An astronaut who walked on the moon, the Israeli ambassador to Poland, and the former secretary general to the United Nations were on the agenda of the Rev. Edward R. Skane during his October trip to Europe, but the meetings were more than social.

The astronaut from Apollo 16, Gen. Charles Duke, Skane and other Americans went to several countries on behalf of the World Leadership Council, a group of prominent citizens who share their religious faith with world leaders.

Skane, who is pastor of Family Christian Center in Presque Isle, was invited on the tirp by Newman Peyton, president of the World Leadership Council and former executive of General Motors Corp.

The nondenominational council seeks to spread the gospel of Jesus “by visiting and making contact with world leaders,” Skane said.

He called the Oct. 12 dinner in Warsaw with community members and Israeli Ambassador Miron Gordon a historic occasion. “It was the first time that Jewish and Polish officials sat together in something like 45 years” in Warsaw, Skane said.

Skane and Peyton also had a private meeting with Austrian President Kurt Waldheim, former secretary general to the United Nations, who told them “wanted to set the record straight: about accusations of involvement with the Nazis in World War II.

“We both feel he is telling the truth,” Skane said of Waldheim. He also cited a Scotland Yard investigation which he said supported Waldheim’s contention.

Visiting with European leaders was effective in helping spread the news of Christianity, Skane believes. “By reaching the top, you reach a nation,” he said. “He opens the doors that cannot be open to you” otherwise, he said. “Churches are opening all the time.”

Skane preached in about 20 churches of various denominations on the trip, churches in Poland and Germany and Austria. “It was a great thrill to speak in one of the alrgest churches in West Berlin,” he recalled.

The pastor found people in Europe to be eager fr the word of God, “so hungry they’ll stand in line for a little gospel of St. John,” he said.

He told the people “the simple gospel that God loves them,” he said, “and what makes a person a believer and causes them to have forgiveness of sins – a simple faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

“We share the same things with the leaders,” he said.

One part of the trip that was especially moving to Skane was a visit to the concentration camps at Auschwitz. “When you realize what man did to man – the depravity,” he remarked, “children killed immediately upon arriving.”

Seeing the memorial there made him all the more convinced, “This is the hour we have to reach Europe and Russia,” he said. In spite of recent openness to religion in many countries, “I believe doors are going to close, especially in Russia,” he said.

In the Soviet Union, he said, “everything is very fragile. Who really is in charge? …Many are going to starve this winter.”

Skane has a special regard for the World Leadership Council’s president, Newman Peyton, saying that Peyton “has been called the greatest soul-winner in the world. He has visited and talked with more world leaders than any living man,” he said. Peyton has plans to meet with Raisa Gorbachev in the near future.

Others involved in the council include Ray Storey, Hollywood film producer, and former astronaut Gen. Charles Duke.

Duke gives talks on his experiences on the moon. “He tells how he did not believe in God until he saw the earth suspended in space,” Skane said. “He confessed Christ as his savior and shares this all over the world.”

Skane said that the council has been responsible for bringing more than 80 planeloads of Jewish refugees from the Soviet Union to Poland and then Israel, at a cost of more than $20 million, all given privately. “But never has there been a request for money,” he said, although the group does anticipate raising funds if requests for help continue. “We’re being deluged,” he said.

Skane hopes to go back to Europe in the future, and to bring some of the pastors he met there to Maine. But this weekend he’s busy with activities at Family Christian Center, where he has been pastor since 1989.

Skane, who was pastor of Glad Tidings in Bangor about 10 years ago, describes his current church as “an oasis of love,” and “one of Maine’s fastest-growing churches.”

About 20 people were members when he became pastor, but Sunday services average 500 in attendance now.

Fourth of July services with fireworks last summer drew more than 5,000 people, Skane said.

Skane calls Family Christian Center a “nondenominational family church” where the emphasis is on “encouragement.” Dedication services at 10 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov.10, will feature Dr. Benjamin Crandall, president of Zion Bible College, as guest speaker.

The church building will be dedicated at 7 p.m. Veterans Day, Monday, Nov. 11.

Music will be provided by the church chior and the ministers of music, Harold and Joanne Kinney.