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HOPE4KYIV #18 ---- 3/27/04
#1 · March 29, 2004, 3:07 pm
Posted by: lifeunlimited <lifeunlimited@...>
HOPE 4 KYIVNUMBER #18March 29, 2004The In-Pact Prayer Newsletter ofBob and Jo Ann TolliverMissionaries to Kiev, Ukraine
Dearest Friends, Family, and In-Pact Partners:
Please forgive the delay in our writing, but we just returned Saturday from an extensive two and one-half week trip to Germany and Poland for a series of conferences with colleagues with the International Baptist Convention and also the International Mission Board. And, we have so very much to share! But, we'll be as brief as possible, because our greatest need is to share important prayer requests. We'll try to get back on schedule in April.
As we write, we have one group of young people meeting in one room preparing and praying for our initial student ministries kick off event, and another group being trained to begin an evangelistic outreach program called the "Alpha Course", an eleven-week evangelistic Bible study to share the Gospel with unbelievers. Things get pretty wild around here some evenings. One of our J-gals is spending the night here.
Our typical week begins on Sundays with rising "late" (around 8:00 or 8:30), having late breakfast around 10:00, leaving for church shortly after Noon, having Bible study at 1:00, worship at 2:00, fellowship at 3:35, and various evening meetings every week of the month except one. Missing lunch all together, we have supper anywhere between 6:00 and 9:00 that evening, depending on "after services" meetings.
Monday is "cave in and rest" day, but often with meetings of some sort in the evening. One Monday a month we have IMB missionary team meeting for about four or five hours, and once a month Bob tries to meet with his supervisor and accountability partner. Tuesday is full with preparation for English classes and Bible studies, ending with supper following English and Bible study, usually around 9:00.
Wednesdays we do house cleaning in the morning, women's leadership Bible study every other week in the evening, and other periodic meetings thrown in. Thursdays are usually a mixture of meetings and discipleship with worship leaders, prayer leaders, and the like. Fridays and Saturdays are a little lighter with miscellaneous meetings and activities, including "hang out" night for students every Friday night and then a "missionary kids with grandma and grandpa" activity of some type on an occasional Saturday.
What's Been Happening:
+ Germany: We left March 10th for Eisleben, Germany, birthplace and death site of the Reformation's Martin Luther, meeting with pastors and wives from International Baptist Churches from England, Belgium, Netherlands, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Azores, and Ukraine. It was a special time of refreshing as we worshipped, prayed, studied God's Word, and took two sightseeing trips to special Luther sites (Wittenburg, Erfurt, Wartburg, etc.).
During the trip Bob finished a manuscript on strategic prayer for the International Baptist Convention's Highlights Magazine. His material will appear in the next two issues. Following the conference we spent two days sightseeing in Berlin. It was a memorable experience that made many eras of European history come alive to us.
+ Poland: For the first time in his life, Bob celebrated his birthday in two countries the same day as he began Friday the 19th in Germany and then flew to Warsaw, Poland and a four hour bus trip to Mikolajki for the annual meeting of IMB missionaries from the northern part of Central and Eastern Europe. Incidentally, Bob says a personal "Thank you!" for all who sent him e-mail cards and especially "snail mail" cards. And, Florence! ---- it was #66!
This conference, though much more packed with activities, contained elements that carried on the great spiritual blessings of worship, Bible study, and fellowship with some 250 other missionaries, children, and volunteers from the U.S. The trip ended when we woke up at 3:00 am, boarded the bus again around 5:00 for the trip back to Warsaw where we caught our flight back to Kiev, arriving around 2:30 in the afternoon. We got to our apartment around 4:00, grabbed an early supper, and went to bed shortly after 8:00.
+ Church: Attendance continues to climb, exceeded only by the enthusiasm of the people. The fellowship continues to deepen, and the international flavor of the church continues to expand. New faces seem to appear almost every Sunday. Attendance has consistently been exceeding 100 with few exceptions. Many students come each week. Various ministries are growing in strength, such as our Spanish speaking work, student ministry, leadership development, English language, and prayer ministry. Others are not so effective.
+ City Prayer Strategy: Last month Bob met with people from eight other ministries to discuss the possibility of developing a city-wide strategic prayer ministry that would eventually blanket the entire city with ongoing prayer. At this point it looks like such a ministry will be created, and it could possibly exist in a five-tiered form ----
1. Individual and small group praying over strategic needs and specific territories as "houses of prayer" are established all over the city;
2. Ministries, churches, Christian training institutions, etc. taking responsibility for an area or region of the city where their buildings or facilities are located;
3. Media strategy using an internet website to provide regular prayer requests, city information, several virtual prayer walks, brief Bible study ideas used for personal direction and group training, and share our vision and strategy with other international prayer ministries, asking them to join us in praying for our city, oblast, and nation. 4. Occasional major events that bring all Gods people together ---- maybe one or two a year ---- things like concerts of prayer, massive prayer walks, praise gatherings, training conferences, international prayer leadership conferences, etc.
5. Administrative leadership structure that could perhaps put a key leadership person in each of the nine major regions of Kiev to serve as coordinator and liaison with other groups helping motivate the believers in that region to target their area and saturate it with prayer.
This is a major undertaking that is not officially a part of Bob's job description, but certainly does fall under his role as pastor at IBC since prayer is our foundational ministry there. This ministry can have monumental repercussions as the multi-layered elements of spiritual darkness and oppression are gradually lifted from the region through authoritative, strategic, prevailing prayer.
+ Our Future: The IMB leadership has formally asked us to either extend this current term or return for a second term in Kiev. The question as to our future relationship with the church is still unclear, and that will be a factor in our decision. We thoroughly enjoy ministering together with our colleagues here; some of them have become very dear friends. We are more than colleagues; we are more than a team; we are a family.
Prayer Requests:
Few letters have contained such critical prayer requests as these. Most of them are of "immediate urgency" nature.
+ Tomorrow (Tuesday) we resume our involvement in English classes. Pray for Jo Ann as she leads the Advanced English class. Pray for Bob as he leads another session on "How To Study The Bible". Pray that he will also know the next subject to cover in the group. This group averages 45 or more in weekly attendance.
+ This Wednesday (the 31st) Jo Ann goes to the German Embassy with five of our women to apply for visas so they can attend an IBC women's conference next month just outside of Munich. Only one of these ladies has ever been out of Ukraine. They are so very excited, but anxious. Pray that God will provide visa's for Luda, Lena, Galyna, Olga, and Lena. Also pray that God will provide for additional Czech Republic visas so they can spend a few hours seeing Prague on their return trip instead of being holed up in the airport for ten hours waiting for their flight home.
+ This Thursday (the 1st) Bob meets again with a growing group of interested people to discuss developing a strategic prayer network for the city of Kiev. We will meet at 3:00 pm (that's 7:00 am Missouri time) in the CBN building. Pray that God will confirm the desire to mobilize hundreds of thousands of intercessors to pray for this city. The possibilities are astounding. At this point it is probably not a question of whether or not such a strategic prayer movement will develop, but simply how it will develop and who will be a part of the initial group.
+ On Monday, April 5th, we will have our first official student ministries' event with a fellowship time at the apartment of one of our leaders. Pray for our Leadership Team (Keri, Janelle, Brent, Jason, Luba, Zhenia, Vika, Natasha, and Natasha) as the nine of them prepare and lead. This is a critical meeting to which numerous unbelievers will be invited.
+ On Tuesday, April 6th, we will begin a new ESL class ---- "Business English". More than 25 people have already expressed interest. Pray for Jason and for Vika as they team teach on business grammar, business forms, and business ethics. Also pray for Rosemarie Manney as she takes over the University English class for John and Betsy Sargent who are returning to the States for up to a year.
+ On Thursday, April 8th, Mel Gibson's "The Passion of The Christ" premiers in Kiev. Pray that the same anointing experienced everywhere else will also rest on this place. Pirated DVD copies are already circulating with Russian voice overs, so pray that God will use even illegal activities to exalt His Son. Pray that believers will take advantage of the anticipated thousands of witnessing opportunities. Pray that unbelievers will have open and hungry hearts. Pray that the Orthodox Church's efforts to discredit the movie will be to no avail.
+ On Easter week-end our first evangelistic "Alpha Course" will begin. Pray for Keri and Sveta as they begin training our first group of young people to share the Gospel with other teens through the use of this course, an eleven-week evangelistic Bible study.
+ Pray that God will continue to raise up a strong pastoral leadership team for IBC. Pray that strong lay leaders will also quickly emerge. Pray that more native English speakers will become part of the church life here; currently less than 10% of our attendance consists of people from English speaking countries.
+ Pray that God will reveal the specifics of His will for us and our future ministry in Kiev. We are still working through the process, and need to clearly hear His voice as He speaks. Pray that nothing will be distorted or clouded by distractions or carnal influences.
+ Pray for our Cuban friends, J'esus, Carmen, and Tanya as they continue trying to get either permanent refugee status or visa's to America. Pray that they will receive the security they need either way instead of getting residency permits one month at a time. They head up our Spanish speaking ministry, so we have a hard time praying unselfishly. They also face serious financial struggles since they are not allowed to officially hold jobs as refugees. It is much like Daniel and others about whom we have written in the past.
+ SPACE ---- AN URGENT NEED! Even tonight in our student leadership team meeting we realized again just how desperately we need space. It seems that our greatest challenges continue to be leadership personnel, material resources, and space. Please pray that God provides all of that, especially the space. We need to have either an apartment or store front space that could be used for English classes, group meetings, and Bible studies. The opportunities are virtually overwhelming; we are limited only by those resources.
Finally:
As you can see, our plates are very full and our prayer requests are many and crucial. Thank you for standing with us in all of this. We could not survive these challenging opportunities without the strong prayer base you help provide.
For Ukraine and for the Kingdom,
Bob and Jo Ann
The Tollivers
Our Websites:
To Receive an e-mail prayer guide on Central and Eastern Europe, write
For weekly spiritual encouragement and current stories of our work here,
subscribe to "Shoulder To Shoulder", a letter to "lift up hands that
For Back Issues of . . .
For Other Ministries in Ukraine:
http://www.hope4cee.org for IMB work in central and eastern Europe. Links to 24 countries by clicking on the flags.
http://www.hope4cee.org/ceeprayer/kyivvwalk for another virtual prayer walk in our beloved city of Kiev.
http://www.peopleteams.org/ukrainians for good general and missionary information about Ukraine in general and the IMB people teams.
http://www.reachukraine.org for information about IMB work in east Central Ukraine (Dnipropetrovsk, etc.) including another related virtual prayer walk.
Secular News on Kiev and Ukraine will give you interesting views at . . .
Some More Good Sites:
http://www.cnsnews.com for daily world news without a liberal, godless bias.
http://www.uazone.net for general info on Ukraine and Kiev.
http://www1.excite.com/travel/travelguide/destination/0,20310,europe-550,00.html general information about Ukraine and Kiev.
May I Recommend . . . .
If you have a heart for God and would like to be encouraged in your life and ministry,
and you have a burden for your church, your community, and the world,
then you may want to receive . . .
http://www.cnsnews.com for daily world news without a liberal, godless bias.
http://www.worldprayerteam.org ---- A world-wide network for praying together.
http://www.watchword.org ---- excellent resources on revival, prayer, missions.
http://www.waymakers.org ---- resources on prayer, evangelism, etc.
http://www.operationiraqcare.org ---- To adopt and pray for a special historic city in Iraq.
http://www.nppn.org ---- "National Pastors' Prayer Network" newsletter. ~
Usprayercenter@cs.com ---- U. S. World Prayer Center.
http://www.cityreaching.com ---- City Reaching/City Impact Roundtable.
fridayfax-subscribe@yahoogroups.com ---- Wolfgang Simpson's "Friday Fax" from New Zealand.
http://www.revivalcsa.co.za ---- "Bulletin On Revival" by Francois Carr in South Africa.
http://www.yifa.org ---- "Youth Interceding For America".
http://www.lighthousemovement.com ---- "The Lighthouse Movement". Click on "Lighthouses".
Other Great Resources Are:
http://www.biblemaster.com for great Bible resources and downloads.
http://www.e-sword.net (one of the best free download Bible study site I've ever seen!)
http://welovegod.org/camsoc/ctt/"Christian Communications Toolkit" (using internet wisely)
http://www.ccmag.com. "Christian Computing Magazine",
Online Resources on Ukraine are . . . .