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“March (and April) Madness”

April 9, 2013 by tri.org@gmail.com

“March (and April) Madness” (April 2013 Update)March Snow Storm in Kiev

No, it’s not about basketball, although I certainly love that too!  It’s about our busy schedule.  At the end of last month, I helped out with a church planting class on prayer.  Jim Albright (from the International Church in Milan) taught the class but I helped with preparations, hosting, grading and teaching some of the classes.  Katya and I were delighted to have Jim and Karen spend the two weeks at our home also.  It was a great joy being able to see them and having Jim teach his first class for us.  But it was also very busy with class every day and small group or other ministries each night.  All of this with the biggest snowfall in Ukraine since the 1960s!

The Prayer class for Church Planters was a special joy.  This group of 4 students will be graduating this May and it was great to spend the week with them learning more about their lives and ministries.  (Normally I teach classes of over 30 so I don’t have a lot of one-on-one time with students).  One student from Lithuania came to Christ in prison and he is actively involved in leading a new church plant in Lithuania.   Another student has planted a church near Kiev after serving as a missionary in Kazakhstan.   The other two students came to faith out of drugs and alcohol (one out of Satan worship!) and they are planting a new church in eastern Ukraine.   What a joy to hear how their seminary education has changed their lives and helped them in ministry! Continue Reading »

Posted in Jim Ehrhard, Uncategorized | Tagged |

The Power of the Resurrection, C. H. Spurgeon

March 20, 2013 by tri.org@gmail.com

Resurrection“And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” — Matthew 28:18-20.

The change from “the man of sorrows” before his crucifixion to the “Lord over all” after his resurrection is very striking.  Before his Passion, he was well known by his disciples, and appeared only in one form, as the Son of man, clad in the common peasant’s garment without seam, woven from the top throughout; but after he had risen from the dead he was on several occasions unrecognized by those who loved him best, and is once at least described as having appeared to certain of them “under another form.”  He was the same person, for they saw his hands and his feet, and Thomas even handled him, and placed his finger in the print of the nails; but yet it would seem that some gleams of his glory were at times manifested to them, a glory which had been hidden during his previous life, save only when he stood on the Mount of Transfiguration. Continue Reading »

Posted in C. H. Spurgeon, Puritan | Tagged , , |

“Spring is Here!” (March 2013 Update)

March 10, 2013 by tri.org@gmail.com

“Spring is Here!” (March 2013 Update)

Optimized-Some Students for interviews

March 1st is officially the first day of Spring in Ukraine.  Even the president made a first of spring

speech.  But it still seems like it will be a while before spring really arrives.  We still have snow on the ground and some sidewalks

 still have an inch or so of ice.  Our temperatures still go below freezing … but it is “spring” here!  Березень is the name for March in Ukrainian.  It means “birch” and reminds everyone that the sap in the trees is returning and the buds for the leaves will soon be coming.  So, even though spring is no really here yet, it is certainly not far away. Continue Reading »

Posted in Jim Ehrhard, Uncategorized |

“Severe!” (February 2013 Update)

February 9, 2013 by tri.org@gmail.com

Winter in Kiev“Severe!” (February 2013 Update)

I continue to be amazed with the names of the months here in Ukraine. They all tell something about the weather changes. January is Січень or “Cutting.” This could refer either to the cutting of wood or to the cutting or “biting” cold. As someone who heated his home for many years with a woodstove, seems a little late for cutting wood. But it could mean “splitting wood.” Either one is usually pretty descriptive! February is Лютий which means “severe.” This definitely refers to the weather which is usually colder in February than January. Fortunately, we’ve had a lot of snow but not a lot of really cold weather. Still I love the descriptive months! Continue Reading »

Posted in Ministry Updates |

A Sermon for New Year’s Day

January 9, 2013 by tri.org@gmail.com

A Sermon for New Year’s Day

By C. H. Spurgeon

“And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.” — Revelation 21:5.

How pleased we are with that which is new!  Our children’s eyes sparkle when we talk of giving them a toy or a book which is called new; for our short-lived human nature loves that which has lately come, and is therefore like our own fleeting selves.  In this respect, we are all children, for we eagerly demand the news of the day, and are all too apt to rush after the “many inventions” of the hour.  The Athenians, who spent their time in telling and hearing some new thing, were by no means singular persons: novelty still fascinates the crowd. As the world’s poet says —“All with one consent praise new-born gawds [gods].” 

I should not wonder, therefore, if the mere words of my text should sound like a pleasant song in your ears; but I am thankful that their deeper meaning is even more joyful.  The newness which Jesus brings is bright, clear, heavenly, enduring.  We are at this moment specially ready for a new year.  The most of men have grown weary with the old cry of depression of trade and hard times; we are glad to escape from what has been to many a twelve-months of great trial.  The last year had become wheezy, croaking, and decrepit, in its old age; and we lay it asleep with a psalm of judgment and mercy.  We hope that this newborn year will not be worse than its predecessor, and we pray that it may be a great deal better.  At any rate, it is new, and we are encouraged to couple with it the idea of happiness, as we say one to another, “I wish you a happy New Year.” Continue Reading »

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