Cornvince-(verb) a method of persuading in which corn is a key
factor
Corngregation-(noun) the part of the church body that is composed
of persons who presence was acquired through cornvincing
More about Vitalie(V), his journey and ministry –
I’ve been so blessed, encouraged, heartbroken, challenged,
and amazed by our contact Vitalie this month. The heart, vision and drive all with a childlike spirit God has blessed him with is supernatural and after
his own heart. I am so thankful to God for bringing me here and showing me what
can happen when you let Him have your entire life, heart and put all your
faith in Him. He followed God multiple callings to this small town of Cornesti with no
money or partners or support. Still, God gave him the vision of “Sinai 30” that He would plant 30
churches around this area in the next 30 years. Vitale started by just singing worship songs to God with his
guitar in the forest. Children began joining him and eventually he had over
100 children with him. He would also walk 20-25 kilometers a day preaching the
good news and Way of Jesus to the community. One day some missionaries from Ireland
gave him a few hundred Euros which was enough to rent a small rundown building
with no heat or amenities, for a whole year. He and his family lived with many
other children and they would share what food and clothing they had. They would
gather wood from the forest for fire to stay warm in the winter and heat water
and pour it into plastic bottles to keep them warm when they slept. Long, amazing,
story short he doesn’t have a car or money or own a home or have running water,
but he does walk and live by faith and not by sight. Now God has given him a
church building and children’s shelter, he’s preparing a single women’s
shelter for next month and three missionaries have already been sent out from this
church. Me and Tommy have felt a special calling by God to help with Gods
vision by rallying financial support for Vitalie and his ministry as well as
for the children. Still, yesterday Vitalie told me its not money he wants but
prayer, he asked me to petition people to pray for him and said “God will take care of the rest”. He’s not hung up on or even focused on the finances,
that seems like an anomaly to me because he needs money to keep the children’s
and single mothers shelter open and continue the ministry. Still he came here
with nothing, and he’s always lived by faith so its all he knows. Its
inspirational and convicting to say the least.
Ultimately, The
desire is for partners to come along side God’s vision and Valatie’s ministry
to raise up disciples’ who will go and make new disciples and so on, and to
begin business projects to be taken over and operated by the community with the
end goal being to reach a state of self support. Naturally, the process of making
disciples and spreading God’s love and the kingdom includes caring for widows
and orphans. Moldova is an country of exceptional sex-trafficking due to an
unstable border with the “pseduocountry”. Many wish to help
fight sex trafficking but do not understand a root of the industry stems from
orphans being left on the streets. By providing food shelter and spiritual
guidance, the children’s shelter fights this horrid industry from the bottom up.
Now on to the aforementioned definitions. A few days ago V
told us a few of us to “go with this man.” So five of us pack into the back of
this old truck with a few non believer Moldovans with spoke no English and made
our way to a massive corn field. There we learned how to harvest corn by hand
with rusty sickles and hatchets. Three hours later we tore through 10 rows
of corn about 200yds long(the last 100 uphill/mountain.) Apparently V struck a
deal where they agreed to come to church Sunday if we helped them. It’s was
pretty tough work but we all had a really good time helping “cornvince” them to
check out the church. They were very appreciative and I think it was an awesome
witness of God’s love for a bunch of us rich Americans to work hard for a few
hours helping them out with smiles on our faces.
A few days later me Derek and Tommy
again went with some man to do something. After another ride in the back of a
sketchy van up to a hours with a driveway full of corn which we moved by hand with these giant wicker
baskets to a bin in the backyard, it was a good workout. The corn was feed for
to 100 Marmots(similar to beavers) they had caged behind their house.
Apparently raising these animals is a lucrative business as they are very
desired for both their fur and meat. Some plans have been made for Vitalie to
start a Marmot farm to help him begin to attain self support and to provide
jobs for the children. Additionally food grown by women at the singles mother
home other missioners could all collaborate to a vertically integrated
business. With some help from us racers and others who God leads to give
towards this and with Alpha and the Omega the beginning and the end the I Am as
the CEO- it just might be an awesome business endeavor. Either way God is
moving here. I am faithful he will fulfill His vision. Some have already given
thousands to help keep the children’s program running you know who you are and
there’s no “may”- God will bless you. This is the continued beginning of
something great, something of God.
Please continue to pray for Vitalie and all his ministry. Pray for the children’s home, single mothers shelter, and missionaries being sent forth. For him to stay strong in the faith and for God to be with and speak to and through him to his people in Cornesti Moldova. This is the continued beginning of something great, something of God. God Bless
