Go Beyond » Ukraine

A Life-Changing Trip

Omar C. Garcia — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 15:15:25 +0000

Speaking at Pastors' Meeting | Donetsk, Ukraine

Photographs are like keys. Yesterday, my good friend Doug Hanks sent me a photo taken on a trip I led to Ukraine in 1996. One look at that photo was all it took to unlock some really great memories that have been stored away for years. I first visited Ukraine in 1995 at the invitation of Dr. Rudy Hernandez, one of my mentors. I assisted Dr. Hernandez with a televised evangelistic crusade. It was an amazing experience as thousands came to faith in Christ over a two-week period. Dr. Hernandez gave me opportunities to speak to various groups, including a meeting of pastors who had suffered imprisonment because of their faith. It was on that trip that God began to turn the focus of my ministry increasingly toward the nations. I have often wondered where I might be today had I not traveled to Ukraine that year. That trip changed my life.

The following year, I mobilized a team of twenty-four to return to Ukraine. My friend Doug approached me about joining our team to Ukraine. I still remember what Doug said to me. “I would like to participate,” he said, “but I fear speaking before others and I have never led anyone to faith in Christ.” He signed on anyway and met with our team every month to prepare for the challenges awaiting us. Occasionally, Doug reminded me of his fears and feelings of inadequacy. On our first day in the field Doug approached me and said, “I am trusting God to use me today. I hope that I will have the opportunity to tell someone about Jesus.” By the end of the first day he joyfully had seen 19 people place their faith in Christ for salvation because of his personal witness. Doug overcame his fears about sharing the gospel. Today, he continues to faithfully tell others about Jesus throughout our community. He is one of the most faithful men I know when it comes to sharing and living out his faith. That trip to Ukraine changed Doug’s life.

This month offers all kinds of opportunities for Christ-followers to share and to demonstrate their faith through practical acts of kindness. Here are a few suggestions for making the most of the season to tell others about why Jesus came.

Open Your Eyes | Ask God to enlarge your vision of the world. Learn about a neighbor or unreached people group in need of Christ.

Get on Your Knees | Ask God to open doors of opportunity for you to share the gospel with your neighbors. Ask Him also to open doors of opportunity in parts of the world that are closed to the gospel.

Move Away From the Table | Skip a meal and give the money to missions. Let the absence of food remind you of those still hungering for the Bread of Life.

Crack the Book | Study the Scriptures and learn how to effectively share the gospel.

Roll Up Your Sleeves | Demonstrate God’s love to others in our community and in our world through practical acts of kindness.

Dig Into Your Pockets | Give financially to support missions initiatives around the world.

Pack Your Bags | Consider participating in a short-term mission trip like my friend Doug. Traveling to the nations is a life-changing experience that can propel you into greater ministry when you return home.

Into His Harvest

Omar C. Garcia — Sun, 10 May 2009 05:28:29 +0000

While on a short-term mission trip to southeastern Ukraine in 1996, I accompanied some of our team members to a village. When we arrived, a crowd gathered and asked why we had come. We explained that we had come to share good news. We then shared the gospel with those gathered around us and dozens placed their faith in Christ for salvation. On the following day, many more people gathered to listen to our message. The people were receptive, but we did not have enough workers to share the gospel with all of the people eager to hear our message.

Our experience in the village in Ukraine reminded us of the crowds that followed Jesus as He ministered in the towns and villages of Galilee (Matthew 9:35). When Jesus saw the crowds, “He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and downcast like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36). Jesus told His followers that the crowds represented a great harvest. However, there were not enough workers to address the urgent needs of the people (Matthew 9:37). That is why Jesus told His disciples to plead with “the Lord of the harvest” and ask that He “send,” or thrust out, “workers into His harvest” (Matthew 9:38).

We must plead with God to provide the workers. Unless more workers are sent into the harvest, much of the crop will be lost. The harvest is ready. The world is waiting. Ask God to send out workers — including yourself — into His harvest field before the crop is lost. And, pray for those already laboring in harvest fields at home and around the world.

The “Wait” of the World

Omar C. Garcia — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 13:41:54 +0000

“Why didn’t you come sooner?” the woman asked. “I have waited my whole life to hear such a wonderful message of hope.” Those words, spoken by an elderly woman in Ukraine in 1996, reminded our volunteer mission team of why we had traveled so far. At the other end of Jesus’ command to “go and make disciples” (Matthew 28:19), we found ordinary people longing and searching for meaning in life.

After His resurrection, Jesus met with His followers (Matthew 28:16-17) and commanded them to “make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:19). A disciple is more than a convert. A disciple is one who hears, understands, and obeys the teachings of Jesus. Jesus commanded His followers to go to “the nations” (Matthew 28:19). Our word ethnic is related to the word “nations” and refers to people groups. We are to take the gospel to all people groups within the geographical boundaries we know as ”nations” and wherever else on the planet those peoples may live.

To “make disciples of all the nations” requires that some believers leave their homelands. All Christ-followers should be willing to leave the security of their homes. Some are called to serve in other places for a lifetime or for extended periods of time. Others are able to participate in short-term initiatives. Numerous opportunities exist for those interested in working among the nations (people groups) in their own communities and beyond. We must do whatever it takes to share the gospel with every people group in the world. We can do so with the assurance that Jesus is with us (Matthew 28:20).

Help change the world by becoming personally involved in missions initiatives locally and abroad. Don’t overlook the nations living in your own neighborhood and workplace. Whether you go beyond at home or abroad, you’ll find no shortage of people waiting to hear the good news. As God to help you feel the “wait” of the world.

Are You Troubled?

Omar C. Garcia — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 06:45:39 +0000

While in Ukraine in 1995, our team was invited to a meeting of a cultural society that met regularly to discuss philosophical and political issues. After our team was introduced, an elderly woman cleared her throat and then tearfully said, “For years we have not been allowed to know about God. Our lives are empty. I want to know,” she emphatically continued, “how I can find God. Can you tell me the way to God?” The earnest tone of her voice revealed the hope of a heart longing for answers. I sat silently as I listened to this woman who had lived a lifetime without God and watched as her question finally intersected with God’s answer.

All eyes in the room turned to the late Dr. Rudy Hernandez, my mentor and our team leader. Dr. Hernandez stood, fixed his attention on the woman, and replied, “As we have traveled around your city we have noticed many beautiful cathedrals — evidence that there once was a strong faith in God among the people of your city.” Dr Hernandez then respectfully explained how sinful man can be reconciled to a holy God — and almost all of those present placed their faith in Jesus Christ. Afterwards, the director of the society said, “I have had so many problems in my life and no peace. Today, for the first time, I have found peace and meaning through Jesus Christ.”

Watching Dr. Hernandez compassionately present the gospel in that setting reminded me of Luke’s account of the Apostle Paul’s visit to Athens (Acts 17:16-34). This ancient city, named for Athene, the goddess of wisdom, had been the home of men such as Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle. While Paul was waiting for Silas and Timothy to join him there, his spirit was deeply troubled within him because the city was lined with idols. In fact, one ancient historian satirically remarked that in Athens it was easier to find a god than a man. Like Paul, Dr. Hernandez always looked for clues that would help him to better understand the spiritual context in which people live. On more than one occasion, I sensed his spirit was deeply troubled within him as he grieved and wept over the spiritual welfare of the cities we visited.

It is so easy for us to live among the idols of our own age without ever being troubled or stirred to act. Paul was stirred to action by what he saw. Following his usual pattern when he visited a new city, Paul reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and God-fearing Gentiles. However, during his time in Athens, Paul also spent his days in the place where people mixed and mingled and shopped for their daily needs — the agora or central marketplace. He did not wait for people to come to the holy place but instead took the gospel to the marketplace. We too, must take the good news to people in the places where daily life is lived.

Paul had learned about the spiritual state of the Athenians by walking around the city and observing the objects of their worship. We too, must be observant and knowledgeable about what others believe in order to more effectively communicate the gospel. Paul had noticed an altar with this interesting inscription: To An Unknown God. For fear of offending some deity with which they were not acquainted, the Athenians had built an altar to something unknown. Paul used the inscription on this altar to build a bridge between their ignorance and the self-revealed God of the Bible.

When was the last time you looked carefully at your community and at the lives of those who reside there? In what ways is your community similar to Athens? What idols do the people around you worship? What questions are they asking about spiritual matters? Are you deeply troubled by what you see and what you hear — or are you ignorant, indifferent, complacent, or tolerant? God uses people who are deeply troubled. What troubles you and what you are willing to do about it? Take bold steps and actively engage with others for the sake of God’s kingdom.

• • • • •

Note | Ruben Hernandez continues his late father’s work with particular emphasis in Spanish, English, bilingual and multi-ethnic communities and areas. Learn more about his ministry at Rudy Hernandez Evangelism International.

The Nations Need God

Omar C. Garcia — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 06:08:30 +0000

I read an interesting article in the TimesOnline entitled: As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God (December 27, 2008). Matthew Parris, the writer, noted that even as a child growing up in Africa he observed that Christians were always different — in a good way. Reflecting on his impressions while traveling across the continent with friends, Parris added: “Whenever we entered a territory worked by missionaries, we had to acknowledge that something changed in the faces of the people we passed and spoke to: something in their eyes, the way they approached you direct, man-to-man, without looking down or away.” Parris’ article prompted me to dig through my trunk of travel journals to retrieve the journal from my first trip to Ukraine. Here are excerpts of what I wrote near the start of that trip.

August 18, 1995 | As we travel by train from Kiev to southeastern Ukraine the beauty of the countryside impresses me. However, I cannot help but notice the blank, sometimes lifeless expressions on the faces of so many people as we stop along the way. It is as though their souls have been raped by despair and the difficulty of the times. The absence of smiles, of light in the eyes, and of a determined gait seems to indicate the absence of joy. Mere existence without joy is indeed a miserable state.

August 19, 1995 | Our team sang and preached in one of the local churches today. What a glorious time. The people sang from the depths of their heart and eagerly listened to the preaching of the gospel. This morning, eight people placed their faith in Jesus for salvation. Their tears gave way to smiles. Everyone rejoiced. What a contrast to the world outside these walls. These individuals are experiencing the same struggles and pressures as those I had seen from the train, but their outlook is entirely different. Jesus makes all the difference.

Everywhere I travel, it’s the same — the obvious difference in the lives of those who have chosen to embrace Jesus. I have seen Christ-followers smile in the face of oppression. I have heard their songs in the darkest nights. I have met persecutors whose lives were changed because they were loved and forgiven by those they tried to destroy. I have watched hatred and anger fail in their attempts to siphon the joy out of the hearts of those whose love Jesus. There is indeed something different about those who love and truly follow Jesus.

As a young Christian, I heard an old revival preacher share a story about a conversation between a Christian and a Communist. Seeing a man in ragged clothing, the Communist turned to the Christian and proudly announced, ”Communism can put a new suit on that man.” The Christian smiled and respectfully replied, “Yes, but only Christ can put a new man in that suit.” Jesus makes all things new. The Apostle Paul taught that Christians are new creatures (2 Corinthians 5:17) who belong to a new kingdom (Colossians 1:13) and walk in new ways (Romans 6:4).

Mr. Parris observed, “In Africa Christianity changes people’s hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation. The rebirth is real. The change is good.” He’s right. But Jesus makes the same difference in the hearts of believers everywhere, not just Africa. The people of Africa need God. But, the love of Jesus and the difference He can make also extends to all nations. The nations need God, too.