George returned today from the east.  For the past 4 days he has been 25 kilometers from the frontline of the war in the east.  He was surrounded by defensive military positions and warned not to take a walk because the fields were mined.  Faint sounds of shelling could be heard in the distance.

Whereas this was as close as we wanted to get to the war, many other pastors are living in the occupied territory of Donetsk where lawlessness and human suffering govern the land.  They live in the midst of  the war that has claimed over 6,000 lives and left 1.2 million people displaced.  These pastors lost their homes and belongings to shelling.  Yet they stay and minister to their congregations.

Pastors and church leaders came across the frontline and from the regions just outside the conflict zone where the spread of war is an ever-present fear.  They gathered together in this “safe place” for Timothy Leadership Training on pastoral care.  God blessed the training and 23 church leaders left with action plans to care for the communities living in crisis.

Pray that God would bless these plans and continue to build His Kingdom in a land broken and destroyed by war.  May God bring peace and comfort in the midst of suffering, and may His will triumph over the evil plans of the adversary.