December 2008

Dear Friends!

Thanks to all of you for your continued prayers, friendship and financial giving to our ministry!

“For God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you have shown Him as you have helped His people and continue to help them” (Hebrews 6:10)

Christmas is near and we are determined to make the most of the wonderful opportunities it provides to preach the Gospel!

Besides the preparations for our annual Christmas Feed-in, the students of the School of Ministry are finding needy families outside the church to help in practical ways, thus sharing the love of God, and using these opportunities to explain the real meaning of Christmas. We are going to student's dorms, to the trains, sharing personal testimonies, praying for healing and giving out Gospel literature. We are also going to the streets where there are drug addicts/prostitutes, offering them hot tea, sandwiches and giving small Christmas presents that our students made for them as well as sharing information about drug rehab centers. Please pray for divine appointments, for God to send the hungry and receptive people our way and for fruitful winter evangelism for us.

Christmas Feed-In

Our thirteenth annual Christmas feed-in is quickly approaching and we still desperately need funding for it. This is the time of year that we celebrate Christmas by inviting the poor, the halt and the lame, as well as delivered, saved, set free former heroin addicts and prostitutes to come together to worship Christ, pray for the coming year's harvest of souls, thank God for His goodness and have a wonderful Christmas meal and fellowship.

So far we have 450 confirmed that are attending, our largest number ever. However, we are still in need of $5,200.00 for food and renting of a hall. Please help in any way you can with this, as this is our most important and fruitful event every year. If there is anyone who could help with the entire $5,200.00 it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much.

Healing Testimony

A School of Ministry graduate and one of the key children’s ministers in church, Sveta Moroz shares a story of God’s intervention at her workplace – she is a nurse in the children’s intensive care unit:

“During my shift a 6 month old girl was rushed in. She and her 3-year-old brother who were playing without supervision, pulled the TV cord and the large TV set fell and smashed her skull. Her skull was broken and her brain damaged. Half a year ago here in the hospital where I work, a child died with a similar injury in our intensive care unit despite of all our efforts. When I saw this new situation, I realized that unless God intervenes here and now, we would lose this girl too. As I did my work as a nurse, I also began praying against death. As soon as I had a spare moment, I sent cell phone messages to many of our church members to join me in this prayer. We called the surgeon. He got up in the middle of the night, left his family and came in for an urgent operation. At first, I could not see much hope because the baby lost a lot of blood and was obviously partially paralyzed as a result of the injury plus anesthesia. However, to my great joy, in two days I discovered that her blood balance was back to normal and she began moving all of her little body. The process of recovery went smooth, and in one week, she was transferred out of the intensive care unit. Such an outcome was a big surprise for all my colleagues because usually children so little do not survive such injuries, and even if somehow they do, they have permanent damage and stay at least a month minimum in the intensive care. God’s wonderful intervention was undeniable! And we praised Him for His mercy!”

Evangelism

Arkady Ledkov and Gosha Korovushkin head up evangelism in our church. They target the student dorms and continued with that effort all last year but saw very little response among the students. However, we did not give up and continued to intercede, to visit our contacts from time to time, and kept making new contacts and believing for a breakthrough. Recently we were glad to see two girls from this dorm in our church! Katya and Katya visited several times. Fellowshipping with one Katya after service, Gosha discovered that the Holy Spirit was touching her. She took close to her heart the message of salvation and repentance and returning to the dorm in the evening kneeled at her bed and accepted Jesus. Some of her friends followed suit. Now they have many questions about the Bible, they are reading on a regular basis and invited Gosha and Arkady and the School of Ministry students to come to their dorm weekly and conduct worship, prayer and Bible studies. Please pray with us for this new home group and for more students to be saved and added to the church (in the pictures you see the students in the dorms reading with interest our evangelism magazine, "One Way Out".)

We are continuing to feature a different student each month in our “Student Spotlight.”

Student Spotlight: Kirill Borodichuk

Kirill is currently in his second year at the School of Ministry. He is one of our office staff, majoring in graphic design, also actively contributing to our worship team, prophetic ministry, evangelism efforts and is a great blessing as an intercessor. Here is his story:

“Love… love… love… What is love?

I was only 12 years old but in spite of such young age I had a lot of reasons to think about the meaning of the word “LOVE”
I was born and brought up in Chelyabinsk – city of metallurgists in the Ural Mountains. People in our city were generally very tough. Most of them worked in steel production – under dangerous working conditions but with meager paychecks, including my Mom who made the equivalent of $73.00 a month there. As for my Dad, I could figure out only one thing about him: I did not have a Dad.

So either due to a lack of love, care and supervision, or maybe because luxuries like candies, chocolates or chewing gum were unaffordable in my family, I started stealing beginning in kindergarten. In school, I regularly stole my classmate’s and teacher’s money and several times was taken to the police station. I smoked my first cigarette at the age of 6. I started drinking beer at 7 and at 9 I tried vodka for the 1st time. My Mom and I lived in a communal flat (a 4 bedroom apartment where each room was occupied by a whole family, with one kitchen and bathroom/shower for all 4 families to share) so I had no lack of people who were more than willing to keep company with me, drinking, smoking, etc… Then came sex, which I started having at 12 with a girl who was 18.

At first I thought: this is it! LOVE! Somebody loves you and you love this person. Only until the first betrayal that made me feel like a toy in other people’s hands, you know this feeling of being used and thrown away. I continued having sex with other girls, then with guys, too. I tried to escape reality in order to just somehow get on with life.

One day I visited an acquaintance of mine and invited him to go with me to the lake. He agreed but mentioned that he would come with friends. I was surprised because previously he did not have friends to the best of my knowledge. I stepped into his room and found ten young people sitting around the table having tea. They greeted me joyfully which made we want to run away, because I hated gatherings of unknown people. But they did not let me run away, instead they hugged me and offered tea, sandwiches, cookies and began asking questions about my life… the evening was filled with joy; it was very interesting to fellowship with these people. I was amazed - how could people be so genuinely happy without alcohol?! Explaining their secret, they told me that they were Christians and invited me to come to their church.

I accepted this invitation first thing during that week. In church, there were more than 600 people. Some came on stage and began playing instruments and singing. I did not understand much of what was going on but the music overwhelmed me. Then a man spoke from stage for a while. I remember his last words: “God can forgive you. He can change your life and give you LOVE!” “He can give me LOVE?” – I thought to myself – “I want it!” I went forward as this man lead us in prayer. Thus, I repented of my sins.

From that day on my life turned upside down. Or would it be better to say it turned right side up? I felt clean and did not want anything to ruin this inside of me. I found myself hating cigarettes and vodka, curse words disappeared from my mouth, without regrets, I broke up all the relationships that before I considered love. Compared to what God was pouring out on me, I realized that it was all garbage!

But Jesus gave me LOVE. His LOVE – PURE AND PERFECT. I realized that no man can give so much LOVE and my newly found FATHER – GOD! He proved His love by actions: He gave His only Son Jesus on the cross for my sins! Now Jesus is my best Friend and I can’t help but tell everybody around me about Him and share His wonderful gift of LOVE!”

Prayer Points for December:

• Please pray for finances for the Christmas Feed-in
• For fruitful evangelism during the Christmas season - we want to make the most of all the opportunities to touch as many lives as possible with the Gospel
• For the new home group to develop in the student dorm
• Spiritual growth of the girls currently in rehab and the Lord’s grace and anointing for the staff to effectively minister to them and to further develop our rehabilitation program
• Please pray for righteousness, peace, and joy for everyone in our church; physical and spiritual protection for the entire ministry
• Unity, love and wisdom for the leadership team
• For direction, anointing and grace in the pioneering work in the neighboring nation of Estonia
• For the breakthrough with an abundant supply of finances for the advancement of the Kingdom of God
  

Thank you again so very much for your prayers and continued support of our work here! If you are not doing so already we would like to ask you to prayerfully consider helping us on a regular basis for the year 2009. Your help is urgently needed.

God bless and keep you all,

Your StreetCry family

NOVEMBER, 2008

NEWS FROM RUSSIA AND ESTONIA

Thanks to all of you for your continued prayers, friendship and financial giving to our ministry. We are very thankful for all of you, and our friendship and gratitude is not based on what you do for us, but is based on what Christ has done for all of us! We are just thankful to God for you, plain and simple!

The world is in and we think will continue to be in a time of financial crisis for an extended period of time. It seems like most of the industrialized world is affected, but we also know that God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of need. Our life styles and decisions regarding finances and 'needs' may change, but our God never changes, and His priorities of saving the lost never change. He is continually concerned about His people and the lost of the world, and we hope we can continue to have an outward focus during these changing times.

We are glad to share with you the wonderful things Jesus is doing among us, bringing salvation and healing! Our evangelism has shifted from street concerts to personal witnessing in dorms and other locations. We are continuing with the School of Ministry and will be featuring a different student each month in our “Student Spotlight.”

Jesus Heals Today!

We eyewitness it in our church services quite often, especially when our students and graduates move in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Here is a testimony from this month. Galya (photo on right) visited our church service. During worship, a word of knowledge was given that there is someone in the audience who has a back problem that God wants to heal. She immediately responded – her spine had been bent for seven years as a result of pregnancy. Even though her daughter is now 7 years old, the pain never left her and she lost mobility in her back: she could not bend either forward, or backward. As a result of laying on of hands and prayer for her healing, she felt the pain leave immediately and she could freely bend for the first time in all these years. She happily testified to the whole church and we gave glory to God for this miracle!

We also pray a lot for the brothers and sisters whom Jesus delivered from drug addiction but they still have the consequences of drug abuse in their bodies such as HIV, hepatitis C, etc… Recently one of the girls who is going through rehabilitation in our center – Lena (on the photo) went to the hospital for a scheduled check up related to hepatitis C. To the doctors’ great surprise the tests could not detect any virus in her blood! This is the fourth healing from Hep C that we have seen in 2008. All of them are documented, both the original tests and present tests stating that there is no virus in their blood.

Evening Bible School

Recently we added Monday Evening Bible Studies to the School of Ministry for those in our fellowship who came to the Lord not so long ago or felt the need to get a systematic foundation in the Word of God, but due to other obligations could not commit to coming to School every morning. We are having a fruitful time feeding the spiritually hungry. At the same time, the students and graduates of the School of Ministry have a wonderful opportunity to practice and develop their teaching gifts.

Christmas Feed-In Preparations – We Need Your Help!

Every Christmas for the past 12 years we have gathered either Christian rehab centers of St. Petersburg or street people together to worship, fellowship, have a Christmas meal, celebrate God’s goodness and testify of His power to save, heal and restore lives. Last year more than 300 people came together from 12 rehab centers, sharing that such events brings us closer to Jesus, brings hope, encouragement and increased vision, and contributes to unity and cooperation between the rehab centers. It also produced fruit in helping the young people of Russia to fight drug addiction which is a national plague and to focus on winning more souls by the transforming power of Jesus Christ. We are planning our next feed-in for this year and are making invitations and preparations now. For this, we need $5,2000 USD. Please prayerfully consider making a donation to make this very worthwhile and fruitful celebration a reality again this year. On the left is a photo of several former heroin addicts, now strong Christian sisters, fellowshipping together at last Christmas’s Feed-In.

News From John and Sara Russell In Estonia

We have moved!!!

Hello everyone! We love you and thank God for you! Sara and I have moved from St Petersburg, Russia to Tallinn, Estonia. That is a move of about 5 hours from a city of 5.5 million to a capital city with a population of 400,000. Our ministry in Russia continues under the capable leadership of Pastor Arkady Bizyanov, along with Vera Abezina running the School of Ministry/Bible School and Sergei Tovstopyat heading up the Rehab Center. We have been in Tallinn for 2 months, setting up a base here, while visiting Russia for at least one week each month.

What we are doing and why we are here.

For the past 3 years, we have been bringing teams from Russia to both Estonia and Finland. We have ministered in churches, rehab centers and done evangelism on the streets in these countries. Just as God broke our hearts for the unsaved youth of Russia, He has done the same thing regarding the youth of Estonia and Finland. We have known for quite some time that we were to start a work here, but we just did not know His timing until recently. When everything fell into place, with several confirmations, including new visa laws in Russia prohibiting my staying for more than 90 days out of every 180 days, we moved. We were able to move into the first house we looked at, with a minimum of difficulty and the owner agreeing on a lower rent than we were paying in St Petersburg. Our plans and vision include starting a work reaching the lost youth from the streets, having an evangelism and worship group and teaching on evangelism, worship and prophetic ministry in the local churches who are hungry for this. We have applied for residency and are also working on visas to bring a team from Russia to assist us. About 30% of the Estonian people are ethnic Russians, and they are some of the people we are called to minister to. There are a number of Russian speaking churches and pastors here that we have already become friends with and whom we are ministering together with. It is not our desire to take people from existing churches to work with us. As we did in Russia, we want to build things from the ground up by going out and winning youth off of the street and seeing them raised up. This process is much longer, but we feel that this is the proper way to build the Kingdom, or at least the way we feel that He has called us to do things. We will be translating some of our Russian literature and tracts into Estonian for evangelism, until the time that we have fresh, local tracts. We have quickly fallen in love with the country and people here, while not losing our love for the dear Russian people who still need Jesus as much or more than ever. Tallinn is a medieval city dating back to 800 AD. There are parts of the city with buildings that are several hundred years old and you have the feeling you are going back in time. Under Soviet domination, 1/3 of the population of Estonia were killed or exiled. (yes you heard right, 1/3 of the entire population were gone in 2 years after Soviet occupation). They were replaced by ethnic Russians, Ukrainians, Byelorussians and other Soviets. Hence, the now mixed population of the country. Right now, Estonia has the highest per capita HIV rate of any EU country, and is going through huge, rapid changes from being subjugated to being part of a free democratic Europe. It is also experiencing the same financial crisis as Europe, the US and the rest of the industrialized world. There are a number of Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal, Charismatic and non aligned churches throughout the country, although the overall protestant population is in decline, and most church growth is because of people changing churches. By God's grace, we expect to see many young people coming into and staying in the Kingdom of God. We would appreciate your prayers for grace, favor, financial supply and ever-unfolding vision from God, and that we are able to find the keys to the hearts of the young people here. As we are and always have been a faith based missionary work, we need financial support and would appreciate any help that God would put in your heart to give. Our monthly expenses are presently $3,000. For more info on this very exciting and fascinating country, you could click on the following link: http://www.worldinfozone.com/facts.php?country=Estonia

God bless you abundantly, John and Sara in Tallinn, Estonia.

Evangelism

Do you ever feel like giving up after you share the Gospel with people but do not see immediate results or change in someone’s life, or even receive mocking or persecution? Here is an encouraging story from Gosha, a School of Ministry graduate and a tireless evangelist:

“In my life before Christ I was a drug addict and 6 times was in prison. During one of those times, I met a guy named Roma. He was a musician, a punk rocker and was in prison for much lesser crimes than I was – we became friends. He preferred alcohol at the time, but after I demonstrated to him that drugs are “much cooler”, he very soon became a user, then an addict, just like me, and got his brother hooked on heroin too. In and out of prisons, we kept company for years. Then once out of prison, while Roma was still in, I repented, went for rehabilitation, then School of Ministry. I remembered my friend and visited him many times to tell him the Gospel of Jesus. Unfortunately, he only mocked. One day when he was out of prison, I managed to bring him to a church service. It was obvious that the Holy Spirit touched Roma but he was too proud to surrender under God’s conviction and ran away cursing and swearing at me when I tried to stop him. Shortly after that, he was arrested again for selling drugs and put in prison. To my great surprise I recently received a phone call from him. With tears of joy, he shared with me how he kept thinking of what he heard from me and in the church, obtained the Bible, started reading it in his cell and prayed to God asking to forgive his sins and change his life. Roma really sounded like a new creature. Moreover, he asked if I could send him some Christian literature for Bible studies and Gospel tracts to distribute among the prisoners. In addition to that Roma wrote and shared the Gospel with his brother, Sergei, who is also now in prison for the same kind of crimes, only in a different city, and Sergei is responding and reading the Bible and also called me with a request to send him Christian literature!” (these young men are receiving persecution for their preaching, but are standing strong by God’s grace. Please pray for Roma and Sergei).

Student Spotlight: Nastya Tsarevskaya

Nastya is currently in her second year at our School of Ministry. Here is her story:

“Many people reflect on the meaning of life, including myself. I wondered, why am I here on this earth? And, in general, why are we as human beings here, is there any purpose, any meaning in this life? I often went with these questions to my friends and acquaintances, but the answers I would get were not satisfying. Almost all said that they live to receive a good education, to find a prestigious highly paid job, to get married, bring up children … etc, etc. For some reason this scenario did not attract me. I felt there must be more to life than that… There must be something more worthy to live for, and even precious enough to die for! But I just could not find it!

In fact, if there was no meaning there was nothing to lose. Therefore, I stopped taking things seriously. Why limit myself by the boundaries of common sense and morals that society adheres to and play by the rules that someone else came up with…someone whom I do not know… and who does not care… It was better to simply enjoy life and do everything that would be desirable (or so I thought).

In addition to listening to music, I started taking interest in Buddhism and other religions, smoking hash, going to drunken parties, discos, indulged in "free" way of life, and "free" love. So I proceeded in this direction until one day I discovered that I was pregnant. I was 16, still in high school and did not know any way to cover up for it than to go and have an abortion. Afterward, the pricks of consciousness were unbearable and in my attempts to overcome the guilt I turned to hash and drinking again and quickly returned to the same “free” way of life. After a while I found myself pregnant the second time. I was aware that again I am about to commit a murder which an abortion was.

Slowly it was dawning on me the grave consequences this “free life-free love” leads to… My stoned and drunk friends kept telling me: “Relax, what are you so up tight about? Smoke this, your troubles are such nonsense, all the girls have abortions. It’s normal. It’s okay”. But I knew it was not okay! Theirs was cold comfort. I did not want to live like this and I felt that I did not want to live at all. Suicidal thoughts started to bombarded my mind.

One day I was ready to put those thoughts into practice. But as I sat down to leave my last note and make the final records in my diary, I don’t know how it happened but it turned into writing a letter to God. I kind of always believed in His existence but I never actually knew how to get in touch with Him… When we want to get in touch with someone far away, we write letters to him or her, so I guess it was logical of me to want to write a letter to God. In the process, and out of the blue, I started unexpectedly repenting and asking for forgiveness for all I’ve done wrong, asking Him to somehow help me out of the mess I got myself into. I cried and cried all night long, and felt that deep down in my heart something had changed. The suicidal thoughts were gone. Instead, my heart was filled with hope. It was my initial encounter with God.

Since there was nobody near me to explain what happened and what to do next, I went on and had another abortion, but I never went back to the old way of life. I had decided to devote my life to God, and was looking for a church to go to. At that time, I only knew Russian Orthodox temples.

So I decided to visit one and asked an acquaintance of mine to accompany me. As I opened up to her, she opened up to me, and I discovered that she was a Christian for 8 years, she was attending a protestant church and invited me to join her instead of going to the temple. In the church, I was amazed and deeply touched by the love and sincerity of the believers. I started attending regularly, gave my life to Jesus Christ, gradually began to pray, read the Bible and understand the Gospel. My life began to really change. My former friends did not understand me, and soon, many of them, almost everybody stopped fellowshipping with me. But it did not stop me from following Jesus. In fact I found what I was looking for all along, that One thing which satisfied the deep longing of my soul: JESUS – THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE. In Him, I found all: the way to go, the direction for my life, the only true love. He is the ONLy ONE WHO IS WORTHY to live for and if need be, to die for!

As I continued to follow Him, I completed my studies of Serbian at the language department of St. Petersburg University, met a wonderful Christian young man, and got married. My husband loves Jesus. Now we have a young daughter. Several years ago, my husband graduated from the StreetCry School of Ministry, and now the Lord has made a way for me to enroll while my husband is helping to take care of our baby. My studying in the School of Ministry is the most exciting and challenging experience ever and I can’t thank Jesus enough for making it possible for me!”

Prayer Points for November:

• Please pray for righteousness, peace, and joy for everyone in our church; physical and spiritual protection for the entire ministry;
• Unity, love and wisdom for the leadership team ;
• Compassion, boldness, power and fruitfulness for evangelism ;
• Spiritual growth of the girls currently in rehab and the Lord’s grace and anointing for the staff to effectively minister to them and to further develop our rehabilitation program;
• For fruitful training and equipping season in the School of Ministry;
• For the breakthrough with an abundant supply of finances for the advancement of the Kingdom of God;
• For direction, anointing and grace in the pioneering work in the neighboring nation of Estonia;
• For Christmas preparations as we want to use the season to touch as many lives as possible with the Gospel.

Thank you so very much for your prayers and continued support of our work here! We especially thank all of you who responded to our urgent financial need and would like to ask to prayerfully consider helping on a regular basis.

God bless and keep you all,

Your StreetCry family

October, 2008

We are now in a new season; autumn brings the opening of the School of the Ministry and our emphasis is shifting to the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry through home groups, School of the Spirit meetings and practical training in various activities of the church. The finale of the summer street evangelism was music outreach at one of the busy St. Petersburg metro stations.

Evangelism Concert at Prospect Prosveshenya Metro Station

Our evangelism band “Sons of Thunder” ministered to a group of several hundred and many passer bys heard the message of the love of God and testimonies of how Jesus transformed the lives of drug addicts. Many people experienced the touch of the Holy Spirit and stayed after the concert for personal fellowship with us. Thank you all who prayed for salvation of Marina – the girl working at MacDonald’s restaurant who was supernaturally healed of a brain tumor by the prayer of her colleague - our church member. She is still healthy and the doctors took her off the list of the patients whose condition they keep monitoring. She came to this concert with two of her girl friends; they stayed for fellowship and as the result, Marina decided to repent and gave her heart to Jesus (see the picture below right).

Personal Witnessing

One of our church members Sveta recently met a former classmate on the street. Sveta found out that the girl had been taking drugs for a number of years and now was involved in prostitution. Sveta shared the Gospel with her. The girl had serious problems with her health due to infecting her veins with dirty needles: abscesses and high fever. Having no means for obtaining medical assistance the girl was in miserable condition. Sveta offered her prayer for healing. The girl accepted and several days later testified of a strong divine intervention in her life – the wounds speedily healed up. As she put it “I know only God could do it!” Please join us in prayer for this girl’s surrendering her life to Jesus, the Only One who can really set her free and cleanse her from all the bondages and addictions. The girl’s name is Natasha. Last month one girl (Marina) was healed of a brain tumor – and this month she received Jesus. We are praying for Natasha’s repentance to follow her healing also.

Wedding

Our fellowship received a big blessing – God added one more family to us! Sergei Tovstopyat and Kristina Kapralova got married! We are inspired not only by the beauty of this couple as you can see on the picture, but also by God’s amazing grace and mercy poured out on their lives that miraculously transformed the two people nearly destroyed by the devil through drug addiction into the flaming fiery servants of Christ! For many years, Sergei has operated the hotline for drug addicts and their relatives that helped hundreds of people to find Jesus and enroll into various Christian rehab centers. A year ago, Sergei and Krisitna began the drug rehabilitation center for the girls. We believe that as a family, they will bring forth even more fruit for the Kingdom of God that will abide in eternity!

The start of the School of Ministry

The year has begun in our School of Ministry with a time of intensive worship and intercession, dedicating ourselves afresh to God, opening up our hearts and lives for Jesus to change us, transform into His image and equip us for effective life of service to Him. In the following issues of the Newsletter you will be able to meet each of our students more personally – you will find their testimonies in the STUDENT’S SPOTLIGHT. The last year graduates are actively participating in ministry. Some got involved in our children’s church – we are now having street children coming to our services through an orphanage, and our children’s pastor is grateful for the new workers in this field. Other graduates are leading worship, teaching new converts, leading home groups and helping to broaden our work as missionaries to Estonia. Thank you for your prayers for them to find their place in the Body of Christ!

”Floods Upon a Dry Ground” book by Charles Schmitt published in Russian

Pastor Charles’s fundamental, deep and clear understanding of the progression of the move of the Holy Spirit on Earth throughout the ages of the Church history is a tremendous asset and a great encouragement for the Christian community in Russia where a good book on the Church history is hard to find and evangelical churches are still in many places labeled dangerous sects, mocked and persecuted by general public, especially the ones who believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit with speaking in tongues, moving in miracles, healings, prophecy and other Spiritual gifts. We are filling many orders already and are praying that the book reaches and feeds every hungry soul throughout our vast land and the neighboring Russian speaking countries.


Prayer Points for October:

• Please pray for righteousness, peace, and joy for everyone in our church; physical and spiritual protection for the entire ministry;
• Unity, love and wisdom for the leadership team ;
• Compassion, boldness, power and fruitfulness for evangelism ;
• Spiritual growth of the girls currently in rehab and the Lord’s grace and anointing for the staff to effectively minister to them and to further develop our rehabilitation program;
• For fruitful training and equipping season in the School of Ministry;
• For the breakthrough with an abundant supply of finances for the advancement of the Kingdom of God;
• For direction, anointing and grace in the pioneering work in the neighboring nation of Estonia.

Thank you so very much for your prayers and continued support of our work here! We especially thank all of you who responded to our urgent financial need and would like to ask to prayerfully consider helping on a regular basis.

God bless and keep you,

Your StreetCry family

September 2008

During the months of July and August our church gathered together several evenings a week to follow the Lakeland (Florida, USA) Outpouring which was broadcast on GOD TV. It boosted our summer thrust on evangelism and stirred up faith and boldness to step out and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ with demonstration of His power in the workplace, neighbourhood, travelling, on vocation, etc... Consequently we witnessed miraculous healings of bones, joints, spines, migrane headaches, restoration of hearing, and more... Here are some testimonies from our church members:

Olga Bazhura

“I work at “MacDonald’s” as a staff recruiter and staff manager. The other day a man fell on the floor in our restaurant in an epileptic seizure. The scared workers called for an ambulance but of course, something needed to be done immediately to help the man, so they called for me because they know I am a Christian and I pray. I knelt next to him and prayed a simple prayer for healing. In a moment he stood up, completely restored. We continued talking until the ambulance arrived, but there was nothing for the paramedics to do, and they could not believe what happened, because as they said – it takes several hours, not moments to recover from an epileptic seizure.

One evening as we watched the Lakeland Outpouring in our church, Todd Bentley shared a word of knowledge for healing of a brain tumor that really touched me and prompted me to pray. I could not figure out why – I did not know anybody who had one. However, the next day a girl came into my office who was going to quit her job. The reason being a speedily growing brain tumor due to a concussion she had received a while ago after her stepfather beat her up. The doctors said she needed to be urgently operated on and they did not guarantee that she would live longer than one year. I blew up at the devil so boldly trying to take the life of a 17 year old! I took the girl aside, told her about Jesus and God’s love and power to heal and prayed for her. The next day I went on vacation for a month. Imagine my joy and thankfulness to the Lord when they told me after my return that the girl did not proceed with quitting her job. In fact, she still works with us to this day and as she went to the hospital every 3rd day for check ups the doctors watched how the tumor stopped growing, died and decreased in size down to nothing. They cancelled the operation and are amazed at what could have produced such a drastic reversal of the process! Praise be to Jesus! He still heals today! Please join us in prayer for the girl’s salvation. Her name is Marina”.


Ira Smirnova

“I recently moved to a new area of the city and met a Christian woman who came to St. Petersburg from Ukraine in order to take care of her paralyzed relative. I asked her permission to come and visit this man. She was happy to invite me, because all her attempts to tell him about Jesus failed. He did not want to hear anything from her. Like she said, “a prophet is not accepted at her own house”. Surprisingly, when I shared with him the message of the Gospel, he decided to turn to God in a prayer of repentance and accepted Jesus as his personal Savior and Lord. I also prayed for his healing and I continue to pray until I see a breakthrough in his health condition”.

Sveta Moroz

“My unsaved brother-in-law has TB (in addition to hepatitis C due to his drug-addiction past) and spends most of his time in hospitals. Therefore, doctors also monitor my sister’s condition. Recently they called her, alarmed, because there were multiple signs of TB found in her lungs, according to the X-Rays they performed. They were going to put her in the hospital, too. Although an unbeliever and at times even severely opposed to my life of following Jesus, she turned to me for prayer in this critical moment of her life. I prayed for her healing. As the result the next X-Rays performed showed no signs of TB! Isn’t God amazing?!

Katya Russell writes from the USA

While visiting friends in South Carolina, Katya met Natasha – a dear orphan from Belorussia who was spending the summer in the USA. The girls became friends, Katya shared the Gospel with her and Natasha received Jesus (in the picture). Following are excerpts from Katya’s letters to us regarding other miracles:

“I'm so excited I just have to tell you this tonight, before I go to bed. We are at Carl & Vivian’s home, we're probably going to stay here for a few days. But the thing I wanted to tell you is this. Before I came to the US I was praying for the Lord to work through me here. I got addicted to all of the things Jesus is doing, all of the healings and miracles that are happening in our church! So today I was sitting at the dinner table with Carl and Vivian and I noticed a little hearing aid sticking out of Carl’s left ear, then I saw another one in the right ear. And I felt that Jesus told me to pray for Carl. After we finished eating, I asked him if I could pray for him, and he said yes, so I did. He immediately took his hearing aid out. Previously he couldn't hear microwave oven buttons dinging when you push them. So he tested his hearing and still he couldn't hear them, so we commanded the ears to be open again. He tested again, and he could hear some of them. We again commanded his ears to be open in the name of Jesus. We repeated it several times until he could hear almost all of the buttons of varying sounds. Carl then said it would be a real miracle if he could hear the crickets in the evening, as he had not been able to hear crickets for 6 years. So an hour later, we went for a walk. And guess what??? He COULD HEAR THE CRICKETS!!!!!! That night, Carl did not put his hearing aids back in and has been able to hear without them ever since. Isn't that amazing! THANK YOU, JESUS!!! I am soooooo excited, and am really thankful that Jesus can even use me ! I am so blessed, I want to continue, and never stop!!!”

“Carl hasn't been wearing hearing aids for several weeks, and still hears the crickets”.

“Here is some more! Today we were at church with Carl & Vivian. After the service they introduced us to a couple: Ron & Sandy. Ron had the same hearing problem as Carl. He couldn't hear about 20-25 %, and also high-pitched & soft voices or sounds. His wife Sandy had arthritis in her knees, and in her left knee there are two bones that click when she walks, making it hard for her to walk. So Mom, Carl, Vivian and I laid hands on them and we prayed for Sandy first, for her knees. During the prayer Sandy stood up to her feet and started walking. She used to feel the two bones clicking together, now she couldn't. She said it felt like somebody lubricated the inside between her bones. Then we prayed for her husband - Ron, for his hearing. Mom and I put both of our hands on his ears. We commanded both ears to be OPEN in the name of Jesus! After that Ron said he heard a POP, and he could hear the rain outside, and a little buzzing noise on the stage that he couldn't hear before! THANK YOU JESUS! I also got a prophetic word for him, that he is a teacher. He said, "Yes, I'm a professor at UGA." I said, "Jesus is going to use you in reaching the young people and seeing their lives changed. Jesus is going to work through you! You are going to bring many young people to Jesus!" And Ron just started weeping. He said, "Thank you for being obedient to the voice of the Lord!" They both thanked us! And it was just so good! Jesus is cool! I like it! He doesn't stop! And I don't want to stop either!”

OTHER NEWS FROM SUMMER

To crown our summer evangelism and healing miracles, we had a wonderful time at a lake outside the city, baptizing our new believers from street evangelism, as well as the girls who met the Lord and dedicated their lives to Jesus through our drug rehab center.

Thank you for your prayers and interest in our ministry!

God bless and keep you,

Your StreetCry Family


Prayer Points for August:

• Our ministry desperately needs financial supply to continue. Please prayerfully consider helping on a regular basis
• Pray for righteousness, peace, and joy for everyone in the ministry
• Physical and spiritual protection for the entire ministry
• Greater spiritual breakthrough in St. Petersburg and Russia
• Wisdom, compassion, boldness and power for evangelism
• The Lord’s power and release of more of His healing anointing in St. Petersburg
• Spiritual growth of the girls currently in rehab and the Lord’s grace and anointing for the staff to effectively minister to them
• Wisdom and anointing as we are making plans for the nest years in our School of Ministry; for the Lord to make divine appointments for us and bring more hungry young people to be trained and equipped for the effective service in the Kingdom of God
• Wisdom and understanding for the leadership team
• A breakthrough with an abundant supply of finances for the advancement of the Kingdom of God
• For direction, anointing and grace in the pioneering work in the neighboring nation of Estonia
  
  Thank you so very much for your prayers and continued support of our work here.

Experiencing New Passion In Christ!

We wish to apologize for the time lapse since our last newsletter was sent out and ask for your forgiveness for this lack of communication. We truly appreciate you and thank God for you.

With changes in the ministry here, we are in need of a native English speaker who has a heart for helping with compiling and editing our StreetCry Ministry newsletters. If you are interested in helping, please contact us at john.office@earthlink.net.

Experiencing New Passion In Christ!
The Lord is continuing to impact lives in St. Petersburg; drawing people closer to Him, revealing His love to hurting and lost souls, and releasing people into the fullness that He has for them. Many lives were impacted by God’s healing and saving power and taken to a new level of intimacy at the “Worship, Passion and Power” Conference. The School of Ministry students graduated at the end of May and we’re continuing to see lives changed this summer. This month’s newsletter includes a brief overview of His great impact on so many lives.

Worship, Power and Passion Conference
People from across Russia and surrounding nations spent several days traveling by train to come and be a part of the Worship, Passion and Power Conference that we recently held in St. Petersburg. They came with expectant hearts to receive all that the Lord wanted to impart and be drawn into a closer relationship with Him. They left after experiencing new joy, hope, faith, power and passion. The conference was led by Suzy Yaraei, from Holy Spirit Adventures and MorningStar Ministries, who was with us here in Russia for the third time. She was joined by her husband Kamran, Jim and Evelyn Whitley and several musicians, worshippers, and intercessors, all who were a tremendous blessing here. Worship knows no language barriers and a true unity of spirit was experienced as God’s presence filled the place. From the opening session people experienced freedom and deliverance. Throughout the conference people received healings, prophetic words, and were drawn into a deeper relationship with the Lord.

Below are several testimonies of how the Lord touched lives during the conference.

“On the first day of the conference there was a word of knowledge shared and prayer offered for the healing of somebody’s heart. I stood up because I recently experienced frequent heart pain. In general, I had a defective myocardium and the situation worsened recently due to fears in conjunction with a situation in my workplace and heaviness in conjunction with a situation in our church. However, right after prayer I felt relieved from fear and heaviness and the heart pain was immediately gone! Praise the Lord!” -Raisa, St. Petersburg, Russia

“We would like to thank you for a great conference; we were very inspired and seeing more freedom in worship and passion for the Lord in our church as a result” -Marina, Tallinn, Estonia

“We’d like to thank you so very much for the conference with Suzy. It was awesome! We received freshness from God to worship Him! We feel how He is now taking us to a new level of closeness in fellowship with Him and teaching us to be His worshippers in Spirit and in truth. Thank you so very much again.” -Dmitry, St. Petersburg, Russia

“Thank you so much for the conference. We received a lot of refreshing, renewing of our passion for Jesus, and great impartation for worship. As we came home and conducted the next service the fire of God fell on our church members in a powerful way: the people wept, repented, rejoiced, danced and we are taking it to the streets…our evangelism is booming” -Alexander, Novokuibyshevsk, Russia

During the conference, a former heroin addict was healed of hepatitis C. In the following several weeks, four more people have testified of being healed by hepatitis C. Thank God for His healing power!

School of Ministry Graduation
Sixteen students graduated from the School of Ministry at the end of May. Several of these are delivered heroin addicts that are actively involved in ministry. The ceremony was a joyful time of celebration and reflection on the great work God has done in each student’s life. The Lord has done a tremendous work in the lives of the students and a solid foundation has been laid to minister to the needs of others, freely giving out what has been imparted to them. We thank God for every life that has been changed though attending the school and eagerly anticipate the start of next year’s school in September.

School of Ministry Testimonies
Two years ago I was listening to what students were saying at graduation and was crying because I wanted to go to the School of Ministry and receive the same impartation. Looking at my life I couldn’t see any chance of actually going because I have a wife and a small child. But God made a way and I was able to come. Over these two years I received a great impartation. When I started, I knew I wanted change in my life and in my family. My wife can testify that I am a different husband now.

We have learned to boldly take those things that the Lord has given to us from you and share it with others. Thank you for the seeds that you have sown and you will see the fruit. In many schools we can practice, but after school there is real life and opportunities to minister. We don’t need to stop here, we need to keep on. It looked like it was impossible for me to study, but He has done it! When it looks like it’s impossible to serve Him, He will do it! - Sergei

For me this was a difficult year. My husband had to watch our baby, so he worked less. Also there was a lot of pressure from unbelieving relatives who did not understand why I wanted to go to the School of Ministry. I never doubted that this decision was from the Lord, as He really spoke to us as a family.

It was really a great year. The input into my life was a lot. It was precious: precious things that Jesus worked into my life over the year. The Lord taught me to have joy in every circumstance and to trust and focus on Him. He was stretching my faith and that all things are possible to those that believe! I thought that the Lord could intervene in someone else’s circumstance, but not mine. However, the Lord broke this thinking. When you take a step of faith, Jesus will meet you. Nothing is impossible and we don’t need to limit God with our lack of faith. – Nastya

Over this past year in the School of Ministry, God has really worked in my heart. I feel that the foundation was laid in my life for a long Christian life. Christianity is like a sport, like a team sport. And it is important for each person to participate. The teachers laid a serious foundation in our lives. We were fed and fed; now we are feeding people as we were taught to give what we received. - Kostya

Other News
At a recent rock concert, a team of students went to evangelize to the many young subculture kids that would be there. One of them witnessed to a girl about God’s love and how Jesus had saved him. She responded to God’s love and repented of her sin on the street instead of going to the concert. Dozens of others heard the good news of salvation – many for the first time in their lives.

One of the local rehab centers came to our service and brought with them two guys that had just come to the center. While at the service they both repented and gave their lives to the Lord. Please continue to pray for our new brothers and sisters going through drug rehab.

On a recent trip to the US, John, Sara, and Katya were greatly impacted by the move of God coming from Lakeland, Florida and the ministry of Todd Bentley. Since April, the Lord has been moving mightily with tremendous healings, miracles, and people being raised up from the death bed. StreetCry has felt the Lord lead us to record the meetings, translate them into Russian, and allow the body of Christ in St. Petersburg to experience the same healing power here as is happening in Lakeland.

Over the past several weeks, a true hunger for more of God, a deeper love for the lost, and a boldness to go out and not only preach the Gospel, but demonstrate the healing power of the Kingdom, has come in a powerful way. Many in the ministry are out on the streets, at work, or wherever they go, praying for the sick and seeing lives changed and made whole by the Lord.
One of the girls from our ministry, Sveta, works as a nurse in a children’s hospital. She not only applies her medical skills but also prays for the sick and has been able to see the healing power of God break through the impossible situations. Two boys had been in serious car accidents. They had fractured their skulls, were on respirators and the doctor said they would not live through the night. Sveta interceded on behalf of the boys and prayed that they would live and not die. The Lord heard her prayers and to the astonishment of the doctors, the boys are both alive and recovering from their injuries. Another sister, who is a doctor, has opened a door to allow a team to visit the hospital where she works to minister healing.

We have also adopted a 93 year old homeless grandma who was living on the street after being swindled out of her apartment. Not homeless anymore - she now stays permanently where she stayed on occasion when she had money. We are feeding and taking care of her and her needs. She received Jesus, got filled with the Holy Spirit and is witnessing to other grandma’s. We have prayed and continue to pray for her sight as she has cataracts. She can now recognize some things she could not see before - and we are continuing to pray for complete healing. We really love this dear woman and she knows that God and we love her too!

Prayer Points for July:

• Direction for graduating students as they seek God for the next season of their lives
• For direction, anointing and grace in the pioneering work in the neighboring nation of Estonia
• The Lord’s power and release of more of His healing anointing in St. Petersburg
• Righteousness, peace, and joy for everyone in the ministry
• Greater spiritual breakthrough in St. Petersburg and Russia
• Spiritual unity among the leadership and Body of Christ in Russia
• Physical and spiritual protection for the entire ministry
• Wisdom and understanding for the leadership team
• A breakthrough with an abundant supply of finances for the advancement of the Kingdom of God
• Wisdom, compassion, boldness and power for evangelism ministry
• Spiritual growth of the girls currently in rehab and the Lord’s grace and anointing for the staff to effectively minister to them

Конференция «Поклонение, Страсть и Сила»

В программе конференции:
- учение о поклонении и практическое применение;
- учение о пророческом и практическое применение;
- мастер – классы:

• вокал;


• гитара;


• клавишные;


• бас – гитара;


• ударные;


• написание песен;

- и другое.

Предварительная регистрация до 01.04.08. Количество участников ограничено вместимостью зала.

Для регистрации необходимо сообщить о себе следующие данные: ФИО, город, название церкви, контактный телефон.

Стоимость участия в конференции при условии предварительной регистрации составляет 400 рублей. Без предварительной регистрации – 500 рублей.


Получить более подробную информацию о конференции, а также предварительно зарегистрироваться вы можете по тел.: 8 (812) 575-32-67, 251-82-63
e-mail: sons@thunder.sp.ru

New Beginning Only Through Christ!

Over the past several months, we have been active and inspired with evangelism. Teams have been taking the gospel to the streets and student dorms here in St. Petersburg. Recently we held an evangelism concert in Novgorod, a city 3 hours away. Thank you so much for your prayers and continued interest in our work here.

This month's "Student Spotlight” features Denise, a former drug addict from Ukraine who found freedom and new life in Christ.

Student Spotlight: Denise

My name is Denise and I was born in Crimea, an area commonly shared between Russia and Ukraine on the Black Sea. I grew up in a working family and my father was a heavy drinker and used to beat my mother. From a young age I was always trying to escape the situation at home and found myself running away to the streets.

By the age of twelve, I was regularly spending nights on the street, arriving home just as my parents would wake up; of course this also led to problems at school. Teachers would get together and talk about the bad students and the worst classes. Our class was by far the worst and they ended up splitting our class and sending us all to other classes. This only seemed to add to my confusion and by the seventh grade, I was regularly drinking beer and smoking hash.

After finishing high school I went to a trade school, where my grades did not improve. I was kicked out of school for making forged documents that said I was sick and had passed exams. At 18, my parents told me that I was old enough to take care of myself and stopped giving me any financial support.

I started to work at a construction company during the winter and when summer came, I would rob the tourists that came to the Black Sea for holidays. This led to constant problems with the police and arguments with my parents which resulted in me being kicked out of my parents' home and living on the streets.

In the summer of 2003, I was living in the basement of an apartment building and was doing opium. When we were not under the influence of drugs, we would go out and rob people to get enough money to buy more drugs. Day by day I felt worse and worse. My health was being destroyed: drastic weight loss, my liver and other internal organs were constantly in pain. My so called friends left me because I was getting very weak and would get tired very quickly.

I tried to make peace with my parents and tried to live at home again. This didn't work out because at the first opportunity, I stole money from my parents and returned to the basement of the apartment building to hide.

My father found me in the basement and brought me to my mother. She said that she was tired of the entire situation and was going to call the police and make sure that I would go to prison. She told me that after I got out of prison not to come back as I would be nobody to them.

Standing on the balcony of my parents' home and seeing a beautiful sunset, I realized that this was my end and I was only 20 years old. My mother was about to call the police when the phone rang. An acquaintance of hers, a believer from a local church called and talked about the possibility of going to a rehab center named 'Betel.' Of course I agreed to go.

They took me in as I was and sooner than I had expected. When I arrived, I saw so many young people that where rejoicing, living life without drugs. I kept hearing them testifying of how Jesus helped them out of their addictions.

At first I wanted to leave, as there were so many things that I could not relate to; like all this talk about Jesus. There was something inside of me that was holding me, something that didn't let me leave. I decided to stay and day by day I came to realize that life without Jesus is impossible.

I cried out to God and He changed my life, He changed my heart, changed my thinking and He delivered me from my drug addiction. Now I am a minister at Betel (the rehab center) and I can say that me life is not meaningless as it was before. I live to help others instead of bringing them pain and suffering and have dedicated my life to help people like I used to be and see them set free from their drug addictions.

Denise is a first year student and currently ministers at the drug rehab center, Betel, located outside of St. Petersburg. We work in cooperation with them on ministry outreach and helping their potential leaders with Biblical training.

Evangelism News

The Lord continues to bring people and opportunities across our path to reach others with His saving love. We have been able to see a number of people come to the Lord, whom we had previously witnessed to.

During a concert this summer we met Katya who was very open to the gospel. She stayed for the entire concert and afterwards exchanged telephone numbers with one of our singers. Katya then left the city to spend some time visiting relatives and became very sick with a blood disorder. She sent us a message asking for prayer and explained her situation. We interceded for her, believing that the Lord would touch and heal her. After she returned to the city, she came to a service and shared how the Lord had healed her from the blood disorder. That same service she repented of her sins and gave her life to the Lord.

The following week, at our monthly city-wide worship and intercession night, a young man gave his life to the Lord. He is a co-worker of one of our Bible school graduates and had come to service for several weeks before he repented and submitted to the drawing of the Holy Spirit.

One of our members decided to send out a text message on his cell phone to an entire network of people. The message was a simple message that Jesus loves them. One girl answered the message and asked why. The brother was able to answer her questions and witness to her through the text messages. He kept asking her to come to church, and finally after several weeks, she did. During that service, she repented and gave her life to the Lord.

Outreach in Novgorod

Recently our evangelism team traveled to the ancient city of Novgorod. Novgorod is the oldest city in Russia, founded in the middle of the 10th century, and is located some 150 miles south of St. Petersburg. Working with a local church we had an evangelism concert where nearly 800 young people came and heard the Gospel message.

During the week before the concert, one of our Bible school graduates was in Novgorod working with the youth of a local church, teaching about evangelism, passing out tracts and advertisements for the concert.

At the concert, one girl, Lena, was intently listening but could not understand how the Lord could forgive her. Although her friends kept asking her to leave with them, she stayed and continued to talk with one of the team members. Although she felt that she was not able to give her life to the Lord at that time, Lena allowed the team to pray for her.

After nearly everyone had left and the building was about to be closed, Lena came running back into the hall crying. In tears, she realized that she needed to give her life to the Lord and it was time to stop running. After she repented and gave her life to Jesus, the team prayed for her, introduced her to members of the local church, and gave her a New Testament. It was so wonderful to see and it is all worth for the salvation of one lost soul.


Prayer Points for January:

• For a fruitful and life changing year at the Bible School/School of Ministry
• For all physical and spiritual needs to be met and for growth in the staff and students
• For our upcoming Christmas feed-in and celebration with the many drug rehab centers in the area
• Grace and favor for the ministry here in St. Petersburg
• Spiritual breakthrough in St. Petersburg and Russia
• Grace and anointing for the team at our women's rehab center
• Open doors for the Gospel to go out to youth in St. Petersburg and across Russia
• Wisdom and understanding for the leadership team
• Physical and spiritual protection for the entire ministry
• Righteousness, peace, and joy for everyone in the ministry
• Wisdom, compassion, boldness and power for evangelism ministry
• Abundant supply of finances and fruitfulness in the advancement of the Kingdom of God
• For women to come to Christ and maturity through the rehab center