We thank God for your love, prayers, support, and interest in our ministry! You are a huge blessing for us! We are entering the summer of evangelism with great enthusiasm and hunger for God’s presence to increase in our lives. We desire to see more of His miracles, more souls saved and lives restored and transformed by the power of Jesus. We are so glad to share with you what the Lord is doing with us here!
EVANGELISM
The evangelism season in our coffee-house is continuing with more concerts by BIOS band and our own evangelism band that also does worship in our church. During the concerts our coffee-house has been packed with youth from the streets and universities, and they are eagerly listening and staying for fellowship after the music is over.We are planning to keep the coffee-house open all summer, showing Gospel movies, dramas, having open discussions on the topics that relate to the lives of the young people and thus leading them to Christ… Please pray that more fruit will continue to come from these times of sharing the Gospel.
BIOS band (where Roman Kurshonkov – one of our school of ministry graduates of this year is the drummer) played in an ARTCROSS secular club. They were able to sing about Jesus and share their testimonies between the songs. After the concert the musicians stayed to eat and had good fellowship with a local waitress Marietta. At the end of the evening she opened up her heart and prayed with them to receive Jesus as her personal Savior and Lord.SCHOOL OF MINISTRY GRADUATION
The school year ended on May, 30th. But this is not the end for our graduates – only the beginning of a new stage of their growth in the Lord, the wonderful time to apply what they learned and bring forth lots of fruit in the Kingdom of God. We are praying for more open doors of ministry for each one of them and for placement in the Body of Christ, how the Lord sees fit, for the benefit of the Church.
While receiving their diplomas the graduates shared what Jesus has done in their lives over the past year or two.
Natasha Bakshaeva (1st year graduate):
"Jesus has done so much in my life over the past year - it is difficult to describe in words!But the thing that I’m thankful for the most is the fact that my relationships with Him became so much closer and deeper. The Word of God we studied in school flamed the fire of love in my heart to the Lord!
I am really grateful that the study process was organized in such a way that we could immediately put to practice everything we learned in theory – prayer, evangelism, moving in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, such as prophecy and healing… I am anticipating a great summer season to continue to practice what I’ve learned and planning to go to the second year in the school of ministry after that."
Sergei Smirnov (1st year graduate):
"When I came to the school of ministry a year ago I still had a lot of baggage from my previous life of drug addiction - doubts, fears, lots of questions to God, and discipline and order were my enemies rather than friends. I was very inconsistent. I had a hard time figuring out what does it mean to build a personal relationship with Jesus, there was no stability in my spiritual life.On the other hand it was rather challenging to find myself raising my 8 year old son as a single father, transplanted from a small town where we lived with my parents to a big city with no friends or relatives. While studying, I had to quickly find a job, a place to stay, and a school for my son to go to.
The first thing that happened to me in the school of ministry was that I discovered the meaning of having a personal relationship with Jesus and as this happened everything else fell in place in my life. The “giants in the land” were not scary anymore because I found victory in Christ. The revelations I received in process of studying the Word of God helped me greatly to overcome the doubts and uncertainties in life. The problems I encounter turned into the stepping stones to new heights in Christ.
God showed Himself as a loving Father and Provider to me and my son. Not only did I find a job in the construction field but He surrounded me with brothers and sisters who care! I received a lot of gifts of food and clothing for me and my son and I was able to pay the debts equivalent to more than a yearly income of an average Russian citizen that I accumulated while being a drug addict in the past. I can’t stop praising God for all He is doing in my life!”
Kirill Borodichuk (2nd year graduate):
"After completing the first year of the school of ministry I had a feeling that I am a loving, peaceful, righteous person with the Christ-like character formed in me. But during the second year of the school God has broken these self-delusions and I discovered that there is nothing good in me except for Jesus.As I was trusted with more responsibilities I understood that being a leader means doing what God is expecting of you without necessarily hearing praises of men. The biggest lesson I learned is to find my identity in Christ rather than earthly position and to be led by God’s approval rather than the fear of men."
Roman Kurshonkov (2nd year graduate):
"I made attempts at studying in the Bible School in the times past but being a so called artistic personality found it difficult to complete what I had started.But with time going by I realized that there are quite harmful habits in my life still which I must deal with unless I lose my relationship with Jesus. I was tired from walking in circles. I wanted to be more effective as an evangelist and a worship team member but instead my spiritual life more resembled a roller-coaster.
So this time in the school of ministry I made a conscious decision to fight and to change. I am very thankful to Jesus for revealing the depth and the treasures of His Word to me day by day and also for putting around me wonderful brothers and sisters who keep challenging and helping me to grow and mature in the Lord.
One of my friends, an artist once said: “It is easy to start creating a painting, but to finish it is a real art” This past year Jesus taught me to complete what I have started and I am very grateful for that!”
A young man named Sergei was present at the school of ministry graduation. A couple of weeks earlier, one of our last year graduates Ilya met him in a park. Sergei was sitting on a bench reading a book in preparation to his school exams. Ilya started talking with him about Jesus, shared his testimony and some personal prophetic words with Sergei. This touched Sergei’s heart and he decided to come to our church service. The testimonies of the students about what Jesus has done in their lives provoked in Sergei the desire to see Jesus working in his life, too. And after the graduation ceremony was over and everybody moved to the coffee-house for tea and fellowship, Sergei opened up his heart to repent of his sins and accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior.
After the graduation was over the graduates and practically all of our church took the Gospel literature and went to the all night celebration of the city day of St. Petersburg sharing the love of Christ with our fellow-citizens and lots of tourist from all over Russia and abroad.
NEWS FROM ESTONIA
As we continued to share the love of Jesus in the methadone center we met Alexei (photo on the left) – a hardened criminal, 27 years old, married, with kids, but a heroin addict for 10 years, in and out of prison many times, having tried all kinds of ways to overcome his addiction including an Orthodox church rehabilitation program but all in vain. He attentively listened to the Gospel we presented to him, we exchanged phone numbers. The next day he called and confirmed his desire to come to Jesus for help and go to a rehab center. So we put him on a ferry and now he is in Betel Christian rehabilitation center in Finland. Alexei repented of his sins, accepted Jesus as his personal Lord and Savior and is growing in the Lord.
While Alexei was getting on the ferry to go to Betel, we met a friend of his – a young female drug addict named Valya (photo on the right) who several days previously participated in a robbery with Alexei in order to get money for drugs. She asked Alexei where was he going and he explained about the change of his life and him going to rehabilitation. Then she expressed a desire to do the same and now is getting together to go to a girls’ rehab center. We would appreciate your prayers for both of them.
Thank you for your prayers for Rita (photo on the left) who repented in prison (see our May news issue for the story). God continues to do miracles in her life radically changing her and the situations around her. Jesus began to really change Rita’s violent character - she made peace with her Mom, as before they were at war with each other. In 4 cases where she owed money to people due to crimes she committed – the debts were cancelled. When we first met she was telling us that she hated the work they do in prison. Now we are discovering that God has touched her in such a way that she is working much and enjoying it, sometimes even 2 shifts. She has had HIV for many years but recently her immune system count rose from 300 to 1 000 without any medication – the doctors are shocked. And each week when we visit her in prison she tells us of new miracles of the Lord in her life. The most recent one is: she used to have a problem reading the Bible in her room for the fear of the girl’s opinion (it’s not very popular to be a Christian) but one day she felt a sudden compulsion to find in the Bible where it talks about love and dug in the Word for days without the fear of men. God honored her hunger and showed her in a dream one night to look up 1 Corinthians 13. Please continue to pray for Rita – this coming fall a committee will gather to consider her appeal for early discharge. Please pray for God’s will to be done in this situation.
- 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 graduates of our School of ministry – open doors for ministry, placement in the Body of Christ, growing and maturity in the Lord, bringing fruit that remains in the Kingdom of God, fulfilling their callings in Jesus
- For the fruitful summer of evangelism - we want to make the most of all the opportunities God gives us to touch as many lives as possible with the Gospel
- For the pioneering work in Estonia – more souls saved, drug addicts delivered and placed in the rehab centers, for the chance to rent at the affordable price the building in the center of Tallinn for the purposes of the Christian coffee-house and working with the young people
- 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 a breakthrough with an abundant supply of finances for the advancement of the Kingdom of God. 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!
God bless and keep you all,
Your StreetCry family
