Evangelsim in Klimovskoe

In the last week of June several people from ICM and the Light of Hope Church were invited to take part in an evangelical event in a small city not far from Cherepovets called Klimovskoe. There is a small church there and that was the base of operations. Andrey Sorokin and Nicolay and Sveta Kuzechev lead worship while I played photographer. It was a good time. There was worship, then a testimony, followed by a message from Pastor Vasily from a nearby city called Sheksna. It was quite powerful, even I felt like I wanted to repent and receive Jesus. Few things stir up the Spirit in the heart of a believer more than a good gospel message told with conviction and passion. Several people gave their lives to Jesus, including a few teenagers, and several rededicated their lives. It was good to see the hands go up at the altar call. It was also fun to watch the kid's program as they played games and shared the love of Christ. These kids do not have very much in life, so this was a huge event for them. The next day I was not able to go, but Igor was able to do the message. And to God’s glory, several people received Christ into their hearts then too.

God is doing great things in the Vologda region, and we are privileged to be a part of it. Please join us in our ministry through prayer. We cannot do anything without the Lord going before us, and your prayers are heard. It is a wonderful miracle how, as the body of Christ, we are able to work together even though we may be separated by oceans, country boarders, cultures, and languages. Our task, our battle, is a spiritual one and the Spirit has no boundaries. The connection we all have as Christ’s church is stronger than any boundary the world or Satan may try to put between us. We can all take part in each other's lives and ministries though prayer, and in the end the Lord will bless openly what was done in secret. Thank you for your prayers and love.

This was a previous drug addict that got saved and clean at the Rehab center in Belezersk, a city about 2 hours from Cherepovets. We work closely with the church that runs it.







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Ministry in Anisomovo

A few years back ICM (Russia) was blessed with some sizable land in Olga Prokopyev's home town of Anisomovo. It has been a desire of ours for a long while now to plant a church there and open a training center for pastors and missionaries, as well as possibly an elderly home. We were blessed with enough land that Igor felt led to give half the property to Andrey Sorokin so that he could build a house there and start working with kids and teenagers. He also has an idea of possibly starting a camp for youth retreats. We are still not sure who will be the pastor of the church, or exactly how we will be able to do the training center.

Last month God opened the door for Andrey and Sveta to make the first steps towards that goal. An apartment in Anisomovo opened up right next to where we want build the church. So Andrey and Sveta heard the calling of the Lord, sold their apartment in Cherepovets and bought the apartment in Anisomovo. The apartment in Cherepovets sold for considerably more money than the cost of the apartment in Anisomovo, so Andrey was also blessed to be able to buy a mini-bus so he can start a shuttling business between Cherepovets and other cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg. It is fun to watch him follow the Lord and witness the hand of God helping every step of the way.
The Sorokin family. From left to right Sveta, Syoma, Ulyana, Andrey, and Andrey's mother.
A few weeks back the ICM team gathered together in Anisomovo for a time of fellowship and blessing the Sorokin family in their new adventure. We had a great time swimming, talking, eating and hanging out with friends. We do not get together as a team like this very often and it was quite a treat to be all in one place. I was glad to able to hang out with and get to know certain members of the team more personally. I look forward to the next time we are able to gather as a team like this again.
Now it is time to get to work. There are already a few believers in the village, mainly Olga’s family, and we are hoping to start doing home-group Bible studies sometime soon. We are planning on doing evangelism there soon, possibly in September. Andrey says that he has been able to befriend some people already and has been able to get to know many of the kids in Anisomovo. He thinks that the people will be pretty open. I just pray that the Lord would already be working on their hearts to receive the gospel, and not only the material aid we plan to bring. Please join us in praying for the work in Anisomovo. There is a lot to do, and only the Lord is able to it,

“‘Not by might nor by power, but My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts.”

• Pray that the people would respond the gospel and be saved.
• That Andrey would have the wisdom and discernment to know what the Lord is telling him as he gets more involved with ministering there.
• For the time being Andrey is driving 200 km from Anisomovo to Cherepovets and back every week to lead worship. Please pray that he would continue to have the strength to do this and that the Lord would raise someone up to take his place.
• Also Andrey's mom is suffering from multiple sclerosis and Andrey has moved her to Anisomovo to take care of her. Please keep her in prayer, that her last years before she goes to heaven would be painless and peaceful. Keep Andrey in prayer as he is going to have to deal with her getting worse, pray that he would have the strength needed to deal with this.
• That we would have over all wisdom and discernment on how to do the whole project in Anisomovo: the church, youth, possible youth camp, training center, and elderly home.

Breakfast at Olga's grandmother's old house.

Visiting Sveta at work.

Checking out the Sorokin's new pad.

Checking out their new bathroom.

Hanging out with Olga's youngest nephew Daniel.

Shashleek!! :)




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Light of Hope Church Update

It has been way too long since I have done a blog about our Light of Hope Church we started last year. It will be a year in November since we had our first service. Before that we had been meeting in home groups and at the Light of Hope Children’s Center. The vision at ICM is to teach pastors, teachers, church workers, and anyone willing to learn, how to study the Bible Inductively (book by book, chapter by chapter, verse by verse). Here in Russia that is the main part of our mission, but the Lord has also laid it on our hearts to work with kids, parents, and orphans. Over a year ago the Lord laid it on Abner’s and the team’s hearts to start a church that will combine these visions. We are the only church I know of in Cherepovets, a city of about 300,000 people and with around 10 churches that teaches the complete, whole, balanced, and unbiased word of God. Not to say other churches don’t teach the word, but you cannot really cover every aspect of the word, balanced and in context without teaching it book by book, chapter by chapter, and verse by verse. Many principles get placed on the back burner and others become the only main courses people are fed.

Abner is now leading us through the book of Mark and I believe people are starting to catch on to the idea. At first people seemed not to understand this simple system of studying through the Bible, feeling it was not deep enough and monotonous. However now people are starting to understand the story as a whole and see the pieces fit together. People are starting to understand what it means to hear from God, through the Word, and not from a Pastor, a man. It is a huge blessing to me to see the Word working in the hearts and lives of believers, and in mine. A couple Sundays ago a woman came forward and prayed the sinner’s prayer. I hope and pray that she will grow in the strength and power of the Spirit, as her new seed begins to grow. Now is the time where rocks will be revealed, weeds will appear out of nowhere, and birds are trying to snatch the seed. Please join me in praying for this woman and for others that are starting their walks with Jesus. Also please pray that others would be called into the kingdom and that workers would be brought up.

We are still a young church, and still have some growing to do. But I know that the Lord is doing great things. I know that the only thing that will really change people’s lives is the Holy Spirit working through God's Word. That is what we in our church are committed to. However being a small church we are having a hard time finding people to help with things like the sound system, showing the words for worship, and children’s ministry. I have been helping with the sound and words at church, and it has been a blessing to finally feel like I am doing something. However I know that I will have to go on trips to America and to do seminars, so I have been trying to build a team of people that can help when I am no longer able to do these ministries. So far it has been hard to find help, but I know that as the word starts to light fires and fan the flames in the hearts of people that people will begin to get involved.

It is important for the Lord to lead people into ministry. It is also important that we encourage people to get involved and have a ministry they can get plugged into, lucky for us there will never be a shortage of ministry. Therefore please join us in praying for the Lord to raise up people to minister in our church and that we would have wisdom to know how to manage everything. Jesus said, , “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” There is so much to be done, there is so much fruit, so many people to minister to, but there is always a shortage of people to harvest. But if we pray, the Lord will provide. In Matthew it is interesting that right after saying that Jesus sent out the twelve. We need to pray and go out and start the ministry, because if you remember, next time Jesus sent out seventy-two. That is what we are doing, praying, trusting, and ministering. Please join us in this wonderful privilege.

Artem (on the right) has decided to help with the sound. He is still learning, but he has proven to be a big help. Please keep him in prayer, that he would continue to be encouraged to minister and grow in the spirit.

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