August 5, 2025 • 38 mins
Pastor Chad reconnects with Sergei from Moldova in a fascinating conversation that bridges continents and ministry approaches. Currently in the midst of a seven-week visit to America, Sergei shares how Moldovan churches are pioneering a relational approach to discipleship that challenges our efficiency-driven Western models.
The discussion takes a deep dive into the transformative power of personal mentorship over mass programming. "I don't think these curriculums can beat personal discipleship," Sergei reflects, describing how intentional relationships have produced spiritual fruit throughout his ministry. This resonates powerfully against the backdrop of what Pastor Chad identifies as America's obsession with efficiency – often sacrificing depth for breadth.
A particularly moving segment explores how mission partnerships function as two-way streets. When Western churches visit Moldova thinking they have everything to offer, they're surprised to discover themselves receiving as much encouragement as they give. This mutual exchange represents authentic partnership that transcends the outdated donor-recipient model.
Sergei also unpacks Moldova's changing landscape regarding Ukrainian refugees, with numbers decreasing as many have either adapted to conflict or moved further into Europe. More pressing is the exodus of Moldova's youth, with approximately 50% seeking opportunities elsewhere. In response, Kishinev Bible Church has set an ambitious goal of raising 500 new leaders to ensure ministry continuity.
Whether you're interested in cross-cultural ministry, leadership development, or simply understanding how God works across national boundaries, this conversation will challenge and inspire you. How might your approach to discipleship shift if relationship took precedence over efficiency? What could true partnership look like in your mission engagement?
Visit our website at www.fbcboerne.org for more stories, information, and service times.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey everybody.
Thank you so much for tuning intoday.
This is Pastor Chad and we'regoing to have a guest today.
He's going to be our secondtime Sergei, from Moldova.
I hope that you enjoy.
Welcome to FBC Missions so thatPodcast.
This is an encouraging place tohear how God is working in and
around us.
We know that he blesses Hispeople so that they can bless
(00:22):
the world around them.
Join us as we discuss how tojoin God in all that he is doing
.
Why is God working in our life,church and community?
It's so that, through us, theworld will know that he is
needed.
All right, so glad that youjoined us today on the podcast.
This is Pastor Chad, and I'm soglad that you guys have joined
(00:45):
us and that you're listeningtoday.
It's going to be a greatpodcast.
I have my friend in the studiowith me.
Sergei, how are you, my friend?
Speaker 2 (00:52):
I'm doing well.
Thank you for inviting me again.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Hey, it's so great to have you back and I'm excited
to see and hear what's going onwith you and our listeners as
well.
So, uh, so, yeah, gosh, here weare, almost a year later.
Uh, you have your family it waslike yesterday.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
It was like yesterday .
Speaker 1 (01:11):
It goes by so fast these days.
Well, real quick, tell us, uh,how long have you been in the
united states now?
Speaker 2 (01:16):
so, uh, we came here the first week of may, so we've
been here a little over fiveweeks.
Okay, almost ready to go back.
It's a, I guess, bittersweetfeeling, because I mean, we see
a lot of friends here that wedon't normally see, sure.
And we have seen some that wehaven't seen in about three,
(01:36):
four years, so it was nice tocatch up with some people.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Yeah, awesome.
So it's going to be a long,almost two-month trip that you
guys are here in the US.
About Awesome.
So it's going to be a longalmost two-month trip that you
guys are here in the US Aboutseven weeks and you've got to go
to different parts.
What places have you guys beenable to visit?
Speaker 2 (01:49):
We've been in Texas, of course, colorado and Arizona.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
The difference is, you have to say, the great state
of Texas.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Yeah, I'm sorry, I apologize to my listeners.
No, no, no.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Well, those are beautiful states, Arizona and
Colorado.
They've got some amazing placesas well.
So what were you doing in thoseplaces?
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Visiting with churches or Just reconnecting
with some churches.
There were two churches thatare interested in making a trip
to Moldova in 2026.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
In Arizona one church decided they're going to send
some spies to Moldova first tospy us out, to spy the land, the
vision trips.
And that's what I've beentelling people If you're going
to send a team to Moldova, justsend a couple of people so that
they will just come and see whatwe do, join us in some of the
projects and come back andreport what's going on, and then
(02:45):
maybe this might create theinterest of more people coming
to Moldova.
So in Colorado we had theprivilege of joining the
conference at the SummitMinistries which is an
(03:09):
apologetics conference whichtrains teenagers and young
people how to defend their faithbefore they go to college and
how to battle the lies andheresies in this world today.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Yeah, that's a major focus in a lot of places.
I think all the statistics talkabout how many believers walk
away from their faith when theywalk away from their church, so,
if they go to college, if theyhave to move, and so, yeah,
trying to build a foundationthat helps students stay
connected to their faith evenwhen they're far from maybe
(03:39):
their foundations right, thefoundational place or the people
that help form that faith, andoftentimes they struggle, yeah,
so so, um, trying to give peoplethis, this theological base.
Uh, I've seen a lot about kindof worldview training we're
talking about how do you helppeople form a worldview that
puts christ at the center?
Um, so that, of course,whenever their world changes,
(04:02):
their worldview doesn't right,and, uh, and that's an
interesting conversation kind,kind of very similar in aspects
there.
So anything that you took awayfrom that conference, that just
was surprising.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
I guess it was a good review on the worldviews.
I saw some practical approachesto worldviews.
Because of my, I guess,educational background,
sometimes I need to remindmyself okay, I'm not teaching
PhD professors or something likethat, so it has to be practical
(04:34):
.
You have to lower your leveland just teach with a good
application.
So that was that, and welearned something new about how
to train kids, how to kind ofsee which way to take your child
(04:58):
, because they are smart indifferent ways.
And there was a lady calledKathy Cook.
She's a, she has doctorate ineducation, kids education, and
(05:18):
she wrote a book called eightgreat smarts.
So and it just basically likeis your child the nature smart?
Is your child word smart, logicsmart?
and things like that sure so itkind of revealed to us, uh, as
parents you know, kind of westarted observing our kids a
little better to see which waywe can direct them, you know,
(05:42):
and help them grow yeah, well,this is really interesting.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
I, when I when I think about how the modern
church approaches things likediscipleship, you know, we
typically have really, um,efficiency measures kind of in
place.
Like the idea is, how do youdisciple the most people with, I
don't want to say the leastamount of work, but to some
degree that's kind of how youmeasure efficiency.
(06:07):
Right is like uh and and thatmodel I I think efficiency is
one of the core values of theamerican system like we, uh, we,
we, we, at every level, uh, areconcerned with whether what
we're doing is efficient and uh,and anyway, I could get into
all kinds of weird stuff on it.
But, especially in the life ofthe church, oftentimes we
(06:32):
sacrifice personal interaction,or maybe like relationship, for
efficiency.
So, you know, you might thinklike this we have a really great
preacher, so we try to build achurch that can get the most
amount of people to hear hissermons, right and uh.
And then, beyond that, we haveour multimedia atmosphere that
(06:54):
can even exponentially increasehow many people he can speak to,
and uh, and it's great becausehe's a great communicator, he
can, you know, share the word ofGod and he inspires people, um,
and so, like this goes back Imean probably early on.
You're talking about BillyGraham crusade level stuff,
early 1900s.
Um, you know, 1920s, thirties,when you start to see public, um
(07:17):
, mass, mass, mass communicationmethods, uh, that efficiency
drive begins to shift how we doeverything.
So, even like a discipleshipconcept starts with a
discipleship class or a course.
You know, when you look at theNew Testament you don't see the
(07:40):
class or course or even like achurch service the way that we,
definitely not in a podcast or aYouTube channel, all those
things that we use now to get somany people access.
But the focus in the NewTestament, of course, is on this
relationship, and oftentimesit's in small scale one on three
, one on five, one on 12.
You know Jesus discipling 12disciples.
(08:01):
We know that there's 72.
We know that there's morebeyond that.
But you see the crowds, the4,000, the 5,000, they weren't
disciples, they were just peoplewho were hearing.
And so I wonder how often we'vesacrificed that relationship.
So when you talk about theseeight different forms of
people's maybe learning style,or understanding style.
(08:21):
you think that discipleshipshould be done in a way that
could be modified for eachperson's particular need and
that makes it extremelycumbersome, right?
I can't just design a class for40 people and call it
discipleship.
I have to find out how doesSergei learn and how do I help
him grow my child, how do I helpthem grow in ways that are
(08:44):
unique to their learning style,their capacity, the way that
God's made them, and all thosekind of things.
So, yeah, it's really exciting.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
You know, I talked to several pastors and I think I
read an article about it, but alot of people are actually
talking about coming back topersonal discipleship.
I'm glad you mentioned that,because this is Probably the
best way.
I mean, we sometimes we getvery deep, we try to create
something new, we try to createnew curriculums and things like
(09:15):
that, but I don't think personaldiscipleship, I don't think
these curriculums can beatpersonal discipleship, and it's
more work.
It actually requires you tolisten to your disciples.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
You know it's not a single stream one direction.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
It's going to be more efficient, for sure.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
Yeah, so it's not just the mentor speaking to the
mentee, it's a relationship, itgoes both ways, and I shared
this example.
We just got back from a missiontrip.
We went to Turkey and Republicof Georgia, and one of the
things that I mentioned as aresponse to that trip was we
went there to encourage.
But oftentimes, if you're likeus Americans, we tend to go on
(10:01):
mission trips thinking that wehave so much to give to the
place that we're going to serve,and what surprises us sometimes
is we get there and we receiveas much as we can give, like the
people there teach us and welearn from them.
We hear their hearts, we heartheir testimonies and encourages
our hearts as well.
So one of the things I said iswe go to encourage them but we
come back even more encouragedthan we think what we can give,
(10:24):
and that shouldn't be surprisingright, it shouldn't be, but
that's kind of the way we think.
We think like, oh, we have allthis to offer.
I want to go take it to someonewho needs it, only to get there
and realize that, while theyappreciate our investment,
they're also investing in us andit's so meaningful and I think
it's a really healthy thing.
(10:45):
I think it's probably nothealthy that we don't
necessarily understand that allof our great things are not
necessarily what the world needs.
What they need is arelationship.
They need a friend, they needsomeone who can listen to them
as well.
And so, yeah, there's thisbilateral relationship both
sides investing in the other.
You know, you're coming fromMoldova and you have a PhD.
(11:09):
What's your PhD?
Speaker 2 (11:10):
You're working on it.
I'm working on my PhD.
I'm in the proposal stage rightnow.
My PhD is in leadership studies, leadership studies.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
That's incredible.
I'm looking, I've started adoctoral program.
I'm going to transition, Ithink, into the PhD program, but
it's on multiplication andchurch planting, and so I'm
really excited about that aswell.
Lots of work, lots of work andlots of studying.
There's a lot of research inall of these things.
So, anyway, I'm really excitedto see that and I love getting
(11:45):
to walk alongside you.
One of the things I love aboutyou and Eugene and the guys in
Moldova is that you guys havestudied hard in your 30 years of
faith and, in many ways, you'vesurpassed so many people who
probably brought their faith toyou guys.
And so when we talk about ourpartnership in Moldova, it's not
(12:05):
just some guys over there whoare loving Jesus and trying to
make him known, but you'releading a large church.
Uh, you guys have a Bibleseminary.
You have a youth camp, like youhave a very strong, healthy
environment where people aregrowing close to God and
training leaders who areengaging, uh, your country in
many different ways and uh, andso when I see what you guys are
(12:28):
doing, I feel like we have verylittle to bring to you.
There's a lot of ways we canpartner, but you're doing the
same thing.
We're doing Like you haveVacation, bible Schools, you
have all these different eventsgoing on during the summer.
You have a large leadershipteam in your church and so we
get to come participate in whatGod's doing, but we're not
bringing you things you don'tknow we're coming and learning
(12:50):
from you, and so you guys get tobe our….
Speaker 2 (12:50):
You do bring things we don't know.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
I mean, you create a program you make it a little
easier for us, sure.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
And, like you said, mission Trip is a two-way street
, so it's good for both of us.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Well, I'm not saying we don't need it or that you
don't need it.
We come.
We come alongside you aspartners, not as a.
We're not pioneering, we're noteven parenting, we're not
telling you what you should do.
We're just coming along sayinghow can we serve you and you
guys can help.
We can help.
Honestly, you guys could comedo the same thing here.
If you guys came and served inour vacation Bible school, it
would be very encouraging to usand it'd be so neat to have, uh,
(13:23):
our Moldovan brothers involvedas well, others involved as well
.
So that's super exciting.
Well, let's shift a little bit.
I want to hear a little bitwhat God's doing in Moldova.
So I haven't been there in ayear.
We were there last summer.
We looked through some of theprayer requests that we had at
the end of our podcast last yearand just kind of thinking
(13:43):
through where we were, and oneof the things that we were
talking about was disciplemaking, and I think you just
said personal discipleship.
Um, so so I just have aquestion for you how, how has
that in a year, has there beenany adjustment, uh, to how you
guys are making disciples there?
Speaker 2 (13:59):
well, um, uh, I personally I'll speak for myself
I've been with several people.
uh, I have been meeting withseveral people during the year
and people just come and theywant to grow spiritually.
So, uh, I have been meetingwith several people during the
year and people just come andthey want to grow spiritually.
So I just talk to him andlisten to them and see which
areas they want to grow and thenwe just, uh, read god's word
(14:20):
together and I try to direct him, uh, I guess at my best ability
, but it's it.
But it's been pretty good.
I know there are many people inour ministry who meet with
other people on a regular basis,at least once a week, and train
(14:41):
them, mentor them, disciplethem, and I just won't give you
the list of people that I knowthat are doing that.
So that's been something goodand we're trying to instill it
in our seminary program as wellmentorship and discipling and
(15:03):
I've seen some great outcomeswith some people, and, of course
, you cannot force it.
So I think the best way is whena person actually comes up to
you and says can you mentor me,can you?
Speaker 1 (15:18):
disciple me.
Yeah, of course.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
And that's actually it's a big privilege.
I feel very blessed whensomeone comes up to me because I
know I didn't deserve it, butit's a way for me to learn as
well how to disciple and itshows me a need to be discipled
(15:42):
as well, to continue beingdiscipled by other people, and I
praise God for the mentors Ihave in my life to whom I can go
anytime and get a correction inlife, and I know they will tell
me the things that they are inreality.
(16:03):
They're not going to lie to me.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Yeah, those are great people to have in your life,
people that can give you anhonest assessment of what they
see and how they see it.
Well, that's awesome.
One of the things we prayed forlast year as well was kind of
the Ukrainian conflict and howmany refugees were still going
through Moldova.
How has that changed in thelast year?
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Well, we have less, definitely less, refugees in the
city.
Officially we have about 60,000right now in the city.
Many of them have relatives,many are businessmen, so the
need is not as great, but westill see refugees who are still
in some refugee centers.
(16:51):
We do help some refugees in thenorth and in the south of
Moldova.
So we continue working withthem, bringing the gospel to
them in the first place and thenalso attending to their needs.
So we bring them groceries, youknow, and just continue
conversations with them.
The church in the north ofMoldova, in the city of Orkhe,
(17:15):
started as a refugee center, butnow it's 50-50, Moldovan and
Ukrainian people and many ofthem pray to receive Christ and
as they talk about church theysay it's our church.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
So yeah, yeah ownership over there yeah, we
visited the church and got tomeet a lot of those people in
person last year and, uh, wecontinue to think about them and
pray for them.
Um, how, where do people go,like, if, uh, if the number of
refugees is down?
Have they gone back to ukraineor have they gone into europe?
Some?
Speaker 2 (17:48):
of them went back to ukraine and some of them went to
Europe.
So I mean, I guess they haverelatives now all over the world
and they just try to go whereit's safe.
A lot of people who went backto Ukraine have adjusted to the
(18:10):
new reality.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Yeah, the new normal is living in conflict.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
And they just continue their lives.
I mean, we have people who aretrying to work on the church
plant in Ukraine.
So just talking to the pastorsright now they're very
interested in the, in thepartnership with the moldovan
church, um, but they just dowhat, what they have to do.
They uh continue sharing thegospel over there and continue
(18:42):
helping people around them yeah,I feel like the first year
there was a lot of fear.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
People were kind of fleeing the country, but then,
after they're out of the countryfor so long, they're like well,
we have homes, we have to goback to our homes, we have
property, we got to go back andeven though the danger persists,
there's really no option justto become permanent migrants.
And so a lot of people havegone back to Ukraine, wondering
(19:08):
and not knowing what the futureholds, but knowing that they
don't want to be away from theirhomes permanently.
So this still continues to be amajor focus of global prayer
for peace in Ukraine, for thepeople of Ukraine.
Many are believers.
There's a strong contingent ofChristians in the country and,
(19:30):
of course, there's movements toshare Christ among them.
And so if you're listeningtoday and you haven't really
thought about that, just thinkabout how the Lord continues to
move in the hearts of thosepeople who are living in a war
zone, some of the insecuritythey have to deal with and some
of the things that they'retrusting God for.
(19:51):
But we heard the same thing inthe Republic of Georgia, huge
numbers, I mean half a millionUkrainians two years ago, and
it's down to that 100,000 or200,000 nationwide, and so there
is a decrease.
Like you said, a lot of themhave gone into Europe looking
for permanent positions and jobs.
That's really the youngpopulation.
The older population hasproperty, they have homes, they
(20:13):
have jobs, they have lives inUkraine and they don't want to
abandon them completely, so alot of them have gone back into
Ukraine.
Well, man, that's a big shiftover the last year.
So what are the things that youguys are thinking about right
now?
What are you praying for andthinking about for this coming
year?
For KBC Church, kishinev BibleChurch and the seminary there?
(20:36):
What are you guys lookingforward to?
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Well, we're looking forward to successful projects
where we can meet new people,share Christ with them.
We're working on new people.
We're advertising the seminarynow to have new enrollment for
(21:00):
the seminary.
So please pray for that.
Please pray for the summeroutreach we've.
I think we're having a secondteam in Moldova right now and I
just saw some videos of peopleworking in the neighborhood
where our church is.
(21:20):
They got a couple of bouncyhouses.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Yeah, of course.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
And lots of kids People, of course, and lots of
kids people are very interested.
It's funny how people liveclose to our church and there
are still some that have no ideawe have church.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
They don't even know you're there.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Right there.
So it's a big praise.
So just praying for open heartsand open minds to receive the
gospel.
Also, I'm working on someadditional projects with some
people who are interested ininvesting their lives and
(22:06):
resources in Moldova.
So we're thinking and prayingabout creating a resource center
for all Moldovan churchesanywhere from intellectual
resources Bible studies,trainings that we could do but
(22:27):
also some physical resourceslike buy several bouncy houses,
buy a minivan, buy some physicalresources that could be shared
among the churches as well.
So please pray for that, forGod to give us wisdom.
And for the last one or twoyears, we've been praying about
(22:48):
Talking about multiplication.
We've been praying aboutraising new leaders for churches
.
So the goal is to raise 500 newleaders.
The immigration among the youngpeople is so high right now.
(23:09):
We have probably around 50% ofyoung people who just want to
leave Moldova, look for betterjobs and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
And they mostly look at Europe.
Kind of Europeans, yes for themost part.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
So you can pray for us that God gives us wisdom how
to create, maybe create jobs forthem, you know, just so that
they stay in Moldova andcontinue serving in their
churches.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
Yeah, that's a great thing.
I love the whole concept.
I mean, you and I have talkedquite a bit about multiplication
, so we can't unpack all of thathere on the podcast by any
means.
But I feel like the bottleneckis always leadership, like if
you can't grow the nextgeneration of leaders, then
(23:58):
you're destined to decrease.
It's just like.
The simple truth is, if wecan't engage, empower and
eventually release the nextgeneration to pursue what God's
called them to do, then as ourgeneration passes on, the work
that we're doing will pass onwith us.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
I think it happened to me about five years ago.
I was praying and I startedpraying about a new leader for
youth ministry so that I couldturn into someone before I get
too old.
So so I was, uh, uh, godprovided a person who I'm
(24:41):
training right now and, uh, he'spretty much uh, taken over.
He serves with me right now.
So I'm here, he serves,everything works and, um, that's
my goal for the next, I guess,five years to raise new leaders
that would slowly take over whatI do yeah and I'll just uh
enjoy teaching yeah enjoyraising new leaders and serve
(25:07):
God this way.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
Man, that sounds so good.
I have the same philosophy oftrying to raise up leaders, give
them access, the ability to dothe things I'm doing, and as
they build their own capacity,then I can transition into new
areas that need new attention,that need more attention.
But it's not always easy.
(25:29):
It's not always easy, andsometimes the leaders not
sometimes they always have theirown personality, their own
drive, their own dreams, and sothey're going to shift things a
little bit from what I want themto be, and I have to be okay
with that.
You know that's.
That's one of the challenges.
Well, hey, in our last fewminutes I want to just kind of
go a different direction and Ijust want to ask you, on the big
scale, big part, what excitesyou right now?
(25:52):
What's God doing in your heartthat makes you get excited?
Maybe it relates to the church,maybe it doesn't, and just be
interesting to hear what it isthat makes you get pumped up.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
I'm looking forward to serving in camps.
Camps have always excited me.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
So tell me, what do you mean when you say camps,
Youth camps?
Speaker 2 (26:11):
Yeah, youth camps, esl camps, apologetics camps.
I enjoy organizing these eventsand teaching there as well, and
just connecting with the youth.
Long time ago, I used to playcomputer games before kids were
(26:32):
born.
Once the kids were born, Ienjoyed my sleeping time.
But I would play sometimesovernight meeting people, and
then one time at the camp wecould not connect with a couple
of guys.
They were just were rebels.
And as we were talking, uhduring the free time, as we were
talking to someone, someoneasked me like how do what do I
(26:53):
do for fun?
And I said play computer games.
You know, I played, uh used toplay, counter-strike.
And one of the guys turnedaround and said what's your
nickname?
And I said Ezekiel, and I havea biblical nickname.
And he's like I know you, Iplay against you.
So that's how we connected andthen we became good friends
(27:15):
during the camp.
So that's the personalrelationship always excites me
If I can share my life, sharewhat Christ has done with me and
for me.
That always excites me.
Studying excites me a lot.
I've been studying for the last25 years and maybe I'll slow
(27:38):
down, We'll see.
My wife tells me I should slowdown a little bit.
But also teaching reallyexcites me as well.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
Yeah, that's exciting all around.
I just got back from this tripand it's so much I love history.
I always have loved history, Ithink when I was a kid I thought
I could be Indiana Jones oneday.
When I grew up, you know andfocus on archaeology.
Of course it's not just runningaround like the movies, but it
was the last few trips I've goneto turkey.
(28:07):
We go to these ancient places,ephesus, or this time we went to
laodicea, and then we flew overto georgia and in georgia we
visited even more ancient places.
You know, there's this, uh,cave city that we went to called
uplet sike, and uh, and they've, they've unearthed things there
that were 3000 BC typeartifacts.
(28:28):
And you're thinking, okay, sothe churches in Ephesus are 2000
years old and you've got somethings that might go to 1000 BC.
But here you go to anotherplace and it's 3000 years old,
and so I picked up a little bookabout this cave city, uplitsike
, and it had Georgian, englishand Russian, and so I finished
(28:49):
the English portion today, thismorning before I came to work,
and it just is overwhelming.
You know, 3,000 years of paganrituals before Christianity came
to that place, and it makes mewonder how many places in the
world today are still stuck withtheir pagan rituals because
they don't know that Christ hasmade himself available to them.
(29:14):
And it just reminds me this istrue really within Christianity
and outside of it that peoplewho are far from God will do
anything they can to try tomaybe get favor with God, you
know, or the gods, depending onyou know.
So, in this little cave city,they talked about everything
(29:37):
from human sacrifice to allthese other smaller sacrifices
animals, blood, whatever bones,all these things and these, uh,
these ceremonial sacrificesanimals, blood, whatever bones,
all these things and theseceremonial pits that they had
uncovered.
And it just makes me realizethat, apart from Christ, we just
can't do it ourselves, andthat's the hope that we carry,
(29:58):
sergei.
I was reading it today and I wasthinking about the new war just
the last few days, the new warin Iran between Israel and Iran,
and I was looking at theseincredible verses in Acts 17
where it says that God laid outthe barriers for the nations.
So here's what it says.
(30:20):
I'm not going to find it now,it's right here.
It says that from one man thisis verse 26,.
From one man, he this is Godmade all the nations.
This is from Adam that theyshould inhabit the whole earth,
and he marked out theirappointed times in history and
(30:41):
the boundaries of their lands.
And if you're a student ofhistory, you know that the
boundaries changed, the leaderschanged, like there have been
many small nations and bignations, and some have gone in
power and not anymore.
I mean, you know, iran is thehome of the ancient Persians,
right, and they were a globalsuperpower in their day.
(31:02):
They were the most powerful inthe world for a season.
You know, today someone mightcall America the superpower.
Whatever it is, you know it wasthe Romans, and you can go back
and forth.
I said Romans because Moldovais formerly part of Romania,
which is kind of the lastvestige of the Romans, right?
(31:24):
And you have this whole thingwhere God lays out the time, he
appoints the boundaries, heappoints the barriers, and then
it says he did this verse 27, sothat they would seek him and
they as the nations, and perhapsreach out for him.
I love the question.
Maybe, maybe they would reachout to him and find him.
And then I love this last line.
It says, though he is not farfrom any one of us, and I just
(31:47):
pray.
I pray that the things thatexcite me right now one is again
I love history, so readingthese histories, reading the
places, I get to kind of lookand see how God, throughout the
ages, has moved and engagedcertain peoples.
The ages has moved and engagedcertain peoples and I pray that
God would continue to use hispeople, the global body of
(32:09):
Christ, to engage all thepeoples right.
One of the things that reallystood out to me in the last few
weeks we were in Gonia, which isa Roman fort on the bottom
border of Georgia and Turkey andit was the farthest northern
eastern outreach of the RomanEmpire at the end of the first
(32:29):
century.
So it was built by the EmperorNero.
It's this cool old fort rightand it's big.
And as we're walking aroundtaking pictures of this
2,000-year-old Roman garrison,we met all these people.
There was a huge number ofpeople walking around that day.
I've been there a couple oftimes.
I've never seen this manypeople.
(32:50):
So we started talking to someof them.
Some of them would come andtalk to us.
They were almost all Iranians.
Oh wow, all of them, and theyjust wanted to talk.
Some of them spoke really goodEnglish to talk.
Some of them spoke really goodEnglish.
We were very happy to talk tothem and listen to them and some
of them said to me, as we wereleaving God bless you.
And I asked them are youbelievers?
(33:11):
And they looked around likemaybe one of their groups aren't
allowed to say it, but theysaid yes we're Christians, god
bless you as well.
I've heard for years that theIranian church is the fastest
growing church in the world andthat it's persecuted, that they
endure a lot of difficulties,but God is growing the church,
(33:31):
and so I wonder what God's doingnow, and I hope, if you're
listening today, I don't knowhow long the conflict in Israel
and Iran will continue, but ifit still continues, pray that
God would open the hearts of theIranian people.
Definitely.
Pray that in the middle of thisconflict, that God would make
himself known to those who aresuffering, and that could be in
Israel or Gaza or Ukraine orIran or any other place where
(33:55):
there's conflict.
One of the amazing things to meis that we get to go to places
like Moldova or Georgia orTurkey, and they're all
regionally located, they're allvery close.
Like you, you look, iran's notfar, israel's not far.
They're all right there, closeto the Mediterranean and Black
(34:16):
Sea area, and, and so I praythat God would continue to to do
and move and call and maybe,maybe the nations would turn to
him.
Right, that's what gets meexcited right now the history,
and just continuing to try toempower all believers to use
their gifts and talents to makehis name known wherever he would
(34:37):
send them.
How can we pray for you?
It was amazing, by the way,last night getting to hang out
with your wife and your kids.
My daughter, michaela, nowwants to be friends with your
daughter, so I think they'retexting already.
So that's uh, that's exciting,uh, to see our families get to
connect.
But how can we pray for you?
Speaker 2 (34:56):
well, pray for a safe trip while we're here and on
the way back.
Also pray for all the outreachthat is going on right now in
Moldova that our church isinvolved in.
And also pray for, I guess,february and beginning of August
(35:17):
.
It's going to be very busy forus.
We'll have our camps and we'llhave another team in the city, I
think, think, in July.
So just pray for God tocontinue using us as he planned
for this summer.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
Yeah, well, we'll definitely do that.
For those of you listening, FBCis planning to go back to
Moldova in 2026.
I don't know the exact dates ortimes yet.
We're working on developingthat.
But if you'd like to go andvisit Sergei and his family, or
Eugene and his family, or KBCand the church family there,
they would love for you toparticipate.
(35:55):
So be thinking about that, prayabout it.
How's God calling youspecifically to get involved
with our partner there inKishnev, in the capital city
there in Moldova?
Sergey, it's always a pleasureto get to chat for a little bit.
We're excited about what God'sdoing in you guys and it's
(36:16):
always fun to hear how you guysare dreaming and what you're
thinking about.
And I agree Like the biggesttask we have is to make
disciples.
That can make disciples andthat we can do.
That can make disciples andthat would continue.
That can make disciples right,yes.
And so we're continuing to praythat God would bless you with
faithful followers of Jesus wholove him and love his mission.
(36:36):
Thank you so much.
Yeah, well, awesome, well, guys, thank you so much for tuning
in.
I hope that you enjoyed ourpodcast today.
We'd love to hear from you ifyou have any feedback for us.
Just a reminder we do thisbecause we're aware that God
calls us for a purpose Psalm 67,right, he calls us, he says, he
(36:56):
blesses us and makes His faceshine on us.
But there's the next verse.
It says so that His name willbe made known among the nations
and his salvation among all thepeoples.
And so that's the reason Godblesses us so that we can be a
blessing to those around us,especially those who have yet to
hear the hope of the gospel.
So, wherever you are, whateveryou're doing today, ask the Lord
(37:16):
to present you withopportunities to make his name
known through you, through youas a believer, because that's,
again, it's why we do this.
It's so that we can be ablessing to others.
So have a wonderful day.
God bless you and we'll see yousoon.
We are so thankful that youjoined our podcast today.
We would love to hear anyfeedback you may have for us.
Remember.
(37:37):
Psalm 67 says may God begracious to us and bless us and
make his face shine on us, sothat always may be known on
earth and your salvation amongall nations.
Don't forget why the Lordblesses us it's so that we can
be a blessing to those around us.
Until next time, god bless.
Hey everybody.
Thank you so much for tuning intoday.
This is Pastor Chad and we'regoing to have a guest today.
He's going to be our secondtime Sergei, from Moldova.
I hope that you enjoy.
Welcome to FBC Missions so thatPodcast.
This is an encouraging place tohear how God is working in and
around us.
We know that he blesses Hispeople so that they can bless
(00:22):
the world around them.
Join us as we discuss how tojoin God in all that he is doing
.
Why is God working in our life,church and community?
It's so that, through us, theworld will know that he is
needed.
All right, so glad that youjoined us today on the podcast.
This is Pastor Chad, and I'm soglad that you guys have joined
(00:45):
us and that you're listeningtoday.
It's going to be a greatpodcast.
I have my friend in the studiowith me.
Sergei, how are you, my friend?
Speaker 2 (00:52):
I'm doing well.
Thank you for inviting me again.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Hey, it's so great to have you back and I'm excited
to see and hear what's going onwith you and our listeners as
well.
So, uh, so, yeah, gosh, here weare, almost a year later.
Uh, you have your family it waslike yesterday.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
It was like yesterday .
Speaker 1 (01:11):
It goes by so fast these days.
Well, real quick, tell us, uh,how long have you been in the
united states now?
Speaker 2 (01:16):
so, uh, we came here the first week of may, so we've
been here a little over fiveweeks.
Okay, almost ready to go back.
It's a, I guess, bittersweetfeeling, because I mean, we see
a lot of friends here that wedon't normally see, sure.
And we have seen some that wehaven't seen in about three,
(01:36):
four years, so it was nice tocatch up with some people.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Yeah, awesome.
So it's going to be a long,almost two-month trip that you
guys are here in the US.
About Awesome.
So it's going to be a longalmost two-month trip that you
guys are here in the US Aboutseven weeks and you've got to go
to different parts.
What places have you guys beenable to visit?
Speaker 2 (01:49):
We've been in Texas, of course, colorado and Arizona.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
The difference is, you have to say, the great state
of Texas.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Yeah, I'm sorry, I apologize to my listeners.
No, no, no.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Well, those are beautiful states, Arizona and
Colorado.
They've got some amazing placesas well.
So what were you doing in thoseplaces?
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Visiting with churches or Just reconnecting
with some churches.
There were two churches thatare interested in making a trip
to Moldova in 2026.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
In Arizona one church decided they're going to send
some spies to Moldova first tospy us out, to spy the land, the
vision trips.
And that's what I've beentelling people If you're going
to send a team to Moldova, justsend a couple of people so that
they will just come and see whatwe do, join us in some of the
projects and come back andreport what's going on, and then
(02:45):
maybe this might create theinterest of more people coming
to Moldova.
So in Colorado we had theprivilege of joining the
conference at the SummitMinistries which is an
(03:09):
apologetics conference whichtrains teenagers and young
people how to defend their faithbefore they go to college and
how to battle the lies andheresies in this world today.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Yeah, that's a major focus in a lot of places.
I think all the statistics talkabout how many believers walk
away from their faith when theywalk away from their church, so,
if they go to college, if theyhave to move, and so, yeah,
trying to build a foundationthat helps students stay
connected to their faith evenwhen they're far from maybe
(03:39):
their foundations right, thefoundational place or the people
that help form that faith, andoftentimes they struggle, yeah,
so so, um, trying to give peoplethis, this theological base.
Uh, I've seen a lot about kindof worldview training we're
talking about how do you helppeople form a worldview that
puts christ at the center?
Um, so that, of course,whenever their world changes,
(04:02):
their worldview doesn't right,and, uh, and that's an
interesting conversation kind,kind of very similar in aspects
there.
So anything that you took awayfrom that conference, that just
was surprising.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
I guess it was a good review on the worldviews.
I saw some practical approachesto worldviews.
Because of my, I guess,educational background,
sometimes I need to remindmyself okay, I'm not teaching
PhD professors or something likethat, so it has to be practical
(04:34):
.
You have to lower your leveland just teach with a good
application.
So that was that, and welearned something new about how
to train kids, how to kind ofsee which way to take your child
(04:58):
, because they are smart indifferent ways.
And there was a lady calledKathy Cook.
She's a, she has doctorate ineducation, kids education, and
(05:18):
she wrote a book called eightgreat smarts.
So and it just basically likeis your child the nature smart?
Is your child word smart, logicsmart?
and things like that sure so itkind of revealed to us, uh, as
parents you know, kind of westarted observing our kids a
little better to see which waywe can direct them, you know,
(05:42):
and help them grow yeah, well,this is really interesting.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
I, when I when I think about how the modern
church approaches things likediscipleship, you know, we
typically have really, um,efficiency measures kind of in
place.
Like the idea is, how do youdisciple the most people with, I
don't want to say the leastamount of work, but to some
degree that's kind of how youmeasure efficiency.
(06:07):
Right is like uh and and thatmodel I I think efficiency is
one of the core values of theamerican system like we, uh, we,
we, we, at every level, uh, areconcerned with whether what
we're doing is efficient and uh,and anyway, I could get into
all kinds of weird stuff on it.
But, especially in the life ofthe church, oftentimes we
(06:32):
sacrifice personal interaction,or maybe like relationship, for
efficiency.
So, you know, you might thinklike this we have a really great
preacher, so we try to build achurch that can get the most
amount of people to hear hissermons, right and uh.
And then, beyond that, we haveour multimedia atmosphere that
(06:54):
can even exponentially increasehow many people he can speak to,
and uh, and it's great becausehe's a great communicator, he
can, you know, share the word ofGod and he inspires people, um,
and so, like this goes back Imean probably early on.
You're talking about BillyGraham crusade level stuff,
early 1900s.
Um, you know, 1920s, thirties,when you start to see public, um
(07:17):
, mass, mass, mass communicationmethods, uh, that efficiency
drive begins to shift how we doeverything.
So, even like a discipleshipconcept starts with a
discipleship class or a course.
You know, when you look at theNew Testament you don't see the
(07:40):
class or course or even like achurch service the way that we,
definitely not in a podcast or aYouTube channel, all those
things that we use now to get somany people access.
But the focus in the NewTestament, of course, is on this
relationship, and oftentimesit's in small scale one on three
, one on five, one on 12.
You know Jesus discipling 12disciples.
(08:01):
We know that there's 72.
We know that there's morebeyond that.
But you see the crowds, the4,000, the 5,000, they weren't
disciples, they were just peoplewho were hearing.
And so I wonder how often we'vesacrificed that relationship.
So when you talk about theseeight different forms of
people's maybe learning style,or understanding style.
(08:21):
you think that discipleshipshould be done in a way that
could be modified for eachperson's particular need and
that makes it extremelycumbersome, right?
I can't just design a class for40 people and call it
discipleship.
I have to find out how doesSergei learn and how do I help
him grow my child, how do I helpthem grow in ways that are
(08:44):
unique to their learning style,their capacity, the way that
God's made them, and all thosekind of things.
So, yeah, it's really exciting.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
You know, I talked to several pastors and I think I
read an article about it, but alot of people are actually
talking about coming back topersonal discipleship.
I'm glad you mentioned that,because this is Probably the
best way.
I mean, we sometimes we getvery deep, we try to create
something new, we try to createnew curriculums and things like
(09:15):
that, but I don't think personaldiscipleship, I don't think
these curriculums can beatpersonal discipleship, and it's
more work.
It actually requires you tolisten to your disciples.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
You know it's not a single stream one direction.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
It's going to be more efficient, for sure.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
Yeah, so it's not just the mentor speaking to the
mentee, it's a relationship, itgoes both ways, and I shared
this example.
We just got back from a missiontrip.
We went to Turkey and Republicof Georgia, and one of the
things that I mentioned as aresponse to that trip was we
went there to encourage.
But oftentimes, if you're likeus Americans, we tend to go on
(10:01):
mission trips thinking that wehave so much to give to the
place that we're going to serve,and what surprises us sometimes
is we get there and we receiveas much as we can give, like the
people there teach us and welearn from them.
We hear their hearts, we heartheir testimonies and encourages
our hearts as well.
So one of the things I said iswe go to encourage them but we
come back even more encouragedthan we think what we can give,
(10:24):
and that shouldn't be surprisingright, it shouldn't be, but
that's kind of the way we think.
We think like, oh, we have allthis to offer.
I want to go take it to someonewho needs it, only to get there
and realize that, while theyappreciate our investment,
they're also investing in us andit's so meaningful and I think
it's a really healthy thing.
(10:45):
I think it's probably nothealthy that we don't
necessarily understand that allof our great things are not
necessarily what the world needs.
What they need is arelationship.
They need a friend, they needsomeone who can listen to them
as well.
And so, yeah, there's thisbilateral relationship both
sides investing in the other.
You know, you're coming fromMoldova and you have a PhD.
(11:09):
What's your PhD?
Speaker 2 (11:10):
You're working on it.
I'm working on my PhD.
I'm in the proposal stage rightnow.
My PhD is in leadership studies, leadership studies.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
That's incredible.
I'm looking, I've started adoctoral program.
I'm going to transition, Ithink, into the PhD program, but
it's on multiplication andchurch planting, and so I'm
really excited about that aswell.
Lots of work, lots of work andlots of studying.
There's a lot of research inall of these things.
So, anyway, I'm really excitedto see that and I love getting
(11:45):
to walk alongside you.
One of the things I love aboutyou and Eugene and the guys in
Moldova is that you guys havestudied hard in your 30 years of
faith and, in many ways, you'vesurpassed so many people who
probably brought their faith toyou guys.
And so when we talk about ourpartnership in Moldova, it's not
(12:05):
just some guys over there whoare loving Jesus and trying to
make him known, but you'releading a large church.
Uh, you guys have a Bibleseminary.
You have a youth camp, like youhave a very strong, healthy
environment where people aregrowing close to God and
training leaders who areengaging, uh, your country in
many different ways and uh, andso when I see what you guys are
(12:28):
doing, I feel like we have verylittle to bring to you.
There's a lot of ways we canpartner, but you're doing the
same thing.
We're doing Like you haveVacation, bible Schools, you
have all these different eventsgoing on during the summer.
You have a large leadershipteam in your church and so we
get to come participate in whatGod's doing, but we're not
bringing you things you don'tknow we're coming and learning
(12:50):
from you, and so you guys get tobe our….
Speaker 2 (12:50):
You do bring things we don't know.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
I mean, you create a program you make it a little
easier for us, sure.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
And, like you said, mission Trip is a two-way street
, so it's good for both of us.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
Well, I'm not saying we don't need it or that you
don't need it.
We come.
We come alongside you aspartners, not as a.
We're not pioneering, we're noteven parenting, we're not
telling you what you should do.
We're just coming along sayinghow can we serve you and you
guys can help.
We can help.
Honestly, you guys could comedo the same thing here.
If you guys came and served inour vacation Bible school, it
would be very encouraging to usand it'd be so neat to have, uh,
(13:23):
our Moldovan brothers involvedas well, others involved as well
.
So that's super exciting.
Well, let's shift a little bit.
I want to hear a little bitwhat God's doing in Moldova.
So I haven't been there in ayear.
We were there last summer.
We looked through some of theprayer requests that we had at
the end of our podcast last yearand just kind of thinking
(13:43):
through where we were, and oneof the things that we were
talking about was disciplemaking, and I think you just
said personal discipleship.
Um, so so I just have aquestion for you how, how has
that in a year, has there beenany adjustment, uh, to how you
guys are making disciples there?
Speaker 2 (13:59):
well, um, uh, I personally I'll speak for myself
I've been with several people.
uh, I have been meeting withseveral people during the year
and people just come and theywant to grow spiritually.
So, uh, I have been meetingwith several people during the
year and people just come andthey want to grow spiritually.
So I just talk to him andlisten to them and see which
areas they want to grow and thenwe just, uh, read god's word
(14:20):
together and I try to direct him, uh, I guess at my best ability
, but it's it.
But it's been pretty good.
I know there are many people inour ministry who meet with
other people on a regular basis,at least once a week, and train
(14:41):
them, mentor them, disciplethem, and I just won't give you
the list of people that I knowthat are doing that.
So that's been something goodand we're trying to instill it
in our seminary program as wellmentorship and discipling and
(15:03):
I've seen some great outcomeswith some people, and, of course
, you cannot force it.
So I think the best way is whena person actually comes up to
you and says can you mentor me,can you?
Speaker 1 (15:18):
disciple me.
Yeah, of course.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
And that's actually it's a big privilege.
I feel very blessed whensomeone comes up to me because I
know I didn't deserve it, butit's a way for me to learn as
well how to disciple and itshows me a need to be discipled
(15:42):
as well, to continue beingdiscipled by other people, and I
praise God for the mentors Ihave in my life to whom I can go
anytime and get a correction inlife, and I know they will tell
me the things that they are inreality.
(16:03):
They're not going to lie to me.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Yeah, those are great people to have in your life,
people that can give you anhonest assessment of what they
see and how they see it.
Well, that's awesome.
One of the things we prayed forlast year as well was kind of
the Ukrainian conflict and howmany refugees were still going
through Moldova.
How has that changed in thelast year?
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Well, we have less, definitely less, refugees in the
city.
Officially we have about 60,000right now in the city.
Many of them have relatives,many are businessmen, so the
need is not as great, but westill see refugees who are still
in some refugee centers.
(16:51):
We do help some refugees in thenorth and in the south of
Moldova.
So we continue working withthem, bringing the gospel to
them in the first place and thenalso attending to their needs.
So we bring them groceries, youknow, and just continue
conversations with them.
The church in the north ofMoldova, in the city of Orkhe,
(17:15):
started as a refugee center, butnow it's 50-50, Moldovan and
Ukrainian people and many ofthem pray to receive Christ and
as they talk about church theysay it's our church.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
So yeah, yeah ownership over there yeah, we
visited the church and got tomeet a lot of those people in
person last year and, uh, wecontinue to think about them and
pray for them.
Um, how, where do people go,like, if, uh, if the number of
refugees is down?
Have they gone back to ukraineor have they gone into europe?
Some?
Speaker 2 (17:48):
of them went back to ukraine and some of them went to
Europe.
So I mean, I guess they haverelatives now all over the world
and they just try to go whereit's safe.
A lot of people who went backto Ukraine have adjusted to the
(18:10):
new reality.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Yeah, the new normal is living in conflict.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
And they just continue their lives.
I mean, we have people who aretrying to work on the church
plant in Ukraine.
So just talking to the pastorsright now they're very
interested in the, in thepartnership with the moldovan
church, um, but they just dowhat, what they have to do.
They uh continue sharing thegospel over there and continue
(18:42):
helping people around them yeah,I feel like the first year
there was a lot of fear.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
People were kind of fleeing the country, but then,
after they're out of the countryfor so long, they're like well,
we have homes, we have to goback to our homes, we have
property, we got to go back andeven though the danger persists,
there's really no option justto become permanent migrants.
And so a lot of people havegone back to Ukraine, wondering
(19:08):
and not knowing what the futureholds, but knowing that they
don't want to be away from theirhomes permanently.
So this still continues to be amajor focus of global prayer
for peace in Ukraine, for thepeople of Ukraine.
Many are believers.
There's a strong contingent ofChristians in the country and,
(19:30):
of course, there's movements toshare Christ among them.
And so if you're listeningtoday and you haven't really
thought about that, just thinkabout how the Lord continues to
move in the hearts of thosepeople who are living in a war
zone, some of the insecuritythey have to deal with and some
of the things that they'retrusting God for.
(19:51):
But we heard the same thing inthe Republic of Georgia, huge
numbers, I mean half a millionUkrainians two years ago, and
it's down to that 100,000 or200,000 nationwide, and so there
is a decrease.
Like you said, a lot of themhave gone into Europe looking
for permanent positions and jobs.
That's really the youngpopulation.
The older population hasproperty, they have homes, they
(20:13):
have jobs, they have lives inUkraine and they don't want to
abandon them completely, so alot of them have gone back into
Ukraine.
Well, man, that's a big shiftover the last year.
So what are the things that youguys are thinking about right
now?
What are you praying for andthinking about for this coming
year?
For KBC Church, kishinev BibleChurch and the seminary there?
(20:36):
What are you guys lookingforward to?
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Well, we're looking forward to successful projects
where we can meet new people,share Christ with them.
We're working on new people.
We're advertising the seminarynow to have new enrollment for
(21:00):
the seminary.
So please pray for that.
Please pray for the summeroutreach we've.
I think we're having a secondteam in Moldova right now and I
just saw some videos of peopleworking in the neighborhood
where our church is.
(21:20):
They got a couple of bouncyhouses.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Yeah, of course.
Speaker 2 (21:28):
And lots of kids People, of course, and lots of
kids people are very interested.
It's funny how people liveclose to our church and there
are still some that have no ideawe have church.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
They don't even know you're there.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Right there.
So it's a big praise.
So just praying for open heartsand open minds to receive the
gospel.
Also, I'm working on someadditional projects with some
people who are interested ininvesting their lives and
(22:06):
resources in Moldova.
So we're thinking and prayingabout creating a resource center
for all Moldovan churchesanywhere from intellectual
resources Bible studies,trainings that we could do but
(22:27):
also some physical resourceslike buy several bouncy houses,
buy a minivan, buy some physicalresources that could be shared
among the churches as well.
So please pray for that, forGod to give us wisdom.
And for the last one or twoyears, we've been praying about
(22:48):
Talking about multiplication.
We've been praying aboutraising new leaders for churches
.
So the goal is to raise 500 newleaders.
The immigration among the youngpeople is so high right now.
(23:09):
We have probably around 50% ofyoung people who just want to
leave Moldova, look for betterjobs and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
And they mostly look at Europe.
Kind of Europeans, yes for themost part.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
So you can pray for us that God gives us wisdom how
to create, maybe create jobs forthem, you know, just so that
they stay in Moldova andcontinue serving in their
churches.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
Yeah, that's a great thing.
I love the whole concept.
I mean, you and I have talkedquite a bit about multiplication
, so we can't unpack all of thathere on the podcast by any
means.
But I feel like the bottleneckis always leadership, like if
you can't grow the nextgeneration of leaders, then
(23:58):
you're destined to decrease.
It's just like.
The simple truth is, if wecan't engage, empower and
eventually release the nextgeneration to pursue what God's
called them to do, then as ourgeneration passes on, the work
that we're doing will pass onwith us.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
I think it happened to me about five years ago.
I was praying and I startedpraying about a new leader for
youth ministry so that I couldturn into someone before I get
too old.
So so I was, uh, uh, godprovided a person who I'm
(24:41):
training right now and, uh, he'spretty much uh, taken over.
He serves with me right now.
So I'm here, he serves,everything works and, um, that's
my goal for the next, I guess,five years to raise new leaders
that would slowly take over whatI do yeah and I'll just uh
enjoy teaching yeah enjoyraising new leaders and serve
(25:07):
God this way.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
Man, that sounds so good.
I have the same philosophy oftrying to raise up leaders, give
them access, the ability to dothe things I'm doing, and as
they build their own capacity,then I can transition into new
areas that need new attention,that need more attention.
But it's not always easy.
(25:29):
It's not always easy, andsometimes the leaders not
sometimes they always have theirown personality, their own
drive, their own dreams, and sothey're going to shift things a
little bit from what I want themto be, and I have to be okay
with that.
You know that's.
That's one of the challenges.
Well, hey, in our last fewminutes I want to just kind of
go a different direction and Ijust want to ask you, on the big
scale, big part, what excitesyou right now?
(25:52):
What's God doing in your heartthat makes you get excited?
Maybe it relates to the church,maybe it doesn't, and just be
interesting to hear what it isthat makes you get pumped up.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
I'm looking forward to serving in camps.
Camps have always excited me.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
So tell me, what do you mean when you say camps,
Youth camps?
Speaker 2 (26:11):
Yeah, youth camps, esl camps, apologetics camps.
I enjoy organizing these eventsand teaching there as well, and
just connecting with the youth.
Long time ago, I used to playcomputer games before kids were
(26:32):
born.
Once the kids were born, Ienjoyed my sleeping time.
But I would play sometimesovernight meeting people, and
then one time at the camp wecould not connect with a couple
of guys.
They were just were rebels.
And as we were talking, uhduring the free time, as we were
talking to someone, someoneasked me like how do what do I
(26:53):
do for fun?
And I said play computer games.
You know, I played, uh used toplay, counter-strike.
And one of the guys turnedaround and said what's your
nickname?
And I said Ezekiel, and I havea biblical nickname.
And he's like I know you, Iplay against you.
So that's how we connected andthen we became good friends
(27:15):
during the camp.
So that's the personalrelationship always excites me
If I can share my life, sharewhat Christ has done with me and
for me.
That always excites me.
Studying excites me a lot.
I've been studying for the last25 years and maybe I'll slow
(27:38):
down, We'll see.
My wife tells me I should slowdown a little bit.
But also teaching reallyexcites me as well.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
Yeah, that's exciting all around.
I just got back from this tripand it's so much I love history.
I always have loved history, Ithink when I was a kid I thought
I could be Indiana Jones oneday.
When I grew up, you know andfocus on archaeology.
Of course it's not just runningaround like the movies, but it
was the last few trips I've goneto turkey.
(28:07):
We go to these ancient places,ephesus, or this time we went to
laodicea, and then we flew overto georgia and in georgia we
visited even more ancient places.
You know, there's this, uh,cave city that we went to called
uplet sike, and uh, and they've, they've unearthed things there
that were 3000 BC typeartifacts.
(28:28):
And you're thinking, okay, sothe churches in Ephesus are 2000
years old and you've got somethings that might go to 1000 BC.
But here you go to anotherplace and it's 3000 years old,
and so I picked up a little bookabout this cave city, uplitsike
, and it had Georgian, englishand Russian, and so I finished
(28:49):
the English portion today, thismorning before I came to work,
and it just is overwhelming.
You know, 3,000 years of paganrituals before Christianity came
to that place, and it makes mewonder how many places in the
world today are still stuck withtheir pagan rituals because
they don't know that Christ hasmade himself available to them.
(29:14):
And it just reminds me this istrue really within Christianity
and outside of it that peoplewho are far from God will do
anything they can to try tomaybe get favor with God, you
know, or the gods, depending onyou know.
So, in this little cave city,they talked about everything
(29:37):
from human sacrifice to allthese other smaller sacrifices
animals, blood, whatever bones,all these things and these, uh,
these ceremonial sacrificesanimals, blood, whatever bones,
all these things and theseceremonial pits that they had
uncovered.
And it just makes me realizethat, apart from Christ, we just
can't do it ourselves, andthat's the hope that we carry,
(29:58):
sergei.
I was reading it today and I wasthinking about the new war just
the last few days, the new warin Iran between Israel and Iran,
and I was looking at theseincredible verses in Acts 17
where it says that God laid outthe barriers for the nations.
So here's what it says.
(30:20):
I'm not going to find it now,it's right here.
It says that from one man thisis verse 26,.
From one man, he this is Godmade all the nations.
This is from Adam that theyshould inhabit the whole earth,
and he marked out theirappointed times in history and
(30:41):
the boundaries of their lands.
And if you're a student ofhistory, you know that the
boundaries changed, the leaderschanged, like there have been
many small nations and bignations, and some have gone in
power and not anymore.
I mean, you know, iran is thehome of the ancient Persians,
right, and they were a globalsuperpower in their day.
(31:02):
They were the most powerful inthe world for a season.
You know, today someone mightcall America the superpower.
Whatever it is, you know it wasthe Romans, and you can go back
and forth.
I said Romans because Moldovais formerly part of Romania,
which is kind of the lastvestige of the Romans, right?
(31:24):
And you have this whole thingwhere God lays out the time, he
appoints the boundaries, heappoints the barriers, and then
it says he did this verse 27, sothat they would seek him and
they as the nations, and perhapsreach out for him.
I love the question.
Maybe, maybe they would reachout to him and find him.
And then I love this last line.
It says, though he is not farfrom any one of us, and I just
(31:47):
pray.
I pray that the things thatexcite me right now one is again
I love history, so readingthese histories, reading the
places, I get to kind of lookand see how God, throughout the
ages, has moved and engagedcertain peoples.
The ages has moved and engagedcertain peoples and I pray that
God would continue to use hispeople, the global body of
(32:09):
Christ, to engage all thepeoples right.
One of the things that reallystood out to me in the last few
weeks we were in Gonia, which isa Roman fort on the bottom
border of Georgia and Turkey andit was the farthest northern
eastern outreach of the RomanEmpire at the end of the first
(32:29):
century.
So it was built by the EmperorNero.
It's this cool old fort rightand it's big.
And as we're walking aroundtaking pictures of this
2,000-year-old Roman garrison,we met all these people.
There was a huge number ofpeople walking around that day.
I've been there a couple oftimes.
I've never seen this manypeople.
(32:50):
So we started talking to someof them.
Some of them would come andtalk to us.
They were almost all Iranians.
Oh wow, all of them, and theyjust wanted to talk.
Some of them spoke really goodEnglish to talk.
Some of them spoke really goodEnglish.
We were very happy to talk tothem and listen to them and some
of them said to me, as we wereleaving God bless you.
And I asked them are youbelievers?
(33:11):
And they looked around likemaybe one of their groups aren't
allowed to say it, but theysaid yes we're Christians, god
bless you as well.
I've heard for years that theIranian church is the fastest
growing church in the world andthat it's persecuted, that they
endure a lot of difficulties,but God is growing the church,
(33:31):
and so I wonder what God's doingnow, and I hope, if you're
listening today, I don't knowhow long the conflict in Israel
and Iran will continue, but ifit still continues, pray that
God would open the hearts of theIranian people.
Definitely.
Pray that in the middle of thisconflict, that God would make
himself known to those who aresuffering, and that could be in
Israel or Gaza or Ukraine orIran or any other place where
(33:55):
there's conflict.
One of the amazing things to meis that we get to go to places
like Moldova or Georgia orTurkey, and they're all
regionally located, they're allvery close.
Like you, you look, iran's notfar, israel's not far.
They're all right there, closeto the Mediterranean and Black
(34:16):
Sea area, and, and so I praythat God would continue to to do
and move and call and maybe,maybe the nations would turn to
him.
Right, that's what gets meexcited right now the history,
and just continuing to try toempower all believers to use
their gifts and talents to makehis name known wherever he would
(34:37):
send them.
How can we pray for you?
It was amazing, by the way,last night getting to hang out
with your wife and your kids.
My daughter, michaela, nowwants to be friends with your
daughter, so I think they'retexting already.
So that's uh, that's exciting,uh, to see our families get to
connect.
But how can we pray for you?
Speaker 2 (34:56):
well, pray for a safe trip while we're here and on
the way back.
Also pray for all the outreachthat is going on right now in
Moldova that our church isinvolved in.
And also pray for, I guess,february and beginning of August
(35:17):
.
It's going to be very busy forus.
We'll have our camps and we'llhave another team in the city, I
think, think, in July.
So just pray for God tocontinue using us as he planned
for this summer.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
Yeah, well, we'll definitely do that.
For those of you listening, FBCis planning to go back to
Moldova in 2026.
I don't know the exact dates ortimes yet.
We're working on developingthat.
But if you'd like to go andvisit Sergei and his family, or
Eugene and his family, or KBCand the church family there,
they would love for you toparticipate.
(35:55):
So be thinking about that, prayabout it.
How's God calling youspecifically to get involved
with our partner there inKishnev, in the capital city
there in Moldova?
Sergey, it's always a pleasureto get to chat for a little bit.
We're excited about what God'sdoing in you guys and it's
(36:16):
always fun to hear how you guysare dreaming and what you're
thinking about.
And I agree Like the biggesttask we have is to make
disciples.
That can make disciples andthat we can do.
That can make disciples andthat would continue.
That can make disciples right,yes.
And so we're continuing to praythat God would bless you with
faithful followers of Jesus wholove him and love his mission.
(36:36):
Thank you so much.
Yeah, well, awesome, well, guys, thank you so much for tuning
in.
I hope that you enjoyed ourpodcast today.
We'd love to hear from you ifyou have any feedback for us.
Just a reminder we do thisbecause we're aware that God
calls us for a purpose Psalm 67,right, he calls us, he says, he
(36:56):
blesses us and makes His faceshine on us.
But there's the next verse.
It says so that His name willbe made known among the nations
and his salvation among all thepeoples.
And so that's the reason Godblesses us so that we can be a
blessing to those around us,especially those who have yet to
hear the hope of the gospel.
So, wherever you are, whateveryou're doing today, ask the Lord
(37:16):
to present you withopportunities to make his name
known through you, through youas a believer, because that's,
again, it's why we do this.
It's so that we can be ablessing to others.
So have a wonderful day.
God bless you and we'll see yousoon.
We are so thankful that youjoined our podcast today.
We would love to hear anyfeedback you may have for us.
Remember.
(37:37):
Psalm 67 says may God begracious to us and bless us and
make his face shine on us, sothat always may be known on
earth and your salvation amongall nations.
Don't forget why the Lordblesses us it's so that we can
be a blessing to those around us.
Until next time, god bless.
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