Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed! These words rang out on a beautiful Easter day in our church plant in Moscow. This was one of the few years when the sunny, warm weather outside matched the warmth of the fellowship of our small church family as we gathered to celebrate the Resurrection of Christ. Here are some snapshots of what has been happening in our ministry:
Butovo Church plant
We saw 25 people pack into Pastor Shenya’s apartment to celebrate Easter. Two families (Sasha & Olga and Sergei & Olga), who have attended different outreaches we have held throughout the year, came for the first time to church. Please continue to pray for their openness to the Gospel.
Continue to pray for a meeting place for this young church. Russians are skeptical of meetings held in apartments, especially religious ones as they are perceived to be a cult. In addition to this obstacle, Pastor Shenya’s apartment cannot hold more than 25 people. For this church to continue to grow we need God to open doors for a place to meet.
Tyumen church
Over 40 people attended the Easter service in our Tyumen church. Each month more new people are showing interest in coming to small groups to hear about Christ. Continue to pray for the church as they disciple new believers and plan outreaches to develop more contacts.
Thank you for praying for Pastor Sasha and Nadia and their apartment situation. May is the critical month for this to happen. They have qualified for a government program for low income, multiple children families to receive help in obtaining an apartment. They are number 530 on the list. Last year only 40 families received apartments. Because of your prayers, God has intervened and provided a contact that will give them an opportunity to receive an apartment this year. Pray for the remaining finances to come together. This is a major step in the development of the church in Tyumen.
Tobolsk
Over 400 hundred people attended the Good Friday and Easter services at the church. Several prayed to receive Christ at end of service. Pray for the many visitors who heard the Easter story, that they would be open to hearing more about God.
This summer 8 youth from the church will be traveling to Mongolia on a missions trip to conduct a children’s camp. Pray for this team as they prepare for the trip and for all the details of the camp to come into place. Pray for safety on the roads as they will be traveling three days just to get to Mongolia.
The church is beginning the preparation for summer camps. They are expecting 150 kids for the children’s camp and 50 youth for a wilderness camp. Pray for the finances for these camps and for the leaders as they work through all the details.At the end of May the church will be receiving an Armenian believer who is coming to start an Armenian speaking ministry in the city. Several times during the past years the church has had special outreaches for Armenians. As many as 70 have come to these events, but they have been conducted in Russian. Pastor Timofei’s vision is to reach the Armenian speaking population in Tobolsk with the Gospel in their heart language.
Old City Tobolsk Church
This church is located in the predominately Tartar (Muslim) section of Tobolsk. For the first time, the church held their Easter service in the Tartar language. More than 50 people came, many from contact with the church through the children’s camp we hold each summer. Pray for Pastor Tahir as he leads this ministry. Pray also for Tahir and his family as they have submitted documents to obtain Russian citizenship (they are from Central Asia). For the past three years their whole family has had to travel across the Russian border every three months due to the present laws. Obtaining citizenship will enable them to live here permanently, saving time and money which will enable them to devote more to ministry.
Rehab Center
May 7-17 a team from Smokey Point Community Church in Washington is coming to build a barn for the Rehab center. This will enable them to raise more animals, especially during the long, cold winters, to sell to help make the center self-supporting. Pray for safety for the team and good weather so they can finish the project during the time they are here.
Ten new people have recently entered the rehab center program. It is exciting to see those treated in the center transitioning into our half-way house where they work at jobs during the day and are discipled by mature believers in a safe, structured living situation.
The director of the rehab center, Maxim, and his wife Larissa recently welcomed a healthy baby girl to their family. Mom and daughter are doing great.
Our family
As I write this update we are surrounded by boxes. We are in the midst of packing and storing our stuff in Moscow in anticipation of our one year Home Assignment in the States. We will be living in Woodinville, WA for the year. Pray for us during this time as we pack up and begin saying our good-byes to our Russian brothers and sisters, many of whom have become like family to us.
In the midst of the sadness of leaving Russia for a year, we have several events to look forward to celebrating. Michael will be graduating high school from Black Forest Academy on June 3rd. After all that occurred medically in his life last year, we are praising God for how he has worked in Michael’s life, even the reality that we can celebrate his graduation from BFA. Michael will be heading to John Brown University in Arkansas later this summer.
And as soon as we land in Seattle, we are able to join with Benjamin in his graduation from Seattle Pacific University on June 12. We can't believe it has already been four years since we dropped him off at SPU. We are proud of all that Benjamin has accomplished as an MK and thankful to all of those who have, and continue, to speak into his life.
Not to be out done by his brothers, Timothy will be celebrating his 16th birthday this Sunday, May 8.
