Soulwinning Conference and Camp Land

Our church held it's first ever "Soulwinning Conference" this week! I cannot think of a better person in all of this world to teach others on bringing souls to Christ than Dr. C.W. Fisk. We were privileged indeed to have Bro. Fisk fly all of the way here from Elgin, Illinois to preach this Sunday through Wednesday conference.

Bro. Fisk was one of my instructors in college, and he taught the class "Personal Evangelism." In that class, we were each encouraged to lead at least one soul to Christ during that semester. Week after week he would ask us to stand if we still had not had the privilege of leading someone to the Lord. The group that stood become fewer in number each week, and the whole class would pray for that group that they, too, would have the privilege of sharing the Gospel with someone and seeing them receive God's simple plan of salvation. Everyone in my class (of probably 50 students) did, indeed, lead someone to the Lord during that semester, and it was fulfilling to watch the joy of many students who were able to do this for the first time in their lives.

BRO. OSSEWAARDE AND BRO. FISK WITH SOME OF THE YOUNG LADIES IN OUR CHURCH

Bro. Fisk is truly a legend in the independent, fundamental Baptist world. I have had the privilege of sitting with him on a couple of occasions as he has shared the Gospel with others. I'll never forget the one experience I had in college of knocking on a door and finding him at the home my group was to visit. I'll never forget the four words he kept repeating over and over through tears to an unsaved woman: "Do it for JESUS", "just do it for JESUS!" "After all He has done for you, just do it for JESUS." Those words have swirled through my head many times since that moment, as I have thought about the truth in his encouraging words.

BRO. FISK, ON A VISIT TO A NEARBY VILLAGE

It was an honor to host Bro. Fisk in our home during his five-night stay in Simferopol. Two other missionaries traveled many, many hours to be here and listen to this great man of God speak. These two missionaries are very dear to our hearts, so it was a special joy to have them here with us during this time also. The first missionary that came was Daniel Irvin from L'vov, Ukraine, and he was able to bring his son Jacob with him who had just graduated from high school. Bro. Daniel Irvin used to bring me to church on a bus to Maranatha Baptist Church in Oklahoma City, when I was just three or four years old. But, that is another story... The other missionary that came was Don Ossewaarde, missionary to Oriol, Russia. He is the man that helped us survive our first five months in Ukraine nearly seven years ago when we knew nothing about the Russian language or Ukrainian culture.

BRO. DON OSSEWAARDE, BRO. C.W. FISK, DANIEL IRVIN, AND MY DAVID AT A LOCAL ORPHANAGE, WATCHING THE SMALL CHILDREN PERFORM

Bro. Fisk is now 72 years old. I sincerely hope that we and our church can pick up the torch, the "soulwinning fire" that burns in Bro. Fisk's heart, and carry it on to the next generation here in our beloved Ukraine, in order to bring many more souls to Christ. After all, that is why we are here! May we never lose our vision!

Our church is in the process of buying land for a camp site. While these men of God were with us, we took them to the land and the men had prayer and dedicated the land to the Lord. It was a very touching moment, and I wanted to share some of those pictures here.

MEN PRAYING FOR GOD TO USE THIS LAND FOR HIS WILL AND PURPOSE

THE BEAUTIFUL FUTURE CAMP SITE IS ON A HILL AND OVERLOOKS THE SURROUNDING VILLAGES. (Bro. Fisk suggested we put a large cross up here!)