Never Give Up – A Story of the “Most Stubborn Man I Have Ever Met”
Kevin Harney
Rev. Dr. Kevin Harney (KevinHarney.com) is the President and Co-Founder of Organic Outreach International OrganicOutreach.org).
He is the author of Organic Disciples, Seven Ways to Grow Spiritually and Naturally Share Jesus, the Organic Outreach Trilogy, and many other books, studies, and articles. Kevin is the Teaching Pastor at Shoreline Community Church in Monterey, California, and is a regular contributor to Outreach Magazine.
Some of the men in his church call Peter, “The most persistent man in Ukraine”, and I think they might be correct. Over eight years ago, Peter Rozghon went to an Organic Outreach training event in Ukraine and was equipped to lead Outreach in the church he attends. This church was founded in 1032 A.D. When the entire city was destroyed in 1240 A.D. the only building still standing was the church! It was painted white so people began calling it Bila Tserkva or The White Church. The actual name of the church Peter attends and serves is “The House of the Gospel Church.”
For over eight years, Peter has devoted himself to helping the people of his congregation learn to naturally share the life-changing message of Jesus. When the pandemic descended on his nation and community, there was a season where the church was greatly disrupted. But as soon as they could gather, Peter pressed back into equipping and training the church in Organic Outreach. To be certain that the gospel’s message stayed on the front burner of their congregational attention, Peter volunteered to preach once a month. The one condition was that he would focus on the importance of sharing the Good News of Jesus. They said yes! Years later, Peter still preaches monthly and equips the congregation with the biblical practices taught in Organic Outreach.
When his mother fell ill and he needed to invest up to 25 hours a week in caring for her, he did not quit. After his mother passed, Peter pressed back into his ministry of equipping the saints to share the Good News of Jesus. He stayed faithful and relentless through a time of deep loss!
There have been leadership changes in the church (All but one of the church leaders have been volunteers). Peter has committed to instructing and inspiring each new leader in natural evangelism. He teaches them what he has learned about Organic Outreach so they can help lead the church outward with the gospel.
When war came crashing down on their country, Peter did not back off the call to equip God’s people to organically share their faith with friends, neighbors, and even “enemies.” He pressed on. As a matter of fact, in the midst of war, the men in his church have begun a new ministry bussing food and supplies to the front line. The women in the church are caring for refugees who come to their community. They hold evangelism events that serve up to 200 refugee women at a time and are seeing God bring good out of an unspeakably dark circumstance.
When a church decides to focus outward and bring the light and hope of Jesus to our broken world, we enter a spiritual battle. There will be resistance. The forces of hell and human fear can get in the way. In these moments, don’t give up. Keep calling the church to the mission of Jesus. If you get discouraged, remember a man who continues to volunteer to lead outreach in his church through a pandemic, the loss of his mother, leadership transitions, and a horrendous war.
Pause right now and pray that God will make you the most stubborn and persistent man or woman in your church and community. Ask the Holy Spirit to empower you to engage in the work of the gospel and help your church do the same.
Never give up. Press on. Stay faithful. And watch God use you and your church to change the world around you in the name and power of Jesus.
