). For many years, the Lord has been using Ukraine as a hub of Evangelism for the other regions of the Russian Empire. At the time when the Soviet Union collapsed, 90% of the pastors in Russia were from Ukraine! And now we see how this influence is spreading even further! Please pray with us for this new generation of servants of the Lord to be properly prepared to enter the mission field!

We received a very special item of news from our coordinator Igor, who is based inthe Amur region of Russias Far East! They have successfully run the Camp called Search for Truth” designed for young Christian paleontologists. About a hundred kids aged 9–15 years from seven Sunday schools of that huge region had joined it. Igor writes: “The children had an unforgettable experience, and we hope that some of them will embark on the path of scientific research, harmoniously combining the science and the work of God the Creator”. May the Lord be praised!Our next stop had to be the big conference in Bila Tserkva (Central Ukraine) to conduct several seminars on international missions. However, it was rescheduled due to the pandemic. For similar reasons, our upcoming tripto the country of Moldova was cancelled. Our course on Practical Christian Ethics was meant to be an event to celebrate the commencement of the Master program at the seminary there.

Well, the trip has been cancelled, but the course itself has not to be cancelled at all! We produce media versions of our courses to equip the workers of the Lord in the restricted regions. Admittedly, the pandemic has made every region restricted in some way, so we are well prepared for the situation, thanks to technology! We supplied the students with the books to read by mail, with the online videos of the lectures, and with assignments. Obviously, this will not replace the actual interaction we would have during classes. Nevertheless, the students will not contact even one another and this is good for the quarantine situation. This is another example of how our ministry of media production and book publishing works for the Kingdom when other methods fail! May the Lord be praised!

We have quite a déjà vu now. In 2014, we managed to leave Crimea on the last plane, our team managed to send us our vehicles with the last train, and we, the Golovins, gathered all together in Kyiv. Now we managed to bring Dasha, our youngest daughter, to Kyiv with the last train from Lviv and we are all here together again. The country has been quarantined. All borders are closed, all public events are banned, all schools are shut down, all public transportation is cancelled. It looks like the Lord is humbling us again by reminding us that He is in control, not us. Now we have the time for fellowship, learning, praying, dreaming and developing the plans and the content for future projects. The ministry through the Internet and public networks is becoming our primary focus during this period. Please pray for Lord’s guidance for us in it!