Participating in the outreach in Kaluga this July was a blessing for all
concerned! Speaking for the team, we were amazed how God used each of us with
the talents He has given us to reach teens in the city for Christ.
The outreach journey began with two early morning train rides (starting at the
dorm in Snigeri), having us arrive in Kaluga at 11:00 am. Our team was a small
one this time, consisting primarily of the musicians for the concerts (bands
Sorrow Underfoot
and Altogether Bogus) and supporting dorm staff. Dima
Krupennikov, pastor of Calvary Chapel Kaluga, met us at the train depot and
helped us with getting situated in our hotel. We had a brief team meeting at
Dima's apartment with a few church members to go over the schedule for the
outreach. George Bryson, director of CCCPM, also advised us about the military
actions in Georgia and Ossetia, assuring us we were not in danger, but that
there could be questions from people on the streets as we passed out flyers for
the concerts. After a time of prayer and dinner, we got a good night's sleep in
preparation for the week's work ahead.
The next two days began with worship and devotions. After lunch, we met up with
the rest of the outreach team from Kaluga at the section of town closest to the
concert hall. Having divided up into teams of 3-4 people - one being Russian -
we spent the rest of each day passing out flyers and getting the word out about
the concerts to teens and young adults, and shared the Lord with those willing
to hear about our precious Savior.
As most people walk (as opposed to driving)
to wherever they are going, it wasn't hard to find youth to invite. Most of us
had kids the Lord had brought our way - a girl standing alone in a soccer
field, a boy waiting at a small, ramshackle bus stop, a group of kids hanging
out in the back recesses of a maze of old apartment complexes -- all kids that
would stay in our thoughts and prayers throughout the week.
Saturday was the first day of concerts. George gave a targeted morning devotion
on what we needed to share about Jesus with the concert-goers, then we finished
with a time of prayer. Some of the Kaluga church continued to pass out flyers
while the musicians and staff headed to the concert hall set up the band
equipment and practice their songs. The hall, set next to a soccer stadium and
ringed by apartments, was a surprise venue. The city had changed their minds
about renting the original outdoor venue in the center of town because they
didn't want Christian music playing throughout the city. They instead offered
Pastor Dima this indoor hall free of charge for two nights.
Both nights of concerts were such a blessing! Kids started arriving early, very
curious about this American event. Pastor Dima emceed the evenings, which
started out with the newly formed worship band, Altogether Bogus, featuring the
sibling duo of Jess and Jeremiah Koczman. They were followed by the Russian
worship team from the church. Pastor Dima then shared the message of salvation
with those in the audience, explaining about the Gospel of John booklets that
would be available afterward. The rock band Sorrow Underfoot then took stage,
giving a lively performance. Lead singer Shannon Taylor shared between songs
about her faith and that all the musicians would be available after the
concerts to talk to. Upon the conclusion of the last concert, those attending
were given free Sorrow Underfoot cds and posters - this gave a fun opportunity
for the kids to meet the bands and a comfortable setting to initiate
conversations about Jesus.
It's always amazing to see who God is going to draw to a concert. Somehow a lot
of children had gotten the word and showed up, some very early, their anxious
little faces watching the concert preparations. Most teens and young adults
came in groups, but there were some on their own, looking for answers. One
young man talked a length with a team member about Jesus, but wasn't sure about
making a decision for Him (like many Russians - they like to really think over
what you've shared with them), though he felt scared by the alternative of not
following Jesus.
This outreach seemed to be a time of teens recommitting their lives to the Lord.
The temptations are everywhere in Russia. With so many families shattered by
divorce, the kids get very little support at home. So it was such a privilege
to pray with these kids and encourage them to stay in fellowship with the
church. It's such a blessing that Calvary Chapel Kaluga has a number of young
adults who attend services regularly that can be there to help those who are
needing a hand in beginning again in Jesus.
Between concerts, a Sunday service was held. With wonderful worship and a solid
message from George about our state of salvation, the service concluded with a
sweet time of fellowship for the church and the outreach team.
Though Monday was our day to pack and load the band equipment, then head back
to Snigeri, we set aside time to meet with kids from the concerts, to hang out
and encourage them in the Lord. It was really so touching to see some of the
younger ones squealing and running toward the musicians when they arrived at
the hall! After talking for a while, some joined the team and walked around the
beautiful center of Kaluga, grabbing lunch at MacDonald's, then walking to the
train depot.
Like always, this is the toughest part of any outreach, saying goodbye - for
now. Praise God for email! We shared hugs and words of encouragement with those
seeing us off like Nikita, a teen who was all set to go with us on our next
outreach in Tambov, and his mom Marina, who said the past two days had been the
best ones in so long with her son as he wasn't arguing with her now, but
staying home at night and not running the streets, and thoughtfully considering
the music and the message shared at the concerts.
Our thoughts were with others who couldn't get to the train depot, like
Valentina, who we'd met and been praying for last year, and whose husband had
returned to her and was now going to church. This allowed Valentina to retire
from her very demanding job. The Lord also provided a job for her struggling
son as a porter - all of these "miracles" incredible answers to prayer. Our
thoughts were also with Tanya and Nadia, two teen orphans who'd been brought by
an American missionary to the concerts and managed to attend both nights,
though it was a difficult and unusual release for the facility they live at.
And though there many more stories, my thoughts personally drifted back to a
young Christian woman who was involved in a relationship that had torn her away
from the Lord, her church friends and family, and how through the concerts,
she'd prayed and found the Lord's strength and resolve to follow Him and end
the relationship that she knew would destroy her.
As we boarded the train and looked out our windows, it was especially hard to
wave goodbye to Pastor Dima and all the precious saints in the church.
Their big, heartfelt smiles will forever burn in our memory, and we just pray
that God would refresh their determination to keep reaching out and be the light
of Jesus to those around them. Leaving was truly bittersweet and we are praying
for a chance to return to Kaluga in the near future.
Submitted by Mary Hanes, Chester Springs Calvary Chapel
Thank you for your prayers for our team from Chester Springs Calvary Chapel
(Pennsylvania)! We were blessed, awed, humbled, broken, enlightened and blown
away by the mercy of our God! We arrived in Moscow on August 12th, and spent the
night at the Calvary Chapel Bible College Dormitory in the small city suburb of
Snigeri. There we met the Russian interns and staff who live and work there.
This is the hub of activity, ministry and outreach from which they send out
teams all across Russia.
Our team also met the "other half" of our team: The Taylor Family from Southern
California, who have a Christian rock band called "Sorrow Underfoot" and Jess
and Jeremiah Koczman, brother and sister from New Jersey, who have a band called
"Altogether Bogus". They'd been there since early July, traveling and giving
concerts. They were already well immersed in the culture and experienced when
we got there, and were in fact out visiting an orphanage when we arrived. We
also met "Texas Steve" who had come on his first missions trip to Russia,
feeling that the Lord was calling him there to minister. It was neat to see how
God used his abilities and experience in the Radio field to help us out -
recording our testimonies for use on George Bryson's radio time. Another Texan,
Caitlin, a high school senior, was also joining us on her first missionary trip
overseas.
It was a nine hour train ride to Tambov, and we were met at the station there
by Ray and Rebecca Curran, who are full-time missionaries there. Ray is the
pastor of the small Calvary Chapel there, and with Rebecca are raising their
four children there (Lizzy, their eldest, also met us at the station!) There
were two women in their church who were expecting babies soon, and we had
brought along some baby clothes and supplies with us, as these are expensive to
purchase in Russia. We all climbed in a bus with our luggage, and saw our first
glimpses of the city we would come to know very well over the next six days. It
was Thursday, and after breakfast as a cafe, and a short team meeting, we
started out into the city to hand out fliers advertising the free concerts that
the Taylors and Koczmans were going to be performing at. There were to be three
concerts, Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.
Friday was forecasted to hit 104 degrees Fahrenheit, and it was very hot! As we
walked block after block we saw the many parks and fountains that make the city
pleasant in the summer. As we met people we offered them fliers, and we had
interns (primarily college-aged Russian girls) from the Bible College along with
us to help us with translation if we talked with anyone. We had broken off into
groups, and soon we met up with another part of our team and made our way into
a park where we sat in the shade and drank water, trying to cool down. We still
handed out fliers to passersby though, the few that there were! One young man
started to pass us, and I nudged one of my teammates, Quinn, and urged him to
hand out a flier. He did, and a short time later the young man came back with
some questions for us! It turned out he spoke English well, and was actually a
foreign student from the Middle East. He said that he'd try to come to the
concert, and later that night he showed up with a friend, who was also a student
at the local university, and also a Muslim.
It took me until the night of the first concert to realize the purpose of our
trip. It was not to vaguely hand out fliers to the masses, and preach on the
street corners, but to meet individual people, invite them to come out, and most
of all to develop a relationship with them. This is what God does with each and
every one of us -- He calls us out, and tells us that He loves us. I got the
share this with Khaeer, the young student, and his friend Sameh that first
evening. They both came back each night, and we got to know one another better,
and other members of our team were able to share with them.
On Sunday night I was standing near the doors to the concert hall when I
welcomed a group of young people, and got into a conversation with them. They
asked if they could practice their English with me, and of course, I said "yes."
The girls introduced themselves, and their friend who spoke English translated
when the communication got difficult. They explained that they wanted to speak
with me about "God, and Spiritual matters". These girls were faithful to come
out when we had our after-the-concerts-follow-up in the afternoon in the park
on Monday, and English class that evening.
Ray and Rebecca offer a free English classes every Monday night, and our group
was the "special guest" the week that we were there. They broke everyone up into
small groups, and we helped those who came practice their English. I was blessed
to speak with Vladimir, an older gentleman who is a Professor of Theology and
Church History at a University in Moscow. He was spending his summer in Tambov,
and I later learned part of his life story. He was a Baptist minister during the
Soviet Era, and actually spent time in prison because of his faith in Jesus.
Another man I spoke with that night was Oleg. Oleg has been brought up in the
Atheism of the Soviet Era, but was very receptive to the Gospel -- the good news
that Jesus paid the price for his sins so that he can have the free gift of
eternal life. Please pray for this young man's heart to be opened to the love that
Jesus has for him. I also spoke with some of the girls who had come to the
concert on Sunday night. I was actually a little surprised to learn the
similarities of their stories, and that of another girl, Elena, who regularly
attends Ray and Rebecca's church. They all had heard Bible stories from their
grandmothers when they were very small, but their parents had been atheist, and
were now divorced. These girls have been through pain and heartache, please
pray that they will accept the all-encompassing love that Jesus has for their
hearts.
Then there was Dominic. Dominic attends the Curran's church, and shared with our
team passages of scripture that meant a lot to him. One night after a concert
he read from 2 Corinthians 4, how "we have this treasure in earthen vessels"
and how, "we're persecuted, but not broken". How true that is of the church in
Russia -- they cannot be broken as long as they are close to the Lord, although
many of them are considered societal outcasts for accepting Jesus as their Savior.
Jesus longs for the hearts of the Russian people to return to him, "In quietness
and confidence shall be your strength, in returning and rest shall be your
salvation." (Isaiah 30:15) Please pray that the Lord will fill these longing
souls with His goodness, that the Russian Orthodox church will be revived and
filled with the Holy Spirit. Also that there would be many coming to Jesus for
new lives.
The last day in the park Sameh, the Muslim friend of Khaeer, prayed to accept
Jesus as his Savior. He was given a Bible to study his new faith. All these
people are part of the body of believers in Jesus Christ, and Jesus wants every
person to come and accept His free gift of salvation from the weight of sin and
the fear of death. "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is
eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6:23) "Jesus answered, 'I
am the Way, the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father except through
me." (John 14:6) "He who follows me shall no more walk in darkness, but shall
have the light of life." (John 8:12) Please join me in praying for the good
news of salvation to reach all the ears of this nation. Praise belongs to Jesus
for the work He is doing there, and I was blessed to be able to witness
first-hand the "living stones" of the Spiritual house of our Lord Jesus.
Page Bakarich and I recently returned from a two-week
church planting effort to Blagoveschensk, Russia. We joined a group of 12 other
people under the leadership of Calvary Church Planting Mission. We worked well
together and God provided us strong and experienced leadership. Many invitations
to our concerts were handed out to people on the street, in shopping malls and
at other public settings. Four girls from southern California provided the
entertainment at our indoor concerts. Their band, "Sorrow Underfoot", delivered Christian music in
a format that appealed to the college age crowd. Each succeeding
performance resulted in more people. The fourth and final concert attracted
about 170 attentive listeners. The words to the Christian songs were projected in
Russian and English onto a screen behind the band. The gospel was clearly shared at
each concert with song and personally by our leadership during intermission.
Three subsequent evenings after the last concert an opportunity for fellowship and
Bible study was offered in Pastor Igor's home. God brought 20-25 young people each night
to these fellowships! Pastor Igor's prayer request is that they not so much hear his voice and
others telling them how much Jesus loves them, as the voice of Jesus himself calling each of
them to Him.
In addition to concerts, members of our team accepted invitations to visit university
classrooms, private homes and business offices. We were warmly
received in each environment. The trip was very gratifying, knowing that many heard the
gospel and a small following have formed a connection to
Pastor Igor. The memory of the happy young faces fellowshipping in the safe and nurturing
environment of the Pastor's home is a blessing. Pastor Igor's material resources are small
but he is committed, through God's grace, to help people in Blagoveshensk discover the love
of Christ. Please pray for Pastor Igor, his small family and the new church in Blagoveshensk!
Thank God for this humble, gifted man desiring to fulfill God's purpose for his life.
"And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father might be glorified in the
Son." John 14:13.
-Randy Knight
