Day Eight (Jan 4) – Sunday Morning Live! [Ukraine Missions Trip]

This is the eighth entry in the series I am writing about my trip to Ukraine – I didn’t have daily internet access while there so I recorded each day for later publishing.  And later [much later actually] is now.

Today was our last day in Krivoy Rog.  Here’s a quick rundown of the events of the day:

  • woke up and ate Breakfast @ 10am
  • Preaching at Krivoy Rog Church

    Preaching at Krivoy Rog Church

    Church Service @ 11am – I preached – service was awesome! What was really moving for me was the response of the congregation as I preached and the freedom I felt in speaking. Having to go slower for the translator gives me time to think what I’m going to say and I often veered from my notes. Of course, that was due to the leading of the Holy Spirit as well. During the service Pastor Gregory gave me a note asking me to give the altar call for repentance – that I was nervous for BUT I followed through because I believe we give the invitation and it’s God’s job to draw people.  Well 7 people came forward and I led them through a salvation prayer with the translator using 1 john 1:9 (If we confess our sins he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness). It was awesome! The entire church cheered for those who had given their hearts to the Lord and after praying I hugged each one of them. Pastor Gregory also had me  pray for some needs people had written down and handed in. That was cool too!  I was just blown away by this Sunday morning service and SO EXCITED about the new people joining the family of God!!

    Praying for people at Krivoy Rog church

    Praying for people at Krivoy Rog church

    Following the message Pastor Gregory had the team members and I pray for people who came to the front for prayer.

Article Find – Preaching – Give the text out ahead of time…Invite participation

This article presents a great idea that I think I’ll try out in the near future (as soon as I get “organized” enough where I know the text for next weeks message a week ahead). I especially like how can help prepare people for hearing me preach on a particular text and invite their participation. Gives me one more reason to try accelerating the development of the new HPC Online site so I can incorporate this in the site somehow! See the full article here: Layers of Bible Study: Reinforced, Concrete – BuildingChurchLeaders.com