Stories from the Field

Stocking Shelves in Ukraine

March 2017

Soon I will head to Ukraine, God willing.  While there, I will have the joy of speaking at a two-day gathering of 70 literature specialists in Rivne who will be attending an annual enrichment conference for church librarians in western Ukraine.  In the past, each of the churches where these spiritual pharmacists serve have had their library shelves stocked by READ Ministries with starter church libraries of 300 volumes each.  Through the generosity of READ partners, these spiritual pharmacists are dispensing spiritual medicine from their spiritual pharmacies to satisfy spiritually hungry hearts.
I also plan to visit the Kremenchug Evangelical Seminary (KES) in central Ukraine.  With the assistance of READ Ministries, KES has been training church librarians since the fall of 2000.  To date, 215 church librarians have been trained at KES and 90% of them continue to give leadership to literature ministries in their local churches.  Last September, 18 students enrolled for training in KES’s Department of Church Library Ministry and will complete their two year training in May-June of 2018.  
Over the next two years, READ is committed to stock the library shelves of each of these students’ home-church library with 300 volumes of Bible-based literature for children, youth, adults, believers, and non-believers.  During my trip to Ukraine, financial resources from READ will be shared with KES so when these 18 students visit their home-churches near the end of March they can carry back home an installment of about 30 of these 300 volumes.   It is hard to imagine trained spiritual pharmacists with empty shelves.
The cost of one 30 volume installation is $150.00.  If you'd like to help with the costs of these library installments, just click on Donate Today and make a donation designating Church Libraries.Your continued support of READ makes these shelve-stocking deliveries possible!  May God bless you as you partner with READ to satisfy hunger of another sort.

Bill Arvan

barvan@readministries.org
 (office)

In 2002, Bill, and a handful of other men involved in sister-church partnerships with Evangelical-Baptist churches in Ukraine, formed READ Ministries.

Bill and his wife, Susan, reside in St. Cloud, MN. Susan is the director of Harvest preschool in Sauk Rapids, MN. They have three adult children and two delightful and energetic granddaughters.

After graduating from Dallas Theological Seminary, Bill served in pastoral ministry from 1976-2000. In 2000, Bill was commissioned as a missionary by Calvary Community Church in St. Cloud, Minnesota. From 2000-2005, Bill served as a full-time Field Representative for Short-Term Missions Ministries with the Minnesota Iowa Baptist Conference (BGC/Converge).