IBS Seminar in Izhevsk

Alexey and I went to Izhevsk to do an IBS seminar from Oct. 29th to Nov. 4th. The seminar was at a seminary at the Business of Faith Church. On Sunday Alexey preached about Cain and Abel at their three services, and I introduced myself at each of the services. Unfortunately, Svetta was not able to come on this trip, so I spoke in Russian. It went really well.

We had five morning and evening sessions from Monday through Friday. The beginning of the seminar is always a mixture of confusion and excitement. The first assignment leads them through Mark 2, the healing of the paralytic and gets them digging into the word finding things they have never seen before. This gets them excited. However, it usually takes a while for them to get the hang of outlining and charting on their own. Most of them are not used to digging for themselves or thinking about the scriptures on their own. By the time we got done with the second assignment they were getting it. By the end of the seminar the students were tired, but they caught the idea and many expressed their intentions to continue using this method to study the scriptures at home.

Alexey and I were most encouraged by a message Alexey received on Vkontakte (the Russian Facebook) the week after the seminar. A woman wrote to thank Alexey because before the seminar her husband did not take an active role as spiritual leader of their family and didn’t read the Bible claiming it was uninteresting and not understandable. However, after our seminar he was encouraged to study the word and has been gathering his family to study the Bible. This is a great example of how giving people this study method can change the lives of Christians, setting on fire those that were previous in a lukewarm stupor.

Alexey and I were also invited to speak at two different home groups. Alexey went to a group with business men and politicians and I was invited to a home group for the leaders of the youth ministry. Alexey taught from Romans 13 and encouraged the men to change the way they do business if they really want to make an impact in Russia for good. I taught from 1 Samuel 3 about the calling of Samuel. This was the first time I have tried to lead a Bible study in Russian. It went rather well. I still have a long way to go, and would not teach a study on my own in a larger group, but it is till encouraging to see that I am that much closer to being able to preach and do seminars in Russian without a translator.

This trip has opened to doors to come back and do more seminars in some of the smaller churches of the area, as well as to go to a different church farther east. The Lord is moving us forward. We are excited to see what the Lord is doing!

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