Evangelizing Through Business in Ukraine

I met my cohost Rhiannon Michael Paul and I like on Mormonism to be brighter than we were told to join us for discussions about our journeys Mormon to Jesus chosen Truth Network podcast just enjoy sharing most of thinking for listening to The Truth Podcast Network. This is good Truth Network time to take a trip around the world all the way to the Ukraine.

I'm Stu Epperson withdrew talk weekend, so glad you all are sure listening we are going to go to a place that is dark that is been ravaged by alcoholism and death and struggle and poverty. Amanda God is doing something about it and I first met this man to God, to another man of God is been a real mentor and friend me for years, a banker of all things.

Scott Reed is good to have you here my friend on to talk weekend that you stay very much. We have had a great friendship and I followed really cherished over the years while you and Dennis Lynn and Carrie measure all these guys go over there to Ukraine you come you come back with these awesome stories about what God is done and I'm thinking are you going over there and you preach in an open area pass out traction over going to mentor businesspeople into the business channels souls are being saved and seminaries are being started, of all things what Keller one who this man is sit next to you and to tell her what about your ministry were quick regarding my job and our ministry.

We have a company called troika international and many of us are former business executives and we use business and business teaching as a platform and we began actually in Russia.

Shabbat sorry Russia in 2002 and we are now in the Aviv Ukraine which is in the northwest portion up near Poland of the Ukraine, a city of almost a million people and we teach entrepreneurs, small businessmen and women of midsize from midsize companies and we teach them sound successful business practices from a Western perspective, but then we share the gospel with every student we pour our lives and to whom we develop relationships we share our testimonies and we teach these courses for a year each. Once a week in length and we send teams over I go once or twice a year and lead a team and just enjoy to share a lot of these people are into making money and into worldly success and we try to point them towards Jesus while nudging me this character right here and how the seminary come about what will tell us about that, but it's also this guy is and how how you guys intersected throughout well when we were teaching in all Aviv. We came across a seminary.

The Ukraine Baptist theological seminary you BTS and went for a visit. We met the president who's a wonderful dynamic leader, a young man in his early 40s, but one who has been blessed of God and is put by God. In this position for a purpose, and he introduced me to Joe Joe Privette, who I have the honor of hosting for a few days.

He lives in St. Louis and Jove fell in love with Slavic piece, the president and try to help him financially and help him grow in his knowledge did some education here in the US, and Joe will explain all that. But Joe Privette started the Ukraine partnership foundation headquartered in St. Louis that again is the supporting arm of of you BTS and basically everything they do in all the money they raise and everything supports the seminary and its tremendous growth, so he's here in town.

He spent a couple days in Charlotte with the Carmel church and a good friend they are and talk to some folks and he's here in Winston-Salem for the next few days saw sharing his testimony in what's going on with the seminary with friends and colleagues throughout the city that is out with Joe.

It's an honor to have you on it with a with introduction like that you got it you got some high levels of step up to your server that writing your chin and tell us a little bit about your passion, my friend. I was introduced by the founder of the seminary to his academic Dean at the time who was one of the brightest 29-year-olds. I had ever rubbed elbows with and that he asked me if I would help get support for him to get an earn theological degree in the US so that he could have credibility as a seminary president going back to Ukraine and Slavic determined at age 12 by meeting a US missionary that he was going to devote his life to serving God through the church and God called him then to raise up leaders of churches in Ukraine so I was able to mentor him to relate to him and to an occasion go back and teach organizational leadership in his and his seminary and tasks you got connected that way in this thing is really grown older brochure. SLE students are smiling their excited about the word of God. The Ukrainian Baptist theological seminary yet is what is called training. Develop Ukrainian church leaders, growing biblical visual account all right here. I tell you what this growth while while this growth what was going on over there what's what's the hunger put the heart put that in our heart, kind of what what God is doing there.

Slavic declared that the the seminary exist for the church and he measures his effectiveness as a seminary by the affected effectiveness of the local church, not by how many student he has, but how the local church is reaching and transforming communities so that is what made him so attractive than any declared that his values were going to be acted out. Not only live in the mind but lived in the behaviors, so he holds his students accountable for leadership in their mission in their churches. Okay, so both orthodoxy and ortho proxy is the best the right weight ahead of the heart beat is I that it's best as I body yes living the gospel out in a culture what tell us about Ukraine will quick high levels of alcoholism in others. A lot of challenges got shares of the many times with what happened over there a lot of challenges the severe economic situation over there.

The war in eastern Ukraine that you know about and many of those students. Many of those young ministers and uke in East Ukraine are going all the way across Ukraine to experience the seminary it and go back and transform their churches and communities. There is the going deeper taken deeper in the word teaching theology. Who is God who is Jesus is the Holy Spirit what what is it what is it mean what are the doctrine of salvation, sanctification, glorification, all these different aspects of things we take for granted. We can grow up with it, but while these guys haven't had that maybe having had a full manuscript. The Bible in their possession they haven't. And, importantly, for us what they haven't had is the grace of Jesus Christ explained to them in a compelling way.

They grew up under communism with everybody in power is your enemy and you're trying to tell them that the ultimate power is your friend and loves you. Not trying to get something from you but trying to give something to you, and that's what they are living out the whole different thinking mindset is always is comes into what the gospel goes all Kaiser cultures do not try to take a Americanism you're trying to get the good news of Jesus, which is far bigger and transcends anything that any specific country.

Good could not necessarily contribute exactly and we're trying to be angel investors in the background.

Mentor refinance all kinds of organizational leadership. But what we have the opportunity to do is to train the leaders who are training the pastors who are training in turn the congregation to go outside the church and transform communities so you were there with us this morning at Wednesday the word to talk to our guys about. Yes, the Lord's doing, and some of the guys had jaw-dropping episodes when you share the growth California had you shared a second ago but again the accurately disputes on the pie chart here but start with how many in 2012 and I have how many enrollment waving 35 to 700 and that it is just amazing how pastors exist and pastors senior passes of lawyers churches are asking Slavic can you come and help us create the kind of environment, the kind of excitement about telling about Jesus in our churches that you are doing in the seminary so he's not only traditional seminary in the sense of training up leaders. But he's also very innovative and how he if you will, in fact, she uses the term. In fact, I want to infect them with the love of Jesus Christ so they can go and infect others.

Love it. So how can a just a few. 36. [We pray for you. We support you.

What's the website. All that information for the generational seminary work in Ukraine while listening want to go get the church involved supported. Go ahead. There are many opportunities to serve in person. There'll are certainly opportunities support with prayer, financial support, all of this is that they have great opportunities through their ministers to use resources that we can give them one of when we see the websites on your summer will put it, our website and we promoted but I guess there's a probably a website of something that is UPF mission stock org.com fantastic UPF missions.or.com – just googled it. They want a few seminaries in the Ukraine right in that part of the country. All it is larger than any other seminary in Europe that we know about. Thanks for the visit listener can rank as this is God's doing work here and is using you Asian Scott read a lot of these folks to send the word of God to a place it's dark that many forgot no Ukraine, poverty, alcoholism, and amid that the light of Christ shiny thing is I worked her. Thank you. This is the Truth Network