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 GOOD NEWS Partnership Mission 2001

                             September 20 - October 2, 2001

                     Host Church for GOOD NEWS Partnership Mission

           Grace Baptist Church 

                                             Odessa, Ukraine

      With the disasters of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon 

the GOOD NEWS Partnership Mission to the Ukraine opened doors 

to share the gospel as we had never had before in any mission.  

The Russian-speaking Ukrainian people opened their hearts to us.  

There have been few peoples on earth that have been through 

as much war and heartbreak as the Ukrainians.  Now churches 

are rebuilding and the people are wide open to receive the 

revelation of Jesus Christ.  Our team of 35 went with hope, 

faith, and the prayers of thousands of people across America.  

And the Lord brought showers of blessings as the Word was 

proclaimed in the power of the Holy Spirit. 

Odessa, on the Black Sea, is one of the leading cities of the  

Ukraine with a population of over a million people

         On the first Sunday morning the team arrived 

       for the first 2 hour worship service at Grace Church.

        What a Fellowship - What a joy Divine

         And what wonderful singing...........

                     The team sang together 

    "Soon and Very Soon we are going to see the King."

 The people received us with warm Christian love. 

Igor Bandura is the pastor of the Grace Baptist Church 

in Odessa.  It was this church that had invited us to 

come and help them with a partnership.  But there were 

other churches involved as the American team divided into 

7 smaller teams during the week.  

Daniel Terenko organized the mission.  He is one of the 

pastors of the Grace Baptist Church and the Minister of 

Music there.  He had arranged for the teams to present 

the 100 libraries in 100 churches, schools, mayor's offices, 

fire stations, public libraries, hospitals, children's centers, 

and colleges.  Each team had 3 appointments a day for the 

5 days they were there. 

Vasily Logvinenko was the pastor of the Grace Baptist Church 

before he retired.  He was the president of entire Baptist Union 

of the former Soviet Union.  He still is active is sharing his 

wisdom and vision to win the people of Russia and the Ukraine 

to Christ and to plant new churches.

The American team consisted of the following:  Calvin Bailey, 

Howard Baldwin, Earl Bishop, Virgie Brown, John Campbell, 

Morris Cobb, Emery Conner, Norma Davis, Tommy Dickens, 

Joy Dickens, Mary Frances Grasty, Brenda Harper, Madelyn Jones, 

Steve Kenney, Jan Kenney, Jerry Laffoon, Mary Laffoon, Judy Leigh, 

Jim Leigh, Mack McGhee, Pam McGhee, Bobby McGinnis, Bill Moore, 

Ed Noble, Margie Pearson, Rosalie Rowe, Melva Rowe, Jim Saunders, 

Karen Strader, Milma Lee Truax, Vincent Watts, Barbara Watts, 

Rick West, Pete Wine, and Ovella Worsham.

By Monday the team was ready to get going on their assignments.

The vans were packed with Bibles, Libraries and Medical supplies. 

               Schools

Children in Vacation Bible Schools from 44 churches in America 

gave their offerings to help buy some 7,000 Children's Bibles for 

the kids in the Ukraine.  Several of the schools said that they 

were planning to teach the Bible using the these Children's Bibles 

as their text book.

             Colleges

Colleges were open to the gospel.  In one class of 103 every student

 received a full hardback Bible.  During the week the team gave out 

over 3,000 whole Bibles and 7,000 New Testaments.  The Area 

Baptist minister said that it was from reading a Bible printed in 

America 20 years ago that he became a Christian.  

         The word of God is powerful.  

      Humanitarian Aid

Each team member brought an extra suitcase filled with Humanitarian 

Aid with simple medications and gifts that were used throughout the

 mission.  Having team members like Jerry Laffoon, a pharmacist, 

makes the distribution of the medications effective. 

       Christian Libraries

One hundred libraries were presented during the week.

Each library contained over 125 Christian Books.  They were 

given by individuals, churches, Sunday School classes and friends 

in America.  The cost of each library was $200.  If the same books 

were bought in America they could cost as much as $1,000.  

They were put together in Odessa in the language of the people. 

They opened doors of opportunity in villages, schools, universities and

 institutions where the teams were welcomed in to share the gospel.

The Ukrainian people love to read and this was planting the seed for 

the future. 

Preaching the Word

During the two hour worship services there is the opportunity to 

preach the Word.  There are usually three sermons and lots of music. 

Special Partners

This was a partnership with the Ukrainians. We worked side by side 

together with pastors and people.  Each day our seven teams were 

taken to at least three appointments by dedicated drivers.  We had 

outstanding interpreters who translated faithfully the message of 

salvation.  

               Children's Shelter

 The Grace Baptist Church in Odessa has a special ministry to 

children through their Children's Shelter.  This beautiful facility is

 built right next to the church and has adopted 23 children who would

 most likely be on the streets without a home.  A third floor is being 

added which will allow the shelter to add another 23 children when it is

 completed this fall. 

The children are raised in this home of Christian love and given not only

 food and clothing, but spiritual training in the church as well. 

          Music and Harvest Day

The last Sunday that we were in Odessa was Harvest Day which is like 

our Thanksgiving. The music in the Ukrainian churches is outstanding.

     Personal Witnessing

On Saturday the teams went out into the heart of Odessa, a city 

of over a million people.  We still had 2000 Bibles and scripture 

portions which we gave out in just an hour and a half.  This gave us 

the opportunity to share the Gospel personally through our 

interpreters using the bilingual Good News Booklets.

Thousands of GOOD NEWS Witnessing Booklets in both 

Russian and Ukrainian were printed and used during the mission. 

      The people are hungry to know Jesus Christ. 

Keep Praying to the people in Odessa.

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