Youth Conference – Friday Night

Well, today was a preparation day for all of us and in different ways.  Chris and Kenny ventured off with Indira (Emilia’s sister who is helping with translation) and Marat, the newly appointed director of youth in Ufa, to purchase two guitars to use for ministry and then to leave with the churches here.  Renee and Gini spent a few hours with Emily finalizing the details of the Women’s Conference due to begin next Friday.  The others spent the day working on little projects for upcoming ministry, and I (Rod) took a nap!!!  Actually, I didn’t sleep well at all the night before, so I did some sermon prep for my message tonight and then hit the hay for a couple of hours.  I hope that I can sleep well tonight…

Well, this morning as I met with Piotr Zhuk and Emily, Piotr shared with me that there has been some difficult setbacks in the ministry here.  He shared of division within the church body and that he will be meeting with some key pastors who have all had a part to play to seek restoration.  That was a big bomb to take, but we gathered together as a team, prayed for the church here and committed our time to the Lord.  There is no coincidence that we are here and only want to be used by Him to help minister and heal where we can.

Marat, the Youth Director wasn’t too confident that many youth would attend the conference beginning this evening.  He chose to use the classroom here at the office to host the meeting, expecting at most 20 people…well, the good news is that we had to leave the classroom and move over the Central Church (aka the International House of Prayer – or IHOP) where a total of 70 young people gathered.  It was amazing and there was an eager buzz among the people.  Now, you should understand that when I say “Young People” I am using that term in a Russian way.   They use it to describe people from that ages of 12 to about 30.

Chris and Kenny shared in leading worship this evening…they were excellent and truly worshipped God as they shared and led in song.  I (Rod) was given the theme of, “What does the Bible say about Youth?”  So, I tackled that as a foundation to the resto of the weekend.  Everyone was greatly encouraged and amazed at the turnout…

Please keep praying for us as tomorrow will be a full day of ministry.