"AFCOE GOES GLOBAL IN UKRAINE"
by Wes Peppers, Global AFCOE Coordinator
“This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.” —Matthew 24:14 Nothing more does the devil fear than one soul who fully submits his or her heart completely to Jesus. Or does he? Could it be that the devil fears something even more than this? Indeed, what if that soul who was completely surrendered to Jesus also was fully equipped to win other souls to Jesus? Better still, what if the world was full of surrendered people serious about sharing God’s message of love with a dying world? Think of it! Satan and his whole host would tremble in fear of those whom God would use to turn the world upside down for Jesus. It happened once at Pentecost in the book of Acts, and the Bible says it will happen again at the end of time just before Jesus returns: “It shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh … before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved” (Joel 2:28–32). When it does, Jesus [AL1] will come and we will go home to heaven! That’s why Amazing Facts is dedicated to fulfilling the great commission of Matthew 28:18–20, and we have been overwhelmed at God’s recent plans to accomplish this!
Rising to God’s Calling
At the AFCOE four-month program, our mission is to equip people with the tools they need to share Jesus with others. First, we seek the revival that only the Holy Spirit can bring. We spend time with Jesus in prayer, Bible study, and evangelism training. Then our students do hands-on outreach in the community, giving Bible studies and providing health and Bible seminars to the public. In every way, we follow Christ’s example of teaching, preaching, and healing (through health programs) that bring lost souls to a knowledge of God’s love for them. As a result, we have seen miracles happen in the lives of people that could have only been done by the transforming power of God during our four-month program. Yet God doesn’t want us to be satisfied with training students who come from all around the world for this training at one mere location in Northern California. No, His plans are much higher than that! He wants us to take this training to students around the world, so that is exactly what we are doing! Revelation 18:1 says, “After these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory” (emphasis added). We believe that AFCOE should fulfill this purpose. That’s why we have decided to expand our program around the globe.
Like Never Before
This is no easy task! A systematic network of global evangelism training schools really has never been done before, so much time was spent on our knees and searching God’s Word for guidance. God slowly brought the answers together, and now His plans are going forward! Our first school launched in January 2010 in Ukraine, and some have asked, “Why do a school in Ukraine? What’s so attractive about it?” Well, there are several reasons. First, Ukraine has about 50 million people who need to hear the three angels’ messages. Second, it borders six countries that have a similar language—Russia, Belarus, Moldova, Romania, Slovakia, and Hungary. These countries combined have a population of 300 million , and Ukraine sits right in the middle of all of them! A third reason is that almost everyone in Ukraine speaks Russian; it is the gateway to Russia—the largest of these six countries. The political scene makes it difficult to have a Bible school within Russia, but people can come to Ukraine for training and then go back to their homeland to train others. Ukraine is a key logistical location that can open up a much larger opportunity for God’s message in many ways.
AFCOE Graduates Reaching the World
The global four-month program models the one we do here in the United States. Classes include Daniel and Revelation, Bible doctrines, pastoral ministry, how to give Bible studies, preaching, how to organize evangelism in the local church, Christian leadership, Christian finance, and biblical archaeology, among others. Graduates go to various churches and teach these same courses to local church members, training them to do outreach in their community. The potential of AFCOE Global is truly exponential. Thousands can be trained and millions reached through these types of schools. Pastor Don Mackintosh, the AFCOE director in the United States, visited the school and was pleased with what he saw taking place. “The students and staff at AFCOE Ukraine are doing a phenomenal job. The school is going very well. This biblical model can be reproduced virtually anywhere, and we intend to do just that in several key logistical places around the world. These evangelism training centers will be beacons of light that will potentially reach millions of people for Christ in the years to come. It is something that will put the power of the Bible’s last-day message in the hands of laypeople to share with the world.” Vladimir Kroupsky, the Ukrainian Church Union president, was also delighted at the success of the school. “This will begin a new day of evangelism in Ukraine. We are looking forward to training many more workers to help spread the message of Christ’s soon return. This is exactly what we have needed for a long time.”
Exponential Potential Needs You!
AFCOE Ukraine has just graduated its second class. We also recently finished the first class at our newly launched school in England. Including our stateside school, this means we trained more than 500 workers and saw over 1,000 baptisms from the work of our graduates in 2010. We believe that God will do even more in 2011 as we launch AFCOE India! Future plans include Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Our goal is to launch two AFCOE programs per year over the next five years and have at least one training center on every continent. We believe that this will be one of the sparks that God will use to bring the latter rain to His people and, indeed, “light the world with His glory” (Revelation 18:1). As people are moved by Christ and get serious about revival, they also get excited about winning souls. These schools will have a global impact, and the results have “exponential potential.” Fruit is already being seen. In the next issue of Inside Report, we’ll share the miraculous stories of lives that have been eternally changed in Ukraine through AFCOE Global. This is a thrilling opportunity that Amazing Facts has embraced, and we need your help. Perhaps you cannot go to the far parts of the globe for mission work, but you can assist those who are able. Financial support is needed as we move forward by faith. Please keep us in your prayers and consider what God would have you give financially to help AFCOE Global go forward.
*If you would like to help with this effort, please pray for these schools, that God will continue to pour out His spirit on them. Financial support is also needed. If you would like to help financially with these schools, send your donation to Amazing Facts, marked Global AFCOE.*
If you are interested in attending the four-month or the 10-day AFCOE program in the United States, please call 530-422-7994 or visit www.afcoe.org today!