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How do vehicle racers, at breakneck speeds, make adjustments to avoid obstacles or other racers? …

We asked our partners to share some of the ways Jesus’ kingdom was advanced this year. We hope you are encouraged by their answers and the special messages they have for you!

Mary was orphaned when she was 10…

Her siblings could go to school, but because of a disability, she could not. Now in her twenties, she recently fell and broke her arm. …

Adi Ban, Ema Ban, Romania

Dear Team: Look Where You Want to Go!

How do vehicle racers, at breakneck speeds, make adjustments to avoid obstacles or other racers? …

merry christmas

Merry Christmas from Your ITMI Partners!

We asked our partners to share some of the ways Jesus’ kingdom was advanced this year. We hope you are encouraged by their answers and the special messages they have for you!

Sin Hurts and Jesus Cares: Examples from Around the World

Mary was orphaned when she was 10…

Her siblings could go to school, but because of a disability, she could not. Now in her twenties, she recently fell and broke her arm. …

Her face looks like it can barely contain her smile, doesn’t it?
Why is she so happy? …

In mid-August, ITMI sent a team to Ukraine to provide Biblical encouragement and discipleship for believing ministry workers. …

“I cried my eyes out when I heard that’s where he was going.” …

ukraine, ban

Why a Ukrainian Pastor’s Wife was So Happy to Receive a Bible in Romanian

Her face looks like it can barely contain her smile, doesn’t it?
Why is she so happy? …

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From Our Team in Ukraine

In mid-August, ITMI sent a team to Ukraine to provide Biblical encouragement and discipleship for believing ministry workers. …

Romania, Steve, Bans

How You’re Helping Ukrainian Pastors

“I cried my eyes out when I heard that’s where he was going.” …

THE CONTEXT

Adi and Ema Ban work to equip God's people to live faithfully in the world of today, starting at home as husbands, wives, parents, and families.

The Bans equip couples and families to implement Biblical principles in their families and marriages. This preserves the witness of God's people and sets a solid foundation from which to life faithfully to their calling in whatever context they find themselves.

Adi and Ema's expertise and wisdom in this area are sought after by churches and ministries all over the world.

 

WHAT YOUR SUPPORT DOES

Builds Up the Church

Your support of the Bans means these experienced mentors and speakers are available to encourage and teach the church, building it up for its mission.

Reaches Families with Good News

The Bans use their Little House of Treasures Preschool and Family Center to reach families outside the church in their community with Biblical truths and the Gospel.

Provides Discipleship Materials

The Bans' ministry makes discipleship materials available for Romanians in their language, through the authorship of books, meetings and conferences.

The Bans lead two groups of couples and families, which began as "Young Couples' Fellowships", but as time has gone by, many of the young couples are now growing families.

Under the Ban's leadership, the couples study the Word of God together and share what they've learned regarding topics such as communication, conflict resolution, and godly intimacy, building families from on Biblical principles from the ground up.

Adi and Ema's ministry aims to prayerfully stand in the cultural gap as a line of defense against affairs, divorces and immorality.  The seek to work alongside the Spirit to build Biblically-based marriages.

This allows believers to live the lives they were saved to live, sacrificially declaring and demonstrating the Gospel to their communities, their churches and beyond.

Romania, Young Couples Fellowship, Adi and Ema Ban

Adi and Ema Ban with one of their Young Couples' Fellowship groups. 

Before Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, areas of east Ukraine were being bombed by Russia.

With the help and support of the families they've discipled, Adi and Ema were supporting outreach in this part of Ukraine by helping faithful, Ukrainian pastors with resources and support to help them reach their communities with the Gospel.

Adi and Ema's support provided for the pastors' families, allowing them to stay and minister even as their church numbers dwindled as people left the area, or helped fund outreaches the impoverished believers couldn't raise money for.

Many of these pastors could have moved away from the war zone, but they felt called to stay. They endure hardship and lack of income to reach the hurting in these parts of Ukraine with the Gospel.

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Adi with Ukrainian pastors. 

Ukraine, Dasha

A youth camp supported by Adi and Ema and their groups. One of these teenagers, who accepted Christ at camp, was killed later that year when a bomb landed in her backyard.

When Ukraine was invaded in 2022, most people left the area, but the pastors Adi and Ema were supporting joined their brothers and sisters in Christ in other parts of Ukraine who were serving the Lord in refugee centers. At these Christian refugee centers, they have many opportunities to offer Jesus to those who come through the center.

Adi played a role in this outreach by organizing logistics of getting supplies to the refugee centers and churches in Ukraine who could use them to meet needs and share Jesus.

Adi Ban, Ukraine

Adi and fellow believers helping the cause at one of the warehouses where supplies are stored to be transported into Ukraine. 

Authoring, Speaking and Equipping

In 2007, Adrian and Ema co-authored the book I Want to Get Married with David and Claudia Arp, their mentors and authors of Ten Great Dates. The book has been an instrumental foundation for the Ban's Marriage Preparation Seminars.

The Bans contributed a chapter about Grace to "Apologetics Around the Table," published in 2016.

Adi and Ema make themselves available for training and consulting for churches or other organizations, and both have encouraged many in their walk with the Lord by taking various speaking and sharing opportunities.

They have spoken in Romanian churches in the US and regularly visit a children's village in Tanzania, discipling the house parents to parent Biblically.

Adi Ban, Ema Ban

Adi and Ema sharing on Biblical marriage and parenting.

Adi Ban

Adi teaching on how to apply Biblical concepts in family and marriage life. 

Adi Ban, Ema Ban, Tanzania

Adi and Ema Ban with the group of house parents and leaders serving through a children's village in Tanzania. 

Ema Ban, Tanzania

Ema ministering in Tanzania. 

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I Want to Get Married!

by Adi and Ema Ban and David and Claudia Arp

Adi and Ema manage a pre-school center, "Little House of Treasures" that is open to the community. But it's more than just a preschool. Its the beginning of a community outreach and family support center.

The Bans envision adding counseling services, parenting classes and other family support tools to their community. The school gives them the platform and access point to offer love, support and Jesus to families in the community.

Adi Ban, Romania

Adi engages with the students at the preschool.

They've already had opportunities to plant Gospel seeds through their interactions with the preschool families.

Get to Know the Bans and Their Ministry

HISTORY

Ema Ban was the daughter of Dr. Nick Gheorghita, a contemporary of ITMI founder, Bill Bathman. Dr. Nick was a leading doctor in his field in 1981 Communist Romania when he followed the Lord's leading and answered the call to pastor a Baptist Church in Oradea, Romania.

His doctor friends thought he'd lost his mind to give up the respect and security of being a leading doctor during Communist rule to be a pastor and invite the persecution associated with that in Communist Romania.

But Dr. Nick never looked back.

Today, Adi and Ema carry on Dr. Nick's legacy of serving and equipping the church in Romania.

Their highly-sought after Young Couples' Fellowship groups have grown from discipling young couples to follow Jesus in their newly formed marriages to groups of mature families who are sending missionaries and reaching the hurting around them with encouragement and the Gospel.

Adi and I grew up under Communism in Romania, and we were young adults when the regime fell. …

Pastors and leaders have been toiling tirelessly for a year now. …

“At a time when destruction is pervasive all around, the Lord has planted and is growing something new.”

easter eggs in a basket

Pondering the “In-Between” of Holy Week Saturday

Adi and I grew up under Communism in Romania, and we were young adults when the regime fell. …

Ukraine

The Deep Personal Sacrifice of Remaining to Minister in Ukraine

Pastors and leaders have been toiling tirelessly for a year now. …

ukraine, ban

Ukraine: Amid Destruction, God Plants Something New

“At a time when destruction is pervasive all around, the Lord has planted and is growing something new.”

We asked our partners to share some of the ways Jesus’ kingdom was advanced this year. We hope you are encouraged by their answers and the special messages they have for you!

On July 4, 2022, the Yatskiv family of 6 left Sibiu, Romania, where they took refuge after escaping from their home in Odesa, Ukraine when Russia attacked. …

merry christmas

Merry Christmas From Your ITMI Partners!

We asked our partners to share some of the ways Jesus’ kingdom was advanced this year. We hope you are encouraged by their answers and the special messages they have for you!

Ukraine, Ban,

Ukrainian Refugees’ Stories

On July 4, 2022, the Yatskiv family of 6 left Sibiu, Romania, where they took refuge after escaping from their home in Odesa, Ukraine when Russia attacked. …