Mom's illness

For a couple of years I have been watching and helping my mom fight that terrible cancer... we have been praying a lot believing Jesus for healing... the way she handles the sickness encourages many people who had known her for some time, she has set an example to all of us in the family, and yes, the illness changes us... it requires us to confront our mortality, illness requires us to confront lack of control of our lives, it requires for us to change the conditions in which we live, illness brings forth other issues to the forefront, including relationships, finances, and hope. Our spirituality is fully awake when we fight the sickness. SPIRITUALITY is that part of people that seeks meanings, connection, and love. Spirituality is the part of a person that yearns for hope in the midst of despair, for forgiveness in the midst of anger and hurt, and for a sense of connection and love in the midst of isolation. It seeks to answer the question of who we really are...

Astrakhan Training in Pictures

Equipping Saints in Astrakhan...

Dear partners, friends, brothers and sisters in the Lord,

It seems as though I just wrote you a praise letter - how time flies!!! This month has gone fast probably because we had so much to do as we celebrated our Lord's Resurrection. Olga and I would like to thank you all for your love gift and prayers in the month of April! We appreciate you and all you are doing to help us fulfill the task that the Lord entrusted unto us. Your support this month enabled us to continue in the ministry! Thank you again for your obedience!

As you may remember Olga and I have a strong desire to train and equip saints all over Russia and to the ends of the Earth for the work of ministry! Because you believed in us, prayed and sent your support we were able to go and fulfill the vision! At the beginning of the month we sent missionaries to Astrakhan which is about 1000km away from Cherepovets. We were invited to share in worship and teaching the Inductive Bible Study seminar at Christ the Savior Church. It was great to see more than 60 church leaders coming to the services each and every day. They were truly hungry for the Word of God! Praise the Lord! Our hearts rejoice when we know that we walk in the will of the Father, doing the things of the Kingdom! More than sixty people from Christ the Savior Church attended our program and learned how to study and teach the Scriptures inductively: verse by verse, chapter by chapter, book by book. The Lord ministered to our hearts in a very special way at the seminar. The prophetic Word sounded as we were digging deep into the Word of God! Many were convicted, restored, and renewed in the presence of God. His Word helped many continue running with the vision. Here’s some feedback we have got from the participants:

"I thank God for this well prepared seminar. As I was doing my assignments I realized that the Bible always explains and confirms itself. I was tremendously blessed to know how to study parables and understand the prophetic texts! Thank you for coming! Instead of just reading the Bible I learned how to sit down and meditate on the Word. It was so cool when I understood in my heart that the Lord had given me both the Spirit AND brains to hear the Word, meditate on it, and understand what He has to say to me; I was surprised to see so many details in the familiar texts I had not seen before. It was eye opening to me! Thanks a lot for your ministry, folks! You are a gift from God. On top of that you came to serve us and didn't charge us a dime! Thank you for the gift and come back soon!" - Olga Kravchuk

"I would like to thank you for your services! At the seminar I have learned how to study the Word and live it in a totally different manner! Now I understand what it means to be a Christian of the Kingdom. I had lots of question and at the seminar the Lord has been answering my questions. Thank you Lord! Today I strongly believe that if I study and live the Word on a daily basis I can overcome all the strongholds in my life. Hallelujah!" - Lena Shiryaeva

"I have been tremendously blessed by the seminar. Great to have you guys in our church! I have to say this, before I came to this seminar, I had been reading the Bible as an ordinary book, like I would read any book I buy from a book store. This course helped me realize that God has the Word for me! He has the plan for my life! Isn’t that awesome! I got the message, guys! I wish I could pass this program on to others in my home Bible study. Thank you all!” - Denis Frolov

"I am very grateful for the training! Your seminars helped me realize that I want to study the Word on a regular basis, and I want to study and teach it verse by verse, chapter by chapter, and book by book. I have learned to break the Word into smaller pieces and meditate on them using the context and understanding the spirit of the passage. Thanks a lot for coming to equip us with IBS tools! It was great! I know that the application column will help me change my life and my ministry. I am a children’s minister and I am going to pass the IBS principles on to the kids so that they might know how to study the Bible and apply it into their everyday life! This year we go thru the Old Testament with the older kids, I will be using all I learned at the seminar as I prepare my Bible lessons. Please pray for me as I give our children the tools that help them go thru their lives victoriously!" - Julia Kalinina

"We have been watching people at the seminar... it was awesome to see the joy of the Lord in this room... all of us are very blessed to be here! Some of us are ministers here who have been teaching the Word for some time but we were learning something new: the new approach and IBS principles. Thanks for coming!" - Alexey Kruglov and Sasha Minaicheva

"Thank God for ICM-Russia, you guys come as a breeze from heaven and help people of God understand the calling! The Lord spoke to me during the seminar! He spoke thru you prophetically. I won’t give up, I will use my gifting to serve the Lord. I have decided to follow Jesus and His commandments all the days of my life." - Artem Pavlov

Training and Equipping Saints in Vologda, Russia

Dearest friends and partners,

Warm greetings from cold Russia! March was a packed month! ICM-Russia team went to Vorkuta and Vologda to teach church core people, Christian workers and missionaries about how to study and preach the Word of God inductively. We encouraged the students of the Word to apply what they have learned in their everyday life to help their personal spiritual hygiene too. We spoke a lot about how to raise spiritual children, ministers, and new pastors for the work of the ministry feeding them on the Word on a regular basis. It is very important to realize that IBS vision starts with the pastor! God is my witness, it was a very fruitful time! The outcome from this time of ministry is that some of the participants are going to start teaching Bible studies once a week. This is way cool and a huge blessing!!! Please pray for the participants as they prepare each week for the study. They are so hungry to learn Gods word!

Another blessing was a special time in between sessions when people could come and confess their sin that had been bringing them down and hindering them from developing relationships with the Lord for a long time. It was a miracle how the Lord started that after one of the services. One of the praise and worship people came up to me and told me that the Lord spoke to him during the service that he needs to come talk and confess his sin that drags him down on a regular basis to us. He was so down and sad! My heart went out to him. As the man started opened up and it was not easy for him, it was not that easy for me either, I saw the Lord working on his heart in a mighty way. I saw the picture in the spiritual… the Lord cleaning the yard, weeding, scrubbing the floors, washing windows of the man’s soul, pressure washing the fence, chopping the poison brush. When we finished the guy went out of the room beaming the light of hope! It was marvelous!!! Next service I encouraged participants to feel free to come and talk to us. The blessing is that the people came. You pastors know that when people trust you and come to confess, it brings joy to your heart because people of God are cleansed, refreshed and renewed! Jesus was moving in the hearts of his people in a very powerful way!

Olga and I would like to say big, big Thank You to all who have sent your prayerful and financial support to ICM-Russia this month. We do appreciate your open heart to help us harvest in the former Soviet Union and to the ends of the Earth!

Vorkuta IBS Training in Photos

IBS Training in Vorkuta, Russia

Dear Partners and Friends,

Olga and I would like to express our deepest appreciation for your massive support you sent in this month to enable ICM-Russia travel throughout Russia and minister the Word of God to the nations. Recently ICM Russia Crew traveled to hold productive Bible study seminars in the city of Vorkuta, Russia. Some 110 ministers from different churches showed up to participate in our seminars. They were truly inspired by the program! We encouraged them to study the Word of God inductively: verse by verse, chapter by chapter, book by book and teach it in their congregations accordingly. It was glorious! The more we magnified the Word of God the stronger the presence of the Spirit became. Some of the participants wrote us their thank-you notes and testimonies about what God had done for them during the seminars.

Igor Muzharovsky, The Sun of Truth Church wrote:
“I am very grateful to the Lord for the services Intensive Care Ministries performed in Vorkuta. I truly believe that the course they came to teach was critical for me and my congregation. I have never studied the Bible inductively in my life; and I have been a Christian for 11 years. It was a blessing for me to learn how to break the text into small bite size pieces; I really liked our discussions on observation, interpretation, and application of the Word in our everyday life. I want to see many people in my church studying the Word in the same manner. In doing so, they will get to know the Lord even closer. This course gives people an opportunity to grow in the Lord like WOW!”

Natalia Fechina, Transformation in Christ Church wrote:
“I am very grateful to the Lord for the IBS course; the concept was very new to me but it helped me realize I had been missing a lot in the Bible in the past. I have made a decision to read the books of the Bible from the very beginning to the end. At the seminar I realized I like to dig deep, study, observe, meditate and think about how I can apply the Word in my personal life. I also realized that every line in the Bible is of a great value. I am thankful to my husband for giving me an opportunity to come here all five evenings.”

Igor and Anja Mihailov, The Sun of Truth Church wrote:
“I was very blessed to be at your seminars. Every session I have been to I liked a lot! I have never thought I could study the Bible in such manner. I was tremendously blessed to see so many people from different congregations digging deep into the Word together at the seminar. The seminars united us as the Body of Christ! Thank you guys for coming over to Vorkuta.”

Nadezhda, Church of God wrote:
“I would like to thank you guys for coming… I am grateful to God for sending you out to us. I have been to many Christian seminars and conferences in my life but I do not remember anyone teaching the Word like that! You guys actually read the words out of the Bible adding interpretations and applications. In doing so, you were able to magnify the Word of the Lord and not yourselves or your ministry. It was very critical for us to see that! You have set up a good example before us and I guess God has given us wake-up call so that we might behave ourselves.”

Victor, Church of God wrote:
“Many thanks for the seminars! Doing this course was an eye-opening experience for me. Familiar scriptures I knew from before spoke to me even louder this time. It was great to go deeper in to the Word and get real insights straight from the Bible. I truly believe you have to travel Russia teaching this life-changing course in Russian churches. Thanks for coming to us! Pleas say hello and thank you to all your supporters who made it possible for us to get together to study the Word.”

Andrey, Harvest Church wrote:
“Our church employees loved the course very much indeed. We thank you for the seminars. All of us have received a lot of insights from the scriptures we studied together. The inductive Bible study concept will bring us closer to His Word and we will get to know Him even closer. Our church is going to pray for ICM Russia. We strongly believe God will provide for you with the funds to continue the ministry no matter what and in spite of the global financial meltdown. May the Lord richly bless you and keep you."

Church of God members wrote:
“From the bottom of our hearts we would like to thank our Lord Jesus Christ for ICM Russia. Seminars have impacted our lives immensely; every session has been such a huge blessing to all of us! We have been praying for something like that for a long time and the Lord answered our prayers. He has sent you. Praise the Lord! Thank you for being obedient and ready to come serve us here in Vorkuta. We treasured each and every minute we spent together in the scriptures and worship. Please come back and continue teaching us. We invite you back to Vorkuta soon.”

Praying'n' breaking of the Bread with ex-criminals

Recently pastor Gleb (Christ Church Cherepovets) invited me to come to a Christian shelter for ex-criminals/homeless and bless the folks there with the Word of God. The Lord opened the door for Bro. Avenir and myself to come and minister to the shelter occupants through prayer, teaching of the Word, and breaking of the bread. We enjoy every minute we spent with our brothers and sisters in the Lord over there. Hope you enjoy the photos! Once again I would like to thank you, friends for your prayerful support and finances you send every month to support the ministry!