Odessa Mission
April 2005 Newsletter
Well friends, nobody ever said this church planting stuff would be easy! Yep, and it is quickly becoming crystal clear why. We recently spoke to a Baptist minister here in Odessa by the name of Sergei Suetin who has been looking for a new facility for their church for over a year now. "I never imagined myself saying this," he remarked, "but I'm slowly starting to realize that money and great contacts don't mean very much in this town." He went on to explain that despite the fact that they have a considerable sum of money, it is still not good enough to help them secure the kind of facility that they're seeking. "I'm convinced that prayer alone is the only thing that will change things at this point," he concluded. Well Ira and I can't agree more. Since losing our facility several months ago, I can't even begin to count how many "options" we've physically looked at for rental purposes. I would guess that it's probably close to fifty or more and that doesn't include the hundreds we've scratched off while looking in the classified ads or turned down over the phone after a short inquiry. We probably have between fifteen and twenty realtors searching for available options not to mention several of our church members. We've even enlisted a few people from area churches, but unfortunately, we are not getting many phone calls because the options just aren't there. If I were to show you some of the venues we were offered by realtors who tried to keep a straight face, then I'm sure you would agree wholeheartedly. I wouldn't even let my cat worship in places like that and that's not just because I don't have a cat. Moreover, one of our biggest struggles is trying to convince owners to rent to a church because of the their perceived idea of the noise level that would be involved. Regrettably, most of these facilities are located in apartment complexes. The ones that aren't are either in terrible neighborhoods, too tiny to operate in, too far away, or way too expensive. So, in addition to any possible leasing options out there we are also actively pursuing any available facilities to buy that are currently on the market. Please do keep praying that God would provide because this whole process is not only wearing on us, but it is also testing the patience of our remaining church members. The only thing that comforts me about all of this is the spiritual warfare factor. At this point Ira and I are 100% positive that Satan is actively involved here because only spiritual forces could present this kind of opposition, which is obviously a great sign that God's people in Odessa are making an impact! Furthermore, we are seeing a display of remarkable fortitude in the lives of our new Christians here and that gives us a lot of hope for KRCC's future.
On April 22nd, Rick Deighton will be coming to Odessa to assist our church in preparing for its special Easter service on May 1st. On April 29th and 30th, he will be delivering two messages presenting evidence for the resurrection of Christ. Then, our kids will follow that with an Easter drama that Ira herself produced and is directing. In addition, our kids are actually planning to present their Easter program at a special school for children with scoliosis on April 28th, which will be our debut at that particular school. Hopefully,that will open many doors for the gospel since there are about 200 kids presently enrolled there.
In early March, I began preaching twice a week at the Christian University here in Odessa, which is a school mainly comprised of unbelieving students. I preach every Tuesday and Wednesday to two separate groups of students studying English. In the first group, there are approximately fifteen students and the second group consists of about six. So far, the response has been rather positive. So, we are pretty optimistic about the opportunity overall. Six students in the first group requested that I loan each of them a copy of my book A Dumb American In A Strange Country. They're probably all wading through it right now and hopefully God will speak to each of them in some small way. Due to the small size of the second group, discussions really tend to get more personal. Last week when I was speaking to them, one Russian Orthodox girl confessed that she often feels distant from God even though she prays fairly often. "What advice can you give me?" she asked. I simply told her that praying to God is one thing, while worshiping is something altogether different. I explained, "Prayer doesn't necessarily bring us closer to God, but worshiping God in prayer does." I went on to share a variety of methods people use for the purpose of entering a worshipful mode and what I said seemed to make a lot of sense to her. Another girl, Anya, asked: "Pastor John, I want to seek God but I don't know how. Please tell me how to seek Him." As you can imagine, that also turned into a productive exchange for everyone. So, God is working at the university and we're already pleased with the apparent results in the hearts, minds, and spirits of the students. On Wednesday, April 6th, KRCC is even beginning a weekly Christian video program for all the students there. Let's all praise the Lord for opening doors for us there and pray that His Spirit will do one of things He does best: '...convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment...."
Serving the King,
John and Ira,
The Odessa Mission, Kind Road Christian Church
From Al: For those of you who don't have access to the Odessa Mission web site, the following information is provided: On April 2, Ira received a letter from the Department of Homeland Security Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services stating, "Your request for the removal of the conditional basis of your permanent resident status has been approved. You are deemed to be a lawful permanent resident of the United States as of the date of your original admission or adjustment of status October 1, 2002" . PRAISE THE LORD! We thank all of you who have prayed for this notification.