Week five of the DTS: was all about worship - not singing songs, but having a lifestyle of worship. It has been a privilege to have our awesome friend and worship leader Craig Tomlin from California with us (thanks again Craig for coming). By the way: all the teachers who teach in our DTS pay their visa and their ticket out of their own pocket - so every speaker that agrees to such a deal must truly have heard from God - or else be crazy.
I am not going to preach about worship here, just some thoughts:-) - the challenge is always to put things like that into practice. Do you please God when you wash the dishes with an unwilling heart (your brother in Christ for some reason forgot again to wash his cup)? One specific challenge to keep an attitude of praise was when Timur, our student from Kygistan, was denied his visa to China. Worship does not depend on circumstances. So we keep praying and try again, because he needs the visa in order to finish the school with everybody else.
Taking worship out into the streets - that is what we did. Yesterday we grabbed two guitars and drove downtown to the waterfront. There we just had a time of praising God, no matter what every one else thought. Worship is not for people, but for God - we want to lift His Name up in Vladivostok - for everyone to see and hear! We had a great time of praising God downtown our city - I believe the kingdom of God has advanced through that. After that we split into small teams; I took a group to visit a paralyzed girl and a boy with lung cancer in the hospital. This is another form to bring glory to God - I believe God likes it when we share His love with the needy and hopeless. Another group went to visit a poor family with many kids. Every one else split in pairs and talked to people on the street. From what I have heard they had some great opportunities to pray for people and witness to them. Masha Shu, one of the staff, was sharing with a lady on the bus back home and turned out that half of the packed bus was listening to their conversation and everyone wanted to know more! Timur was praying for a man with cancer who has less than a year to live. That stranger opened up and even gave Timur his contacts and invited him to visit him at home.
I am just amazed how God uses us - ordinary people to share His love for the lost!
Next week we will go to a village to do a children’s program, visit the old people in the nursing home and share Christ from door to door. Already looking forward to it.