November 13, 2000

Texas pastor takes wing on
joy of missions learned as chaplain
___By Kathleen Thompson
___Special to the Standard
___BULVERDE--He boarded a plane in San Antonio and flew to Chicago. From Chicago he flew to Vienna. From Vienna he flew to Dnipepetrovsk, Ukraine.
___From Dnipepetrovsk he rode in a car to Zaporozhye, Ukraine. In less than a day he was half-way around the world in a country most Texans have seen only on television or in magazines.
___William Clark, pastor of Bulverde Baptist Church in Bulverde since 1997, has made this trip for two consecutive years. Specifically, his destination was Zaporozhye Bible College. Clark spent two weeks in both May 1999 and May 2000 teaching a course on the book of Acts to Bible students at the college.
___"The idea was to help these students see how this (the book of Acts) fits within the context of the New Testament," Clark said. "The Ukrainians are knowledgeable about the Scripture, but what they have not seen or been taught is how it fits together."
___Clark emphasized that under communism people were not encouraged to think independently. "So one of the issues for the Ukrainians is experiencing what is involved with freedom of thought," he said. "That's a significant element in the educational process."
___In May, Clark taught 17 students, five of whom were deaf. Clark taught in English, and translators interpreted his teaching into Russian. For the deaf students, sign translators videotaped the signing for the students to review later in the day. Clark said the deaf students spent at least five hours previewing the tapes of classes that went on during the day.
___Zaporozhye Bible College was founded in 1995. Greater Europe Mission, a Christian missions organization, helped Christians in Zaporozhye start the Bible college. Many pastors and Christian workers from the United States have helped teach courses at the school.
___The college has about 110 undergraduate students and six graduate students. Clark said the purpose of the college is to train Ukrainian pastors and to train Ukrainians to become the instructors at the college so the Christian outreach to the Ukraine is done by Ukrainians and not by foreigners.
___Currently the Ukrainians have no educational base in theological matters because under Soviet rule it was not allowed.
___Although about 80 percent of Ukrainians are Orthodox Christians, only about 2.7 percent could be considered evangelical Christians, Clark said. The Russian Orthodox Church was the political church when the Soviet Union was in existence. It was the only recognized church.
___"For many of these people, they may belong to the Russian Orthodox Church, but they would tell you they're atheist," Clark explained.
___A retired Army chaplain, Clark spent 26 years serving in Germany, Korea, Vietnam and throughout the United States. His father served in the U.S. Army and later was employed as a civilian worker in the Army.
___Clark spent most of his childhood in Europe and graduated from high school in France.
___"When the Lord called me to preach, actually, I felt a strong pull to go to the mission field." he explained. "Then the Lord led me to the chaplaincy, which is a different mission field."
___These experiences exposed him to missions around the world and fueled his passion to volunteer in missions.

Get printer-friendly version of this story


Send this story to a friend

---

Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!