John White - Developing Church Leadership in the Russian Speaking World
1634 King Ct., Green Brook, NJ 08812  *  jwhite at alumni.princeton.edu
February 17, 2000       *        http://www.blarg.net/~maruchck/jw.html

Entirely New Shades of Grey

Donetsk, Ukraine (pronounced, don-YETSK). I've heard a lot about this city in southeastern Ukraine. In the wintertime, this snowy, coal-mining city has more shades of grey than one would have thought existed. And eastern Ukraine is the poorer part of Ukraine, a country that recorded average earnings for 1999 at just $20 per month. The Gross Domestic Product has dropped for the 8th year in a row (every year since communism fell). Even more grey.

Yet, the Lord is bringing color to Donetsk. There are new churches being planted. Project 250, the plan to establish 250 training centers for pastors and church planters across the Russian speaking world, is doing very well in this area. And a missionary training school named Donetsk Christian University is planning to expand from 150 students to 1000 since receiving a land grant from the government. It is quite a hub of God's colorization program!

And this is where I'm headed. Donetsk has a very good Russian language program, and I should be able to live with a Ukrainian family to be immersed in the language (in case you were wondering, in eastern Ukraine they speak Russian). And as I learn more Russian, I should be able to get involved in some of the work described above, learning how I can best be used to reach people throughout the Russian speaking world for Christ. (Please note my training and departure schedule below)

Training and Departure Schedule (Tentative):

It was He who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up... Ephesians 4:11-12

There's one other important thing I've been working on, and that's ordination. In talking with my pastors and being approved by the elders of my church, it seemed to be God's will for me to pursue being ordained by my church. This is really the church's recognition of God's call on my life, and will include testing my knowledge of doctrine and my heart for God and for people. I am looking forward to the process (which I've already begun by writing my doctrinal statement) because it should help prepare me for some of the questions and issues I'll need to deal with overseas. I hope I will then be better able to "prepare God's people," as a teacher of God's Word.

Prayer Requests:

• Pray for my time in training, that God would prepare me for Ukraine's different culture and language
• Pray for Ukraine's government, that they would continue to allow religious freedom
• Pray for me as I go through the process of ordination, that God would use this time of testing to prepare me to be a better minister of God
• Pray that the Lord would raise up the remaining prayer and financial support needed so that I could leave for Ukraine in September
• Pray that God would deepen my prayer life as I become busy with the details of leaving

Thanks again for your prayers and financial support. As you can see in my support update, I have been truly blessed.

In Christ,

John

Support Update:

If you'd like to support me, please write CBI at the address below, and make checks out to CBI.

CBInternational, 1501 W. Mineral Avenue, Littleton, CO 80120-5612

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