THE YEAR IS 1960. NIKITA KHRUSHCHEV--THE PREMIER OF the Soviet Union--is giving one of the most widely reported speeches of his political career. Speaking from the October Palace in Kiev, he forcefully declares, "In 25 years, all religion will be stamped out of the Soviet Union. We will keep one Christian leader as a relic so future generations will know what one looked like."

Fast-forward 45 years to March 4, 2005. It Is Written is presenting the first satellite evangelistic series in the history of the former Soviet Union. Messages of Christ's love are encompassing the Eastern Hemisphere live from the very stage where Khrushchev made his defiant statement. More than 1,800 people pack the auditorium. They are eager to hear the Word of God. Millions more from at least 30 countries watch via satellite and local television stations as Mark Finley proclaims the gospel from the very site where Khrushchev sought to stamp it out forever.

he It Is Written ministry made history March 4-26 as it used technology to reach the entire former Soviet Union with the gospel. Mark Finley, It Is Written's speaker emeritus and director of the Center for Global Evangelism at the General Conference,* presented "ACTS 2005: Revelation Offers Hope" live from Kiev, Ukraine. The series reached millions of people throughout Asia, Europe, and Africa, and more than 3,000 baptisms have already taken place as a result of the meetings.

"ACTS 2005" was uplinked in English, Romanian, Russian, and Ukrainian, and transmitted through the Hope Channel across 11 time zones. More than 1,500 churches and 10 prisons downlinked the nightly meetings, and many television networks in the Euro-Asia Division aired the programs in their prime-time lineups. These meetings were a continuation of It Is Written's "ACTS" (Adventist Commission Through Satellite) global evangelism initiative.

"This was definitely a team effort," said Finley of the series. "It Is Written, the General Conference, the Hope Channel, the Euro-Asia Division, and thousands of pastors and laypeople came together to reach people in this former Communist nation with the message of Christ."

Extensive Planning
Preparations for "ACTS 2005" began three years ago when church officials and It Is Written selected Kiev, Ukraine, as the host city for the series. "We knew that an event like this would take years of prayerful preparation," said Royce Williams, It Is Written's director of global evangelism and global television. "We felt privileged to work with local pastors and church officials to share the gospel in an area of the world that was once hostile toward any kind of religion."

Pastors and laypeople attended evangelism training courses and gave thousands of Bible studies. Youth evangelistic teams held more than 150 New Beginnings evangelistic meetings, and local pastors and church administrators conducted their own series. In the months leading up to the meetings, many churches installed satellite dishes for the first time--which was no small task given the amount of snow in places such as Siberia! However, sometimes even the installation of a satellite dish can present an opportunity for witnessing. The pastor of a small church in northern Russia was installing his dish when the town mayor stopped by and asked the pastor what he was doing. When the pastor explained about the meetings, the mayor said, "No, you can't do that. Everyone should have the opportunity to hear the messages. Remove the dish, and we will release the programs on our city's television station."

Mightier Than an Atheist's Boast
As they surveyed the city of Kiev, it became increasingly clear to the It Is Written team that the International Center of Culture and Arts would be the perfect venue for the meetings because of its location and seating capacity. However, in the months leading up to the series, city officials warned that the site could not be guaranteed because of political unrest during the country's presidential elections. This led to earnest prayer across the Euro-Asia Division, and just days before the production crew arrived in Ukraine the venue was cleared for use.

During "ACTS 2005" staff members couldn't help thinking of the site's tragic history. On this very ground had once stood the dreaded KGB's headquarters. "Beautiful dressing rooms now occupy spaces that were once prison cells where an untold number of human beings paid the ultimate price for their beliefs," said Williams. "It's incredible to think that the Lord just used this same site to reach millions of people with the gospel message."

The Meetings Begin
On opening night more than 1,800 people crowded the International Center of Culture and Arts, and 700 more attended in nearby churches. The crowd swelled night after night--creating the need for two sessions per evening. "Something amazing happened during this series when it came to our attendance," said Finley. "In Kiev our numbers grew steadily until we had 3,000 in one night!"

From one of the wealthiest citizens of Kiev to a 10-year-old boy who traveled across the city to sit in the front row of the meetings each night, thousands braved inclement weather to hear Finley and his translators preach the Word.

One evening two people drove four hours to see the live program. These men--one a colonel in the Ukrainian Air Force and the other a ballistics specialist--had been attending a downlink in the city of Vinnitsa. During a conversation with Finley the ballistics expert said, "During the cold war my job was to coordinate the aiming of our Russian missiles on your U.S. cities."

Finley and the man embraced as Finley remarked, "Once the world regarded us as enemies, but now we are brothers in Christ Jesus."

The man replied, "Yes, we are brothers now."

At the beginning of the series church officials received an urgent message from a television station in St. Petersburg asking for permission to transmit the programs. Since television stations in the former Soviet Union are accustomed to paying for programming, the man added, "Would it be possible to be exempt from paying a fee for the programs?" The next day, "ACTS 2005" aired in St. Petersburg--free of charge.

Throughout the series hundreds of e-mails poured in from churches around the world--and many came from the area of the world known as the 10/40 window. One church reported that their equipment operator was called to the army just before the meetings began. The pastor decided to visit the colonel of the man's regiment and tell him about their need. After some discussion the colonel agreed to allow the man to leave the regiment for the duration of the series on one condition: that he would record all the lectures to later show to the entire regiment. The colonel and his family attended the meetings on the base every night.

It Is Written in Chernobyl
During the series Shawn Boonstra, It Is Written's speaker/director, completed two new It Is Written programs shot on-location in the former Soviet Union. For one of these special telecasts, the team traveled to Chernobyl to tape just 200 yards from the reactor that caused the 1986 nuclear disaster. Daniel Reband, associate speaker for It Is Written's Russian telecast, accompanied Boonstra. As a soldier in the Russian Army, Reband had spent six months cleaning up Chernobyl after the disaster. Many of his fellow soldiers have since died as a result of radiation exposure. Thankfully, Reband has not experienced any side effects.

Breakthrough in Turkmenistan
Several years ago the Seventh-day Adventist church in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, was destroyed by government order. The 70 members in that country have not been allowed to meet as a group since that time. The It Is Written team rejoiced when they received the following e-mail message during the series:

"We wish to share with you the joy that on March 19 our Turkmenistan church for the first time in five years had an official meeting for Sabbath worship. Eighty people came. We also had official guests from the city administration, and they congratulated our church. Everybody liked this place because we were so homesick for such meetings, and it was a big holiday for all of us!"

Three Thousand Baptized
On the final weekend of the series local pastors baptized 491 people during a ceremony in Kiev, and initial reports from churches in the former Soviet Union brought the total number of baptisms to 3,000. More are expected in the coming months.

As a result of this evangelistic series, a new church has been formed in Kiev to support those who have accepted Christ. More than 200 people have completed Bible lessons as part of a Bible study school that Finley's wife, Ernestine, conducted during the series. An additional 500 students are currently taking the study course.

Pastors and laypeople are excited about following up with the series. Vladimir Krupsky, president of the Ukrainian Union, said, "This program united the church in our territory with one vision--the vision of evangelism. We never had anything like this in the past!"

Theology student Sergey Horokhovsky echoed Krupsky's sentiments. "This series opened the door of understanding the Bible, and I saw things I had not noticed before. Kiev was lucky to have such a program. I say that the three angels visited our city this year," he said.

"ACTS 2005" will continue to be shown throughout the Eastern Hemisphere as videotapes of the series circulate among churches that do not have satellite capabilities.

"The Spirit was moving," said Artur Stele, president of the Euro-Asia Division. "It was a spiritual feast that brought hope to so many lives. It was, it is, and it will continue to be a big blessing to the Euro-Asia Division."

Upcoming Series
In the coming months It Is Written will conduct major events in Puerto Rico, Peru, Brazil, and India. In addition, from September 23-27, Shawn Boonstra will present "The Appearing," a unique, five-night satellite series that will answer the many questions raised by the Left Behind books. This exciting event about the Second Coming will lead up to Boonstra's NET 2006 series in the spring of next year.

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*It Is Written had its first broadcast in 1956. Today it reaches millions of people every week through its weekly telecast, online Bible studies through the main It Is Written Web site and Bibleinfo.com, spiritual resources, and public evangelism. To learn more, visit www.itiswritten.com. For information on the Center for Global Evangelism, contact the General Conference at 12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD 20904-6600. Telephone 301-680-6000; Fax. No. 301-680-6090.

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Michele Stotz is the director of public relations for the It Is Written telecast.