(HQ-General Director) CIS Directors Conference: The Gospel Flourishes Amid Ongoing Hardships
- by ubf hq
- Jan 15, 2026
- 371 reads
The headquarters journey team – Ron & Dervilla Ward, David & Joy Kim – have just returned from Baku, Azerbaijan where we attended the CIS Directors Conference. We were deeply moved by the faith of missionaries and leaders in the CIS. In the midst of many hardships, they are studying the word of God deeply, praying for their cities and nations, and visiting their campuses to share the gospel with students and raise Jesus’ disciples. Missionary John Lee shared the situation and prayer topics for Odessa, Ukraine UBF. There is terrible suffering due to the war. Bombings happen daily. People struggle just to have food, water and heat. In the midst of this, four UBF leaders give their whole hearts to preparing and delivering the Sunday message. Members gather to write and share their Bible reflections as a matter of first importance. 25 house churches have been established, and they are growing in number. In spite of the situation, they are happy in Jesus. They have joy. They have a forgiving heart toward Russia and pray for the Russian people. They pray for Ukraine to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
CIS leaders responded very well to the Bible messages and special lectures. They pray to restore their first love for Jesus and to love one another with Christ’s love. For the last several years, CIS leaders have prayed for the pioneering of three nations: Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. They have held directors conferences in these countries. We found Baku, Azerbaijan to be a modern and prosperous city, nearly the size of Chicago. The area is rich in oil and gas; in fact, in some places, natural flames burn continually, coming out of rocks as gas is emitted. We pray for the flame of the Holy Spirit to ignite and burn among the people of Azerbaijan. Several CIS leaders were moved to go to Azerbaijan as permanent missionaries and they are praying seriously about this. I thank God for the spiritual leadership of Missionary David Lee, the CIS coordinator, and for Artyom Datsenko. They prepared all things for this conference with prayer and by coworking with many other leaders. I also thank God for the next generation of UBF leaders in the CIS. Some of them attended this conference. They served wholeheartedly, through music, tech support and meal provision. They also formed a vessel to pray for a CIS Second Gens Conference to be held later this year. The leaders are Pavel Choi, Samuel Lee, Barnabas Kim Jr. and Paula Kim.
We pray for the upcoming continental conference in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. It will be held January 15-17 with the title, “Love One Another.” The messengers are: Banseok Lee – “The Gates of Hades Will not Overcome It” (Mt 16:15-19), Ron Ward – “Love One Another” (Jn 13:34-35), John Shin – “Pray Always and Not Give Up” (Lk 18:1-10), and Steve Haga (closing message). Please pray for Asian UBF leaders to be renewed and revived in the word of God and the love of God as they carry out Jesus’ Great Commission in that part of the world.
