Wonderful healings have taken place after these prayers and the dear saints who come forward with such faith and hope never leave disappointed.  Jason and I are blessed to be with them, to be God’s hands and voice to these precious children of His.  We’re often deeply touched by their faithfulness in God’s service and their joy in the face of many difficulties.

Our little Roma Community has a very high illiteracy rate—40% or more. This has presented a challenge in how to get the Word of God to the people.

One man suggested that we download an audio Bible from Faith Comes by Hearing which has the Bible recorded by actors in various languages. It’s so well done that it brings the gospel to life!

We decided to hold weekly meetings consisting of 30 minutes of listening to the Word of God and 30 minutes of discussion.

The first week 15 people showed up. We listened to the first 5 chapters of John. It was so exciting because four little children came in. They have been disruptive in the past and they distract the babushkas that are always telling them “get out of here!” and shooing them away.

This night was different. These four little ones poked their heads in to find out what was going on; it sounded like a movie! They came in and sat still and with big eyes they listened to the first 5 chapters of John! Glory, glory, hallelujah!

The second week had 12 people come to listen. This second night was supposed to cover chapters 6-10, but when we got to the end of chapter 9, I realized we had already gone 34 minutes and that chapter 10 would be another 10 minutes at least. I was going to end up keeping them for 45 minutes of listening to the bible—just listening to the bible! So I stopped at the end of chapter 9 and asked if they wanted to hear chapter 10 or if they wanted to push it to the next week. Immediately everybody shouted out “Yes, we want to hear it! Don’t stop now!”

That blessed my heart! How hungry my Brothers and Sisters are to get the Word of God, to be able to hear this! It makes me so excited to have found this resource. This is potentially the greatest ministry I have ever been involved. Here I can minister side by side with Pastor Brugosh and see transformation and revelation in an amazing and profound way; and The scriptures are doing it for us! I was all of a sudden freed of my handicap of not being able to preach the Gospel without a translator.

Faith Comes by Hearing is a free ministry and we’re going to continue the reading and asking people to join us. Let’s be praying that more and more people will come and fill up this room. People can get involved by bathing this ministry in prayer; asking the Lord to “bring the people in!”

Here in Uhzgorod we have a mighty man of God whose only job is to serve the Lord.  Pastor Brugosh’s incredible task is to minister to the people of the Radvanka Community.  Day after day, week after week, he pours himself out for others.

And yet, at the end of each day, he returns to the desperately unsanitary conditions of his apartment building.  There’s a foul smell, a terrible stench which affects his health and the health of his family.  His wife is sick and his son has a terrible cough.  His church does not bring in enough money in tithes and offerings to sustain a parsonage.  In his own words “We have experienced problems constantly with sewage, electricity, and even had a gas explosion. People cannot breathe because of the sewage. Many are sick with tuberculosis. We do all that we can do. We also pray that God will help us to get out of here…”  It weighs so heavily on his heart, that he is considering getting another job so that he can move his family to a safer location.

Would you want your pastor to have a second job?  Imagine this scenario:  it’s 1pm and you have an emergency; someone you love is critically ill or injured and in desperation you call your pastor for prayer and counseling—and get his answering machine.  “Thank you for calling.  I will return all calls after 6pm when I get home from the factory.”

Or, suppose the emergency is not yours, but your pastor’s…the water flooding the foundation of the building has caused the building to collapse and your pastor and his family are trapped inside…or perhaps you cannot get in touch with your pastor because he’s in the hospital at the bedside of his child who’s developed tuberculosis from the unsanitary conditions?

Pastor Brugosh’s heart is to serve God by always being available to the people of Radvanka.  “But we all are praying so that God will help us to get out of here. If someone has an opportunity, and wants to help us in this, we will be praying for you so that God will bless you in your effort. God Bless you. Amen.”

The following week in church, he shared a testimony of how God had completely healed him. The doctors did more tests and found nothing wrong!

From the back row, a woman not often seen in church wept as Victor stood and shared his testimony.

The woman was his mother.

The community which Radvanka borders is profoundly steeped in racist ideology. Many of the “nationals” have a deep-seated dislike and mistrust of the Roma people.  They are the outcasts, the people society does not want. When we tell people that we’re working in the Roma camp, we often hear people respond, “It is good that someone is doing something about the Gypsy problem”.  Their situation is considered hopeless.  This, of course, is completely opposite the mind of Christ.

In this prayer house the Gospel is preached boldly, openly, and seeds are being planted daily. It’s no surprise that the convicting power of the Holy Spirit is having the expected impact. Through fervent prayer and devotion, many are coming to the altar with repentance, receiving salvation, and experiencing revival!

Thirteen years ago, Pastor Brugosh was called by God to establish a ministry there and reach out in every possible way to God’s children living in this neighborhood. Pastor Brugosh knows that under the influence of God’s love and power NO situation is hopeless. Jesus is the only source of true healing and hope!

Every week begins with Sunday services in the evening where approximately 50 people huddle together and praise God with unrestrained passion and rejoicing. On Mondays we gather to listen to the Word of God. About 40% of our congregation is illiterate, and so this listening group enables our members to experience the Holy Scriptures in their entirety; and many for the first time. The dramatic readings are presented on audio bible by the anointed ministry of Faith Comes by Hearing. Every Wednesday evening God’s word is preached and followed by a wonderful time of fellowship over tea and cookies. Thursday we travel to a Gypsy camp outside of town and minister in a home based church that is being planted. Fridays we have night prayer, sometimes lasting 5-6 hours! The week closes on Saturdays which are seeing the beginnings of a children’s ministry to the multitude of young ones who make the streets their home.

It’s such a wonderful privilege to be a part of this fantastic ministry! Thank you Lord for this opportunity.

Distributing Food Baskets to the Elderly in Radvanka – Uzhgorod, Ukraine

Our initial intention was to distribute gift baskets to the non-believers in our community. We planned to go to their homes, present them with the gift, invite them to church, and ask if they had any prayer needs. All good in theory, but after talking with Pastor and his wife, we realized that this would never work. Our ministry is to the Romani people in the Radvanka neighborhood of Uzhgorod, Ukraine. This community is steeped in poverty and suffers from numerous forms of social discrimination. There is incredible need everywhere, in every household.

Pastor Brugosh’s first question was, “Do you have enough for everyone?” If no, then how will you determine which people to give to? Whoever does not receive a basket will be offended. It will create an atmosphere of division and it would do more harm in the neighborhood than good. He reminded us that where scripture tells us to give to the poor and the least of these, many in this community respond, “I agree, what am I going to get?” We needed to rethink our plan.

We though, well maybe we would just give to the elderly of our church. Again, the question was, “which ones, just those who are widowed and over 60, 55, or 50?” Or we could draw names or cast lots. Or what if we take attendance for a month and give only to those who are regular attendees. But then we realized that this could be perceived as rewarding member for coming to church. Pastor shared a story with us about a church in town many years ago that was giving money to their members and the church grew rapidly, but they soon fell apart and the people were not true converts. We of course refuse to become this church. So the pressing question is how do we distribute humanitarian gifts as evangelism tools to this community?

Finally we settled that Valeriia and I would give out the baskets during Wednesday soup kitchen, and we would tell no one beforehand. That evening, I preached a message from the Beatitudes to teach about the importance of knowing that no matter how poor our circumstances, no matter how much poverty is in our lives, as children of God, He will provide for us. There is always someone out there in worse circumstances than me. And the worst circumstance is the life of the unsaved, the lost; those who do not yet know Jesus Christ. As born again believers we need to humbly embrace this teaching and rip out the roots of a “what about me” mentality. In solid faith, always trust that God is your provider. I finished with the 10^th beatitude recorded in Acts 20:35 “It is better to give than to receive” (Download sermon notes)

As soon as the word was given I turned to the congregation and presented our dilemma and asked, “How should we distribute the bags?” I stated plainly that I knew people would get offended, I mentioned that we did not have enough, but did not say how many we had. I asked the question “is it best in the future that we not bring humanitarian aid to Radvanka to avoid all of this tension?” The congregation answered with a resounding, “NO!”

So then I asked, “If you think you need a bag more than anyone else in here, please stand up and I will give one to you.” No one stood.

Then I asked, “If you had a bag to give, who would you give it to?” And as one body and one voice, they began to agree about who should receive the bags. It was an amazingly successful experiment with its provision for church wide unity, outreach, teaching, and prayer. We only had 20 bags, but were able to give one to each of the widows, and even blessed some of the elderly couples. Everyone left there happy and encouraged. As a church leader, this was a truly beautiful day of ministry. This proved to be a valuable lesson in Humanitarian Evangelism.

Thank you to all who made this possible. We know that God will provide for you. Be blessed.

We took 7 leaders from our church to a conference hosted by a different Romani church. It was a full day of ministry, praise, sermons, and fellowship. This conference was being hosted by the Traditional Pentecostal Church. Their style of worship is very conservative. Women must wear head coverings, full length skirts, no jewelry, and not allowed to lead ministry. It is not common to hear “Amen!” or hand clapping like in American Pentecostal churches. They are a strong church with many members who are serious about their relationship with Jesus and they have a wonderful man of God leading them. However, it is not at all common to see these two different churches gathering together. There is a real sense of division between the churches and especially the denominations. There is even a spirit of competition and division in the community that needs to be broken. (But then again, isn’t this true in USA also?)

Pastor and I are currently preaching a series about revival and it was important to take our leaders and show our support. A key ingredient to revival is unity. I am so glad we did. There was at first a real noticeable difference between the two groups. But as the day progressed, we all became one church, one body. There were lots of guest speakers from all over the world including Finland, Estonia, Romania, Belarus, US, and all parts of Ukraine. There were about 150 people total. The day was broken into two sessions with a wonderful meal as a break.

I was invited to share a word, but was without a translator. During lunch break, a woman and her husband introduced themselves and she spoke English and Romanian, her husband spoke Romanian and Russian. The Conference director discovered this and had us preach with triple translation. I kept the message short.

I spoke about the supposed end of the world prophesy being advertised by Harold Camping. I pointed out that no one can know the date or the hour, not even Jesus. Matthew 24:36.  But make no mistake that there will come a time when we will meet our maker either in a global moment, or in our own personal time. And when that meeting happens, you will be justified or condemned for eternity. Are you prepared for eternity? Jesus is the only way to eternal salvation.

This segue took us to the other popular current event, the death of Osama Bin Laden. There has been a real explosion on the social sites amongst Christians. Many were rejoicing, laughing, and mocking about God’s wrath being poured out on this man who will spend eternity in Hell. God is not laughing. Hell is no laughing matter. “Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” James 4:9-10.  Let our mourning be turned into active compassion and action.

It is not enough that we are saved; we need to mourn for those who are not. We need to use this deep sorrow as a motivator to evangelism. “Blessed are those who mourn because they will be comforted” Matt 5:4. Saints we are called to be salt and light. We are to share the Gospel, pray for those who despitefully use us, and weep for those who are lost.  Share your faith.

Eternity is forever and Hell is no joke.