Christmas in my Father's House

There is a really great Children's Ministry in Ukraine. It is called Father's House. My friendship with its founder started on my first trip to Kiev in 1997, just a few months after he started the ministry in a small apartment. I remember walking into the small apartment. It had one bedroom that housed all the kids. They had built a three level bunk that housed 4-5 kids on each level. Crowded? Yes but better than living on the streets of Kiev during a Ukrainian winter.

Today Father's House is prospering with two large facilities just outside of Kiev in a small village. Though it is prospering the ministry is still walking in faith daily as they have no "regular support." For instance, this year they had no idea where they were going to get the gifts for the children for Christmas. God did.

Enter Rick Schwendinger. Rick and I are friends since October 31, 1997 when we met at ORU (Oral Roberts University) . Rick and I were both heavily involved in ORU's summer mission program. His focus was primarily Africa while mine was Ukraine. After graduate school he moved back home to Wisconsin and pastored a rural church. A couple years ago he felt the Lord's prompting to visit me on the mission field in Ukraine. He recently joined us here as a full-time independant missionary.

Rick quickly rallied to the cause at Father's House and raised funds to buy the children Christmas gifts. Our ministry supported his efforts by wrapping gifts, rallying other wrappers, and finding a location to organize the wrapping. A big thank you goes out to Steve Weber, the president of CBN Ukraine, who provided a storage place for the gifts and a room to wrap them in, and to his children, Hanna, Victoria, and Logan who also helped to wrap them. Seeing the over all success of the event really inspired us and at the Holy Spirit's prompting we have pledge to partner with Rick in a greater way next year, by helping to find donors to buy gifts as well.