The Lord has continued to open doors to minister here in St. Petersburg and other cities over the past month. Whether at evangelism concerts or just on the street, hungry people are crossing our path to hear the good news of God's Kingdom. We thank you for your prayers as we continue to see fruit in lives changed by the power of God.Evangelism News
One of the concerts with the biggest impact was at the metro station Lomonosov. Over the years we have seen literally hundreds of drug addicts at the different concerts throughout the city, but here many of our hearts were broken as there were so many really young children that were on drugs and sniffing glue. In a place where sin and hopelessness abounds, the Lord poured out His love and mercy at this concert and several repented and gave their lives to the Lord. One of these was a man who came to the concert with his family. When he was 18, he had accepted Jesus, but because of the fear of man, he walked away from God. After 15 years of drugs, and spending time in prison, he realized what a mistake he had made. He repented and dedicated his life to the Lord.
Near the metro station Bolshevikov, the Lord drew several people to the concert. Two drug addicts, who had recently left a rehab center in Moscow, were
witnessed to and paid close attention when a born again former drug addict was giving his testimony. Another young man decided to walk home after work instead of taking the bus. He stopped and listened to the music and we talked, and shared scriptures with him for over 30 minutes before he repented.Outreach in Finland
Finland neighbors Russia on the northwest border. It is a beautiful, orderly nation, one of the most expensive in the world and always ranks among the highest nations in suicides. Earlier this summer, John and Sara were in Finland and came across a rock festival in a park in Helsinki. While witnessing to sub-culture youth, their hearts were broken even more for the youth of Finland. They met a group of Christians who were also witnessing and we were invited to bring a team to witness at a larger rock festival later in the summer where over 20,000 youth from across Finland and many other nations would come.
Our team of ten joined a group of around 100 Finns to witness to the youth at the festival. The group we joined has been throughout Finland witnessing summer.
On the road leading to the festival was an area that was set up where the team could preach and witness . Although many youth had a negative reaction when they walked by and saw a cross, once we got a chance to talk to them, we were able to share our hearts and some were very open. One young musician, who stopped by later in the day and jammed with us, woke up hearing us preach about the love of God and we were able to minister to him. Another girl heard the Gospel preached and was deeply touched. She was sitting all alone with head down and in obvious depression. One of the team members came up and sat beside her silently. In a few moments the girl asked him, "How can I give my life to Jesus?" She had previously attempted suicide by slashing her wrists and had been in a psychiatric hospital. She gave her life to Jesus that day on the street.
A young man shared with us how lonely he was. We sat, talked, and read the Bible with him. When asking him if he wanted to give his life to the Lord, he kept saying, "One day, one day." We left after praying with him, knowing the Lord had touched his heart.
A young man we met didn't want to talk about Jesus. When asked why, he said he didn't believe that Jesus was the Son of God, but was simply a good man. This opened the door and we were able to minister to him for more than an hour; read scriptures and prayed with him.
Outreach in Ostrov and Pskov
A team traveled to Ostrov, a town of 30,000 people 180 miles south of St. Petersburg. We had an evangelism concert attended over 150 youth. Although we had problems with the electricity, our drummer kept playing through as the singers kept singing until the power came back on. Three people repented after the concert. One young man listened as we shared the Gospel for over 20 minutes. He repented, came to church the following day where there was a acurate word of knowledge about the Lord wanting to heal his stomach.The next day, the team ministered at the church that had invited us; leading worship, preaching, sharing prophetic words and praying for many people. After the service the pastor shared how the prophetic words hit the bull's-eye and had encouraged the congregation who had received the words.
Later that night, the team traveled to a nearby city, Pskov for an evangelism concert. Many sub-culture youth came dressed in black and all the latest
gothic get up. One girl was glued to her seat and you could tell that she was deeply touched by God during the concert. Although she didn't repent at the concert, we were able to pray for her that the Lord would continue the work He had started in her life.Updates:
Following up from the trip our students took to Novokuybyshesk (see last month’s newsletter, August 2007), over 21 people have called our hotline for drug addicts and several have gone to rehab centers. We thank the Lord for these and ask for your continued prayers for those that have entered rehab and for continued fruit from this and the many other outreaches the ministry has been involved in this summer.
Thank you for all of you who have prayed for us to find a building for our women's rehab center. We have found a building about an hour and a half from St. Petersburg and recently signed a lease. We plan on moving in and dedicating the facilities during the first part of September.
Prayer Points for September:
- Continued fruit in the lives of those ministered to by our teams during the outreaches this summer
- Grace and favor for our ministry here in St. Petersburg
- Anointing for the recording and work on our next CD’s
- Financial supply and increased fruitfulness for the ministry
- Wisdom and understanding for the leadership team
- Physical and spiritual protection for the entire ministry
- For the students and staff for the upcoming year at the School of Ministry
- Grace and anointing for the team opening a women's rehab center this month
- Spiritual breakthrough in St. Petersburg and Russia
