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Taking KTS Church Planting to the Bible Colleges |
 I just returned to Kiev this morning from eastern Ukraine… Lugansk. My traveling companion was my assistant here at KTS, Sergey Bochko. We left Sunday evening on train #20 and arrived Monday morning and immediately began to teach at the Bible College in Lugansk. We taught from Monday – Thursday. It was bittersweet leaving those young men at the Bible College. We had 13 fellows in our class. Sergey and I taught parts of our CP 101 class. He taught in the morning and then I taught and he translated in the afternoon. These men were eager to learn and apply what we were teaching them. As I stood and faced those men an overwhelming sense of gratitude filled my soul. What an honor to invest in the lives of men who are helping change the spiritual landscape of this nation.
 There was a first on this trip: Sergey Bochko sharing the teaching load. He did a great job. I watched as the young men bonded to him as he taught Small Groups and Leadership. Someone teaching in his heart language is a big plus. I was so proud of him.
 We also had an opportunity to catch up with some of our former students while we were in Lugansk. We have two graduates from that area. They are wonderful church planters and they and their families have become dear friends. Both men are named Oleg. One I always call “Big Oleg” and the other…”Little Oleg”. Big Oleg came over Tuesday evening with his daughter Kasinea and a man in his church. It was a wonderful visit. He brought pictures of his new church plant. We laughed and shared many stories of days gone by. That night another one of my former students drove over to tell me that he was coming back to seminary to finish his degree. What a blessing. He has started his second church plant and is doing well. We gathered together and prayed for them and their ministries. As they left I was reminded once again why Mary Ellen and I are here serving God and these men and their families.
 On Wednesday evening Little Oleg and Sasha (Oleg’s right hand man) drove over and we went out to dinner and we met with the senior pastor of the oblast…Sergey Moroz. Sergey has been a mentor and spiritual father to these men and many other young men throughout the eastern part of Ukraine. He has such a heart for church planting. He was responsible for getting us down to Lugansk to teach.
As we came back to Kiev, the Lord impressed on me again how important it was to redeem the time here and see men trained and equipped to plant reproducible churches. May God continue to raise up men across this part of the world to answer the call to plant churches.
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