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Greetings Beloved in the most wonderful Name of Jesus,
Why is it the most wonderful name? Well, for one thing it is the name in which all these things were done which I am about to tell you. "The Lord has done great things whereof we are glad." So many things that I get giddy thinking about it sometimes. I would be floating around on a cloud if there were not so much hard work and so many trials along with it. Surely it is worth it though to see so much of God's glory manifest here on earth. This week about which I am writing captures it well.
The week that was… THIS WAS JUST ONE WEEK RECENTLY-
 In the beginning…
A blind woman (blind in one eye, could hardly see out of the other) was healed. After waiting in line for hours she was the last one to be prayed for by a very tired Pastor around nine in the evening. Ironically she came right behind a woman who only received half a healing from seriously bad eyesight because she did not want to wait for more prayer. As always when we see the blind healed we can only say indeed, "Jesus is alive, he is real, only He can do these things." Glory to God!!!
In the same week…
Alpha course- 38 repented after Pastor Egor Ivanoff's talk. Alpha is now running at over 400 of which 80% are totally unchurched and unacquainted with the Gospel. The first Alpha meeting of this course a young boy was healed of deafness. This was the second time God opened the Alpha course by opening a young boy's ear.
Just getting there…
While driving through the city I saw a young brother waiting at a trolley-stop, so I signaled him to get in the van. He jumped in with his friend who he was bringing to Alpha. He was so excited, he said, "it's incredible, so many people are repenting", then he went on to tell what had been happening with him and his friend. I cannot even remember it all now, but this much I recall. They went to the friend's house and there lay his 83-year-old grandmother who had been bed-ridden for some long time. They told her about Jesus and said he could heal today as he did in the past, and she agreed to receive prayer. The young men prayed and she was raised up by the power of God and began to keep house. They then prayed for her granddaughter and she was healed and saved as well. They were so excited they could hardly contain themselves. They told me more but I can't remember it all.
Next Day…
A bunch more came forward to repent at the midweek service. Then Pastor Armen took the microphone and shared about a new convert he had spoken with the night before that had died that very morning, he was so shaken by the man's sudden death he was on his knees begging sinners to come forward. More came. When he finished a very poor little boy who had just given his life to Christ stood on the stage and grabbed the microphone pleading, calling, waving for his Father to come forward too, urging and pleading openly, crying out for his Dad to come forward! All told about 20 more people repented.
In the SAME week…
In evangelism at a TB Hospital outside the city, all present including 2 nurses stood to give their lives to Christ. None could resist as Egor Koraxin (Administrator of our "Food for the Poor" program) gave the call- it was as if Jesus crucified was right there in front of us. More souls. These are some of the most hopeless and forsaken people in the land, incurable in many cases, sent away to die, hungry or starving, often terribly alcoholic as well. Only God seems to care about them.
Meanwhile…
In other parts of the country our first two traveling evangelists, Uncle Yuri (Our son John's future Father-in-law) and Uncle Boris traveled the land in their old Zhigoli, vintage Soviet, hard-not-to-laugh-at car. They visited 2 villages: over 50 were saved along with many notable healings and answers to prayer. It was only their first week on the road; it got better, more on their adventures in this letter.
The end of that week…
Sunday again. The end of worship takes a turn in a unique way to lead sinners forward to repent, Stage fills up with 30 or more first time commitments, then suddenly believers as well rush forward to repent
of alcoholism, immorality and spiritism, criticism and judgment and so on, crying and repenting!
All the while…
The same week the Gospel was preached by one home group at a crippled veteran's hospital. Instead of being hard old communists as expected, there were many hungry and open hearts, many accepting Christ for the first time. While in another part of town, the teenage girls home groups were taking the Gospel to the women's ward at the Cancer Hospital where the young lady evangelists said they never have seen such hunger and openness! Now they are visiting the men as well.
What can we say? GLORY TO GOD!!! For everything.
Too much of a good thing… is a GOOD thing!
God is giving the increase in every area right now. You could pray for me (Bill) as I need to give oversight in more and more areas, while still trying to be available as a pastor, and be ready to go through all the doors of opportunity that open to us to preach the Gospel. I am being stretched but not complaining, revivals do not last forever and we want to make the most of the opportunity.
Everything is increasing:
The church doubled in size last year, with a large percentage of that coming from Alpha according to our research.
With the "Food for the Poor" program we are now feeding over 1000 people per month, along with 2 hospitals, and a hot meal program just starting for the street kids.
Every month we are sending out more men and women we have trained to preach.
Healings are increasing in general and miracles in particular.
People are even finding work in answer to prayer. People here often consider it a greater miracle to get a decent job or an apartment to live in than to get a healing.
Our Praise and Worship recording is now the most popular in all the cities where it has been distributed. We are working on a new recording of all new songs right now. Too bad this does not make money here like it would in the US; we are doing it at a loss just so there will be new worship for all the multitudes coming to Christ in all the Russian-speaking countries. Hopefully we will get an English version recorded this time to give all of you a chance to hear some of this new genre of praise. We have even received invitations to Russian-speaking churches in Israel through our worship tapes and conference videos.
The "Home for the Homeless" has "graduated" many people into self-sustaining lifestyles and fruitfulness in the Lord. But more come to us all the time. We are praying for a larger building, maybe even a dormitory or apartment building. We also need workers in this area of ministry, as it is very difficult.
The New Baby…
Just like any family gets excited about the new baby, we are excited about the newest ministry developing in our midst, sending out the men and women we have been discipling for the last few years and seeing the incredible results. I am itching to tell you about it. We felt God was saying to do it, but we had no idea it would be so fantastic.
Let's focus on the oldest pair we call Uncle Yuri and Uncle Bori, they have been having quite a time. We used to call them the Doctors, because so many people got healed when they prayed for the sick. We decided to send them into the villages because Yuri is one of the only people in the church with a car. We had a few places in mind that we thought had potential, so we sent them off with of prayer and fasting and a blessing. The first day out 31 people repented and prayed to receive Jesus, 14 at one stop. The next day in another village 24 came to Christ. After that it got better. All told in one month and ten days over 500 people repented in various villages. "The fields are white unto harvest." Their average is just under 100 people a week repenting. They also go to hospitals as well as villages.
At the first stop, an old woman came to them bent over and only able to walk with the aid of two sticks. Our brothers said, "silver and Gold have we none, but such as we have we give you, in the name of Jesus, rise up." She rose up, threw away the sticks and has been walking uprightly ever since.
Another woman asked for pray for her son who threw her out of her house and she was on the streets. When they came back in a week she came to meet them, proclaiming how here son had completely changed and the family was restored.
As they were leaving one village they saw a man in the rear-view mirror chasing their car. They stopped, and found out he had been chasing them because he had heard what they were doing and wanted to be saved.
Every time I talk with these guys it is thrilling.
They said one of the things that has surprised them is just how open people are right now. They said, nearly every time they talk with people about the love of God, the people just begin to weep. They hardly have to convince people to come to Christ, people are anxious to do so, and then anxiously await their return to teach them more about the way of life.
Glory, Glory, Glory to God for His unspeakable gift..
Oops…
Although we are really proud of our evangelists, we have to admit they are not perfect. One of them prayed for a lady who had one leg a lot shorter than the other, and it grew out too long! When they saw her again the following week, she said that she needed more prayer because the leg grew out and did not stop growing until it was longer than the other one. So then he prayed for the other leg, and it grew out to catch up with the first one they had prayed for. Now her legs are equal and she is a lot taller. Does God have a sense of humor?
So far they have only been kicked out of one village.
After they go into a village and people are saved, they go back within a week to those same places and start to gather the people into small groups like home groups, usually in the yard of one of the new converts. They go back week after week nurturing them and teaching them, in time starting home groups and developing leaders.
All the signs and wonders as well as the Gospel draws new people every time they go back. They have had so many healings and miracles I cannot even begin to tell them here. I get such a kick out of hearing these guy's reports, it is like Gospel history in the making
Lights shining in every city village and town.
I can see the day coming when we have people all over the country; lights shining in every city village and town. If you want to help just let us know, these two men still do not have regular support, nor do most of the other men and women we are sending.
We are still in need of finances for the people who preach in the city, and those who minister to the street children as well as more food for the poor and medicines for those who do not receive healing through prayer.
We are deeply in need of greater financial support if we want to capitalize on this time of opportunity. The spiritual hunger is awesome right now in the areas God is leading us. As I said in the last letter, if we can raise a small amount for each man and woman we have trained, we can send them into the harvest full-time. Plus we need to cover the expenses of outreach. Just gas and car repairs alone runs into quite a bit every month. We just had some breakdowns because we could not afford to do preventative maintenance on time. So this is a great opportunity for many of you to have a share in the end-time harvest in fields you could not go to yourself, and to store up your treasure in Heaven as Jesus told us to do. When you realize that every investment at this "kairos" moment translates into many souls saved for eternity it is thrilling. You can have a part in this. Others have planted and watered and God is giving the increase, NOW! If we miss this opportunity we will regret it forever.
Let's all do all we can while we can.
As Spurgeon said, "Oh that God would saturate us through and through with an undying zeal for the souls of men."
May the wonderful grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you, and may He bless you and increase you in every way, but most of all in your fellowship with Him. Amen
Love in Christ,
Bill and Joanie Lynch
P.S. Sorry there are no pictures. We found out we cannot yet send them via E-mail from here yet. We are working on that problem, so you can see some photos.
Bill and Joanie
Lynch can be reached by e-mail at:
gospel@kharkov.ua
gforth@gforth.kharkov.ua
bill.lynch@go-forth.net
Donations and correspondence can be sent to:
Go Forth Ministries
PO Box 26863
Salt Lake City, UT 84126
(801) 972-0420
Bill and Joanie Lynch
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