Georgia

Cheri and I need your prayers as we lead a nine-member, multi-national team to the Republic of Georgia (see map). Our team includes four Americans, three Ukrainians and two Georgians. Georgia is most easterly country in Eastern Europe.

Why the Republic of Georgia?

• Churches and pastors in Georgia are hurting: they are still recovering physically, economically and spiritually from the war with Russia in 2008.

• Spiritual leaders are discouraged: Protestants are a persecuted minority in Georgia (they make up 1.5% of the population) and Bible-believing evangelicals only make up a small percentage of Protestants.

• Christian leaders lack input: they have very little training and very few resources to help them in their ministries.

(Click here to watch our brief video “What you might need to know about the Republic of Georgia“)

What will we do?

• We are sponsoring a four-day “Pastors and Wives Leadership Conference” in Ureki, Georgia from September 19th to 22nd.

• We have invited 30 choice couples to attend. These couples could not afford to get away for four days, so we are hosting them at a simple resort on the black sea.

• Each day will include plenary sessions aimed at encouraging the entire group and smaller group sessions to meet specific needs.

What are our goals?

• We want them to be refreshed by getting them away from their daily distractions and having time to hear the Lord’s voice.

• We are seeking to encourage and empower them in their ministries with practical sessions such as the following: overcoming discouragement in ministry, forgiveness and reconciliation, empowering church members for ministry, et cetera.

• Most importantly, we are praying for a spiritual revival among these couples. Please pray with us that as they will renew in their commitment to the LORD and to each other. Pray that this group will unite and form the basis of revival in the Republic of Georgia.

What are our needs?

• We are stepping out on faith and have already put a deposit on the meeting place, recruited a ministry team and invited the attendees. Since this conference is completely outside of our normal budget, we need your donations to help cover the expenses. The combined expenses will be $13,500.00. That’s $450 per couple.

• We want this conference to go beyond information to spiritual revival. Please pray for the revival process because if these 30 couples can renew their spiritual vigor and unit with each other, they could form a beachhead for national renewal!