Light in the Darkness

The Opera House in Odessa is said to only be rivaled by its counterpart in Vienna and is beautifully lit at night, cycling through a variety of colors in contrast to the intricacy of the structure itself and the dark night sky. Many students in Ukraine experience a similar enlightenment as they hear the gospel, or even read a passage from the Bible for the very first time in an English Club. Our perspective, coming from a country steeped in Christian heritage, leaves me amazed at the number of students involved in Campus Crusade's ministry that have become believers within the last few years, and a decade at most. Practically all who are serving in the campus ministry are first generation Christians, and as John has been leading teams for the past five years, several students who attended the first English clubs responded to the gospel and are now involved in the campus ministry. It is a light in the darkness, sometimes seemingly dim against the depth of the darkness of a country where the Bible was banned for 70 years and little of contemporary society and government have any resemblance to a Biblical basis or morals. But it is a consistent light, from which the fruit has been proven over time.

Tonight's clubs have continued to go well, and our team is extremely grateful for any prayer on our behalf. Typically a number of students do not return after the first couple of days, but we retained almost all of them and had new students attend too. We began our first Biblical discussion with the story of the Good Samaritan, to open up questions of obtaining eternal life, loving God and others, and the hindrance of sin. Pray that we will continue to be sensitive to God's leading as we prepare our lessons, and especially during out discussion times. Also pray that the Crusade staff will have opportunities to begin relationships with these new students that can continue after we are gone. We completed our clubs this evening excited about the potential that lies ahead of us; thank you for partnering with us in bringing the light of the gospel to each of our students!