PASSING the BATON

We had a morning flight from London to Moscow and a connecting evening flight to Krasnodar in Russia. Tim Grant and myself have been invited to serve in a Mission School in Krasnodar for three days by our friend and colleague Evangelist Andre from ‘Tent 100’.

I first met Andre at the Tent 100 conference in 2012, here in Moscow. I couldn’t speak Russian and Andre really looked after me. It was my first time in Russia; my friend (or druk) Yauheni Hurynovich from Belarus had invited me and asked Andre to take care of me as he spoke English – our friendship was soon established. This will be my third conference, and as I enjoyed the first one so much, I invited Tim Grant to join me 2013.

Our network of evangelists have worked together in Bulgaria, Belarus, Macedonia and Russia at tent crusades and mission schools. We were all in Bulgaria last year serving in mission schools in two cities, when Andre invited us to Krasnodar to help him with his first mission school.

Tim shared the sessions with me each evening. We both write and share our own material, and Tim’s way is to give a Biblical approach with his sessions.

My material takes a very basic and practical approach, with the ‘Caring and Sharing’ material to build up confidence on the first two nights. The highlight of these three modules is building up to the ‘Matchstick Testimonies’. Our aim is to “Ignite” these students, so we ask them speak a short testimony whilst a match is burning. It’s a fun time but the idea is to train them to be concise with their personal short story of how God has changed their lives. It always brings some excitement to the course!

On my final night, I delivered two further modules from the “Ignite” program, which were about inspiring the church for mission. The first session was ‘The Fruits of the Spirit’ and how the Holy Spirit can enable us to bring mission into our own personality. The presentation contains inspiring quotes and Biblical teaching for each of the nine Gifts of the Spirit.

My last presentation is always my favourite about being a ‘FATOS’ – a Faithful Available Teachable Obedient Servant. I first heard this message in 2000 from T.L. Osborn and since then, I have developed my own presentation based on these principals.

It always inspires me when I deliver it; it IGNITES me! I am ready to go, following God’s word, as we read in Mark 16:15-20. It is a serious calling to be “the only Jesus that some will ever see”. It was a great time as Tim concluded the final session.

We enjoyed our time in Krasnodar. We left on Saturday morning to fly back to Moscow, and it was wonderful to meet Andre’s family who hosted us and to have quick look around the city one day. It was a blessed time to serve these folk, who are so enthusiastic – we will meet some of them again, when they make a 12 hour drive to come the conference here in Moscow on Tuesday.