On the 23-25 of April in the regional House of Culture of Pereyaslav City (Ukraine) a festival of Jesus was held, which became the center of a great evangelistic event that were organized by the Kingdom of God’s Love Church together with the members of God’s Embassy central church in Kiev and with the assistance of the Pereyslav Heavenly Land church members.
– Overall, about 50 believers took part in the outreach, – said the pastor of The Kingdom of God’s Love” Vita Kusay, 35 years old. Before the festival, for six days we went around the entire city coming up to people, speaking on spiritual topics, offereing them to reconcile to God.
We distributed about 20,000 invitations to the festival, and prayed for the sick. During this time about 300 people got saved and about sixty more during the festival. They accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior, and largely these were the people who have never attended any church.
– Before this action you have expressed confidence that God will do miracles of healing from diseases, harmful addictions etc.
– God is a Healer. He always heals a person who turns to Him for help with faith. At the festival, in the House of Culture a few people who have had serious vision problems, testified that they were healed or began to see much better. We have photos of them. But perhaps the most impressive example of the God’s miracles was a healing of a man from tuberculosis. He has suffered from this disease for 50 years. His name is Vladimir, 68 years old, and he lives in the Spasska Levada.
– How did this happen?- Onу day the guys from our evangelistic team had come up to him on the street, saying: “We can see that you are sick (it was apparently noticeable). – “Yes I am sick.” – “We will pray for you!”. – “Very well, pray”.
They prayed for him and walked on. But the next day the man accidentally meets a girl who was also engaged in outreach. He was returning from the hospital that moment. He was asked: “Can we pray for you?” He said: “A miracle has happened with me. A few guys have prayed for me yesterday. And today I went to X-ray and in the hospital I was said that I have no tuberculosis.” I said: “What?” I’ve had it for fifty years … “. Doctors were also surprised.
The girls asked him to come to the festival and to testify about it there. On this photo he is shown at the festival with Pastor Elena Shevchenko from Kiev.
– You say that this happens from the readiness to believe in God’s miracle? – Yes I do, everything happens by faith. If a person believes, the power of God descends on him. And vice versa, if a person does not believe in God nor in the healing, it does not matter how much one prays for him, nothing will happen. It happens all too often: you come and say that everything in a person’s life can be changed, but they refuse, not wanting to accept it! Just look how many addicts are dying in Pereyaslav presently! If last year there was one junkie death per month, now it is two.
For example, while the festival went on two drug addicts passed away in town. We know this, because we work with these people. Sometimes, they come to us in a rehabilitation center for alcohol and drug addicts, have lenthy conversations, and then giggle: “What does God have to do with this?” You have a religion here, a sect. And then they go away. We have ten men who are a steady group, keeping strong on the path of rehabilitation. But many other addicts simply love a life of drugs. Which is why they subsequently die. One more example is a man who currently in the hospital (he is 37 years old) and his legs will be amputated tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, because they had rotted from repeated drug use. I have been visiting him for five years, saying: “You can change the life you have now to a happy one!”. God wants to help you, he sends us as His agents, but if a person does not want to …
– Did the festival have a concert program also?
– Yes it did. We had services and in addition a big concert at the last day. The performing artists included Alexander Klauning, 51 years old – the leading actor of the Kiev Academic Theater of Podol. He is a dramatic actor, but also has a musical education, playing different instruments. Lucia also performed. She is a bard, known for singing folk songs and ballads. She lived in Italy for a long time and currently resides in Kiev. Also, singer Jaroslava visited us, her last name is Lebede-Levenitska. All of them are members of the Kiev central church. The members of our church also had a concert program prepared. And there were contests especially for children. There were two clowns specifically to entertain the kids. We tried to make it interesting for everyone.
When we conducted evangelization outreach, we asked people if they would like to have a church helping them, and pray for their needs? For those who said that they would like that, we are beginning to work closely with them, because spiritual growth it is also a process that takes time. We invite all others who interested.
Our church services are held weekly in the “Meeting” House of Culture at 3 pm. In addition, we meet with the relatives of alcohol and drug addicts. Meetings are held every Wednesday at 7 pm and Fridays at 5 pm in the rehabilitation center “Faith, Hope, Love” (Mazepa street, 1)
Recorded by Leonid Milyutin
Information:
“Festival of Jesus” it is a unique opportunity granted by God to bring the gospel to the whole city in a short period of time, as well as to help people to reconcile with God and receive healing of body and soul, to find a local church where they will take care of. For pastors and leaders it is an opportunity to get new students and to receive the fire of evangelism with whole church and to open a new page in the history of their church and society.
The Festival of Jesus becomes an opportunity for those who join us and our trips as an evangelist to renew the saving grace, to return the first love, to make new friends and to see the miracles of Jesus in everyday life.
Contact: tel. +38 (063) 408-16-11 (Andrey), lshevchenko@ua.fm
Source: “Vystnyk of Pereiaslav “№ 7 (21 May 2010)
Translated by Anna Krets
Edited by Natalia Ioffe
