Welcome to 2010, our silver jubilee. Let us rejoice at all God has done in the past 25 years and celebrate the wonderers of His grace in the lives of many thousands of people in the three continents of Africa, America and Europe. Our theme for the year is, "You are making a difference". "You", the subject of that short sentence could mean you, as a Partner in Hope. Your giving, prayers, encouragement and, in some cases, short-term mission involvement, certainly is making a difference. But ultimately, I am hoping that you will place yourselves alongside of me and the teams in the U.K., the USA and Ukraine, in saying to God, "You are making a difference". I have asked twelve people who have gone on from their involvement with Hope Now to write about what they are doing now, so that you may see the wonderful power of multiplication at work. This month we are featuring Colin Garnet, who came to know the Lord in prison and spent some years on our staff, during which time he was sponsored through Moorlands Bible College where he gained his degree. From his current position as founder and director of Bethesda drug rehabilitation centre in Storms River, near Cape Town, S.A., where he is making a real difference, he is able to evaluate the impact of Hope Now on his life and present ministry.
Vic (R) chairs the steering committee for C.O.H.
Every month, as you read this newsletter, you cannot fail to notice that a difference is being made in life after life. Much of what we do is by the nature of things, long term. When we take a homeless child or an orphan into our care we monitor the change in years not months. When a prisoner turns to Christ he may still have years to serve like Solomon Staggie. (see page ) and even after he or she has left prison the discipling goes on. Some of our healthcare projects such as Andrey Oystrik and Alina Zaglina take many years of financial support before we can see the difference it makes. We have not done a large scale evangelistic mission in Ukraine, such as we have done in Cape Town, Kisumu in Kenya, Selma, Alabama and Prague in the Czech Republic. However, in June this year we shall work with all of the evangelical churches in the Cherkassy Region to fill the Cherkassy football stadium for a two day evangelistic event called, CHRIST OUR HOPE. For the past eighteen months I have been chairman of the planning committee, which has invited Ukrainian evangelist, Stanislav Gruntovkoskyy to be the preacher. Preceding the event there will be a four-day pastor's conference with teaching from my pastor, John Risbridger, of Above Bar Church, Southampton and Jim Reiter, senior minister of Dunwoody Community Church, Atlanta. This will take place at Kompas Park from the 31st May to the 3rd June. Plans are in place for a large choir, drawn from local churches and trained by Victor Kusyumov. Billboards all over town will proclaim, CHRIST OUR HOPE. A Ukrainian version of my booklet, Just Grace and copies of the Scriptures will be freely distributed.
Cherkassy Stadium
This is to be our Jubilee mission event and will cost £25,000, or £1,000 for every year of blessing. I’m confident that you will stand with us to make this event truly special in bringing many lives to Christ. Though we shall need much of the money early it would help if you would make a pledge to give sometime before the end of April, by which time we will need to have paid the majority of bills. Please use the enclosed form or go online to www.hopenow.org.uk to make your pledge. If the gifts are more than the sum needed for CHRIST OUR HOPE, the excess will be used toward the Alexandria Project. Our motto for 2010 is:- By our deeds, His love is shown. By our words His gospel known With caring hearts and declaring mouths, we follow Him whose name is Jesus. Yours in that name, which is higher than any other.
Vic Jackopson Founder and International President.
01.05.2012 Pray for the music group Zozulenka, and their teacher Natalya, as they busily practice for their return tour here in November
02.05.2012 Pray for preparations that are being made for the cycle tour this summer, and for opportunities for the participants to share their faith as they cycle around the villages
03.05.2012 Pray for Brenda and Ksenya as they speak today at the meeting of the Oasis Group at Locks Heath Church
04.05.2012 Pray for Jon and Ali as they attend the Baptist Assembly annual meeting in London until 7th
05.05.2012 Pray for our students at Universities and Colleges as they complete their studies for this semester and take their end of year exams
06.05.2012 Pray for all those who receive food packages through the feeding programme, that no needy person/family is overlooked
07.05.2012 Pray for David John as he completes his preparations for the teaching sessions at the Pastor’s Conference next week
08.05.2012 Pray that we will have full teams of volunteers for all the camps that will take place this summer at Kompas Park
09.05.2012 Pray for the young people from Rainbow House in South Africa, and for Margaret Ferguson as she supports them in their studies
10.05.2012 Pray for the work of the mobile medical unit, and for Dr Doreshenko to fully recover following his recent illnesses
11.05.2012 Pray for the ongoing support of the Mission Fund, which undergirds all the various projects that we have, that adequate funds will be received each month
12.05.2012 Pray for Larisa and the work she does with the family support group, which encourages mutual sharing and prayer
13.05.2012 Pray that the Humanitarian Aid system that we use to send money to Ukraine becomes quicker and more efficient
14.05.2012 Pray for Anastasia Vovk as she plans camps in various villages around Cherkassy, and pray she finds a team of helpers to assist her
15.05.2012 Pray for safety in travel for Jon, David Reddaway and David John as they travel to Ukraine for the Bible School Graduation and for Ksenya as she returns to Ukraine to help Alla at Kompas Park
16.05.2012 Pray for the ongoing work of Cherkassy’s first sheltered accommodation, especially now plans to renovate the house have been drawn up and the costing received
17.05.2012 Pray for the Church twinning programme, that more UK Churches will offer to twin with a Ukrainian Church for mutual support and encouragement
18.05.2012 Remember before God all our children in cottage homes, thanking God for the security and love they receive from their foster parents as they grow up in these Christian families
19.05.2012 Pray for the work party travelling to Ukraine today, to prepare Kompas Park for the summer season
20.05.2012 As Jon, David and David return to the UK, pray for the newly graduated students as they take up their responsibilities back in their churches
21.05.2012 Pray for the children in the orphanages we support, and for Larisa and Misha as they oversee our work in them
22.05.2012 Give thanks for all our volunteers who come in and help with the monthly mail out, and do other jobs so willingly, often without being asked
23.05.2012 Pray for Jon and Ali to be refreshed as they take some time off together and have a break
24.05.2012 Pray for ex-prisoners who are now leading churches and serving in their communities that they will be faithful to what God has called them to do
25.05.2012 Pray for the young people in our pre-independence homes, that they grow in confidence as they study and plan for their future
26.05.2012 Pray for Vika Lavrenko and Stanislav Dyachenko, sponsored children who celebrate their birthdays today, also for the quiz at Ashley BC this evening in support of our work
27.05.2012 Thank God for our Board of Directors, whose support of the work of Hope is so encouraging; pray especially for the two new Directors to become more familiar with Board matters.
28.05.2012 Pray for Alla Kostyunina and her team as they prepare in detail for the planned camp activities at Kompas Park during the summer
29.05.2012 Pray for Misha in
all the work he does at Alpha House and in the Ukrainian Office of Hope Now; pray also for the plans he and Lena have in using Alpha House as a summer day camp in August
30.05.2012 Pray for Vlad Serdyuk, one of
our sponsored children, as he celebrates his birthday today
31.05.2012 Pray for Cyndee and Darrel Knight and the Hope Now supporters in America, especially in their plans to visit Kompas Park this summer
