December 3-5th we held our annual conference on the shores of the Black Sea about 25 miles North of Odessa. This is always an exciting conference for us as we gather our bible school directors from all over Eurasia for 3 days of fellowship, learning and encouragement. This year proved to be our biggest conference yet with about 35 attending. In fact, we had representatives from 5 different countries! 
Our guest speaker this year, Christian Bastke, came to us from Germany. Although he is Germany, thankfully, he speaks English so Christina was apple to translate for him. He shared with us principles of how Christ taught his disciples. He also encouraged us by sharing what believers are doing in Africa and China where he has recently traveled.
Every year we take time to find out exactly how many students we have studying in local bible schools. I was a pleasantly shocked this year to find that the number of students had grown by around 25% in just one year!
Currently we have about 300 students studying in our local bible schools in addition to the 35 who are studying at the ITC (International Training Center) in Odessa! We have 11 schools in Ukraine, 4 in Russia and 2 in Moldova for a total of 17 schools. These schools in combination with the ITC are actively training servants from about 45 different churches in 3 different countries! Please praise God with us for this encouraging increase in students and schools!
Of course, those are just numbers but what they represent is, indeed, very encouraging. In a day when churches seem to be “dying out” how refreshing it is to see the faces of many students who are eager to learn God’s Word and to serve in their local congregations! I personally came away from our conference with a revitalized view of what God is doing through the Body of Christ in Eurasia. It is truly a great privilege to have a small part in it.
Please pray for our local bibles school directors that God would give them the wisdom and strength they need to lead their schools effectively.
