New Life

There's a miracle that happens every spring. Bare brown trees covered in ice and snow, sitting for months in the frozen air as if dead, shake off the snow, blow away the cold air, soak in the rain, and begin to sprout leaves, flowers, and fruit. From apparent death comes life every spring. Spring didn't forget to visit Odesa, Ukraine, this year, and at this moment, the city is gorgeous, covered with green buds and dotted with flowering cherry trees and gardens of tulips. People are starting to work in their gardens and soon everyone will be sharing with one another the fruits of their garden. As I continue ministry this spring, I am also expecting fruit - spiritual fruit through the work God is doing here.

Winter in War

Winter in Odesa was hard. Because of the constant bombings on infrastructure, there was often no electricity, sometimes for as much as a week at a time. Drone attacks became more frequent, including one attack in which a drone landed across the street from one of our church member's house. Praise God for His protection amidst these attacks and for the opportunity to help others in the church, especially the sick and widows, through physically hard times.

We continued our evangelism and food distribution ministry through the winter, though it was sometimes very cold in the evenings. And God continued to lead people to it, allowing us to share the gospel with many people many times. As the weather has been getting warmer, we have been able to sing and preach longer and to have profitable fellowship afterwards. When I gave my last update (which was far too long ago), we were preparing a Christmas play with the kids. The play turned out very well, and I believe that it was a helpful training tool for the kids and an encouraging message for those who attended.

Christ is Risen!

"He is risen indeed!" That was the greeting between everyone at church on Easter Sunday. For Easter Sunday, the adults put on a play about the importance of the death and resurrection of Christ. I wrote and directed the play and was very happy that so many people took part in it and that they did such a good job of conveying the main idea of the play to the people.

We had a full crowd at church on Resurrection Sunday to hear the gospel message, and I truly felt that it was a day set apart to remember once again the beauty and power of the resurrection. The play and other ministries on that day also allowed the people of the church to serve together in a way that bound us together spiritually and offered a chance for fellowship. Everyone is already talking about when we can start preparing for the next play. I am praying that the gospel seed that went out would bear fruit.

Teens

Ministry with the teens has been rewarding. Some new teens have begun coming to Sunday school and to our weekly activities, and I have had new opportunities to talk with many of the teens about their spiritual growth and about upcoming decisions. I meet with one teen boy each week to study the Bible, answer his questions about his weekly Bible reading, and fellowship with him. This time of discipleship has been a great encouragement and, I think, very necessary for him. Please pray that God would give me wisdom as I talk with him and the other teens. The questions they have and the life situations that they are in strain the limits of my wisdom, so I ask for God to give me His perfect wisdom.

I've started making plans with the teens for the summer, including a teen conference, a week-long camping trip, and various special activities each week. The Christian fellowship together is good for them, but most of all, I want to see them grow in their relationship and commitment to Christ. In a couple of weeks, I will finish our Sunday School series traveling through the Bible, and we will start a topical discipleship curriculum. My prayer is that this teaching and the conversations we have around it would help them to grow spiritually and offer their lives fully to Christ.

Future Plans and Prayer Requests

I suspect that this summer will be fairly busy. In addition to the things I'll be doing with the teens, the church will be organizing two vacation Bible schools, possibly a pastors' conference, and hopefully more structured discipleship and Bible teaching within the church. But often, the most important spiritual work happens in the day-to-day, week-to-week ministry with the people of the church and the unbelievers with whom we speak. Here are some things that I am going to be praying for God to do:

• Spiritually strengthen the couples and families in our church

• Lead the kids and teens to follow God whole-heartedly

• Save the unbelieving spouses of four members of our church

• Expose and remove sin and strife in the church

• Touch the hearts of the dozens of people at the food distribution points who have heard the gospel but have not yet accepted it

I would greatly appreciate it if you would pray with me about these things. We pray realizing that these things - salvation from sin and conformity to the image of Christ - are not things that we ourselves can manufacture. People's fellowship with God has stagnated; others are still dead in their sins. Yet there is a miracle that happens every spring as a reminder to us of what our God can do. Gardeners go out into their dead gardens each spring to put seeds into the ground, water, prune, labor. But it is God that gives the miracle of new life and fruit. In the same way, I and many, many others are serving, teaching, reading, and praying each week, trusting that God is able to do a miracle, trusting that God is able to bring out of deadness new life. Please pray with me that God would grant new life and fruit in Odesa this spring.