Ukraine’s current political unrest may leave its people concerned about their future, but glimpses of God’s love and provision are keeping many of them encouraged.

“We have had times of worries here, but we don’t get depressed because we know the Lord is not going to leave us or forsake us,” said Lydia Davienko, a member of the Church at Amur in Dnipropetrovsk, who helped with a recent medical missions clinic hosted by Alabama Baptists.

“I’m so happy to see our friends who come from abroad, who come here to support us physically and spiritually,” she said. “I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart that you paid attention to us.”

– Read more at: http://www.thealabamabaptist.org/print-edition-article-detail.php?id_art=31871#sthash.ZPvq9QwX.dpuf

Lawrence Phipps never ceases to be amazed when people ask if he and his friends are angels.

It’s happened more than once.

To him, it’s affirmation that the Holy Spirit is at work — and that believers have to be obedient to share their faith.

“One day while we were out visiting, we knocked on the door of a young woman who was crying when she came to the door,” Phipps said. “She said, ‘A few minutes ago, I started praying that if God was really in my life He would send someone to talk to me. You’re not angels, are you?’”

Phipps is so convinced that God desires to use His people that he recently resigned from Vaughn Forest Baptist Church, Montgomery, after nearly 20 years as pastor to start It’s Life Ministry (ILM). Through ILM, Phipps hopes to encourage churches “by rekindling a passion for reaching people for Christ.”

– Read more at: http://www.thealabamabaptist.org/print-edition-article-detail.php?id_art=29359#sthash.KKknMTXP.dpuf

If Billy Graham had come on the scene in 2013 instead of 1949, Phil Waldrep’s not sure it would’ve been the same story.

Back then churches thought nothing of holding two-week revivals. But now that kind of mass evangelism is “a component, not a priority” of a church’s evangelistic focus, said Waldrep, speaker, author and founder of Phil Waldrep Ministries in Decatur.

“When I was younger, I got some very good advice from some wise men who saw the trend changing,” he said. “They saw a day where a person might not be able to make a full-time living as a mass evangelist.”

– Read more at: http://www.thealabamabaptist.org/print-edition-article-detail.php?id_art=29367#sthash.t2swhth8.dpuf