THE MOSCOW CONFERENCE
( The following is extracted from the report of a brother who works in St
Petersburg : Chuck
Whittle )

More than three hundred Christians from the far corners of Russia and from
some of the republics of the former Soviet Union assembled in Moscow from
the fourth till the ninth
of May. The week's activities included a workshop for Russian church
leaders,
a tremendous exposition of Revelation and Second Corinthians, workshops for
Christians and an introduction of the churches and their works.

The occasion held too many joys for this writer. There were spiritual
children from Ekaterinburg and Ufa to see and greetings to exchange with
friends who could not come. To get opportunity to hear Jim McGuiggan again
was a special treat. Forty from the Voronezh Church attended
and had a wonderful time. The high point for many was to hear Slava
Zakharchenko tell of his recent
experiences in prison. More will be said about Slava and his wife, Julia,
below.

Repeated comments on McGuiggan's lessons from Second Corinthians was that he
must have been trained as an actor- his lessons were so very interesting. He
truly made the pictures from Revelation come alive. He said that Revelation
is a story of war between the people of God and Satan. He cautioned that
Russian Christians might again come under very hard times, thus the
significance of Revelation- VICTORY!!

SLAVA AND JULIA ZAKHARCHENKO ( The following is an extract from a brother
who works in Samara: Mitch
Propst )

Slava is a young man in his twenties who has preached at
the Novosibirsk church. Several years ago he was in an auto accident that
killed several people. Slava was tried in the case and found not guilty.
But in Russia you can be tried again for the same charges. He was tried two
more times
and on the third time in 1997, he was found guilty and sent to prison.
Recently,
when we were at the Moscow seminar we were privileged to
hear Slava speak and hear the rest of the story. He was released during
February after serving two years of his six year sentence. We have prayed
for him and his young family many times here in Samara. We were aware that
God was doing a wonderful work in all these problems so we prayed fervently
and watched the results. But it was another great blessing to be able to
talk face to face with Slava and his wife and tell them of our many prayers
on their behalf and to see their tears of love and thanks for their
brothers and sisters as we rejoiced together in the greatness of our Lord
and savior Jesus Christ.
  Here is the rest of Slava's story.
  On the day of his sentencing he was very scared but as he entered the
court room where he was to receive his sentence he saw many Christians
there who were praying for him and he gained strength. Some from as far as
Barnaul. When he and the other prisoners talked they were amazed at this
young boy who seemed to not have great fear of prison. (Even though Slava
told us that he was truly afraid many times and these men just could not
see all that was in his heart)   Slava continued to trust in God even
through the harshness of prison life. And soon because of his faith and
testimony to the others he received the following nicknames. The prison
officials called him "the Pope." The other prisoners called him "the
Saint." Yet with all the persecution and problems his faith continued to be
expressed in word and deed. Soon, because of the director of the prison
desire to look good in the eyes of his superiors by having "some kind of
religious education conducted in his areas of responsibility," the director
organized about 70 people to listen to Slava speak. This was the beginning
of the church that now exist in the prison. Week after week, month after
month, Slava continued to teach and preach.  In February, after two years
in the prison, 16 people had confessed their faith in our Lord Jesus and
had been baptized into Christ for their forgiveness. I rejoiced to hear
this. But the story continues.
  It was not easy for Slava during those times. Certainly he thought of his
young wife and his children at home where he knew they suffered with him
each day in their hearts. But, also in the prison life was hard and
sometimes fearful. Slava told us about a very dangerous criminal who was
transferred to the prison. The man was feared even by the officials of the
prison and they did not wish to have him and his problems to deal with. The
other prisoners feared this man also and stayed away from him if they
could. Slava continued to preach and teach. HOW GREAT IS OUR LORD!!!!!
  One day the dangerous man was working in the middle of the prison grounds
by himself. He had written an important letter and laid it
on a place near where he was working. The prisoners were gathered together
and when he returned the letter was missing. Slava said this man said later
he had never prayer before. He did not know how to pray or what to say. (I
have heard these words before from my own experiences with some of the
Russian people as I taught them how to pray to the Lord. So, I understand
this man's feelings. It's amazing what we take for granted in our lives
sometimes.) So, this man, not knowing how or what to pray, slowly lowered
his head and said, "LORD." To his great amazement he saw the letter he was
praying about. He came to Slava and said, "I have seen God!" This scared
Slava very badly ! How do you tell the most dangerous man in the prison that
the Bible says, "that no one has seen God,"
and not be killed by this man? Slava talked to the man and he told Slava
the story about the letter and how he had prayed and all that happened.
Slava began to teach the man and some days later this man also became a
Christian. It is he who now teaches, along with others, in the prison.
Since Slava's release there has been another person who become a Christian
as God continues to use this man and the other Christians in the prison to
do His work.
TO HIM BE THE GLORY !