calm calendar

So I’m sending out emails, mail, and making calls to schedule meetings to tell you about Ukraine.  Why am I going?  What’s the need?  How is God working?  He’s building his kingdom, but what does that mean?

I’d love to sit down with you and tell you about a friend I met in Ukraine who wanted to know why God doesn’t do something about all the bad in the world, if God really is compassionate and powerful as we see him in Jesus feeding of the 5,000 people.  I could describe sitting at a cafe on Red Army Street listening to a young elder share his and his wife’s passion to help strengthen marriages in Kiev and through-out Ukraine.

I’ve seen glimmers of God’s kingdom being built in Kiev, and I’d love to share those stories with you.  Would you like to listen?  Let me know.

Have you already heard?  Pray that I’ll see fruit from my labors, that I’ll be able to schedule calls and meetings with people.  Pray that I’m able to point out the dynamic gospel and grace of Jesus that’s transforming people and places in Ukraine and around the world.  Thanks!

MTW Ukraine retreat

I’m copying this from the blog of future team-mates of mine, Steve and Dawn Sparks:

This coming weekend (Oct. 8-10), all of the Mission to the World (MTW) missionaries in Ukraine will gather together for the annual country-wide team retreat. Since MTW has folks in 5 different cities across the country, it is nice for everyone to gather together in one place periodically. This is a great time to hear about the joys and challenges of ministry in the various cities, to pray for one another, to worship in English, and to be taught from the Word. It is also a time for folks to get away from their usual ministry context and enjoy the mountains of western Ukraine with their families….

The Ukraine team is also in the midst of a big transition. Eric Huber, the Country Director for the past 7 years or so, has taken a pastorate in Pennsylvania. While I’m sure his congregation there will enjoy the Huber family, they will be greatly missed in Ukraine. The Hubers will be at the retreat for the first couple of days.

As you think of them this weekend, please pray for the Ukraine missionaries. Pray for rest, refreshment, and encouragement. Pray for safe travel and health for all. And pray for some folks who planned to be there but due to a lack of financial support or family health issues are currently in the U.S. Pray that God would provide for them and that they would also be encouraged and comforted by Him. Finally, pray for the Hubers as they say final goodbyes to folks in Ukraine and continue their transition to life in the U.S.

Join me in praying for the retreat this weekend. I hope to be in Ukraine by mid-2011, and would be able to attend the next retreat.

humbled, excited, and needing sleep

When was the last time you were blown to tears by the grace of God? by his insistent, loving hand moving in your life and in your heart to show you (yet again) that He is the Sovereign, He is the King, and to reassure you that He is good, does good, and his covenant faithfulness or hesed pursues you all the days of your life? When was the last time you were deeply thankful for God saying “no” to your request–and not thankful because you initially wanted to be thankful, but only thankful because in your disappointment at the “no” you still knew that God has your best in view, that He knows what you really need? When were you last reminded that when you ask for something and God overrules you and says “no”, his promises are all still Yes in Christ Jesus?  When was the last time a good friend reminded you that God’s sovereignty and his providence are never opposed to each other in your life? when singing old hymns raised your eyes from navel-gazing to a jaw-dropping view of Jehovah’s grace and glory?

“He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Rom 8:32)

God’s no to my request is actually yes to what I really need, and the thing is, He knows better than I what I need. Needless to say, I’ve been blown away by God’s greatness, by his majesty, by his love, by the comfort of the reality that He is enthroned, ruling for his glory and the good of his people–and that includes me, as undeserving as I am.

God has given me new, more demanding responsibilities in my engineering job (i.e., more hours, too), when I had hoped and prayed to reduce my hours for more time support raising. This was initially very disappointing and hard for me, but over the past two days God has done amazing work in my heart and through the prayers of his people.  I need your prayers that I will adjust well to my new schedule and have wisdom for my time-commitments.

Tonight I presented the Ukraine ministry to a group of friends brought together by an engineer who’s a former co-worker of mine. I’m so encouraged by friends and coworkers who give me the gift of time to hear how God is working in Kiev and calling me to serve there.

Part of what God may be reminding me with my new responsibilities and tighter schedule may be my limitations and my dependence on him. One of those limitations is my need for sleep, now.  Its yet another gift from my Keeper who doesn’t sleep.

conference this weekend

Please pray that a “Weekend-to-Remember” Conference being held in the Khmelnitsky region of Ukraine this weekend will strengthen the marriages of all the participating couples. Alex, one of the elders from the Solomensky church in Kiev our team works with, will be speaking at this conference. Please pray for God to use Alex and his wife in a powerful way as well as for the hosts of the conference while they are preparing for the event.

I got a name tag

Mission to the World (MTW) just approved me as a missionary to Kiev, Ukraine!  I spent this past week at MTW with nine other missionary candidates for Interview and Orientation (I&O), the final step in the application processes.

I&O was a very full, busy week, and I felt very cared for by MTW.  When I met with the candidate committee to find out if I was approved or not, the first thing they did was hand me a magnetic name tag and welcome me to MTW.

Here’s my I&O group at the end of the week, excited to be new missionaries, to be done with the week, and to see how the Lord will work in our lives over the coming years as we raise support and then head to all corners of the globe.

giving thanks

Its nearly 2:00 AM Monday in Kiev, Ukraine right now.  No wonder I feel a bit tired, jet-lagged here in northwest Georgia just outside Chattanooga.  Yesterday (Saturday) morning I got up at 3:30am for my flight home from Kiev, and I was home by 10:30pm.  This morning I woke early, alert and excited to gather with other believers to worship the Lord together.

Thank you for your prayers.  My trip was worthwhile, and I got a good sense of what the Presbyterian missionaries are doing to equip and encourage the Ukrainian church in Kiev and Odessa.  There are a number of ways I could serve in Kiev after learning Russian, including music ministry and mentoring, evangelistic outreach, discipleship, and possibly theological education in the future.  The team there looks like a good fit for me, and I got the sense they may think I’d work well as part of their team.

Please continue praying for me as I pursue where and how the King is calling me to serve in the coming years, and as I serve where he has placed me right now.  Tomorrow morning I’m returning to my full time civil engineering work, helping to push back the brokenness and play my part in seeing God’s common grace blessings extended through better, safer, and more efficient transportation systems.  I remain your debtor–thanks again for your prayers.

Last Sunday I was excited to worship with my brothers and sisters in Christ in Kiev, where I found myself longing to know Russian and thankful for Hebrew words like “hallelujah” that call everyone everywhere to praise Jahweh.  Today I was thankful to be able to worship in English.  Isn’t it exciting that God’s steadfast love, which narrowed through Abraham, Israel, Judah, and David until it focused on Jesus, burst out to all the peoples, languages, and nations of the world when Jesus rose from the dead?  As Psalm 57:9 says, “I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to you among the nations.”

Here are three pictures:

I’m at the Zoloti Vorota (Golden Gate) in Kiev, built by Yaroslav the Wise in 1037, destroyed when the Mongol’s sacked Kiev in 1240, and rebuilt in 1982.

The Kiev skyline at nightfall, from the front balcony where I stayed the first half of my trip.

Maydan Nezalezhnosti is the “Independence Mall” in the center of downtown Kiev.

time to travel

I am returning to Ukraine tomorrow (15 – 26 September) to visit with two
teams of missionaries, one in Kiev and one in Odessa.  Many of you have
prayed for me over the past few years as I’ve considered and pursued how and
where the Lord is calling me to serve.  Both teams are Mission to the World
church planting teams working with Ukrainian presbyterian churches to
establish and strengthen the church in Ukraine.  During this ten day trip, I
will be considering these two teams and they will be considering me, to see
if I might be a good fit on one of their teams for two to three years.

Some of you may wonder how this fits with my civil engineering work.  I am a
professional engineer, but that is not my passion, and I’m hoping that some
of my gifts, strengths, and skills that have benefited me in civil
engineering will be able to transfer to a church planting team.  The folks
in Kiev have a seminary for training Russian-speaking pastors, and I’m quite
interested in the possibility of teaching there longer-term, if that is how
the Lord leads.  That team also has university ministry outreach, music
ministry (including possibly mentoring Ukrainian musicians for thinking
about music in worship), work with an orphanage, and lots of possibilities
since its a city of 5 million people.

Please pray:
1.)  For safe flights (Newark to Boston to Copenhagen to Kiev).
2.)  That I will grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus.
3.)  That the Lord will clarify his leading in my life.
4.)  That I will be an encouragement to the missionaries I meet with.
5.)  For safe travels within Ukraine.  The evening of the 20th I’ll take an
overnight train to Odessa, and the evening of the 22nd another overnight
train back to Kiev.
6.)  That I will pick up a few Russian phrases quickly.
7.)  That the nations will delight more and more in Jesus!

Please let me know if you have questions or comments for me.  Thanks so much
for your prayers.

joyfully,

Joel