I am back home, managing the transformation of plans and priorities after the ending of my studies. It seemed as a long way ahead four years ago, but has passed pretty fast and is over now! The graduation was especially joyful because Olga has joined me for it (see the picture attached). My study is her achievement as much as my one due to the increased burden she carried during these four years both in the household and in the ministry.
On the return, I got right into the middle of the stream of the major projects – ongoing and upcoming ones. The “Red Belt” of Ukraine continues to be the object of our special care. Our mobile team has made a long-planned “landing party” in the city of Makiivka (Donetsk coal mining region) with seminars, sermons and training courses, as well as equipping libraries of leading churches there. Not many changes in the way of life and people’s ideology happened in the miner’s towns of the “Red Belt” since the times of communism – neither in the secular world, nor in the church. After going there one always have a feeling of traveling in time 30 years back, sometimes even 50 years back. The churches do not see often the benefits civil freedoms provide for evangelism, and still have self-preservation as a main goal, retreating from the world instead of challenging it.
They are half-way (20 years!) through the desert of secular democracy, but live and act like if they still in the Egypt of communism. However we have a great hope there — we call it “Winter Crops Generation,” as an analogy with the young crops planted in late fall which lays calm during the winter under the snow, but produce rich harvest when snow melts in spring.
WCG is teenagers and young adult who do care about their country, believing that only Good News of Jesus Christ can transform it. They see the opportunities apologetics provides for spreading it in the modern world. Considering general spiritual background of the region, Media Challenge course made for them was a special joy for our team (see the pictures attached).We found out also that one church of the region is doing popular Ethics optional classes in the public school of the region, using our “Urok” video as a model for problems solution (have problem – do not hesitate to look for advice at the church).
WCG has a great potential not only in the “Red belt”, but everywhere, where “adults” are too slow in going for the ministry outside the church fence. That is why it was strategically important for us to take part in the “Youth for Christ” national conference in Irpen, where we had an opportunity to tell about the resources (books, videos, on-line, etc.) we have available and how they could be used in the ministry to young people both in the church and outside of it.
However the greatest event of the month was Creation Outreach in Kyiv. For two weeks prior to the project posters on Creation Evangelism were posted at every car and at every downtown stations of the subway (the main means of the transportation in the city — see the pictures attached; actually, even now, two weeks later, 80% of cars and two stations still have them free of charge – the company do not bother to remove old posters till somebody else pay for a new one). Millions of Kievians and visitors were exposed to the evidences for Creation! As a result, about 1.500 attended during the outreach week May 25-31 at Kyiv Planetarium — former stronghold of communist atheistic propaganda — Creation Expo and other events: seminars, public debates, book fair, round table discussions with leading Darwinists (it was least interesting part actually, since no other counterarguments except “Creationism is religion, Darwinism is science” were offered), videos demonstration, and academic conference on the last day. Please pray for the seeds that were planted there abundantly!
Now we are involved actively in preparing upcoming projects. Please pray for them as well, especially for:
June 20-30 – children camp (Crimea)
July 2-6 – teenager’s camp (Kryvyi Rih, Central Ukraine)
October 15-17 – conference on Darwinism jubilee (Crimea)
November 2-9 – international coordinators’ and Uzbek national apologetics summit (Uzbekistan)