This is the name of a cargo ship that was docked across from us in Odessa.
How fitting a name for us to see both mornings in Odessa.
It has been a Splendid Harvest these past 12 days in Ukraine.
With all praise to the Father for what He has done in the hearts and lives of so many here in Ukraine, we announce that our records indicated 4,567 people responded to the invitation to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Our best guess and estimate is that as many as 10,600 attended one of the 11 concerts across the country.
A constant theme this week has been “How Great Is Our God”. Not only just a song that we sing, but truly our statement of faith and belief. And for many of us (this blog writer for sure) it has opened our eyes to how little we really believe that. Only a great and mighty God, that loves us so much, can orchestrate and pull off what has taken place in this place.
As we closed out last night on the ship, we paused in the Sky Bar and gave thanks to God and thanked many others. Our time has come to an end and we are sad to leave this place and the people we have met.
We know that it is not about just counting numbers and that number represents real people. Only God knows the full increase. And in the weeks and months to come, we pray that number only increases as the seed that has been planted takes root.
We were faithful to exalt Jesus and we claim His promise that He will draw all men unto Him when we do that.
This trip was so multi-faceted that it took many many people to accomplish it. We would be remiss if we did not thank a few people here.
Don Blackley & John Bell, our director and Past President of SMOT, have tirelessly worked on this for over three years.
Michael and Jan Gott. The Singing Men of Texas are indeed blessed to have joined in partnership with these two giants of faith. Jan worked as our travel agent and chief of all details. Michael challenged us each morning and was our spiritual anchor.
The Gott Ukraine Team. We worked alongside some amazing students & young adults who are Ukrainian Christians. They worked day and night and some times all night long to be our support staff in so many ways. They were our bus captains, interpreters, sound techs, and so many other things.
Our Mission Partners. This was a first for Singing Men to invite others besides our wives to go alongside of us. They helped pay for the ship charter, they loaded and unloaded support material. They taught English classes, they greeted, they prayed. What an amazing group of people we had with us on this trip. They freed us up to just concentrate on singing and presenting the gospel in song. We could not have done a trip of this magnitude with out them. We are grateful.
And to our prayer partners back home and wherever in the world you are reading this from. From the outset the goal was to have 10,000 people praying. Only God knows if we reached that or not, but without your fervent prayer to the Father, none of this would happen. Thank you for praying for us and encouraging us with your comments here on the blog. Many of the men will read them after we get back and it will bring blessing to their lives.
As we settle in for our final night here in Ukraine, we are tired but our hearts are stirred to what God has done. We return back to our churches with a renewed passion to reach others for Christ.
Pray for our safe travel on three flights back to the USA. The first group leaves in a few hours on a 5:35 a.m. flight via Frankfurt and arrives home tomorrow. The other two groups will depart mid morning and fly via Amsterdam and London overnight and arrive home on Saturday.
On a personal note, It has been my honor to write this blog for the trip. Thanks to all for the kind words and notes of encouragement. I don’t consider myself a writer, but simply wanted to communicate back home what God was doing and to let you know what to pray for next. I hope in some small way, God has used this to help you experience this wonderful experience.
God Bless
Derrel Thompson,
Treasurer and Blogger for Singing Men of North Central Texas
