A Look Back at 2006

We thought we would start the new year with newsletter highlights from 2006. If you do not regularly read our newsletters this is a great opportunity to get an overview on happenings from this past year and see the fruit of what God is doing through StreetCry Ministries in Russia. We’re incredibly thankful for all the support we’ve received and the ground that’s been taken for God's kingdom in 2006. We anticipate 2007 to be a year of further breakthrough and advancement for the Lord and His purposes in Russia.

Evangelism at Lesbian Rock Concert

A local concert featuring a popular Russian lesbian rock group gave us the opportunity to reach out to the growing lesbian community in St. Petersburg . At one of the concerts Olga received a tract especially written for lesbians. She was greatly impacted through reading the tract and gave it to one of her male friends Igor. Soon after, both Igor and Olga began attending StreetCry Fellowship meetings. After two weeks of being in contact with the ministry they decided to repent and give their lives fully over to Jesus. Both have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and are now involved with the church and home groups.

Olga now witnesses to many of her old friends who are still practicing lesbians. Before her conversion, she frequented lesbian chat rooms on the internet. In one chat room, she sent out 300 letters along with a digital version of the tract she received. As a result of this, we’ve received several phone calls on our 24-hour hot-line of people testifying of being touched though reading the tract. Olga has also told us that some of these girls have since removed their contact information from the chat room and discontinued use of it.

Both Olga and Igor are now enrolled in the StreetCry School of Ministry and are growing and maturing in the Lord!

Prison Outreach in Sablino

In April, our evangelism band traveled to a prison in the small village of Sablino (just outside of St. Petersburg). One of the girls on our team, Olga, had previously served time there before she came to the Lord. This was an amazing opportunity for her to return and share the testimony of how God had completely transformed her life. More than 200 inmates came to the concert and heard the Gospel message. After the concert, a couple of our musicians personally led two of the inmates to the Lord.

Katya, a singer in our band, ministered to a 24 year old female inmate named Nadya. As Katya began sharing her testimony Nadya broke down in tears. Katya was able to lead her in rededicating her life to the Lord, as she had previously been a Christian before falling away.

Olga, (not the same as above) shared a testimony with a group of inmates of how her 11 year old son had become a Christian. One of the women in the group began to cry and explained she also had an 11 year old son. She explained further that she was in prison for killing a close friend of her husband while intoxicated. Olga was able to lead her to the Lord and pray with her for her son.

Prison Outreach in Vologda

Twice this past year our evangelism band partnered with the Russian Christian band, Bethesda, for outreaches in Vologda (A city located halfway between St. Petersburg and Moscow). The first outreach was in June, and the second in September.

The June outreach targeted four separate prisons, and reached an estimated 1,000 inmates with the gospel. One of the concerts was especially meaningful for one of the team members Gosha. It was the same prison where he had served a drug related sentence before coming to the Lord. While there, God allowed Gosha to lead one of his closest prison friends to the Lord. He also spoke with dozens of high ranking mafia figures who previously would never have listened to him. God gave Gosha supernatural favor and opened many doors for him to minister.

At another concert in a women’s prison, a real move of the Spirit occurred during the altar call. At the end of the concert a call to salvation was given and 60 women came forward to give their lives to the Lord. The overwhelming response came as a pleasant surprise to the team as typically inmates only respond through one-on-one witnessing.

During the September outreach the team visited a youth prison for inmates 15 - 24 years old. Many in this age category serve time for drug related crimes and are often the hardest to reach with the gospel. After the concert an altar call was given and five people came forward. With a sense that more people needed to respond to the Holy Spirit, the speaker gave a second call and eleven more came forward. Still feeling unsettled about the response, the speaker gave a third alter call and over 200 people flooded the altar - almost the entire prison population! Some of the first who responded were known gang leaders in the prison. The presence of the Holy Spirit was tangibly felt by many in the meeting hall. This is the greatest harvest of souls we’ve ever seen since beginning prison ministry.

Youth Camp Ministry in Estonia

The Lord opened a door for our band and several members of our ministry team to travel to Estonia and minister at a Christian youth camp. During the week, the youth were trained and equipped in evangelism, worship, and prophetic ministry. There was a great hunger in the youth and many were greatly impacted, including five who came to the Lord over the course of the camp.

At the conclusion of the camp the youth were invited to put their training into action and join the StreetCry team for evangelism concerts. Ten people came to the Lord during the outreach. Three weeks after the camp a pastor from one of the hosting churches reported 16 new young believers attending his church, who had been witnessed to during the street meetings.

Prophetic School in Estonia

StreetCry has also launched a prophetic school in Estonia. The purpose of this school is to train people in hearing the voice of God and ministering prophetically. Estonia was formerly a part of the Soviet Union and currently has a population of approximately 1.2 million.

The first session of the school was well attended as about fifty people registered. There were about ten pastors in attendance who wanted training so they could begin releasing the prophetic ministry in their own congregations (Very exciting!). Overall the response to the ministry was very positive. A number of people gave prophetic words for the first time and left the classes feeling more confident in hearing God’s voice.

The school will continue for the next seven months, with one full day of classes each month. Every month different teachers will be sent out from StreetCry to continue the courses. We consider the school an excellent opportunity to help strengthen churches in our surrounding region and promote unity in the body of Christ.

Healing Training

A healing training course has begun at StreetCry fellowship for people wanting to become more involved in healing ministry. Just as many at StreetCry have been trained and mobilized in ministering prophetically, we hope to see this happen in healing ministry. Both healing and prophecy are powerful tools we seek to implement both in the church and evangelism.

Recently an instant healing occurred during a Saturday night meeting. A student school of ministry student, Gosha Karovushkin (featured in the November newsletter), came forward for ministry regarding a chronic problem with sores in his mouth. After receiving prayer from one of the healing teams, Gosha felt something happen on his tongue. He immediately ran out of the room to find a mirror to check his mouth. After confirming that he had in fact been healed, he came running back into the church shouting, “I’m healed! I’m healed!”. It was quite a scene!

A Note from the StreetCry Ministry Team:

Thank you for your prayers, friendship and financial help, which made it possible for us to minister here. We appreciate and thank God for you!

With Love,

The StreetCry Ministry Team

Prayer Points for 2007

* School of Ministry students and staff

* Wisdom and understanding for leadership team

* Physical and spiritual protection for entire ministry

* Financial provision

* Spiritual breakthrough in St. Petersburg and Russia

* A new measure of joy for everyone in the ministry

* Wisdom, compassion, boldness and power for evangelism ministry