Our small team of nine people recently returned from a 10 day ministry trip.    We all had different objectives and goals and we can report that most of them were met.

There were two basic areas of ministry.   The first being the Odessa Theological Seminary and the second the village churches outside of Odessa. 

1.  Two of us, Larry Odle and Arlo Auch, serve on the Board of Trustees at the Odessa Theological Seminary. We met for several days with the entire board and made some valuable decisions in regards to the seminary and it's future.  We also participated in the graduation ceremonies and were honored to be a part of it and to see the quality of pastors that are being trained for the ministry.   James and Hannah spent a lot of time with the students, getting to know them and encouraging them.   For more information about the seminary please visit our website at:   www.wologoho.org/Proj%20Seminary%20Fund.htm    Once you are at the site, click on "CLICK HERE" for information on supporting a student.

Also, you can get additional information at:  www.odessasem.com.    Click on the English version.

2.  We spent most of the time visiting churches both in Odessa and in the impoverished villages outside of Odessa.   We were able to preach at most of these churches and to be a part of the worship team.  It is amazing to see all of the new churches that are being established over the years since communism fell.  The scenario usually goes like this.   A larger church will start a daughter church in the villages and then they will meet in an old building or whatever they have available to them for a number of years.   Then they will obtain a piece of property and start building a church building which sometimes takes over 10 years to complete.   They literally build it "one brick at a time".  The reason for the urgency to erect a church building is because for over 80 years they had to meet "underground".   Now that they have religious freedom, the church building is so vitally important to them.  So below are some photos of the process.   The first one is a picture of both the old and the new.  As you can see, they have started to dismantle the old sod house where they have been meeting and have started to move into the new building behind it.   The second picture is the new building which has been in the works for 9 years and you can see how far they have progressed.  This church has a sister church in Yankton, SD and Terry Port, the pastor of the Yankton church was with us and spent the entire time in this village.

The next four pictures are of another church that has been under construction for a long time.  Presently they meet in a sod house which is picture number 4.    The last picture is of another church where they are already meeting in their new building but it is a long way from completion.

Two people, on our team, Reagan and Becky Beauchamp spent time with the prison ministry as they have a church in the Sioux Falls, SD prison that has a sister relationship with a prison ministry in Odessa.

Through the years following the fall of communism there has been some amazing progress.  Below are two of the main churches in the Odessa city area.   The first one is the First Baptist (or Central) Church.  The story of it's coming into existence is definitely a sign of God's hand being in it.   The piece of land on which this church now exists used to be the site of one of the major radio transmission towers for Communist propaganda and a jamming station for radio broadcasts coming into Ukraine.   When communism fell, the Baptist Church asked the government for a piece of land on which they could build a church as the old one had been destroyed.   So the government gave them half of the land on which this tower existed.   The other part of the land was given to retirees of the former KGB.  So the buildings you see behind the church are apartments for the KGB leadership.   A mission field in their own backyard !

The second photo is the Second Baptist Church which has been under construction for as long as I can remember.   It is attached to the seminary so they can share facilities.   This church is truly a missions minded church in that they have established numerous daughter churches and even started a church in Portugal.  Presently they are jam packed into a small building just to the right of this building.   

Arlo's Comments:   

The photos of the churches in ruin at the very top of this page are a story unto themselves.   As some of you know, my background is that I am what they call a "German-Russian".    In other words my ancestors lived in Ukraine for about 75 years before they came to the United States in 1872..   This is true of many people living in the Midwestern United States.  They were Germans that were invited by Catherine the Great to settle the land wrapped around the Black Sea.   When they arrived they made Southern Ukraine into an agricultural paradise.   They soon developed schools and churches.   The two churches pictured on top that are in ruins were part of that development.   They were a testimony to their relationship to the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.   One of the items that was a part of the manifest that Catherine issued was that the Germans were not to proselytize the Ukrainian nationals to the Reformed, Lutheran or Catholic faith.   However, In the 1850's a true revival broke out in the village of Rohrbach, a village only about 6 miles from my ancestral village of Johannestal and about 60 miles northeast of Odessa.   The building on the left was the church of Rohrbach.   A minister by the name of Johannes Bonekemper was a "stundist" and during the revival two Ukrainians came to the village to see what was happening and they accepted Christ as their personal Savior.   Out of those two individuals the entire Baptist movement in Ukraine grew.   Today, there are currently almost 3000 Baptist churches throughout Ukraine.   The sad part of the story is that when communism took over, all of the churches established by the Germans (of which there were over 400) similar in size to the ones above were taken and turned into bars, discos, or youth and community centers.  If you look closely the church of which I speak has had its steeple taken down (a common practice),  the roof has collapsed and in front there still stands a statue of Lenin.   Now a number of these buildings (if they are capable of being repaired) are being given back to the denominations that can make a legitimate claim to them.   For example if a Lutheran church wanted to rebuild the church in Rohrbach, they could probably get the land and the existing structure.    A handful of these churches have been obtained and refurbished and later given over to the Baptists.  If not they are turned over the the Eastern Orthodox Church if they want it.   Otherwise it just continues to go into a state of disrepair.  

The photo in the center of the very top photos is a new Eastern Orthodox Church in Odessa.   It is still not complete because they usually put a gold plating over the steeples and onion like domes.  

Needless to say, God is moving in Ukraine and we were glad to observe and be a small part of ministering there.   We do want to thank all of you for your participation in prayer, encouragement and financial support.

Arlo Auch

President

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