Category: Bruce Posts (Page 75 of 211)

Kiev, Ukraine | Building where conference this week was held for youth – 5th floor.. attic.

Spring is in the air, snow melted, and plenty of mud if you’d like us to send you some?  Bronwyn returns tonight after a 6 month DTS with YWAM.  We’re all excited to hear of her adventures and what God is doing in her life.

Arriving just a few hours before her is Andrew Beach, a young man that attended last years Spring Break group from Texas.  He’s coming for the week to serve with the music students on his college break.

Deb and I fly out to Minsk on Wednesday for 4 days.   Several critical meetings with our friends and fellow leaders as we chart this next season together.  It’s new role for us and we ask for prayer.  Sharing Sunday as well with the church.

The Bible School, for example, which has functioned now for 20yrs, is unable to continue in its current form.  It has provided tuition free study, only requiring $150-200 per month for room & board.  God has sustained the College through the years (since mid 90s!) from renting parts of the commercial property the ministry owns.  With businesses closing continually in this economic collapse, this model has vanished and there aren’t funds available for this type of model.  Over the past year specifically, it’s been a few generous donors keeping the College open.

Please watch this video if you haven’t yet.  It gives visuals and explains some of things we are working through now.  The video is a bit old as we were just praying then about involvement.  I have accepted the position of International Director with MIR Ministries since then, which is the US charity that owns the property and guiding decisions.

Please pray that we hear from God together this week, we move in faith, and unity.  Some precious families involved, passionate, those serving within it are gifted and not doing it as a regular job.  This school has been an engine producing spiritual life and changing culture around it.  The church, the youth events, and many other worship projects have been possible because the school has been an anchor in Minsk – a center of activity, a unifying community.   The Kingdom of God has advanced through this vehicle, and I don’t believe it’s days are finished, but changes are needed.

We’ll also be submitting applications for 1yr multi-entry visas for Belarus.  Several steps for this in both Belarus and Ukraine.

Can you spot Brent in the black shirt? That’s my shirt! Usually you hear of girls taking the moms clothes… Not here.. my sons and daughter (Bronwyn!) all steal mine!

This past week I visited a youth missions week with our friends at Steiger International.  We took a truck full, including Brent.  I was a guest small group leader, and taught on the importance of learning early the centrality of the Cross (as a place of freedom and victory).

My favorite part of the day (it’s a 5 day conference), was watching a couple of our Club 180 students really connect with the Lord, specifically during a 45 minute quiet time.  Seeing young hearts, eyes closed, hands open, and tears running down their face is truly the most incredible joy.  To know God the Father is speaking, touching, healing, wow.

Please pray for Brent.  He’s in a critical place in his life too.  It was unplanned to leave him there, he asked if he could remain at the conference with some friends from Kharaglyk. He’s such an amazing young man (a little bias here), but needs to encounter the Lord in more meaningful ways.  He’s really into fitness, and lacks close friends here that will be an encouragement to his spiritual growth.  Language continues to be an obstacle, but God has big plans for this guy if he will keep moving towards the Lord.

These are the core leaders of Steiger here in Ukraine – they will visit Rzhyschiv for a small retreat this month.  It’s been so encouraging to get to know them, and begin to partner more together. They are doing great things for the advancement of Christ among youth in Ukraine. Pray for them!

We met with the European leader Luke (striped grey shirt), missionary since 2002 now in Poland, neat guy.  It seems almost all their leaders are professional musicians, like Luke, who’ve traveled the world using music for Christ.  We discussed deeper partnerships, and they are very interested in establishing coffee shops like Lighthouse, and have ventured down that path a number of times, only to pull back and reconsider timing and calling as a ministry.

They are excellent at creative events, mobilizing young people in evangelism and worship.  We are going to continue praying for direction.  I think we may plant a Cafe with Steiger soon, if the Lord provides.  We already have the location in Ukraine, along the Russian border in a City called Sumy.  God is definitely speaking and orchestrating.  We move by faith.. I type by faith!

Clark needed a photo with his mom for woman’s day 🙂

March is a huge month for us, with several teams passing through, travel, and end of month incredible opportunity with this band from France coming.  We’ve received approval and reserved rental of the Culture House building, seats 370.  We have done all of this in faith, without any of the funds for the concert.

We’ll be bringing in full concert/stage equipment from Kiev, and will cost around $2k for everything.  To bring the Gospel and the presence of God into the lives of +200 students who have never heard or felt the power of Christ – it’s going to be incredible.

Thank you for praying and staying in touch.  Fun fact, around 10-20 people read our blog per today, and when we post on Facebook, usually +100 read it.  With the amount of media we all digest, I am thankful anyone even clicks…  your simple clicks, they are connections, communication, prayer, resources, then the Kingdom keeps moving ahead together.

Thank you for staying connected, for lifting our spirits in prayer.  Please don’t hesitate to email us any prayer requests or family updates – we would love to stay connected with you too.

Love you all –
Bruce & Deb

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. Galatians 5:7

As a new believer, I think I heard this every Sunday during ‘tithes and offerings.’ Want to be blessed? Give away your money, especially in the funny looking bags roaming through the pews, or so I was told.

Sowing and reaping.  All of a sudden preachers become experts in farming.  Plant corn, you get corn.  Astounding!  Even through Bible College this verse remained neatly tucked in the financial area of Christian giving.  If you want to be blessed financially, this ‘universal principal’ would even apply to unbelievers – like a cosmic hidden easter egg, ‘Test God in this, He can’t help but bless you.’  This was the unfortunate environment I was exposed to early.

Context, beautiful context. Paul, in Galatians, has been writing the church about a much more vital principle than increasing physical blessings in your life.  He’s talking about freedom.  Specifically, the freedom everyone receives through Jesus Christ.  What are we free from?  Ourselves, our old nature, sin, the power our corrupted flesh holds over us.

Specifically, he eludes to our situation as a type of slavery and being ‘under’ this curse. Our fleshly appetites molding within us this ungodly character – without any hope in the flesh to remedy.  Not even the Law or commandments will help us, they only testify against us.

Paul is trying to deal with something he also deals with in Romans (specifically chapter 6, read it!).  This cursed flesh is bent on self seeking desires.  If left to ourselves, we crave, lust, and use people for our own agenda. Through the destruction of sin, our natural appetites for food become gluttony.  The eye that is designed rightly to enjoy beauty becomes bent by sin to lust and seek self glory.

It is impossible, in our flesh, to rid ourselves from our own nature – we need a new one, a new heart if we’re ever to enter into meaningful relationship with our Creator.  It’s impossible, outside of divine new birth, to present ourselves before God in any justified sense. We are condemned, enslaved and without hope outside of something mercifully miraculous.

No matter how hard we try in the flesh, there is no provision for sin removal.  There is only one course of action for our fallen nature – death.

Paul starts in Galatians Chapter 5 (before the sowing and reaping verse) with an amazing verse that I love.  “It was for freedom that Christ set us free.”  It sounds like a redundant statement, but he’s getting at something powerful.  Though we have been freed from sin through faith in Christ, it’s entirely possible to remain in it’s enslaving grip.  Jesus sacrifice and resurrection was intended to not simply transact something spiritually, but He wants each of us to enjoy it, to experience the freedom purchased.

I used to think that there was ‘no such thing’ as a carnal Christian. I would look at someone struggling or even defeated in some ‘obvious’ sin that I wasn’t struggling with and account them unregenerate.  Such arrogance.  In my prideful estimation, I was more guilty than they were!

“Don’t go back!” is the cry of the Apostle Paul to the Galatian believers –  implying that you actually can, and we all do at times, ‘go back’.  We, as believers, are free from sin’s grip, and experience new heights of freedom. This is the heart and plan of God for us.  Yet, we can also return to poor choices that lead to certain results in our lives.  This, this is where Paul is headed when he enters Galatians 6 and the ‘fruit of the Spirit’.   We can argue, in fact, that most of the Apostle’s epistles are in response to this reality that while through faith in the Son of God we are free, we struggle ‘walking’ in this new reality.

Paul is giving us a powerful help, a truth to help us realize this new freedom in Christ.

It’s like Paul sees prison doors flung open, yet too many of the prisoners still sitting inside the cells – Go!  Be free!  By the way, it’s essential that you start sowing in the right areas!

The seeds are the key for actualizing the victory over sin in our lives.

We aren’t able to produce the actual spiritual fruit. The Holy Spirit produces the fruit in our lives. That’s why they are referred to as ‘fruits of the Spirit.”  Love, joy, peace, patience… we cannot, no matter hard we strive, produce these on our own.  They are results, they are a harvest from something divinely working under the soil of our hearts.

We are called to plant the right seeds.  If we think we will simply produce a harvest of righteousness in our lives by watching soap operas (fresh in my head from my hair cut today; Russian soap operas playing in the background) and listening or reading garbage all day, we’d be wise to listen to Paul’s warning = Do not be deceived, God is not mocked.. what or even where you sow, yeah, it’s coming back at you. Garbage in, garbage out.  Sow to the spirit, you’ll see a spiritual harvest in your life.

I have begun asking myself this question.  It’s a question I want my kids to ask themselves earlier, not later in life.  “What is my vision for my spiritual life?” Where do you see yourself in the Kingdom of God, in His plan to redeem the world with His love? Where do you see your heart, where do you really want to ‘be’ in this regard? Where do you see your motivations, your desire for people, your interests lying? Next week, next year, in 10 years? Do we have a vision for this? If we don’t, we might find it hard to sow the right things.

I think this is where Paul is coming from. He says we are dead to sin – past tense, it’s already happened. If I am to be considered ‘dead’ to sin and alive to righteousness, I’d better start sowing in this regard, toward my new nature, if I’m ever to expect a harvest in this direction.  It’s entirely possible to continue sowing to the flesh, even though I’m born again and a follower of Jesus – this is why Paul argues in Romans, “what shall we say then, shall we continue in sin that grace might abound?” The answer is obvious, no! Because that would be really stupid. Possible, but stupid.

I’m deceived if I think I hold no sway over my own life’s trajectory. I’m not talking about salvation or justification, this is about common sense farming – what you put in, you will get out.

So the next time you hear this verse, if it’s in the context of financial giving, just remember God loves a cheerful giver.

Then, consider the seeds being planted in your life, your marriage, family, workplace.  Sow the Word of God in your heart, it will return a harvest.  Sow continuous prayer and fellowship with God and those that journey in faith along with you.  Sow challenging books that make you think about your faith journey, music that directs your heart to the Cross.  Sow moments in the day where you love others, listen, encourage.  Sow in faith opportunities that require you to step onto the water and trust him in new ways.

Don’t sow because you are a ‘Christian’ or because you believe it may somehow justify you (self-righteousness).  Sow because you are born again, you care about your own heart and it’s trajectory – you want a spiritual harvest that brings you closer to the heart of the Father.

This image reflects the nature of the verse. Sow into the plan God has for your life – you need to see it! He wants to dwell in your heart through faith (Eph 3:17)

Plant, sow, invest in your spiritual vision for your life.  If you don’t have one, ask God to show you. He wants to see a harvest of righteousness break out in your marriage, family, friendships, workplace. We don’t sow to be spiritual, we sow because we have spiritual life in Christ now, and we want to know Him more!

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. Galatians 5:7

Resting from works, abiding in Him through faith, and believing Him for a greater harvest!

Bruce & Deb

After worship, quite a few students stayed to play some games and hear testimonies.

Last night, we once again we hosted a worship evening on the 2nd floor.  Special thanks to Steiger Ukraine for leading it, and bringing a solid, passionate group of youth leaders (19-27yrs old) who really encouraged everyone.

It’s cool because the various youth groups from surrounding towns are getting to know one another more as well.  When you consider that only 2-3% of the population is evangelical Christian, gathering youth in these numbers has a genuine impact on the youth.  It wouldn’t matter if you just ate ice cream together, they are from different villages, and very small churches.  The fact that we spent 90 minutes together elevating Christ in song and prayer for one another has that much more spiritual impact.

This little creation emerged this morning on our rink after the team went for a skate. #snowgirl

There were +50 again, which is making it really challenging for space.  I wish we could push a button, like one of those RV’s and expand the walls as needed.

The next major event is going to be on March 29 and 30, with a youth band from France and a crew of 20 (Steiger) – we will be hosting it at our downtown culture building.  It seats 370 – and we have a lot of logistics to work out between now and then.  More soon!

I love that there is now a collective, unified group of youth that can be inserted into a crowd (like this upcoming concert) and begin to grow in influence and momentum for the Kingdom.  Please pray with us for wisdom, favor and most of the Spirit of God to awaken dead hearts to living faith in Christ.

We hope to have a video soon of our worship night, a cool guy Ivan, professional level videographer was at the event, and will be working on something for us soon!

Special thanks to our staff, in particular Lana and Alyosha who worked extra hard all night – it was quite chaotic as our small cafe gets bombarded by youth.. and everything 50% off… our regular customers weren’t sure what they walked into!

Bruce & Deb