|
|
||||||||||
| What a joy to return once more to
Kiev! From various parts across Eastern Europe Messianic leaders came to
Ukraine’s capital city for leadership and evangelism training. Each time
we return to Kiev we remember the first time Sam preached the Good News
there. Opportunity Knocks! In the late 1980’s as the Berlin Wall was coming down, opportunities were great for the gospel in what had been the Soviet Union. Sam was convinced in his heart that God was opening a door for reaching his Jewish people, though almost no one else at the time seemed to agree with him, and most missions organizations had no plans for reaching the Jewish people. Some leaders of missions agencies even told Sam, “Forget the Jews, Christians aren’t interested in them.” Undeterred, Sam was convinced that this was the time to reach Jewish people with the Good News, and so he set his sights on Eastern Europe. |
||||||||||
Faith Answers! In 1989 Sam and a Russian Jewish believer, planned a ministry trip beginning at Moscow, and ending in Kiev, Ukraine, which then had a Jewish population of at least 600,000. Upon arriving Sam was interrogated by believers in Kiev to make certain he was a real believer. Many of these Russian Christians had suffered much for their faith under Communism. When they were sure about Sam they invited him to speak at their mid-week service. That Thursday Sam preached from Romans 1:16 that the Good News is still “To the Jew first.” Afterward the pastor stood up and said, “We have never heard this before, but here it is, right in our Bibles. We must go to the Jews first.” He then challenged his people to invite their Jewish friends and neighbors to come, to hear Sam speak that weekend. Seeing God’s hand opening this door, Sam changed his plans and stayed longer in Kiev. |
||||||||||
|
|
That Sunday morning they were overwhelmed to see over 200 unsaved Jewish people, along with about 400 Ukrainian believers! Of three speakers, Sam was scheduled to be last. Unfortunately, the first two pastors berated the Jewish people in attendance. In that tense, embarrassing atmosphere Sam’s turn came. From the pulpit Sam greeted them in Hebrew: |
|||||||||
|
“Am Yisrael Chai”, --- “the people
of Israel live.” This got the attention of the Jewish visitors, and
their faces glowed with the thrill of hearing Hebrew spoken in a Russian
church! He then spoke about God’s love for the Jewish people that was
demonstrated through Messiah Yeshua. “God has not forsaken you! For 70
years God has waited for this opportunity for you to hear the Good News
of Messiah!” At the invitation that morning over 70 Jewish people came
forward to receive Yeshua, and that evening over 20 more came to faith.
As a result of these outreaches, two Messianic congregations were
planted in Kiev. Thus began a new movement of Jewish faith in this part
of the world! Since then Sam has returned many times to help with
training and furthering the ministry in Eastern Europe. |
||||||||||
|
|
Here Sam could give Biblical answers to the many issues challenging these leaders. One leader candidly remarked, “Over the years we have had some other teachers from the States, but their material was filled with false teaching, [which the Scripture calls ‘chumetz’ or leaven (see Matt. 16:6-12)], and we had to figure out what to keep and what to ‘throw away.’ |
|||||||||
|
Your teaching is so refreshing
because it is ‘chumetz free.’ Thank you for taking the time to teach
us!” |
||||||||||
 |
Multi-Media
Ministries! |
|||||||||
| She was thrilled to receive the WMM materials in Russian. Click here for part 2 of our Kiev Ministry Report with an exciting update of how our Russian Language materials are making an impact! Y | ||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||
