Greetings from snowy Karl Marx Street in Minsk...

An update from Doug Brendel - to all who have supported or expressed an interest in our New Thing teaching ministry in the former Soviet Union...

 

Death & New Life in Belarus

 

First, the death. Our faithful Belarusian New Thing cell phone, after years of faithful service, gave up the ghost on my first day in town. I think he was just holding on until he could ring for me one more time, then it was over. Here our host Oleg attempts surgery and resuscitation - note the sophisticated medical instrument, a kitchen knife, and the triple eyeglasses for maximum magnification - but to no avail. May he rest in peace. Next: new life! We bought a new Belarusian cell phone the next day.

 

The journey took 22 hours door to door; I arrived Saturday afternoon Minsk time. By 9:30 the next morning I was at Christian Hope, a Pentecostal church in downtown Minsk. This was the last church the team and I visited during our July visit to Belarus, and the people welcomed me warmly.

 

Thanks to the great generosity of our New Thing supporters, we were able to take 200 copies of our brand-new Untidy Christianity DVD series, 100 copies of the Shock Talk DVD series, and 200 copies each of the Shock Talk book, Fear Factor, Can You Hear Me Now?, and Desperate Housewives of the Bible.

 

Remember Svyeta, the woman who was given Desperate Housewives of the Bible by a stranger on the train from Osivipichy? She attends this church — and I told her story to the congregation, encouraging them to take multiple copies of all the books and both DVD series and give them away as a ministry to the people God allows to cross their paths.

 

The church rents the auditorium where they meet, so there’s the customary podium bearing the imposing circular seal of the Republic of Belarus. To see over 1,000 books and discs of practical biblical teaching stacked up in front of the official seal of a former Soviet republic struck me as a really, really cool God thing!

 

In the afternoon we headed to another rented downtown hall, Christian Choice Church of God. Back in March, a Belarusian friend arranged an impromptu invitation for me, so I arrived on that Sunday afternoon without prior planning and very few books and DVDs in hand. But in the intervening months, the people had consumed every one of them - by God’s grace they had made a tremendous impact - and the people were overwhelming in their welcome.

 

It was such a mob scene at the back of the auditorium after the service, as people scrambled to take books and DVDs, that my small-of-stature Belarusian 12-year-old videographer Vadim was hard-pressed to capture images in the crush of bodies.

 

I was grateful to be able to bring a full supply of books and DVDs to this congregation - the same titles and quantities that we had taken to the earlier church service. Books are absolutely treasured in this culture - and DVDs are catching on like wildfire in this country. Thank you, New Thing supporters! Your generosity is making a huge impact!

 

Pastor Alexander warmly urged me to return and teach each time I’m in the country. (In the back of the room in the picture at left, you can see the people thronging to the books and DVDs.)

 

I taught “The Power of Being Yours,” and afterward a number of people were eager to talk, even after I was bundled up to head out into the winter weather.

 

I told these people also the story of the stranger on the train from Osivipichy, and after the service a visiting pastor (at right) from another local church came hurrying up to me. “That stranger on the train?” he said. “He was from our church! We took whole teams of people to give away your books on the trains!”

 

I was completely fried by this time, but we had one more gig to go before calling it quits for the day. Remember the other Svyeta I told you about? That’s her, in the long dark hair, and this is her flat. She’s the head of a college ministry who had refused for nearly two years even to look at any of our books or DVDs. Then this past July she happened to show up at a church on the morning I was speaking. She was delighted - took an armload of books home that day - and this week invited me to lead her student meetings three evenings in a row!

 

The ministry is called Inter-Varsity Fellowship; Svyeta heads the Minsk operation. On Sunday evening I was invited to talk to the student-leaders of the ministry on the subject of “What a Leader Needs to Know.” We had a pretty fun time.

 

My longtime interpreter Yuri and I have worked together in so many situations - and he is so good at what he does - that it’s almost effortless for me to speak to Russian-language groups. I tell people it’s like we’re two people with one brain. Yuri simply shrugs and describes himself as “Doug's human translation machine.”

 

What a blast to surprise them by handing out presents after the meeting: everybody got New Thing books and DVDs - and they were thrilled. If we can bring the reality of God’s love and grace to these young leaders of tomorrow, who knows what could become of Belarus - and the world?

 

Well, this was just the first 24 hours! Yuri folded my weary body into his little Renault and drove me back to Karl Marx Street. I hardly remember anything after that :-) ...Except that I’ve finally, after 7 years, found a Belarusian food I don’t like. Here it is....

 

Sometimes you just have to put your foot down and say, “No, I’m an American. I do not eat carp.” (OK, I confess: I tried it first. But one bite was enough for me!)

 

More news and photos as soon as I wake up from this one!

 

Much love,

Doug Brendel

 

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Thanks again!