Sparks Ministry

Our next opportunity to share about the ministry in Ukraine will be March 1 at Christ Presbyterian Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  Steve is going to get to come on this trip, so I’m very excited about that!  We’ll be giving our presentation on Sunday evening, March 1.

If you’re in the area, come see us!

The missions conference at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Harrisburg, PA, was very encouraging.

I always enjoy hearing what different people are doing in different places and at this conference I was able to attend other people’s presentations.  I heard about what the Presbyterian Church In America is doing with Native American people in the U.S. and Canada.  In many ways this is cross-cultural ministry even though it is located within our country.

I also heard about a group working with Muslims in the U.S. by entering into dialogue with local mosques.  There is a man in our church in Austin who is involved with this ministry as well.

At the conference, there were also people who work with Child Evangelism Fellowship, with the Portugese Bible Institute, with churches in Bulgaria, with pastors in various African countries, and some others.  God is at work fulfilling His promise to call people from every tribe and nation.  Hooray!

Our church in Austin, CrossPointe Church, has a partnership with my church in Kiev, Salomensky Presbyterian Reformed Church (SPRC).  One aspect of this partnership is that CrossPointe has sent summer teams to work with SPRC each year for the past five years.  The other aspect is that SPRC sends summer interns to CrossPointe to see how they operate and learn from them.  This year, Denis was the intern chosen to come to Austin.

I was able to spend some time with Denis on his first day in the U.S. and we took a trip downtown.  We visited one of the Texas museums and also got a personal tour of the Texas Capitol from a friend of ours who works there.

Here is Denis with Mary at the entrance to the State of Texas Museum:

One thing that these internships seem to give the Ukrainian interns is a new excitement and new ideas for ministries that they can bring back to SPRC.  Andre, the intern last year, and Denis are two of the upcoming leaders in SPRC.  It is helpful for them to see what an active church that is a few steps beyond SPRC looks like.  Obviously, ministries will look different in Ukraine but it gives them ideas that they can adapt to work at SPRC.

Another thing the internships give is a chance for people who have been on the Ukraine summer trips to reconnect with a little piece of Ukraine.  It renews the excitement for Ukraine ministry on this side of the ocean as well.

On the lighter side, Denis has now experienced Texas barbeque, Tex-Mex, and a Super Bowl party.  Quite a slice of American culture!

Well, it is missions conference season once again!  I managed to visit most of my supporting churches last fall, and will be able to visit the rest over the next couple of months.  My 2009 conference season begins with Trinity Presbyterian Church in Harrisburg, PA.

This morning I gave a 30 minute presentation to a small group and Sunday morning I will have another 30 minute slot.

I’ll try to get some pictures and post more from this weekend!