I am in the air again – flying out of Frankfurt to Toronto on my way to Regina. It has been a long trip so far and being awake for 29 hours so far is not helping I am sure. Just 16 hours left to go and I’m home and then I can sleep. On a newer plane that has plugs for laptop computers and so I can work on my sermons (2) for Sunday if the turbulence is not too bad. I have an outline for one and need to expand it fully and finish it as I computerize my rough notes written on my legal pad during the last flight from Kiev to Frankfurt from an initial outline during one of the times I was not teaching at the School and the Lord gave me the original idea I’m working on.

The apostolic trip is over and it is back to normal life – well, maybe travelling overseas and back constantly is or will become normal life for this older apostle. In some ways I hope so as I do enjoy what I am doing and can see how it is benefitting many of the young people we are working with and the churches that welcome us. However, when you reach the end of two weeks of travel and ministering and all that comes with it – meeting new people, strange beds, different foods, screwed-up eating schedules …. you get to wondering why you are still doing this when most people your age are retired. The answer, when you get rested up a bit more, is that God has called me to do this and empowers and enables me to accomplish all that is involved in each of these trips. Still, slowing down and simply writing a book and actually getting to read more than I manage to do currently sounds appealing on travel days like today.

On trips such as this one we receive immediate feedback as to the blessing the ministry has been to those involved in learning and growing. We hear stories of how what they are learning is immediately impacting their lives and that they can see how to implement the truths in their ministry when they arrive back home. We receive further feedback from people in attendance in the way of written testimonies anywhere from a week or more after the event has ended. Always amazing what the Lord is doing through our simple teachings and the prophetic ministry that is on-going.

We took a taxi to the bus stop in Kirovograd where we caught the bus into Kiev yesterday. As we were waiting for the bus to leave the taxi driver asked us the pray for him. The team members with me prayed as requested and that was really all I was planning to do as I was tired and really wanted time off and not more work. However, as I prayed it quickly flipped into a prophetic word for the man. We left immediately upon ending the ministry time standing there in the parking lot next to the bus. We later heard via a phone call that the Word had truly blessed the man and impacted him. It is always good to hear back from those on the receiving end of the ministry.

As testimonies begin to come in of lives impacted and ministries changed we will post them on line – some in the section on-line called “Apostolic Trips” and some will be posted as blogs for your enjoyment.

Blogs will now go back to my regular commentaries and insights into current situations that the Church and the Kingdom face every day (as posted earlier today). We will post several updates and ‘lessons learned’ on this apostolic trip – later after I have had time to think out all that has transpired.

Again, thanks for praying and financially supporting the work of this ministry. Your continued support would also be greatly appreciated.

Our time here is over. We finished our ministry obligations last night (Sunday) at around 7:00p and then went for a walk and ate ice cream as a treat for ourselves after a week of hard work. Then an opportunity to sort out flights for the next trip (a little more complicated than one thinks at first), packing bags and computers and papers and a late night cup of tea and an apple.

Today a taxi – a bus – a taxi – a time to fellowship with three young apostles-in-training who helped us this week here in the ministry and who live in Kiev. Then a taxi to the airport at 2:00a Tuesday our time (5:00p Monday your time in central Canada) and the first of three flights home … all with fairly lengthy waits inbetween.

It has been a good two weeks … 23 teaching times in 10 days … much travel … many received life-changing prophetic words … someone was born again … relationships were built … new people were added to our team of international apostles and prophets … powerful ministry to many people as God’s Word set them free. And, for some of the School of Apostles and prophets sessions, we had our first ever Russian printouts for them to be able to take home much more information that they could if they were just writing notes during the teachings. We are working hard at equipping these men and women to win the lost and build apostolically and prophetically. Of course, they are free to use and teach all our material themselves anywhere they should feel directed by the Lord as we do not copywrite the School’s material.

Thank you for your prayers and your financial support. People here are always asking me to thank you for all that you do for them by praying and all that you do for them by helping to finance these many trips to Eastern Europe and former Soviet Union nations. You are greatly appreciatd here and spoken of often.

There will not be a blog again until Wednesday morning as I will be travelling and unable to get internet connections (due to high cost of roaming) and so will not be able to post items. However, I will write again from my home study Wednesday morning.

Thanks for everything everyone – pray for safe travel…

It is Friday and the School for Apostles and Prophets (first edition – first week) is fast coming to a close. A team member is teaching this morning and so I am sitting at the back working on reviewing my notes for this afternoon as I teach from 2:00 to 5:30 and need to refresh my mind and heart before teaching these truths to this great group of people. We are all becoming tired but the atmosphere is still good and God is still moving.

Late last night we had people practice prophesy over a picture of a man. The man is not here and those who did the ministry did not know him. They were wonderful. I ended the prophetic time with a prayer – guided by God. I actually had a prophetic word and God said pray the word and don’t just proclaim the prophecy … thank Me for what I am doing in His life. So I did. Powerful!

This morning the former wife of this man (and mother of three of his children) stood and spoke about the “exercise” and ministry as she had supplied me with the picture. She thanked everyone who prophesied and told us how everyone’s words fit into the situation and circumstances. Good feedback of a powerful ministry time.

Of course, now several young men want me to prophesy over pictures of their fiancés and girlfriends. Amazing!

Tonight, as far as I know, there are no meetings scheduled with pastors to speak of future ministry opportunities, their problems in their churches or the issues and opposition we are facing. It will be good to head back to where we are staying earlier than we have the last few nights (it has been well after 11:00 every night this week). However, it won’t mean we can just relax – as we have many events and opportunities to schedule and so we will need to have a staff meeting and walk through the offers, the travel routes, the topics, and so on. It really is tough work as you want to fulfill their request as quickly as possible but sometimes that is 12+ months ahead of the current date. Hard to imagine but that is the case in almost all situations unless we can tag a visit on to another one already planned.

It has been a good week – difficult because we have both seasoned ministry people and young men and women who have not yet begun to minister. So, some times, our material is too basic for some and yet right on for others or over the head of some and hitting the nail on the head with the others. We are going to have to divide the group into two during our next week of teaching and teach the topics at two different levels.

The School was a good idea. Due to the trouble we are facing with one Union who is opposing us about 20 of our team were not given permission to attend by their pastors who have had to submit to the orders of their authorities. Sad, but true! A fact of life right now in this ministry. So, we had a very excellent number for our first week of running a School for apostles and prophets but it would have been bigger had we not been facing severe, unprecedented, vicious actions on the part of one leader of a Union. I wrote this leader’s higher authority this morning before the School began in the hope that some light might be shed on what is really happening and the people who are being wounded unnecessarily by this action. I am not expecting an answer as silence is the norm when writing these people.

Between teaching sessions there has been tremendous fellowship as people from five nations come to know each other. They all speak Russian and so there are no barriers to communicating. After all meals and during all coffee breaks I end up talking with young men who are wanting to chat, ask my advice, deal with issues in their lives, seek insight into a decision they need to make or simply come to know each other better. So, I am often out walking for a few minutes with them to enable us to have some privacy to chat. We can also go outside and stand in the beautiful flower gardens surrounding the church building on the campus here to talk privately. So, the days are busy from start to stop and I would not have it any other way. It is an excellent opportunity to impact future generations and set in motion something that the Devil cannot stop that will have repercussions into all eternity.

I want to thank everyone who has been supporting us with their prayers and financial support. Because of you this School is both a reality and a success beyond our wildest hopes or dreams. Lives are being changed and young people are being impacted by the Word of God and the power of God and the Gospel is being (and will be) fully proclaimed (Romans 15:18-19) So, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Tomorrow I teach the morning and final session of the School – then after lunch my team will meet with the youth of the local church here. Then a supper with team members and a walk in the downtown area (a large park) with our hosts. Sunday, a morning service (3 to 4 hours), a lunch and then a leaders meeting (60+ attending) before heading to our place of residence to pack ready to leave the next morning on a bus for a 6 hour ride in Kiev and the start of our trip home. I will be home at suppertime Tuesday. I will be very good to be home.

The summer is busy with preparation, teaching of seminars, church planting in Saskatchewan, and then in August heading to Khabarovsk, Russia (overlooks Japan). Your support for this next adventure to an area and a city my team has never been to before. Thanks.

It is 1:00 in the morning here in Ukraine – bed time

We have been invited to a major city in Russia and now have the dates nailed down (August) and I need to be prepared to teach 21 times in six days of events. I am excited about the doors that the Lord is opening to this ministry. We are going to a large city and a rather large church that has already planned and organized things this far in advance.

We are thinking of going in under a religious visa and not just a visitor visa so the meetings can be held in public and even advertized. We will be watched or observed I am sure but it allows us more freedom then going in without the right to preach publically. But, we will have rather large crowds – probably, I am told, the biggest audiences that we have faced in this ministry so far. I am in need of several weeks of research and writing to have the material written and organized before I go as the schedule is so busy that there will be no time to prepare and even little time to review the teaching beforehand. So, there will be a need to set aside and protect adequate and quality time to read, research and write the material I will need to add to what I regularly teach… and that will need to happen the next two months and these months are already fairly busy. Pray please!

Today – Wednesday – I taught all day (3 sessions for a total of 6 hours) and then another team member taught the evening session using some material he and I co-produced together. We had it translated into Russian so we could hand it out to everyone.

After a quick supper I met with a couple we had ministered to in Moscow, Russia last September-October (2009). He is a bishop of a number of churches surrounding the city of Moscow (within 350 Km). We prophesied over him and his wife and taught them for a week. They were really blessed. They came to our School this week to continue receiving training for their ministry (they also pastor a church). On the way here they had heard some things about our struggle with a Union here and had a question or two and did what few others are doing – having Christian integrity and checking out the facts and not believing an ‘evil report’. So, the garbage being spread about us has opened up opportunities with some to explain what has really happened and we are not losing friends but gaining allies.

This couple have invited us to their Union (Network) as soon as we can get there and to work with them for several weeks. We have agreed to come as quickly as we can and we will work later tonight – much later – to arrange dates and reschedule things in our calendars to allow us to go and serve this wonderful couple. The wife of the man (a prophetic voice) commented that this problem and opposition we are facing – that God will use it to open many doors for us … opportunities to minister that would not have been there otherwise. I agree.

Then after the evening service and ministry we met with pastors from western Russia (Caucasus area) where we ministered in the fall of 2009. We did a wonderful work for the Lord there over 8 or 9 days and the people and the churches were really blessed. When there we were already being asked questions about the issues we are still dealing with in the attack of the opposition we are facing. Well, they have heard a lot more – an ‘evil report’ by biblical standards and definition – and have come with great offenses. We were to be with them in July but they cancelled our visit a number of months ago when they heard more from the evil report (gossip, slander). But, at least they came. And tonight we met with them to discuss the evil report they have heard. And, to answer all their questions and place some facts in the story they have heard (we have all the records of correspondence with us) and set things straight. Then, we were able to talk about rescheduling time to come and minister to them.
However, we are not rushing to rebook dates as they had been given prime time almost a year ago and then they cancelled the planned trip to work with their leaders this July. So, we have given away all available dates through to February of next year or maybe even later. So, they will not receive preferential treatment but simply stand in line like everyone else and ‘suffer the consequences’ for their behaviour and lack of biblical reaction to the evil reports they listened to and actually believed.

Tomorrow (Thursday) again I teach all three day time sessions on the gifts and callings of God available in the Church and someone else (I hope) will teach the evening session (we have not decided that far ahead in our planning meetings). After the evening service I meet with some leaders from Kazakhstan to plan our next visit to them – and to answer the concerns over what they have heard from others about this ministry as the ‘evil report’ had spread that far away from the center of the churches involved many, many months ago.

Then we will need to plan out Friday’s teachings… I already know what I am teaching at the only session on Saturday (The Apostolic Model of the Future Church). As well, I have been thinking through the Saturday afternoon event with the entire youth of the church (a sizable group). This is an event outside the parameters of the School and something I was only asked to do late last night – but I will manage it.

Sunday we do a Sunday morning service at which I will preach (no idea what yet) and I do know what I want to share in the leader’s meeting in the evening. One out of two is not bad.

The weather is decent – not hot but not cool. The church building is not air conditioned and so it does get warm as the day progresses and the humidity increases. The food is great and there is too much of it. We have a great place to stay (with my administrator and his wife) and the church building has indoor washrooms. There is a God! And there is an ample supply of Diet Coke – love this country.

We all appreciate your prayers for everything that is happening here and everything that we are planning during the two weeks while we are over here. Prayer is very, very powerful and seriously important to everything we do here. Thank you for partnering with us in this powerful way.