Church is Growing! Praise the Lord!

Teaching Inductively in Vologda

Greetings! Olga and I had a great trip to Vologda where I taught an IBS at Missions Conference. Thank you all very much for your prayers! It made a huge difference!!! We saw God moving mightily at the conference. The teaching turned out very well. God had His hand upon us and the participants were tremendously blessed by the teaching. Pastor Victor told us that missionaries just loved the Bible being preached inductively. Hallelujah! Pastors realized the need for teaching verse by verse, chapter by chapter and book by book in their churches.

We also did small discussion groups where the participants dig deep into the Word of God! The group you see in the picture just loved the assignments we offered them. Jesus did a terrific job and we saw many missionaries come to understanding they need to study the Word verse by verse and chapter by chapter as they have their quiet time with the Lord! Some would also come to us to confess their sins and for healing in between sessions and it was exciting to see God heal and restore His people!!!

Another Blessed IBS Seminar

Olga and I are excited to tell you that, in August Alexey was able to go on another seminar to the rehab center “New Light” in a city called Stepanova directed by Goldobin Eugene. He was blessed to be able to teach the Inductive Bible Study Method to sixty people. He says that there was a strong feeling of the presence of the Lord as he lead the seminars and people showed sincere interest in the study and were very inspired.

Many came up and said thank you, declaring that there is an urgent need for our ministry, because today people do not focus much on the reflection of the word of God. People really liked seeing that there are not discrepancies in the Word, and that from one verse of the Bible there is so much to discover.

We see that our ministry is needed now for all the churches and communities in Russia. We will therefore continue to give people the truth, that their quality of life in God may become better and better every day. And let nothing stop us in the name of Jesus Christ! Please join us in our mission through your support and prayer. It is through our partnership that we are able to give people such an important understanding of the Bible, so that they can have their own personal relationship with Christ.

Teaching a Seminar in Simferopol

In June Olga and I were glad to be able to send Aleksey to the city of Simferopol, to teach a seminar to pastors and teachers how to study the Word of God. The Seminar was hosted by the Church of the New City pastored by Andrew Shostal. We were blessed to find that thirty people were able to come and take part in the seminar. People were blessed by the method of studying the Bible inductively. Here are a few comments from those that came:

1. These workshops are necessary, providing insight as to better understand the Bible. I personally received a lot. Thank you for your work. May the Lord bless you. Hope Haretskaya.


2. Excellent course! Very informative and helpful. Thanks: learned a lot. Boris.


3. Very interesting. There is theory and practice. The seminar awakens interest to study of the Bible, to know God more, and to look into yourself. Very useful. Basil Kostecki.


4. It is very important and a useful thing for my life to be able to hear God through the Bible. These lessons helped a lot. Jan Chekhov.


5. These seminars are forcing me to rethink my approach to the study of Scripture and my approach to Christian life. Thanks to the missionaries for their blessed work. Oleg Zhukovsky.


6. Thank God for giving me the opportunity to attend these sessions! With clear explanations and with God's help I learned how to meditate on God's Word. Now I'm interested to read the Bible. Natasha Goncharenko.


7. Excellent seminars! I enjoyed seeing how it is possible to break down the Bible. It is important that we learn to see what is written in the Bible, but not something I or someone comes up with. It is great that God's Word comes alive in these studies. Tanya Klimova.

There are people all over Russia and to world who do not know how to simply read and study God’s wonderful word. Now there are thirty less, because we were able to do this seminar. Thank you so much for all your prayer and support, and I would ask that you please continue to help us to take this wonderful gift to millions of others who need the word to work their lives as well. It is our desire to teach everyone who is learning how to further know fellowship with God through His word. Join us in that vision and we will be able to change and grow people for the Kingdom.

Evagelistic Outreach in Klimovskoe

In the last week of June several people from ICM(Russia), the Light of Hope Church and I were invited to take part in an evangelical event in a small city not far from Cherepovets called Klimovskoe. It was a good time. There is a small church there and that was the base of operations. On Friday Andrey Sorokin and Nicolay and Sveta Kuzechev lead worship, then there was a testimony, followed by a message from Pastor Vasily from a nearby city called Sheksna. It was quite powerful. Few things stir up the Spirit 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 is always good to see the hands go up at the altar call. There was also fun program the kids. 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 able to do the message. And to God’s glory, several people received Christ into their hearts.

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'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 all be in one place. 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.

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 the 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. It is a huge blessing 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. 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. 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. 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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