Odessa Mission
Conference on Missions and Evangelism Seminar
John recently attended two events held in Odessa with one being a Conference on Missions and the other an Evangelism Seminar. The Conference on Missions was a two-day affair and focused on global missions. It was attended by approximately 500 individuals from many of the charismatic churches in Odessa. The guest speaker was Carl Gustov, a well-known evangelist from Sweden. Mr. Gustov had recently held a revival at a small church in Iraq and shared his experiences with the assembled group. John and Ira attended two evening services. The Evangelism Seminar was a four-day event held at a local Baptist church and was attended by approximately 15 people from cities other than Odessa. Because of his schedule, John only attended two of the four days and he received a lot of useful information. Ira was unable to attend any sessions due to her class schedule.
Evangelism Seminar involved five or six different instructors and centered on
personal evangelism. Here is one of the speakers discussing some practical
ways in which we might be more sensitive to the average person on the street or
to those visiting our churches.
John met Ben at the Conference on Missions. Eight years ago, Ben left Nigeria
as a non-believer and went to Odessa for the purpose of studying medicine.
However, he was one of the fifty at the conference who publicly decided to
commit his life to global evangelization. Perhaps Ben will become the next
medical missionary back in Nigeria.
Here are three other individuals discussing the role of the Bible in the minds of
Orthodox Christians. Because of the use of icons for centuries, Orthodox
Ukrainians have also turned the Bible into a type of icon. Therefore,
holding the Bible below your belt is considered offensive to them. Placing
the Bible on a seat next to you would be considered anathema also. These
were two of the more important lessons I learned at the Christian conference.
This was taken during a coffee break. Notice everyone is wearing a coat/sweater
even though the seminar was being held inside in October.
Another picture taken during a coffee break. John is talking warmly to another
seminar attendee and seems comfortably warm in his heavy coat and scarf.