Business Seminars in Ukraine

In May, Rich Forster and I, along with Joe Lehman and Barry Reed traveled to Ukraine for a time of ministry. Both Joe and Barry have ministered with us before and are seasoned ministers, so I sent them to other cities where conferences were scheduled. Rich accompanied me to teach business seminars in several locations around Kiev, L'vov and Pereyaslav.

Rich and his wife Vana live in Pittsburg, KS and attend Cornerstone Family Church which is pastored by my long time friends, Allen and Jeannice Parker. He serves as an elder in the church, is a businessman and an excellent Bible teacher.

After our return, Rich sent a letter to those who had supported his first mission trip, telling them what had happened. I thought it was well written and asked him if I could reprint it on our website. He graciously agreed. Here is Rich's view of the trip in his own words:

Dear Friends in Christ,

I am so excited to share with you some of the experiences and testimonies I witnessed in Ukraine. To say it was a life effecting experience for me would be an understatement to say the least. I will try and give you a sense of what it was like from my perspective.

Our 7000 mile journey began Thursday, May 20th at 8:30am as we departed from the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport in Lowell, Ark., and after stops in Cincinnati, New York and Paris, we finally arrived in Kiev, Ukraine 36 hours later at 1:30pm Friday. The excitement of our arrival in Ukraine seemed to override the jet lag.

There was no picture taking allowed and I almost got arrested finding that out because I didn't know the rule and started to take a picture and here they came!!! Fortunately, our interperter convinced them I didn't know the rules there. Shortly after getting through customs we find out our luggage didn't make it out of New York, so we made do for the next two days. Wow, what a great start to my first missions trip.

My next shock was the traffic and vehicles we were to travel in. Taxicabs and other public transportation are mostly small, dirty, beat up vehicles and they drive on the same kinds of roads. Road rage was alive and active in this part of the world. Houston and LA had nothing on these folks. There are very few private cars and trucks here and I would estimate nearly 90% of the people use the public busses, trains, cable cars and taxi's. Your chance of survival if you try to walk across one of their streets is nearly "0". However the two most popular methods of transportation are walking and bicycles. All ages and all hours of the night, people are walking or bicycling around town.

This unfamiliar exercise phenomina I observed later clarified another question I asked myself, why the Ukrainians were so thin and healthy looking? I don't believe I saw 5 obese people in all of Ukraine. It may be because there were only a small handfull of fast food restaurants. I saw only 2 McDonalds and 2 Pizza Huts in all of Kiev, a city of 4 million. (There are more, I didn't take him to them, I wanted Rich to taste the cuisine of Ukraine-David)

Their food foundation is more vegetables, fruits and cheese with some chicken and pork. Borsch, the traditional appetiser vegetable soup was likely to be served at every meal and probably mashed potatoes too. Hardly anything was fried or deep fried like french fries nor did we see any beef except at McDonalds. Fruit juice nectar, coke and Fanta were their most popular cold drinks and I never once saw a glass of milk. The water is undrinkable everywhere in Ukraine unless bottled water and with that, tea, called "chi" is a favorite over coffee. They do like their sweets, like cake or candies for desert. That made me feel right at home.

Our goals for this trip to the Ukraine were multifaceted. As representative for Family Aid International, a Christian Ministry from Grove Oklahoma, our four person team included two evangelists and two teachers. The two evangelists each had their assignments to different parts of the country while myself and the team leader, David Tinney were to teach 7 business seminars in five cities to various Christian and secular groups and preach in three church services. Each of the three teams had an interpeter who traveled with us the entire time. We also gave out duffle bags full of jeans and sacks of crayons to various needy groups.

Our leader David Tinney is the president of Family Aid International and has been ministering in the Ukraine for over 7 years. This was his 32nd trip to the Ukraine delivering food, clothing, medical equipment and childrens things. Nearly 5 years ago David was Divinely connected with the Embassy of the Blessed Kingdom of God for All Nations church in Kiev, and Pastor Sunday Adelaja, a Nigerian. Pastor Sunday shepherds the largest evangelical church in Eastern Europe, nearly 25,000 members and 300 daughter churches throughout Ukraine and other nations. After much success and fruit resulted from David's ministry, Pastor Sunday ordained him as a minister for the Embassy of God churches in Ukraine and United States.

During the 9-11 tragedy, David was delayed in Kiev awaiting a return flight to the USA when he was asked to speak to a few church people about how to start a business since David was known to own a travel agency. He of course was thrilled to share that knowledge but little did he know at the time that the anointing for business teaching was flowing through him to these people for a Divine purpose. Fifty plus seminars later the fruit of his efforts and obedience to God's call on him have produced many, many successful results. They include testimonies of numerous people starting up their own businesses while others have taken the Christian principals and applied them to their businesses and are realizing increase and expansion with the hope they are an influence for Kingdom of God.

We conducted seven seminars in five cities to Christian and secular alike. We were in houses, churches, movie theaters, business colleges and even a drug rehab center with sometimes only a few dozen there and other locations we had hundreds attend. We focused on teaching Christian business principals and ethics for owners as well as the workforce, marketing, attitude, customer service all centering on the christian scriptural concept of influencing the Nations for the Kingdom of God. Our emphasis was to encourage all to seek and use the giftings and talents God has given them for success and to be more positively influencial in their communities. That influence will draw others who seek that same success to the foot of the cross of Jesus Christ.

The hunger for this new manna they wanted was insatiable and their appreciation, overwhelming. You must remember they have been under the hopeless, depressing cloud of communism for 70 years and now have the chance to manage their own destiny in a free Ukraine. There is so much talent, desire and willingness to "give it a try" and not mire in their misfortunes of the past. They want to build a strong, viable Christian Ukraine for the Kingdom of God and the gates of hell will not prevent them from this higher calling.

I was so blessed to get the opportunity to witness and minister to these fine people, but for them to share the many, many success stories they had from previous visits, teachings and minisrty efforts for salvations, deliverence and business success were truly the defining moments that will draw me back to them. It was like walking in the New Testament streets and villages to see their faith and action work hand in hand with God's plan for them. The seed principal and love parable teachings were brought to life in the midst of these hungry Christians. You witness instant results sometimes and even when delayed, those results draw the love of Jesus out of you till your heart cries out with eternal joy at what a great and mighty God we serve.

I just can't tell you how much your prayers and financial support meant to me and to the Ukrainians. I know without a doubt that your sowing through me into these people's lives will be returned 100 fold to you by God's promise. I hope to return in the spring to continue this great commission journey as we are already being asked to increase our seminars and include more content that will help the Ukrainians to be successful God's way. Until our next time together, may the Lord bless and keep you: The Lord make His face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you, the Lord lift His countenance upon you and give you peace. (Num 6:24-26)

In the Name above all names!

Rich Forster

Epilog

Rich and I held business seminars in Boryspil, L'vov and Pereyaslav over a 10 day period. Many people were blessed as we prayed and released blessing and empowerment in their lives to create and launch a business. Several business owners asked us to council them so they would be more effective in the finacial realm.

As we continue to teach practical business skills and Biblical principles of success, Ukrainian entreprenuers are rising to new levels of business purpose in the Kingdom of God.

Books by Pastor Sunday Adelaja

Pastor Sunday Adelaja is not only one of the most dynamic ministers of our time, but also a prolific writer. He has authored nearly 40 books in less than 10 years. A few of his books are now available in the English language and I have copies of his new books, "You and Your Pastor" and "Pastoring Without Tears" to distribute in the USA and Canada.

Pastoring Without Tears

I brought several copies home with me of Pastor Sunday's book, "Pastoring With Tears". Every Christian who has a desire to be involved in any type of ministry should read this book, its not just for pastors, but for anyone in leadership.

I could not put it down, here are some of his comments from this extaordinary book....

"God doesn't want your ministry to wear you out, He wants you to enjoy doing His work."

"God doesn't call you to be a minister who worries, suffers, and weeps. He calls you to accomplish whatever He's called you to by His grace, with thanksgiving."

"If you have really given your burden over to God, then soon your ministry will bring great joy."

"Nobody can truly become a leader unless he has performed feats for God. It is only possible to ascend to spiritual heights in the Kingdom of God, if you fully pour yourself out for God."

You and Your Pastor...

Pastor Sunday Adelaja says, "Christians often misunderstand the area of relationships in the body of Christ and lose many blessings. By teaching the church to acknowledge, appreciate and rightly receive the governmental gifts that Christ gave the church, every Christian and local church can enjoy a greater dimension of anointing and blessing."

Every Christian should read this book, unless you learn how to receive and relate to the Gift God has given to you in your pastor, you will miss the blessing that God has intended to give you through that Gift.

You can order these books online here: www.SundayAdelaja.com Or, mail me a check for $13.95 (US funds) for You and Your Pastor, $18.95 for Pastoring Without Tears and I will mail you a copy of the book of your choice. Be sure to include the address you would like for me to send to.

Do yourself a favor and order a copy for yourself and your pastor, too.

Opportunities to go to Ukraine in 2005: