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Logos Ministries Incorporated
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Volume 2, Number 1 -- January 1994 FROM THE TRAVEL DIARY OF BILL COOPER I have just returned from a six week teaching experience in the Ukraine. For four of these six weeks, I taught and preached in different cities. One of the busiest of these was Kmilnitski. While teaching in this city, it was my privilege to be invited to speak to the cadets and faculty of their war college. I also spoke at their medical college, the legal college and the education college. In each school there were 60 to 90 minutes of questions after an hour of teaching and preaching. The questions were serious and penetrating. During most of the four weeks, I was preaching and teaching three or four times a day. On Sundays I took part in their services which lasted from two and a half to four hours. One of these was a church of over 1300 in the congregation in Kiev. In this service there were four sermons and each one had an assigned amount of time. On the pulpit there was a clock that indicated how many minutes the preacher had left to preach. There was a similar clock on the side of the pulpit where the pastor could see it. When time was up he could step on a button and a red light would blink in the dial of the clock. The first speaker got the red light. It gave a reddish cast to his white shirt and face. Everybody knew that he went over! The rest of us were quite timely. At the end of the service a woman came forward to confess her sins. What a joy. Some of you will remember that last year I told you about a new church in the city of Makeevka. Well, I preached there this year. Every seat was full and people stood all the way around three walls for the entire two and a half hour service. At the end, five people came forward to confess their sins. Each evening, during the last week in Donetsk, I taught in a church 20 miles away in Kmirsisk. I had two hours to teach and if I stopped early they would look at their watches and then at me. Whereupon my translator reminded me that I was not finished - I still had ten minutes to go. One of the great joys of being in the Ukraine was the people I met. These are some very special children of God. In the city of Dubno, I met several of them. The Communists took over the church and made it a civil court. I had dinner with an elder of the church who had been tried, in his church, by the KGB, twenty-eight times. Each time he was placed on trial, the Christians of the city gathered outside the courthouse/church and sang hymns as loudly as they could to encourage the man on trial. He never gave in to the KGB. The pastor of this church had nine, count them 9 sons. The KGB told him that if did not give up his position as pastor and his faith, they would take his nine sons away from him and raise them as communists. He told them he could not keep them from taking his sons, but he could not give up his faith no matter what the consequences. For some reason, his sons were never taken. There was a woman who had served two embarrassing, humiliating years in prison because she was caught teaching Sunday School. The choir of the church went to sing in another church. The penalty for this was that the entire choir went to prison. That did not deter them. They did it again. During the communist regime, it was illegal to build or repair a church building without permission, but permission would never be given. In Kmilnitski, I met a pastor who, with the men of his Church, dug the basement and built the entire church during the night without receiving permission. It was also illegal to baptize new believers. In the town there was a small pond. The Christians met at the pond after midnight to baptize new believers. On one occasion, they were just half finished baptizing new believers when they saw headlights coming toward the pond. They knew it had to be the KGB. The people did not flee. They rather stopped and prayed. At that point it started to rain and the car could not come any further because of the mud and so the KGB retreated. The Christians continued baptizing their new believers. The entire congregation chose to face persecution and prison rather than interrupt this celebration of joy and obedience. I stand in their pulpits and awed silence makes it difficult for me to speak. When I think what they have been through and we know that they stood true to their faith. I have paid no price for my faith and do not know what would happen if called upon to take my stand. Again this year, I taught at the Seminary in Donetsk. This is the first time that they had three groups. This year I taught in the Missionary course. It was a study of the Gospel of Mark. Each afternoon I taught the entire student body a course in Inductive Bible Study. The students from the three year course asked to interrupt their studies to study with me. The Dean was unable to grant their request without disrupting the whole schedule for the year. Perhaps another time. I also had the opportunity to take nearly four hundred pounds of medication with me to give to the college and the local hospital. When I reached Donetsk, there was a thirteen year old boy in the hospital because of being beaten. He needed brain surgery, but there was no medication available. They looked through the medication that I brought and found everything that was needed to perform the surgery. It was my privilege to have dinner with the boy and his family the Sunday before I returned home. Just the freight to take the $25,000.00 worth of medication with me cost $600.00. Some of you helped to make this possible by the gifts that you gave to help defray the costs of the trip. May God richly bless you for your willingness to serve God in this way. There is a very special joy in having the opportunity to serve the Lord in these very special ways..I really thank God for this privilege. Because Jesus is Lord! Leading Tour to Israel On January 31, I will lead a tour group to Israel. In part, at least, this is an outgrowth of my teaching opportunities. Some of the group have become convinced of just how important it is to see the land of Israel for themselves. I will also lead a tour to Israel on March 2 returning on March 11. Just give me a call if you are interested - (303)-669-8775. We Are Going Again! Because of the inability of some professors to keep their commitments to teach in the seminary in Donetsk, Ukraine, I have been asked to return in Mid-April to teach again. There are two topics I will cover: I will introduce what the Scriptures teach about Ecclesiology - the doctrine of the church; I will also teach them pastoral care. This will be a three week teaching commitment. Double My Pleasure The last two years, I have been invited to do a workshop on Inductive Bible Study at the Christian Ministries Convention in Denver. This year I have been invited to do two workshops - one on Inductive Bible Study, the other on How to Use the Greek New Testament Without Knowing the Language. This is exactly what I wanted to see happen. Pray with me that these workshops will be used of God to help the people who attend. Writing On The Run While I was in the Ukraine, I was writing any time I was not teaching, preaching or lecturing. I was able to make the first draft of a book on Inductive Bible Study as well as write two chapters on the book on Genesis. I am able to do this because I now have a notebook computer which works on both wall plug electricity and on battery as well. When?? It has been a long time coming, but we are winding down on the study of the last half of Genesis. We hope it will be finished in January and ready to mail in February. Did You Know? As Dr. Cooper identifies in his article about his trip to the Ukraine some of you know that you can be of help by making tax-deductible gifts to Logos Ministries. You can designate them for whatever you so desire. Most have indicated a desire to help in the ministry to the Ukraine. Some have chosen to simply indicate for the work of the ministry. For such gifts, the Board of Directors will decide whether to use them for gifts of books to prisons and oversee missionaries or to the work in the Ukraine or for the operatioon of the ministry. Gifts up to this point have not been used for the general operation. We have been able to send 1000 copies of Did You Know This? to missionaries and 350 copies to one of the Colorado prisons. We believe that your first giving must be to your local church, but believe that giving to Logos Ministries is an opportunity that you may want to include in your stewardship. Dr. Cooper and the rest of the Board do not receive any funds from the ministry. The Board does look foreward to finances being such that we can reimburse Dr. Cooper for his local expenses. We celebrate the fact that you have helped to finance the last two trips to teach in the Ukraine. Everybody Is Doing It! Logos Minsitries needs a name for its newsletter and we would like to have you help us. Of course, there will be a prize. The one whose name is chosen for the newsletter will receive an autographed copy of Behold the Brightness. All entries should be sent to: Mary F. Neil, 217 East 42nd Street; Loveland, Co. 80538 by March 1, 1994. The winner will be announced in the next newsletter. |
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