SGA Prayer and Praise Items

FEBRUARY 2012

7—The need for biblically sound, trained pastors continues to be a great need in the Central Asian nations of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan. Please lift this ongoing need before the Lord today.

8—Today is SGA’s staff Day of Prayer. Join us in lifting ministry needs to the One ... who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men and knowledge to men of understanding (Daniel 2:21).

9—In addition to on-campus students, the SGA-sponsored Novosibirsk Biblical-Theological Seminary also serves Bible students across Russia through distance-learning courses. We praise God for His provision of these opportunities to provide sound teaching for future pastors.

10—Pray for Valery Kazakov and SGA’s Moscow staff. May the Lord enable them to be a blessing and encouragement to the evangelical churches we serve across Russia.

11—After Pastor Eugene Bakhmutsky was elected first vice president of the Russian Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists (UECB), Pastor Vlad Treskin assumed Eugene’s former role as national youth ministry director. Please intercede today for Vlad and his challenging ministry.

12—The Russian government may have reduced the number of time zones from 11 to nine, but the amount of territory still unreached with the Gospel is still vast. Pray that God will raise up more faithful missionary pastors to plant churches in these regions.

13—We are thankful to the Lord for the staff of SGA’s Minsk Regional Ministry Center (RMC), led by director Piotr Podrez. They travel many miles and work many long hours in service to evangelical churches across Belarus. Lift them in prayer today.

14—The SGA-sponsored Minsk Theological Seminary was founded in 1993 and officially registered in 1997. Join us in praising God for 18 years of providing sound Bible training for Belarussian pastors, youth leaders, Christian education workers, and lay workers.

15—Western media report growing signs of unrest in Belarus due to the struggling economy and the iron grip of an authoritarian government. Pray for the protection of Belarussian churches, and for more opportunities for them to proclaim the peace and reconciliation of Christ.

16—While major cities in Belarus such as Minsk have established evangelical congregations, many small towns and rural villages still lack a Bible-preaching church. Pray with us that God will ... send out workers into His harvest (Matthew 9:38).

17—We praise God for the tremendous freedom Ukrainian churches have had to worship and proclaim the Gospel since the end of communist rule. Pray today for our brothers and sisters, asking the Lord to protect and sustain their freedom.

18—Pray for director Sergei Gladishko and the staff of SGA’s Kiev RMC. Pray especially for Sergei’s wife, Irina, as she has struggled off and on with health issues through the years.

19—Lift SGA’s Sergei Omelchenko in prayer today. As editor and translator of SGA’s Russian-language Christian literature projects, Sergei performs a difficult, demanding task with accuracy and excellence, for which we praise the Lord.

20—Please pray for UECB regional pastors across Ukraine as they assist UECB president Vyacheslav Nesteruk in overseeing churches across Ukraine’s 24 oblasts (states). May the Lord bless and encourage their hearts, and grant them His wisdom in ministry.

21—Pray for SGA-sponsored missionary pastor Mikhail Pimonenko, who labors in Ukraine’s Sumy region. Pray especially for their effective children’s ministry, which involves building playgrounds and holding related evangelistic outreaches.

22—We are deeply concerned about restrictive new legislation in Kazakhstan that will place severe restrictions on evangelism, church-planting and other ministries. Please intercede in prayer regularly for our brothers and sisters as they face growing oppression.

23—Pray for Pastor Franz Tissen, president of the Kazakh UECB. Ask God to grant him great wisdom in his servant leadership role during these challenging times for evangelical churches.

24—Ask for God’s ongoing provision and protection for the SGA-sponsored Almaty Bible Institute in Kazakhstan. Pray especially for director Alexander Karyakov as he leads this vitally important Bible training school at the heart of Central Asia.

25—Scripture assures us that God is sovereign over His creation, and that nothing will stop Him from building His church. Pray that He will turn the hearts of Kazakhstan’s national and local leadership, and prevent them from hindering the Gospel.

26—Pray today for SGA’s professor of Bible, Dr. Roman Dechtiarenko. As always, Roman maintains a very intense travel and teaching schedule across the CIS, in addition to being an in-demand speaker at churches here in North America.

27—Lift SGA’s senior missionaries in prayer today — Ruth Deyneka Erdel, Nick and Rose Leonovich, Florence Daneliuk and Andrew Semenchuk. We praise and thank the Lord for their godly example and decades of dedication to the Gospel.

28—Churches across the lands of Russia will soon be engaged in follow-up ministry in the aftermath of SGA-sponsored Christmas outreaches such as Immanuel’s Child. Pray that many young boys and girls will continue to be drawn to saving faith in Christ.

29—Reflection: We close February with a benediction from the prophet Isaiah ... Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you, and therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the Lord is a God of justice; how blessed are all those who long for Him (Isaiah 30:18).