Why Zaporozhye?

From the beginning of our lives together cross cultural missions has never been very far from our minds. When pasturing our first church in Whittier, CA we took Spanish courses at an adult education facility thinking that we might some day need the language for missionary work. In the mid -- 70s, we talked to the World Missions office about going to Bolivia. That discussion led me back to Bible college at Ozark Bible College to supposedly just take some missions courses. And in 1979 we visited Bolivia to try to determine whether or not going there was God's will for our lives. Again in the mid-80s when some missionary openings in the Caribbean presented themselves we talked to the mission board about those. And in 1986 we moved to Jamaica. And while our stay there was not long, when we returned to the US in 1988, we both sensed that our time as missionaries was not over. So while we were pastoring the church in Lamar, CO we were also placing ourselves before the Lord for future overseas ministry. As a part of that I enrolled in Columbia Bible College and Seminary's Extension department to begin to prepare myself academically for teaching in an overseas Bible college.

It was during our time in Lamar that the Iron Curtain collapsed, and the door was opened for ministry in the new CIS. A friend of mine who is very involved in missions said to me one day, "Gordon, I just came from a meeting where they were looking for 110 people to go to Russia to teach English using the Bible as a textbook. Some of them will be teaching English to top Soviet generals. And I would love to see you tangle with a Soviet general. Would you be interested?" I told him that I would be except I had no training to teach English. And if I was going to do it I wanted to feel prepared.

Sensing that teaching English might be a part of what God had in mind for us, I went back to the Columbia Bible Seminary catalog and discovered that they offered an MA in Teaching English as a Foreign Language. So I added that degree to my "Must do" list, and continued taking classes. In 1993 Nancy and I felt the time had come to make the move from an extension student to the resident program. I had completed all the courses that the degree requirements would allow by extension. So in July, 1993 we moved to SC. The 1993-94 year I completed the requirement for my M.A. Old Testament, and 1994-95 I completed the requirements for my TEFL degree. But there was still one big problem - we had no idea where we were going.

By this time the opportunities I had targeted earlier in Russia were no longer an option. I compared my qualifications to the needs of the work in Bolivia, and even made some additional inquires concerning that possibility, but Bible college teaching did not seem to fit the needs there. So we prayed and waited. I made some inquiries to various agencies that visited the seminary, but the door was always shut.

Then in February, 1995, the Lord cracked the door. During that month each year Columbia International University (the new name for Columbia Bible College and Seminary) hosted World Christian Week. Classes were dismissed for 2 days and those days given to seminars sponsored by the various mission agencies that come to campus for the week. Being in the TEFL program, I naturally attended the sessions where opportunities to teach English as an evangelistic tool were discussed. The speaker who got my attention was a lady by the name of Bea Crane. She and her husband Don were representing Greater Europe Missions, and in particular the needs of Eastern Europe. My heart was touched as I heard of the opportunities to use what I was learning.

The next day was given to regional seminars, and Don Crane was to speak on Eastern Europe. I went, and was just as touched by the plea for Bible teachers as I had been by the plea for English teachers the day before. They particularly mentioned a need in the Czech Republic for someone to use English to reach the unsaved during the week and then set up Bible institutes in local churches on weekends. It sounded just like what I was looking for. And although not very optimistic about the chances of it working out, I visited with the Crane's about my dreams.  I told them who I was, what church I was affiliated with, and what my qualifications were, and asked them if there was any chance that Greater Europe Mission would be open to talking with our World Missions department about a cooperative effort. They said that they felt that GEM would be open to that, and took some information from me. I did not know at that time that the Crane's were regional directors for GEM in Eastern Europe. I also did not know that they were not even supposed to be at that conference. They were supposed to have returned to Europe earlier in the week, but GEM had no one else to send to CIU for the week, so their headquarters paid to change their tickets so they could be at CIU.  For me it was a divine appointment.

A month later I contacted the GEM Human Resources director. He had not heard of me yet, so we went through some of the same questions I had discussed with the Crane's. After a while Dave Zehr said to me; "Gordon, I really like what I'm hearing from you. I'm going to be in Columbia in a couple of weeks. Let's get together and talk some more."  We did, and at the close of one of our meetings Dave said, "Gordon, If your mission is willing to work with us we are willing to accept you." I could not believe it! I was so thrilled, but I also knew that there was a very big "if" in that statement. And that was the next step.

I remember so very well calling our pastor, Amos Hann, into his office one night and telling him about my "idea" and asking him if he thought it had a chance of success.  He encouraged me to proceed, and so with great fear and trepidation I wrote Rev. William Hayton, the executive secretary for World Missions of our church, outlining my proposal, and asked if the World Missions board would be interested in discussing the matter. To my total surprise the answer was "yes". And I knew that God had something in the works.

A meeting was set up for Nancy and I to visit with the board, and Dave Zehr from GEM was also invited so that everyone would be present to ask and answer questions. Then about a month before the meeting Dave Zehr called to tell me that there was an urgent need at Zaporozhye Bible College in Ukraine and that he had discussed the matter with Don Crane and they both agreed that I would be best suited for that job.                  

To back up a bit, during that summer we had met a couple named Mark and Joanne Mackey through another person in our office, Ernie Hack, who knew that Nancy and I were interested in serving in Europe. Mark and Joanne were directors of a Bible college in Zaporozhye, Ukraine.  In one of our talks with them about GEM Mark said, "I sure wish I could get you to switch from the Czech Republic to Zaporozhye." I just smiled and went on with what I thought was God's plan. But when Dave called he told me that both Mark and Joanne had been diagnosed with serious medical problems that would require surgery in the US. They were afraid that Mark's was cancerous, so they did not know when or if they would be able to return. Would I be willing to take their place if my board agreed to send me? I thought back to Mark's comments, and I said, "Yes, Lord, I get the point!"

So that was the proposal that was discussed at the "big" board meeting in September, 1995. (Actually the Mackeys were able to return to Ukraine in just a couple of months, so that when we came to Zaporozhye it was as part of the staff and not as director as had been envisioned.) After some pertinent questions were answered, the issue turned to money. While they were interested in my proposal, the board did not feel they were in a position to financially underwrite the expenses for the project. But they did make a counter proposal. If Nancy and I could raise 50% of our own support, they would be willing to provide the rest.

I don't think I ever doubted for a minute that it would happen. We made some contacts, and in March, 1996 I came alone -- a very different arrangement to us -- to Kansas City for a board meeting, and on to a month of nightly services in Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, Colorado, and Kansas. And God was in it! For in that month I was able to raise virtually the entire amount that was needed. So in April I returned home to South Carolina, and Nancy and I began the task of preparing for the move to Zaporozhye.

Sometimes people talk about the difficulty of young people finding the will of God for their lives, and it is true. But sometimes older people find themselves in circumstances where they don't know what to do next either. And God is just as faithful to help us in making mid-course corrections in our lives as He is to send us out in the beginning. If that were not true, Nancy and I would not be in Zaporozhye today.