Dear Friends!
We thank God for your love, prayers, support, and interest in our ministry! Truly God can do (and He does!) exceedingly abundantly above what we ask or think! (Ephesians 3:20). And we are so glad to share with you His wonderful deeds among us!
WORSHIP AND EVANGELISMOur 100th consecutive monthly Worship and Intercession night turned out to be an exuberant celebration of God’s goodness over the years, and the triumph of His mercy, grace and power to save, heal and deliver. It also gave us unexpected reasons to praise the Lord even more and inspired us to keep up our intercession by two additional amazing happenings:
Seven years ago as we regularly went out taking the Gospel to the students’ dorms and conducted evangelism concerts in our coffeehouse; we met a young man, named Alexei. At the time, he was a Polytechnical Institute student and a dorm neighbor of Zhenya Kopushu who now heads up
intercession
in
our church, but back then was a school of ministry student and a student at the Polytechnical Institute. Zhenya kept witnessing to Alexei at the dorm and invited him to our coffeehouse. Alexei was a big fan of Marilyn Manson. In fact, he dressed and behaved so much like his idol that people around could not help but nickname him Manson. Together with his friend Dima, Alexei became a regular visitor at our evangelism concerts and in the coffeehouse. But every time he visited he provoked arguments about the Bible, blasphemed, cursed us and God, and obviously enjoyed doing it. Several of our
evangelists spent hours with him and saw no visible change in him. But Zhenya (in the photo on the right) did not give up. Jesus put a tremendous burden on her heart to keep interceding with tears and supplications for his soul. In and out of our sight for a couple of years we discovered that Alexei’s friend Dima (who usually sat quietly listening as Alexei argued) got interested in the Bible, obtained one and began regularly reading it and his life started to change. Can you imagine our shock as the two young men showed up at our worship and intercession night! Our church had changed locations but they found information about us on the Internet and came. Zhenya kept praising the Lord for answers to her prayers - Alexei has truly been transformed, his eyes shining with a new light as he worshipped with us. Talking to Zhenya he shared that he too is reading the Bible now, and God answers many of his questions. Together with his friend Dima he attends one of the biggest churches in St. Petersburg called “Source of Life”, for which we are truly grateful.
Olga Ryazhskih - one of our evangelists and healing teams leaders was happy to see her next door neighbor Tatiana at the worship night. Olga’s friend from childhood, Tatiana used to try to prevent Olga going into the lifestyle of drugs and crime, but Olga did not listen. Olga ended up in prison and the girls were separated. Years later already saved and delivered by Jesus, graduating from our school of ministry Olga went witnessing to the prostitutes on the roads and there she met Tatiana who by that time herself had become a drug addict and a prostitute. Olga's powerful testimony gave Tatiana hope and resolve to take a step to Jesus who alone could save and change her life. One and a half years ago, Tatiana went to a Christian rehab center and now is free from drugs and prostitution and loving Jesus, too. And she and Olga are best friends again by the power of a redemptive Christ! To our 100th Worship and Intercession night, Tatiana brought her mother. At the end of the evening as the altar call was made, Tatiana’s Mom responded and accepted Jesus, which produced the tears of joy both from her daughter and Olga (In the photo on the left - Olga and Tatiana).
NEWS FROM ESTONIAJohn writes:We are encouraged to see more progress made here in Tallinn in a few months than in years of pioneering in St. Petersburg.
In Russia, the Lord would give us authority and victory in territories held by the enemy, but it was slow. First it was with subculture kids, then children, then drug addicts, then university students then prostitutes, then in prisons, etc, etc. It really took years before we had fruit from among all of these “unreached people groups” as we affectionately call them.
Here, while working together with very receptive local churches, our first convert was an Estonian fresh out of prison. After weeping under the power of God and surrendering his life, he is still doing great after a few months. Next were Russian juvenile delinquents from a special home for them... more souls. Then came several Russian heroin addicts, then four Estonian girls, women's prison inmates and now some foreign students. We are amazed at how God has given us access and favour into so many different groups of people so quickly, and to see them repent has been such a joy. We now need to make disciples and raise up fervent lovers of Jesus Christ. Jesus instructed us to pray for laborers and this is what we are doing.
John and Sara finished teaching a course on evangelism at Living Waters church in Tallinn, and following it have been taking teams out for personal witnessing. One of the hot spots in Tallinn is the “Viru Keskus” mall where God keeps giving many divine appointments with people hungry for the Gospel. Among them there is a teenager Masha (in the photo above with Gosha), Eric and Ruben - students from South Africa, who all prayed to receive Jesus right there in the mall. Several others, including Russians, Estonians and foreign students have prayed prayers of repentence. The harvest truly is ripe and ready here in Estonia.
Veronica’s (a drug addict who repented reading a Gospel tract received while she stood in line for free methadone - see our March news issue) friend Rita is now in prison for drug related crimes. Veronica told her about Jesus and came to visit her in prison with Gosha several times. Rita was hungry to hear the Gospel and repented of her sins at the end of one such a visit and was born again. Her countenance really changed. As Gosha visits her regularly, she keeps testifying of the good things God is doing in her life - protecting and blessing her in prison. Please join us in prayer for her growth in the Lord. She has gone from the prison troublemaker to a model prisoner with priveledges only afforded to the 5 best behaved inmates... all in one week! She is receiving persecution for her life change, so please keep Rita in your prayers.
Another methadone center attendee Anya recently accepted Jesus as Gosha continued to go there and preach the Gospel to those who are standing in line for methadone.
Recently Gosha received a phone call from a young man he has been witnessing to since February named Misha. Misha’s girlfriend left him and he remembered what he heard about the unfailing love of Jesus from Gosha. They met. Gosha invited him to church. Misha eagerly absorbed everything at the service, then he followed Gosha to an evangelism event in a small town called Mardu, where a pastor invited Gosha to share his personal testimony. As a result Misha repented and accepted Jesus as his personal Savior. That evening God touched another young man named Pasha. He had a drug addiction past and spent a year in a rehab center but did not meet Jesus personally. The Holy Spirit came upon him mightily, he fell on the floor screaming and writhing, then vomited, then saw Jesus in a vision, was delivered from demonic influences, baptized in the Holy Spirit, began speaking in tongues on the spot and got up a new man. The next day, free from his heroin addiction, he got a job in order to pay his debts and compensate for the things he stole from his relatives while he was an addict. Gosha is now connecting him to a local church.
SEMINAR ON CHURCH HISTORY WITH PASTOR CHARLES SCHMITT
We wish to thank pastor Charles Schmitt for a very encouraging, refreshing, challenging and revealing 3 day seminar on the Church and Church History. Pastor Charles is the author of the “Floods Upon The Dry Ground” book (we wrote about it being published in Russian in the October 2008 issue of our news) and Senior pastor of Immanuel’s Church in Silver Spring, Maryland. He has been John and Sara Russell’s pastor since 1992, and Immanuel’s Church has been supporting StreetCry from the very beginning in so many ways. People gathered from several churches and ministries
from different cities of Russia for a powerful 3-day seminar on church and church history. We had a great time together touched by the Holy Spirit and are very blessed, refreshed, encouraged and envisioned through Pastor Charles’s ministry. Here are some testimonials from the seminar:
Natasha Chepushtanova - school of ministry teacher, worship team member:“I got rooted even deeper in the Father’s love and the redemptive power of God as related to me personally in spite of all my imperfections which gave me fresh motivation for serving Jesus with my whole life. I desire to penetrate the darkness of this world that we live in with the light of the Gospel even more boldly now. When we receive a touch of God’s love we become capable of doing things that were impossible in our own strength.”
Nadya Patlasova - school of ministry teacher, intercessor:
“At this seminar church history came across not just as a bunch of information but as a spark igniting in me even greater hunger for God’s presence and for revival.”
Dima Patlasov – evangelist, worship team member:
“ In Pastor Charles I saw an example to follow – I want just like him to keep the passion for Jesus, the hunger for God’s presence and the desire to see people saved and filled with the fullness of God for many-many years and stay faithful to the calling of God on my life to the end.”
Kostya Protasov – school of ministry student, evangelist:“I received a lot of practical help: new insights into relationships between people in the church – how to resolve conflicts and deal with anger…”Dima Zadunaisky – worship leader:
“Pastor Charles brought a very timely message which I would call prophetic for our church and for me personally answering many deep questions of our hearts and meeting a lot of our needs. My understanding of who we are in Christ and what Church is called to be and to do became very clear which gave me a fresh vision and zeal for serving Jesus.”
STUDENT SPOTLIGHT - ROMAN KURSHONKOV: I SIMPLY FELL IN LOVE WITH JESUS!
Roman is 31 and a second year student in our school of ministry. He plays drums on our worship team and participates as a drummer and a passionate evangelist in a couple other Christian bands doing evangelism concerts in clubs and on the streets of St. Petersburg and other cities. Here is his story:
“I was 15 years old when a music group started forming in my high school and I asked to be a part. No one could really play an instrument but we all had a lot of zeal and a great passion for learning. That sufficed. As probably does every musician each one of us wanted to become popular and famous, have money and fans, especially if they are girls. At the same time, we had a more noble motivation, at least I did. I felt that there is power in music and it influences the hearts of people. I wanted to bring people joy, love... So one of us could play guitar - just a couple chords, the other studied bass. Honestly speaking, I really wanted to be a lead guitar player in our band but I was asked to be a drummer and so I agreed.
Somehow, our attempts to play music attracted the attention and touched the heart of one professional musician who began really teaching us. We began with "The Beatles" songs and became successful. But as it often happens among musicians pride entered in and hit a fatal blow at our unity. As a result, our promising band fell apart.
But I did not want to give up and continued in the realm of music. The type of music I played changed with the changes in my own character. Rock is not just a style of music. It is a way of living. So as I began playing rock, speedily my life began shaping accordingly.
We, young St. Petersburg musicians, did not just play, but we carried and promoted the idea, the lifestyle. The lifestyle that consisted of lots of occult, vodka, drugs, sex, motorcycles, fights and utter denying of and rebellion against everything that was not like us. The collective debauchery and high were followed by fits of depression and despair at the times when I was alone and had nobody to look cool in front of. Surely all that found its expression in our music. As for motorcycles, it is a sheer miracle that I am still alive - usually we resorted to driving them when we could not walk because of how drunk and drugged we were. The last such band I was a part of was called “Odin” according to an old Scandinavian “god” (demon) we worshipped. The music we played was pure doom, pain and cruelty. The adolescent ideas of bringing people love and joy by the power of music buried long before, I kept degrading further and further into satan worship. Strictly speaking, I did not consider myself a satanist, because I did not participate in physical sacrifices and rituals done by some of my friends. However, I certainly dressed like one, hated Christianity, as I knew it - mostly by people attending orthodox temples, kissing icons, burning candles and outside of that living lives that were far away from God. I considered it the utmost hypocrisy, so turning to Christ was never an option for me. Besides, now I can see that by playing the kind of music we played I definitely brought “the sacrifices” of praise and worship to demons that controlled our lives and music, thus empowering them to destroy us and our listeners even more.
One day my friends invited me to join them at a coffeehouse where the coffee was free. The fact that it was a Christian coffeehouse somehow escaped my ears. When we entered the place, I immediately felt an unusual atmosphere, like nowhere else we visited before. We sat at a table and fellowshipped over a cup of coffee, then a girl named Anya approached me and asked if she could talk to me separately. I agreed, left my friends and occupied a different table with this girl. At that time I had many friends, even close friends but for some reason I felt like opening my heart to this girl and share my life with her. In response, she very simply told me about the Lord. My first reaction was: “Religion?! No! Thanks! That is not for me! I am a long-haired musician, etc...”
That evening, I remembered it to the date - October 19th, 1996, I discussed many things with Anya, but the thing that stuck with me the most was the fact that God loved me. It blew my mind. How could it happen? How could it be? I doubted that anybody at all could love me the way I was... My friends were ready to leave the coffeehouse and called me to join them but I decided to stay and stayed until it was closed. After that, my new acquaintance and I went home together - I discovered that we were neighbors and lived closely. We kept talking and my understanding of God kept changing. I realized that there is a vast difference between the dead religion, I so hated, and the living vibrant personal relationship with Jesus, that Anya so brightly exhibited. Back home I could not go to bed and sleep, so I stood all night at an open window, smoked, looked in the sky and thought: “God, are you there? Do you really exist? Could it be that you really love me? Could you help me, please?”
In a couple of days I dropped in to the same coffeehouse again. Anya was there, she led me in a prayer of repentance, where I gave my life to Jesus. Maybe I did not understand all it entailed but I realized that I needed to do it: ask God for forgiveness of sins and dedicate my life to Him. I followed her in prayer. From that moment on everything began changing. I was coming from death to life. Out of the pain of rejection I was experiencing joy again that I had not felt for a long time and nearly forgot what it felt like. Out of the shades of gray and black, the world around me was turning colorful again.
Some time went by and one day my old friends invited me to a concert where they were the main performers. I accepted. Besides lots of friends, it was lots of vodka involved in the event. The party went on but I discovered that this kind of fun did not bring me any pleasure any more. I was different. Different on the inside. Some of my friends started a fight. It was literally sickening for me. As I walked home after this concert, I knew in my heart that I did something that was not pleasing to God. I immediately started asking Him to forgive me and help me to avoid such things in the future. The joy filled my heart after this prayer and peace flooded my mind, peace that I did not experience for a long time. Since then I never got back to the paths of old. I made a clean break with my old life.
Then I came to a church service. It transformed my view of Christianity - I saw people who took God seriously. I decided that if God is real with me I want to be real with Him. I wanted to dedicate my life completely to Christ and radically follow Him. I got rid of my old music, t-shirts with the images of the old idols, posters, magazines, books on the occult... I simply fell in love with Jesus!
On the outside I was pretty much the same - long hair and a leather jacket but I knew that God is looking on my heart. And my heart I gave to Him. I told everybody about Jesus! Many of my friends did not understand me, of course, many rejected me, and thought that I lost my mind or that somebody hypnotized me. But I was the happiest man on the face of the earth. If only somebody “hypnotized” me like this before! I could have avoided so many horrible events! But no, it was not hypnotism, neither a sect. I simply came to my Loving Father God. I simply met Jesus who loved me and went to the cross for my sins to be forgiven. My friends had a chance to receive new life too. But many of them rejected it. One of them, Kostya, who was a lead guitarist and a song-writer for “Odin”, died of cirrhosis of the liver. He was a heavy drug user and contracted hepatitis C. The doctors warned him of the grave consequences of his lifestyle. Once he was rushed to intensive care unit by ambulance and I visited him there to pray for his healing. In His mercy, God touched him and he recovered to the great surprise of the doctors but continued to reject and mock my newly found faith and shortly died at a drunken party organized for his 18th birthday. 
The pain I experienced still motivates me to relentlessly bring the Gospel to the young people - the kind like I was before. It is scary to watch how the devil is destroying the lives of many talented young musicians and literally killing them. Kostya was not the first and unfortunately not the last one. But he did not have to die. I have dedicated my life to making sure that as many young people as possible can get a chance to choose life with God instead of death without Him!” (In the photo on the right - Roma plays drums at evangelism concert in the park with his band)
PRAYER POINTS FOR MAY: - Please pray for our intercessors - being often times engaged in spiritual warfare they need a prayer covering themselves
- For unity, healing and reconciliation between Christians in the city of St. Petersburg and in Russia
- For the Christian schools for children in St. Petersburg, especially for the Harvest Christian school where many of our school of ministry graduates are now working as teachers - for wisdom in maintaining high standards, for protection against the enemy’s devices aimed at the children, for provision, for unity, for the love of God to rule and reign
- For our school of ministry as the school year is nearing its end - our goal is raising up more evangelists, pastors, teachers, prophets, apostles and ministers in all the gifts of the Holy Spirit
- For evangelism strategy for the summer season - we want to make the most of all the opportunities God gives us to touch as many lives as possible with the Gospel
- For physical and spiritual protection for the entire church and ministry, divine health and strength for all of us
- Unity, love and wisdom for the leadership team
- For wisdom, direction, anointing, supply and more fruit in the evangelistic efforts in our pioneering work in the neighboring nation of Estonia
- For a breakthrough with an abundant supply of finances for the advancement of the Kingdom of God here. We have debt, but are continuing to press on in spite of the difficulties. Please pray specifically for $37,500 to cover debt. Thanks so much!
Thank you again so very much for your prayers and continued support of our work! If you are not doing so already we would like to ask you to prayerfully consider helping us on a regular basis. Your help is much needed and highly appreciated!
God bless and keep you all,
Your StreetCry family
