Report, May/June 2000Dear Brothers and Sisters,
This report is long but quite exciting ! I am
sorry I did not let you know before what our God has done. To make it more
"digestible", I have cut it in the following parts :
1. US Trip
2. An incredible openness
3. Volodia Karlinski added one more child
to his family
4. God added many children to His
family
5. We finally have a children's
ministry
6. A mighty wave of romanticism
7. Our influence on the salvation
army
1) US
trip
God has greatly blessed us as we stayed 2 months
in the US in March and April. Of all the 5 fund raising trips I have made
in the US, this was the best one : We got none of the money we needed,
but God led us to some new individuals and Churches whom I believe God
will greatly use in the future. The best event of our stay was the birth of our
second son, Joel Christophe Perriard the 5 th March. Being 5 weeks premature, he
spent his first 2 weeks in the hospital where he was born, the Ohio State
University Hospital. Ever since we came back to Russia he has had
a weak health, but our God protected and strengthened him. Thank you
for your prayers in this regard.
2. An
incredible openness
God encouraged me as soon as I came back
to Voronezh. I was ready for some good news, but I was not ready for this
one : the leaders told me that during my absence they decided to meet every
Wednesday night with their wives and share openly their
marital problems all together ! Their purpose was to give each other input
and encouragement in order to improve their marriages. Their mutual sharing was
100% open, and I was told that the conversation got sometimes hot ! As
I thought about their openness, I wondered: "How many other churches do I
know where ALL the elders and evangelists are best friends and share openly
their marriages to each other ? Oh, if only we were not so afraid
to trust and be humble toward each other ! There would be so much more
freedom and unity between us leaders and within the church ! When
we open up our lives and let others tell us freely what they see in
us, we allow Christ to change our characters and become more like Him.
Personally, I consider this to be one of the greatest blessings of the
Christian life, and this is why nothing brings more joy to my heart than
such a news.
3. Volodia Karlinski added one more child to his
family
Volodia Karlinski, one of our evangelists, had a
son, Mark, the 25 th May, who was 3, 3 Kg ( about 7 pounds and 3 ounces ), 53 cm
( about 20 inches ) and his wife Julia did a quick and fantastic job in 3 and
half hours ! She is fine and the baby is healthy and growing.
Congratulations !
4. God added many children to His
family
The next day after Mark's birth we started
an incredible week. In 8 days we had 8 baptisms !
The 26 th May Oksana Pashkova was immersed
in Christ. There was not only joy in heaven, but the whole church was
celebrating as well. One year ago, we had hired Oksana as a professional
song leader to help the singing group that was meeting during the week. She has
2 degrees in which she is well experienced: one as a vocalist and the other one
as a choir director. During that year, she gained the respect and love
of the whole church because of the gentle and strong way in which
she motivates everyone to sing. I believe that God will use her in powerful
ways for many other Churches as well. I don't know anyone else in the Russian
brotherhood who comes even close to the level of expertise and talents she's
got. In fact, she was offered the possibility to enter the GITI in Moscow. That
is the best and most prestigious institution for artists in Russia. She is
considering. Let's see what God has prepared for her.
Oksana was baptized with her 2 room mates
Oliessa and Oksana Popova who had been attending the church for a few
weeks. Their enthusiasm for Christ and His church was quite surprising.
Both will be lawyers. May God use their profession for the benefit
of His church.
The 30 may Natalya and Metrophan Vorotnikov put
on Christ as well. They are the parents of Sasha, the man who was beating them
when he was under the power of alcohol. Sasha had become Christian 2 months ago
and his change was so drastic that they wanted to follow the same
path. It was a radical decision for the 77 years old Metrophan: he had
been a hard core atheist and an active communist all his life. But
when he saw how God was able to change his family, he gave up Lenin's
religion. Pray please that their other son Volodia will become Christian as
well. He is an hardened alcoholic.
That day Boris Diemtchenko was added to the
church as well. Boris is the husband of Ira who had been a member of our church
for almost 3 years. Her daughter Paulina had become a Christian just after her
as well. God knows how many prayers they both lifted to the throne to see
him united with Christ. Our God finally rewarded their patience and
faith. It was quite an emotional baptism as Ira expressed her thankfulness to
God and her renewed love for her husband. Boris is a successful business man who
has a great potential for leadership in the Church.
Finally, the 2 th June Tanya, a student of
economics was immersed in Jesus. She has a simple and
sincere love for God that allowed her to make her decision in less than 3
weeks. Right after her, Larissa Ivanovna was baptized by Frank Chappell who
happened to visit us that week with his wife Betty. Larissa, a
strong woman in her fifties had been influenced by her neighbor Volodia
Skritski, one of our potential elders, and after one year she could no longer
resist God's love !
The 30 June, Volodia Borzunov finally
decided to trust God more than his business at the local market. He said that in
order to work at the market it is impossible to be both a
Christian and make a decent living. We challenged him otherwise, since we
believe that God wants His children to prosper materially. Ever since, God has
proven him that He keeps His promises.
5. We finally have a children's
ministry !
Since a few years we were
dreaming of having Sunday school classes and a ministry to children, but since
we could not get any registration from the government, it was not legal for
us to reach out to children. Now that we are legal, we can ! In the beginning of
June we advertised a 2 weeks VBS and had many children. Ever since, we
have kept a good attendance since we have over 25 children coming every
Sunday for two classes. About half of them are between 12 and 14, and the other
half is under 10. It is so touching to see how many how them are sincerely
hungry for the word of God. Most of them come from families where their parents
don't believe in God and many are poor. You just have to see the worn out
clothes and shoes of some of them to understand how little care and attention
they get at home. But parents let them come because they know that their
happy kids get some small presents from time to time, and most of all they
receive moral values that transform them in better children. It is the
only way we can break the vicious circle of broken homes destroyed by
alcoholism and misery.
6. A mighty wave of
romanticism
A mighty wave of
romanticism has been sweeping over our church as we had two wedding ceremonies
in June !
Volodia and Galya Skritski
celebrated their silver anniversary the 17 June by having a full blown wedding
ceremony. Galya said: "when we got married, we did not make any vows before
God since we were atheists, and in 25 years Volodia has never been
wearing a ring. So we decided to change this ! " Tears could be seen
in the eyes of some women as Galya came down the aisle dressed in a beautiful pink silk dress. She looked so gorgeous
and so ..... young ! Emotions could be felt as they renewed their
love to each other and promised to improve very specific aspects of
their marriage.
On the first of July, the
whole church rejoiced with Slava Mikhaltchenko and Paulina Demtchenko.
Paulina, who became a Christian 3 years ago, is a very attractive, strong and
intelligent woman who wanted only the very best man for her life. Because of
this attitude, she dated several brothers here, whom she thought were not
strong enough to lead her. She finally found her charming prince across the
border, in Ukraine. As soon as Slava saw her at a singing conference
in Donetsk, he fell in love with her and made every effort to keep the
relationship. It was difficult for her to resist him because he is an
incredibly talented and responsible leader. Slava is an evangelist who leads TV
programs for children and works for the largest Church of Christ of Europe
( Donetsk, with over 270 members ). They have now moved to start a church
in Karkhov, an Ukrainian city which is only a few hours away from
Voronezh.
7. Our
influence on the salvation army
One of the leaders of the salvation army,
Victor, wanted to study more why we believe that baptism is essential
to salvation. After a few studies with Volodia, he came back to teach
his group, convinced that baptism is necessary. He faced some opposition
within his denomination because more than 20 people wanted to
be baptized ! Finally, he baptized them all and
left with them to form a separate group ! We have kept the lines
of communication open with them. Such examples encourage us to believe
that non-denominational Christianity is possible in Voronezh.
It has been encouraging to see how the Holy
Spirit worked in those last 2 months. May His fellowship be with you all !
Yves
Perriard