THE PROKOPYEVS FEBRUARY UPDATE

Dear Friends, Family, and Partners:

All glory to God in the Highest! Our Productive Bible Study Seminar we did at BFA Church was a great success! From February 14-21 I was in Virginia as part of Revelation Meets Intellect Conference focused on training Christians how to study the Scriptures inductively: verse by verse, chapter by chapter, and book by book. The conference was organized by Beauty for Ashes Ministries, Newport News, VA.

Practical teaching was given with topics ranging from «How to Study Different Genres in the Bible» to «How to Break the Bread of Life in Small Bite-Size Pieces» and «How to Observe, Interpret and Apply the Truth in the Everyday Life». Different books of the Bible were opened, notes were taken and 3 written assignments were accomplished as students were gathering nuggets of Truth and Bible study experience from the seasoned speaker :)

I started the seminar with the Book of Nehemiah 8:1-12. The Holy Spirit emphasized on how people of God were hungry for the Word of God and asked Ezra to bring the Word, which the Lord had given to them. The Lord was speaking to us in vs.5,6 about how we as people of God ought to respond as we hear the voice of God. The main emphasis though was that when Ezra and other ministers read from the book they explained the Word, or interpreted the Word to give the sense, so that people could understand the reading and apply it in their everyday life. (vs. 7,8) And in verse 9 we see the result of it, people got convicted by God and were weeping and mourning. And in verse 12 we read: « All the people went away to eat, to drink, to send portions, and to celebrate a great festival because they understood the words which had been known to them». People had a ball because they understood their God! Our true source of joy today is not based on the authority given to us over Satan and the demons but upon the greater good which is the ability to hear, understand and apply God's Word in our lives! Hallelujah!!!

People are caught up in the New Age, the Occult, witchcraft, Animism, Atheism, Paganism, Socialism, Communism, fortune telling, drug, alcohol, tobacco addictions looking for answers and help, they become demonized. It may come as a surprise to some, but the ministry of deliverance continues today, sometimes quite dramatically. God's Word is mighty to save and deliver people from bondage! Jesus said: «You will know the truth and the truth will set you free!»

The only solution and source of healing for these people are not psychologists, mind-altering drugs or modern Christian Science but the power of God's Word, as you declare it in the power of the Holy Spirit and authority of the name of Jesus Christ. Listen to this: «My son, give attention to my WORDS; incline your ear to my SAYINGS. Do not let THEM depart from your sight; keep THEM in the midst of your heart! For THEY are LIFE to those who find them and HEALTH to all their body.» You and me, as Christians are called to carry on this ministry of deliverance and healing which is the ministry of Jesus!

Let me encourage you… the Lord has given you and me the power and authority over all the powers of the evil one. He said, «Nothing shall injure you». May the Lord help us to exercise this mighty gift wherever we go! Always remember He entrusted the Word to you to bring healing, deliverance and salvation to others!

Next, I will be traveling to Calvary Carson Valley, NV in the month of March. I will be serving and preaching the Word at the church both main service and afterward to the youth. Also, we are booked to teach PBS seminar (Level 2) there to equip the saint for the work of service. Please pray for ICM of Russia and me. Thank you for your financial support! Your sacrificial giving helps people find the Truth that sets them free! God bless you!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!

Dearest ICM of Russia Family, Friends and Partners!

In this the love of God was manifested toward us, thah God has sent His only begotten Son into the World, that we might live through Him!

1 John 4:9

Olga and I wish all the best to you and your family this Christmas season!

PRAISE REPORT FROM RUSSIA

Dear Co-laborer in Christ!

Glory to Jesus Christ forever! Olga and I greet you in His All-Powerful Name!

From Moscow to Belfast and from Cherepovets to Severodvinsk, and from Vologda to California we like Philip the Evangelist and Minister of the Word, have been following the Spirit of God who was saying to us "Go up and join this chariot!"

So, ICM of Russia Crew and JVC Team joined the "chariot" of the Good News Church and Light of Hope Church of Cherepovets where we encouraged and equipped the saints for the work of service! I can attest to the presence of God in the services ministering to the saints of the church.  Lives were changed while others were healed. We praise Jesus with no ceasing for that! God is awesome! His Word is mighty to change lives and heal souls!

Afterward, we found ourselves sitting in the "chariot" of Light of Hope Fellowship in Anisimovo and then Transformation Church of Vologda holding meetings and equipping the saints for the work of ministry there.  People of God were encouraged and refreshed by the Word of Life!

From there the Spirit led us to the "chariot" of Heart2Heart Church, Severodvinsk where we spent a week together with 20 ministers who wanted to learn how to do Inductive Bible Study Seminars all over Archangelsk Region, Russia. As a result, 5 of them passed the test and are ready to go and hold IBS Training Seminars in their communities.

From there the Spirit brought us over to the States to meet with ICM of Russia Support Group and share ICM of Russia vision for 2013 with churches here and individuals! Also we are going to teach IBS seminars here in the United States and train and equip the saints with the Inductibve Bible Study tools so that they can teach faithful men in their congregations.

ICM of Russia Crew (Abner, Nelly, Nate, etc)  just joined a "chariot" of City Orphanage 1 to celebrate kids' birthdays! It was an awesome time with our children! Jesus came to the Cafe and ministered to the children in a mighty way! The Cafe we had birthday celebration at, provided for everyone who came to the party with lots of yummy food! ICM of Russia Team spoke the blessing into kids' lives, prayed over them, shared from the Word and gave kids the gifts. Nate had lots of fun taking bunch of pictures during the project! Abner and Nate will upload pictures to our web page shortly!

This fall ICM of Russia has been serving in various churches located thoughout of Russia and Ireland feeding the faithful, teaching the Word, and equipping the saints with IBS tools so that they can lift up their eyes to Jesus and understand His Word and fullfil the Great Commission Jesus has given to them. The Commission that will take Olga and I to Virginia, USA and the Phillipines together with missionaries Lyford and Martha Morris in 2013.

Please pray for Olga and I and ICM of Russia. Would you consider sending an extraordinary love-gift this month to help us in this all important work? This coming March I will turn 49. It has been 20+ years since God sovereignly and graciously called and empowered Olga and I to be His witnesses to the nations! Amazing God is faithful!  

SEVERODVINSK INDUCTIVE TEACHERS' COURSE

Olga and I have a vision to spread the Love of God through teaching of the Word of God inductively throughout Russia... we realize that it is impossible to accomplish the task unless we train and equip enough disciples who would go in Jesus name and spread the Living Word throughout the former Soviet Union. 

Sometimes I forget where I am or where I have been or what day or time it is... seriously, everything is changing in our lives so quickly, we are always going somewhere to teach or help, all these changes could be confusing but the one thing that we teach that will never change is God's Word!!!

In the month of October we received the invitation from Severodvinsk Heart to Heart Church, which is in  Archangelsk Region to come teach 20 ministers who have a huge heart for missions and want to teach faithful people how to study the Bible inductively and understand the heart of God.

Pastor Andrey who had been teaching Inductive Bible Study (IBS) seminars for a while teamed up with me and traveled to Severodvinsk to teach ministers who signed up for IBS Teacher's Seminar. Pastor Konstantine, since he has been teaching the Bible inductively at Heart to Heart Church came alongside and tought some of the assignments encouraging the participants to get ready to conduct IBS seminars throughout the Archangelsk Region. Four days of the seminar went just fabulous! We had a great time with our brothers and sisters in the Lord!. By the last day of the seminar we saw how 5 out 20 can teach an IBS seminar (Level 1) even now and 5 more guys are on the way! We came back to Cherepovets all encouraged and refreshed!

Thank you to all who sent the support and prayed for us as we were doing missions work in Russia this time!!!   

RUSSIA MISSIONS OUTREACH

This past month Olga and I were tremendously blessed to experience one of the best missions outreaches ever! The team the Lord put together was amazing! There were six people from JVC Northern Ireland, one sister came from Word of Life Church of Kirov, one from Transformation Church of Vologda and a couple of pastors from Light of Hope Church of Cherepovets as well as Olga and me. We could not have asked for a more cohesive group of people! Every day was a new adventure as the Lord was talking to us about His plans for that particular day... because that is the way He operates! Almost a year ago the Lord laid it on my heart to host a tree day conference in Cherepovets, Russia where people would come and taste the goodness of our Lord. We invited all the churches to come together and participate in "Celebrating the Life of Christ" Conference. More than 150 people attended the services each and every day. Our team was focused on serving the Word of God and praying for people and leading them to the Rock of our salvation. Pastors of different churches and their wives attended the conference and really enjoyed the presence of God as His powerful Word had been preached! A lot of people rededicated their lives to Jesus, some of the participants confessed their sins and believed in the Gospel afresh. That first week was real full, we all worked really hard and had a great great time serving people of God together! It was huge blessing for me to watch each of the team member teach the Word, pray with people and see the people respond and very often in tears of repentance or joy! For that, we praise the Lord! On Sunday Olga and I divided the team into three groups and sent them to serve three different towns where our ICM of Russia partners pastor their churches. We are blessed to receive letters, emails and facebook messages about how blessed the people became in Vologda, Cherepovets, Belozersk and Kirillov. It was a long long Sunday but every one of us had an awesome time!!!!!

After we were done ministring there in Cherepovets, Vologda, Belozersk and Kirillov we as a team traveled to Moscow to hold our annual ICM of Russia Forum 2012. More than 30 pastors, worship leaders, children ministers and their wives came to spent three days in the Word of God, prayer, and fellowship. The church leaders we have ministered to, have so much in common; they love the Lord, they love God's Word, they adore people of God and they want to know and understand God's will for their lives and walk daily in His presence! Everyone of us realize that we need to work on our ministries from a Biblical perspective rather than just cultural, but how do you break away from decades if not centuries of Russian Orthodox Church dominance? The answer is with God's Word and the power of the Holy Spirit! By the last day of the Forum we saw pastors being encouraged and renewed and refreshed to teach through the Bible in their churches and bring life of Christ as they serve people in their communities. The Word convicted and encouraged many to reconsider and keep up with good works in the Kingdom of God. We praise the Lord that His Word doesn't return void and He is faithful to complete that which He has begun!

After we were done ministering there in Moscow, Olga and I came back to Cherepovets to do some work at the Light of Hope Street Children's Shelter and Light of Hope Church of Cherepovets where we were able to bless the ministry with the funds and encourage ICM of Russia friends and partners to replace the old windows at the shelter. It is a huge project but it is a working progress! Praise the Lord! We were able to buy a new laptop and fix an older machine so that kids can learn to use computers to do their homework and play educational computer games. Kids really enjoy coming to the shelter to get some physical and spiritual food, computer and social skills. Olga and I were very blessed to see how God is using Tatyana and Abner and Nelly as they serve the Lord and street kids who come to the shelter on a regular basis.

NORTHERN IRELAND MISSIONS OUTREACH

Dear Ministry Partners and Friends!

Olga and I would like to thank all of you for your prayerful and financial support you sent our way as we were getting ready for the missions trip to Northern Ireland and Russia. We can testify today God had heard and answered all your prayers! Jesus is too awesome!! Olga and I were blessed with warm fall weather and warm greetings from friends, family, and neighbors and new faces from different places we hit while we were in Ireland and Russia.

Northern Ireland gleamed with all the love and the glory of our Lord administered by our precious brothers and sisters in the Lord at JVC! As soon as we entered the church pastors and friends greeted us with hugs and kisses. The day was tremendously blessed! Wow! Thank you to all who prayed for the trip! Those who contributed from their precious resourses and pockets, thank you, thank you, thank you!!!! We were blessed!!! Also to all our friends in Ireland who tirelessly poured out their energy and strength in hosting us and doing the ministry together both in Ireland and Russia.... thank you for being like Jesus!!!!

Praising the Lord for salvation that took place at church where we served that Sunday morning. Mr. Tyler, a friend of mine and a dear brother in the Lord who came to us in California for training and discipleship went on a trip to Ireland with us. On Sunday he shared his story about what God had done for him throgh ICM. God is my witness, it was powerful! The Lord used Tyler to prepare the hearts of men that morning to receive the Word of God willingly! My Irish friends just fell in love with the guy and invited him back next year. The Lord blessed me with  a great message from the book of Luke and I delivered it in the power of the Holy Spirit, praise God. This one gentlemen by the name of Robert came out to pray Jesus into his heart that morning. It happened to be that he was my friend Adam's father. We all wept, sheding the tear of joy! Jesus saves!!!!!! 

Also Olga and I were invited to the wedding and it was my joy and privilege to pray the blessing over that beautiful couple! It was a great service! Pastor Lewis preached a great sermon and blessed all of us at the wedding! We also did a mid week service there at JVC and were tremendously blessed by what God had done at the service. We just love this beautiful church!      

TRAVELING WITH THE GOSPEL...

Olga and I are off on another journey heading to Russia this coming Sunday and then Ireland on September 5. It is going to be a great time of ministry over there! It will start on September 5 and will run through September 12. We are so excited to see everyone at JVC church, pastors and leaders who work hard to grow the Kingdom in the UK, India, Russia and to the ends of the Earth!!

Olga and I will fly back to Moscow on September 12. On September 14-16 our partners and close friends from JVC, Ireland will join us and travel to Cherepovets, Belozersk, Vologda and Kirillov to bring the Word to the saints over there. It is going to be an awesome time we are about to spend together this year! Usually as we get together, the Father in Heaven comes to us in His power and might powerfully!
 
On September 17 we are going to Moscow to hold our annual ICM of Russia Missions Forum 2012. We will begin our four day conference there at the seminary on September 18! ICM of Russia missionaries, partners and friends will gather together at Moscow Bible Seminary to join Olga and I for prayer, Bible study, and time of fellowship. We are so excited to see the guys from the Caucasus, Russia, the Ukraine, Ireland, America etc face to face!!!!! Services will be done each and every day from early morning to late at night! We plan on having our closing session on September 21.

Please pray for our ICM of Russia Missions Forum 2012. Pray for protection and good health! We would like to thank you all for your prayers and financial support you send our way every month! It is so vital to do what Jesus desires to accomplish. It is a great cause to believe in and support!

Love you loads!
Igor and Olga
ICM of Russia