Dear Friends and Partners with us in the Work of God
Thank you for your faithfulness this year and down through the years. What God has done through you is a miracle and I pray that God will reward you, down here, as well as in the Coming Kingdom. Jesus said, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, but in Heaven” – where our reward is stored up for us!
Over the 74 years of my ministry God has never failed me, meeting all my needs in sickness, in that communist prison, in the extremities of ministry, even the 3 months’ evangelism in Siberia in the chaos after the collapse of communism, and all the hardships of so many sacrifices, away from my wife (who had to care for our family) for weeks and months at a time, yet never losing their love and support. My two special blessings now as I still travel and work harder than ever, are my phenomenal health (which shocks the doctors) and the never-failing love and support of all my family. Truly God is a good God who keeps every promise!
In August I was the key-note speaker at SOZO, the all-Central Asia Youth Conference. Participants came from 73 cities and 16 countries worldwide: from the 5 Central Asian ‘Stan’ countries, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, and also from Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, India, and several Western countries, like ourselves from the UK. My job was to further ignite the flame already burning in the youth of the Moslem countries to share Christ in the Power of the Holy Spirit. Your generous support made this event possible. The participants are very grateful to you.
The name ‘SOZO’ is Greek for salvation. It is the vision of one young man, father of a young family. He saw that only in unity across the whole of Central Asia can the work of revival be prepared. 7 years ago, he initiated these United Youth Conferences – always under KGB (state security) surveillance. Their agents are in every meeting. Last year, he was stopped at the border on trumped-up charges and was not allowed to attend his own SOZO conference which, that year, took place in Kyrgyzstan. This year he was told, if he showed his face publicly from the platform, they would arrest him immediately and close the conference down. Even on the opening day, two of his helpers were in fact arrested and taken to the police station. It took a lawyer to secure their release. This is the price believers are paying to do the Lord’s work in these countries.
When the freedom first came to the communist countries in the 1990s, there was a wonderful outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Central Asia. Even into this new century, 15-20 years ago I could fill stadiums with 10-20,000. Living congregations and churches sprang up everywhere. But at the same time, active oil-rich Moslem countries vowed to rebuild Islam in Central Asia with a massive, unimaginable outpouring of petrodollars – thanks to which, they leaned heavily on the organs of local government and KGB to crush the Christian revival.
Thank God that today there is a new move amongst the Churches and the youth who are looking to me, with my life’s experience, to spearhead a new Holy Ghost revival. Now is the time. They say, “David, you are building a spiritual bridge between all our leaders, and your faith and energetic example is touching the hearts of our young people.”
As you know, I am working intensively in Central Asia. All my time in ministry and in fellowship here is in preparation for an all-out spiritual breakthrough. The older generation of leaders, who were faithful under persecution in the communist days, are passing away, but these young ones, also living under persecution, albeit a different one, desperately want the Fire and the courage to evangelise that I have. Time is short, Jesus is coming. Money to do the work is short, God’s Power is unlimited.
In addition, we are not neglecting the urgent situation in Ukraine. Our Day of Prayer in Kyiv in June was a miracle. Despite the constant Russian missile attacks, 8,000 came into the Sport Palace in central Kyiv, every Christian denomination united in crying out to God for deliverance. The Prime Minister of Ukraine wrote a letter which was read publicly by his representative. The letter concluded, “The united prayer of the Christian churches of Ukraine is a testimony of the spiritual unity of our nation. I am convinced that this all-nation prayer will become a symbol of our unwavering faith in Victory and a bright blessed future.”
By the time you receive this I shall have been back in Almaty, Kazakhstan for the 20th National Day of Prayer for the whole of Central Asia. There is more power in prayer than we can fully realise, my life is a powerful witness to this. Two things have dominated the 84 years of my life since I gave my life to Him, the power of prayer to change the impossible and the gift of faith to act and do those things that are impossible! Truly God’s Word says that with God nothing is impossible!
In October we are back in Lviv, Ukraine, praying for the Victory, then November in Tashkent to celebrate 100 years of Pentecostal faith in Uzbekistan – always under persecution, first under communism, today, Islam. But the miracle now is that the government has not only given us permission to hire a public venue, but also to broadcast the celebration – which members of the government will attend!
We have a major programme for 2025 which I will unveil to you shortly. But right now, we desperately need your support, both in prayer and finance. Our financial reserves are gone, our faith is being tested and we are depending on your faithful giving to pay for these final events of 2024. By the end of this year, with your help, we will have held 12 missions overseas! God says in His Word, ‘give and it shall be given unto you.’ Test that by faith and experience God.
Can you imagine the level of faith I needed in 1994, when I took 400 people to Siberia for 3 months without any money? Eurovision as a Mission charity was only formed to raise money for that evangelism which was to change the former Soviet Union. That year I spent one month in Belarus, 3 months in Siberia followed by one month in Ukraine! Five months, and all we had was what came in the post each day! As we left for Siberia, we still had no money for return tickets or hotels – we slept on the floor, in hostels, and lived by extreme faith! Yet God provided and every bill was paid!
Thank you for your love, prayer and faithful financial support.
David
Thank you for supporting this vision through prayer and giving. We pray for you regularly, believing God’s blessing upon you and your families. ‘To Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy – to the only God our Saviour be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and for evermore! Amen.’ (Jude verses 24-25, NIV.)
We value every gift and contribution to this ministry. Because of rising postage costs, we are only able to send Thank You letters for donations of £20 or more. We thank God for your continuing support.