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Fall 2018 Update
This fall has flown by—even more so than usual with the early snow we've had here—and we are thankful to see and take part in all the Lord is doing. We'll share more about that below. If you skip anything in this newsletter, please don't skip the prayer requests at the end. We need your prayers! As we approach Christmas, we are thankful to God for the gift of your prayers, encouragements, and financial support. Know that we are blessed by your partnership.
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Calvary Chapel Svitlovodsk
This fall we spent the large majority of our Sunday services studying the Sermon on the Mount in the gospel of Matthew. It was a good season of growing deeper in this "constitution of the Kingdom" that contrasts religious hypocrisy with true worship. As I was gone traveling this fall almost as much as I was here (more on that below), I'm so thankful for the ministry team God has brought together in our church and the unity of vision He has given us. We recently got the rare opportunity for all of our families to spend some time and have a "servants' dinner" together. (pictured above)
Sadly for us, one of the families in our team, Andrey, Anya and Mariya Vershigora (pictured immediately to the left of me above), will be moving to another city in a couple weeks. They came to Svitlovodsk a few years ago as refugees from the war in the east, so we knew they might end up moving on eventually, but we still hate to see them go. Andrey had begun preaching on some Sundays here, led one of our home fellowships and Anya served in the younger children's ministry class. Please pray for their move and for God to use them in their new city.
This fall I also had the privilege of leading one of the sessions at our CC pastors' retreat on the theme of "Christ our Rest". My session was on rooting our identity in the Gospel in the face of both failure and success (pictured below). This year we decided to take a slightly different approach for the retreat, extending it to three days instead of two in order to incorporate more time for prayer, relaxation and fellowship together. It was a great time of refreshment and allowed those of us with Calvary Chapel Ukraine to really connect.
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City to City Ukraine
Things with City to City Ukraine continue to grow almost faster than we can keep up with. This fall City to City Europe held its biennial conference in Krakow, Poland (pictured above). The previous conference had under a half a dozen of us from Ukraine attend. This year there were 56 people from Ukraine among the 650 conference attendees. We are blessed to see how God continues to grow the interest among Ukrainians for Gospel-centered church planting.
We are now 25% of the way through the Incubator program for urban church planters with our first cadre (pictured below left). It's exciting to see the church plants grow and develop as they progress through the program. We also held our sixth City to City preaching lab this fall (pictured below right) which means we've now had over 100 preachers from Ukraine go through the 2-day workshop which teaches Christ-centered, contextualized preaching. It's a joy to see the ways this training is growing preachers here in Ukraine.
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As I begun doing in the last newsletter, I'm going to introduce you to one of our Incubator church planters and ask you to pray for them. Only this time I'm introducing two at once: Radion and Pasha (pictured below, L to R: Radion, me, Pasha). They've also been connected to City to City Ukraine since we held our first conference in 2016. Radion and Pasha are co-planters of a new church in Odessa. They're currently gathering their core group, meeting in an apartment on Sunday evenings to work on forming vision. I had the opportunity to visit that group in the fall and the energy and unity around the new plant was palpable. Here's what Radion had to say about what City to City Ukraine has meant to him so far in their journey and a few prayer requests:
"Being connected with City to City Ukraine has really expanded my vision for what ministry is  about and helped me to focus less on programs and more on building relationships with people. It's changed my approach to preaching and ministry strategy. It's also been helpful in thinking through how to contextualize for our city and incorporate questions of faith and work."
A couple prayer requests from Radion:
- For God to direct our ministry team and for a miracle of revival in our city.
- For funding for renting a public venue and to free up at least one of our team to work on the church plant full time.
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CCX Ukraine (IFES/InterVarsity)
As the academic year began this fall, the ministry of CCX Ukraine ramped up again after the summer. I was invited to lead the "Bible and Life" conference for CCX Odessa this fall (pictured above). The region has a new CCX coordinator and I really enjoyed getting to know him and his wife some. They're doing a great job and the group of students there seems to have renewed energy. Over our 3 days together, we looked in depth at what it means that Jesus is both "Savior" and "Lord". But our times of hanging out around the campfire and just informal conversation were really sweet as well. The group seemed to be an endless source of deep, spiritual questions. It's really refreshing to see that kind of spiritual thirst. Please pray for God's work in the hearts of these students.
I'm slated to teach the upcoming CCX national conference for student leaders from all over Ukraine at the end of January as well. Prayers for the upcoming travel and busy schedule are appreciated!
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Building Update
God has been faithful in providing for our building project. We're getting closer to moving in! The exterior is mostly finished except for a final layer of spackling, paint and signage. The small surrounding territory is coming along and should be finished soon after the snow melts. And inside we are currently mudding the walls (pictured above). You can see a short building project video we put together in the fall below.
We are so thankful for those of you who have partnered with us! As Paul wrote, "Your generosity results in thanksgiving to God." (2 Cor. 9:11) We still need to raise around $15,000 to bring the building to the point where we can move in. Our desire and prayer is to move into the building in 2019, so please PRAY!
Matching Grant
A generous donor has currently offered us a matching grant. Up until Jan. 15th, 2019, the donor will match any donations made to our building project dollar for dollar up to $1,500! Please consider making our project part of your year-end giving and taking advantage of this opportunity to make your gift twice as effective. All donations go specifically to the building fund and are 100% tax-deductible.
Also, if you would like to send a short-term missions construction team from your church, please contact us! This is a great way to help and also give your people a heart for missions!
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Family — Coming to America Summer 2019
This fall we celebrated my and Lena's 15 year anniversary as well as Abby's 12th birthday (pictured above). I am so blessed to have such a wonderful, smart, beautiful and supportive wife and also be the father of the talented, creative and funny young lady that Abby is growing to be.
We started back up with homeschooling this fall and I am continuing on with my seminary studies. I've now finished the material for one of three modules in the program, not including the thesis at the end. It can be a lot at times but I am enjoying the material.
Also, we are planning a trip back to the States in summer 2019. If you are interested in us coming and sharing about the work the Lord is doing in Ukraine at your church, small group or just over coffee, please let us know! We'll be back for the majority of the summer but don't have exact dates for where we'll be yet. Some of that depends on what speaking invitations we receive. We try to lock things in as early as possible as our schedule tends to fill up fast, so please write us if you are interested.
Thanks for reading and keeping us in your prayers! Please consider becoming a partner with us in the work here and donating to our ministry here using the button below, either as a one time gift or as a regular partner. We hope you have a wonderful Christmas celebrating the greatest Gift ever given!
Merry Christmas!
in our Papa,
Benjamin, Lena, Abby and Isaac
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Prayer Requests:
- For UKRAINE: for God’s peace and order to come, an end to bloodshed and war, an end to systemic corruption, people to turn to Jesus and for His kingdom to come, new churches to be planted in the conflict zone!
- For our church building: Pray that God provides the rest of the funds necessary to finish construction and move in in 2019. We still need $15,000 to make that happen. If you feel led of God to donate to our building fund, you can do so at: http://bit.ly/ccbuilding
- For God to raise up more leaders in our church, especially teachers. Pray for Andrey his family as they move soon and for God to use them where they're moving. Pray also for Kostya who has just begun leading our pre-teen group and will soon begin co-leading our youth group.
- For City to City Ukraine: that God would continue to draw church planters and pastors who have a desire for training in Gospel-centered ministry. Pray for the 15 urban church planters participating in the Incubator, and especially Radion and Pasha.
- For God's provision for our family. We still need to raise another $800 in monthly support to reach our long-term goal. If you'd like to become a partner in giving, click the donation link: http://bit.ly/ccsvitlo-give
- For the name of Jesus to be glorified in our city and the lost to come to Jesus both here and across Ukraine!
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If you would prefer to donate via check, please make it out to:
“Horizon Ministries”
Leave the memo line on the check blank with a separate note enclosed: either “for the Morrisons”, or "Svitlovodsk Building Fund" depending on where you would like your donation to be directed.
Send to:
Horizon Ministries
7702 Indian Lake rd.
Indianapolis, IN 46236
All donations are tax-deductible and 100% of your donation goes to us!
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