 Well…this year is about to come to a close. It has been a great year. Great for several reasons. (1) Our church planters have planted 12 new churches this past year. They are the real heroes. (2) We had our largest number of volunteer teams this past year. (3) We had a new granddaughter. Her name is Ellen Elizabeth…she is a cutie. (4) We have a new translator that is translating all of our church planting courses at KTS. A giant leap of faith for Mary Ellen and me. His name is Sergei and he is a church planter here in Kiev and is doing a wonderful job. (5) We got approval to come to Richmond in Feb 2008 to Candidate Conference to start the process of returning to the field as career missionaries. A long and tedious process. (6) Our son and youngest grandson brought over a team from our home church Graceland in October. It was amazing what God did with Sean, Jackson and the team. (7) For you our prayer partners, family and friends who continue to pray and believe in what we are doing here. (8) Most of all to God for making all of this possible and to my wonderful wife who made what we are doing here a joy. Mary Ellen and I will celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary while we are home at Christmas.
I appreciate what the Lord has done this past year but I press on to the goal of the high calling in 2008. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
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 I have just finished my CP 101 class at the seminary. This is the foundational course on church planting. I teach this every year to the in coming freshman church planting students. It is an overview of everything that the church planter needs to be equipped to plant churches. I always enlist other IMB missionaries to help me teach. It is good for the students to get other presenters who have a passion for church planting and equipping our students.
I must admit I always enjoy this class. This year’s class was a wonderful experience for me as well. What an awesome privilege to be able to invest in these 15 young future leaders of Ukraine. Yesterday, I ask some of them to share what impacted them the most during the last two weeks. Many said the class had given them a renewed passion and vision for where they are. One of the students said that, “These past two weeks had turned his world upside down”. I believe with all of my heart that one of the most rewarding things a person can do in this life is have the opportunity like I have had to invest in men that have the potential of turning their world upside down. Thank you God for placing us here in Ukraine.
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I just came home this afternoon from interviewing prospective church planting students at the seminary and I am so encouraged by the men that we interviewed. There are several reasons for this. (1) God is still moving in the hearts of young men all across this country to plant churches. I sat and listened to each on of them tell me that they felt called by God to go and plant a church in their region of the country and some even in different parts of the former Soviet Union. (2) These men are in their early 20s. They are men who have not been believers for very long. Some of them only 3 or 4 years. They are teachable and not traditional in the way that they are looking at doing church. (3) Several of these men have come out of drug addiction and they have a deep desire to go and share Jesus Christ among those who are still in bondage to drugs and alcohol here in Ukraine. (4) We are beginning to attract men from other countries. Today I interviewed a young man from Moldova. A first for us in our program. (5) All of these men seemed to know that this would be difficult but necessary in fulfilling their destiny. (6) Some of these applicants have been approached by other church-planting students of ours to be on their church planting team. This is what we have been praying for that God will begin to raise up our students to tell the vision and enlist men to help them in planting churches.
So you can see why I would be so encouraged by our new class of church planters. I believe that God is doing something here in Ukraine and we just want to be careful not to get in the way of what He wants to do. The fields are white unto harvest and He is calling out the laborers. We are grateful. Continue to pray that God will send us every student that needs to be here.
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After arriving on the field here in Ukraine I knew it would be important to get a starter sound system for many of our students as they started their churches. One of my friends in the states who has a music business offered to supply the sound systems to our church planters when they were ready to plant their churches. This has worked well for us here in Ukraine but there seems to always be a story associated with every system that is brought into the country. The latest episode was on July 18. When Mary Ellen and I arrived back in Kiev we discovered that the brand new sound system that left with us in Louisville, was damaged upon our arrival here in Kiev. Some how between here and there someone or something removed the protective cover and damaged the outside of the case on one corner. I was disappointed but after closer examination and turning it on I discovered that the speakers worked fine and all else was well.
Interestingly enough along the way I inherited a DVD of Alfred Hitchcock movies, which I found in the speaker case. Someone between Louisville and Kiev is missing a DVD…sorry.
As soon as I arrived back here in Ukraine my church planter called and wanted to know if the sound system arrived and if he could pick it up? Arrangements were made for him to come on Saturday afternoon to pick it up. He had to drive over 3 hours to pick it up!! Mary Ellen and I met him at the sub-way station, explained the problem with the case being damaged and how sorry we were. That didn’t seem to bother him. He was very glad to get it and expressed his appreciation for the gift. We handed it off to him and he climbed into a taxi and off he went with the sound system and 4 mics. We talked to him on Monday and he told us the system worked great on Sunday.
We are so grateful that people in the states are willing to help our young men as they plant their new churches. Praise the Lord.
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The last few weeks have been very busy ones for Mary Ellen and me. As many of you know we spent two weeks in the states with our family and friends. While there we took time to do some mobilization in our state of Indiana. We were able to share about our work at the seminary with 10 churches. It was a wonderful opportunity for us to be able to talk with pastors and other key leadership about what is going on here in Ukraine with church planting.
We arrived back in Kiev on Wednesday morning July, 18th and Wednesday afternoon I left to pick up tickets and hop aboard an overnight train to eastern Ukraine where I met a team from Alabama working with one of our church planters. It was a great week. Our church planter had set up a tent in the area where he is hoping to plant a church. He told me that in that area there are over 30,000 people and most of them are lost. The team from Alabama worked with children during the day and then there were services in the evening. This volunteer group was made up of 5 women. I was particularly impressed by their story. Most of them sold Krispy Kreme Donuts, did yard sales, and washed cars to get their money to come on this mission trip. It still amazes me that God speaks to folks about coming here to help us. Our volunteers are a big part of our strategy. It is a sacrifice of time and money for these folks to come and help us. A HUGE THANK YOU TO ALL WHO ANSWER THE CALL. The team left knowing that they had had a big part in the eleven professions of faith,
Now with the 3rd volunteer team headed back to the states we are turning our attention to another project to help two of our church planters starting this coming Saturday. They will be having a camp for young people out side of a city called Rivne. This will be a great outreach for them. Many of these young people going are not Christians. James, our intern for the summer from Campbellsville University and some other MKs ( missionary kids) will going with him to help in the camp.
All in all this has been a very busy one and a HOT one. The temps here in Kiev are in the high 80s and 90s. That is hot for here!!! …especially with No air conditioning.
This week Mary Ellen and I must turn our attention toward school starting, new professors for classes and interviews for potential students in August.
Please keep us in your prayers.
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 Well... what a day!! It started early this morning with a trip to the airport to pick up one of our volunteer groups from Alabama. They were on time from New York but not much of their luggage made it. The last four groups of people that we have met at the airport have had lost luggage… an inherent problem today for people who fly. After making the necessary arrangements to have the luggage sent on to where they are going in eastern Ukraine, we took off to the out door museum outside of Kiev. We thought since the team had been sitting so long and would be riding a train all night that it would be good to get out and walk. It was HOT today but we trudged on with water bottles in hand. The out door museum was having a craft display today of Ukrainian pottery. A Ukrainian young man that I knew came over and said the President is here. I said” No way” He said yes right over there. Sure enough he and his wife and one of his daughters were looking at pottery. I tried to get up close but his bodyguards surrounded him. As the picture indicates that’s as close as I could get. Earlier this spring Mary Ellen and I were out in Kiev and he was buying flowers at an outdoor market. I wonder who is following whom?
After leaving the out door museum we made it to Mac Donald’s on the river for a welcome lunch and a nice cool place to rest awhile. It was great to be able to visit with our newfound friends from Eastmont Baptist in Montgomery, Alabama. Please pray that God will use them in a great way this week as they help one of our church planters. We then loaded up and made it across town to the train station.
 Got out and did a little shopping for toothpaste and deodorant by some whose luggage didn’t arrive and then on to Mac Donald’s to get burgers to go on their overnight train ride. I always say that the only thing normal here in Ukraine is that nothing is normal. Their train car was 21. You would think that it would be at the end of the train right? WRONG. We had all their luggage and in a hurry to get them settled only to find out that train car #21 was at the front of the train. So… we turned around with only minutes left until the train was to depart and went the full length of the train to get them on. Wow!! We made it. By this time everyone was overheated and so tired but made it to their HOT coupes. Mary Ellen and I were standing out side waving to them as they pulled out of the station (We are on our way tomorrow for some training by the IMB) so we couldn’t make this trip. All in all it has been a great day and we are so grateful that God continues to send people to help our church planters and us.
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 Our 2nd Annual Marriage Retreat for our church planters and their wives was an overwhelming success again this year. We had a total of 13 couples this year including our pastor Dr. Scott Miller and his wife Chris who led our retreat, Sergei and Natalie, (he is a church planter in Kiev and the two of them did the translation) and Mary Ellen and me. We had a great weekend and it was a special blessing for our church planters’ wives. Most of the time these ladies are busy taking care of the family and do not get to travel to Kiev or anywhere for an outing like this. On Friday night we surprised them after dinner with free time and we had reserved the sauna and swimming pool just for them. Needless to say the men were thrilled to relax and spend time with their wives after an intense week of classes.
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Hello again from Kiev. A big part of my ministry here at the KTS
Seminary is going out on the field to encourage my church planters and
see what they are doing. I just returned from a quick trip to Chegarin
(transliteration). This is a city south of Kiev. It is a 4-hour ride by
bus. My assistant Leo and myself left early Saturday morning and made
our way south along the Dinpro River. I have three students there and
this was my second visit to Chegarin. It is a city that was has a lot
of history. Bogdon Khelminisky, like the George Washington of Ukraine
had a fortress there and was it was the capital of the Cossacks. There
is a huge statue of him on a hill inside the city. In more recent times
during the soviet days a nuclear power station like the one built in
Chernobyl was going to be built there but because of the nuclear
explosion the idea of building the nuclear station was abandoned.
Apartments and huge docks on the river had already been built. The
apartments are being used today and that is where Sergei one of my
church planters lives with his wife. They live on the 7th floor and
there is no elevator that works. It hasn’t worked Sergei said since the
late 90s. After arriving on Saturday and a little lunch two of my other
church planters joined us and we traveled out to the areas where Sergei
is going to plant a church. Andre another one of my students joined us
and we stopped off in a village and visited the place where is now has
a small group that he is hoping will become a church plant. We met his
mother, who by the way was the first convert in the village. There is
only one evangelical church in the village. On our way we made our way
down to the river, which at that point looks more like a sea. The day
was beautiful and we enjoyed getting out in the countryside after
living here in Kiev. Eventually we made it to the place where Sergei is
going to plant his church. It is a small village of 1200 people and
there is not evangelical church there. Sergei is filled with vision
about what he believes God is going to do there. I joined with him a
prayed that God would raise up a several churches in that region and
that God would use him to do that. YOU NEED TO KNOW THAT SERGEI HAS NO
TRASPORTATION TO THIS VILLAGE. TWO WEEKS AGO HE RODE A BICYCLE ONE HOUR
AND A HALF TO THIS VILLAGE TO HAVE HIS OUTREACH. That’s commitment!! He
has a good team of five that are helping him and I was so proud and
encouraged by what I saw. You see…Sergei has been changed by the power
of Jesus Christ. Before coming to Christ he was in prison 6 years for
armed robbery. Now he is helping get others out of spiritual prison by
giving them the gospel.
After arriving home last night I am more convinced than ever that God
is working all things for His good and that He is raising up men like
Sergei, Stas , Andre and others that will help change the spiritual
landscape of this country. Please pray for them!!
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 Someone told me many years ago that God is always on time. Let me share
with you a story of one of my church planters to illustrate this . I
have a student church planter that lives in the eastern part of the
country in a small city named Rovenki. The first time I met Oleg I
liked him. I listened to his vision for planting churches and watched
how he went about challenging his team and others in his city to plant
reproducible churches. Oleg is a man who speaks Russian like its coming
out of a machine gun. He is a no non-sense, bottom line kind of guy. He has a wonderful wife who is very supportive of what he is doing and
is involved in the ministry and raising three children…one a new born.
Last year he came to me and said “ I am ready for a team from the US to help me get a church started “ Now,
he had already planted one church and built a rehab center for drug
addicts in his community. So…last summer a team from the First
Baptist Church in Prattville, Alabama, came and worked with him . Oleg
had rented a tent and knew strategically where he wanted to place it in
the city. One problem. The Orthodox church didn’t want him in that area
so even though he had a permit he had to move two times before finally
getting in a place on the backside of nowhere where the Orthodox Church
felt that he would not be a problem. I and the team from Alabama,
joined him during his third week of meeting in the tent. The week that
we were there it rained EVERY DAY!!!!. My feet were at times completely
covered in water. He was faithful with what he had . The team from
Alabama did a great job and we saw some folks come to know Christ. But,
Oleg knew that this wasent the right place.
Fast forward to 2007 . Oleg was in Kiev for one of our sessions these
past two weeks. While meeting with him he told me that they had
continued to pray about the area that he wanted to plant his church and
that God had given him favor. It seems as though a believer bought a 5
story home in the very same spot that he had wanted to plant his church
and has told him that he can use the first floor for his new church and
youth club . And…………the house is on several acres of land and he will
let him set his tent up on the very spot the Orthodox chased him off
of. Is God good or what??????????
We have another volunteer team going to help him . Pray that a great
harvest will be reaped this summer. Pray for Oleg and his team.
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February has been an incredible month in our church-planting program here at KTS.
We have been enjoying the new relationships that we are building with new professors and some who returned for a second visit.
Beginning the first of February Dr. Rick Morton and Dr. Tony Merida
came here to teach for the very first time. These men are from the New
Orleans area. Dr. Morton is an assistant professor of Christian
Education at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Dr. Merida
is senior pastor of the First Baptist Church in Kenner, Louisiana.
These men taught our course on Evangelism. They not only presented the
material well but also forged a relationship with our student church
planters. One of the parts of Mary Ellen and I’s vision is to get men
over here to see first hand what is going on with church planting and
then they return to America carrying the vision to where they are. Its
contagious and…they caught it!! We are looking forward to Dr. Morton
coming back again next year to teach and then host a conference for our
church planters and their team members who are interested in youth
ministry.
Then, to close out the month Rickie Bradshaw, from Houston, Texas, came
and taught a week in our class on church planting strategy. He is an
urban church planter in a changing community and works with the Houston
Baptist Association. Rickie was here last year and returned with the
same passion and care. He made a tremendous impact this year on our
class of church planting students. He challenged them with their
personal prayer life, crossing denominational lines and market place
evangelism. Rickie returned to the US and was on a national television
program and had an opportunity to share about his recent travels to
Ukraine and the Church Planting Program at KTS. One of the other side
lights of the class is when Oksanna, one of our KTS translators told me
with tears in her eyes and then later to our class that this class had
changed her life and the way she thought about church. We never know.
We were also able to bring in some successful Ukrainian church planters
that shared their strategy for church planting. Peter Marchenko , urban
church planter here in Kiev, Sergei Moroz from the eastern region of
Ukraine and Rustam Ibragimov, church planter here in Kiev and works
with the Antioch Movement training church planters and gathering
statistics.
So…what a month. We get our breath and another class of our church planters starts Monday.
Until next time.
Joel
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 God has got a sense of humor in sending to us, Dr. Rick Morton and Dr.
Tony Mirada , from the great state of Louisiana in… Cold …Snowy
February!! Dr. Morton is a professor at New Orleans Theological
Seminary and Dr. Tony Mirada is senior pastor at First Baptist Church
in Kenner, Louisanna.
We are extremely grateful when people come our way during the winter.
These men are doing a wonderful job teaching our course on Evangelism.
It is always a special privilege for me to be able to spend time with
our guests and hear about their ministry and then to be able to share
our vision for our church-planting program here in Ukraine. God
continues to send us some of the best teachers for our students. These
men have done a great job of interacting with our modular two students.
Our students always benefit from having men who are gifted teachers and
seasoned men in ministry. Dr. Morton and Dr. Mirada are certainly no
exceptions here. This is the first time that we have had someone from
one of our major seminaries here teaching at KTS. These men are
enjoying the snow and all the other stuff that goes with winter here in
Ukraine. We will have the students over tomorrow night for our pizza
party and they will get to ask the Profs any questions they want to☺
I love it when a plan comes together.
Joel
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 Contact Us
3-B L. Tolstogo St. Kiev, 01004, Ukraine
Tel. Joel: +380506857630
Tel. Mary Ellen +380506837358
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