Eastern Europeans Trained, Encouraged at Regional Conference

This October, LIFE held an Intimacy Before Impact regional conference in Eastern Europe for leaders involved in life-giving ministry or interested in starting one. Sixty-five people participated in the five-day conference from Bosnia, Georgia, Hungary, Moldova, Russia, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Ukraine, and the United States. “It was such a great time for me, spiritual conviction and direction, emphasis on worshiping God and letting our ministries flow out of that, and ‘practical’ sessions on things like planning, men and abortion, and fundraising…. I would like all our workers to attend this conference each year,” said Anne Sokol from Kiev, Ukraine. 

Mission Accomplished: Build a Network of Relationships

Only 15 of the attendees were in formal partnership with LIFE, so this conference created many opportunities to network. “The information was great but the networking and encouragement even better!” said Vicki Hale from Perm, Russia. On the second night, after a banquet, everyone grouped themselves by country and gave a cultural presentation: songs, skits, games. It was a night of laughter and bonding. “It drew everyone’s hearts more closely together than any of us could have imagined,” LIFE Vice President Bill Velker said. This was vital, for most attendees lead the only life-giving ministry in their area, and they struggle with isolation and a lack of peer counsel and encouragement. This conference also enabled the regional office to network with leaders seeking to partner with LIFE and give them a taste of LIFE’s core values and methods. 

Mission Accomplished: Equip the Leaders

Keynote addresses focused on the sanctity of human life, spiritual warfare, and leadership by prayer. Attendees commented that they could have left the conference satisfied after just the sanctity of human life message—this piece of theology is largely lost in the post-Communist Church, yet it is the foundation of life-giving ministry. LIFE captured that keynote address on DVD (along with the Russian translation) and distributed it to every attendee. 

The conference also offered three ten-session tracks: volunteer-counselor training, starting post-abortion ministry, and general leadership issues. The general leadership track had a panel at each session—it was exciting to see LIFE’s experienced partners on those panels, sharing their wisdom with the newer leaders. The post-abortion track was significant too, for people estimate about 80% of Eastern Europeans have had abortions, which means many leaders in life-giving ministry need post-abortion healing before they can offer such healing to their community. 

The most excitement centered on the training volunteer counselors track. While LIFE’s trainer taught attendees how to teach counselors with LIFE’s manual, Intimacy Before Impact (IBI), a Ukrainian translated her words into Russian, and LIFE captured both people and the PowerPoint presentation onto four DVDs. Each attendee received a set of DVDs, along with a chapter from the Russian IBI, which will be published in early 2009! Attendees were astonished.  

The DVDs are particularly exciting for LIFE, for they’re the beginning of LIFE International University, an e-learning initiative that will help LIFE train a dozen teams in the time it used to train one. Until now, if LIFE wanted to teach a team how to train their counselors or teach pastors about the sanctity of human life, LIFE had to find funds and time for an overseas trip. Soon, LIFE will post these DVDs online and invite any English- or Russian-speaking team to view them at their leisure!  

Mission Accomplished: Make Room for God to Move

As critical as it is to give information and build a network for isolated leaders, it’s equally important to build intimacy with the Lord. True impact in the world only comes from real intimacy with Christ, and this truth must be modeled, not given lip service. Therefore, LIFE makes time for worship and prayer. Not only did the speakers and leadership team spend a pre-conference day in group prayer, but every conference day had a morning and afternoon time of Russian-English worship. “I imagine it sounded a little bit like heaven as brothers and sisters from eight nations worshipped the Lord in their native language,” Velker said. 

“I had a hard period, but God always gives relief on time…This conference gave me a new breath and strength to move forward and not give up,” Olga from Reni, Ukraine said. 

In the evenings, three American-Ukrainian teams offered personal prayer ministry in twenty-minute slots for anyone interested: 38 people signed up. Attendees said, weeping, “You have no idea what this means to us.” Others talked about how “incredibly powerful” it was to be at a conference that wasn’t “just about information” but which actually ministered to them. 

On the last day, the speakers and leadership team prayed for each attendee and one thing they’d heard from the week which they wanted to receive from the Lord. Then, everyone prayed over the region. As they felt led, people laid hands on a large map of Eastern Europe and prayed for the nations. 

It was an amazing time. LIFE is so grateful to everyone who prayed and supported this conference, for the Lord answered their prayers from start to finish. LIFE is also grateful to the Lord for His faithfulness to encourage and refresh every person—and excited to see what fruit He produces from this time abiding in Him!