Hello dear brothers, families and churches.
I hope that everything is well with you, and you have an opportunity to get to know about the latest news about the events taking place here in Ukraine, in God’s churches and at the Bible Institute.
First of all, I want to say a few words about God’s work in the churches in Ukraine. Recently I had some conversations with our graduates who now preach at the churches of Christ, and I was surprised to hear the news that they shared with me. There were baptisms in October in Kramatorsk, Slavyansk and Krasnoarmeysk. The Lord is still adding the saved souls to the church. Of course, we don’t always have such good news to share, but God gives growth where the church puts its best efforts to win the unsaved souls.
In October only Ukrainian teachers taught the courses, and because of them we keep training future ministers. Albert Bagdasaryan, Andrew Zhuravlyov and Vitaliy Rodichev are the brothers who are involved in the work of our Institute, and they also keep ministering at their local congregations. Besides, brother Terry Harmon taught Greek via video conference.
Right now we have a scheduled week of evangelizing campaigns at our Institute. This time we divided all students into 4 groups, and each group went to the local congregation in Donetsk region: Kramatorsk, Gorlovka, Krasnoarmeysk and Konstantinovka. I know that students will be responsible in their ministry and will encourage church to evangelize more after they are gone.
I want to say a few words about the Central Church of Christ in Gorlovka (this is where our Institute is situated). In October, the church received humanitarian aid with the assistance of John Kachelman, and on the Ukrainian side, Andrew Zhuravlyov and Sergey Stefanovich were dealing with this aspect. Distribution of this aid gave us an opportunity to have Bible classes with people with disabilities (blind, deaf and mute) and at the orphanages.
In mid October, we had a conference for young adults on the topic: “Do not be afraid of defeat.” There were about 50 young people attending the conference and we had wonderful fellowship and a delicious lunch. Having such events helps bring young people together, strengthens them spiritually, and we also advise them to act wisely in regards of their future, having the sound doctrine of Christ in their lives. I have noticed that some of our students have learned about our Institute having attended such conferences. They came and met with us and then they had a dream to get enrolled in the program and to minister in the church in future.
Right now we have the Master’s program classes at our Institute. Ted Cherry came to teach here. Actually, he baptized me 10 years ago after the classes on the epistle to Romans. In a year and a half we will have students graduating the Master’s program. This means we will have new prospective teachers and that shows that we are gradually growing.
I want to thank everyone who is supporting our Institute and my work. Some of you have never met us, but for a long time now you keep caring and praying for us. All students send you their greetings. The money you give is already bringing forth good fruits. In time some students become very good ministers and it makes you happy when a person you taught or supported financially is being useful tenfold for the kingdom of God.
If you have any questions or suggestions, I will be glad to answer.
Your brother in Christ,
Dennis Sopelnik