Personal From the President

Travel for the Holy Days to some of our international churches is reopening after being stopped by the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of our congregations had not been visited in three years by their senior pastors. It is so heartening to read reports and see photos of familiar ministers, members and places. Two of the traveling teams have ongoing blogs that you can read right now as they report about the joyous reunions and events.

1. The Philippines. Senior pastor David Dobson is accompanied by assistant pastor Nick Lamoureux. Nick writes about their visits to the three major regions of the Philippines in his blog Out of Vermont at outofvermont.travel.blog that he has maintained since serving in Africa in 2019-2020. He writes so well that Bev and I feel like we’re right there with our people half of a world away.

2. Zimbabwe and Zambia. Senior pastor Lewis VanAusdle is accompanied by Matthew Hernandez. Lewis tells his story on Travel Every City at visiteverycity.travel.blog

Radio

We have previously reported on some of our pastors such as Filius Jere in Eastern Zambia and Braden Veller in Florida preaching the gospel on the radio. We applaud their efforts to plant the Word of God to growing local audiences that can lead to further contact with the Church.

I’d like to share reports on two such initiatives in Ghana and Zambia.

Paul Moody writes about Ghana:

“I have shared a video on my Facebook page of Stephen Kusi (former ABC student) and Peter Bondzie (deacon) preaching the Gospel in Winneba, Ghana, on the local radio station, ‘Radio Peace.’ It is presented in the Akan language, mixed with the English language.

“Although it is not a high-powered station, this opportunity allows them to share the fundamental doctrines of the United Church of God with the public, and in a local tongue.

“This particular program is titled, ‘The Facts About Easter Festivity.’ They formed the script from published material on the United Church of God website.

“The program airs every Friday night from 8-9 p.m. in Winneba, Ghana. It began on April 1, 2022, with a three-month purchase of airtime by a UCG member there. It is gradually picking up momentum based on listener response.

“I look forward to seeing what kind of response or feedback they receive over three months. The fact that we have a local congregation of 40 attendees in Winneba for interested individuals to follow up with is encouraging.

“The first program was titled, ‘What is the Truth?’ based on Christ's words, ‘You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free’ (John 8:32). The second program was, ‘The Will of God’ based on Matthew 7:21-23. The Easter topic was their third program.”

Next, we go to Zambia and Rodrick Epomba gives us this report:

“We started preaching on the radio in February 2020, and can confirm that it’s been a successful and productive two years. We have taken the good news to our audience in the local language.

Our radio program, which airs every Monday night from 20:30 to 21:30, allows us to preach/teach for 30 to 40 minutes. Then, in the remaining minutes we open our phone line to interact with our listeners. Some call to find out more; others to ask questions about the topic. The program is done in Kaonde, which is the most spoken language in the province, and just a little mix of English.

“Solwezi FCC radio is a Christian radio station and the second largest station in the province. It has given us an advantage to reach a large audience with our Beyond Today program.

“Recently I also introduced a live Facebook program which will allow those that are online to acquire one or two more things about our messages that we do preach.

“Thank you for making our work easier as we all aim to make a difference in the work of God.”

Ukraine

What is happening in Ukraine is a daily real-time horror story that we just wish would just go away. Our minds can barely absorb all the tragedy. On television, we watch entire cities being destroyed before our eyes. The pictures are reminiscent of Warsaw or Stalingrad in World War II. We cannot believe that civilized people can do this to one another in this way.

Every day I have several interactions with people we know and love dearly, not the least my family that has been displaced from eastern Ukraine to western provinces where there is relative safety. One of our relatives has been buried in Kharkiv’s rubble. My cousin tells me that there is not a moment when someone is not being killed or raped.

We work closely with the Sabbath and Holy Day-keeping churches in Transcarpathia that are close to the border of Romania, Slovakia and Poland. They can then transport refugees across the border and out of the country. Only women, children and the elderly are allowed to leave. Men between 16 and 60 are not allowed to leave, as they are expected to be ready to defend their country. It’s all so surreal.

They have turned their church building into a shelter to temporarily house and feed people. They receive shipments of food from humanitarian agencies that have arrived at the border from the West; they then redistribute the food and clothes to various critical places in Ukraine. LifeNets is helping to directly finance some of this activity by helping the people to locally help their countrymen and neighbors. Money is needed for vehicles and fuel to get things to where they need to be. I thank all of you who have contributed to this monumental effort that is consuming everyone, including us.

Several have contacted me about taking in Ukrainian families into their homes. I have had offers from the United States, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom. Very few of the homeless want to travel far. Most want to wait out the crisis where they currently are. All they want to do is to go back home.

We also are helping with the Revival Center of Rehabilitation of Disabled Children in Chernihiv. Chernihiv has been 70% destroyed by the Russians. As the Russians have retreated, they have had some respite from the bombings and have been able to evacuate 16 disabled children along with their mothers. We do have good Internet connectivity with them, as Elon Musk has opened Starlink to them and we can freely talk by phone and online.

You can find out more up-to-date information about our activity on the LifeNets website by going to the Ukraine War Blog on the main menu line.

Brethren, we need to encourage one another to “stay strong.” One of my co-workers here at the home office encourages me continually with these words. Hebrews 10, while used to focus on congregational meeting together, states poignantly “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:23-25).