Hello dear brothers, families and churches.
The situation in Ukraine is still very tense. We ask you to keep praying for God’s church in Ukraine and for the Bible Institute. Usually when the economical situation in the country gets worse, people start thinking more about God. Maybe the current events in our country will provide us with more opportunities to share the pure gospel with the lost souls.
In the first part of March, there were the following teachers teaching courses at the Institute: Dennis Sopelnik taught Daniel, Alexander Rodnayev taught Galatians, Johnny Mack Young taught Personal Evangelism and Wisdom Literature via Skype. The schedule at the Institute is stable, and despite the events in Ukraine, teachers try to assist as much as possible. There was an ocean between Johnny Mack and us, but he tried to encourage both students and teachers continuously. We are grateful for his help and ministry. Now another brother from the US, Garth Hilton, teaches via Polycom system. I’m sure they are more than willing to be here; however, in order to avoid unnecessary problems, this method of teaching is the best for American teachers at this point. In April we’ll have teachers from Ukraine teaching courses.
In the second part of March, we had evangelizing campaigns planned at the Institute. All students were divided into 4 groups, and each group helped local churches of Christ to put their plans into practice. That way we were able to have evangelizing campaigns in Kramatorsk, Slavyansk, Gorlovka and Dzerzhinsk. At some places the results were quite vivid. For example, there were new people who visited the Sunday services in Kramatorsk and Slavyansk. I hope that it would encourage the church to further actions.
Last month I was able to visit congregations in Gorlovka, Illovaysk and Kramatorsk. Our graduates of various years minister in each congregation. On March 30, there was a wonderful service in Kramatorsk, and there were representatives of 15 congregations of the churches of Christ in Ukraine, Russia and the US. We were talking about unity and prayed for the future of Ukraine.
We continue working with the orphanage. Kids are very fond of us, and many of them want to have more opportunities to study God’s word. We still have Bible School for Kids “The Gifted Child”, which cooperates with the church. Our students make a huge impact in its work. Many of them receive a good experience of working with the kids and their parents. Perhaps, we can’t drastically change all the society around us, but it would be bad if we don’t use the opportunities that we already have.
We continue supporting the church in Amvrosievka. Bogdan Chigvintsev, our brother and youth minister of the Central church of Christ in Gorlovka, preached there last month. The church is greatly encouraged when new brothers visit them. We’ll pray for this congregation to find a full-time preacher of God’s Word soon.
My family, students and teachers send you their greetings and thanks for your help. We need your prayers.
Your brother and co-worker,
Dennis Sopelnik
To see Dennis’ report with pictures, please click here.