Thank you for praying with us that at least 20% of the attendees would say “Yes” to missionary service. Actually, 25% said “Yes.” Hallelujah!
Here are some highlights from our conference:
1. 130 registered for this event, although many more attended without registering. The attendees ranged from ages 15 to 25, plus a few adult sponsors from the churches.
2. We invited four missionary speakers who have had first-hand experience serving the Lord cross-culturally:
- Pavel serves the Lord in the Caucasus. (Face not shown due to his ministry with Muslims)
- Roman served for three years in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan
- Richard served as a church planter for 15 years in the Philippines
- Artyom just returned from serving for 4 months in Thailand
3. I am grateful that 48 of the registered attendees made written commitments to the Lord!
- 20 committed to financially support missionaries
- 22 committed to promote missions in their home churches
- 30 indicated an interest in learning more about missionary service
- 33 committed to serve the Lord as missionaries, including one newly married couple who have already served on short-term trips in Tajikistan and Egypt.
- 41 committed to pray for missionaries
- [Many made more than one commitment, i.e. both praying and serving]
4. About a dozen prayed with me after the conference was over and asked practical questions about knowing God’s will and about life on the mission field
Bonus Blessings:
- I distributed flash drives to each youth pastor containing over 30 videos in Russian about world missions. I want to help them continue teaching about missions in their home churches
- For some youth, this was their third time to attend one of our conferences. Although they are young, they are demonstrating a sustained interest in missionary service!
- We’ve already scheduled follow-up meetings for those who made commitments. Please pray that these willing young people will bear much fruit for the Lord.
Rich