I am amazed at what God is doing here in Ukraine . Yesterday
I traveled about an hour and a half out of Kiev to Zhitomer to visit a
propective student for our church planting program. It was a great day. The
weather was wonderful and the visit with the church planter was awesome. He is
33 and is full of vision . He took me to 3 churches that they had started in
the morning and 3 in the afternoon with of course a big Ukrainian lunch in the
middle of the day. Wow. After we got back to his house he gave me his document
to take back here to the seminary. He will be coming in October for our
interviews along with another man that he has mentored their in Zhitomer. We
have been praying for more students. I met this man at the airport while I was
waiting for someone else to come in who just happened to be doing some teaching
for this man at his little Bible college. Is that God or what? God continues to
give us more than we could think or ask.
Please continue to pray for Mary Ellen . She is still in
Budapest dealing with some medical issues. We are standing on the promise that
God gave us in 2003 that “ even if we settle on the far side of the sea His
right hand will hold us fast” He has and He will. Also pray for us as we leave
Sunday for Prague for three wks of Strategy Coordinators Training.
As always,
Joel
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It’s a new week
here at KTS.
Saw my second
year students yesterday for a short time before they started their class with
Dr. Frank Severn. They looked good and I look forward to spending more time as
the week progresses. Mary Ellen and I plan to have them over Friday evening for
dinner and to chat with Dr. Severn. Then, sometime during the two weeks I will
interview them individually to see how they are doing with church planting
where they live.
Pray for us
this week. I finish up on my assignments for SC training this week and I am
teaching on worship at a local church here in Kiev on Saturday.
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This week has been a difficult time of making hard decisions
that affect one of my students in the Church Planting Program. Do to no fault
of his own one of my students church has been going through a time of trauma
and transition that has caused its emphasis to prolong its course in planting a
new church. Because of the shift in its emphasis to plant a new church ,I had
to talk to my student about his not fulfilling the requirement of the Church
Planting Program. Be the lead pastor and start a church in your 3rd
and 4th year in seminary or be on a church planting team that is
actively starting a new church in your 3rd and 4th year
at the seminary. We are now pursuing putting him in another program to finish
out his time at KTS. He is disappointed and it was a tough decisions but
necessary to the credibility of the program.
On Thursday I also interviewed the rest of my residential
students in the program and feel good about where they are in the process of
planting reproducible churches here in Ukraine and the former Soviet Union.
Please continue to pray for these men and their commitment to follow through on
what they have started.
It was also a good-bye to one of our young ladies that we
have used as a translator from time to time here in our ministry. She is going
to France to take training in YWAM. We wish her all the best. God has got some
great young men and women who have a desire to make a difference in this world.
This week we will have a my second year students on campus.
It will be the first time that I have seen most of them since last spring. They
will be taking “ The Foundations of World Missions” taught by Dr. Frank Severn
of SEND International. His second year to teach this subject for us. We will
pick him up this afternoon at the airport.
That’s about it today from here in Kiev.
Enjoying the Journey.
Joel
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I attended a meeting with several missionaries and some Ukrainians
today discussing church planting. One of the things we discussed was
the desire to see rapid reproduction of churches here in this part of
the world. We all felt that a BIG problem that we face is the
INSTITUTIONAL CHURCH. One of the men said we have “forgotten our ways”.
I have been thinking about that a lot. Is it possible for us to get
back to the way the first century Christians were doing church planting
or have we forgotten how to do that ? We all agreed that we have not
seen rapid reproduction here in Ukraine but have a desire to see it
happen. ONLY 2% OF THE PEOPLE ARE EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS HERE IN THIS
COUNTRY. Its been that way for sometime now. WE HAVE GOT TO FIND A WAY
TO CHANGE THIS!!!!
It is the DNA of every church to reproduce itself but the institution
is keeping us from doing that. To many programs and not enough
discipleship and evangelism. We can not multiply churches until we
multiply disciples. Enough said. Pray for us as we grapple with this
problem.
The opportunities are awesome here however the darkness is DARK. Pray
for the light to expose the darkness and His kingdom prevail.
Until Next Time… Joel
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Mary Ellen and I had the opportunity to have some of our new church
planting students over for dinner and fellowship. This is one of the
ways we develop relationships with our students. The old American
saying the quickest way to a mans heart is through his stomach “
applies here in Ukraine as well. This has proven to be a great way to
get to know my students better and for them to begin to understand more
clearly our vision and passion for them to start reproducible churches
here in Ukraine and the former Soviet Union.
Last nights discussion was very interesting for us. One of my students
, Joseph , is from western Ukraine right in the heart of the Carpathian
mountains. He is unique in several ways. First he speaks really good
English and secondly he is working with gypsies and has a desire to
plant a church among this people group. I know from our other
missionaries in CEE that God is really working among the gypsies.
Interesting the very people that some consider outcast in this part of
the world are most receptive to the gospel. Sounds familiar….the
Samaritans.
God willing I will be traveling to see him sometime this winter. It is
an overnite train trip from Kiev and then a 4 hour bus ride over the
mountains. I want to go when there is snow on the ground…mountains ,
skiing etc.
Continue to pray that God will send us a least 7 more church planting
students . We need at least 10 for us to have a third class. I know
they are out there.
Enjoying the Journey,
Joel
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Monday was an important day at KTS. We started our first modular group
for the year. Mary Ellen always teaches her Orientation class to the
new students. Along with the class we always have a reception for our
students and all the people who work at KTS. It went great today! We
have a wonderful group of new students who seem eager to learn… That’s
good.
I also had the opportunity today to meet with Sasha Savich. Sasha is a
pastor in Lutsk and one of my mentors. I have a student in his church.
My church ,Graceland Baptist, has sent a volunteer team over to help
Sasha and we try to keep in touch with his ministry. God is blessing
him and it was a real joy to be able just to sit in my office and hear
first hand from him how lives are being changed because somebody has a
heart to share the gospel of Jesus Christ in Lutsk. Keep up the good
work Sasha.
Blessings to all,
Joel
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We are a family again. Mary Ellen arrived at 8:55PM this
evening from Budapest. It was great to see her and to have her back in Kiev.
When she comes back I am like a little kid because I know she has brought lots
of goodies with her. This time was no exception. I got lots of Lays regular
potato chips…. not garlic, not paprika, not cheese but just good old salty
chips!!!!! Got some candy, magazines and lots of other things. I am not glad
she had to go and deal with medical issues but…it is nice to get some stuff you
cant get here.
Mary Ellen will begin her course on Orientation on Monday
morning. She will be teaching 13 of our new students. On Monday morning as part
of the orientation we always have a big reception for the students, faculty and
other people who work at the seminary. It’s a big deal. We have food and
drinks. Mary Ellen is in charge of this. So…we will be going out to the
seminary tomorrow to set things up for Monday morning. School is upon us!!
Take Care and have a great weekend.
Joel
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On September 1 here in Kiev school officially starts. I
always enjoy looking out our window and watching all the little girls with
their bows in there hair and the little boys with their suits on carrying
flowers to their teachers. I often wonder what do the teachers do with all
those flowers?? We have hundreds and hundreds of children in our neighborhood.
When we first moved in over three years ago someone told us that there were
over 50,000 people living in our block. Since then many more apartments have
been built so ………who knows.
Mary Ellen is still in Budapest and is hoping to come home
Saturday. I am hoping so to. Please pray for her and all of her test.
God is good all the time.
Joel
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Yep, that’s right it has turned cold here in River City
(Kiev that is) I guess summer is over. Everyone had their coats on today as the
wind blew like crazy. I got out and had to go into to the city to our IMB
office and people were walking very quickly to get in out of the wind.
Early this morning we had two guys show up to look at our
windows that are not working correctly and the radiator in our bedroom that
doesn’t work. They stayed for awhile ….didnt really do anything that I couldn’t
have done but after an hour they left and said our land lord would have to come
and see and then tell them what to do next!!! Oh well.
This evening I went out to the seminary and did some work in
my office and had a great talk with one of our 4th year students.
Gonna miss those guys when they graduate this year.
Got some more prospective teachers today. Thank you God for
continuing to send qualified teachers our way.
Pray for Mary Ellen she is in Budapest and is getting dental
and medical work done. Lets hear it for Mary Ellen.
Enjoying the Journey,
Joel
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That’s right. I am here alone in Kiev and Mary Ellen flew
out to Budapest yesterday. Heard from her today and she is doing well but
having lots of fun in the doctors offices J
Its been a good day here. The residential classes started
today at KTS. It was good to see all the returning students all tanned from
being out in the sun this summer.
I had the privilege of keeping overnight the former
president of the Theological Seminary in Moscow.Very interesting man. We talked
until late last evening. He is the last generation left in Russia that grew up
under communism. He told me that when he was 5 years of age that someone came
and stood in the door way of his church and forbid the children to enter. He
had to go home. They did not want children in church. They were trying to raise
a generation of godless boys and girls. But, thank God he had a grandmother who
hid them under the table every night and told them Bible stories and had prayer
with them. She was determined that her family was going to know God.
The Ragains family has been spread out all over the world.
Our daughter Melody has been in India for the last three weeks….. job related.
Just talked to her she made it back home to southern Indiana. She really
enjoyed her visit. She will be going back again in October. We are here in
Ukraine and our son travels all over the US. So… the Ragains are on the GO.
Please continue to pray for Mary Ellen and our work here in
Ukraine. Until next time…..
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After a long week-end here because of Ukraine’s Independence things are
back to normal---well as normal as it can get here. As I always say “
the only thing that is normal here is that nothing is normal”.
Mary Ellen flys out today for Budapest to have dental work done and
some medical tests so ….once again I will be batching. I feel like a
squirrel. She has prepared food for me while she is gone and it is
stored everywhere. I hope that I will remember where she has put it and
what I am supposed to do with it in order to eat it.
Today our new national team will be meeting at our apartment for the
first time and then its off to the airport with another missionary to
pick up the former president of the seminary in Moscow. We will take
him to dinner and then he is going to spend the night at our apartment.
Things at the seminary are picking up. Our residential students start
classes tomorrow and we are in the process of selecting the students
that we interviewed from last weeks interviews. Pray that we will get
the right students for our program and that God will send us more. We
will have more interviews in October.
We spent time last week contacting potential teaching professors for
our 2007-2008. I am amazed at how God continues to lay on the heart of
some of His finest to come here and invest in what He is doing here in
the KTS Church Planting Program.
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