Christian Resource Center Russia

Transcription

1 Christian Resource Center Russia * Ministering to Russians in Russia October 2014!1

2 Visit to the USA Making Bridges September 12 - October 7 were the dates of my annual fall visit to the States. The goal of it was as usual - visiting our supporting congregations, making new friends and raising funds for God s work in Russia. This time I visited churches and individuals in Arkansas (Little Rock, Conway, Russellville and Batesville), Texas (Abilene, Dallas), North Carolina (Durham and Raleigh) and Tennessee (Chattanooga and Nashville). In many places it was very encouraging to see churches that were involved in Russia in early 90-s and still are faithful to this mission. Many of you, who read this letter, are that way. Especial blessing for me was the opportunity to meet Spanish evangelist, brother Juan Monroy. I heard about him many years ago and always wanted to meet this brother who baptized over 3,000 people and established many congregations in Spanish-speaking countries. We met at the worship service of University Church of Christ in Abilene. I taught a morning Bible class, telling about God s work in Russia!2

3 and Brother Juan was preaching that day. He started his sermon in a very unexpected way. I was surprised to hear what he had said. It was a good surprise. Many people were surprised too, and it seems that Juan himself was surprised. (see vimeo.com/ ). After the service we had a short visit, during which brother Juan encouraged me by saying: «Keep on preaching. Do not hesitate, do not pay attention to what other people in Russia may say about you». I know exactly what he meant by that: it is culturally acceptable in Russia to be either an atheist or an Orthodox. But if you are neither one of them, our culture makes us feel like we are foreigners in our own country. This is probably how Christians felt in the first century, not quite belonging to either Roman nor Jewish cultures. They really knew how it feels to be pilgrims. European evangelists in post communistic, traditionalistic and atheistic World, having the same kin experience, understand each other well. Shaking hand with Juan Monroy was great strengthening moment for me. Neva Church of Christ, St. Petersburg Rejoicing with angels Dima Gusarov, CRCR staff member, a teacher and a director of the Russian Bible School (RBS), is looking for every opportunity to study the Bible not only by correspondence, but one-on-one. Recently he taught and baptized a y o u n g m a n, I v a n Soloviev. He is a first year student of LETI (Leningrad Electro-Technical Institute). He comes from a Christian family. His father is a Church of Christ minister in Usinsk, but he didn t want to make his son to be baptized just to please his dad. So Ivan made his own decision to follow Christ being far from home. His father and the whole family, and our Christian family in St. Petersburg are rejoicing!!3

4 It was a great day! After church meeting we went to sing Christian hymns on the street not far from the church building. We were singing and other people from our church were talking to people on the street, invited them to church and gave out Bibles. Our son Iliya and little daughter Katyah were among those. Luka Klimanova, our conductor and CRCR music teacher, is the first from the left. Seminar for preachers in Vyatskie Polyany Growing together Vyatskie Polyany is a small town in Kirov region with population of 30,000 people. A congregation in that town hosted 10th Preachers Seminar. Brothers from Eastern and Central parts of Russia attend this seminar: ministers from Komi republic, Altay region, Kirov region, Volga river area, Urals region. But some people travel a longer distance to be there: a brother from Moscow, two of us from St. Petersburg (Oleg Yakimenko and me), and we were especially glad to see two brothers from Ukraine (Konstantinovsk and Ternopol ). The seminar was only 3 days, October There were about 25 brothers there. In the evenings church members joined us after working day and we had open Bible classes with a lot of singing and fellowship. Many of the!4

5 seminar participants attended CRCR seminars and retreats in St. Petersburg. This time we could rest from any organization type of work and only teach classes and enjoy fellowship. We are thankful to Gennadiy Pekarev (Vyatskie Polyany), Aleksey Pshenichnikov (Barnaul) and Gennadiy Scherbakov (Syktyvkar) for making this a great event. I invited every one there to Saint-Petersburg for CRCRussia August Annual Seminar.!5

6 * on the front paged there is a picture of Aleksandr Korsak baptism. He is a Russian Bible School (RBS) student from Vladivostok. Studying by correspondence he came to conclusion that he needs to be saved and be baptized for that. This year we heard of 50 baptisms all over Russia because of RBS correspondence Bible courses. *** For tax deductible contributions: FOUNDATION FOR BIBLICAL STUDY P.O. BOX 1208 AUSTIN, TEXAS !6