Ok its not quite the USSR, but its as close as I could get. Right now I am working in Kyiv, Ukraine. The Banditz have been tearing this city up for about two weeks now. First for debrief, now for ministry. While other teams were sent to both the Polish and Russian borders of Ukraine and even as far away as Moldova, only one team was qualified, experienced, and ready to bring Kingdom to the metropolis of Kyiv: THE HOLY BANDITZ
This month we are partnered with an organization called CCX (S.S.Ha. in Ukrainian). It is a sister organization to the American group Intervarsity. Many of you are familiar with Campus Crusade for Christ, which I was heavily involved in during college. Intervaristy (and by extension CCX) has many of the same philosophies and ministry styles. CCX is commited to seeing the Gospel spread among college students. They believe that college students are the ones most likely to be in place of influence in their countries, as Doctors, Lawyers, Politicians, etc. The belief is that by sharing the Kingdom with college students, when these students find places of influence they will bring with them their faith in Christ and fight for Christian ideals.
Our ministry is really two fold. First there is the English ministry. CCX has a number of English clubs set up at 3-4 Universities in Kyiv. The English clubs dont cover strictly Christian topics. Students know that CCX is a Christian organization, but the English clubs tackle a wide range of topics from politics, to culture, to student life, to Christ. “Ministry” is often done after meetings at coffee shops or at different events that CCX organizes off campus. The H.B.z have been attending and taking part in these meetings Tuesday through Thursday and also meet with students after the clubs or at other times throughout the day to form deeper relationships. As they share their stories and we share ours its only natural for Christ to come up again and again. Its natural evangelism. If Christ is our whole lives, then when we share our lives with others Christ also gets shared.
The second ministry is what I like to call “office work”. CCX is having a big Easter event on Thursday night and they have asked us to make big display boards showing Easter traditions from countries all over the world. We’ve spent a couple of days with craft supplies thrown all over the office, computers fired up, and wikipedia on high alert. Unfortunately we wrote on our boards in English. Cocky Americans we didnt even realize that noone would be able to read what we wrote, so now we are going through the translation process by one of the Ukrainian students. After the Easter event, the Banditz are going to get their hands dirty and spend our extra time doing CCX’s spring cleaning. Like all offices, they have collected crap and they are asking us to bless them by throwing it out.
The Banditz are at it again this month. Tearing up the ministry, loving life, and just letting Jesus flow from who we are.
We are staying together in a two bedroom apartment ~3 blocks from the CCX office. We are also a 10 minute walk from the nearest Metro station. It takes about 20-30 minutes to get to the center of Kyiv and the campuses of our three Universities by Metro.
For now, thats my life. Love all of you!
