This October we are heading back to Ukraine for another trip. Going to Ukraine is always something we look forward to as we have built so many great relationships and have so many friends there. Every trip is filled with excitement but there are also many fears and worries that we bring with us as well. Will we be safe with the war? Will all of our travels go smoothly? Will people be able to attend our meetings? Are the materials we developed the right content? Will we have enough resources for all of the events and travel costs of the trip? This year we have an added challenge, that we will be doing something we have never done before.
Last winter, we were asked by READ Ministries to help find parenting materials that could be translated into Ukrainian and made available to help parents raise their children. They wanted something practical and not like a textbook. We looked around and had trouble finding what we felt they were looking for, so we decided to write a parenting book ourselves based on what we learned in raising our own three children. We talked to our kids and asked them about their memories of childhood and what we did well and did not do as well to help them be the people and parents they are today.
We published the book in July titled “Building Blocks for Raising Godly Children”. It has been translated in Ukrainian and it is being published there now. READ Ministries provided resources to pay for the translation and initial publishing and now we are going to be presenting this book to several gatherings of church leaders in October. We will be sharing with the leaders of Women’s Ministries and Children’s Ministries from across Ukraine, with a group of church planters and their spouses and at a regional gathering in Cherkasy at New Life Church for pastors and family ministries leaders. We will be sharing the book and how they can use it to help parents in their churches, but also how to use it to reach families in their communities.
We are excited about sharing this book, but we are also nervous. Will the content be helpful? Will it be used? Are we really qualified to be able to teach this? We know that this is something that is needed, but we are not experts or academically trained in this. But we have learned from our past work that when we are the most nervous and anxious it is because the devil does not want us to be doing what we are doing. We are trusting God for His wisdom and guidance and walking through the doors that are opened for us. We must always remember that we are called to do what we can and trust God to do what only He can do.
Raising families is hard in normal situations, but then you add the challenges of dealing with the war, it is even more difficult. Please pray for us as we prepare for these meetings that God will provide us with the content that He wants us to cover, that it will be received well and used by those we present to.
Every trip takes resources for us to do what we have felt God directing us to do. Here is an overview of the resources needed for this trip:
Children’s Ministries Training Retreat $10,000
Church Planters Training Retreat $ 8,000
Printing of additional books $ 3,750
Regional Training Event in Cherkasy $ 1,000
Travel Costs $ 5,000
Total Need $27,750
If you would like to partner with us in supporting these ministries, you can make donations at our website – potentialendeavors.com/donate
Or you can send checks to:
Potential Endeavors
840 Aspen Circle
Little Canada, MN 55109
If you have questions or would like to have us meet with your church leaders about how to get involved, you can reach me at rick.post@potentialendavors.com
If you are interested in purchasing a copy of my book – Building Block to Raising Godly Children, you can purchase at bandrpostresources.com
If you are interested in having a parenting event based on the book at your church, please send me an email and we can talk more about it.