Evangelizing Karilov

Last year in September you might remember that the team went to Karilov to do evangelism. If you recall that trip you will remember that I had to run and hide from the police because I did not have the proper visa to be involved with religious activities. But have no fear, this September we went back. This time, however, I went without fear because now, praise the Lord, I have all the necessary papers. Because of all the problems we had last year we decided not to make it such a big event, so not draw too much attention from the authorities. This year we brought a much smaller team and simply went out into the streets of Karilov and nearby villages, Jesus style. We just hung out with people and shared the love Jesus.

The first place we went to was a small village called Chaozara and there went door to door, preaching to those that would receive us. We layed hands on and prayed for many people for healing and other needs. It was a great time. Several people received Christ.

In Karilov we walked around the town and parks, trying to catch people with the gospel. One afternoon, Sveta and I were able to invite a group of teens to the church. We all shared our testimonies and the love of Christ. Keep these kids in prayer, they know the gospel, but don’t want to repent. Yura and I also had the great pleasure of spending a good hour or so with a man from Cherepovets talking about salvation. Yura told his testimony and I was able to share some parables, explaining their truths. At first he was quite closed off, but it did not take long till he was all ears. He and his girlfriend prayed Jesus into their hearts. It was great to see the change in his eyes. I continually pray for this man. Also Yura, Igor and I were blessed to be able to lead a man named Sergey into the kingdom. He said he was tired of the life he has been living and could not get out. We shared with him about the love and power of Christ. We lead him in the sinner’s prayer, and we were blessed to see him come to church the next Sunday. Keep him in prayer too. It did not take long for the enemy to bring attack on him. Days after he prayed he was surrounded by people trying to get him drunk and convince him we are a cult and want to take his house.

Over all we estimate more than 20 people prayed Jesus into their hearts. It was a great time. Please keep the souls of those that heard the gospel in prayer, and those that prayed that the Lord would change and direct their lives from this day forth. Pray that this would be the beginning of their new lives in Christ Jesus.click here to see more pictures

Going to the Streets

Go out and preach the gospel. Is that not the calling on the life of every believer? Jesus said that you shall witness unto Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and into the whole earth. That is what we are doing every Saturday here in Cherepovets. For the past few months Abner, Valentine, a small team and I have been going around the neighborhood near the Light of Hope Children’s Center, preaching the gospel. So far people have not been very receptive, but we have had the wonderful privilege of seeing some people come to the knowledge of Christ and pray Him into their hearts.

Russia is hard ground and it is weird to see how people can be so afraid when you come up to them with a smile and try to start a conversation. But this is all the more reason why we need to preach the good news to the lost and dying. We are going out into the worst part of Cherepovets. Though it is not uncommon to see drunk people walking around in all parts of Cherepovets, it is uncommon not to see several walking around at all hours of the day in this section of town. Here is where all the poor, drug abusers, alcoholics, and criminals live, Jesus’ kind of people! There are times when we wonder if what we are doing is worth it, but then we think about how every sound of every step we make carrying the gospel, and every word of the gospel that we speak, is a beautiful sound in the ears of the Lord. It is a great pleasure to know that we are fulfilling the calling of our Lord and that He is pleased in what we are doing, as we are completing the great commission of Jesus. I, and the entire ICM-Russia team, believe that starting here in Cherepovets we will be able to carry the gospel into all of the Vologda region, into all of Russia, and beyond!

You can join us in this. Just as the Lord takes pleasure in the sound of our feet and the words of our mouth, the sound of your prayers are a sweet incense that the Lord longs to smell. Join us in our mission in prayer and fasting. The Lord loves to see His body of Christ working in unity, and will listen to every prayer. Thank you for your prayer and your support, we couldn’t do this without it!click here to see more pictures

Home Group

I moved to Russia two years ago last September. During the first year I always struggled with the feeling that I was not doing anything. It seemed I was doing what I came to Russia for. I have since realized that I was in too much of a hurry. I have been learning the language and culture while getting established in Russia. This understanding has really helped me understand that I was not doing nothing, even if seemed like I could do more. I was very blessed when the opportunity finally came to do more.
Abner has been teaching a home-group study for some time now, and decided it would be a good idea to have two home-groups going at the same time so that people do not have to travel so far. So we have both been teaching a home group on Thursdays. I lead one, with the help of Sveta, at my apartment, and Abner leads the other one at Olga’s apartment. We have been going through the book of Revelation. It has been a blast. It is rather difficult for people, since it seems like no one is willing to touch the book here in Russia. People are really confused about prophecy and how it fits in the life of believers. But we are trucking through and people are getting it.
It is a huge blessing to see people learning more about who Jesus is. The more you can know Jesus, the closer you will become, and hopefully, the more you will love Him. I love teaching the Word, and I thank the Lord for this opportunity to minister to Him and His people. Next I would like to some who start teaching more people how to study the Bible. People need to grow in Jesus personally if they are to really become close to Jesus and walk strongly in the Spirit.

• Please join me in praying for the group of people that gather at my apartment every Thursday, that their hearts would be open to and affected by the Lord.
• Pray I would have the wisdom and understanding to lead the study in such that people are lead to Jesus, not just the knowledge of Him.
• Pray that I would be able to teach people how to study the Word and raise up more strong believers and ministers.
• Pray for the strong presence of the Lord and His Spirit during our studies.

Sveta doing a great job translating.

Abner sharing his thoughts on a day when he had to cancel his group and came over to mine.

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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