SLAVIC GOSPEL ASSOCIATION

Innercircle Perspective

Paul and Barnabas stayed in Antioch, teaching and preaching with many others also, the word of the Lord (Acts 15:35).

Imagine a former convict leading Gospel ministries in four large Siberian prisons, and a former drug addict giving oversight to three Bible-based drug-rehab centers! As an SGA partner, your prayers and support are making such wonderful things possible.

I am writing this time from Moscow where we have just finished a meeting scheduled for the 21 Russian pastors who are leading Antioch Initiative movements in their respective 21 states (oblasts). What a blessing it was to strategize and fellowship with these humble, zealous servants of the Lord. Each one of them has a North American pastor-counterpart who serves as the leader of an Antioch Coalition of Churches. Serving one another, they are precious partners in the Gospel.

At the heart of each partnership is an Antioch training program, which involves North American pastors being sent by their churches to conduct training sessions in Russia. These weeklong classes are held 3-4 times per year. They are designed both to strengthen the experienced pastors and missionaries of their state, as well as to equip them in multiplying their ministries by teaching the same biblical material to other faithful, gifted men. The overall goal is to see each of their churches develop into a dynamic training and missionary-sending center, capable of planting churches all over their un-reached state . . . an Antioch church!

We have no priority higher than the training of faithful men for Gospel ministry, as well as the training of faithful women for ministries to women and children. You and our other faithful partners make possible the ongoing work of seminaries in Novosibirsk, Russia; Kiev and Odessa, Ukraine; Minsk, Belarus; and Tirana, Albania, as well as Bible Institutes in Almaty, Kazakhstan; Baku, Azerbaijan; and Dushanbe, Tajikistan. And there are two Strategic Bible Institutes (SBIs) currently operating — one in Surgut, Siberia, and the other in Kursk, Russia.

These ten training ministries and the 21 Antioch church training ministries total 31 endeavors engaged in the training of pastors, missionaries, and church workers. All of these ministries are preaching and teaching the Word of the Lord just as Paul and Barnabas and the others did in Antioch, Syria. And precious SGA partners make all of these ministries possible.

Considering that just 18 years ago such training had never before been possible in these nations, our hearts are filled with praise to our Heavenly Father. He has brought about the monumental governmental changes that have resulted in this awesome privilege. He raises up faithful ministry partners who pray for these vital ministries. And He enables and encourages faithful ministry partners to provide the resources that are required month after month. To Him we are forever indebted.

One of the Antioch leaders is responsible for the developing a mother church in desolate Chita, Siberia, which is known for its savage sandstorms and brutal prisons. A coalition of faithful churches in northern Florida is partnering with this exciting church.

And two years ago we were also blessed to have the opportunity to conduct an SBI at the Chita church. Five of the 14 graduates are brothers in Christ who had been saved in prison. All of them are now serving in the planting of new churches in the region. One of them leads the ministries in four large prisons where each Sunday the Lord has opened the door for Gospel preaching in the assembly halls. Three of the graduates are former drug addicts. All of them are faithfully serving, and one of them is giving oversight to three drug-rehabilitation centers.

Dear partners, as we head into the last two months of our fiscal year, we need much prayer support. Substantial funds are needed to complete the school year for these extensive Bible-training ministries. Please join us in much prayer. Our founder, Peter Deyneka Sr. — who is now with the Lord — was known for his motto, “Much prayer, much power. Little prayer, little power. No prayer, no power.”