SO THAT Missions Podcast | FBC Boerne
So that...God's ways may be known on Earth.
"So That" is an FBC Boerne podcast focused on what God is doing around the world with missions and through FBC Missions partners.
SO THAT Missions Podcast | FBC Boerne
Episode 68: Discipleship Beyond: A Conversation with Moldova's Sergei
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 This mutual exchange represents authentic partnership that transcends the outdated donor-recipient model.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.
Hey everybody. Thank you so much for tuning in today. This is Pastor Chad and we're going to have a guest today. He's going to be our second time Sergei, from Moldova. I hope that you enjoy. Welcome to FBC Missions so that Podcast. This is an encouraging place to hear how God is working in and around us. We know that he blesses His people so that they can bless the world around them. Join us as we discuss how to join God in all that he is doing. Why is God working in our life, church and community? It's so that, through us, the world will know that he is needed. All right, so glad that you joined us today on the podcast. This is Pastor Chad, and I'm so glad that you guys have joined us and that you're listening today. It's going to be a great podcast. I have my friend in the studio with me. Sergei, how are you, my friend?
Speaker 2:I'm doing well. Thank you for inviting me again.
Speaker 1:Hey, it's so great to have you back and I'm excited to see and hear what's going on with you and our listeners as well. So, uh, so, yeah, gosh, here we are, almost a year later. Uh, you have your family it was like yesterday.
Speaker 2:It was like yesterday.
Speaker 1: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:so, uh, we came here the first week of may, so we've been here a little over five weeks. Okay, almost ready to go back. It's a, I guess, bittersweet feeling, because I mean, we see a lot of friends here that we don't normally see, sure. And we have seen some that we haven't seen in about three, four years, so it was nice to catch up with some people.
Speaker 1: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 long almost two-month trip that you guys are here in the US About seven weeks and you've got to go to different parts. What places have you guys been able to visit?
Speaker 2:We've been in Texas, of course, colorado and Arizona.
Speaker 1:The difference is, you have to say, the great state of Texas.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm sorry, I apologize to my listeners. No, no, no.
Speaker 1:Well, those are beautiful states, Arizona and Colorado. They've got some amazing places as well. So what were you doing in those places?
Speaker 2:Visiting with churches or Just reconnecting with some churches. There were two churches that are interested in making a trip to Moldova in 2026.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:In Arizona one church decided they're going to send some spies to Moldova first to spy us out, to spy the land, the vision trips. And that's what I've been telling people If you're going to send a team to Moldova, just send a couple of people so that they will just come and see what we do, join us in some of the projects and come back and report what's going on, and then maybe this might create the interest of more people coming to Moldova.
Speaker 2:So in Colorado we had the privilege of joining the conference at the Summit Ministries which is an apologetics conference which trains teenagers and young people how to defend their faith before they go to college and how to battle the lies and heresies in this world today.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a major focus in a lot of places. I think all the statistics talk about how many believers walk away from their faith when they walk away from their church, so, if they go to college, if they have to move, and so, yeah, trying to build a foundation that helps students stay connected to their faith even when they're far from maybe their foundations right, the foundational place or the people that help form that faith, and oftentimes they struggle, yeah, so so, um, trying to give people this, this theological base. Uh, I've seen a lot about kind of worldview training we're talking about how do you help people form a worldview that puts christ at the center? Um, so that, of course, whenever their world changes, 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 away from that conference, that just was surprising.
Speaker 2:I guess it was a good review on the worldviews. I saw some practical approaches to worldviews. Because of my, I guess, educational background, sometimes I need to remind myself okay, I'm not teaching PhD professors or something like that, so it has to be practical. You have to lower your level and just teach with a good application. So that was that, and we learned something new about how to train kids, how to kind of see which way to take your child, because they are smart in different ways. And there was a lady called Kathy Cook. She's a, she has doctorate in education, kids education, and she wrote a book called eight great smarts. So and it just basically like is your child the nature smart? Is your child word smart, logic smart?
Speaker 2:and things like that sure so it kind of revealed to us, uh, as parents you know, kind of we started observing our kids a little better to see which way we can direct them, you know, and help them grow yeah, well, this is really interesting.
Speaker 1:I, when I when I think about how the modern church approaches things like discipleship, you know, we typically have really, um, efficiency measures kind of in place. Like the idea is, how do you disciple the most people with, I don't want to say the least amount of work, but to some degree that's kind of how you measure efficiency. Right is like uh and and that model I I think efficiency is one of the core values of the american system like we, uh, we, we, we, at every level, uh, are concerned 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 of the church, oftentimes we sacrifice personal interaction, or maybe like relationship, for efficiency. So, you know, you might think like this we have a really great preacher, so we try to build a church that can get the most amount of people to hear his sermons, right and uh. And then, beyond that, we have our multimedia atmosphere that can even exponentially increase how many people he can speak to, and uh, and it's great because he's a great communicator, he can, you know, share the word of God and he inspires people, um, and so, like this goes back I mean probably early on. You're talking about Billy Graham crusade level stuff, early 1900s. Um, you know, 1920s, thirties, when you start to see public, um, mass, mass, mass communication methods, uh, that efficiency drive begins to shift how we do everything.
Speaker 1:So, even like a discipleship concept starts with a discipleship class or a course. You know, when you look at the New Testament you don't see the class or course or even like a church service the way that we, definitely not in a podcast or a YouTube channel, all those things that we use now to get so many people access. But the focus in the New Testament, of course, is on this relationship, and oftentimes it's in small scale one on three, one on five, one on 12. You know Jesus discipling 12 disciples. We know that there's 72. We know that there's more beyond that. But you see the crowds, the 4,000, the 5,000, they weren't disciples, they were just people who were hearing. And so I wonder how often we've sacrificed that relationship. So when you talk about these eight different forms of people's maybe learning style, or understanding style.
Speaker 1:you think that discipleship should be done in a way that could be modified for each person's particular need and that makes it extremely cumbersome, right? I can't just design a class for 40 people and call it discipleship. I have to find out how does Sergei learn and how do I help him grow my child, how do I help them grow in ways that are unique to their learning style, their capacity, the way that God's made them, and all those kind of things. So, yeah, it's really exciting.
Speaker 2:You know, I talked to several pastors and I think I read an article about it, but a lot of people are actually talking about coming back to personal discipleship. I'm glad you mentioned that, because this is Probably the best way. I mean, we sometimes we get very deep, we try to create something new, we try to create new curriculums and things like that, but I don't think personal discipleship, I don't think these curriculums can beat personal discipleship, and it's more work. It actually requires you to listen to your disciples.
Speaker 1:You know it's not a single stream one direction.
Speaker 2:It's going to be more efficient, for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so it's not just the mentor speaking to the mentee, it's a relationship, it goes both ways, and I shared this example. We just got back from a mission trip. We went to Turkey and Republic of Georgia, and one of the things that I mentioned as a response to that trip was we went there to encourage. But oftentimes, if you're like us Americans, we tend to go on mission trips thinking that we have so much to give to the place that we're going to serve, and what surprises us sometimes is we get there and we receive as much as we can give, like the people there teach us and we learn from them. We hear their hearts, we hear their testimonies and encourages our hearts as well. So one of the things I said is we go to encourage them but we come back even more encouraged than we think what we can give, and that shouldn't be surprising right, it shouldn't be, but that's kind of the way we think. We think like, oh, we have all this to offer. I want to go take it to someone who needs it, only to get there and realize that, while they appreciate our investment, they're also investing in us and it's so meaningful and I think it's a really healthy thing.
Speaker 1:I think it's probably not healthy that we don't necessarily understand that all of our great things are not necessarily what the world needs. What they need is a relationship. They need a friend, they need someone who can listen to them as well. And so, yeah, there's this bilateral relationship both sides investing in the other. You know, you're coming from Moldova and you have a PhD. What's your PhD?
Speaker 2:You're working on it. I'm working on my PhD. I'm in the proposal stage right now. My PhD is in leadership studies, leadership studies.
Speaker 1:That's incredible. I'm looking, I've started a doctoral program. I'm going to transition, I think, into the PhD program, but it's on multiplication and church planting, and so I'm really excited about that as well. Lots of work, lots of work and lots of studying. There's a lot of research in all of these things. So, anyway, I'm really excited to see that and I love getting to walk alongside you.
Speaker 1:One of the things I love about you and Eugene and the guys in Moldova is that you guys have studied hard in your 30 years of faith and, in many ways, you've surpassed so many people who probably brought their faith to you guys.
Speaker 1:And so when we talk about our partnership in Moldova, it's not just some guys over there who are loving Jesus and trying to make him known, but you're leading a large church. Uh, you guys have a Bible seminary. You have a youth camp, like you have a very strong, healthy environment where people are growing close to God and training leaders who are engaging, uh, your country in many different ways and uh, and so when I see what you guys are doing, I feel like we have very little to bring to you. There's a lot of ways we can partner, but you're doing the same thing. We're doing Like you have Vacation, bible Schools, you have all these different events going on during the summer. You have a large leadership team in your church and so we get to come participate in what God's doing, but we're not bringing you things you don't know we're coming and learning from you, and so you guys get to be our….
Speaker 2:You do bring things we don't know.
Speaker 1:I mean, you create a program you make it a little easier for us, sure.
Speaker 2:And, like you said, mission Trip is a two-way street, so it's good for both of us.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm not saying we don't need it or that you don't need it. We come. We come alongside you as partners, not as a. We're not pioneering, we're not even parenting, we're not telling you what you should do. We're just coming along saying how can we serve you and you guys can help. We can help. Honestly, you guys could come do the same thing here. If you guys came and served in our vacation Bible school, it would be very encouraging to us and it'd be so neat to have, uh, our Moldovan brothers involved as well, others involved as well. So that's super exciting.
Speaker 1:Well, let's shift a little bit. I want to hear a little bit what God's doing in Moldova. So I haven't been there in a year. We were there last summer. We looked through some of the prayer requests that we had at the end of our podcast last year and just kind of thinking through where we were, and one of the things that we were talking about was disciple making, and I think you just said personal discipleship. Um, so so I just have a question for you how, how has that in a year, has there been any adjustment, uh, to how you guys are making disciples there?
Speaker 2:well, um, uh, I personally I'll speak for myself I've been with several people.
Speaker 2:uh, I have been meeting with several people during the year and people just come and they want to grow spiritually. So, uh, I have been meeting with several people during the year and people just come and they want to grow spiritually. So I just talk to him and listen to them and see which areas they want to grow and then we just, uh, read god's word 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 in our ministry who meet with other people on a regular basis, at least once a week, and train them, mentor them, disciple them, and I just won't give you the list of people that I know that are doing that. So that's been something good and we're trying to instill it in our seminary program as well mentorship and discipling and I've seen some great outcomes with some people, and, of course, you cannot force it. So I think the best way is when a person actually comes up to you and says can you mentor me, can you?
Speaker 1:disciple me. Yeah, of course.
Speaker 2:And that's actually it's a big privilege. I feel very blessed when someone comes up to me because I know I didn't deserve it, but it's a way for me to learn as well how to disciple and it shows me a need to be discipled as well, to continue being discipled by other people, and I praise God for the mentors I have in my life to whom I can go anytime and get a correction in life, and I know they will tell me the things that they are in reality. They're not going to lie to me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, those are great people to have in your life, people that can give you an honest assessment of what they see and how they see it. Well, that's awesome. One of the things we prayed for last year as well was kind of the Ukrainian conflict and how many refugees were still going through Moldova. How has that changed in the last year?
Speaker 2:Well, we have less, definitely less, refugees in the city. Officially we have about 60,000 right now in the city. Many of them have relatives, many are businessmen, so the need is not as great, but we still see refugees who are still in some refugee centers. We do help some refugees in the north and in the south of Moldova. So we continue working with them, bringing the gospel to them in the first place and then also attending to their needs. So we bring them groceries, you know, and just continue conversations with them. The church in the north of Moldova, in the city of Orkhe, started as a refugee center, but now it's 50-50, Moldovan and Ukrainian people and many of them pray to receive Christ and as they talk about church they say it's our church.
Speaker 1:So yeah, yeah ownership over there yeah, we visited the church and got to meet a lot of those people in person last year and, uh, we continue 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 ukraine or have they gone into europe? Some?
Speaker 2:of them went back to ukraine and some of them went to Europe. So I mean, I guess they have relatives now all over the world and they just try to go where it's safe. A lot of people who went back to Ukraine have adjusted to the new reality.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the new normal is living in conflict.
Speaker 2:And they just continue their lives. I mean, we have people who are trying to work on the church plant in Ukraine. So just talking to the pastors right now they're very interested in the, in the partnership with the moldovan church, um, but they just do what, what they have to do. They uh continue sharing the gospel over there and continue helping people around them yeah, I feel like the first year there was a lot of fear.
Speaker 1:People were kind of fleeing the country, but then, after they're out of the country for so long, they're like well, we have homes, we have to go back to our homes, we have property, we got to go back and even though the danger persists, there's really no option just to become permanent migrants. And so a lot of people have gone back to Ukraine, wondering and not knowing what the future holds, but knowing that they don't want to be away from their homes permanently. So this still continues to be a major focus of global prayer for peace in Ukraine, for the people of Ukraine. Many are believers. There's a strong contingent of Christians in the country and, of course, there's movements to share Christ among them. And so if you're listening today and you haven't really thought about that, just think about how the Lord continues to move in the hearts of those people who are living in a war zone, some of the insecurity they have to deal with and some of the things that they're trusting God for.
Speaker 1:But we heard the same thing in the Republic of Georgia, huge numbers, I mean half a million Ukrainians two years ago, and it's down to that 100,000 or 200,000 nationwide, and so there is a decrease. Like you said, a lot of them have gone into Europe looking for permanent positions and jobs. That's really the young population. The older population has property, they have homes, they have jobs, they have lives in Ukraine and they don't want to abandon them completely, so a lot of them have gone back into Ukraine. Well, man, that's a big shift over the last year. So what are the things that you guys are thinking about right now? What are you praying for and thinking about for this coming year? For KBC Church, kishinev Bible Church and the seminary there? What are you guys looking forward to?
Speaker 2: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 seminary now to have new enrollment for the seminary. So please pray for that. Please pray for the summer outreach we've. I think we're having a second team in Moldova right now and I just saw some videos of people working in the neighborhood where our church is. They got a couple of bouncy houses.
Speaker 1:Yeah, of course.
Speaker 2:And lots of kids People, of course, and lots of kids people are very interested. It's funny how people live close to our church and there are still some that have no idea we have church.
Speaker 1:They don't even know you're there.
Speaker 2:Right there. So it's a big praise. So just praying for open hearts and open minds to receive the gospel. Also, I'm working on some additional projects with some people who are interested in investing their lives and resources in Moldova. So we're thinking and praying about creating a resource center for all Moldovan churches anywhere from intellectual resources Bible studies, trainings that we could do but also some physical resources like buy several bouncy houses, buy a minivan, buy some physical resources that could be shared among the churches as well. So please pray for that, for God to give us wisdom. And for the last one or two years, we've been praying about Talking about multiplication. We've been praying about raising new leaders for churches. So the goal is to raise 500 new leaders. The immigration among the young people is so high right now. We have probably around 50% of young people who just want to leave Moldova, look for better jobs and stuff like that.
Speaker 1:And they mostly look at Europe. Kind of Europeans, yes for the most part.
Speaker 2:So you can pray for us that God gives us wisdom how to create, maybe create jobs for them, you know, just so that they stay in Moldova and continue serving in their churches.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a great thing. I love the whole concept. I mean, you and I have talked quite a bit about multiplication, so we can't unpack all of that here on the podcast by any means. But I feel like the bottleneck is always leadership, like if you can't grow the next generation of leaders, then you're destined to decrease. It's just like. The simple truth is, if we can't engage, empower and eventually release the next generation to pursue what God's called them to do, then as our generation passes on, the work that we're doing will pass on with us.
Speaker 2:I think it happened to me about five years ago. I was praying and I started praying about a new leader for youth ministry so that I could turn into someone before I get too old. So so I was, uh, uh, god provided a person who I'm training right now and, uh, he's pretty 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 what I do yeah and I'll just uh enjoy teaching yeah enjoy raising new leaders and serve God this way.
Speaker 1:Man, that sounds so good. I have the same philosophy of trying to raise up leaders, give them access, the ability to do the 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.
Speaker 1:It's not always easy, and sometimes the leaders not sometimes they always have their own personality, their own drive, their own dreams, and so they're going to shift things a little bit from what I want them to be, and I have to be okay with that. You know that's. That's one of the challenges. Well, hey, in our last few minutes I want to just kind of go a different direction and I just want to ask you, on the big scale, big part, what excites you right now? What's God doing in your heart that makes you get excited? Maybe it relates to the church, maybe it doesn't, and just be interesting to hear what it is that makes you get pumped up.
Speaker 2:I'm looking forward to serving in camps. Camps have always excited me.
Speaker 1:So tell me, what do you mean when you say camps, Youth camps?
Speaker 2:Yeah, youth camps, esl camps, apologetics camps. I enjoy organizing these events and teaching there as well, and just connecting with the youth. Long time ago, I used to play computer games before kids were born. Once the kids were born, I enjoyed my sleeping time.
Speaker 2:But I would play sometimes overnight meeting people, and then one time at the camp we could not connect with a couple of guys. They were just were rebels. And as we were talking, uh during the free time, as we were talking to someone, someone asked me like how do what do I do for fun? And I said play computer games. You know, I played, uh used to play, counter-strike. And one of the guys turned around and said what's your nickname? And I said Ezekiel, and I have a biblical nickname. And he's like I know you, I play against you. So that's how we connected and then we became good friends during the camp.
Speaker 2:So that's the personal relationship always excites me If I can share my life, share what Christ has done with me and for me. That always excites me. Studying excites me a lot. I've been studying for the last 25 years and maybe I'll slow down, We'll see. My wife tells me I should slow down a little bit. But also teaching really excites me as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's exciting all around. I just got back from this trip and it's so much I love history. I always have loved history, I think when I was a kid I thought I could be Indiana Jones one day. When I grew up, you know and focus on archaeology. Of course it's not just running around like the movies, but it was the last few trips I've gone to turkey.
Speaker 1:We go to these ancient places, ephesus, or this time we went to laodicea, and then we flew over to 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 type artifacts. And you're thinking, okay, so the churches in Ephesus are 2000 years old and you've got some things that might go to 1000 BC. But here you go to another place and it's 3000 years old, and so I picked up a little book about this cave city, uplitsike, and it had Georgian, english and Russian, and so I finished the English portion today, this morning before I came to work, and it just is overwhelming. You know, 3,000 years of pagan rituals before Christianity came to that place, and it makes me wonder how many places in the world today are still stuck with their pagan rituals because they don't know that Christ has made himself available to them. And it just reminds me this is true really within Christianity and outside of it that people who are far from God will do anything they can to try to maybe get favor with God, you know, or the gods, depending on you know. So, in this little cave city, they talked about everything from human sacrifice to all these other smaller sacrifices animals, blood, whatever bones, all these things and these, uh, these ceremonial sacrifices animals, blood, whatever bones, all these things and these ceremonial pits that they had uncovered. And it just makes me realize that, apart from Christ, we just can't do it ourselves, and that's the hope that we carry, sergei.
Speaker 1:I was reading it today and I was thinking about the new war just the last few days, the new war in Iran between Israel and Iran, and I was looking at these incredible verses in Acts 17 where it says that God laid out the barriers for the nations. So here's what it says. I'm not going to find it now, it's right here. It says that from one man this is verse 26,. From one man, he this is God made all the nations. This is from Adam that they should inhabit the whole earth, and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.
Speaker 1:And if you're a student of history, you know that the boundaries changed, the leaders changed, like there have been many small nations and big nations, and some have gone in power and not anymore. I mean, you know, iran is the home of the ancient Persians, right, and they were a global superpower in their day. They were the most powerful in the world for a season. You know, today someone might call America the superpower. Whatever it is, you know it was the Romans, and you can go back and forth. I said Romans because Moldova is formerly part of Romania, which is kind of the last vestige of the Romans, right?
Speaker 1:And you have this whole thing where God lays out the time, he appoints the boundaries, he appoints the barriers, and then it says he did this verse 27, so that they would seek him and they as the nations, and perhaps reach out for him. I love the question. Maybe, maybe they would reach out to him and find him. And then I love this last line. It says, though he is not far from any one of us, and I just pray. I pray that the things that excite me right now one is again I love history, so reading these histories, reading the places, I get to kind of look and see how God, throughout the ages, has moved and engaged certain peoples. The ages has moved and engaged certain peoples and I pray that God would continue to use his people, the global body of Christ, to engage all the peoples right.
Speaker 1:One of the things that really stood out to me in the last few weeks we were in Gonia, which is a Roman fort on the bottom border of Georgia and Turkey and it was the farthest northern eastern outreach of the Roman Empire at the end of the first century. So it was built by the Emperor Nero. It's this cool old fort right and it's big. And as we're walking around taking pictures of this 2,000-year-old Roman garrison, we met all these people. There was a huge number of people walking around that day.
Speaker 1:I've been there a couple of times. I've never seen this many people. So we started talking to some of them. Some of them would come and talk to us. They were almost all Iranians. Oh wow, all of them, and they just wanted to talk. Some of them spoke really good English to talk. Some of them spoke really good English. We were very happy to talk to them and listen to them and some of them said to me, as we were leaving God bless you. And I asked them are you believers? And they looked around like maybe one of their groups aren't allowed to say it, but they said yes we're Christians, god bless you as well.
Speaker 1:I've heard for years that the Iranian church is the fastest growing church in the world and that it's persecuted, that they endure a lot of difficulties, but God is growing the church, and so I wonder what God's doing now, and I hope, if you're listening today, I don't know how long the conflict in Israel and Iran will continue, but if it still continues, pray that God would open the hearts of the Iranian people.
Speaker 1:Definitely. Pray that in the middle of this conflict, that God would make himself known to those who are suffering, and that could be in Israel or Gaza or Ukraine or Iran or any other place where there's conflict. One of the amazing things to me is that we get to go to places like Moldova or Georgia or Turkey, and they're all regionally located, they're all very close. Like you, you look, iran's not far, israel's not far. They're all right there, close to the Mediterranean and Black Sea area, and, and so I pray that God would continue to to do and move and call and maybe, maybe the nations would turn to him. Right, that's what gets me excited right now the history, and just continuing to try to empower all believers to use their gifts and talents to make his name known wherever he would 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, now wants to be friends with your daughter, so I think they're texting already.
Speaker 1:So that's uh, that's exciting, uh, to see our families get to connect. But how can we pray for you?
Speaker 2:well, pray for a safe trip while we're here and on the way back. Also pray for all the outreach that is going on right now in Moldova that our church is involved in. And also pray for, I guess, february and beginning of August. It's going to be very busy for us. We'll have our camps and we'll have another team in the city, I think, think, in July. So just pray for God to continue using us as he planned for this summer.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, we'll definitely do that. For those of you listening, FBC is planning to go back to Moldova in 2026. I don't know the exact dates or times yet. We're working on developing that. But if you'd like to go and visit Sergei and his family, or Eugene and his family, or KBC and the church family there, they would love for you to participate. So be thinking about that, pray about it. How's God calling you specifically to get involved with our partner there in Kishnev, in the capital city there in Moldova? Sergey, it's always a pleasure to get to chat for a little bit. We're excited about what God's doing in you guys and it's always fun to hear how you guys are dreaming and what you're thinking about. And I agree Like the biggest task we have is to make disciples. That can make disciples and that we can do. That can make disciples and that would continue. That can make disciples right, yes.
Speaker 1:And so we're continuing to pray that God would bless you with faithful followers of Jesus who love him and love his mission. Thank you so much. Yeah, well, awesome, well, guys, thank you so much for tuning in. I hope that you enjoyed our podcast today. We'd love to hear from you if you have any feedback for us.
Speaker 1:Just a reminder we do this because we're aware that God calls us for a purpose Psalm 67, right, he calls us, he says, he blesses us and makes His face shine on us. But there's the next verse. It says so that His name will be made known among the nations and his salvation among all the peoples. And so that's the reason God blesses 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, whatever you're doing today, ask the Lord to present you with opportunities to make his name known through you, through you as a believer, because that's, again, it's why we do this. It's so that we can be a blessing to others. So have a wonderful day. God bless you and we'll see you soon.
Speaker 1:We are so thankful that you joined our podcast today. We would love to hear any feedback you may have for us. Remember. Psalm 67 says may God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine on us, so that always may be known on earth and your salvation among all nations. Don't forget why the Lord blesses us it's so that we can be a blessing to those around us. Until next time, god bless.