Ukraine/Armenia 2011

Our team, consisting of Ivan B., Tom Chandler, Don Vinez, Connie and I, spent two weeks ministering in Ukraine and Armenia.

It was a long way from here to there involving planes, trains, and automobiles, which included a delay in Washington that put us in Kiev one day late. We made it to Kiev just a few hours before boarding a train for an overnight 12-hour ride to the southwestern part of the Ukraine, which is very beautiful and mountainous. It is very hard for me to put into words what great things God has done but I will let some of the team and comments from those who attended do the speaking for me.

Tom wrote: “From the beginning of the conference in Ukraine until the end of the Armenia conference two weeks later, it was apparent that the Lord was being faithfully served by the work of Shepherds’ Support.  The Ukrainian pastors and their wives were hungry for the sound, Christ-centered biblical teaching Steve brought, and the women in particular were encouraged to hear of how the Savior has worked in our lives (largely through Connie’s testimony) to bring us through struggles.  The Armenians, a more mature group, were greatly moved by Steve’s and Connie’s teaching on the biblical view of marriage and the roles of men and women in the marriage. It is easy to see that what this group of influential pastors from across Armenia learned at the conference might not only change their lives, but also work through them to bring needed change to the culture in Armenia.”

Don wrote of the impact the trip had on him personally: “I witnessed a profound humility and dedication by both the Ukrainians and Armenians to serve JESUS on very little in the form of financial and physical resources. It serves as a memorable example of how we take for granted our blessings...I brought back a great deal more than I left. Thanks for the opportunity. I am forever grateful.”

Ivan, who is originally from that part of the world, (now based and ministering in Houston in a ministry called Revival Sport) was also our contact person and he was instrumental in organizing the conferences. He wrote: “I want to say thank you so much for taking your time, your energy, your finances and willingness to travel to visit my people, my nations. You have become an incredible blessing to our ministry, to our pastors, to our nations. You have shared the word of God with them and your experience in the Spirit. You shared your life with them. You blessed them by prayers in the conferences, in their homes, on their properties of the ministry. You have blessed them with your clothes, your books, and your money. Thank you so much!”

One of the critical needs in that part of the world is for pastors to value their wives. Wives are seldom if ever invited to a conference with their husbands. They have little voice. We really strike a chord with them when we speak on marital issues. One morning I mentioned that when we husbands offend or hurt our wives we need to ask their forgiveness. We take that as a given here in the west (I need forgiveness from Connie at least once a day).  I could see that this created a stir. That afternoon one of the couples was beaming as the husband said “For the first time in 40 years I asked my wife to forgive me.” One of the pastors wrote: “We do need a picture of Biblical families and we need to learn from the life experiences of seasoned leaders like Steve (and the team) who went through many challenges (the heat) of life.  This wonderful team that for 5 days ministered to over 100 leaders of Armenia fulfilled its mission by the grace of God. I am personally involved in married couples’ ministry and am praying that the Lord gives us another grace of having such a conference again. This has truly been a pastor-supporting ministry. May the Lord bless you!” Pastor Davit Torosyan, Bethel” Baptist Church, Yerevan, Armenia.

By hosting these conferences we allow pastors and wives to get to know one another as they network together. They can continue to be an encouragement to one another long after the conference is over  On a personal note, God was very gracious in giving me the strength to speak a total of 26 times during the two weeks, including the Q & A sessions. I was tired of hearing myself speak. But we all came away with a sense of mission accomplished. If you would like to read more testimonies please see the attachment.

Again we want to thank you for your faithful prayer and financial support which makes these trips possible. A team of seven of us will be traveling to Malawi next month. We will send you prayer requests before we leave. Truly God is good, and as they say in Africa, “all the time.”

Please make note of our new address below. We thank Marsha and John Shields who have for the past 5 years allowed us to have a mailbox at their place of business.

Pastor Steve Troxel

Here are some comments from participants at Shepherds' Support Ukraine and Armenia Conference:

Respectable Supporters of Stephen P. Troxel,
We were greatly blessed by the teachings of Steven and by the testimonies of Connie, Tom and Don. We do need a picture of Biblical families and we need to learn from the life experiences of seasoned leaders like Stephen Troxel who went through many challenges (the heat) of life. This wonderful team that 5 days ministered to over 100 leaders of Armenia fulfilled its mission by the grace of God.

I am personally involved in married couples’ ministry and am praying that the Lord gives us another grace of having such conference again. This has truly been pastor-supporting ministry.

May the Lord bless you!

Praying for you,
Pastor Davit Torosyan
“Bethel” Baptist Church

Dear Guests,
Thank you so much for sharing us the grace you had. We experienced the love and the care of the Lord through your humble attitude and ministry. May the Lord bless you and empower you more for the important ministry you are called for.

In Love and gratitude,
Karen & Lusine Sargsyans
City Hrazda
“Word of Life” Church

Respectable guests,
Thank you so much for your ministry. We are amazed at your wisdom and knowledge which you shared with great humility. We have been blessed by you and we are blessing you. We do believe and feel empowered that we can serve God in new and incredible ways.

We are leaving this conference with ample reservoir which we are ready to use for us and for others.
Davit & Juliet

We are thankful to our brothers and sister who came from the States to Armenia.
May God our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ bless and reward you abundantly for the blessing, the help and comfort that you imparted us from the Gospels and your personal experiences.

We were going through depression because of our son’s divorce. Our life was full of bitterness, but your visit and ministry to us was a great comfort and relief. God brought you to our country on due time for us.

May His name be blessed and the Trinity be glorified!

Please continue praying for us,
Hovik Kharazyan
Alice Otatyan
The Brotherhood of the Armenian Apostolic Church
Tsakhadzor

The Bible says that God is love. We saw that love in you. You are doing a wonderful work for God and for the couples.

Through your ministry I added more on to my knowledge and whatever I knew was reinforced.

May the Lord bless you and your ministry! May the hand of Jesus descend on you like silk! Amen.
Ashot Sargsyan
“People of God” Church

We express our sincere thankfulness for your visit to our country. We thank our Lord for your ministry. It was so relevant to our needs.

You touched issues, challenges and difficulties that are present in our families. You spoke to our hearts. We do hope that the positive reflection of your visit will be spread throughout our lifelong marriage.
The Brotherhood of the Armenian Apostolic Church
City Yerevan
Hamlet Hayrapetyan
Naira Hayrapetyan
Thanks
Tsakhadzor

Thank you for giving us these wonderful days. I do hope that our lives will be renewed and refreshed thanks to your wisdom, insightful teaching, and testimonies, sharp and funny jokes. I hope that my lost dreams and colors will come back.

My daughter Monika is 7 years old. She has been praying for me for 5 years as she sees my tears. She is praying for my happiness. Before we came here she asked me: “Mummy, why are you leaving?” In a very loud and happy voice I replied: “I go there to come back with happiness in my heart. My dear Monika, I believe your prayers. God hears you and we will be happy”.

Since 3 years old my daughter has been painting me with a wide smile and with a script “My happy mother”.

Dear Steve, dear and tender Connie, dear Tom and Don, I am filled with gratitude towards you. May the Lord bless your families!
The Church of “Rema”

We are sincerely thankful to the Lord for so much wonderful and blessed days of studying and having a rest for my family. Those days were a period of a deep analysis of our life and our ministry, of relationship in the family. Those days were a great inspiration for our future development in the area of ministry to the Lord.

In this, all sessions and wonderful examples of teachers` lives were so much important. The most actual for our family was the topic of humiliation. So bright examples of family life that we have heard in this seminar where God`s Word encouraged us and let us understand the importance of humiliation.

We do believe, when we are back home we will shear with those important truths with our brothers and sisters and realize those things in our own lives. God will be glorified even more after that.

We also want to thank you for a nice rest, excursions, meal that you have organized for us during 5 days. Our evening meal under clouds was very impressive! Let our gracious God would bless you and give you back for your work and sacrifice in the ministry – that is our prayer for you!

We want to thank the people who paid for us this project and who prayed for us. Let God richly bless you! We do hope that in this “marathon of our lives” we won't go away the distance but will reach the finish line. And we will kindle the other hearts on our way for God` glory.

With love and gratitude and prayer for you,
Benjamin and Natalka. Dunaevtsy, “Bethlehem Church”

We were convinced one more time that God`s Word is alive and active. It is required to study the Word and live with it and proclaim.

The absence of effect of God`s Word says that our preaching was weakened with our own words (superficial interpretation) than God`s Word.

We were so much encouraged to continue the ministry in our church. We could see even clearer God`s hand in our past life and we do hope He would not leave us in the future. We are thankful to God for the team who prepared this seminar for us. The message was clear. The teachers (Stephen, Connie, Dan and Tom) were sincere and open. The time of rest was a great addition to the seminar.

It is a pity that we have to depart! Let God bless you all.
Valeriy and Natalya Homa

I am so thankful to you and to the Lord for those fundamental truths that you have taught us. Jesus is all in all. That is why the accent on Him is the goal of our life.

I had a wonderful time in Carpathians. That was a nice time of holidays! And you filled this time with important truths of God`s Word.

Thanks, let God strengthen you!
Ruslan Muts

Thanks a lot for the time that me and my husband had in such a nice and picturesque place. We also had good refreshment for the inward person. That was a time we have spent in a harmony.

We were inspired with a deep truths of God`s Word that were taught so clear and such a simple way. I was convinced one more time that all genius is so simple. God is real and you showed it very well through your teaching. We have come back to the very familiar and very important truths without them my ministry would lose its sense. I was so much impressed with the truth that I am – not what I do but I am – who I am in Christ. I am also thankful to Stephen that he used many different examples from life. It helps to see clearer spiritual truths.

Thanks to your family for your openness, sincerity. Thanks for your ministry. That was an example that inspired our family. Thanks for your team.

Let God bless you in the development of your ministry and your vision.
Sasha & Irina Kasprov

I am so much thankful for the opportunity to be on this family seminar with my husband thinking about the precedence of Christ in my life.

I am also thankful to our brothers and a sister from America thru whom God richly blessed us giving to the families of ministries such wonderful time of spiritual unity and physical rest. We even could not think about that.

One of ideas that was very valuable for that every fallen person has to focus its attention not on sit itself but on Christ and lift up higher to the heaven (the example with the rat in the plane). We are all people and do sin very often. Sometimes, I feel blame before God and do not have a peace in my heart even I have repented. So this seminar helped me to understand that no matter what happened I have to get near to Christ.

I also liked a sincere Connie’s heart and that she could share with her personal life experience. That encouraged me a lot that we should not fall into despair but trust in the Lord no matter what happen in our life and it will harden us and bring us to the deeper dedication to God. When I am in serious problems I panic very much. I pray and call to God. So this seminar showed me that God gives us strength to go through all difficulties.

I could write even more but those are the main things in which God encouraged me. I believe, God will work in my life as much as I let Him.

This seminar inspired me to share this information with my church. So I want to organize a meeting for the sisters in my church.

One more thing that was very important for – Lord`s Supper. As a few day I spent some time thinking about God`s greatness and I had a close relationship with my Heavenly God I felt a special purity and holiness in Jesus Christ remembering His death and sufferings.

Let God richly bless your families with His abundant blessings in all places you ministry in. Let God abundantly gives back to those who financially supported us in this conference and prayers.

Thanks to you and to God as He is everywhere. Let be glory to Him for all.

With sincere love and thanks,
Oksana Deoba

I was impressed with the combination of spiritual program and rest. That brought good fruits in my life. I would like to shear with some thoughts that were important for me:

Finally, I want to thank pastor Stephen for sincerity and simplicity. I liked that he did not hide his problems but appoints on them to show God`s hand in his life. Connie is a great addition in all.

Thanks for your personal example for me. It is the most important that I and my family remember for a long time.

Tom and Don are nice co-workers. They are vital and cheerful brothers. Thanks for their presence. They were a good example how to treat to the pastors. It is obvious how good they treat to their pastor.

Blessings,
Andriy Deoba

Did we like it? – Oh YES!!!

That was even better for the honeymoon. We had not only physical rest but we have strengthened spiritually.

We were impressed with the place of the seminar. It was not possible to be quite and not praising our God seeing such a beauty of nature.

God knows what we need for the spiritual growth that is why; the lectures that were taught by Stephen and his wife, Connie touched our hearts with the special way. God reminded to us about humiliation, about our life by spirit but not by flesh. He reminded to us about the distance that we have started and how we have to finish it. And many other things.

We had a chance to meet many nice families that became a model role for us.

We want to say a sincere “thanks” to God that He acts through You! We pray about you and your families.
Sergie and Lidmila Basenko

Dear brothers Stephen, Tom, Don and sister Connie and everyone who is attached to this blessed pastoral seminar in Yaremche city.

Me and my five, Ludmila say big thanks for your work, love and sincerity that you showed us as to us and our families. We, as the ministries of Ukraine would let us have such a rest combined with the spiritual instruction and fellowship. One of the special moments was our common participation in the communion. We realize that through Jesus Christ we are brothers and sisters.

You were open to us and that means that God does and will do great miracles and work through you for in His Kingdom.

Let God bless you with His special, fatherly blessing and meet all your needs. We pray for you and for your families.

In Love,
Andrey and Ludmila Taroski

Beloved ones by Jesus Christ our Lord! Brothers and sisters, you all, whom God laid on heart to support pastor`s Stephen and Connie ministry. We sincerely thank you for your love and mercy to us, who ministry to the nation of Ukraine.

Let God meet every need you have and give you back 100 times more for your work and sacrifice to spread the Good News. Me and my five, Olya are so glad to spend those days in the sanatorium “Carpathians” amidst brothers and sisters who are spreading the Gospel.

God gave His encouragement for our spirit, soul and body through this seminar.

Listening the sessions of pastor Stephen I deeper realized how far away I am from the standard of God`s righteousness. And than my soul says those words “forgive me Lord my transgressions and be merciful to Your servant, Ivan”.

Those alive testimonies of God`s grace that Tom, Don and Connie sheared with are encouraging our souls. That His Holy Spirit will comfort us when we have a grief.

Thanks for each member of your team who encouraged us. We pray that our Heavenly Father would protect your families from any kind of evil and would fill your hearts with His peace.

We want to ask you to pray for us that we would be able to continue to spread the Gospel.

Blessings, glory to our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Dear brothers and dear sister, I thank you for coming to Armenia. I praise God for bringing you here to give us these messages from the Bible. I pray that God will keep you firm in Jesus and that your hearts will always be full of His love and Spirit.

Your brother in Christ,
Yeghish Shahnazaryan

Two weeks ago I was at a family seminar by John Haga and started feeling that something is missing in my marriage. So I started praying and asking God for a fresh love for my husband and me and also for a revival. Then I accidently heard about this conference and started praying that God would make it possible for my husband and me to attend that conference, even though we had many things to do. That evening sister Astghik called us and invited to the conference. The best thing for me at the conference was that when I heard the 16 points out of 20 things that women expect from their husbands, I suddenly realized that my husband was meeting almost all of those needs of mine ! The Lord told me something important: appreciate your marriage because that was my will for you ! I thank to all of those who put this all together, because this was also God’s divine plan to help us this
way.

We were happy to be part of this conference. We say thanks to all the organizers ! It was a pleasure to get to know and make friends with Steve and Connie and their friends as well as the new couples from Armenia. I praise God for all of this ! We as leaders have always encouraged both young and old to memorize Bible verses, but we ourselves had never been after it with passion. Steve was a great example for us of a man who knows most the Scripture by heart and doesn’t need to open his
book every now and then. It encouraged us to become like him. Steve’s messages helped us to get a better understanding of who Jesus is in the whole Scripture. These were truly exciting messages that we can teach in our churches too. At the same time we heard the answers of a number of questions that we had about marriage. We will learn more when we get home and look through our notes from the conference. It’s a pity that these days passed so quickly: we still had tons of things to learn from this team. Let God grant you with long life and bless us all to carry out His will.
Seno & Gohar

I praise God for this seminar which refreshed us spiritually and strengthened our marriage. I realized that as the father of my family I hadn’t done much to make my wife happier. I think you’ll be glad to hear that I have decided to share these teachings on marriage with other couples and help them find solution to the issues of their lives.
Mamikon Abgaryan

We bless you in the name of Christ. We thank you for sharing with us some of your deepest experiences that you had in Christ. You were passionately doing your part in God’s kingdom like young people. Your example is very encouraging for us. We especially liked the teachings on marriage and we would like to hear more and deeper teachings on it. Thank you!
Vardan & Anna

We are a young couple and have just started our walk with Christ, so we were very glad to attend this wonderful conference. We believe, we will be able to attend more conferences like this. We are very impressed with these teachings. We haven’t come across very difficult family issues yet, but we learned many lessons and good advice which will help us deal with the issues that will rise later. But we believe, we will never be hopeless and discouraged by anything because we have put Jesus in our midst. May God bless our guests from the USA who helped us to understand each other better. They taught us to stay firm in our faith no matter what, and live only for Christ surrendering all our concerns to Him and letting Him take control over every aspect of our lives. We also thank the supporters of this conference.
Andranik & Tatev Andreasyan

We praise God for this wonderful conference, for the speakers and the organizers as well as the supporters. As soon as we heard about this conference God put it in our hearts to do our best and come here. We took a holiday and started praying that we would be able to attend this conference. In fact, we really needed some rest and spiritual refreshment (we serve not only in Armenia but also in Nagorno Karabagh). It was a great blessing for us to get a new picture of a true godly family and we also were refreshed and encouraged. Steve’s and Connie’s teachings were very wonderful as they were emphasizing the Christ-centered life. It was also interesting to see Jesus from Genesis all the way to Revelation as the foundation of the family. It was great to hear them share from their experience and the difficulties they went through and give glory to God. We came to understand in a new way the relationship of Jesus and the church in terms of marriage relationship. The testimonies of Tom and Don were also powerful ones as well as their loving service to their pastor. As a pastor I was encouraged together with my helpers who were with me these days. Conferences like this are of a great importance in today’s churches. May God bless you and make your ministry fruitful.
Vardan & Anush

I thank God very much for this conference. The theme was very important and I am very blessed. These things need to be preached in churches frequently both for pastors and other ministers. I know that in churches many women suffer because of their husbands’ inappropriate attitude towards their secretaries and other women. There are brothers who bear the name of Christ at the same time mistreating their wives and even beating them. Couples, who were serving God together, are divorcing because the husbands find interest in others ignoring their wives. Such men are still preaching from pulpits and serving in the church in other ways. This conference was very important and I wish that we could have such seminars more often which would eradicate the dangerous indifference from among God’s ministers. The more the families are strong, the more the church is strong and the Devil has no room in them. We are living in the age of internet and it would be great to address the online friendships with other women/men. If it goes on for a long time, it leads to an unhealthy emotional attachment. Big things start from small things. We thank you and all the guest speakers. God bless you!

Our dear friends in Christ, we praise God and thank you for this wonderful conference. During these days God impacted our lives through you more than we were expecting. I was here with my wife with whom I’m married since 1998, but we came to Christ in 1993. The messages and teachings were very helpful and wonderfully balanced. They were becoming more convincing and powerful for us because in this short time we saw a determined, humble and warm spirit in all of you, Steve and Connie, Tom and Don. Your lives impacted our lives leaving a kind and everlasting mark on us. These past years I had become more and more cold and withdrawn from my wife and we didn’t have a compassionate relationship. I found out that it was my guilt. During these days my hard heart softened and the chains and the deceit of the Devil was broken from our lives through the victorious power of Christ. So I renewed my covenant with my Lord and also with my wife, Hasmik. Now I see our first love come back in a new and deeper way. We praise God and pray His blessings on you and on your families and churches. We feel such a warm bond between you and us. Let God reward you richly and bless also the people of the US. Amen.

The words are not enough to describe all the wonderful things we experienced in these several days. The values and principles with which we were filled, equipped, empowered and renewed just cannot but leave their mark on us. It’s true, that “my word that goes out from my mouth, will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it”, Isaiah 55:11. We are truly very blessed and amazed at God’s boundless love and his incredible faithfulness and the Spirit driven ministry of Pastor Steve and Connie, Don and Tom. We thank also bother Ivan together with the translators and the organizers. “Dear brother Steve, it’s a pity that we couldn’t communicate because of the language barriers, but we believe, that in heaven we will freely talk to each other and worship the Lamb of God who was slain for us! Blessings on you in the name of Jesus Christ!”
Samvel & Hayastan (together with Karen & Lusine, Davit & Juliet, Romik &
Svetlana)

My wife and I are very blessed by this conference as we learned a lot. During these days we learned to love the Lord in a new way. We also started putting things right with each other realizing the Lord’s will for us. Thanks to this conference we learned a lot about pastoral ministry. The question and answer sessions also helped us look at things in a deeper way. The testimonies of our guests also touched our hearts, moved us and impacted us positively. We saw that even experienced pastors and successful businessmen go through big hardships. We are now encouraged to continue serving the Lord even in the midst of difficulties following their example. We also saw a humble and gentle heart in our guest: that motivated us to be like them as they are like Christ. We sincerely thank God for these days because we are greatly blessed and healed. So we thank our guests and the organizers for giving us these beautiful days in Christ. May God bless you!
Armen & Gayaneh

Dear brothers and sister, Steve, Connie, Don, Tom and Ivan, we greet you in the love of Christ from the city of Ijevan, Armenia. We thank God greatly for this possibility to hear your messages which were so full of the power of the Holy Spirit and His instruction. We learned many things which we will first of all apply in our lives and families and then teach other couples. May God bless you, all your works and families abundantly. May God take away all your burdens, as you obeyed God’s will despite all your difficulties by that stirring God’s powerful light and fire in our hearts. You are salt and light in this dark world. We will always be praying for you until we meet you again. We will also follow your instruction, brother Steve, and will memorize Bible verses. By following Jesus, we will lead our children and friends to a godly life of faith. You are true disciples of Jesus who fulfill His great commission (Matthew 28:18-20). We will always remember you in our prayers.
Garnik & Rita

I thank you for these special and blessed days. I learned many things and I’m going to put them into practice. Most important of all, we need to love everyone the way Jesus Christ loved us. I bless you all in the name of Jesus and hope that we will meet again, if not on earth, in heaven for sure!
Gagik & Nelly Tumasyan

We had a great conference for couples, which was very instructive, full, pleasant and beautiful. Our dear guests from San Antonio, brother Steve and his wife Connie and their friends Don, Tom and Ivan, presented for us the books of the Old and New Testaments, their mysteries and God’s great plan of salvation for humans. All of this was done with unmistakable Scripture quotations, unique interpretations mixed with American viewpoint. They introduced us with the true man and woman relationship and their needs according to the Bible. We had interesting discussions about the concept of family, the role of the man and woman in creating a family and keeping and leading it in holiness. We heard individuals share about their personal struggles and difficulties in their families and we were lead to the ultimate solution with the guidelines of the Word of God. We learned also about the role of the pastor for his congregation as a counselor. This was a beautiful mixture of the American and Armenian culture combination in the light of the Word of God. We also enjoyed the beautiful Christian songs and the worship. Thanks to all the participants and the organizers.
Emilia & Ashot Harutyunyan, Eliz & Meruzhan Gushumyan