And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ.                -  Ephesians 4:11-12

From July 27 until August 7, we had our 48th Precept Training Institute in Cupcini for pastors and leaders. Seventy-five leaders from Moldova and Ukraine attended. The training was on a Precept “Lord” study titled, “Lord, give me a heart for You,” based on the Second Epistle to Corinthians. We also studied the subject of Pastoral Work, taught by Dr. Brett Howell.

Precept Training Institute classes in Cupcini

Because we do not have facilities for classes at our church in Cupcini, we rented a local public school’s gymnasium where we moved chairs and desks from several classes to accommodate the room. It made a very large classroom for study with enough light and air. New people joined the training almost every day. Since we had people from different churches, countries and nationalities, you could hear students speak in several languages – Russian, Romanian, Ukrainian and English. But this did not hinder the communication; everybody was glad to be with their brothers and sisters and to spend time in God’s Word.

Dr. Brett Howell teaching

Here are some testimonies from our students:

Prascovia: “I understood that I need to pray regularly for my pastor and to start a correspondence counseling ministry.”

Dima shared that he does not have fear of starting a Bible study group any more.

Ruslan learned how to overcome trials and difficulties in life, and what it means to be adequate for ministry.

Vasile: “During this training I learned to work as a team with everybody that stayed at our place. I learned that I need to come first to God when I need comfort.”

Ecaterina decided to start serving God through giving and teaching.

Nelly wants to spend more time with God, studying His Word and share with other the comfort God gives her.

Dmitrii: “I got experience in preparing teaching plans for the lessons and got boldness to proclaim His Word to other people”.

During Institute classes

Olga can’t wait to put into practice what she has learned and to start teaching this course in the Bible study group she is planning to start in her home!

On the last day of the training, students took an exam and had to write a paper on courses they’ve studied: Second Corinthians and Pastoral ministry. God’s Word touched the hearts of students: When they came to the training, they were leading 22 home Bible study groups with 116 people in seven localities, and after the training they decided to start 50 Bible studies and teach 163 people in 10 cities and villages. Praise the Lord!

The training lasted two weeks, but time flew by very fast as we learned God’s eternal truths. The last day was a sad one when everybody had to leave and go back to his city or village. But the goal of the training was for every student to take God’s Word and proclaim it in his or her locality and to organize a Precept Bible study group to teach the course that was taught at the training. For the next training, in January 2010, we expect these students to return with their disciples!

The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.                                                                2 Timothy 2:2

James, Precept

Our first experience of learning about Precept Ministries International was about 20 years ago when Precept’s European directors, Mia and Costel Oglice came to Moldova for the first time and stayed in our home.

Mia and Costel led trainings for pastors and lay people at our church in the city of Balti, teaching men and women how to study the Bible inductively. Several years later, they became our teachers that disciple us and gave us many opportunities to minister to other people in our country as well as in many other countries. Our partnership with Precept Ministries International was a great blessing for us as we were able to assist our trainers in organizing conferences and training institutes in different cities and countries.

Svetlana and I recently went to Sacramento, CA to teach at a Precept Training Institute for leaders in Russian-speaking churches in the area. In Sacramento alone, there are more than 80 Russian churches that are in great need of Bible study training workshops. We were glad to be able to help.

The training was advertized to all the Russian churches in the city and on several Russian radio stations. The Third Slavic Baptist Church hosted the event and received people from other churches for the training. We were moved by the hospitality of Vladimir Troshin, pastor of this young and growing congregation that brought all his youth participants to the training. The young Russian generation faces difficult challenges in the U.S. Most of the parents do not speak English, and most of the youth do not speak Russian. The gap between generations is unbelievable and we could feel it during our training in the Russian language in order to reach the older generation.

We taught the book of James verse by verse, and almost every day of the two-week training we had more and more new people joining. Some of them traveled hundreds of miles every day to attend the training. All of them invited us to come back and do more training for them. While working on the Precept study we had to accomplish two tasks: first, teach them how to fill in the study book, and second, teach them how to organize and lead a home Bible study on the same book.

It was great to see many of our friends from Moldova who have moved to the United States years ago and share what God is doing in Moldova these days. At this training, we also followed up with people from other countries, like Ukraine, Russia and Uzbekistan and encouraged them to continue to learn God’s Word preach it to many that do not know Him in the United States. We pray God will bring a rich harvest though the growth of His Word in the hearts of these dear men and women who need God’s direction and wisdom for their lives and churches.

Precept Ministries International Campus

With great joy we received an invitation to attend the Training Institute for Leaders at Precept Ministries International in Chattanooga, TN. It is always a refreshing time for us and an opportunity to charge our spiritual batteries. From March 4-14, we studied the book of Numbers taught by our trainers and Eurasian Directors for Precept Ministries, Mia and Costel Oglice.

We studied about Israel’s passage through the wilderness, Moses’ endurance and leadership, God’s protection and provision, and how these truths are to be applied to our lives and ministries. It is always a great encouragement to get to spend time with our friends and co-workers from other countries, like Russia, Poland, Romania, Moldova, Tajikistan, Syria, Egypt and others. Everyone has a personal story of how God is using Precept in their lives and ministry. Over the years of partnering in the Gospel, strong relationships were built around the Word of God and the training we received strengthened our unity and support for each other in prayer.

A special blessing for us was to attend Kay Arthur’s lectures on Tuesday mornings when she records TV programs at the auditorium. About 500 men and women drive to Precept Ministries’ campus to attend this weekly event and to be fed spiritually from the Word of God. Some drive several hundreds of miles every week to attend the study of the Word.

Also, we were one by one invited to cut a video program with the testimonies about the work in the Eurasia department of Precept Ministries. In this part of the world, the Word of God many times is proclaimed in difficult circumstances, but nothing can stop the preaching of the Gospel, like we read in Paul’s second letter to his disciple, Timothy, chapter two, verse nine:  “God’s word is not chained.”

Once again, we heard incredible stories of how our brothers and sisters were able to stay strong in the face of persecution and threats and boldly proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ because they know their God and His promises.

Every evening of our stay at Precept Ministries’ headquarters we met with different Precept friends and staff who surrounded us with love and care. We were touched by some ladies who drove considerable distances in order to help us with anything needed during the training. Other people prepared meals for us and brought breakfast, lunch and dinner. We saw God’s love in action, flowing from the hearts of these precious children of God who love His Word and love us, his people.

Every single time we attend the Precept Training Institute, we leave with a stronger desire to study the Word of God and to share it with others as God opens the door. And we can’t wait to teach the book of Numbers in our churches and Bible study groups!

From January 2-11, we had two Precept Leadership Training Institute sessions in Cupcini. God blessed us with 34 students from seven cities across the country. Young and older, men and women, Russian and Romanian speaking – all of these were united by a passion for the Word of God and the desire to tell everyone.

Lessons started early in the morning and went until late afternoon. They studied in class, and everybody was studying at home till late at night. The next morning everybody was in class, joyful and ready to start another day’s journey through the Bible in order to know his or her Savior in a more personal way.

We taught two different courses. The Russian speaking group studied the Gospel of John, Part Two, that covered chapters 12-21, and they also learned how to study a difficult subject in the Bible. The Romanian speaking group studied the book of James and Homiletics, and each student learned how to study a passage, prepare a sermon and then deliver a message. Two trainers taught in different groups: Pastor Vasile Sanduleac from Balti taught the Romanian speaking group and Pastor Vasile Rusnac from Chisinau taught the Russian speaking group.

Because our church building is not finished, we had to rent two classrooms at a local high school. We thank God for not just opening the door for classrooms for us but also for opening the school leaders’ hearts toward helping us in the ministry of training God’s people and establishing them in God’s Word so that they will know Him and will know how to live accordingly.

Since we do not have a dormitory facility, each student who was not from Cupcini stayed with local families, and we are so thankful to God for every family that received a student or two or even three for the period of training, giving them a place to stay, providing food for them and many times helping the students with their homework every evening. It is truly a blessing to see the unity of Christ’s body working toward the goal of knowing Him and getting the Gospel into every village and home in Moldova.

At the end of the training during the midweek church service in Cupcini, every student shared with the body of believers his or her personal testimony on how God was at work in his or her heart during the Training Institute. The church was filled with church members and guests eager to hear of God’s work in our days. It was a great time of building the faith and encouragement for the ones who had opened their home to students from other cities of Moldova.

Every Precept Training Institute involves a practical assignment when students go door-to-door and teach at least one lesson that they have studied in class. It helps them to catch the vision to do the same in their own cities and villages and to start home Bible studies when they will teach the whole course they studied at Training. As a result, many went home and started more than one study group, and people were saved and wanting to join our churches or form a church if there was none in their city, which was often the case. After this training, God put on the hearts of the students from both groups to start new Bible study groups in their cities where local people will come to study God’s Word right in their own neighborhoods.

Please pray that God will move in a powerful way through our students as they boldly proclaim the Gospel and start new home Precept Bible Studies, and pray that people will be saved and join the church.