SLAVIC GOSPEL ASSOCIATION

Monthly Prayer & Praise

May 2008

9—Praise: According to Kyler Welch, SGA vice president of Antioch ministries, there are now 21 working partnerships between North American and Russian churches under the Antioch Initiative. Since Antioch began in 2004, there have been 555 people baptized into local churches. Join us in praising the Lord for this tremendous fruit!

10—Prayer: Join us in praying today for faithful UECB pastor and regional vice president Gennady Abramov, who oversees churches in Russia’s Far East. Removed from European Russia by thousands of miles, the Far East can be a very difficult place for Bible-preaching churches.

11—The Lord’s Day: But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons (1 Timothy 4:1). As you worship this Sunday, pray for our partner evangelical churches and their leadership across the lands of Russia. May the Lord grant them wisdom and discernment in the face of numerous spiritual challenges from those opposed to the Gospel.

12—Prayer: Please pray today for Rev. Ruvim Voloshin, vice president of missions for the Russian UECB. Especially intercede for his health, as Ruvim continues to battle chronic asthma, which is worse for him during the spring and summer months.

13—Prayer: Lift Dr. Alexei Brinza and the SGA-sponsored Irpen Biblical Seminary in prayer. We are thankful for the opportunity to support this sound, conservative Bible school, which is having a profound impact throughout the lands of Russia through its graduates and students.

14—Praise: We are thankful to the Lord for raising up the faithful coalitions of North American churches who support 21 Antioch locations across Russia. It is such a wonderful encouragement to our Russian brothers and sisters to have congregations of like mind standing with them as they reach their regions for Christ.

15—Prayer: Recent news reports indicate that the government of Belarus continues to increase pressure on evangelical churches in the country. Please remember to intercede for these churches, as well as for SGA’s faithful Minsk Regional Ministry center staff.

16—Prayer: SGA’s Loves Park staff was recently able to spend time with Eugene Bakhmutsky, who is the national youth leader for the Russian UECB. Join us in praying regularly for Eugene and his young family as they help guide Russian churches in their ministry outreaches to young people in their communities.

17—Prayer: Today we remember Dr. Piotr Mitskevich in prayer as he fulfills multiple ministry roles in Russia, including being vice president of the Russian UECB and pastor of Golgotha Baptist Church in Moscow. May the Lord encourage his heart and continue to protect his health and strength amid a heavy schedule.

18—The Lord’s Day: Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present with you (2 Peter 1:12). On this Sunday, pray for the faithful pastors, church planters and missionaries SGA serves across the lands of Russia. Ask the Lord to grant them an ongoing, powerful anointing as they proclaim steadfast biblical truth.

19—Prayer: This past April, a new SGA-sponsored Strategic Bible Institute began classes in the Russian city of Kursk. Please remember the teachers and students, as well as UECB regional pastor Gennady Lichich, who is overseeing.

20—Prayer: Pray for the SGA-sponsored Orphans Reborn ministry in the CIS. With more than 700,000 parentless or abandoned children across these vast lands, the need for evangelical Christian outreach to these little ones is overwhelming.

21—Prayer: Lift SGA’s Moscow staff in prayer today. Director Valery Kazakov and his staff are vitally important to our ministry of service to Russian evangelical churches, and provide valuable support to our leadership when business travel to the CIS is necessary.

22—Praise: Soon it will be time for Christian summer children’s camps across the lands of Russia. We praise and thank the Lord for this opportunity to reach young boys and girls with the Gospel, while praying for increased resources to enable churches to reach even more children this year.

23—Prayer: Pray for SGA’s Dr. Roman Dechtiarenko today. After he finishes spring term Bible lectures at SGA-sponsored seminaries in the CIS, the summer months remain very busy for Roman as he studies and prepares for the fall term.

24—Prayer: SGA-sponsored church planter Grigory Berg labors in Russia’s Murmansk region, and has had recent opportunities to minister among the homeless who are often addicted to alcohol and other drugs. Please remember him and his ministry in prayer today.

25—The Lord’s Day: And the Word of the Lord was being spread throughout the whole region (Acts 13:49). On this Lord’s Day, we pause to praise and thank the Lord for the tremendous progress of the Gospel since the fall of communism and breakup of the Soviet Union. Despite intense opposition in some regions, the Lord continues to build His church and draw men, women and children to Himself.

26—Prayer: The past few months have seen several of SGA’s staff struggle with health issues of varying degrees. Please pray on an ongoing basis that God will grant healing, as well as continued safeguarding of the health of our staff and families.

27—Prayer: Pray for SGA’s senior missionaries — Ruth Deyneka Erdel, Florence Daneliuk, Andrew Semenchuk, and Nick and Rose Leonovich. Also remember retired SGA missionary Elizabeth Lewshenia as she continues to recover from a serious fall last year.

28—Praise: Whether it is through Immanuel’s Child and Christmas-related ministries, or through camp and Sunday school outreaches, we are deeply thankful to Christ for His ongoing blessing on the UECB children’s ministries we sponsor across the CIS. A younger generation won to Christ will have profound impact for His glory in their nations.

29—Prayer: Pray today for Rev. Allan Vincent and the staff of SGA/Canada. May the Lord grant them increased resources, and a growing number of supporting Canadian evangelical churches with a zeal to see Russia won for the Lord Jesus Christ.

30—Prayer: SGA is blessed to have a strong, faithful board of directors who are firmly committed to our mission’s ministry of service to Bible-preaching churches across the lands of Russia. Please remember to pray for chairman Warner Tillman and the rest of the board on an ongoing basis.

31—Reflection: We close May with the fervent prayer of the Apostle Paul &helip; and may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people, just as we also do for you; so that He may establish your hearts without blame in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints (1 Thessalonians 3:12-13).