Quality time with Jesus who abides in Olga :o)

Olga and I usually travel and do missions together but in November I go to Africa with Alex, my associate. Olga is staying behind. Last week the Lord laid it on my heart to go on a date with my beautiful girl! We had wonderful quality time together enjoying the presence of the Lord in the Central Park.

Invited to empower God's people in Tanzania

Greetings from Russia! Alex and I are heading for Tanzania, Africa on Saturday morning. Please please please keep us in your prayers as we travel. Pray for the 4 ICM staff in Africa coming together for a Inductive Bible Study Seminar in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. Pray for the 150 + pastors attending, that they will catch the concept of study and get excited about learning how to teach the Word more effectively. Pray for us as we teach the seminar in English. I will be translating for Alex as he teaches! This trip will give us an opportunity to meet pastors in Africa and serve them in the power of the Holy Ghost! ICM ministers will be holding meetings Nov.4-10. Pray for this time of gathering that we will hear from Him and be challenged to move as He directs. Thanks so much for your prayers and support!!!

Training leaders at Garrik's

Awesome Church Growth in Cherkessk

Dear Partners and Friends,

The IM-Russia Crew sincerely appreciates your prayers and precious love-gifts! In the beginning of October we visited Garrik and Tanya Kurginyan, a couple that has been serving Jesus with us at ICM-Russia in Caucasus for more than 10 years! A year ago Garrik started a new church in Cherkessk and it is one of the fastest growing churches in the city. Praise the Lord!I worship God for providing us an opportunity to come spend time with leaders (some 17 men) and the congregation (some 70 people) in the Word of God! As Tanya led worship, a beautiful presence of the Lord arrived in to the building! I was tremendously blessed to see how God has been growing this young couple thru the years! I have received a lot of feedback from the leaders who expressed joy, thanks and a will to grow in the Lord and start a street children center in Cherkessk. It is so cool when people of God go to the Word, hear the voice of the Lord, obey Him and start serving community out of Christ' Love! God's Love in Action! It touches and strengthens me to continue traveling and grow bigger people in Jesus! Please pray for Garrik and Tanya as they take care of the church and grow leaders who are able to pastor the congregation as a team! Also pray for an upcoming work with the street kids, please ask God to meet the financial need.

Bible Study Training in Siktivkar, Russia

Dear Friends and Partners,

Thank you so very much for the massive support you sent last month! Your prayerful and financial support made it possible, when Jesus opened the doors for us to go to Siktivkar, Russia, for us to send the ICM-Russia crew to travel to The Church of God in Siktivkar, Russia. We were able to equip church leaders with the training to study the Word for themselves and how they can teach the Bible inductively!

Some 40 leaders attended the services!
The senior pastor of the church wrote me a Thank-You letter saying that Alex and Avenir did a great job teaching the course to his beloved core group! He also mentioned that the church leaders would like to take IBS Level 2 next year.

So, I am planning to send the team to Siktivkar in October of 2009. Please consider sending us your prayerful and financial support on a monthly basis to enable us to travel the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

Bible Study Seminars in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Hebrews 13:8 In these days of uncertainty and difficulties, it is so good to know that we worship the One who is on the throne. He is our refuge, hope and joy. He is the King of kings!

It was a great trip that was filled with all kinds of thoughts, emotions, ideas. etc. In some ways, the country reminded me a lot of Russia. The Soviet influence is obvious in the buildings, stores, language, etc. In other ways, the country is much different than Russia. One striking difference is that most of the people are Asian. It was strange to hear Asians speaking Russian. The need for the preaching of the gospel and for Bible teaching churches is huge! I have never been in a country with so little Christian presence. This is definitely a country that is dominated by Islam. And at the same time it was great to see 60 people coming over to church every night to be equipped and trained!They were so hungry for the Word! You should see how some of the participants were changed by the Spirit of God as they were digging deep in to the Word and had found amazing Grace that was able to change their hearts! Pastor Jed said to us: "Dear Igor and Alex, thank you so much for coming and sharing the prophetic Word with us! I truly believe that this will be remembered as a pivotal time in the church here in Kyrgyzstan. Gods people has been empowered, emboldened, and given the tools to study His Word! Fruit is already evident! Much thanks to your wonderful wives and we look forward to them joining you on your next trip here. God bless you, and your donors who help you travel all over the world! By His grace, Jed Gourley"

I was blessed to see what the Lord is doing at Calvary Chapel Bishkek. It is awesome to see people of Kyrgyzstan hungry for the Word od God! The missionary team was a blessing to meet and fellowship with. We pray for the Lord to send laborers into Kyrgyzstan and all of Central Asia.

ICM-Russia Annual Forum: Enjoying Fellowship...

ICM-Russia Annual Forum: Enjoying God's Word...

ICM-Russia Annual Forum: Enjoying Worship...

A Visitor From America

On Sunday 5th, my good friend Nate came and visited us in Cherepovets. He recently moved to St. Petersburg from the US to stay for at least a year. He has come to help with our IBS seminars and to minister to the orphans and shelter kids in Cherepovets and surrounding villages. We are excited to have him here in Russia, and pray that the Lord will open doors for him to minister with us in Cherepovets.

During his short trip here we were able speak with the children at our church and spend some time fellowshipping with the orphans at Krevets. This is what he has to say about his trip to Cherepovets:

Hello,

As Igor said, I recently moved to St. Petersburg, Russia. In addition to working with Igor and Olga I am teaching English to gain entrance into Russia and to support myself. I first met Olga and Igor in Gardnerville, Nevada, when they came and spoke at our church. I immediately fell in love with the two of them, they are so on-fire for the Lord and such and encouragement to me. Igor’s energy, wisdom and persistence in serving the Lord is an example to me. Their example is a large part of what first gave me the desire to come to Russia. So when God closed doors, and opened the ones to Russia, I jumped on it. But it has been a long prosses getting to Russia, and then getting to Cherepovets, so I was extremely exited to finaly get to come and minister in Cherepovets.

That Sunday Igor was asked to talk to the children about what it means to be a missionary, so Igor brought me along, since I am a missionary. It was such a blessing to share with the kids. Igor explained who I was, where I came from, and what a missionary was; then I told how God laid it on my heart to come to Russa and how I ended up here. After wards the kids wanted to pray for me, this was such a blessing! I was reminded of the verse, “Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.” I know that the faith of these children is precious before God; they have the ability to simply believe in a way that is near impossible for us adults. I was especially blessed when one of the boys had the, I believe, inspired intuition to pray that I might learn Russian, which is something I really need. We spent the next few minutes playing missionary, running from corner to corner, pretending they were in different countries, and praying for them. I was encouraged by these children’s desire to pray for these nations, and their heart for the lost.

Then we went home for lunch before we went to Krevets. I had been to this orphanage twice already on previous short-term mission-trips and was excited to see the kids I had come to know. When we got there I saw some new and familiar faces. We sat down to fellowship, which again made me realize how much I need to learn Russian. I had to say everything through Olga and Igor, but it was still fun. They had me eat some fresh picked cranberries, and they thought it was funny that I liked them so much. They later told me that they expected me to make a funny face. The kids were shy, and I was a little to, but I could tell that there is a connection. They are curious about me, and I want to get to know them too. I only hope that as they get to know me I will be able to show them Jesus, as he uses me to reach these kids.

I left there with a strong desire to come back. I was so encouraged and motivated. Even though it seems awkward now and I sometimes feel I am doing no good, I know that this is where the Lord has me. There is so much opportunity here, and the Lord is capable doing amazing things. I am sure that I am going to witness amazing things here in Russia. All I have to do is follow where he leads and be attentive to his leading and he will do the hard parts. I am looking forward to working more with the ICM teams, teaching IBS and spending time with the kids. It is my prayer, and I hope you would join me , that the Lord would take all the obstacles out of the way and give me the ability to do all I can for him. Obviously I could use some help in learning Russian, but also there are visas, and work that I have to worry about too, so please pray that the Lord would provide in awesome ways.